In this passage we will observe four elements of the grace of God: the abundance of grace, the forgetfulness of grace, the fruitfulness of grace, and the exclusivity of grace.
The Abundance of Grace
Verse 46: Moses tells us that Joseph, at this time, is now 30 years old. This marks it then to be 13 years since Joseph was sold by his brothers, to where he is now. So Joseph, at 30 years old, begins his “public ministry” in the land of Egypt. Note that Joseph as a type of Christ is continued here, as the Lord Jesus was also 30 years old when He began His public ministry.
Verse 48: Joseph begins his plan of gathering up food during the seven years of plenty and storing it for the coming seven years of famine. What discipline this must have taken. How easy it would’ve been to become comfortable and at ease during such abundant times. Yet it is evident that Joseph so believes and continues to believe the Word of God, that he does not allow the comfort of seven years to deter him from his preparation for the coming years of famine. He is thus convinced that the famine is coming, according to God’s decree made known unto him.
Imagine how easily there could have been those who laughed and mocked Joseph’s prudence and preparation, like he was some “prepper.” Granted, it probably did not happen publicly since he had become such a high and honored official within the Egyptian government. But certainly we can imagine that behind closed doors and in whispered conversations there were those who thought him foolish; much like it was for Noah in his day.
Likewise to Joseph’s situation, just because the Lord has not returned to judge the world in righteousness does not mean that He won’t. As surely as we are in days of God’s long suffering and forbearance toward mankind, we can be sure that days of judgment and wrath are coming for the wicked.
Like Joseph, let us not be comfortable in times of plenty so as to not prepare, and work to prepare others for the coming judgment. Let us not be hindered by the sneers and judgments of men, for there is a greater judgment coming. Let us labor faithfully in doing good and sowing seeds, so that we might not be caught unprepared for the coming day of Christ.
Verse 49: Observe how abundant these years of prosperity are. “Like the sand of the sea.” “It could not be measured.” God wasn’t lying when he said that there would be seven years of great plenty!
We observe here how God loves to bless. He loves to give good gifts. He doesn’t shortchange in his giving. God loves to give abundantly. He’s a big giver. The abundance of God’s blessing to Joseph (and Egypt) cannot be measured. How much more abundant and immeasurable is the love of God toward His people? How much more incalculable are the blessings of God to us in Christ? Vastly so. God’s blessings toward us in Christ are more numerable than all the sand of the sea. His thoughts of love toward His sons and daughters vastly outnumber the stars in the sky.
The Forgetfulness of Grace
Verse 50-51: Here we read of how God blessed Joseph with two sons and how Joseph gives them names based on God’s faithfulness toward him. This reveals to us Joseph’s continued faith in God and hope in His promises. The first of which Joseph names Manasseh, for, he says, “God has made me forget all my hardships and all my father’s house.”
Consider the hardship’s Joseph has endured: hated by his brothers, beaten and thrown into a pit by his brothers, sold to slave traders by his brothers, sold as a slave in Egypt, imprisoned in Egypt for a crime he did not commit, and forgotten about for two years in prison by one who was supposed to help rescue him from prison. All of this beginning at the young age of 17 and continuing for the next 13 years.
But oh how God has now made him forget all his hardships! The faithful love of God to His servant Joseph has been so manifested in the heart of Joseph that all of his past ailments are all but forgotten. The joy of knowing a faithful God far exceeds all the hurts Joseph has endured. God has now raised him up to a position of power, and granted him great favor in the land, and a family of his own.
Consider your own hardships. Maybe you’re right in the middle of a hardship. Hardships are a hallmark of the Christian life. Being wronged is a normal human experience in this fallen world. But an even truer and greater hallmark of the Christian life is not hardships, but the God of our hardships – the God who makes us forget all our hardships.
Sometimes God will cause us to forget all our hardships, during our lives, like Joseph. Maybe God has done that in your life. But maybe you haven’t forgotten all your hardships. Maybe it still hurts. Maybe its still fresh. Maybe its been so long, but you just can’t seem to forget it. We are not promised that we will in this life. We could live our whole lives in the pit, never to be pulled up out of it, like Joseph. We could die in the pit.
But my friends, there will come a day in the future, where we will be at the dinner table with our risen Lord, eating and drinking in the New Earth, where God will finally make us to forget all our hardships. There will come a day when we are sitting at Jesus’ feet, hearing His sweet voice tell us wonderful things, where we will no longer remember all our hardships.
The Fruitfulness of Grace
Verse 52: Here Joseph has a second son, who he names Ephraim, meaning, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” Despite all of Joseph’s hardship and affliction, God has indeed made him quite fruitful. Even as a slave in Potiphar’s house, Joseph was very successful. Even in prison, Joseph was given responsibility over it all. And now, at the right hand of Pharaoh, he has a fruitfulness that in the very government that imprisoned him.
In the Christian life fruitfulness and affliction are not opposed. In fact, they often go hand in hand. And in fact, God often makes us fruitful (bearing the fruit of the Spirit, or sanctification) precisely by afflicting us. Let us remember that our pits, hardships, and afflictions are a grace from God to make us fruitful.
The Exclusivity of Grace
Verse 53-57: The seven years of famine have no come, just as Joseph said; and it is severe. The seven years of plenty represented to us God’s long suffering toward sinners, not wishing that any should perish. And the arrival of these seven years of famine reveal to us that his long suffering won’t last forever. Wrath and judgment are coming. God’s Word is true. What He says will come to pass. No matter how good the good times may seem, the judgment that God has said is coming, is coming.
The Egyptians, when their local supply runs out, cry out to Pharaoh. Pharaoh tells them, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.” Is this not the Father’s instructions about His Son? Joseph is the “savior” of this starving world. At this point, A.W. Pink points us to Christ, “…it is wonderful that the rejected Christ should be exalted into a Savior for a famine-smitten world; wonderful that this rejected Christ is the alone Savior for a starving world.”
Do we not live in a world that is starved for truth? Starved for righteousness? Starved for justice? Starved for life? Starved for God? Starved for a savior? The World is so starved in it’s need for Christ.
But let us begin with our own hearts. When you are famished, when you are exhausted from the fruitless labor of the world, go to Christ; what He says to you, do. Go to Christ, and go only to Christ. There is no other savior distributing life and salvation. There is no other storehouse of sustenance to be frequented.
Just as the Egyptians, and the world, had to go to Joseph for bread during the famine, so all must go to Christ for life, or they will perish. This is the exclusivity of grace. In John 14v6 Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man come to the Father but by me.”
The grace of God is abundant, immeasurable, free, and exclusively found in Christ.
Concluding Gospel Thoughts
Joseph opens the storehouses of grain to sell to those who come. But in the gospel Christ doesn’t simply give us bread, or show us where the bread is; He Himself is our bread, and He has prepared the meal for us, and it is free, because He already paid for it.
As severe as our sin is (like the severity of the famine, it brings death), the storehouses of Christ’s forgiveness and righteousness are open and plentiful for us to come and eat. God’s wrath will be severe when it fully arrives, but He has a storehouse of love and provision for His people.
There is only famine and perishing in the world and all it’s promises. But there is abundance in Christ. Will you perish, or will you go to Christ?
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