Genesis 50
Faith in response to evil
On the evening of 13 November 2015 seven ISIS terrorists attacked seven
strategic locations in the city of Paris. Using AK 47’s, hand grenades and suicide
belts, they managed to kill 130 and to injure 368 people. The attacks were the
deadliest on France since World War II.
It was a terribly evil act and it sparked worldwide mourning and fear.
And it raises the question: where was God on 13 November 2015?
What was God doing?
And of course this isn’t the first time that this question’s been raised. It’s been
raised repeatedly throughout history. It was raised after the holocaust. It was
raised after September 11th. It was raised after the Tsunami in 2004.
Whenever there’s an event of great evil or of terrible suffering, this is the
question that gets raised. Where is God? What is God doing?
And more personally, this is a question we’ve probably all asked in our own
lives as well. When we suffer. When something bad happens to us. We might
not ask it verbally, but deep in our hearts: where is God? What is God doing?
And this morning I wanna suggest to you that the way you answer this
question will have a massive impact on how you live your life and especially on
how you respond to bad things that happen in your life. You see, this isn’t just
an academic question. It isn’t just a question you need to answer when dealing
with the objections of an unbelieving friend. The answer you give to this
question will have a massive impact on the way you live your life.
And I wanna present you with three possible answers you could give to this
question. Where is God during suffering or evil? Here three options you can
choose from.
Option 1. God is uninvolved. Either God doesn’t exist. Or if He does exist then
this is one area of life that’s outside of His control. After all God is good. And so
surely He can’t be involved in suffering or evil. That’s option 1. He’s
uninvolved.
Option 2: God allows suffering and evil. So God is involved in suffering. But He
only allows it. He doesn’t initiate it. He doesn’t cause it or stand behind it in
any way. He simply allows it. And then He uses it. He responds to it and
transforms it and use it for good. That’s option 2. God allows it and He uses it
for good.
Or option 3, you can go even further and you can say God does have an
initiating role. In other words, He doesn’t just allow suffering. He doesn’t just
use it. He even intends it. In some way He stands behind it. And He brings it
into people’s lives to accomplish His good plan. That’s option three. God does
have an initiating role.
Well this morning I want us to see how Joseph would answer that question.
Which option would he choose?
This morning we come to the end of the book of Genesis. And this ending is a
bit like the ending of a TV series. You know those series where you start
watching. And you just can’t stop. You watch one after the other. And you end
up watching right through the night. How do those series keep you so hooked?
Well at the end of each series, they bring to an end the story of that episode.
But right at the end they also introduce some new plot or some new tension
that needs to be resolved. And so you can’t stop watching. You must see how
the new plot gets resolved. Well that’s exactly what happens at the end of
Genesis.
As you might expect, Genesis ends with the death of two of our main
characters:
Jacob dies at the end of chapter 49. Then Joseph dies at the end of chapter 50.
The accounts of their lives come to an end.
But at the same time, this final chapter introduces the great plot for the next
episode.
And you can see it if you compare what happens when Jacob dies with what
happens when Joseph dies.
Before Jacob dies he gives instructions about his bones. You can see it in
chapter 49 verse 29. Basically he tells his sons: don’t bury me in Egypt. You
must take my bones back to the promised-land, the land of Canaan. And so in
verse 33. Jacob dies. He gets embalmed. And then there’s a massive procession
from Egypt to Canaan. Jacob gets buried in the promised-land.
Now jump to chapter 50 verse 24. Look at what happens when Joseph dies. He
also gives instructions about his bones. He also wants his bones to be carried
to the promised-land. And so he also dies. He also gets embalmed. But look at
verse 26. Where does his body get placed?
Verse 26.
“So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed
him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.”
Joseph’s body remains in Egypt. You see, Joseph didn’t tell his brothers to
transport his body immediately. He told them to do it when God comes to
their aid. Look at verse 25.
And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, “God will surely
come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”
And so that’s the plot that makes us wanna keep reading the next episode.
When will God come to His people’s aid? When will Joseph’s bones be taken
home? You can read it all in the next episode: the book of Exodus.
But the important thing to notice here at the end of Genesis is Joseph’s faith in
God.
Even though he’s been living most of his life in Egypt. Even though he’s
married an Egyptian woman. Even though he’s prospered greatly in Egypt. He’s
become powerful and successful. In spite of all this, he knows that Egypt is not
his home. He wants his bones to be carried to the promised-land. In other
words, that’s where his home is. That’s where he belongs.
And that’s a great example for us to follow. In fact of all the great acts of faith
in Joseph’s life this is the one chosen in Hebrews 11 for us to follow. Look at
Hebrews 11 verse 22. This is the chapter of the great OT hero’s of faith. And
this is the verse that speaks about Joseph. Verse 22.
“By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the
Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.”
You see according to Hebrews this is a great example of faith. And just like
Joseph we also need to find our home not in this world, but in heaven.
And that might not be too hard when life’s tough in this world or if we
despised and unpopular and unsuccessful. Those things might make us long to
leave this world and to go to heaven. But it’s not that easy to have that longing
for heaven if we find ourselves in a position like Joseph was in Egypt. When we
actually having success in this world. And we prospering and growing in power.
Then it’s very tempting for us to find our home here in this world. And so we
need to learn from Joseph. Even though he was successful in Egypt, he didn’t
see it as his home.
But this morning I wanna focus most of our time on the little section between
Jacob’s death and Joseph’s death. Verses 15-21. These verses deal with the
question we raised at the start. And they show us how Joseph would answer
that question. How does Joseph understand the activity of God when it comes
to evil?
You see, Joseph might have prospered at the end of his life. But before that he
was a victim of terrible suffering and evil:
Hatred from his brothers. Almost murdered by them. sold as a slave. Cut off
from his family. Left alone in a foreign land. Unjustly condemned. Thrown into
prison for a number of years.
That’s a pretty bad list of suffering he’s endured.
And its hard to imagine how you can go through suffering like that without it
breaking you down. Without you being overcome by it. And becoming evil
yourself. And full of bitterness and revenge.
Just think of the effect it has on you when you have a bad day. When
everything seems to be going against you. When people treat you badly.
Doesn’t that make you more likely to despair and to give in to temptation and
to become bitter and irritable and to lose faith in God?
The amazing thing about Joseph is that he goes through all this terrible evil and
yet he isn’t overcome by it. Instead he overcomes evil with good. He rises up to
become the deliverer of all Egypt. He refuses to take revenge on his brothers.
He accomplishes an incredible amount of good. And so I dunno about you, but
I wanna learn from a man like this. I wanna know what this man has that
enables him to respond in this way. Whats going on deep in Joseph’s heart?
And so that’s what I wanna focus on for the rest of our time. Right at the end
of Joseph’s life we get an inside view into his heart. This is what he believes.
And this is what enables him to respond to evil in the way he does.
We pick up the story in verse 15.
Jacob’s died. And now suddenly Joseph’s brothers are afraid. Maybe Joseph
was just being kind to them for the sake of their father. Maybe he just didn’t
want his father to see him take revenge on his brothers. But now that their
father’s dead. Maybe now Joseph will take his revenge. And so look at what
they do. verse 15. They come up with another deceptive plan. Verse 15.
“When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “what if
Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to
him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions
before he died: “This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your
brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’
Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.”
You see this is what guilt does to a person. It makes it difficult for a person to
receive love. Even though Joseph has already expressed his love and
forgiveness to his brothers, they still not able to recieve it. They still struggling
to accept it. And this is something we all struggle with as Christians. Even
though God has expressed such incredible love and forgiveness to us. Sending
His own Son to die for us. You can’t get a more powerful demonstration of love
than that. He’s given us promises of forgiveness and love. And yet we still
struggle to trust that this is true. That’s why in Ephesians 3 when Paul prays for
us to know God’s love he prays that we will have power to be able to grasp it.
You see, as guilty sinful people, unless God works in us with power we wont be
able to grasp his love.
Joseph’s brothers still don’t accept his love.
And so look at how Joseph responds.
“When their message came to him, Joseph wept.”
It hurts Joseph that they still don’t trust him. That they still feel the need to
deceive him and manipulate him to secure his love. He weeps.
And then in verses 19 to 21 he reassures them again. And he does it with two
of the most profound and wonderful statements of faith that you’ll find in the
whole of Genesis.
And these are the statements that take us deep into Joseph’s heart. The truths
that have enabled him not be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with
good.
And the first one is in verse 19. He refuses to take God’s place. i
Joseph’s brothers come in. They throw themselves before him. They offer to
be his slaves. Look at how Joseph responds. Verse 19. But Joseph said to them,
“Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?”
In other words, the reason Joseph gives for why he won’t take revenge on His
brothers is that it’s not his place. He doesn’t have the right to do it. Only God
has that right.
As Romans 12 verse 19 says: “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room
for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the
Lord.
The right to avenge belongs only to God.
And that’s very different to how we naturally think. We think if someone’s
done something to us, then somehow that gives us an excuse or the right to
take revenge. We have the right to get even. But according to Joseph, that
place doesn’t belong to us. It belongs only to God.
And there at least two reasons why this right doesn’t belong to us. Firstly, we
don’t have the innocence. We all sinners. We’ve all harmed others ourselves.
And so we ourselves deserve to be judged. What right do we have to judge
others? Only God is perfectly innocent. And so only God has the ultimate right
to take revenge.
Secondly we don’t have the knowledge.
When someone hurts you and you wanna take revenge, and you think about
how to repay them. At that point you presuming to be able to discern what
that person deserves. But you don’t know what they deserve. You don’t know
what they’ve suffered in their lives. You don’t know what influences have
affected them. You don’t know what their deepest motivations were. Only God
has this kind of perfect knowledge. And so only God is in a position to judge.
And so this isn’t our place. We don’t have the purity. We don’t have the
knowledge.
Joseph avoids God’s place.
But that’s not the only reason why Joseph avoids revenge. Its not simply that
he cant take revenge cause its not his place. Its also that he doesn’t want to
take revenge because he’s no longer filled with anger. His anger towards them
has been removed. And its been removed by a positive perspective that he’s
gained on their actions. And you can see that perspective in verse 20. This is
our key verse this morning. We’ve seen how Joseph avoids God’s place. Now
we see how he assumes God’s perspective. Verse 20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what’s
now being done, the saving of many lives.”
You see, this is the perspective Joseph takes on evil. He recognizes the good
hand of God behind it.
And so this brings us back to the question we raised at the start. Where was
God on the 13th of November when gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130
people in Paris?
Which of the options we presented best describes God’s involvement.
Option 1. He was uninvolved? It was something that was out of his control.
Option 2. He was involved simply in that He allowed it to happen and He used
it.
Or Option 3. God played an initiating role. He didn’t just allow it. He even stood
behind it in some way. He intended it.
And hopefully by now you can see that the third option is the best one. God is
involved in evil events in this world. And He doesn’t just allow them and use
them. He even stands behind them. He intends them. Look at verses 20 again.
Notice the repetition of the word, intended.
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.”
You see, that’s a stronger word than allowing. God didn’t just allow these
things to happen to Joseph. And He didn’t just respond to them and transform
them and use them so that they ended up producing something good. No. God
actually stood behind them in some way. He intended for them to happen.
And this isn’t just something we see in this verse. We also see it in other parts
of the Bible. Look at Isaiah 45 verse 7. It should be up on the screen. Its God
speaking. And He says,
Verse 7.
“I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster.”
Again its words like this, “I intend”, “I form” “I create”. Its words like this that
suggest that God does more than just allow bad things to happen. God doesn’t
just respond to bad things and fix them and use them for good. He does more
than that. He even stands behind disaster. He intends it. He creates it.
And I’m not saying its bad to talk about God allowing evil events or using them.
There is truth in those statements. But I just want you to see that the Bible
isn’t ashamed to go further. The Bible feels free to use words like intended and
created.
And so maybe you saying: hang on hang on. Doesn’t that mean Gods guilty of
evil? If God intends for evil things to happen? Doesn’t that make Him guilty?
And the answer is no. Because God’s intentions are always for good. Just like
we see here with Joseph. God intended all the events that happened to Joseph
to accomplish something good: so that thousands and maybe millions of
people could be saved. When God stands behind evil events, He always stands
behind them for good.
Or maybe you saying: okay, well then if this is all part of God’s good plan, then
doesn’t that make the brothers innocent? They were simply accomplishing
God’s plan. They were His instruments. They were simply doing what God
intended.
And again the answer is no. They are still guilty of evil. Because of their
intentions. As Joseph says, you intended to harm me. Their intentions were for
evil. They did do an evil act.
And so this isn’t easy for us to understand. But I hope you can see according to
Joseph there are two causes that stand behind every action in this world.
Firstly there’s the cause in the realm of human responsibility. Human beings do
make real decisions and they’ll be held responsible for those decisions and
actions.
But secondly at the same time there’s also the cause in the realm of God’s
sovereignty. Behind all the human decisions and actions stands the sovereign
will of God. Nothing happens in this world outside of His sovereign will.
And so any action: even where a human might be doing something evil. God
also stands behind that action. But in that event, He is doing something good.
And if you still doubting this I wanna take you to the most powerful
demonstration of this truth in the whole Bible. The crucifixion of Jesus
You see, what would you say is the most evil act that has ever been
committed? Even more evil than the holocaust. More evil than the September
11. More evil than the Paris attacks. Surely the most evil act in the history of
the world was when God Himself came into the world and we killed him. And
we killed him in the most cruel and painful way. Surely this was the most evil
act in the history of the world.
But at the same time, what would you say is the most wonderful and glorious
act that has ever been committed? Surely as Christians we would say the
greatest act of love and self-sacrifice. And the act thats brought the greatest
amount of good to people in the world. It would have to be Jesus’ death on the
cross.
And so dyou see, it’s the same event. The most evil act that’s ever been
committed. And the most wonderful act that’s ever been committed. It’s the
same event. And in that one event we see man doing his worst and at the
same time we see God doing His best.
You can see this in Acts 4 verse 27. Also on the screen. Notice the evil intention
of man. Verse 27.
“Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the
people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, Whom
you anointed. There’s the evil intention of man. Now look at the good
intention of God. Verse 28. “They did what your power and will had decided
beforehand should happen.”
You see, God didn’t just allow the cross to take place. It wasn’t His plan B in
response to man’s wickedness. This was God’s plan from before the creation of
the world.
And so this is the same truth that we see in Genesis. Just like Joseph, Jesus
would also be able to say to those who killed him: you intended it to harm me.
But God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the
saving of many lives.
And so this is the truth that Joseph recognizes in our key verse this morning.
And I think this truth more than anything else is what enables him to respond
to evil in the way that he does. This is what enables him not to be overcome
with evil, but to overcome evil with good.
And in the same way, if we can really grasp this truth and let it sink into our
hearts, it can do the same for us.
I wanna close with three ways that this truth can transform us.
Firstly, it’ll restrict our fear of evil
Sometimes people speak as though there’s this battle going on in the world
between two equal and opposite forces.
Its a star wars view of the world. There’s the good force. And there’s the bad
force.
And some people think of God and the devil like that. They equal and opposite
forces. And when good things happen, that means God is winning. When bad
things happen, that means the devil is winning.
But what we see here is that even the evil work of the devil is under the
sovereign control of God. The devil cant do anything outside of God’s plan.
And so although we must be aware of the devil and we must be alert to his
danger. At the same time we don’t have to be gripped with fear of him. He
isn’t an equal and opposite force fighting against God. And he will never gain
the upper hand. Everything he does is under God’s good and powerful control.
The same thing could be said of ISIS
or of Richard Dawkins
or of any movement that seems to be gaining power in the world and that
seems to be threatening Christianity. We mustn’t be gripped with fear. It’s all
under God’s control. He even stands behind it. And He’s working it all for good.
Secondly this truth will keep us from despair.
One of the biggest causes of despair for Christians is that we interpret God’s
love for us according to our circumstances.
In other words, if life is going well, then God loves us. He’s with us. He’s being
good to us.
But if life is going badly, then God is against us. He’s abandoned us. He doesn’t
love us.
That’s the natural way for us to think.
And it makes us very vulnerable to despair. Because at some point for all of us
life will go badly. We’ll fail an exam or we’ll lose a job or we’ll lose someone we
love. And then we’ll feel very insecure. And we might just despair.
But if we can really grasp this key truth this morning, then we can escape this
insecurity. We can be confident of God’s goodness to us irrespective of our
circumstances.
Listen to this quote from Charles Spurgeon. He said: it is impossible that any ill
will happen to the man beloved of the Lord. Ill to him is no ill. But only good in
a mysterious form.”
That’s a great quote. And it comes from this key truth.
If we belong to God, then people might intend to harm us. We might face
terrible suffering and evil. But behind it all God is working for our good.
And thirdly, grasping this truth will enable us to love our enemies.
That’s exactly what it does for Joseph. He reassures his brothers. He speaks
kindly to them. He shows love to those who harmed him.
And in the same way if we are being harmed by someone. But we can look
beyond that person and all the pain and the hurt they causing. If we can focus
and really believe in the good hand of God behind it. If we can keep our minds
fixed on that perspective. Then that’ll be an amazing source of strength and
security for us. We wont have to minimize the bad things they’ve done to us.
But we also wont be overcome by them. And we’ll even be able to respond
with love.
And so maybe you’ve never met this God Who’s so sovereign and good? Then
you missing out on the most wonderful relationship.
Maybe you have met Him. But you haven’t allowed this truth to sink deep into
your heart?
You missing out on a powerful resource in your life.
Don’t miss out anymore. Receive God. Recieve this truth. Meditate on it. And
let it transform your life.
Lets pray
i Listen to what Tim Keller says about this:
He says: this is the great irony: the fastest way to become like Satan is to try to be God. The fastest way to become like God is to refuse to be God.
I think he’s right.
If you try to be God. Put yourself in His place. Think that you have the right to do what only God can do, then that’s the fastest way to become like Satan.
But if you refuse to be God. If you let God be the authority in your life. Don’t try to seize His rights and his power and authority. Then that’s the fastest way to become like God.
And its quite amazing that Joseph recognizes this. He’s someone who’s risen remarkably to a position of great worldly power and authority. And often when that happens to a man, its very tempting for him to assume the place of God. To start acting as if he’s God. But Joseph avoids that place. And that’s what prevents him from taking revenge.