“What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants.” —Gen. 44:16.
SUCH were the solemn words of Judah, one of the sons of Jacob, as he and his brethren bowed before the lord of Egypt whom yet they knew not. The words were true in a way and measure beyond what he intended. He spoke of the cup found in Benjamin’s sack. God’s great controversy with them was their sin in selling Joseph and deceiving their aged father.
More than ten years had passed over their heads since the terrible crime was perpetrated, yet God had not forgotten it, nor had they. It was still fresh in their remembrance, as on the day when it was committed. On first finding themselves involved in difficulty and sorrow in Egypt their thoughts flew back to that moment. They said, “We are verily guilty 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.” (42: 21). Oh, the misery of a guilty conscience!
And God’s hand was upon them to bring it all out, for sin is abhorrent to Him. In the day they committed the sin they deliberated how they might best hide it, deceiving their father with whom they had to do about the safety of their brother. They succeeded well. Jacob cried in bitter anguish as he beheld the blood-stained coat, “It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.”
Thus they had their own way in sin. They had got rid of their hated brother, and they had so deceived their father that no suspicion fell on them. All seemed well.
But was it so? God can never be deceived. Sooner or later a reckoning day with Him must come, and how serious is that day! It was only by degrees that Jacob’s sons were made conscious that God was causing their sin to find them out. But as they became thus conscious it was also to be seen that upon their own consciences their sin had left a wound which all the soothing balm of Time could not heal.
Dear reader, you may not think your sins so serious as that of Jacob’s sons, but have you met God face to face about them? Sins you have, whoever you may be. Sins of which you cannot clear yourself. Be assured that God knows them, and one day you must stand before Him, your iniquity all found out.
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“Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” —Isa. 6:7.
God be thanked. He who finds out the iniquity is the One who takes it away A God of infinite holiness discovers the sin, for it must be judged; yet as a God of infinite grace He has found the means of glory to Himself with respect to it, and of perfect relief to the poor sinner.
What is His way? By what means can iniquity be taken away? It is alone by the sacrifice of Christ. In Isaiah’s case this was expressed in figure. When he cried before God as a sinful man one of the seraphim flew and took a burning coal from the altar and with it touched his lips, saying, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”
Upon that altar was consumed the unblemished victim offered as a burnt offering to God, a figure of the precious Saviour, the Lamb of God. The moment the man who was confessedly sinful was brought into touch with that offering of sweet savor to God his iniquity was gone. Thus the offering of the Lord Jesus, once for all, has perfectly glorified God with respect to sin, and the moment we are brought in contact with it by faith we are relieved.
In Heb. 10:12 it is said, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God.” Thus is set forth the infinite satisfaction of God in the precious offering of Jesus. Then are we brought into touch with it by faith through the testimony of the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” (Heb. 10:15, 17).
Oh, it is a blessed thing to have had to do consciously with God about our sins, so that we are enabled to say, “He found out my iniquity, and I could say nothing, and could in no way clear myself; but that, blessed be His name; He has taken away the iniquity which He found, by the one perfect offering which has glorified Him about all my sins!”
J. R.
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IT is ever God’s way to produce a sense of need in the soul before He meets it. Joseph’s storehouses were well supplied with plenteous provision for the hungry, but the doors were not thrown open till the “cry for bread” was heard.