(Gen. 45:1-8)
Hitherto Joseph has made himself strange, spoken roughly, and dealt grievously with his brethren, for there was conscience work to be done and repentance to be wrought. But love's strange work being accomplished, Joseph can no longer refrain from making himself known. Having exposed the guilt of their hearts, he must make known the love of his heart. Have they discovered the evil of their hearts, then he will disclose the yet greater grace of his heart, that, knowing all their evil, can rise above it in full, free forgiveness.
The Revelation of Joseph
Joseph must make "himself known" (v. 1). Nothing less will satisfy his heart; nothing less will give rest to their hearts. And this is still the way of the loving Savior with the anxious sinner. Nothing will roll away the burden of guilt but the discovery that all is fully known, and fully forgiven, by the One against whom we have sinned. The knowledge of our hearts, however necessary, will bring no rest to the soul. We may mourn over the past, and weary ourselves with our sins, but no discovery of evil in our hearts, no repentance, however real, no sorrow for sin, however sincere, will bring comfort to the soul. For rest and peace Jesus must make Himself known. Then we discover with great delight that His heart is full of grace for man that is full of sin. That with the full knowledge of all our sins there is nothing but love in His heart towards us. Then we can rest but we rest in what He is and not in anything we find in ourselves. For such discoveries of His heart we must be alone with Him. Even so Joseph, before he could make himself known, has to say, "Cause every man to go out from me" (verse 1). Wonderful moment in the history of our souls when all men fade from view and we see "no man any more save Jesus only"; when alone with Him in the consciousness of our sinfulness, we discover that He knows us through and through, and yet knowing us, He loves us. The woman of Sychar finely illustrates such a moment. Alone in His presence He revealed all the sin of her heart-told her all things that ever she did-and then disclosed Himself as the Christ full of grace and truth, for a sinner full of sin. He knows all that she ever did, but, He says, "I that speak unto thee am Christ." She finds herself a sinner exposed in the presence of the Christ of God, but instead of repelling her He can say, "Come hither." He seems to say, "I know the worst about you, and though your sin has made you a lonely woman-though it makes you shrink from the company of your fellow-women—yet you are welcome to Me-Come hither."
The Reception of His Brethren
EN 45:3-4{Such ways of grace are blessedly foreshadowed in the history of Joseph. Alone with his brethren he at once declares, "I am Joseph." And as the Lord could say to the woman, "Come hither," Joseph can say to his brethren, "Come near to me" (verse 4). It is not only that Joseph is ready to forgive, but he desires the company of those he forgives. We rejoice in the grace that meets our need, but how slow to realize that the One who has removed our guilt desires our company; Christ has come near to us that we might come near to Him. When passing through this world "He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him." When He left the world, He "died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him"; and when He comes again to receive us unto Himself it is that we may forever be "with the Lord." If love makes us suited to His company, love will not be content without our company.
The Removal of Fear
Moreover, if the brethren are to be in the company of Joseph for the satisfaction of his heart, they must be there without a trace of fear, without a single regret, and without a shade of care. No regrets for the past, no fears in the present, no anxieties for the future must rise up to mar the joy of communion between Joseph and his restored brethren. With infinite skill Joseph will remove their fears, banish their regrets, and relieve their anxieties.
The Reassurance of Love
That they did fear is evident enough, for we read, "they were troubled at his presence" (verse 3). Joseph, however, draws them to himself with the cords of love; "Come near to me," he says. "And they came near." And having drawn them to himself, he seeks to remove every fear by reminding them he is still their brother, "I am Joseph your brother." He says, as it were, "I know full well how you treated me in the days that are past, you hated me, you spurned me, you sold me, but fear not, I am Joseph your brother. I know, too, that the day of my exaltation is come, and though you see me—the very one you rejected—in the place of power, fear not, for though I am supreme, I am still Joseph your brother."
The Remembrance of the Past
EN 45:5-7{Moreover, as to the past, Joseph cannot allow that any regrets should rise up to mar their enjoyment of his love. "Nov therefore," says Joseph, "be not grieved nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither" (verse 5). The sin had been confessed, and Joseph will not only forgive, but he will remove all lingering regrets and self-reproaches. He will assure them that behind their sin, yea, by means of their sin, God was working out His purposes of blessing. It is true, "You sold me hither," Joseph has to say, but he adds, "God sent me before you to save your lives by a great deliverance." Thus he delivers his brethren from occupation with themselves by engaging their thoughts and affections with himself, his glories, and the blessings that flow to them through his exaltation.
The Relief From Anxiety
EN 45:10{Then as to the future no care or anxiety need cloud their horizon, for Joseph can say, in the message he sends to his father, "Thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near to me, thou, and thy children and thy children's children, and all that thou hast, and there will I nourish thee" (v. 10).
The Realization of Love
EN 45:12-15{Thus with marvelous skill and infinite love, Joseph makes himself known to his brethren, dispels their fears, delivers them from self-occupation, and relieves them from anxiety, by filling their vision with himself and his glories, and engaging their thoughts with his gracious words. "Behold," says Joseph, "your eyes see... that it is any mouth that speaketh unto you" (v. 12). Fear dispelled, grief assuaged, cares banished, love can flow without hindrance—"He kissed all his brethren"; "and after that his brethren talked with him" (v. 15). But their eyes have seen his glories, their ears have been charmed with his words of grace, their hearts have been warmed with his love and, in the warmth of love, they are set free to talk with him. No shade remains to hinder the communion of love between Joseph and his brethren. Perfect love casts out fear. All this foreshadows the yet future dealings of Christ with His earthly people who rejected Him in the days of old. But more, the story tells us the way Christ takes to teach us the evil of our hearts, and then to dispel all fear by making Himself known in the love of His heart.
The Recalling of His Dealings
Moreover, we do well to remember that before Joseph "made himself known" to his brethren, "he made himself strange unto them" (42:7). That they might learn the evil of their hearts, he "made himself strange"; that they might learn the love of his heart, he "made himself known." Cannot many Christians recall a time in the history of their souls when Christ appeared to make Himself strange and deal roughly with them as they were left to travel through some dark valley of soul exercise, there to discover the evil of the flesh within? In such moments many a dark passage in life's history will rise up to confront the soul in all its hideousness and hatefulness, until the cry is wrung from the soul, "Behold I am vile" (Job 40:4). But even so this is not enough, for, as Job found, there is a deeper lesson to learn, and for this we must travel back outside the range of our personal experience until we reach the solemnities of the cross. There may have been plenty of evil in the lives of Joseph's brethren, but if they are to learn the depth of evil in their hearts, they must go back over twenty years of history to recall their treatment of Joseph, when in the face of his love as a brother, they hated him, cast him into a pit, and sold him into Egypt. So with ourselves. Truly, we have to learn that in the flesh is no good tiling- that it is irremediably bad—we must go to the cross. At the cross there was the display of perfect goodness in God and perfect goodness in a Man—the Man Christ Jesus. At the cross, grace and love, and goodness shone out in all their splendor. How did the flesh act in the presence of perfect goodness? It utterly refused the One in whom goodness was displayed. It rejected Him, spat in His face, mocked Him with a crown of thorns, nailed Him to a cross, and cast Him out of the world. Every one of us was represented at the cross, for every class of man was there, religious and godless, educated and ignorant, refined and rough, all were there, and all rejected the Christ of God. Each can say, "There I see my flesh—myself—brought face to face with perfect goodness, and without hesitation my flesh—whatever form it takes—declares its utter hatred of goodness." As one has said, "The sight of a rejected Christ has discovered myself to myself, the deepest recesses of my heart are laid bare, and self, horrible self, is there." Learning the flesh experimentally, I discover its lusts and covetousness, its pride and vanity. In a word, I discover by bitter experience that the flesh loves evil. But when I come to the cross I learn a more terrible phase of its character, for there I discover that the flesh within hates good.
The Refusal of Self
Moreover, in result, the difference is great between learning the character of the flesh experimentally and learning it in the light of God revealed at the cross. If I only know the flesh as I discover it in myself, I may be left with the thought that it can be improved. I may admit that it is vile—that it loves evil—but I may say, "Is it not possible to improve and reform it?" It is possible to do a great deal for man in the flesh in the way of cultivation and reformation, but in the end it is farther from God than ever. This great lesson 1 learn at the cross. There Christ was not only the song of the drunkard but the sober men - the men who sat in the gate—"speak against Him." Drunk or sober the flesh hates God, and Christ in whom God was expressed. Thus the cross proves the flesh to be irremediably bad. A man that loves sin might be improved, but a man that hates perfect goodness is beyond improvement. When we reach this point, we can say with Job, not only "I am vile," but "I abhor myself." We do not abhor a man, however vile, if he is endeavoring to overcome his evil, we rather admire such an one, but when a man is proved to be bad beyond all hope of improvement we rightly abhor him. To this Job had to come, and we, too, in the light of the cross must reach this point when we give ourselves up as hopelessly bad.
The Rest of Communion
But when like Job in his day, and the brethren of Joseph in their day, we have learned the evil of our own hearts—the utter corruption of the flesh—with what relief we turn from self to Christ, and how He delights to set us free by making Himself known in all the grace of His heart. We may well be appalled as we discover the evil of our hearts. But as Christ reveals to us His heart and tells us that He loves us, though knowing all the evil of our hearts—as He draws us to Himself and discloses to us the desire of His heart to have us in His company, as He gives us to behold His glory and to hear His voice—then the torments of fear are ended by perfect love—the love that casteth out fear—and no more the soul turns in upon itself to grieve over the evil within, the future is no longer dark with dismal forebodings, but in the consciousness of His love we can hold sweet communion with Him, after the manner of Joseph's brethren who "talked with him,"