“Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.” - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity • Forgiveness is a major theme in Genesis! • God gave us just 2 chapters in Genesis on Creation. • God gave us 8 chapters on Joseph forgiving/reconciling with his brothers. TITLE: Joseph pt. 4: The Son Saves OUTLINE: Repentance (Genesis 42-44) Reconciliation (45) Reunion (46-50) • Repentance is sorrow for sin and turning from it. Repentance is not a work for salvation; it is the evidence of God’s work in salvation. • Reconciliation is the healing of a broken relationship without minimizing the wrongs that have been done. We will see this in Joseph’s family. • Reunion is the final/full state of forgiveness. Joseph will live with his father and brothers again. • Keep Romans 2:4 in mind in these final 8 chapters of Genesis. Romans 2:4 (NLT), “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?” God and Joseph lead the brothers to repentance in three meetings in three separate scenes. SCENE 1 • The brothers go to Egypt because of the famine. • They have no idea they are bowing before Joseph begging for bread. • Does Joseph forgive them here? NO. • WHY NOT? Joseph will test them first. HOW? Joseph will reenact what they did to him. • They didn’t trust Joseph. Joseph doesn’t trust them. • They talked to him harshly. He talks to them harshly. • They accused him of spying. He accuses them of spying. • They threw him into a pit. He will throw them into prison. Joseph overhears them say… Genesis 42:21, “Clearly we are being punished because of what we did to Joseph long ago. We saw his anguish when he pleaded for his life, but we wouldn’t listen.” • For the first time they are sorry. • On the way home, one brother opens his bag and sees his money returned for the grain! • “What has God done to us?” - Genesis 42:28 • For the first time, the brothers mention God! • Arriving home, they tell Jacob what happened and they all discover money in all the grain sacks! Father Jacob says to his sons… “You are robbing me of my children! Joseph is gone! Simeon is gone! And now you want to take Benjamin, too. Everything is going against me!” - Genesis 42:36 • Is that true? • Everything is NOT going against Jacob. • Everything is working out for the good of Jacob and his family. Do we ever talk like this? “Everything is going against me?” • If we really believe in God, we must see these words for what they are… words of fear, and pity, and words of unbelief.” That’s the end of SCENE 1, and the first meeting with Joseph. SCENE 2 • Famine drives the brothers back to Egypt where they bow before Joseph a second time. • Joseph throws a banquet for them in the palace! • These brothers go from famine to feasting in 5 minutes. • For the first time; they actually listened to Joseph. • They brought Benjamin with them and returned the money and more, and gifts. Does Joseph forgive them now? NO. • He has to kill them with kindness, first. • He seats them around the table in order of birth! • He piles on the food, with extra food for Benjamin. • When Joseph sees Benjamin for the first time, he leaves the room and weeps. • For the second time Joseph weeps. • The end of chapter 43 it says, “They feasted and drank freely with him.” • They are really starting to like this guy… whoever he is! And, Joseph is warming up to his brothers. • They kept their word and returned with Benjamin. • They did not harm him. • They did not abandon Simeon. • They are slowly becoming a true band of brothers. • Once again, Joseph’s kindness is leading them closer to repentance. • The next day, all 11 brothers leave Egypt for the second time. • Their hearts are merry. Their stomachs and sacks of grain are full. Even the donkeys are fed and watered. • That’s the end of SCENE 2 and the second meeting with Joseph. SCENE 3 • On the way home the brothers are pulled over by the palace manager. • By Joseph’s order he accuses them of stealing. • The brothers say if any of us have stolen, make us all your slaves. • The officer disagrees. Only the one who stole will become a slave. • The rest are free to go. • Joseph’s silver cup was found in Benjamin’s grain sack. • Joseph has framed brother Benjamin. • Why? He is putting the brothers under trial now, to see if they will defend Benjamin or give him over to slavery – just as they did to him. Robert Sacks in his commentary, “Joseph has now decided to put his brothers to the final test. He will place them in a position where they will be strongly tempted to treat Benjamin as they had treated him. The point of Joseph’s trial is that repentance is only complete when one knows that if he were placed in the same position he would not act in the way he had acted before.” • Lesson: We know that repentance is complete in us when we act differently in the same situation where we sinned before. • They all return to Egypt with Benjamin. • For the 3rd time they bow and Judah lays down his life for Benjamin! Genesis 44:33-34, “Please, my Lord, let me stay here as a slave instead of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. For how can I return to my father if the boy is not with me? I could not bear to see the anguish…” • Judah pleads for Benjamin life! • 22 years earlier it was Judah’s idea to sell Joseph into slavery. • He takes the blame. He offers his life as a substitute. • Judah understands how sin has broken his father’s heart. Joseph has heard enough. NOW is the time to forgive! • He clears the room. When he is alone with them, he speaks in Hebrew for the first time… Genesis 45:4-5, 13 - “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery… 5 don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives… 13 Bring my father here quickly.” V14 - “Weeping with joy, he embraced Benjamin, and Benjamin did the same. 15 Then Joseph kissed each of his brothers and wept over them, and after that they began talking freely with him.” • It was the kindness of God and Joseph that lead the brothers to full repentance. It was a long agonizing process… • 8 times Joseph weeps as he sees God’s hand at work in repentance and reconciliation and finally the reunion of the whole family. • First, they were sorry for sin. • Second, they began to be honest with God. Honest men who would listen and live. • Finally, this band of brothers will give their lives to save Benjamin. In the same situation, this time, they did the righteous/loving thing. This story ends with – Reunion! • Pharoah provides the wagons and land for Jacob’s family. • The wagons are loaded up and about 70 in the whole clan of Jacob arrive in Egypt. • In Egypt, Israel will become a great nation and bless the world by bringing us Jesus – the seed of Abraham. • After 22 years, Joseph and father Jacob embrace. Once again Joseph weeps. CONCLUSION Wouldn’t you agree that stories of forgiveness, reconciliation and reunion are indeed the greatest stories on earth? • I hope and pray you have a story to tell like this in your family too. • It is a Gospel story right here in Genesis. 2,000 years after Joseph, our Father sent His beloved Son, Jesus on a mission to seek his lost children. They rejected him and put him on a cross. But God raised him up to the right hand of power. And through His pain he has been given all authority to forgive and offer us the Bread of Life – eternal salvation. HOW? If we will listen and believe God’s Son, Jesus, we will live too! John 3:16 The most famous and final words of Joseph came 17 years later, after Jacob died. The brothers were afraid. With Jacob gone, they feared Joseph could take revenge on them. They asked Joseph to forgive them. Joseph weeps again for the 8th and final time. • That’s when Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God meant it for good.”