Dreadful Mercy

Have you ever allowed yourself to wonder whether someone you have wronged, or simply someone you had a falling out with—though you may think you were in the right—will be in heaven, and so you will meet again, never having resolved your strife in this lifetime? How awkward would that be? Or, should I say, how dreadful would it be? But is that really so? Those who are true citizens of heaven will not see anyone out place. It would be tempting to see this narrative in Genesis 45 to concern only the laying down of a grudge on the human level. In my exposition time here, I will focus mostly on the first half of the chapter (vv. 1-14) and this moment of reconciliation. It is a type of that greatest reconciliation we all need.

When Joseph unveiled himself here, in another way he begins to be veiled. Remarkably, as we will see, Judah receives the birthright. Not Joseph. Isn’t that odd too? Joseph has been a type of Christ, yet Judah will bear the line of Christ. The typology of Joseph actually begins to shift from a type of Christ to a type of the Spirit. The Hebrew son Joseph represented Christ brought low and then exalted; the Egyptian ruler Joseph draws the chosen seed back to the promised One, tests them, and brings them to their knees, and then, just in showing up to them, he begins to recede, and he brings the people of God to life. And how is this conversion finalized? In three ways, the chosen family is,

• Confronted by his vengeance.

• Comforted by his mercy.

• Consoled by his provision.

Doctrine. Grace confronts us with God’s vengeance, comforts us with His mercy, and consoles us with his provision forever.      

Confronted by his vengeance.

‘And Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence’ (v. 3). The ESV opts for a soft word here, but the Hebrew בָּהל can mean disturbed, terrified, or, in other words, in dread. Because we know how the story ends, we do not allow ourselves to imagine the terror. In his sermon on the passage, John Chrysostom would say,

“I am surprised at the way they could stand there and gape without their soul parting company with their body, without their going out of their mind or hiding themselves in the ground.”1

He does more than repeat himself. He puts a finer point on it: ‘I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt’ (v. 4b). A dread-filled detail. You may recall the punchline to Peter’s sermon at Pentecost; and it was more than a punchline, but the ultimate punch to the gut:

this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men … [and] This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God (Acts 2:23, 32-33).

No wonder then, in writing Acts, Luke goes on to describe those hearers as those who, “when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ (Acts 2:37). THIS JESUS—you sold into the hands of Gentiles—and THIS JESUS is now enthroned above all to judge the living and the dead, and He stares into your soul even now as you hear these words and decide on these things. So then these brothers hear THIS JOSEPH you sold into the hands of Gentiles and THIS JOSEPH the Pharaoh has now raised up to power over the whole world—THIS JOSEPH is now staring at you, a foot away from you.

In order for mercy to be mercy to us, it must be a dreadful mercy. As these brothers stood as if they were seeing not only a ghost, but a most hostile ghost, and as the crowds at Pentecost—many of whom jeered on with the mob only weeks before to have Jesus crucified—now knew He was alive and that the Spirit that worked miraculously through these Apostles, He was the eyes of the King Jesus, staring into their souls, and so they were cut to the heart, so there must be the ultimate dread understood for a sinner to come to Christ for mercy. Think about why that is. Mercy for what! If you do know that it is mercy you need, then be sure that it is not mercy that you have! And be in dread, because it will be the first step to actually repenting before God and knowing your need for Christ. So real conversion passes through being confronted by His vengeance.

Comforted by his mercy.

In the same breath as Joseph’s stinging words he adds softening words. And even before that, ‘he wept aloud’ (v. 2), even as Jesus lamented over Jerusalem in Matthew 23 in the same breath as he had just lashed out against the Pharisees with all those Woes. Before moving on to the outward signs of Christ’s compassion for us, we must understand that He is how God does in fact flow forth in divine love. It is not like Joseph who, it says, ‘could not control himself before all those who stood by him’ (v. 1). God in Himself is completely in control. He is what theologians call both immutable and impassible. That means that He does not change and experiences no passion, in the sense that He is does not suffer in all that He is. He could not learn anything, and thus could never be taken by surprise, so that this ultimate Fountainhead of true Love could never be seized or controlled by any external news of the beloved. And yet, He reveals Himself in love, covenantally bound to His people, so that, “the LORD will have compassion on Jacob” (Isa. 14:1)

But then, at the first sight of their dismay, ‘Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come near to me, please’ (v. 4a). Then after his second convicting charge, he adds, ‘And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life’ (v. 5).

The sum of this is deep, but the Bible would bring us up to the heavens, viewing the divine life, as ones placed outside by our own rebellion; and then down to the narrative and the Incarnation, where Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9); and then back up to the heavens with purer eyes. Joseph takes on a deep typology here—a lens to God in His dreadful majesty, where all we can do is stand as dead men, and, in a moment, in the Son’s servant form, weeping aloud, and with arms open wide. So, through the prophet,

For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer (Isa. 54:7-8).

You see that? Momentary anger, yes; but EVERLASTING LOVE—that love that could never be added to or taken away, the infinite fountain of love, which freely overflows to the most unworthy recipients. Hidden because dread was required to melt the way for mercy, but revealed in tears of compassion, because Christ desires to comfort.

There is more than technical closure here in putting away a grudge. After he embraced Benjamin first, it says, ‘And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him’ (v. 14). A wonderful detail. After we are embraced personally by mercy, we can approach. To converse with God is a fruit of peace with God. We saw in the class this morning—in Calvin’s section on prayer—how the Bible teaches that the unregenerate cannot so converse with God. Consider a few verses:

“If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Ps. 66:18).

“but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isa. 59:2).

“We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him” (Jn. 9:31).

But when the Son reaches out His arms, taking those nails and therefore your sins upon Himself, mercy first embraces dreadful justice and proves His love for you, so that now you may speak and now He will hear.

Consoled by his provision.

This provision begins in substitution. What do I mean by that? When God would provide for sinners, He must first provide with Himself. No sinner can be consoled in his sin, but only by having sin dealt with. So Jospeh paints the background for them, of what God was up to when they were still up to no good. In other words: Why not be afraid that you sold me here? ‘for God sent me before you to preserve life’ (v. 5) and then again,

‘And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God (vv. 7-8).

God sent a substitute long before He drew any of us as well.

But of course God sent Jospeh into what was the depths of the earth for them, in chains and under condemnation. Here also is first a lesson of the decree of God for the cross of Christ. Though our sins were the nails through His hands and feet, though our shame was the burden He carried on His back to Calvary, “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief” (Isa. 53:10). God not only sent Him, but as the high priest of old drove the scapegoat that bore the guilt of the people out of the camp, so God drove His Servant to the place of death to persevere the life of the people.

And this substitution is said by Joseph to go “before you.” That is, the type of Christ goes before the people he saves, and so Jesus goes before the people He saves. Paul calls Jesus “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20).

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Rom. 6:5)

Where He goes in His whole work, we go after Him, having been placed in Him. Now this Pharaoh and this Egypt is very different than the way things would be at the start of Exodus. Here the house of bondage is remodeled for the type, so that Pharaoh stands in for the One who places the Son at his right hand, and so it says of their reaction: ‘When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, ‘Joseph’s brothers have come,’ it pleased Pharaoh and his servants’ (v. 15). “Just so,” Jesus tells us, “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk. 15:10). So when Christ goes before us, that whole place is celebrating our salvation like no celebration you have ever heard of.

One more instance of Joseph as a type of Christ, and it is not a new idea. We have already seen it—only now, it is drawn out, for the sake of showing us the connection between His divine providence as the eternal Son and His kingly authority as protector of the church. Paul tells us that God,

“put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church” (Eph. 1:22).

So it is here in the type: in the second half of this chapter, we have four things set in motion by the favored Son being exalted over all things for the church:

(1) Tell your loved ones to come too (vv. 17-18);

(2) The best of all I have is yours (vv. 18, 20);

(3) God provides what is necessary for the journey (vv. 19-23);

(4) Do not quarrel on the way (v. 24).

Why did Joseph add that? Probably he knew them enough to know this was what they do. All the more so does God know and tell us not to needlessly divide along the path. At any rate, these become our mandate on earth, and the provision for the mission, as the true Favored Son reigns at the right hand of God in heaven. 

And there is a last detail regarding Jacob’s response which I will cover separately in a moment.

Practical Use of the Doctrine

Use 1. Correction. It belongs to moral law that a member of God’s covenant of grace may exercise power over the city of man. Hear Joseph say that ‘[God] has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt’ (v. 8). This is neither prophet, priest, or king of old Israel. This happened centuries before the national constitution of that same gracious covenant, when Moses had delivered the terms. Note that this design was both that wisdom be granted to a secular kingdom for its good and the good of others who would travel there during the famine, as well as that the special people of God be nourished and protected. At no point was the special care of the church harmful for the common care of the world. So it would be in the times to come, after Christ, that “Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers” (Isa. 49:23).

Objection 1. That was a special circumstance!

Reply to Obj. 1. Let us grant the point—What exactly would that prove, unless one provides additional criteria of restriction? Does the objector not see that this only begs the question of how special the special circumstance. Any time sinners obey God in a great difficulty is a special circumstance. It may be “special” in the sense of being rare, but the objection has given no reason why the thing ought not be done.

Objection 2. You speak of a secular kingdom here; but there is no such thing as a ‘secular kingdom,’ all being under God’s rule.

Reply to Obj. 2. The word “secular” may be used in two ways. In modern thought, words like “secular” and “common” come to mean “neutral” and “non-religious” within the confines of liberalism and pluralism. However, in the classical sense of saeculum, this present age, this only has to mean the Christian’s action in time. So if we grant that the Egyptian and Persian monarchs were idol worshipers and that Joseph and Daniel were not there to transform those empires into old covenant Israel, that is really the only scope. Of course the Christian is to transform any thing—just as we are to subordinate any thought—“to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). Yet we still refer to those things, as they are in the world of sense, as secular things, as opposed to the things specially designated sacred things: namely, the means of grace or offices in the church.

This is not to say that a Joseph or Daniel-like character could not have been used by God to transform such empires beyond the scope of old Israel’s typological function. After all, Nineveh’s repentance, the judgments against the “gods” in Psalm 82, and the judgments on the nations in Amos based on their failure to conform to a covenant of some kind—those all show that nations were always under God’s law in all civil matters. It is only to say that neither Joseph and Daniel were called for that purpose in God’s plan.

Use 2. Exhortation. As the father Jacob was exhorted to come in spite of his weaknesses, so those who are strong are exhorted in these words to carry—even if not on royal wagons—at least, on your backs those who are older in the faith and have been crushed in spirit by the loss of their beloved, by the straying of their children, and all the while wondering whether they can be saved because of the devastation. It says here, ‘So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob’ (v. 25). We will see marvelous things in our spiritual youth, but are we spiritual enough to come back home and gently invite those who feel spiritually dead? When they told him of Joseph, it says, ‘his heart became numb, for he did not believe them’ (v. 26). You remember the old father in the Gospels whose boy was captured by demons and was destroying himself day after day? All he could say to Jesus was, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mk. 9:24) Some, like Jacob, cannot even get out those words. But then ‘they told him all the words of Joseph’ and ‘and when he saw the wagons,’ it says, ‘the spirit of their father Jacob revived’ (v. 27). That’s it? Yes, that’s enough, and Jacob himself instructs our evangelism—‘it is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die’ (v. 28).

Will we have a church that can train Jospeh to speak to Pharaoh, and help Jacob into the wagons one last time, to pass on the faith, with confidence in Christ? Or is that not enough? We pit strength against mercy, doing things right this time against giving rest to those who have not in time. 

Use 3. Consolation. If it is true that Jesus goes before us in His whole work down into the house of bondage, so Jesus goes before us in His whole work up into the house of God. He says, “I go and prepare a place for you … that where I am you may be also” (Jn. 14:3). If we are united to Christ, then His destiny is our destiny. The greater-than-Joseph brings traitors in as the adopted family of the greater-than-Pharaoh in that kingdom that will never end. 

___________________

1. John Chrysostom, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Volume 2: Genesis 12-50 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 290.