The Life of Joseph: Suffering and Glory

Genesis 41-50 Suffering and Glory (The Christian and Suffering) Introduction: Last week we took a bird’s eye view of the closing story of Genesis: The Life of Joseph. We said that the two major themes of this section are: suffering, and God’s sovereignty. Before we can move on in our studies of Genesis I feel that we need to look one more time at suffering. It is so important for us as Christians to have a Biblical understanding of suffering. Lets be honest there are some here this morning who probably will not have lasting faith because of some tragedy that will occur in their life. A divorce, or the loss of a loved one, an unfulfilled dream, prolonged sickness, etc. These kind of things happen every day. Just think of the Christian boy or girl raised in a christian home, they go off to university and their whole world is turned upside down because of the things being taught to them, and their faith is shipwrecked. Having an understanding of the ways of God in suffering and evil will help us to avoid a major faith crisis. Last week we considered these points from the life of Joseph: 1. As a Christian you will suffer. 2. As a Christian you will suffer injustice. 3. God is Sovereign 4. God sovereignly uses suffering for good 5. The good God brings: revelation, sanctification, and consolation through suffering. I think that these last three points are good incentive to suffer and to suffer well. But honestly in the grand scheme of things, they aren’t enough. Thank God this isn’t all that he is doing through suffering. Through suffering God is working not only our good (in this life), but our eternal good. Our sufferings are working for us a far and exceeding eternal weight of glory This morning I would like to consider two more apologetics for suffering well and for suffering long. 1. God is with you in your suffering. a. Now last week under point #3 “God is Sovereign” we emphasized that God was not ignorant or distant to Joseph in his trial and suffering but was with him. So God is also with us in the midst of our suffering and trial. But there is another sense in which the Lord is with us in our pain. b. God is not only with us in our pain, but he is also with us in our pain sympathetically. i. This doesn’t simply mean that God feels sorrow for us and the pain that we experience. It means that he himself has shared in our suffering. 1. It was at the incarnation that God entered into our world of suffering. 2. The prophet described him, “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth” “By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?” - Isaiah 53 3. On the cross of Jesus, God himself is crucified. The Father suffers the death of the Son and takes upon himself the pain and suffering of history. 4. John Stott testifies, ‘I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as "God on the cross". In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?’ 5. John Stott in The Cross of Christ says, “I have entered many Buddhist temples in different asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of Buddha his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world.’ But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in my imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us.” “The cross of Christ is God’s only self justification in such a world as ours.” 2. God has a glorious end intended for your suffering. a. Last week we said that suffering and trials result in three things: revelation, sanctification, and consolation. But that isn’t the end. There is an END, end, and that is the hope of Glory! b. For the Christian, suffering and glory are inseparable. Almost every time suffering is talked about in the New Testament it is partnered with glory and that is something that we cannot forget as believers. Though we are promised suffering, that the end of suffering is glory!!! i. Look at the example of Joseph. Look at where he ends up. He goes from the pit to the pinnacle; from prisoner to prime minister! This is an illustration of how God brings us from the pit of suffering to a place of honor and glory with him. ii. In vs. 30 of chapter 41 when Joseph speaks of the famine he says it will be so severe that the years of blessing and prosperity will be forgotten - the famine will consume the whole land of Egypt. iii. I believe that this speaks very clearly of the devastating power of suffering and pain. Notice, “the plenty will be forgotten”. iv. In this life there is no earthly remedy (nothing you or I can do) for pain and suffering. The power of sin (which causes pain and suffering) is so great that it cannot be covered up or forgotten not only that but it kills the good, and all remembrance of it. v. But in vs. 50 we read, “Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” vi. No other but God has the power to cause us to forget our pain and affliction. I believe that Joseph is testifying to the healing power of God. Remember this is what he said before he was ever reconciled with his family, before he saw the whole picture he testified to God’s healing power. 1. James 5:10-11 “As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose (the end intended) of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” 2. Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” vii. vii.Nothing, not even sin and great evil, can ever ultimately frustrate God’s sovereignty . viii. viii.Believers can be sure that God will one day defeat all sin, evil, and suffering. Until then, God can be trusted because he is wise, holy, sovereign and powerful and is always working out his plan to perfection. ix. Romans 8:28 “ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. x. Even human rebellion ultimately unintentionally ends up serving the perfectly wise purposes of God. xi. It isn’t over until God says it is, so lets save our judgments and criticism until we see God’s end product! c. Revelation 21:1-4 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Conclusion: How is it that I can persevere through suffering? How can I make it with out being shipwrecked? In the midst of suffering I am being pushed forward by the love of God (the Father suffers the death of his son/ The son suffers the sin, pain, and shame of the world and the separation from the father) In the cross God sympathizes with the suffering of the world; at the cross he enters into our suffering. Simultaneously I am being drawn forward by the hope of Glory, the great things that the Lord has awaiting those who love him. I believe this is how we endure or persevere through suffering, that this is how we can go through life’s trials, pains, and hardships and not lose our faith. We look back to Jesus the suffering servant, the one who understands and can sympathize with us. We look forward to the one who said “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome.” We look forward to the one overcame, the one who has finished his course and has sat down at the right hand of the Father. We look to the one who said, Behold, I am making all things new.”