Genesis 43: God's Mercy in the Son

Introduction

There is a quote i read that said this

“There have been societies who didn’t use the wheel. But there has never been a society who didn’t use stories”

God made us this way

Moses spent just 2 chapters recounting the creation of everything....he spent 13 on a boy named Joseph

13 Chapters on the story of a man who wasn’t even the one in his family whose promised descendant was to be the savior of the world

13 on this story....because we all see our lives in a story…

We all believe that the good life is found if we give ourselves to one script or another

Our story shows our heart..and it is our heart that needs rescue

God is telling us the story of reality out of love that we may return to it…and lose our lives in it

This is the story we need so desperately in a world marred with brokenness, pain, addiction, funerals, hunger, and thirst.

That story is that Mercy is gonna break into the human drama through the life, death, resurrection, and exaltation of a Son

We are going to be in Genesis 43 today

We are going to look at 3 Points this morning

Life or Death Depends on Mercy

The Mercy of a Heavy Conscious

The Mercy Right in Front of You

1. Life or Death Depends on Mercy (1-14)

1. Now the famine was severe in the land. 2 And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” 3 But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’ ” 6 Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?” 7 They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” 8 And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 10 If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”

11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. 12 Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man. 14 May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

If you are just joining us let me catch you up

Jospeh was his dads favorite. That didn’t go over well with his family.

His brothers were a messed up bunch of folks and they staged his death and sold him into slavery

Joseph has been fasley accused wrongfully imprisoned, but through it all gained favor and has risen to a high position in Egypt...

Just in time for a global famine to hit

His brothers come to egypt for food…and don’t know who they are talking too but it is Joseph...

Here is act 1:

The famine is still raging and the food is running out from the first trip

Theres a little more water in the gravy then there was a month ago....

I love how Jacob simply throws out there “hey boys head back and get some more food”

As though Egypt is the Piggly Wiggly down the block to just drop into for some milk eggs.

We saw on their first trip “The Man” in Egypt has some conditions if they are to return.

The main condition was to bring the “other brother” who was not along on the first trip

The readers of Moses’ epic know the “Man” is Joseph

What else we know is that Joseph needs to know if his brothers have changed

Is Benjamin the new Joseph in the family that they have killed....or have they been broken in to new men

Now Jacob has a history of being a bit manipulative so i think he has hoped its slipped the boys minds ...

But the New Judah is here.

We saw his turn in chapter 38 Scott distilled so wonderfully

Life has a way of changing us doesn’t it. Humbling us.

I mean who here over the age of 25 would want the 16 year old you making all of your life decisions?

The selfish foolish aspirations of our youth are a source of laughs, embarrassment, sometimes shame, guilt, and haunt

With age and time we feel the pangs of foolish idolatry and the carnage our sin leaves in its wake.

Judah feels these pangs.

The pain of his story has changed the character of the Story we see new here in Judah

No one knows better the life and death held in the hand of God than this changed man that began in Genesis 38:26

26 Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I,

This is why God has written a great redemptive masterpiece and not a science book

What saved Judah was not a biological explanation of creation and photosynthesis.

He was broken by the failure of his story to do anything to save him in his time of greater need. It was story.

The story of self.

Rejecting gods good design.

The story of autonomy and max Pleasure.

All was a story that fails to deliver when life or death depend on mercy

I hate to fly.

Panic attacks terror fear.

I flew last week. I can tell you the hope i have in those moments is not that genesis 1 was longer and i know exactly why the migratory pattern of barn owls is what it is.

My hope is the story i have been grafter into.

The hope of Joseph’s story the hope of the Christ is typological points too the knowledge that is the worst happens my sons are still infinitely loved the the god who created them stormed hells gates to win their heart and he will re wrote their storyIt is God’s underserving mercy for him to let our idols leave us gutted so that he may show us a better story

And it is those God has broken to repentance and new life who are vauable players in God’s Great Redemptive Drama

He still has a role in the story...

In his response Judah of all the brothers speaks the greatest thread of Moses’ writing

Listen to verse 8

8 And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones.

John Sailhamer says here: “Judah gave expression once more to the central themes of “life and Death” we have seen interwoven throughout these narratives: “that we may live and not die”

Desperate people crushed under a famine, with 2 ways to live…a way that leads to life, a way that leads to death

Moses’ desperate plea to God’s people in writing these 5 book narrative …he exclaims in Deuteronomy 33:15

15 “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity;

Moses is telling his people who are about to cross into the promised land there is life and death before you

Life can only be found by casting yourself in saving mercy you don’t deserve and loving the god who provides it with all your heart

Forget God, rely on affluence, become consumers of that grace instead of dispensers of it, love the world and you will die

Brother and sister the same is true for us.

We are the people of God. Life and death is ever before us.

Their life was in the hands of the one who owed them nothing…who they had sinned against to the point of death

You cannot hear that and not see the one Moses only saw as a shadow on the horizon…our Jesus

We will get to all that in a little bit

Judah convinces Jacob that this is the only way for any of them to live

It has to be this way

I love the way Victor Hamilton states this part of the drama:

“The man in Egypt is in control. The game will have to be played by his rules.”

They all know it

Jacob closes the curtain on Act one with a summary cliffhanger

We have seen it will depend on mercy that life or death is found

Jacob send his sons with gifts to take to the Man, fear for his last son with his beloved wife Rachel, and with one of my favorite lines in this chapter because i have needed it so badly in my season of life

Look at verse 11

11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. 12 Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man. 14 May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

In the face of more grief then a parent can carry, fear, anxiety, guilt, and experiences that tell him otherwise listen to what he says

Verse 14 says literally may El Shaddai grant you mercy

El Shaddai is the name of God that worships and cherishes his complete sovereignty

Over every minute, every little detail it is God attribute of Sovereignty that Jacob clings to

It is God’s sovereignty that he knows alone can work all the pain he has known into a saving work of radical mercy

John Sailhamer commentates a masterpiece here don’t miss what Jacob is saying here

“Jacob’s farewell words provide the narrative key to what follows: “May El Shaddai grant you mercy before the man... It is important that in these words of Jacob the Mercy which Joseph was to find toward his brothers was given by God Almighty. In these subtle and indirect ways the writer tells the reader of the Power of God in directing the lives of his people and in carrying out His plans to completion”

When we cannot see.

When the path to life seems like we took a right when we should have forked left...

let your father in the faith Jacob anchor you again in Your Sovereign God El Shaddai

He alone who is right now “working all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to His purposes’

Close curtain....because the mercy that is foreshadowed is unimaginable and we never could dream or expect it

2. Mercy in a Heavy Conscious (15-25)

the god of your father has given you treasure

15 So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.” 17 The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph’s house. 18 And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house, and they said, “It is because of the money, which was replaced in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys.” 19 So they went up to the steward of Joseph’s house and spoke with him at the door of the house, 20 and said, “Oh, my lord, we came down the first time to buy food. 21 And when we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us, 22 and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” 23 He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. 24 And when the man had brought the men into Joseph’s house and given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder, 25 they prepared the present for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

3. The Mercy Right in Front of You (25-34)

expecting to be servants we are the ones served by the son who denied his right as the universally offended to offer mercy, welcome in the worst of sinners, and sit at an eschatological feast…

Life is only found in the prodigal mercy of God when he is right in pouring out wrath on us instead

26 When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed down to him to the ground. 27 And he inquired about their welfare and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” 28 They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. 29 And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” 30 Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there. 31 Then he washed his face and came out. And controlling himself he said, “Serve the food.” 32 They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. 33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement. 34 Portions were taken to them from Joseph’s table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him.

Conclusion

Moses is writing this for the people of God so that we may never forget the story…where life is found in mercy alone

It is not a self improvement strategy

It is not a system of salvation

It is the announcement of a story

We are people of story and we believe the story we see ourselves in

Young person here today the instagram and tik tok infulencers are selling a story of how the good life is found.

It is a story that if you live for pleasure, live for self, and become who you truly feel you are you will know Peace and Mercy

We are people of stories

That is why God has revealed himself in the Story of a real man named Joseph

A son who showed radical mercy in a life of death, new life, and assencion

Mercy through a Son

Joseph’s life story points to the better story of a Son in whome mercy is found for the world

The promised Son of David, the True Son of God, the Seed of Eve who broke into fallen humanity to take back what sin and death stole in the garden

The Gospel is the announcement that a better story has burst into history

The Gospel is the story of real events of where everlasting mercy is found for those least deserving

Michael Bird says this of the greatest stroy ever written

“The cross and empty tomb are where wrath and mercy meet, where God’s verdict against us becomes God’s verdict for us, where our Old selves are crucified with Christ and we are raised with Christ, and where sin is cleansed and new creation begins”

The Mercy only found in the Son.

Joseph points to a better story.

What is your story? What is the hope of your story

Joseph tells the best story and points to the one story better than Tik Tok, better than Netflix, better than becoming who you feel you are

The gospel is the story of reality

Bird again says “The Gospel id fundamentally a story about how salvation comes through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah”

Let this story tell a better story for you

Come to this story “all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

You were made to long for this story and you will only know rest when you find your life in it

Come to this Jesus today and let him re write your story