Joseph Reunited with His Brothers, Part 1

If you have your Bible, I would invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 42. We have been looking at the life of Joseph, and now we come to the next great episode, the time in which he is reunited with his brothers. It has been a long time. It's been over 20 years since he last saw his brothers. That's a long time. Joseph is fruitful. God has done a tremendous work in his life, and today they're going to be reunited, and the boys are not going to recognize Joseph. Joseph is going to recognize them.

They're not going to recognize Joseph. Why not? As far as they know, Joseph is a slave, not an Egyptian ruler, and for all practical purposes, they are probably thinking that Joseph is probably dead, but God had a plan. We're only going to read the first seven verses this morning, but we don't want to read the whole chapter yet because we're not going to cover the whole chapter, but let me read to you just the first seven verses to get the ball rolling for us this morning.

Genesis chapter 42, verse number one, Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, Why are you staring at one another?

He said, Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us from that place, so that we may live and not die. Then ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt, but Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, I am afraid that harm may befall him. So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who were coming, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also. Now Joseph was the ruler over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land, and Joseph's brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.

When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and spoke to them harshly, and he said to them, Where have you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to buy food. What an incredible time. Do you think Joseph expected his brothers to show up in Egypt? No. But God's ways are certainly not our ways, and God's thoughts are certainly not our thoughts. God has a marvelous plan. This morning I want to begin by looking with you at point number one, and that is the reasons behind the reunion.

But the first thing I want you to see is the reasons behind the reunion, and there are basically two of them.

Number one is the famine in the land, and number two is the foreordination of the Lord. These two things are very important for you to get this morning. First of all, the famine in the land.

The famine was great, and the only place that grain was available was Egypt, and so Jacob would send his boys to Egypt to buy grain. God would use disaster to determine the destiny of one family. God was committed to that. God was committed to moving the world for the sake of one family, the family that would become the nation of Israel, because God has a marvelous plan. Why would there be a famine in the land of promise? Simply because God was orchestrating His great purposes. There had been a sin, many sins, but at least one in particular these boys had committed.

They had tried to forget about it. They had tried to let all the water go under the bridge, so everything would change. But you know what? It was time for their sin to be exposed. The Bible says, be sure your sin will find you out.

Payday someday, or it might not happen today, and it might not happen tomorrow, and it might not happen next week or next year. For them, it happened over 20 years later. But it will happen, because God said so. A famine came into the land, because God had to bring these boys to a point of needing Him. God brings famines into our lives, because God wants us to recognize our need of Him. Christ is seldom a reality until, first of all, He becomes a necessity, and that's so true for many people.

And here are these boys, listen, who throughout the record of Genesis never mentioned the name of God until Genesis chapter 42. God's not a part of their life. Serving God is not what they're about. But you've got to remember, this is the nation of Israel. These are the boys that are going to spring into action a whole plethora of children that will become a nation that God will send His Son to die for, and if they are not walking with God, if they are not loving God, they cannot infect the nation to walk with God and live for God.

And if that doesn't happen, it can't affect the world, because, you see, the nation of Israel was to show the world the love of God. It can't happen unless you're in love with Him, right? These boys needed to know their God in a great and mighty way. And as long as sin was paramount, as long as sin was unconfessed, as long as the sin in their life went unchecked, they could not do that. So what does God do? God says, okay, now's the time.

Now's the time. And while it seems like a long time, God was at work, because the Bible speaks about the day of famine in the life of the believer. God promises to take care of His own. God promises to provide for His own. God had already taken care of the sons of Jacob, yet they did not know it. God had already provided for them, yet they did not know it. And God was going to show them exactly how He was going to do that. We serve a wonderful God. The Bible says over in Proverbs chapter 10, verse number 3, the Lord will not allow the righteous soul to famish.

Maybe you're experiencing a famine in your life, and you're asking God to do a great work to deliver you from your famine, and you want it to happen on Tuesday of this week. You know, I wish I could say it's going to happen that way. It just doesn't work that way, because remember, we talked about last week, God is timeless. He's outside the realm of time, but whatever He does, it happens at the perfect time. This is the perfect time for the boys to meet Joseph. This is the perfect time for Joseph to be ready to meet his brothers and to extend forgiveness to them in a very unique kind of way, as we will see as the story unfolds.

The reasons behind the reunion, number one, was the famine in the land. Number two was the foreordination of the Lord.

Now, this is going to get kind of heavy for a minute, but you need to hear it, and you need to understand it as best as you possibly can in order to shed light on this story, to shed light on the book of Genesis, and to come to a better understanding of God's providence in the lives of His people. You see, God had been orchestrating the events of Joseph's life, right? Everything had happened at the right time for a specific purpose in the life of Joseph. And Joseph would recognize that. God was orchestrating His sovereign plan, not only for Joseph, but for his brothers and for his father.

You see, his father would be concerned about their lives, that they would live and not die. And God had been doing the work in Jacob's life. It had been a painful work, through the death of his beloved Rachel, through the death of his father, through the sins of his sons, and their hatred of Joseph, and selling him into slavery, and now the famine in the land. God was doing the work in Jacob's life as well. God has a plan, a plan that's foreordained in eternity past. Stephen would talk about that in Acts chapter 7, when he said these words in verse number 9.

And the patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. And yet God was with him, and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household. Now famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time.

Stephen would go back and recount this story, helping those who were listening to see the hand of God moving in the life of Joseph, that God had allowed him to be sold into slavery, so he could rescue him, so he could elevate him, so he could make him the ruler in Egypt, so God would be with him through his time of affliction. Stephen was trying to help those in his audience understand the sovereign purposes of God, the control of God in Joseph's life, in their father's lives, in the life of a nation that needed to turn to God and follow him.

And so when we understand what is happening here, we begin to understand a better picture of how God wants to work in your life and in my life. Why? Because you see nothing happens outside God's sovereign control. And we talk about this every week, and the reason we do is because we need to come to grips with it. It's the key element of the book of Genesis, that God was never out of control of anything that happens, because God is ruler. The Bible says this, in Romans chapter 8, verse number 28, you know the verse, 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.

God is in the process of bringing about your good, ultimately for his glory. If we love God, if we have been called by God, then God is going to orchestrate the events of life to bring about his sovereign purposes for your good and for his glory. And then he says this, That's so important. You see foreknowledge is important for the believer to understand. Foreknowledge is not foresight. Foreknowledge is not looking down at the corners of time and seeing you become a Christian and God saying, I will choose you based on what I see.

That's heresy. That's putting you in charge of your destiny. Foreknowledge is knowing in advance what you're going to do based on a predetermined choice that God made in eternity past that you would be his. That's foreknowledge. You're speaking of God's love for you in eternity past. My sheep hear my voice and I know them, God says.

In contrast with those who say in Matthew chapter 7, Oh Lord, did we not do this in your name? Did we not do that in your name? And God says depart from me for I never, what, knew you.

There was no love relationship there between me and you. You see, when you look at your salvation, you begin to realize that it was the foreknowledge of God.

And it says those that he foreknew, he predetermined, he predestined. It's a word that means to appoint beforehand. God did something. He chose beforehand. Before what? Before time and creation. You see, foreknowledge does foresee you coming to saving faith, but the faith that you come to is the faith that God created that enabled you to believe. That's important because your salvation is based on the foreknowledge of God the Father. That's why Peter says that we are elected according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.

We are chosen because God knew us in eternity past and chose us for himself. That's so important. You see, the Bible speaks clearly of that over in the book of Acts in the fourth chapter about this predestination. It talks about how when there was great persecution in the early church and those who had been threatened and released went back to pray with their fellow brethren and they said these words for truly in this city, verse number 27 of chapter four of Acts, for truly in this city there were gathered together against the holy servant Jesus whom thou didst anoint both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever thy hand and thy purpose predestined to occur.

These people, when praying, prayed according to the sovereign purposes of God. You see, they were going through a difficult time. They were going through hardship in their lives because the threat of following Christ was going to be great for them. They could be thrown into prison. They could be persecuted. They could be killed and they said, Lord, we are coming to you based on what you have already done that these people you have predetermined in eternity past, Herod, Pontius Pilate and these people to crucify your son.

That is so important for us to grasp. Why? Because you see over in Acts chapter two when Peter preached his sermon in verse number 22 he said, men of Israel listen to these words, Jesus of Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst. Just as you yourselves know, this man delivered up by the predetermined plan and what? For knowledge of God. Jesus was crucified based on the predetermined plan of God, which is based on the foreknowledge of God.

God knew it all. God planned it all to bring about his purposes. All that to say this, when a man comes to saving faith, it's because he has been chosen in eternity past by the predetermined foreknowledge of God himself. Just as God orchestrated the events of Genesis chapter 42 to bring the brothers to be reunited with Joseph and all the events that happened in Joseph's life, so too he does in your life and God is never caught off guard because God has got a plan and it all centers around his glory and your good.

That should cause us to rejoice. That should cause us to praise his glorious name for how he orchestrates the events of his life for his purposes. Oh, that's so good. And now this famine, this reunion was part of the foreordination of God. It was foreordained in eternity past that God ordained it to be. This is the way he wants it to be. This is the way he designed it to be. Here they are coming together at this time. And Paul would say in Romans that God wants to conform us to his image. God wants us to look just like him, to act just like him.

So that when people see us, they see him. Same thing is true in the life of the nation of Israel. They need to be conformed to the image of God. Joseph understood this. And that's why you could say in Genesis chapter 50 verse number 20, which we will cover in weeks ahead, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. What you designed to destroy my life, God designed to bring about a greater purpose because God was at work in the life of a nation. So there's going to be a reunion based on a famine in the land, based on the foreordination of God.

Who caused the abundance? God did. Who caused the famine? God did. We've talked about this. We're very clear on it. The Bible says that God caused the famine.

But if the Bible says it, we need to believe it and we need to accept it and live in light of it. And therefore, God's plan was right on schedule. Nothing had changed in God's timetable. And this famine will be so severe, so severe that Jacob would say, hey, fellas, we got to live. We don't want to die. Why are you standing around looking at one another? Go to Egypt. Do what you're supposed to do. Get food for the family. But you're not going to take Benjamin. He's staying with me. Of course, Benjamin was the second son of his beloved Rachel.

We've lost my first son, Joseph, Rachel's firstborn. You're not going to lose this one. He's staying with me. I made this mistake once. I'm not making it again. Benjamin stays with me. So the boys, they begin their journey down to Egypt. Why? Because of the famine in the land and because of the fordnation of the Lord. Now let me say something about the famine in your life and in your land.

God has caused the famine. God has caused the barrenness. God allows that to happen, that you might recognize your need of Him. Now listen carefully to what I'm going to say because if you miss this, then you'll get a misconstrued idea of what God's going to do. You see, it's imperative for you to note that if something is wrong in your life today, if there's sin in your life today, it could be that God will cause the famine to happen to get you to recognize your point of need. That does not mean that every famine in your life is caused because of some unconfessed sin, but the majority of those famines do come because of unconfessed sin.

We know that they're not all caused by that because Job's counselors, the miserable counselors that they were, were convinced that Job had some sin in his life because of the disaster that happened to him and his family, but that was not the case. We know that because we know the text. We read the book of Job. Those things happen because God wanted you to see that a truly born-again believer in God never apostatizes the faith. He never reneges on his God, and Job is that classic example of that, and God offered up Job to Satan.

I'm sure Job appreciated that, but it wasn't because of the sin in his life. God had another purpose. So just because there is a disaster that comes your way, there is affliction that surrounds your home, there is a calamity in your life, a famine that comes in your land, it doesn't mean it's there because of sin, but a lot of times it comes because we're trying to cover up something, and God says, you know what?

You need me. You need to recognize your need of me, and therefore I'm going to bring a famine into your life so that you'll repent of your sin and get right with me. You see, it's important for us to examine our lives, isn't it? Let me show it to you this way.

Book of Amos, fourth chapter. God wants to get his people's attention, so he begins to bring famine in the land, disaster, calamity, affliction, hardship, and it tells us why. Listen to what it says. Amos 4, verse number 6, but I gave you also cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places, yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord. And furthermore I withheld the rain from you while there were still three months until harvest, then I would send rain on one city and on another city I would not send rain.

One part would be rained on while the part not rained on would dry up, so two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink water, but would not be satisfied, yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord. I smote you with scorching wind and mildew, and the caterpillar was devouring your many gardens and vineyards, fig trees and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord. I sent a plague among you after the manor of Egypt. I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses, and I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils, yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord.

I overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord. God says, you see what I've done?

I have done all this for one purpose, to get you to follow me, yet you would not do that, so you know what God did? God sent a different kind of famine, Amos chapter 8 verse number 11, behold the days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the Lord, and people will stagger from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they will go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.

Listen, this is so important. God says, I have done all this. I have caused there to be a severe famine in the land. All ordained by me, all caused by me, because I want you to return to me, but you would not do it. God wanted his people to repent. God wanted his people to get right with him, yet they would not do it. So you know what God did? God says, I'm going to send a famine that's going to be unlike any other famine, and that famine will be not of the word of God, but of the hearing of the word of God, and you will search for me.

You will go by sea from the north to the east, north to the south, to the east to the west. You'll look all over for me, but you will not find me. You will not. What's the point? When God brings disaster your way, when God brings a famine your way, he wants you to return to him. If you have sinned, if you have rebelled against God, he wants you to return to him. And if he brings a famine your way, and you refuse to return, although he causes all kinds of things to come your way, there will come a day where you will no longer hear the word of God.

It doesn't mean that God's word is not going to be available. Oh, it'll be available. It'll be on the radio, be on TV, in churches, be proclaimed in the streets, but you won't hear it, meaning that you won't do what God says.

A famine so severe, so severe, that the Bible says very simply this, if you don't heed God's word today, you will not hear God's word tomorrow.

That's the point. And God says, listen, I've caused all these things to happen in your life because I want to be the sole affection of your life.

And so Christ said over in Matthew 13, these words, he says, as he quotes Isaiah, you will keep on seeing but will not perceive, for the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and to stand with the heart and return, and I should heal them. Christ quotes Isaiah the prophet and says that these people who have rejected me, have refused to listen to me, I am right now abandoning them, I'm cutting them off.

What does all that say? Simply this, God in his sovereign plan wants you to follow him and serve him with all your heart. And if you're a child of the living God today and a famine comes your way, you've got to ask the Lord, God, is there something in my life that I've done that caused this famine? For the boys in Genesis 42, it was the covering of sin, and God had to bring them to a point of need to bring them to a point of repentance, and God would cause a famine to afflict the entire world to bring these boys to a point of repentance, and we'll see that God does that.

And if God has you there, you need to say, Lord, you know, where am I? I need to get right with you. But maybe, maybe you're here today and you know, you've never given your life to God. You've never given your life to Christ and you've never repented of your sin, and God has brought disaster and calamity and affliction your way and trying to get your attention and you refuse to follow him. The Bible is very clear that if you don't heed his word, you no longer hear his word. If you don't do what God says, there will come a time where God will cut you off.

God will abandon you. So the writer of Hebrews says these words in Hebrews chapter six, that if you're the kind of person who has had this privilege, you've been enlightened, you've tasted the heavenly gift, have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put him to open shame. It's impossible. That's why the prophet Isaiah said these words in Isaiah 55, verse number six and seven, Seek the Lord while he may be found.

Call upon him while he is near. Call upon him while he is near, because there will come a day where he will be far away. You see, it's important for you to understand the truths of the scripture and to realize that you can't fool around with God. You can't fool around with Christianity. It's a matter of life and death. And the Bible says that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

And the worst famine you can ever experience is not a physical calamity, but a spiritual abandonment of God. And that famine will be so severe that you'll never find God. God wants you to recognize your need for him. Do that. Do that. While the day is available, because if you don't do it today, there might not be a tomorrow for you to do so. You say, are you trying to scare us? No. No, I'm not trying to scare you. I'm trying to help you understand God, that today is the day of salvation, not tomorrow.

That God has a plan. That plan includes famine, a famine that's been foreordained by God above, that God was going to do a tremendous work in the lives of a nation. To do that, he had to bring the boys to a point of repentance, a point where they got right with God. Maybe today you need to get right with God. Maybe you've been fooling around with God for a long time and covering up your sin and hiding your sin. And maybe it's been five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, and God's saying, you know what?

Now's the time for you to get right with me. Today's the day. You need to do so. Or if you're here today, you've never given your life to Christ. God's saying to you, listen, heed what I say. Follow me. Serve me. Give your life to me. Do it now before a famine of hearing the Word of God comes upon you. Let's pray.