My purpose is to take from the following verses some applications for ourselves that I believe will be helpful to us in the pathway into which the Lord has called us.
Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto
him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath
made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto
me, tarry not: and thou shalt dwell in the
land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto
me, thou, and thy children, and they children's
children, and thy flocks, and thy herds,
and all that thou hast: and there will I
nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine;
lest thou, and thy household, and all that
thou hast, come to poverty. And, behold, your
eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin,
that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.
And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in
Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye
shall haste and bring down my father hither.
And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck,
and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.
Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept
upon them: and after that his brethren talked
with him. Gen. 45:9-159Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not: 10And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: 11And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty. 12And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. 13And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither. 14And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him. (Genesis 45:9‑15).
GEN 45:9-159Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not: 10And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: 11And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty. 12And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. 13And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither. 14And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him. (Genesis 45:9‑15)
The first message Joseph sent to Jacob was this: "Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt." Then immediately he says, "Come down unto me, tarry not." If we are to live for the Lord's glory in this world, we need to get before our souls the present position of the Lord Jesus Christ-He is our exalted Lord. Apprehending that, everything else falls into perspective. Every provision has been made for us.
Just to know that He is Lord is not enough; God would have our souls drawn to Him. Earlier, in making himself known to his brethren, Joseph had said to them, "Come near unto me" (v. 4). Now the Lord says to us, "Come near to Me." Has the Lord Jesus Christ taken hold of your heart?
Come Near Unto Me
Do you enjoy the fact that God has exalted Him, has raised Him from the dead, set Him at His own right hand, and made Him Lord over all? If that makes your heart rejoice, how easy it will be for you to come near to Him—then you can trust Him in everything!
He is Lord of all! God has committed everything into His hands and He has made every provision for you. You need this provision because there is still a famine in the world, but there is no need to fear because we dwell by Him. We dwell in the land of Goshen, in a good land, and He has made every provision for us.
Joseph says, "And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me" (v. 10). Do you know the delight of being near to the Lord Jesus Christ? This invitation is not just for ourselves, but it is an encouragement to those of us who have families and grandchildren. He says here, "Thou, and thy children, and thy children's children." God wants our households to be blessed.
God has many things to say to us, not only as parents, but as grandparents as well. Grandparents have an important function in communicating the truth of God to their children and grandchildren.
Joseph goes on to include "thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast." Everything that we have is to be brought near to the Lord.
Everything Brought Near
That is the secret of a happy Christian life—to draw near to Him and walk with Him.
“There will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty" (v. 11). I want to be very plain in commenting on this verse. No matter how much you accumulate of this world's goods or how much you provide for your children, you are going to come to poverty unless the Lord nourishes you and your children. But if you walk in dependence on the Lord and near Him, and if you occupy yourself with His position as the Lord of all, realizing that He has purposed to sustain you through the years of famine, you will never come to poverty no matter how little you have. Closeness to Christ is our insurance against spiritual poverty.
Joseph says, "There will I nourish thee," and the Lord will nourish us. We want His nourishment for our souls, for our families and households. God delights to bless households, but this requires us to be near to the Lord Jesus. We must be occupied with His place as Lord of all. All is in His hands, and if we are walking in communion with Him and in subjection to Him, what can we fear for our households?
Think of that wise woman in Prov. 31, that woman of worth who was not afraid of the cold. A godly mother and father are not interested only in making sure their children have an education, money, clothing and things of that nature. It is nice to have them, but if our focus is on these things, we have lost the focus of the Christian life and our treasure in heaven. Our focus is to be upon our Lord in glory. Our goal for our children and grandchildren should be to see them receive a "well-done" from the Lord. We should want this first rather than that they get a prize for some achievement, although that, too, can be for the Lord's glory.
Our Focus Our Goal
I believe every parent that is in communion with the Lord will desire what is of eternal value for their children and grandchildren.
We find a lovely expression in the 13th verse, "Ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt." What an occupation! It will produce godliness, happiness and harmony in the assembly—our telling each other of the glory of God's beloved Son. God has such delight in glorifying Him, should not we have delight in speaking of His glory?
In John 20 we learn that Thomas was not present when the Lord first appeared in the midst of His brethren in resurrection. The disciples did not go to Thomas and say, "Thomas, you should have been at meeting! What were you doing?" That would have produced antagonism. We read that they said to him, "We have seen the Lord!" How that speaks to our hearts! I don't know what went on in Thomas's heart, but he was there with them the next Lord's day.
Joseph goes on to speak not only of his glory in Egypt, but also "of all that ye have seen." It is not just doctrine we want to talk about with one another, but what we have taken in and enjoyed. What has power in our hearts is what we have seen and enjoyed. It is one thing to be able to recite a creed that has all the proper words in it about the Lord's present position at the right hand of God, but it is another thing to say, "Oh, I have seen it.”
Not Just Doctrine
What affection there was in Gen. 45:14, 1514And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him. (Genesis 45:14‑15)! "He fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren." It is a precious thing when you feel the Lord's affection for you, when you feel that kiss of love.
The affection between Joseph and his brothers had an effect in Pharaoh's house too. In verse 16 it says, "The fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well." If affection is going out to the Lord Jesus and there is an enjoyment of His love, the fame of it will go out to others also. As Pharaoh's house recognized that these men were Joseph's brethren, so even unbelievers will recognize that we have been with Jesus.
“Regard not your stuff." (v. 20.) That becomes easy once we learn of the glory of God's beloved Son and have laid hold of real riches. But sometimes we contract that spiritual disease of wanting to have this, that and the other thing, and have so much regard for our stuff. Why is that? It is because we have lost sight of heavenly treasure, heavenly riches. "Thyself our treasure in a brighter sphere." The lesson we want to remember is "Regard not your stuff." It has no eternal value; it is all going to be left behind.
It is one thing to hear admonition; it is another thing to heed it. "And the children of Israel did so." I find that to be the hard part in my life, and I'm sure some of you might find it the same. Do we really do what we are exhorted to do? The children of Israel did.
Journey Homeward
“And Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them..." and this is what really touches my heart: "He gave them provision for the way.”
God has given us every provision that we need for the pathway. The Lord Jesus Christ provides all the sustenance we need for our journey homeward.
“So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way." Do we need to have this here? Yes, for the Lord knows our hearts. The bane of the Church of God from Pentecost until now has been the quarreling that goes on among those who have every provision made for their pathway. Getting our eyes off the Lord Jesus, we get to quarreling among ourselves and we fall out on the way. This is a tendency in our hearts that the Lord Jesus knows, and so He calls attention to it.
“And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, and told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive." What a wonderful thought for our souls. We also have a living Savior! Joseph is a wonderful picture of our living Savior here. "Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt." Look at Eph. 1:2222And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, (Ephesians 1:22), "[God] gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body." What a wonderful thought!
“Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not." Unbelief. Oh, what a weed it is in our hearts! It is too much for him: "And they told him all the words of Joseph." If there is a fainting heart of unbelief, what is the remedy? It's not arguing or proving things to one another.
Not Arguing
It's just the words that Joseph said to them. "He saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him." Have you seen the wonderful provision the Lord has made to carry you all the way home? When he saw that, "the spirit of Jacob their father revived.”
Do you know someone with a faint heart? If you want to encourage that one, tell him the words of Joseph, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Show him the wagons. Let him see a testimony of the Lord who has all the provisions for the pathway. It will cheer and encourage the fainting heart and revive him.
Israel says, "It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die." We are on our way to see Him. That thought should exercise our hearts. It will encourage and revive us.
R. K. Gorgas