We’ve seen that the great theme that runs through Joseph’s life is the providence of God. We’ve considered how the doctrine of providence is a comfort in suffering, as Joseph learned as his brothers sold him into slavery and he suffered through unjust imprisonment. We’ve considered how the doctrine of providence can allow us to keep our composure when everything in us screams payback, as Joseph was able to do when his brothers unknowingly presented themselves at his mercy, and he had the motive, power and opportunity to destroy them. And today we are going to consider one more benefit to the reality of God’s providential rule of the universe - the doctrine of providence can provide for us fertile soil in which forgiveness and reconciliation can bloom.
And we have this illustrated for us in one of the most emotional scenes in scripture. Joseph, if you remember, though he did not seek immediate payback upon his brothers when they presented themselves before him, did not immediately entrust himself to them by revealing his identity to them. Instead, he tested them, allowing God opportunity to work in their lives and bring them to repentance. He waited to see if they had truly changed, truly repented. All of Joseph’s test culminated in the passage we looked at last week, when Judah - Judah of all people! - the wicked brother who would have seemed to be the least likely to have changed, Judah volunteered to stand in for his youngest brother, taking the punishment that he deserved, and in so doing demonstrated sacrificial love and even gave us a picture of the ultimate deliverer, Jesus Christ. The impact on Joseph was overwhelming:
Gen. 45:1 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.
Now imagine the scene! Through tears and wailing, Joseph finally reveals his identity to his brothers. And the brothers are terrified, “dismayed at his presence”! The Egyptian vizier, the very person holding their lives in his hand, is in fact the brother who they sought to destroy decades ago. If they feared this man before as a stranger, they had even more reason to fear him now, him whom they had betrayed and sent away. Joseph would have every earthly right to enact his revenge upon them, yet Joseph is no longer thinking like a man of the world. He is a man of God. A man who knows God. A man who knows God’s ways. A man who knows God’s providential care. And that makes all the difference in what he does next.
Gen. 45:4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. 10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 12 And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.
Wow. What grace! What forgiveness! How does a mature understanding of God’s providence provide for us fertile soil in which forgiveness and reconciliation can bloom? I see five ways:
A Mature Understanding of God’s Providence Does Not Excuse Evil
A Mature Understanding of God’s Providence Embraces The Good That God Has Accomplished From Evil
A Mature Understanding of God’s Providence Allows the Extension of Grace to Those Who Have Committed Evil
A Mature Understanding of God’s Providence Frees Us From Failures of the Past to a Future of Hope
A Mature Understanding of God’s Providence Provides the Potential for Full Reconciliation
A Mature Understanding of God’s Providence Does Not Excuse Evil
Gen. 45:4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
Recognizing that God can and does intend for good that which we intend for evil does not minimize or excuse us from the evil that we commit. We are not let off the hook, and we are not called to ignore or minimize evil.
“The point is that forgiveness does not mean you are to ignore that a wrong was done or that you deny that a sin was committed. Forgiveness does not mean that you close your eyes to moral atrocity and pretend that it didn’t hurt or that it really doesn’t matter whether or not the offending person is called to account for his/her offense. Neither are you being asked to diminish the gravity of the offense, or to tell others, “Oh, think nothing of it; it really wasn’t that big of a deal after all.” Forgiveness simply means that you determine in your heart to let God be the avenger. He is the judge, not you.
Often we refuse to forgive others because we mistakenly think that to do so is to minimize their sin. “And that’s not fair! He really hurt me. If I forgive, who’s going to care for me and take up my cause and nurse my wounds?” God is. We must never buy into the lie that to forgive means that sin is being whitewashed or ignored or that the perpetrator is not being held accountable for his/her actions. It simply means we consciously choose to let God be the one who determines the appropriate course of action in dealing justly with the offending person.” - Sam Storm
One cannot come to God unless we confess our sins. To confess sin is to agree with God that our wicked actions, thoughts and desires are indeed wicked. Not minimizing their wickedness, but understanding, acknowledging and agreeing with God that our sin was so wicked that they were the cause of Jesus’ death.
A Mature Understanding of God’s Providence Embraces The Good That God Has Accomplished From Evil. Look at how Joseph focuses on the positive of what God has done. He knows that his suffering was purposeful and it was itself part of God’s providential plan.
5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
A mature understanding of God’s providence can allow us to forgive others because we can see how God uses evil even for good. It also can help us to understand how God can forgive the evil in our own past, that we’ve committed against him. Through every danger, toil, and snare, God has brought you to this place. The crazy part is that we’ve all known many people who were broken, broken, broken, before God used their brokenness to bring them to himself.
A Mature Understanding of God’s Providence Allows the Extension of Grace to Those Who Have Committed Evil. It is clear that Joseph has already forgiven the brothers, and he has forgiven them with such grace and compassion that he comforts them with such encouragement, telling them not to be distressed or even to be angry with themselves.
5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here.
What words of grace and encouragement! This is really important not only for us when we are in the place of forgiving others, that we might extend such kind and reassuring words to those who have hurt us, but this is really important even in dealing with our own sin before God. Ongoing guilt and condemnation.
A Mature Understanding of God’s Providence Frees Us From Failures of the Past to a Future of Hope. It is amazing to me how Joseph, who as I said before, could have only had the slimmest hope that his brothers would have repented, nevertheless, is immediately ready to move on into the future with his brothers. He’s got a plan all ready!
9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. 10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 12 And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.”
Because he has seen what God has done, is doing, Joseph is able to leave the failures of his brothers in the past and move immediately into planning for the future.
Phil. 3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
A Mature Understanding of God’s Providence Provides the Potential for Full Reconciliation Here is the emotional picture of full reconciliation, weeping, embracing, communicating:
14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.
This is a picture of reconciliation. I Met Victor Ndihokubwayo, on Tuesday night. Victor is one of our speakers for Dig and Delve. Victor was born and raised in Rwanda. He arrived in Ottawa in 1995 as a refugee, he told us some amazing stories about how he keep his faith through unbelievable suffering. In one moving story he spoke of how the men came to his house to kill his family, but how his father gathered the family together and they prayed and miraculously, the people left without killing them, and how his family rejoiced that they saw a miracle! They wept and rejoiced and praised God. Yet the next day, his neighbour, his best friend, was slaughtered by the same men. What would that do to your faith? Yet Victor said that even at tat young age, he had learned that nothing God did was random or unplanned, but that He has a purpose in all he does. This mature view of providence transforms our view of suffering.
Afterward he told me that when he was in the refugee camp, he noticed a man begging, like going from person to person asking for food. From a distance he could see that this man was on the brink of starvation, yet no one was giving him so much as a crumb or drink of water. As the man approached him Victor’s heart went into his through. He recognized the man as the one who had murdered his best friend. I could see that even many years later Victor still was emotionally back in that moment. What could I do? He asked me. I did the only think I could do. I took my daily ration of bread, and gave it to him. That’s grace. That’s forgiveness.
But it’s not reconciliation. Reconciliation is making enemies friends. It’s another man, a guy who went to my seminary - Sokreaksa Himm. His family was murdered in another genocide. Cambodia - the killing fields. Sokreaksa also came to Canada as a refugee. It was in Canada that he first heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, about how God sent Jesus into the wolf dot make his enemies his friends. Sokreaksa felt a call on his life to go into ministry, and enrolled in Providence a few years before me. He thought he’d be a pastor. Yet while he was at seminary, the Holy Spirit spoke to him, I don’t know how, whether it was a vision or a prompting or a nagging idea that just wouldn’t go away, but God told him to go back to Cambodia and find the men who murdered his family. So he goes to Cambodia and spends months hunting them down, and amazingly, he is able to learn who killed his family and where they are, and he corners them in the back room of a bar or some sort of establishment. They are terrified as he reveals himself to them. “My name is Sokreaksa Himm. Many years ago, you killed my entire family.” Now these guys are beside themselves, thinking that he is going to kill them. Nothing could have prepared them for his next words, “God sent me here to tell you, that I forgive you. I have found such forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and I forgive you.” And he embraced them, and wept, and shared the gospel to them, and was able our time to lead at least a few of them to the Lord. He still works with them in Cambodia. Together they started an international ministry called the Forgiveness Project where they bring the hope of forgiveness through the gospel of Christ into countries that have been torn apart by violence.
If you ask me what difference does the Christian life make - what real relevance is the Christian faith to the world, I’d probably point to the experience of reconciliation as the number one testament to the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ can truly make enemies friends.