The Downcast Saint Not Forgotten

THE DOWNCAST SAINT NOT FORGOTTEN

An Exposition of Genesis 45:16-28

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: July 21, 2024

Series: The Book of Genesis

Note: Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says:

¹⁶ When the report was heard in Pharaoh's house, “Joseph's brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. ¹⁷ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, ¹⁸ and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹ And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. ²⁰ Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

²¹ The sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. ²² To each and all of them he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five changes of clothes. ²³ To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. ²⁴ Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”

²⁵ So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. ²⁶ And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. ²⁷ But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. ²⁸ And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” (Genesis 45:16-28)

OVERVIEW OF THE PASSAGE

We will begin by walking through the passage, then we will drill down into one very important application for our walk with the Lord.

Remember the first half of Genesis 45

The first half of Genesis 45, which was part of last week’s sermon, told us about that emotionally charged moment when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. The brothers had thought that they were in real trouble with the ruler of Egypt, not knowing that their brother was the ruler of Egypt. The brothers also knew that they were in real trouble concerning their mistreatment of Joseph twenty-two years earlier, but they didn’t know that Joseph was the ruler of Egypt. And so, in the opening verses of Chapter 45, what was hidden is brought out into the open, and Joseph covers his brothers with grace. Joseph comforts his brothers and covers their sin with the good news of God’s sovereign mercy. Thus after twenty-two years of alienation, Joseph and his brothers are reunited, with the blessed man Joseph weeping upon his brothers. Going forward, the plan is for Joseph’s brothers and their families to move to the land of Egypt, where Joseph would provide for his extended family during the last five years of famine.

Pharaoh issues a generous invitation (Gen. 45:16-20)

Now coming to today’s passage, in verses 16-20 Pharaoh himself issues a generous invitation to Joseph’s brothers to relocate to Egypt. It is a testimony to the high esteem in which Pharaoh held Joseph, that “Pharaoh and his servants” were pleased with the report that Joseph’s brothers had come (v. 16), and that Pharaoh was so openhanded to Joseph’s extended family. Pharaoh directed Joseph what to say to his brothers, including: “come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt” (v. 18). Pharaoh authorized Egyptian wagons to be taken to Canaan in order to carry “[their] little ones” and “[their] wives” (v. 19) to Egypt. Pharaoh invited them to have no anxiety regarding their stuff because Pharaoh was giving them “the best of all the land of Egypt” (v. 20). Joseph, the faithful representative of his family, had already won Pharaoh’s goodwill and confidence, and now Pharaoh extended favor to Joseph’s entire family. Thus Joseph had Pharaoh’s blessing and authorization to treat his extended family with great generosity.

Joseph sends off his brothers (Gen. 45:21-24)

In verses 21-24, with Pharaoh’s blessing in hand, Joseph sends off his brothers with furnishings and instruction, as they will be going back to Canaan and then returning to Egypt with their entire family. Verse 21 begins by telling us that “[the] sons of Israel did so”, thus putting the emphasis on the brothers favorable response to the royal invitation that was issued to them by Pharaoh and delivered to them by Joseph.

Joseph furnished his brothers with wagons, provisions, and clothing (v. 21-22). Not surprisingly, Joseph heaped greater furnishings upon his beloved brother Benjamin: the same Benjamin who had been given “five times as much” food (Genesis 43:34) at the meal in Genesis 43, now received “five changes of clothes” and “three hundred shekels of silver” (v. 22), which amounts to over seven pounds of silver.

How much value did Joseph’s brothers and the trading company place on Joseph when the brothers sold him to the traders in Genesis 37? Joseph was sold “for twenty shekels of silver” (Genesis 37:28). How much value did Joseph place on Benjamin? I’m sure Benjamin was of incalculable value, but in terms of the gift of three hundred shekels of silver, that is fifteen times greater than the sale price of Joseph. Let the father’s beloved son be treated as a prince (three hundred shekels of silver), and not as a slave (twenty shekels of silver). How much value did the religious leaders and Judas place on Jesus when the religious leaders paid Judas to betray Jesus to them? Judas was paid thirty pieces of silver. How much value does Jesus place on you, dear Christian? An incalculable amount, for “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

Joseph also sent a very special present for his father: “ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey” (v. 23). The journey referred to at the end of verse 23 is the journey that his father would soon be taking from Canaan to Egypt.

Joseph wants his brothers to abide in God’s grace

Having furnished them with all these things, “he [Joseph] sent his brothers away” (v. 24). As these brothers were departing, Joseph gave them a very important word of instruction: “Do not quarrel on the way.” At least that is how the English Standard Version translates the phrase, but I’m not sure that “quarrel” is the best translation. The dictionary definition of the Hebrew word is actually “to be agitated, quiver, quake, be excited, perturbed”.[1] Taking the word in a straightforward manner, Joseph isn’t telling his brothers not to argue with each other, but rather not to be weighed down with fear. Of course, not arguing may well be the fruit of not being weighed down with fear. But the emphasis is on the calmness and steadfastness of their own hearts.

That Joseph would instruct his brothers not to be anxious, makes a lot of sense in view of the context. In Genesis 42, in terms of their first visit to Egypt, the brothers were distressed (Gen. 42:21), “their hearts failed them” (Gen. 42:28), they trembled with fear (Gen. 42:28), and “they were afraid” (Gen. 42:35). Then in Genesis 43-45, in terms of their second visit to Egypt, they were afraid (Gen. 43:18), “they tore their clothes” horrified at Benjamin’s apparent guilt (Gen. 44:13), “they were dismayed at [Joseph’s] presence” (Gen. 45:3), and Joseph had counseled them to “not be distressed or angry with [themselves]” on account of their guilt (Gen. 45:5). These brothers’ skeleton in the closet had been exposed; their sin had been uncovered; and their false narrative that Joseph was dead had been blown out of the water. Now their young brother Benjamin, who hadn’t participated in the sin against Joseph, knew what wicked men his older brothers had been. Now these older brothers had to face their father, who would probably be curious about the rest of the story when he learned that Joseph hadn’t been devoured by a wild animal after all. Even though Joseph had conveyed grace to his brothers, Joseph perceived that they would be tempted to be overwhelmed by these things. But Joseph really wants them to live in the good of God’s grace. So he counsels them: Do not be afraid. Do not be dismayed or distressed. Do not be upset or agitated. Do not be anxious and fearful. And if they abide in God’s grace and in Joseph’s kindness, then they will be free of the temptation to blame one another or shame one another. No need for Reuben to keep saying, ‘I told you so!’ No need for Benjamin to demand apologies and acts of penance. You should not try to fix what God has already made right. Let sovereign grace rule your restless hearts. Don’t beat yourself up for your own failures or berate others for their failures. Stand firm in the grace that you don’t deserve. Walk together in faith, hope, and love, and leave fear, dismay, and finger-pointing far behind.

The brothers bear glad tidings to their father (Gen. 45:25-28)

In verses 16-20, Pharaoh issued the great invitation to Joseph, for Joseph to declare to his brothers. In verses 21-24, Joseph presented that great invitation to his brothers and prepared them for their journey. Now in verses 25-28, the brothers return to Canaan and bring good news of great joy to their father. In a remarkable turn of events, no thanks to the brothers themselves, the brothers finally get to be bearers of glad tidings to their father.

In Genesis 37, the brothers bore bad news to their father: Joseph is gone. In Genesis 42, the brothers also bore bad news to their father: Simeon is gone. And in Genesis 42-43, they had to bear additional bad news: they cannot return to Egypt unless Benjamin goes with them, and Jacob did not want to part with Benjamin. Joseph gone. Simeon gone. Benjamin will be gone. Bad news. Bad news. Bad news. To make matters worse, Jacob had faulted his sons for all this bad news (Gen. 42:36, 43:6). With this in the background, how remarkable it is that these brothers actually get to bear the most wonderful news to their father. Even before they utter the good news, Jacob would have seen good news – that is, Jacob would have seen Benjamin and Simeon. And then he got to hear wildly unexpected good news: “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” (v. 26a) Jacob’s initial response was dumbstruck disbelief (v. 26b), but once he got his bearings and was told “all the words of Joseph” and “saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him”, Jacob believed the good news (v. 27). Jacob was revitalized in his spirit (v. 27) as he began to cherish the good news: “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive.” (v. 28) The translation “It is enough” might understate Jacob’s outlook at this point. The Hebrew word rab, which is translated enough, literally means “much, many, great”.[2] With the good news about Joseph before him, with Joseph’s words and promises in his ears and heart, with all of his other sons with him, and with all of the wagons and provisions set before him, the revived Jacob is no longer thinking in terms of little (as when he had said to his sons, “Go again, buy us a little food”, Gen. 43:2), but now he sees in terms of the abundance that the Lord has put into his lap. It is much! The blessings are many! Jacob’s soul waxed great again! Now he was ready to make the final trip of his earthly life: “I will go and see him [Joseph] before I die.” (v. 28)

AN IMPORTANT LESSON: DOWNCAST SAINTS ARE NOT FORGOTTEN

How glorious the phrase at the end of verse 27: “the spirit of their father Jacob revived.” Now as we turn to application, I’d like to drill down into this phrase and reflect on it for our spiritual profit. It is my hope that the wonderful reality of these words and the painful reality behind these words will help you and encourage you to hold on. I titled this sermon: “The Downcast Saint Not Forgotten”. Although the downcast saint in view is Jacob, in terms of application, the downcast saint might be you. Downcast saints are not forgotten. Let’s walk through this concept one part at a time.

Jacob the saint

First, Jacob was a saint. I’m not using the word ‘saint’ in a Roman Catholic sense to refer to a remarkable person who gets canonized by the church after death. That is a Roman Catholic concept, not a biblical concept. I am using the word ‘saint’ in a biblical sense: Jacob belonged to God. The holy God set Jacob apart for Himself and for His own holy purpose. All true believers are saints, people who have been set apart by God and for God. Not all saints have the same role in God’s kingdom, but all true believers are saints who belong equally to the Lord.

Despite all his shortcomings, Jacob was chosen by God. God chose Jacob to be the heir of the covenant promises that He had previously made to Abraham and Isaac. The Lord told him: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go” (Genesis 28:15). God had blessed Jacob with twelve sons and at least one daughter, and God had made Jacob a means of blessing to Laban when Jacob lived in Haran. Although Laban mistreated Jacob, the Lord had Jacob’s back, protected him, and brought him back to the land of Canaan. In Genesis 32, Jacob stood prayerfully in God’s promise, and eventually Jacob wrestled with God and prevailed, and there in that place God blessed Jacob. Jacob knew that God had dealt graciously with him (Genesis 33:11) and that God had been with him wherever he went (Genesis 35:3). In Genesis 35, Jacob consecrated his household and worshiped the Lord. Jacob was a saint, a disciple of the Lord, a worshiper of the true God, a man who knew God and His promise, a believer who sought to honor the Lord.

Jacob the downcast saint

But Jacob was not only a saint. Jacob was a downcast saint. Not always downcast, but often downcast. Downcast, disheartened, disquieted, dispirited, distressed. Just think about the last 53 years of his life leading up to this quite unexpected moment at the end of Genesis 45.

At this moment in Genesis 45, Jacob was 130 years old. If you rewind 53 years, then you find Jacob the 77 year old man deceiving his father into giving him the blessing (Gen. 27:1-40). When Jacob deceived his father, he was stealing his father’s blessing from his brother Esau. In response, Esau hated Jacob and wanted to kill him (Gen. 27:41). So, Jacob fled far away to Haran where he spent the next twenty years of his life with his Uncle Laban (Gen. 28:10-30:43). For twenty years, from the age of 77 to 97, Jacob lived in exile and was alienated from his brother.

Moreover, his twenty years with Laban wasn’t smooth sailing. After seven years of labor, Laban tricked Jacob into marrying Leah, though the woman behind the veil was supposed to be Rachel. Jacob did get Rachel also, but only in exchange for another seven years of labor (Gen. 29:1-30). Later on, Laban cheated Jacob and kept playing financial games with him (Gen. 31:7). Finally, at God’s direction, Jacob made his escape, although an angry Laban followed Jacob in pursuit. The Lord kept Jacob safe, and Jacob and Laban made a non-aggression treaty. (Gen. 31)

Shortly thereafter Jacob had the frightening experience of reconnecting with his brother Esau after twenty years of separation. But the Lord made Jacob’s path straight, and all went well (Gen. 32-33). So, after a twenty-year exile, Jacob returned home at the age of 97 and things went okay for the next eleven years. Okay, but not perfect. Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi brought trouble on their father by unjustly massacring the Shechemites (Genesis 34). Jacob’s son Reuben committed adultery with Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine (Gen. 35:22). Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel died (Gen. 35:16-20). Even so, we may surmise that Jacob’s eleven year stretch from the age of 97 to 108 was not overly hard. But then, when Jacob was 108 years old, his beloved son Joseph was sold into slavery (Gen. 37). Of course, Jacob didn’t know the truth and had come to the conclusion that Joseph had died. At that time:

“Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.” (Gen. 37:34-35)

Due to the loss of Joseph, Jacob would carry a measure of grief and sorrow in his heart for over twenty years. The painful loss of Joseph resurfaced in Genesis 42, when Jacob said to his sons:

“And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.” (Gen. 42:36)

When Jacob meets Pharaoh, which he will do very soon after the events of Genesis 45, Jacob tells Pharaoh: “Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life” (Gen. 47:9). If you just consider Jacob’s last 53 years, from the age of 77 to 130, we can understand his sentiment that “the days of the years of [his] life” had been evil, difficult, hard. For the first 20 years of that 53-year stretch, he was exiled from his homeland and alienated from his brother – and at the root of that exile and alienation was his own guilt of having deceived his father. For the last 22 years of that 53-year stretch, he was exiled from his beloved son Joseph. Those two heartaches alone covered 42 of those 53 years. Then on top of that add the deceits of Laban; the unrighteous conduct of his three oldest sons (Reuben, Simeon, and Levi); the death of Rachel; the death of his father Isaac (Gen. 35:28-29), which happened when Jacob was 120 years old; and (assuming he had learned about them) the deaths of his grandsons Er and Onan (Gen. 38:6-10). These are the difficulties that we know about (and there were probably others beside). So we can understand Jacob’s attitude that circumstances involving Joseph, Simeon, and Benjamin were all against him (Gen. 42:36), and that his earthly sojourn had been characterized by evil (Gen. 45:9).

Friends, this is life in a fallen world. Not everyone’s life is configured the same way. Each one of us has a unique set of circumstances, a unique set of sins, heartaches, and difficulties. Think about Jacob: guilt, object of hate, vulnerable to fear, exile from home, alienation from a brother, victim of fraud, disappointment in the behavior of his sons, loss of a beloved wife, loss of a beloved son, unceasing grief, bleak outlook. Can you relate? If you can relate to Jacob’s experience, nothing strange has happened to you. If you can relate to Jacob’s hardships and heartaches, that doesn’t mean that you’re not a saint. Jacob the saint is the one who had these hardships and heartaches.

Psalms 42-43

And it is a saint who, out of heartache, prays the honest words of Psalms 42-43:

“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” (Psalm 42:1-6a)

“I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”” (Psalm 42:9-10)

“Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” (Psalm 43:1-2)

We wonder. We wonder why. We ask questions. We wrestle within. We feel the ache. We remember better days from the past. We long for a better day in the future. In the meantime, we pray, we seek, we petition, and we wait. Because the relief and renewal will come on His timetable, not ours. Even so, we pray for brighter days:

“Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.” (Psalm 43:3-4)

But even as we pray for a better tomorrow, we recognize that today’s turmoil is real:

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” (Psalm 43:5)

Though cast down and in turmoil, we look up, we exercise hope in the Lord, and we wait patiently for Him to act.

Jacob entrusted his concerns to God’s mercy

Jacob was a downcast saint. And even in his downcast condition, he had found enough faith to entrust the care of his sons, including Benjamin and Simeon, to God’s mercy as the brothers set out on their second journey. Jacob had said:

“May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man [the ruler of Egypt], and may he send back your other brother [Simeon] and Benjamin.” (Genesis 43:14)

Jacob had hoped by God’s mercy to get Simeon and Benjamin back, and he did. But God’s mercy had much more in store for Jacob, and that much more is what lands on Jacob when all eleven brothers return home with a message about the other son, the one who had supposedly been devoured by a wild animal. God’s mercy always has much more in store for you – far more than you can presently imagine!

Jacob the downcast saint not forgotten

Jacob was a downcast saint. But to bring the concept all the way around, I now emphasize that Jacob was a downcast saint not forgotten. When a saint is downcast, it is normal for that saint to wonder if God has forgotten him – that’s just what we heard in those heartfelt words from Psalms 42-43. But though it may seem that we are forgotten, does God ever forget His chosen ones?

Dear fellow believer, perhaps you entered this sanctuary today with the disquieting thought that no one cares, that the door of heaven seems closed, that God seems to have forgotten. Listen to this excerpt from the prophet Isaiah, which encapsulates God’s compassionate care for His people:

“Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted. But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:13-16a).

Old Jacob is a downcast saint, but he is not forgotten. And what I want you to notice is that while Jacob is still downcast back in Canaan before his sons return with good news, some very important people are thinking about Jacob.

Joseph, Judah, and Pharaoh are thinking about Jacob

First, before Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, Joseph was thinking about their father. After his brothers arrived the second time in Egypt, Joseph asked them, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” (Gen. 43:27, italics added)

Second, in Judah’s impassioned appeal in Genesis 44:18-34, Judah was thinking about his father. Judah is constantly referring to his father throughout his speech, and Judah is very concerned about the well-being of his father. He concluded his appeal by saying, “For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.” (Gen. 44:34, italics added)

Third, after Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, Joseph was thinking about their father. When “Joseph made himself known to his brothers” (Gen. 45:1), his first recorded words were: “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” (Gen. 45:3, italics added) The prime minister of Egypt was thinking about his Dad. Then he said to his brothers,

“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. 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…. 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.”” (Gen. 45:9-10, 13; italics added)

Fourth, Pharaoh was thinking about the father of Joseph and his brothers. Middle of verse 17: “load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, and take your father and your households, and come to me” (Gen. 45:17-18, italics added). Middle of verse 18: “take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.” (Gen. 45:18, italics added)

And fifth, Joseph once again was thinking especially of his father in verse 23: “To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey.” (Gen. 45:23, italics added)

And so it is that Joseph the beloved son and ruler of Egypt, and Judah the son who had become the pledge of safety for Benjamin, remembered their father. And even Pharaoh, the supreme ruler of Egypt, took special thought for the old man who was father to Joseph and his brothers.

God did not forget Jacob

Of course, all this would amount to nothing if God had forgotten Jacob. In point of fact, however, Joseph and Judah and Pharaoh, in remembering Jacob, are reflecting the wonderful truth that God Himself had not forgotten Jacob. God’s plan all along, as revealed in Joseph’s dreams in Genesis 37 and in Joseph’s statements about God’s providence in Genesis 45, was to send Joseph to Egypt and exalt Joseph as ruler over Egypt for the good of many people, especially the preservation of Jacob and Jacob’s family (Gen. 45:5-11). Very soon after Genesis 45, at the beginning of Genesis 46, God speaks to Jacob:

“I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.” (Gen. 46:3-4)

The Lord is working on His big overarching plan to do good to all His people and to advance the good news of His kingdom throughout the world, and yet so often we get preoccupied with a narrow slice of events that are discouraging to us. I don’t say this to shame you, but rather to encourage you to lift up your eyes and see the bigger thing that God is doing – the bigger thing that includes your well-being, too, if only you would trust Him and wait patiently for His good plan to unfold.

Seventeen years later, as Jacob finds himself on the cusp of death, he will say that God had been his shepherd his entire life, and that the angel of God had redeemed him from all evil (Gen. 48:15-16). Jacob the often downcast saint was never forgotten. The downcast saint is never forgotten.

THE GOOD NEWS CHANGES EVERYTHING

Sometimes God’s care for you will break forth in great surprises and remarkable reversals of circumstances, such as that unforgettable day when Jacob not only saw Benjamin and Simeon back in Canaan, but also heard that Joseph was alive and well. I cannot promise you that you’ll get a great surprise and remarkable reversal like that in this present world. You might, or you might not. The beloved child who died in the flower of his youth remains in the grave. The broken relationship may not be repaired. You don’t get a re-do of the lost and sorrowful years. Even for Jacob, many heartaches of his past could not be undone.

But what I can promise you is that if you will open your ears to hearing and believing the good news, you will discover a faithful God who will sustain your spirit and who will lead you all the way home. And what is the good news? The good news in Genesis 45:26 is, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” Which is a window into the ultimate good news: Jesus is alive from the dead, and He is the sovereign King over all of heaven and earth. (Matthew 28, Luke 24, Acts 1-2)

When those early disciples heard the first reports about the resurrection and then came face to face with the risen Lord Jesus, they could hardly believe it (see Luke 24:1-43). They were startled and frightened, confused and troubled, doubting and disbelieving (Luke 24:36-43; also see Luke 24:1-11 and Matthew 28:16-17). They were like Jacob when Jacob first heard the good news: “And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them.” (Gen. 45:26b) But Jesus tended His disciples back to health. He invited them to see and touch his hands and his feet (Luke 24:38-40). The resurrected Lord ate a piece of broiled fish in their presence (Luke 24:41-43). And He spoke good words to them, explaining the gospel (Luke 24:44-47) and “[opening] their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45). He assured them that they would soon be “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49), when the promised Holy Spirit would rush upon them and empower them to be His faithful witnesses (Luke 24:48-49). 

And so it is that the risen Lord revived the spirits of His disciples, and they became bearers of the good news to the entire world. And why? So that those in darkness might see the great light. So that those who are dead in sin might be made alive. So that those who have grown cold and calloused by the harshness of this fallen world would discover that through repentance and faith in the crucified King, there is life and joy and peace with God that never ends. It is enough, yes, even more than enough. It is great. Great is the Lord, and great is His faithfulness, and vast is the abundance of His love for His people. After all, Jesus the beloved Son, our dear Lord and Savior, is alive and well, and though others may forget us or fail us, He always remembers us and intercedes for us, and He is ruling over all things for our good. And you can be sure of this: in our Lord’s kingdom of grace, downcast saints never get left behind!

ENDNOTES

[1] See the Bible Hub entry for “7264. ragaz”. Available online: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7264.htm.

[2] See the Bible Hub entry for “7227. rab”. Available online: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7227.htm.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Book of Genesis (Ariel’s Bible Commentary). Fourth Edition. San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 2020.

Andrew E. Steinmann, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Volume I). Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2019.