Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Psalm 105, the Psalm we read,
and verse 17, or part of verse 17. He sent a man before them. He sent a man before them, even
Joseph, who was sold for a servant. We want to, later on this evening,
look at more than Joseph. Look at the Lord Jesus Christ
who has been sent before his people. But we want to begin
with the context and with the account, the type that is set
before us here. Of course, we remember that this
is recording real events that happened, how it was that Abraham's
seed went down into Egypt and out of Egypt. That is what is
summarized throughout this psalm. But here in our text, it's how
they came into Egypt. And it's put simply in the words
of our text. He, that is God, sent a man,
that is Joseph, before them, that is Joseph's brethren and
his father. He sent a man before them. And here is a beautiful time,
a beautiful truth couched in a few words. Well, what had happened,
as it were? How was this brought about? Why did they have to go down
into Egypt? We know that this had already
been foretold. It had been told by God when
God blessed Abraham in Genesis and chapter 15. We read how the
Lord had said unto Abraham, Know of a surety, that thy seed shall
be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve
them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they
shall serve will I judge, and afterwards shall they come out
with great substance. And so, it is what was promised
to Abraham, and God said further to him, thou shalt go to thy
fathers, he was to die, thou shalt be buried in a good old
age, 175 he was. But in the fourth generation
they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites
is not yet full. And the land that they were going
to take over, the land of the Amorites, the Canaanites, that
it was because of the wickedness of those lands that God dispossessed
them and brought his people into them. And though it is said that
they were to be afflicted 400 years, we know by comparing this
passage with that of Galatians, Paul's epistle to the Galatians,
that the 400 years, or 430 years, was actually from this promise, until they were brought into
the land of Canaan, or until they were brought out of Egypt. So God had planned and purposed
this, that they should go down into Egypt. But all that happened
in bringing them into Egypt, it would appear that these things
were hidden from them, It could be seen looking back, but as
they walked it out, then it was hidden from them. And we have
the same when our Lord came. All of the scriptures that foretold
of his sufferings at Calvary, even of his birth, those were
known, partly known. But the applying of them to what
was actually happening in their lives was very difficult for
them at the time. And we need to remember that
ourselves. That providence unfolds God's
book. It makes his counsel shine. But very often it is darks and
paths. It's difficult ways. It's hard
to see clearly. what the Lord is doing. And indeed,
if we did, we would then try to modify. We would do differently. We think of the Jews that crucified
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is said that they crucified
Him. They knew not the day of their
visitation. If they had, If they'd have recognised
that our Lord was truly the Christ, then they would not have crucified
Him. But that the Scriptures be fulfilled,
and He was delivered for knowledge of God, the eternal counsel of
God, though taken by wicked hands, crucified and slain. And so,
God tells before what He will do, but not exactly when or exactly
how, so that we don't put our hands to it or change or try
to change those things that are done. And so, perhaps we can
give an example of where we do try to change it. It was said
to Rebekah, Isaac's wife, that when she was with twins, the
elder shall serve the younger. And she then contrived that way,
that Jacob was to deceive his father and get the firstborn's
blessing. Now the Lord overruled, he used
that, he still honoured that blessing. But God would have
blessed Jacob Anyway, he didn't need man's hand. He didn't need
that interference, if you would like. Even with Abraham, because
Sarah couldn't bear, then she gave him Hagar and they had Ishmael. But God didn't need that. He
brought forth Isaac in his time. And so, for the most part, the
Lord wisely hides from us what he is doing so that we don't
do like Abraham, we don't do like Rebekah, and try to force
providence or change it about. And so we have the account here
of how the children of Israel came into Egypt. And in our text, it's just summarized
in this, he sent a man before them. They didn't just go straight
into Egypt. They didn't just decide, now
is the time and we will move and go into Egypt. God could
have done it that way. He could have just given them
a command and directed them which way to go, but he didn't. He chose a different path. a path which was a path of great
suffering to the man that was sent before them, and a perplexing
path even for those that followed after. But it was God's chosen,
appointed way. And again, we are to learn from
that. Sometimes we might think, well,
we would like the Lord just to tell us to tell us when we should
do this and when that, when we should move, what we should do.
The Lord didn't do that, didn't do it with Joseph, didn't do
it with his brothers at all. It was all done by providence. And yes, the Lord was pleased
to give words at the last, especially to Jacob, but For the most part, it was unfolded. And we think how it did began. He sent a man before them. God sent a man before them. How did he send him? Did he give
Joseph a word and direction? Go into Egypt, prepare the way
for thy brethren. No, he didn't do that. God sent him by Joseph just obeying
his father and going and seeing how his brethren fared. But in
one way, that wasn't the first, because God had given Joseph
those dreams, the dreams that the sheaves of the field where
representing his brothers was all bowing down to his sheaf.
And then the stars of heaven, they were bowing down as well. We also have even a part in that
that Jacob had shown such favoritism to Joseph. So there's already
a bitterness between Joseph and his brothers. You think if Joseph's
brothers really loved Joseph, they wouldn't have sold him,
they wouldn't have put him in a pit. But even God used that
favoritism and Joseph bringing the evil reports to bring about
the situation. that when Joseph did Jacob his
father's bidding, that then his brothers took that opportunity
to cast him into a pit and sell him to the Ishmaelites who brought
him to Egypt. And as part in that providence
as well, to make sure it was clearly seen, he sent a man before
them, The brothers had moved on, but God made sure a man heard
what they were saying, where they were going, and made sure
that Joseph came across that man and so was able to find his
brothers. How many things were joined together
that make up this word, he God sent a man before them? then when he comes into Egypt,
now that he's sold to one that was in such a position that when
he was falsely accused and cast into prison, he would be cast
into the prison where the king's prisoners were. That was so important
as well. Also, a link in the chain, transgressions
of the butler and the baker. In one sense, you might say if
Joseph is a type of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then
we have the butler and the baker as a type of the two thieves.
They were all in the prison together. The baker and died, he perished,
but the butler was restored, he was given life. And on the
cross, we find one thief perished in his sin, the other obtained
mercy through the Lord and paradise that day. And we have even that
as a type there of Joseph as our Lord. But here is Joseph
that then is in prison, the verse after our text, whose feet they
hurt with fetters, he was laid in iron. We have details in this
psalm that you won't find in Genesis or elsewhere. We're told
he was in prison, but not that they hurt his feet with fetters
and laid in iron. We are not told elsewhere that
until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried
him. In other words, those dreams
that he had. Until it came that he could clearly
see the interpretation, see the end of the matter, those words
tried him. Have we got those? Expectations,
promises, that as we're walking through strange paths, they try
us. We're troubled by them. And Joseph,
there was no possibility of him saying, well, I don't like this
path. I'm going to choose a different
path. I'm going to serve another master. I'm going to go in another
land. I'm going to do something different.
He was hemmed in. He was in that prison until just
the time he was needed. Just the time that God had appointed. The butler, he forgot him. Two
years went by. And then Pharaoh has a dream. The butler remembers that Joseph
had interpreted their dreams and the dreams had come to pass,
the interpretations had. And so Pharaoh gets Joseph suddenly
out of prison. And Joseph interprets Pharaoh's
dreams. And here God is doing something
else to make sure that the children of Israel, Jacob's sons, went
down into Egypt. He brings a famine, but he shows
Pharaoh beforehand what he is going to do. Joseph interprets
the seven years of famine, but the seven years of plenty that
went before him. And so there was laid up in store
that plenty, until the famine came and then they had provision
in Egypt and nowhere else. God gave Joseph the interpretation
of those dreams, and Joseph gave it to Pharaoh. They came to pass. He sent a man before them. And
so for all of the time that Joseph was away from his family, All
the time during those years are plenty. His family did not know
he was, or Jacob didn't even know he was alive. They didn't
know what was happening to him. They didn't know what God was
doing. They didn't know the preparation.
They didn't even know that there was going to be a famine, that
there was going to be a need. And then there comes the famine,
and Jacob, he says, I have heard. We're not even told how Jacob
heard there was to be corn in Egypt, but again, a vital step. And so then they go down into
Egypt, and Joseph deals with his brethren, eventually makes
known himself to them. and then brings them all in and
places them in Goshen, the best of Egypt, forgives them all the
evil that they had done to him. And there they are then in Egypt. And God did it by bringing Joseph
before them, even before they knew it. And the work was going
on even when they didn't know it was going on. But this way,
this plan and purpose of God, instead of just telling them,
you might say at a moment's notice, he sends a man before them that
involves many years, many providences, many things happening, to bring
about the children of Israel to grow into a nation there in
Egypt. And so there's many things that
are in this account that can furnish us great matter in viewing
the Lord Jesus Christ going before his brethren, his people, So
I want to look then with the Lord's help, firstly, at Jesus
the man. Our text says he sent a man before
them. And that is so important when
we view our Lord Jesus Christ, a real man. And secondly, Jesus sent before
his people before his brethren. And then thirdly, his people
following after, the same as Joseph's brothers followed after. But firstly, Jesus, the man. It is, of course, very clear
that Joseph was a man. But when our Lord Jesus Christ
came upon the earth, the Jews that looked upon him, they charged
him that he, being a man, made himself equal with God. We know that the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
was God manifest in the flesh, Emmanuel God with us. But they
viewed him as a man, a real man. One of the main messages of the
gospel according to John is that Jesus of Nazareth, the man, Jesus
of Nazareth, was truly the Son of God. that he truly was God
and man in one person. Both truths are so vital. If we made the error of just
viewing Jesus of Nazareth as a man and a man only, he could
never, ever save anyone because he himself would be a sinner.
He himself would need to die. But he took upon him the form
of a servant, was made like unto his brethren, but sin accepted. He became obedient even unto
the death of the cross. But he was a real man, born of
a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law. He did not take on him the form of angels, which is just
spirit, nor did he take on him the form of beasts, which is
just flesh, but of the seed of Abraham, which is body and soul. What has been lost with us, the
fallen sons of Adam, are our body and soul. Our body dies
first, the soul then is released and returns to God. After the
judgment, then the soul, the person, is judged to either eternal
life or eternal death. Those that have eternal life,
have it given them here below. Those that have eternal death
have never had a change. They've come forth from the womb
as dead in trespasses and sins and remain that way all their
life. And when they die, then it is
too late. No change is possible then. May
we think of that. Now is the day of grace. Now
is the day of salvation. While we have life, there is
hope. While our days are lengthened,
There is hope of mercy, forgiveness and pardon, but beyond the grave
there is not. He sent a man. We read with Jacob,
when Esau was coming, there wrestled a man with him to the breaking
of the day. And Jacob's name was changed
to Israel, and the reason given was, because thou hast wrestled
with God and with man, and has prevailed. That man was the Lord
Jesus before he came to this world. Yes, our Lord is the eternal
Son of God. He testified to the Jews before
Abraham was, I am. The Jews said, they are not yet
50 years old, and are they older or greater? Then our father Abraham,
Abraham is dead, who makest thou? But our Lord, he testifies, Abraham,
God is not the God of the dead, but the living. When he spoke
to Moses in the burning bush, God said, I am the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And our Lord said to
them, he is not the God of the dead, but the living. Though
they had died here below, their souls were with the Lord, they
were alive, they hadn't perished, they were living. But our Lord
is the eternal Son of God. He ever was and ever will be,
but he became man and dwelt among us. And he forever will be a
man, And that's why we sung the hymn, that a man that is a real
man, with wounds still gaping wide, he is in heaven now. He is at the right hand of the
Father now. He was on earth, he suffered
on earth, but now he is in heaven. The importance of this, our first
point, is that Jesus is a real man, not just a form, a vision,
an imitation, but made like unto his brethren, but sin accepted. The line runs from Adam through
to Mary, and the kingship line runs to Joseph, but Our Lord,
when he was 12 years of age, he remained at Jerusalem, and
his parents went on their way, and then they missed him, they
came back seeking him, and Mary said to her son, that's my father,
and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he says, how is it so? Wist ye not that I must be about
my father's business? What a gentle rebuke that his
real father was not Joseph who was seeking him, but his father
was in heaven and he was doing his business. Great mystery, great is the mystery
of godliness. God manifest in the flesh. So when we read in our text,
he sent a man before them, we view Joseph as a type. We view
the Lord Jesus Christ as the anti-type. He was the man that
was sent before his brethren, the Lord's brethren, Joseph had
brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ, he calls
his children his brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent
before. And I want to look then at this
in the second place. Jesus sent before his people,
his brethren. Even in Old Testament times,
the Lord Jesus is spoken of as the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Right at the very beginning there
was the promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the
serpent's head. Right at the beginning the sacrifices
were instituted And it was clear from Abel and Cain what that
sacrifice should entail, that without the shedding of blood
there is no remission. And so the Lord Jesus Christ,
in that sense, has gone before his brethren right from the beginning,
that they should see in those types and shadows and sacrifices
what the Lord would do. what He had purposed to do, what
He had promised to do. Those Old Testament saints, they
looked forward, they believed, they were saved by faith in the
Lord as going before in those types and shadows, and that He
would indeed come and suffer and bleed and die that he would
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. There's a beautiful thing in
this, that wherever a sinner is brought to feel his need of
the Saviour, the Lord has always gone before. Abraham said to Isaac, when going
up the mount, my son, God will provide himself
a lamb for a burnt offering, and he had gone before. And a
ram was caught in the thicket by his horns. The Lord Jesus
Christ has gone before. God knew at the very beginning
of the world his plan of salvation. in his purposes he had gone before,
in his promises. But when we see in these gospel
days especially, we can look back, we can see how the Lord
Jesus Christ has come, how that he himself has borne the wrath
of God, the sufferings that he endured, Joseph, he was told by the dreams
what was before him. Our Lord knew what was before
him. And our Lord fulfilled the scriptures,
especially when we come to Calvary. We have again and again that
the scriptures might be fulfilled. And so in these gospel days,
we can see the Lord going before and in the ordinances of baptism
and the Lord's Supper, we remember what the Lord has done, we remember
his death, we look back to what he has done. He has gone before us in the
way and lived this life before us, suffered the wrath of God, In
our place we do but taste the cup. He has gone before us into
death. There is no man living that will
not see death or the equivalent of it. But our Lord Jesus Christ
himself went into the grave and out of it. Joseph went into the
prison and out of it. Joseph's brethren went into Egypt
and out of it, Joseph as well. Our Lord then went from this
world and he went into heaven. There he is now. The Lord has
gone before his people. And so we read in John 17, Father
I will, and John 17 is really the prayer of our Lord. Father,
I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory. The children of Israel
always had to observe the firstfruits of harvest. And it was a true
token that as the firstfruits were brought in, there was to
be the others to follow. The Lord goes before us the firstfruits. Entering into heaven, the Apostle
Paul says we are to run the race set before us, looking unto Jesus. In whatever path, whatever way
that we go, whatever sorrows and sufferings, whatever the
perplexity of the path, may we think of Joseph, his sufferings,
his perplexity, how he was dealt with by his brethren, and we
think of how a Lord was dealt with by his people, came unto
his own and his own received him not. And so we have this
beautiful time, and I to view it as going before us, he sent
a man before them, that God should have sent a man
before us. we be those that at first despised
him, derided him, ill-treated him, just like Joseph's
brothers, but then brought to find mercy
at his hand. This is God's plan and in these
Gospel days All the time what's set before the Church of God
is the Man Christ Jesus going before us, making the way, opening
the way, providing what is needed for
sinners. Atonement, redemption, forgiveness,
grace and pardon, Every blessing, every favour comes to us through
Jesus' precious blood. He sent a man before them. What a beautiful way that the
Lord should choose with his people. In some ways you might say it's
imitated where the children of Israel came into the promised
land, they sent spies, just men before them, just to
choose out the way. But in that way is a very, very
poor example, because here Joseph, he went before, and instead of
going into the land and out of it, he actually went there, and
he was in a position of authority and power, able to do his brethren
good, able to place them in the land, able to speak on their
behalf. And so it is with the Lord, he
is in that position. We read in Paul's epistle to
the Philippians, Wherefore he hath highly exalted him, and
given him a name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow. May this thought remain with
us. God sending the Lord Jesus Christ before us. Maybe we fear
the way, the unknown way. Maybe we try like Joseph was. Maybe we experience what his
brethren did and we look at that in a moment. But oh, to remember
this truth. The Lord Jesus Christ has gone
before. It is a way marked out. In John
10, we have the Lord speaking of himself as the good shepherd. And when he puts forth his sheep,
he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him. They hear his
voice, and they follow him. It's the same theme. It's the
same message. But clearly our Lord's saying
there, it is me. I am the one going before. He sent a man before them. So Jesus is sent before us. I go to prepare a place for you,
he says in John 14.1. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. But
where I am there, ye may be also." And that's what Joseph wanted.
He wanted his family, his brethren, to be with him where he was. And he gave commandment for it,
and he gave the wagons, and he gave the provision, and he gave
the best of the land. He sent a man before them. Well
thirdly, his people following after How vital, how vital that
we be following after. But what was it with Joseph's
brothers? What was the beginning of it?
It was a famine, a need that they had that couldn't be satisfied
where they were. We read that in the latter days
there shall be a famine not of bread and of water, but of hearing
the words of the Lord. I've always thought of that word
well. In one way we have solemn days
like this, when there are many churches that do not read the
word of God anymore. It's not central in their worship.
It's not heard. But there's another way of viewing
it as well. When it is that men are brought
to hunger and thirst after righteousness. They hunger for the word of God.
There's a famine for that, as it were. It was a famine of bread
and of water that made Joseph's brothers have a need to go to
Egypt, where Joseph was, for the provision there. And when
the Lord begins with a people The people that once had no need
of the Word of God, they felt no need of it. They pushed it
from them. But when the Lord would bring
them to Himself, He makes the things of this poor dying world
to not satisfy them. And they feel as it were a famine,
not a bread and a water, they might still have a full larder.
They might still have all the things to eat naturally, but
now they're hungry for the Word of God. And they may hear and
know where that is. That is with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's with His people, it's with
His Word, the preaching of the Word. And the Lord uses that
to draw His people to Himself. how we think of. That is what
happened here. The Lord said, no man can come
unto me except the Father that sent me draw him, and I'll raise
him up at the last day. Joseph's brothers were drawn
first because of the famine, then they were drawn to go back
again, even though Joseph was unknown to them, and dealing
very hardly with them. Yet he'd shut up Simeon in prison. He'd asked that they come back
and they must bring Benjamin. And the famine was still there,
they still needed food. So they couldn't just decide,
well, this man is dealing too hardly with us, we'll just forget
it all, we'll go somewhere else. They had to keep coming back.
And if you and I are the brethren of the Lord, he will make sure
we keep coming back to him, back to him in prayer, back to his
word, back to the preaching of the word, back to hearing of
the words of life. This is how the Lord will deal. And how the Lord, how Joseph
dealt with his brethren. He knew them, they did not know
him. Remember that. The Lord knows
you, the Lord knows me, but until he reveals himself to us, we
do not know him. He knows our sins, he knows our
lives. He showed to Nathaniel that he
knew him when he was under the fig tree and couldn't be seen
naturally. He knew Zacchaeus by name, though
he was up in the sycamore tree, and he knew The woman at the
well of St Mary had had five husbands, and the one that she
had now was not her husband. He knew about their lives, and
he brought them to face their sins, their lives, all what they'd
done. And Joseph did that with his
brothers, brought them to face to face to remember the anguish
of Joseph when they dealt so heartily with them. with them, brought sins to remembrance
that were committed 20 or more years ago, and the Lord deals
with them. If you and I are to be saved
from our sins, if you and I are to value the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus, whose name is Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins, then we will be brought face to face with them, to feel
the guilt of them, to sorrow over them, to mourn over them. And so this is what Joseph's
brothers went through. If we are his people and we follow
after, then there'll be some reflection of what Joseph's brothers
went through. And of course it culminated in
Joseph making himself known to his brothers. The Lord will make
himself known to his people that follow after. He will show them
who he is. And with Joseph, when he showed
them, they were terrified. But what expressions of kindness,
of sympathy, of mercy he gave them. And that is the message
to those that are brought to Him, that know and feel how undeserving
they are of anything from His hand. They've only dealt with
evil against the Lord, but He in return has shown mercy and
grace. That is what salvation is. It is by grace, not by deeds
of righteousness which we have done. It is by mercy. It is contralwise blessing. No
one deserves salvation, but God gives it freely to those that,
like Joseph's brothers, own their guilt, their sinnership, they
humble themselves down before him, and so When we are brought
into that path as well, there is a sacred time that through
a dark, perplexing path, a path that Jacob said, all these things
are against me, that at last, Joseph is made known, the Lord
is made known. We're being brought nigh by his
precious blood. We are granted a place amongst
his people in his house, and at last, where he is, in heaven
above. He sent a man before them. Dear friends, may we be of those
whom the Lord has gone before. May we be of those that follow
after. May we see this account as a
beautiful illustration, and it may be showing and interpreting
what our lives have been, and where we are, and what the Lord
is doing with us, and how precious and merciful he is to us. And of course, there was that
direct relationship between this man, Joseph, sent before his
brothers and his brothers. He was their brethren. He had
a right to redeem. He was bone of their bone, flesh
of their flesh. So is the Lord with his people.
May we know the Lord in this way. May this be a precious word
to us. He sent a word before them, and
we be able to say, sent a man before them, and we may say a
word as well, because the word was made flesh and dwelt among
us. But may we be able to say, He
sent a man before me. The Lord Jesus Christ came before,
and that's why we sung in our hymn to make His goodness pass
before us in the way. And the Lord is the goodness
of His people, and those blessings He gives us and He makes to pass
in the way. May we trace them out and see
His favour and mercy toward us. May the Lord add His blessing.
Amen.