May it please almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let's
turn to the book of Genesis chapter 45 and we'll read verse eight
as the text this morning. Genesis chapter 45 and reading
verse eight. So, now it was not you that sent
me hither, but God. and he hath made me a father
to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout
all the land of Egypt. We should be very thankful to
Almighty God that in his providence this account of Joseph is recorded
in some detail. for our instruction and for our
benefit. We don't of course read very
much about him really until he was 17 years of age and then
from that time when he went to his father sent him to search
out his brothers and see how they were doing and they of course
took him and sold him into the Midianites and he was taken down
and sold as a slave and then put into prison. And we see he
was in that condition from that time when he was 17 until that
wonderful occasion when Pharaoh called for him to come and to
interpret the dreams that he'd had. No one else could do it.
And you may remember that there was the butler and the baker,
Pharaoh's butler and baker, who had been in prison, and they'd
had dreams, and Joseph was able to tell them the meaning of the
dreams as God instructed him, and the one had been reinstated,
the butler to his position in Pharaoh's palace, and the baker
had been hung, and that had been two years previously, and now
Pharaoh had dreams which he couldn't interpret and as there was no
one else that could do so suddenly the butler remembered Joseph
in prison and called for him. Pharaoh called for Joseph and
he came out of prison he was 30 years old and so therefore
there have been 13 years since he was taken and sold into Egypt
really as a captive until that time and now Pharaoh raised him
up and made him next unto him in the kingdom. And there he
was for those years of plenty which came upon Egypt. Wonderful years, seven years
of plenty. And then as had been shown to
Pharaoh, there would be seven years of famine. And two years
had occurred. So there was 22 years since he'd
left his father back in Canaan until this time, until the time
that we read about in this verse. 22 years is a long time in our
life isn't it? And many of you of course are
not even as old as that. you're less than 22. And to think
that there were 22 years that he didn't see his father and
didn't see his brethren, although of course his brethren had come
a few months or perhaps a year or so previously, and Joseph
had recognized who they were, although they didn't recognize
Joseph. Well, now the time had come for
Joseph to reveal to his brethren who he was. Remember, of course,
that he probably changed his appearance. It would seem that
when he came before Pharaoh previously, he had to shave himself. Probably
the Egyptians were shaven people, whereas it would seem that the
likelihood the patriarchs or his brothers and his father were
not, There would have been that physical difference. He was now,
of course, 22 years older than he had been, and he wasn't speaking
in the Hebrew language. He was speaking naturally the
Egyptian language, and he was speaking through an interpreter
to his brethren when they'd come before. So naturally, they didn't
recognize, they didn't expect clearly that Joseph would have
been in that prominent position. And yet you see the Lord in his
great providence and mercy have brought him to this situation. And it's important to note that
as Joseph then addresses his brethren on three occasions,
he clearly tells them that this situation developed because of
God. It was God that did it in the
fifth verse. of this 45th chapter we read,
he tells us, for God did send me before you to preserve life. That was his clear position. And then in the seventh verse,
he tells us, and God sent me before you to preserve your posterity
in the earth. And then finally in this eighth
verse, which we read, so now it was not you that sent me hither
but God." Well, we should remember such an example in our lives,
to always give God the honour and the glory for those things
which occur in our lives. It's not something that we fabricated,
it's not something that we've developed because of our own
skills, it's not some vague chance which has occurred but it is
because God in his wonderful providence and wonderful mercy
has appeared and done that which is for Joseph's good and for
many people's benefit and perhaps today we may be able to recognize
that in our life God has done things God has appeared for us. And it was God that brought us
to a situation, to a certain place. He tells us here, doesn't
he? But God did send me. Well, it's hard perhaps sometimes
to realize, but it's very true. God directs us. God sends us
in the places that we go to. Perhaps we might not understand
the reason for the path that God directs us and leads us to
day by day. It's quite clear that in Joseph's
life, Joseph didn't understand really the leading of Almighty
God. Go back in history, of the life
of Joseph to the wonderful occasion when God came and gave him those
dreams that he dreamt. And there were two dreams and
in each case his brethren were those who bowed down excuse me, first of all by the
sheaves came and bowed down to him. And secondly, by the sun
and moon and the stars, which bowed down to him. And when Joseph had told his
brothers and his father, possibly his mother, these things, it
riled them really. to think that this youngster
should have had a dream like that indicating that his older
brothers would bow down to him and they didn't like the result
and that's really why when his father sent him to find out how
his brethren did and he went to Dothan and found them there
and they decided when they saw him coming that they would get
rid of this dreamer who they hated, didn't like what he'd
said. Of course there was that time
then they threw him into a pit and while they were deliberating
what to do they saw these Midianites coming and they decided to sell
him to them, which they did. And as far as they were concerned,
that was the end. Joseph had disappeared out of
their lives. But of course he hadn't disappeared
out of their lives. And in an earlier account, when
these brothers had come to buy food in Egypt, and they were
treated roughly by Joseph, not knowing who he was, then that
came back to them, what they'd done. You see, you and I cannot
do things in our lives which we will not be able to forget. We might think we can, we might
erase them as we think from our memory, but the Lord knows they're
there and sometimes God brings those things back to remind us. Well, these things were brought
back to his brothers to remember. But of course it was not an easy
time therefore for Joseph and he was wrongly criminalized for
things which he hadn't done with regards to that governor's wife
and he was therefore put in prison. Prison for not doing anything
wrong. We see that still going on today. People are sometimes imprisoned
because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a hard
life. It is a difficult thing to recognize. And even in prison, you see,
we're told about Joseph's experience. And this is what we read in the
Psalms. David wrote this psalm, Psalm
105, and in verse 16 we read, Moreover, he called for famine
upon the land, he breaks the whole staff of bread. He sent
a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant, whose
feet they hurt with fetters He was laid in irons, as though
he was chained up in the prison for not doing any wrong. And
then he says, until the time that his word came, the word
of the Lord tried him. Those dreams which he'd had,
there was no evidence of them being fulfilled. And they tried
him. You can imagine, can't we, in
that prison, laying perhaps in darkness, chained up and thinking
why was he there? What had happened to those dreams? Did they come from God or were
they just mere dreams which had occurred, which was just of his
own realization? Well there was this testing time
And what was really occurring was this. His faith was being
tested. His faith meant that he had believed
in God. It meant that he did believe
in God. And that he did believe that his dreams or the dreams
emanated from God. And now there seemed no fulfillment
of them. And therefore there was a great
testing time. And sometimes that occurs in
our lives. There is not the fulfillment
of the promises which God has given to us. And sometimes those
promises may be very real and in our life very great and very
important to us. Perhaps It goes so far as to
say that our spiritual life depends upon the fulfillment of those
words or those dreams perhaps which God has given us. For now
it seems impossible that they can be fulfilled. Well, it's
a time of testing. It was a time of testing for
Joseph, and he still had some time to go before there would
be a fulfilment of them. In fact, there was probably another
nine years which had to pass by. It's not a short time, is
it? And yet you see, God nonetheless
was with Joseph. He hadn't forsaken him. And may
such an account, therefore, be a blessing and a comfort to us. And as we read the account, we
don't read of Joseph complaining, do we? We read of the testing time.
We don't read of him complaining. Again, it's good for us to accept
God's timing. Be sure of this. God's timing
is never wrong. God's timing is always right,
always right in each of our lives. Sometimes God's purposes are
fulfilled immediately, sometimes very quickly, sometimes after
a long time. You know, you can go back to
the account again in this book of Genesis of Noah. Noah was
told of God to build an ark because he was going to flood
the earth. And it would seem that it's probably
something like a hundred years that it took Noah to build the
ark. But you see, he had to labor
on year by year. And you can imagine the mockery
that he would have received especially as it would appear again there
was no rain until the time of the flood and therefore this
foolish man it would appear was building this half upon the dry
ground what an idiot idiot why waste so much time why waste
so much energy but you see god was fulfilling his word in his
way and In the case of Noah, there was to be an amazing deliverance,
an amazing blessing, whereas God kept alive those eight people
and all the types of animals and insects and the birds. What a wonderful account it is. But nonetheless, now in Joseph's
case, Joseph was kept alive. until the fulfillment of those
dreams, some 22 years. So let us not therefore be dismayed,
let us not be discouraged, if in our lives sometimes things
take a long time to apparently develop. We may be tempted to
give up. Well, it's clear that Joseph
didn't give up. And it's a blessing if you and
I, therefore, are blessed with faith, which David had, which
Noah had, and which all the people of God have been given faith
to believe the truth of God's word. It is a wonderful blessing
to receive faith. It's not something which you
and I can grasp physically, It's something which God gives us.
And that faith is tested, just like Joseph's faith was tested. And the reason it's tested is
really quite simple. Sometimes we may make assumptions
in our life that certain things are coming to pass. We may perhaps
believe sometimes that God has given us a promise, a word, which
we are relying upon and thinking upon and the years go by and
nothing is fulfilled. Well, it will be a testing time
to assess whether Such promises, such words are from God or whether
they are just a figment of our imagination. And you may say, well how am
I to determine the truth of such an evidence in my life? Well
I believe there is a test which you and I can apply. And it's
this, if God brings that to pass, who will have the glory? You
might say, well of course God will have the glory. Well that
is true, but would you have any glory yourself? Would you therefore
take any glory to yourself? Perhaps you might say, well of
course I am I prayed for this and it's of course come to pass
and you might therefore put some of the honour on your prayers. There may be other reasons why
you might therefore claim some of the glory but always remember
this God is a jealous God and in his work In his word he will
have the glory. And so it was in the case of
Noah. Noah wouldn't possibly have understood
how it could rain and of course also how the fountains of the
great deep could be broken up. But God gave him faith to press
on. And so Joseph was also given
faith to press on against all the opposition. And even when the butler forgot
to mention Joseph's case to a pharaoh, he didn't give up until that
occasion in the purpose of God. And this is really this great
truth. So now it was not you that sent
me hither But God, God had sent Joseph through all those years
to watch over him, through all those years to bring him to that
place of preeminence in Pharaoh's capital, in his life, to bring
Joseph to this position of eminence. It was through the work of Almighty
God. Joseph could never have planned
his life and therefore Joseph had to give glory to God and
he does it you see in this way clearly on these three occasions
God did send me God did send me you that sent me here it was
not you that sent me you know but God. What a wonderful thing
it is therefore to be able to display such a truth to his brethren. Joseph now had no doubt that
this was the work of God. Here was the fulfilment of it. And what a blessing for us today,
if indeed we have a fulfillment of the Word of God in our lives. And I am able to say, it is God. For God, it was who brought this
to pass in our lives. And quite clearly, God received
the honor and the glory in the case of Joseph's life. It is really a wonderful account
we're able to read of God was in it from the very beginning. Oh yes, for 22 years God was
in it. And so it may be in our lives,
maybe something in our lives, what a blessing to know that God is in it and we shall
be able then to say And it came to pass. You can read many accounts
in the Word of God of situations which devout. And this is the
outcome. And it came to pass. You see,
God's promises come to pass. They don't fall to the ground.
His Word comes to pass. What a mercy it is. What a blessing
it is. to have a word perhaps hidden
in our heart, perhaps a word which we refer to, perhaps a
word that we look upon, perhaps a word that comes back to our
remembrance from time to time, a word that we may have forgotten,
but God doesn't forget. And in God's time, those words
come back God brings the word back, God speaks the word, God
confirms the word and God brings it to pass. You know we can think
of a greater than Joseph, you might say well who is a greater
than Joseph? Well I believe that Joseph is
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ and we know of course that in
the case of the Blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, that was
fulfilled in his life, that which had been promised for so many
years throughout the history of the world on numerous occasions,
the promise of the Messiah coming into this world to redeem his
people, to redeem the Church of God, to free them from that
bondage of sin. It was the blessed and glorious
work of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, which in due time
came to pass. It was indeed some 4,000 years
in the fulfilment of that, right from the day in Genesis, when
God came and spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when
He said, should bruise or crush the serpent's head, the devil's
head. And so after all those years, it came to pass, the blessed
savior was born of that Virgin Mary and lived
upon the earth for those 33 years and died that sin atoning death
on that cross at Calvary. It wasn't something which had
just happened by chance. It was the fulfilment of the
wonderful plan of Almighty God. And may we indeed rejoice in
that today. And so as we think then of Joseph
being a type of Christ that after all these years, by comparison
very few, nonetheless to our little minds, Very significant. After 22 years, there was that
fulfillment of those dreams which Joseph had had. God didn't make
any mistakes. God had planned this route. And again, we believe that these
things were planned before the world was created. Again, it's
the wonder of the work of God. It's a wonder of the plan of
God, to think that Joseph's life was carefully mapped out before
the world began. And so Joseph came into the history
of the world, into the scene at this time. Although no doubt
22 years was a long time in Joseph's life, in accordance with God's
purpose, it was just really a short time. Everything was being fulfilled
and nothing failed. There weren't any mistakes. He
wasn't sold to the wrong people. He wasn't a slave to the wrong
person. He wasn't imprisoned in the wrong
place. He didn't meet the butler and
baker by chance. It wasn't just a fluke that Pharaoh
had those dreams. It was all ordained by Almighty
God and then he was placed in that position so that he was
the governor and it was he that discharged the food. Indeed we
have another picture, there are many pictures in Joseph's life
as he is a type of Christ, but just one or two. One of them
of course is when there was this famine The people hadn't got
any grain, they hadn't got any corn, they hadn't got any food. What were they going to do? And
what was the message that Pharaoh sent? Go to Joseph. Go to Joseph. He has the keys. He has the way to open the barns,
to provide food for you. Well, that's just a wonderfully
simple illustration for us, isn't it? To think of Christians who
come into this situation who don't have any spiritual food. And they might think, what am
I going to do? What am I going to do? I'm destitute.
I have nothing. I'm empty. I need salvation. What am I going to do? The word
is very clear. Go to Jesus. Go to Jesus, that
great and glorious one who gives the gift of salvation, who gives
the great and glorious gift of eternal life. Go to Jesus. What a wonderful picture it is,
isn't it, for us today. And so we see his brethren Now
Joseph's brethren coming to Jesus. And what do we see coming to
Joseph, brother? And what do we see happening? They bow down to Joseph, not
realizing he was their brother. They bow down to Joseph. Well,
what a blessing it is for us if we come and bow down to the
Lord Jesus Christ. confessing what we are. They couldn't say they were any
great people, they were in need. And they had to confess their
sins, they had to confess what they thought they'd done, or
at least they'd been condemned for taking back their money and
taking back Joseph Cup. Yes, they stood condemned and
they bowed down before Joseph. The whole Church of God come
to that state, to that condition. That's why we see here this wonderful
type of Joseph. The whole Church of God come
and bow down. Bow down before him. They bow
the knee. They acknowledge they have sinned
against Almighty God. And they seek for forgiveness. And they seek for mercy. and
they seek indeed for salvation. And then you see it is that the
Lord reveals himself as their Saviour. Joseph said, I am Joseph. What a blessing it is when the
Lord says, I am Jesus, that one who saves to the uttermost, no
sinner, too bad. The Lord saves to the uttermost,
I am Jesus. Well here we have this great
word. So now it was not you that sent
me hither but God and of course God the Father sent his only
begotten Son into this world to save sinners. Jacob sent his son to see how his brethren did. God sent his son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to seek and to save those which are lost. It is a very
wonderful and a very beautiful analogy. May we realize then
this great truth that in our lives It is God that has sent
the Lord to us, to us. No one else. So now it was not
you that sent me hither, but God. What a blessing it is. And then perhaps just one last
reference to the type of Christ. You may remember that Joseph,
of course, died 110 years old. He didn't live forever. His father
and his grandfather lived a lot longer. He lived 110 years old
and then he died. We read at the very end of Genesis
that he was put in a coffin in Egypt. Now prior to this, Joseph
had told his brethren the time would come when they were to
be delivered and he was to they would carry his bones out of
Egypt. Well they kept that command of
Joseph and there was to pass something like 320 years before
in fact the Israelites were delivered from Egypt after Joseph had died. But the Israelites did carry
Joseph in his coffin out of Egypt and brought his bones safely
into Canaan. You might say, well, what is
the relevance of that? Well, I believe the relevance
is this. As Israel journeyed through the
wilderness, they would have been aware of the coffin being carried. And what would that have done?
That would have reminded them that all those years ago God
had caused Joseph to be the one who was ordained by God to bring
natural deliverance to the Egyptians and of course to Joseph's brethren
from the famine. There was the physical evidence
therefore just to the bones in the coffin to remind them of
that occurrence. I believe the reference really
for us today is this. We of course do not have the
bones of the Saviour. We do not have anything really
of the Saviour. But what we do have is that the
Lord has very graciously given to us the Lord's Supper to remember
his grace and glorious death. upon Calvary's cross so many
years ago, lest we forget. What a blessing for us today,
as we view Joseph as a type of Christ, by faith, to view the
suffering Saviour dying upon that cross at Calvary, shedding
his most precious blood to atone for all our sins. And therefore
whenever we are able to commemorate the death of the Saviour, as
we are commanded to do, the Lord Jesus says, this do in remembrance
of thee, what a blessing it is to glorify our God for what he's
done. And therefore today as we think
upon Joseph to remember He was a type of Christ. To remember
that he lived a difficult life over those 22 years, but then
the Lord brought him into that great time of wonderful deliverance. Might be so in our lives. Perhaps
the promises of God are being tried, are being tested. Be sure of this, they emanate
from God. it will come to pass. And if
they do, God will have the glory. And you and I will have to say,
you see Joseph said here on these three occasions in very short
space of just a few minutes to confirm clearly it was the work
of God. And this is for the glory of
God. May you and I in our little lives
be able to testify this and that. the glory of God. So now it was
not you that sent me hither, but God, and he has made me a
father to Pharaoh, a lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout
all the land of Egypt. Amen.