“Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight” (Prov. 8:30).
“Behold, a voice out of the heavens saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I have found My delight” (Matt. 3:17 JND).
“Unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Heb. 1:8).
“Looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!” (John 1:36).
The Lord Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever, ever was in past eternity, is now, and forever will be the supreme Object of delight of the Father’s heart. Oh! that He may be that supreme Object of delight to each redeemed soul!
So delighted with Him is our God that He has given us four inspired accounts of His beloved Son, each shedding a different light and view of His glories—providing innumerable reasons for the delight which the Father has in the Son of His love.
But long before the gospels were completed, God’s delight in His Son was hidden in the Old Testament. Indeed, Christ is there found everywhere, for the Lord Himself has said of those Scriptures that they are they which testify of Him (John 5:39).
In the familiar and lovely story of Joseph we see pictured the glories that are fulfilled in the gospels. There, too, we find a most precious reason for searching out and finding our pleasure and occupation in learning more of the glories of Christ.
The Son of God - the Gospel of John
“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors” (Gen. 37:3).
When Moses gave instructions for building the tabernacle, specific colors and materials are mentioned—such as blue, purple, scarlet and fine twined linen. Each pictures in some way the person and work of the Christ. They present to us, we may say, His glories which we as men are capable of understanding.
But when Jacob made his beloved Joseph a coat of many colors, none of the colors are mentioned. May we not learn from this that there are glories belonging to the Son which only the Father can value—glories infinitely beyond our finite understanding, for they speak of One who dwells in “the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:16).
What a solemn course, then, man has taken against His Creator. He who came clothed in such glories (“we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father”) was stripped of them by wicked man, and that unspeakably beautiful garment of glories was, as it were, sent back to the Father covered in the blood of His beloved Son.
In the Gospel of John we find those glories specially revealed which particularly display the eternal, only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18). What unspeakable privilege to be called to view, in worship and adoration, that One who was the Word “made flesh, and dwelt among us . . . full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
The Messiah - the Gospel of Matthew
“Israel said to Joseph . . . Come, that I may send thee. . . . And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see after the welfare of thy brethren, and after the welfare of the flock; and bring me word again” (Gen. 37:13-14 JND).
Here it is not Jacob as father sending Joseph, his beloved son, clothed in a garment displaying his delight in Joseph. It is Israel who sends Joseph, as we may say, in an official capacity and with a specific purpose—“see after the welfare of thy brethren.” Does this not remind our hearts of how the Lord Jesus is presented to us in Matthew—revealed there as the son of David. It is the Lord Jesus clothed in His official glory as the Messiah, sent by God to His beloved earthly people and sent to them to see after their welfare. What times of refreshing would they have immediately enjoyed had they received Him!
Oh! that today we would willingly and happily bow before our Lord Jesus, owning and confessing Him as Lord—Lord of our life and Lord over all (Rom. 14:11; Phil. 2:10-11)—He who has been sent to see after our welfare.
The Son of Man - the Gospel of Luke
“Joseph was brought down to Egypt. . . . And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man” (Gen. 39:12).
How humbling it must have been for dear Joseph, upon leaving the love and fellowship of his father’s house, to end as a slave in Egypt. Yet in such adverse circumstances the moral glory of Joseph shines brightly. He is called a prosperous man, whether in Potiphar’s house or Pharaoh’s prison. He maintains himself always in moral purity, fleeing from the wicked seductress who sought to entice him into sin. Indeed, in every step of Joseph’s life in Egypt as recorded by the Spirit, we see a wonderfully bright display of moral glory.
Yet illustrious as his life was, it fades to insignificance when compared with the path of the peerless Son of Man. Every step of the Lord’s life here (who came to do God’s will; Heb. 10:7) was perfectly pleasing, for He alone could say, “I do always those things that please Him” (John 8:29). What beautiful moral glories shine out of His path as Son of Man—His life the perfect example of all man should be for God! Ah! may we ever dig deeply into the treasure chest of His glories as found in the Gospel of Luke.
The Perfect Servant - the Gospel of Mark
“Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck . . . and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt” (Gen. 41:42-43).
What glories Joseph acquired by faithfulness to God and obedience to those he served. Here we see the display of those acquired glories—the glories of a forgotten and hidden servant (Gen. 40:14; 41:9).
How this would turn our hearts to think upon that perfect Servant who came only to carry out in perfection the will of the One who sent Him.
Unnoticed, the glories of His Person veiled, the Lord Jesus was the One who “hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him” (Isa. 53:2). Yet only this Servant could—in word and deed—say in divine perfection, “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free” (Ex. 21:5). What glories He has rightfully acquired, in His path of service here—glories that along with all others that are His will be fully displayed before wondering worlds in that day. Is not this the One of whom we read, “Behold My servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth” (Isa. 42:1).
His Glories - Seeing and Telling Them
“Ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen” (Gen. 45:13).
As we enjoy, in some little measure, the infinite glories of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us remember that there is something far more important than the delight they afford us. Think of the delight it is to the Father’s heart to hear His children tell Him of the glories they have seen in His beloved Son!
Surely we see pictured in Joseph’s command to his brethren the desire of our Saviour that we tell the Father of all that we have seen of His glory. There is no limit to His glories we see here, and all eternity will be too short to exhaust them there. May His glories cause us—with hearts of praise, full and overflowing—to be eager worshippers of the blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ed.