God’s Plan – part 2
Genesis 45:16 – 46:27
April 12, 2015
I realize it’s been a couple of weeks since we were in Genesis,
Having taken a week to celebrate Easter.
However I want to quickly pull your mind
Back to this incredible journey Moses is taking us on.
It is “The Gospel According to Moses”
• Adam taught us the dangers of sin (that we should avoid it)
• Noah taught us the inevitability of judgment (that we should escape it)
• Abraham taught us the possibility of salvation (that we should seek it)
• Jacob taught us the necessity of sanctification (that we should accept it)
• Joseph is teaching us the reality of providence (that we should trust it)
God has a plan
God fulfills His plan
And many times God does so in ways that we would have never expected.
And that is certainly true in the life of Joseph.
If you will remember, the end of Genesis is about the salvation of Israel.
Specifically it is about the salvation of Judah,
Since it is through Judah that Jesus Christ will be born.
The means through which God has set out to save Judah
Has been interesting to say the least.
• Make Joseph’s brothers jealous of Joseph
• Cause them to sell Joseph to Egypt
• Have Joseph purchased by a man with an unfaithful wife
• Have that wife try and seduce Joseph
• Have Joseph resist, infuriate the wife, be falsely accused and imprisoned
• Have Joseph encounter two servants of Pharaoh in prison
• Let Joseph sit in prison until one of those servants remembers Joseph before Pharaoh
• Have Joseph devise the plan to save Egypt
• Have Joseph promoted to second in command in Egypt
• Send a famine in Canaan
• Cause Joseph’s brothers to seek out food in Egypt
• Use Joseph to test his brothers and lead them to repentance
• Use Joseph to save his family
It really is a story you have to see to believe.
It is the mind-boggling wisdom of God.
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Or as Paul said in Romans:
Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”
God is up to things that we just can’t fathom.
It was God’s plan to save Israel from famine.
It was God’s plan to save Israel from annihilation in Canaan.
God’s objective is to move Israel into Egypt.
No, Egypt is not the Promised Land, and it is not the inheritance.
• But right now Israel is too small to possess that land.
• Furthermore we have already seen through Esau and Judah the
propensity for Israel to intermarry with the Canaanites.
The objective is to move Israel to a land where
They can maintain their national identity and purity
While also populating into a nation great enough
To inhabit the land of promise.
God’s plan is to move them to Egypt.
Egypt will literally be the incubator where God will grow a nation.
That is evident in the fact that they were 70 when they entered
And like the sand of the seashore when they left.
This is God’s plan
And Genesis 45 & 46 finally reveal that plan to us.
We really already looked at what could have been considered
THE FIRST POINT two weeks ago in looking at Joseph.
We could have called the first stage of that plan:
THE SENDING OF JOSEPH
And Joseph reiterated that reality to his brothers
When he finally disclosed his identity to them.
READ: Genesis 45:4-15
That was the first leg of the plan.
Joseph realized that it had all been God’s doing.
(8) “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God;”
All the suffering, all the adversity, all the hardships were the means
Through which God was using Joseph to save his family.
God sent Joseph to Egypt to pave the way for the rest of his family.
This morning we continue looking at this plan of God.
The Sending of Joseph was just part of what God was doing.
This morning let me show you what else God was doing.
And I think you’ll find that God’s fingerprints are all over this story.
Hopefully it will help you to see God’s fingerprints all over your story as well.
4 additional areas where we clear see God at work.
#1 THE SOFTENING OF PHARAOH
Genesis 45:16-23
This is a very unique part of the story.
First I just want you to recognize the extreme generosity and favor
That Pharaoh is demonstrating toward Joseph and his family.
(16) “it pleased Pharaoh”
(18) “take your father and your households and come to me”
(18) “I will give you the best of the land of Egypt”
(19) “take wagons from the land of Egypt”
(20) “the best of all the land of Egypt is yours”
And look at what Pharaoh sent with Joseph’s brothers
(21) “wagons” & “provisions for the journey”
(22) “changes of garments” – (5 to Benjamin)
(23) “ten donkeys loaded…ten female donkeys loaded”
Understand that Joseph personally owned nothing.
He started out in Egypt as a slave and was still a servant of Pharaoh.
All that Joseph gave his brothers was really from Pharaoh.
Pharaoh is being generous beyond understanding.
DOES THIS SEEM STRANGE TO YOU?
It should.
We already know that Hebrews are loathsome to Egyptians.
Genesis 43:32 “So they served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is loathsome to the Egyptians.”
We will soon learn that shepherds are loathsome to Egyptians.
Genesis 46:33-34 “When Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ that you may live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is loathsome to the Egyptians.”
Furthermore we know Egypt is not in the best of economic conditions.
Genesis 47:11-13 “So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered. Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to their little ones. Now there was no food in all the land, because the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.”
And so the fact that Pharaoh would take the best from Egypt
(a nation that is struggling)
And give it all to a people they hate
Who maintain an occupation they can’t stand…This is bizarre!
It would be like the United States sending 1 billion dollars to aid members of Al Qaeda so that they could relocate here.
What Pharaoh is doing doesn’t make sense.
WHY IS HE DOING IT?
By now you should know the answer.
HE ISN’T – GOD IS.
This is another demonstration of the providence of God.
God has softened Pharaoh’s heart in order to bring Israel into Egypt.
I hope are already putting 2&2 together
To see the similarities that will occur in 450 years.
Today He will soften Pharaoh’s heart to bring Israel in.
Later He will harden Pharaoh’s heart to send Israel out.
Today He is causing Egypt to pay Israel to arrive.
Later He will cause Egypt to pay Israel to leave.
Today He uses a man who entered Pharaoh’s house to bring them in.
Later He will use a man who abandoned Pharaoh’s house to lead them out.
It is all a part of the Providence of God.
It is all a part of God’s plan.
His fingerprints are all over the story.
He has worked to send Joseph to Egypt, and now He has softened Pharaoh’s heart to offer his nation as a shelter for Israel.
It really is quite remarkable.
The Sending of Joseph, The Softening of Pharaoh
#2 THE SENTIMENT OF JACOB
Genesis 45:24-28
Again we have an important picture.
Joseph’s brothers go back to Jacob to convince him to return to Egypt.
So Joseph’s brothers are loaded with goods (it will prove significant)
And Joseph gives them some advice.
(24) “So he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the journey.”
I know that sounds like a peculiar statement.
So Joseph just wanted his brothers to all get along?
Well, I’m sure he did, but it really is more than that.
“quarrel” translates RAGAZ in the Hebrew.
It can mean to “quarrel” or to be “irritated”
It can also mean “to tremble”
2 Samuel 7:10 “I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly,”
Deuteronomy 2:25 “This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under the heavens, who, when they hear the report of you, will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”
Psalms 99:1 “The LORD reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake!”
I don’t think Joseph wants his brothers not to fight,
I think he wants his brothers not to be afraid.
WHY WOULD THEY?
Well, this isn’t the first time he’s sent them away.
• And each of the previous two times they were perplexed, both by the money in
their sack and then by the fact that Benjamin had Joseph’s cup.
I don’t think it’s far-fetched to say that
It is possible that Joseph’s brothers
Might have wondered if this wasn’t another trick.
Joseph here assures them that it is not.
Don’t tremble, don’t be afraid, this isn’t a trick – go get my father.
Well, that is a simple enough command,
But don’t assume it will be easy to enforce.
Jacob is old, and Jacob already spent
Many years outside of the land of promise.
Convincing Jacob to just up and leave the Promised Land
May turn out to be a very difficult task.
But you will see that Jacob’s boys
Won’t even have to try and convince him.
JACOB WILL WANT TO GO.
READ (25-28)
God put a desire in Jacob’s heart to cause him to want to come to Egypt.
And listen, God does this sort of thing.
Psalms 37:4 “Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.”
Molding a man’s desires is one of the very unique ways
That God orchestrates His providential guidance.
I recall my own calling to preach.
• After I was saved, I started having a strong desire to preach, but knew it is not
something you do just because you want to.
• In fact, even amidst God’s call, I wouldn’t do it, simply because I wanted to do
it so badly (sounds backward I know)
Until I read 1 Timothy
1 Timothy 3:1 “It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.”
For the first time I realized that desiring to be a preacher was ok.
It is like God said, “Well where do you think that desire came from anyway?”
God put His Spirit in me.
The Spirit manifested the gift of preaching in me.
And God accompanied that gift/calling with the desire to do it.
It was all part of God’s providential plan.
Now, granted following your desires can be a tricky thing,
After all, we all have the flesh that most certainly does not
Desire the things of God.
The flesh, along with its desires, must be crucified.
However,
• If you are genuinely seeking the will of God…
• If you are crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires…
• If you only want God’s will in your life…
Then pay attention to your desires,
For God orchestrates those according to His purposes.
To you, going to Africa might be the worst thing imaginable,
But to many in here, it is what they desire.
To you, preaching a sermon might be the scariest thing in the world,
But I’m miserable if I don’t get to.
And I promise God has placed desires on your heart that I want no part of.
The point is that God guides us even with our desires,
And that is what He is doing here with Jacob.
God took an old man at the end of his life
And caused him to want to move to Egypt.
That is the Providential hand of God to fulfill His plan.
The Sending of Joseph, the Softening of Pharaoh, the Sentiment of Jacob
#3 THE SURETY OF HIS WORD
Genesis 46:1-4
This one is probably the most obvious to you,
As we all understand the importance of God speaking through His word.
We certainly look at outward circumstances like Joseph and Pharaoh.
We may even look at our desires like Jacob,
But ultimately we want to know if all of those things
Line up with God’s word.
And this is a good reminder.
If circumstances say yes and your desires say yes,
But God’s word says “No”, then the answer is no.
God’s word trumps them all.
But when God’s providential guidance is involved,
The circumstances, the desires, and His word
All work in perfect harmony as you see here.
SEE IT HERE
• Jacob wants to go to Egypt.
• He actually wants to leave the land of promise to see his son.
• However, Jacob is smart enough to know that he had better make sure that this is ok with God.
• So Jacob does not saddle up his donkey and go straight to Egypt.
• Jacob heads straight for Beersheba.
This is obvious practical application.
Always test your thoughts and desires by God’s revealed will.
And God will confirm His plan to Jacob.
READ (2-4)
And notice how God answered what must have been
The most burdensome issues on Jacob’s mind.
Jacob would have had natural fear and anxiety about traveling there.
However God assures Jacob that He has A CERTAIN PURPOSE.
(3) “He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.”
God actually revealed to Jacob that the desire he had to go
Was a God-given desire. Jacob should not fear going.
Furthermore, God revealed to Jacob that there was purpose in it.
• It would be in Egypt where God would make Jacob into a great nation.
• It would be in Egypt where God would multiply and grow them into the people
they needed to become.
Secondly God promises Jacob HIS CONTINUAL PRESENCE
(4) “I will go down with you Egypt”
And that is obviously huge.
You won’t be traveling there in spite of Me, or without Me.
God confirmed to Jacob that he would not walk there alone.
Thirdly God reminded Jacob of THE COMING DELIVERANCE
(4b) “I will surely bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes.”
Jacob may very will die in Egypt, but Israel will not stay there forever.
Jacob’s heading to Egypt would not change or nullify the promise of God
To give Abraham’s land to Abraham’s descendants.
It is confirmation from the very word of God.
Incidentally, it is consistent with what God told Abraham.
Genesis 15:12-16 “Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
This all fits perfectly together,
And you and I are able to see that this plan is God’s plan.
The circumstances fit it perfectly,
Jacob’s desire is to do it,
God’s word confirms it.
You can see how God is working His plan out to perfection.
There is one more thing that helps us to recognize that this plan is of God.
#4 THE SUCCESS OF HIS PLAN
Genesis 46:5-27
Very simply, it worked.
• All of Israel safely came to Egypt.
• They were small in number, only 70, but God brought them safely in.
• And for the next 450 years Israel would grow into a mighty nation.
• They would be preserved from intermarriage (since Hebrews are loathsome to Egyptians)
• And they would be provided for as they grow and multiply.
Strangely enough that is one of the ways that we identify God’s plan.
I heard a preacher once say,
“The best way to know the will of God is in the rear view mirror”
And I have to agree.
There have been many times in my life
That I didn’t have a clue what God was up to,
Or even what He specifically wanted,
However later down the road I could look back over the trail
And see that He worked His perfect will in and through me.
That’s one of the ways we recognize God’s plan,
We look back and see what He did.
We know it is God’s plan because it worked,
God accomplished His purposes.
Now granted, more hardship is on its way.
Slavery is coming.
And by now hopefully you are realizing that
Slavery would be the means God would use
To cause Israel to want to leave.
If your people lived in a land for 450 years (about twice as long as America has existed) wouldn’t you begin to see that land as home?
God would need a means to cause Israel to want to leave,
Slavery would be His driving force.
But the purpose for Egypt would be to multiply them into a mighty nation.
• God’s plan is to save Israel.
• God’s plan is to save Judah.
• God’s plan is to secure the lineage of the coming Messiah.
And this is the message that Moses is preaching to the children of Israel.
As they hear this sermon, they are wandering in the wilderness.
Many times they wondered if God knew what He was doing.
Moses reminds them – ABSOLUTELY!
The same God who led Joseph into Egypt
Is the same God who led you out.
And He is the same God leading you to the land of Promise.
And again we are reminded that
Though we rarely understand the plan of God,
We can always trust it.
He will see His plan accomplished
Even if He has to manipulate circumstances, change desires, and orchestrate events. HE WILL SUCCEED.
And trust me, God has been forcing Carrie and I
To practice what I preach over the last 10 days or so.
I’ll remind you again, that it is not easy
I’m reminded again that trusting God’s plan even when you can’t see it
IS NOT ALWAYS FUN.
But the story of Joseph reminds us that God always has a plan
And it is always good, so we should always trust it.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
