Let us turn again to God's Word
and the opening verse in the chapter that we read, Genesis
chapter 45 and verse 1. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself before all them that stood by him. And he cries, Cause
every man to go out from, and there stood no man with him,
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And it is
that second sentence that we find in this opening verse of
the chapter where we read of the manifestation of Joseph as
he is pleased to reveal his identity unto his brethren. We're told,
and there stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known
unto his brethren." Joseph, as I'm sure you're aware, is one
that is a remarkable type of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know
there are some who would dispute that fact, but I think the scriptural
evidence is really overwhelming concerning Joseph as a type He
appears here in the latter part of the book of Genesis and in
fact the last chapters of Genesis are very much taken up with the
history of Joseph. Now Genesis means of course the
book of beginnings. That's what Genesis is, principally. It talks of origins. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. But it's not only a book of beginnings,
but as I've said on previous occasions, it is also very much
a book of generations. And we have this expression recurring
time and again. It is a book of generations as
well as a book of beginnings. In chapter 2 and verse 4 we read,
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth. And then in chapter 5, the opening
words, This is the book of the generations of Adam. Then in chapter 6, at verse 9,
we read, These are the generations of Noah. And so we go on, and
repeatedly we find this particular expression. And then finally,
we come to chapter 37, and there, in the second verse, These are
the generations of Jacob. and then immediately Joseph being
17 years old was feeding the flock with his brethren and the
lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah and
so forth. Now the generations of Jacob
are seen to center very much in the history of Joseph. Now, Jacob becomes Israel. He is the father of the nation. And of course, the Israelites
are a typical people. They're typical of God's spiritual
people. When we come to the New Testament,
in Romans, we're told quite clearly they are not all Israel, that
are of Israel. They're not all spiritual Israel. They are themselves an ethnic
people, they're the descendants of a certain man who bore the
name of Jacob and became Israel, but they're typical, and there
were those in the nation who were God's true spiritual seed. But they're a wonderful type
of all the God's spiritual seeds. One of the marks, of course,
marks of the Jew was circumcision. But again, it's in Romans that
we see that circumcision in the flesh really amounts to very
little. It means really nothing at all. There must be a spiritual circumcision. And that spiritual circumcision
is the distinguishing mark of those who are the spiritual Israel
of God at the end of Romans chapter 2. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh,
but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is
that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose
price is not of men, but of God. Now we say that this man, Joseph,
is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the generations of Jacob,
they center in this man called Joseph, so we can say that the
generations of God's spiritual Israel center in him who is the
antitype of Joseph. In other words, God's spiritual
Israel, the church, all their generations center in the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this sense then, we
would contend for the fact that this man Joseph is a remarkable
type of the Lord Jesus Christ and we see a number of matters,
a number of facts recorded concerning his life. For example, here in
chapter 41 and verse 38, the Pharaoh says, Can we find such
a one as this, in whom is the Spirit of God? When he comes
forward and interprets the dreams of the Pharaoh and gives his
counsel, his advice, as to what is to be done in those seven
years of great plenty, the provision is being made for the seven years
of terrible famine that will follow. And that is the word
of the Pharaoh, that this man, this Joseph, is one in whom is
the Spirit of God. And when we come to the New Testament,
what are we told concerning the Lord Jesus Christ? God giveth
not the Spirit by measure unto him. Oh, if any man had the Spirit
of God, it was the Lord Jesus Christ, was it not? He was anointed
with the Spirit, and the Spirit descended upon him at his baptism. And this is the mark of that
one who is the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. Joseph then
points us to Christ as that one in whom the Spirit of God is. And then again, when we look
at the life of this man Joseph, we see how that he was so cruelly
persecuted by his brethren, how they despised him, how they sought
to destroy him. Going back to chapter 37 then,
and there at verse 19, He's gone at his father's bidding
to his brethren. And what do they do? Verse 19,
They said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now,
therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and
we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him, and we shall
see what will become of his dreams. And Reuben, One of the brethren
heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands and said,
Let us not kill him. But then it's Judah who comes
forward later. Verse 26, Judah said unto his
brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal
his blood? Come, and let us sell him to
the Ishmaelites, and let not our hands be upon him, for he
is our brother and our flesh. And his brothers were content,
so they sold him. They sell him to these passing Ishmaelites,
who are journeying towards Egypt, and he's taken as a slave, and
he's sold into slavery there in Egypt, all at the hand of
his own brethren. How they hated him, how they
despised him, how they dismissed him as a mere dreamer. And in
this, of course, the game we see him as a typical character. When we read of the Lord Jesus,
what are we told? He came unto his own. He comes
unto the Jews. He is born a Jew, is he not? He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. How they despised him! How they
rejected him! And ultimately we see it, of
course, at that mockery of a trial that the Savior has to endure,
and the demand that they make upon the Roman governor, away
with him, they say! Away with him! Crucify him! Was
Joseph rejected? How much more was the Lord Jesus
Christ rejected? As the generations then of Jacob
center in this man Joseph, and that's so clear from what we
read there at the beginning of chapter 37, so the generations
of God's spiritual Israel, the generations of the Church, they
center in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so tonight I want us to consider again something of this man Joseph
as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ as we have it unfolded in the
word that I read just now as our text. This sentence that
we find at the end of verse 1 in this 45th chapter. We're told, there stood no man
with him while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. Joseph makes himself known. It's
a manifestation. And is it not the Lord Jesus
Christ who must come and make himself known unto his brethren? as many as the Father had given
to Him in the eternal covenant. He says, Behold me and the children
which God hath given to me. And the Lord Jesus must come
and He must make Himself known. He must reveal Himself to that
people. And it is a sovereign work, evidently
a sovereign work. There stood no man with Him.
It is the work of Joseph alone. And it is the Lord Jesus Christ
alone in His sovereignty who is pleased to come and reveal
Himself to His people. And isn't this the mark of those
who are the election of Christ? They know that blessed revelation. What do we see here then, in
the words of this particular text tonight? First of all, we
see that real religion is a private thing. I think that's one of
those aphorisms that are associated with the ministry of William
Tiptoft. He was known for those short,
pithy statements that he would often make in the course of his
preaching. And he said many a time, real
religion is a personal thing. And it is. Here we see how the
Lord comes personal. He comes to make himself known,
just as Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. This is the
promise that we have of course, when the Lord is speaking in
the course of his earthly ministry, of his going away, He must go
away, he must accomplish that great work that the Father has
given to him and it all centers ultimately in his death upon
the cross and then his resurrection and his ascension into heaven.
But he speaks, remember, of the coming of the Holy Ghost, the
blessed third person in the Trinity God, the Holy Ghost. And he comes as the Holy Ghost,
as the Spirit of Christ. And the Lord says this in the
course of those chapters that are associated with his preaching
of the Holy Ghost. I'm thinking of John, those three
chapters 14 and 15 and 16. And there in chapter 14 at verse
21 he says, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that
loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father,
and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. Judas
says unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt
manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? This isn't
Judas Iscariot, it's the other Judas. And he asks the question,
how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto
the world? He cannot understand what the
Lord is speaking of. He is thinking only in terms
of some bodily manifestation. There was the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was in their midst. They could see him, but not only
was he witnessed by the disciples, there were others who saw him.
Others whom he was manifested to when he was a man here upon
the earth. He is speaking of something different
to his physical presence. He goes on to say in that chapter,
yet a little while and the world seeth me no more, yet ye see
me, he says to the disciples. The world seeth me no more, yet
ye see me after his resurrection. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
revealed himself only to his disciples. He made himself known
to those chosen men. who were to be the witnesses
of his resurrection from the dead. Look at what we're told
there in the 10th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Here
is Peter preaching in the house of Cornelius. And what do we
read in Acts chapter 10 at verse 40? Peter says concerning Christ
him, as God raised up the third day and showed him openly not
to all the people but unto witnesses chosen before of God even to
us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. He manifested himself in that
glorified risen body only to the disciples and they knew it
was a real body because he did eat and drink with them after
he rose from the dead. And then, of course, remember
how it is the Apostle Paul who speaks so clearly of these things
when he writes in that 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians. In verse 4
he says he was buried, and he rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas. Then of the
twelve, after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren
at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present.
but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James,
then of the apostles, and last of all he was seen of me also
as of one born out of due time." Those are the ones that the Lord
was pleased to manifest himself to. They were the ones who were
to bear testament to the truth of his resurrection. The world
would see him no more What He says recently, they saw Him.
He manifests Himself, He reveals Himself unto His disciples. And what is that revelation?
Oh friends, is it not really a spiritual revelation? It comes,
that spiritual revelation, to all those who are the Lord. Christ is pleased to come to
make Himself known unto His people. Again, there in John chapter
14, He speaks of the ministry of
the Holy Spirit. Verse 16, I will pray the Father, He shall give
you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, even
the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because
it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him. For He
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you
comfortless. I will come to you, He says.
How does the Lord come to His people? He comes thereby and
through that gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit. It was Christ
who shed abroad the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. He comes
as the Spirit of Christ. He takes of the things of Christ.
He reveals the things of Christ. Here is Joseph, you see. There
stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And I say again, friends, The
Lord Jesus Christ is made known unto his brethren, he manifests
himself. They know that blessed revelation
and it is a spiritual revelation. It's not something that they
see with the natural eye. It's not that we're saying we
have to have some vision of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's that
that takes place in the soul of a man. As Paul says, when
he pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. When God calls
by His grace, when there is that work of the Holy Ghost, that
effectual call, As the Gospel is preached, of course, there
is that sense in which there's a general call. There's a preaching
to all and sundry. But we know how the Spirit comes
and He makes that word efficacious in the soul of the sinner. And
the sinner hears the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ and he
is constrained. He's made willing in the day
of Christ's power and there is that revelation in a man's soul.
The Lord is pleased to make Himself known. as one who is truly the
Savior of sinners. But what else do we see? As we
consider the event that's recorded here in the Old Testament, do
we not see that this is in many ways a fearful thing? It's a fearful thing, this revelation. Look at verse 3. Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph. Does my father yet live? And
his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at
his presence. They were troubled, the margin
says, they were terrified. They were terrified at his presence. And what a remarkable thing it
is, friends, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes and makes himself
known to a sinner. Does he not make the sinner to
tremble. All these men, these who were
the physical brethren of Joseph, they were afraid at his presence. They knew that they had done
much wrong to this man and so they are conscious stricken now
as he reveals himself and he is a man of course under authority.
He is a man who has tremendous authority and power. and had
they not been accused before him, had been accused of coming
to spy out the land back in chapter 42 and there at verse 14 we see
that that was the charge that was laid against them, but there
in chapter 42 Verse 19, we see how Joseph speaks
to them, "'If ye be true men,' he says, "'let one of your brethren
be bound in the house of your prison. "'Go ye, carry corn for
the famine of your house, "'but bring your youngest brother unto
me. "'So shall your words be verified,
and ye shall not die.' "'And they did so.'" Verse 21, "'They
said one to another, "'We are verily guilted.'" concerning
our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought
us, and we would not hear. Therefore is this distress come
upon us." At that time they didn't know this was Joseph. But they
are conscious, you see, of what they had done, the wicked deed
that they had performed. And now this man, who has made
this awful accusation that they're spies, he is revealing himself
to be Joseph. No wonder then. that they are
so afraid, so terrified before him. And yet, how does he speak
to them? Verse 5, he says, Be not grieved
nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither, for God did
send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath
the famine been in the land, and yet there are five years
in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God
sent me before you to preserve your posterity in the earth and
to save your lives by a great deliverance." Remarkable works.
Remember again now, at the end of the chapter, at the end of
the book rather, when Jacob has died, they're afraid again, they
think that now Joseph will take his revenge upon them. In chapter 50 verse 15, when
Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph's
will peradventure hate us, and will certainly quite us all the
evil which we did unto him. What does Joseph say? Verse 19,
fear not. Fear not. For am I in the place
of God, but as for you, ye thought evil against me. But God meant
it unto goods, to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much
people alive. Therefore, now therefore, fear
ye not. I will nourish you and your little
ones, and be comforted them, and stay kindly unto them." What
a man! What a remarkable man is this.
He is a type, I say, of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I've said,
when Christ is pleased to come and reveal himself, make himself
known, manifest himself in the soul of the sinner, is it not
a terrible experience? In a sense, it's a terrifying
thing when the Lord comes in such a fashion as that, when
the sinner is made to see something of the glory. of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we see it, do we not, in
the experiences of the Lord's own disciples? In Luke chapter
5, for example, where we have the record of a miracle, the
great draft of fish that the disciples, those men who were
experienced fishermen, that was their trade, they fished in the
Sea of Galilee before they were called by the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there in chapter 5 of Luke we see they've been laboring
all day and they've taken nothing and then the Lord appears and
tells them to cast their nets on the other side of the ship
and they take a remarkable draught of fish and the vessel begins
to sink and Peter sees the significance of it and we're told when Peter
saw it he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, Depart from me
For I am a sinful man, O Lord." For he was astonished. And all
that were with him at the draught of the fishes which they had
taken. They were all amazed. The language
of Peter, remarkable. Christ has revealed himself and
what does Peter say depart from it? Oh, it's too much, you see. Too much that this man, this
Jesus of Nazareth, who is God, manifest in the flesh, should
come and manifest to me something of his glory. Oh, do we not see
the same in the experience of the beloved Apostle John, when
there we see him in the opening chapter of the Revelation, exiled
on the Isle of Patmos. And it's the Lord's day. And
we're told that he's in the Spirit and the Lord comes. And the Lord
reveals himself to John, and John says, when I saw him, I
fell at his feet as dead. It's overwhelming, isn't it?
It's a terrible thing, I say. For the Lord to come to any man,
for the Lord to manifest himself to a sinful man. And here is
John, the beloved apostle. When I saw him, I fell at his
feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon
me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore,
and have the keys of hell and of death. For when the Lord comes,
friends, it is fearful, is it not? But what a mark of grace! If we are those who are troubled
with the sense of our sins, in the presence of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We see our sin, I trust, in the
light of God's holy and righteous and just law. We see that we're those who are
the transgressors of those commandments which God has given. We cannot
measure up to that mark. By the law we're told is the
knowledge of sin. Oh, but do we not see something
more in the light of those sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ? Job
can say, therefore am I troubled at his presence when I consider
I am afraid of him. For God maketh my heart soft
and the Almighty troubleth me. When God comes in the Gospel
sense to soften our heart, that's a New Testament promise, a New
Covenant promise. God says, I will give them a
new heart. He'll take away the stony heart. Oh, but when God
comes to Job, and softens his heart, how he's troubled, how
he's terrified. Again, the language of the prophet
Zechariah, remember there in that twelfth chapter, they shall
look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him,
as one mourners for his only son, and shall be in bitterness
for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Oh, to see
Christ, and to see what sin has cost the Lord Jesus
Christ in the way of His sufferings, as He so readily bore that dreadful
penalty that was the sinner's deserve. And He goes willingly
and voluntarily to that cross, and all the sins of His people
laid upon Him, and He makes a great atoning sacrifice. He bears in
His own person all the wrath of God to see these things, with
spiritual eyes. All law and terrors do but harden,
all the while they work alone, but a sense of blood-bought pardon
soon dissolves the heart of stone. It should melt our eyes to tears,
should it not, to see what it is when the Lord Jesus comes
to make Himself known, and He manifests Himself as the Savior,
that's what He is. That's what His very name declares.
It is Jesus. And He shall save His people
from their sins. But I say, friends, that the
revelation, it is terrible to behold. As we see here in the
type. I am Joseph, he says, doth my
father yet live? And his brethren could not answer
him, for they were troubled. they were terrified at his presence. We see then here the wonder of
the revelation, the manifestation, Joseph making himself known to
his brethren, directing us to what the Lord does when he comes
to reveal himself in the soul of the sinner. And how fearful
is the experience But I want to conclude on this note that
what we see here is gospel, and it's the great gospel feast,
is it not? Look at what the man Joseph goes
on to say. We've read it already, of course,
in the public reading, but in the course of preaching, verse
6, he says, These two years of the famine been in the land,
and yet there are five years in the which there shall neither
be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to
preserve your posterity in the earth and to save your lives
by a great deliverance. Oh, what a provision is made!
There have been two years of great dearth. No crops. There's going to be another five
years, seven years in total. And yet, there's a great deliverance.
And it's all in the hands of this man, Joseph. We go back
to chapter 41 and there, at the end of that long chapter, chapter
41 verse 56, the famine was over all the face of the earth. And
Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold unto the Egyptians,
and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries
came into Egypt to Joseph, for to buy corn, because that the
famine was sore in all the land." You see, it is this man Joseph
who has the provision And He can make provision for all that
come, not only the Egyptians, all the lands about. They come
to buy corn of Joseph. And of course it's here that
we see that the antitype, the Lord Jesus Christ, is more glorious
in the time. That should not surprise us.
The glory is in the antitype. The Lord Jesus Christ in the
Gospel, He makes provision but he does not come to sell salvation
to sinners. Men do not have to come to him
that they might buy salvation from him. How this great salvation
is bestowed so freely. It is all together without money
and without price. That's the language of the gospel,
is it not? Isaiah 51, O everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, ye come,
buy wine and milk, without money, and without price. Wherefore
do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour
for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. or the freeness, the freeness
of that salvation that He set before us here in the Gospel.
We don't have to come, you see, to barter, to buy. The Lord bestows
salvation so freely. This is the great feast of the
Gospel. Almost the very last words of
Holy Scripture there in Revelation chapter 22, we are told, the
Spirit and the Bride say come. and let him that heareth say
come, and let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will, let
him take of the water of life freely. What a gospel word, friends. Why that text, is he not full
of gospel words? The word is repeated, come, come,
come at that great concluding verse freely. They take of the
water of life freely. This is the Gospel for this.
And I say, in some small measure, we see it here in the activity
of this man, Joseph, who is such a remarkable type. In chapter
47 and verse 12, Joseph nourished his father and his brethren and
all his father's household with bread according to their families. Oh, He nourished and He fed them.
It is, I say, that great feast that God Himself has promised
that God sets before us here in the Gospel of His grace. Again, the language of the Prophet
Isaiah What does the prophet say, chapter
25 and verse 6, in this mountain? This is Zion, you see. In this
mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast
of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things, full
of marrow, of wines on the lees, well refined. All the richness,
you see, of the language that's employed, seeking to describe
to us something of what the Lord is pleased to do. For needy sinners, bankrupt sinners.
But we have nothing. We have no works of righteousness
that we've done. All our righteousness is out
of filthy rags. We're all an unclean thing. We
all fight as a leaf, our iniquities, like the wind, they carry us
away. What have we to do? We can only come as beggars.
But how the Lord is pleased to give so freely and so richly
to these poor perishing sinners. Did Joseph nourish all his father's
house? How the Lord Jesus is the one
who nourishes and feeds all his children. And do you know how
the Lord feeds them? He feeds them, does he not? He
feeds them with himself. That is the promise, is it not?
So many times we have to come to it, those words, those lovely
words that we have in the sixth chapter of John's Gospel, where
he speaks of himself as the bread of life that has come down from
heaven. Verse 53, verily, verily, he
prefixes it. with that double Amen. So be
it. So be it. Here is the truth.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life.
And I will raise him up at the last day, for my flesh is meat
indeed. and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the Living Father
hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me. How the Lord, you see, gives
Himself. What does this language mean? It means we are to feed
upon His person. were to feed upon His work, were
to feed upon the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
how the Lord nourishes His people. He gives Himself. He gives Himself. And they partake in Him of all
the richness and all the fullness of that great salvation. All
what the Gospel feasts, it is that God is pleased to set before
us. And what is it to believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, as you know, it is simply
a coming to Him. It is a coming to Him. Not coming
in a physical sense, but coming in a spiritual sense. he doesn't
manifest himself now in a physical sense he manifests himself in
a spiritual sense and we have to come spiritually and to come
spiritually is to come believing John 6.35 I am the bread of life
he that cometh to me shall never hunger he that believeth on me
shall never thirst we see it so clearly there the coming and
the believing that's one and the same thing or do but come
Come to, and look at the language here again in this 45th chapter
of Genesis concerning Joseph. Verse 4, Joseph said unto his
brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph, your
brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. But he calls them near, you see,
there's an intimacy. Oh, there's an intimacy. Friends,
we have to come near. We have to draw near to the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the Gospel. The Lord is
so different. When the Lord is given back in
Exodus, they have to fence off the mount. The children of Israel
cannot come near or touch the mount. They'll perish. The law
keeps men away. All but the Gospel, you see.
The Lord Jesus, He calls us in a near. Come near unto me is
the language of the Gospel. And how the Lord deals with us
in such an intimate fashion. He reveals Himself, He makes
Himself known. John knew it, of course. Or the
beloved disciple. How he was there leaning upon
his bosom when the Lord instituted the Holy Supper. Or that we might
know then something of the truth that He said before us. Here
is the Gospel. Here is the Gospel right at the beginning in the
book of Genesis. There stood no man with him,
while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. Amen.