From a message given at a Bible conference in Cedar Falls, Iowa. We recommend that, if possible, you read the Biblical account of Joseph and his brethren in Genesis 42-45, and have your Bible open as you read this message.
Will you turn with me, please, to the book of Genesis, chapter 45, verse 4, "And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt." Those words of Joseph here, "Come near to me, I pray you," happen to be a very timely voice to us today as expressive of the heart of our True Joseph, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is borne out in Revelation 3:19, where the Lord says, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." I believe that the rebuking and chastening which we feel today in various areas and levels are proofs of His love, that love which above all else is always desiring earnestly that we might come near to Him. Then as we become aware that the rebuking and the chastening are from Him and take our circumstances as from Him, it is designed to cause us to turn around, to repent, to come back in our hearts to Him whose love can only find its rest when we are near to Himself. And so He says in Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock." That desire of our blessed Lord's heart is expressed actively--"I stand ... and knock." He does something about it. Then He says, "If any man hear My voice." With that attitude--standing and knocking--there is implied very clearly the calling. And if we hear His voice, what is He saying? Oh, I believe we can say unquestionably that our Lord is saying to you and to me, "Come." What wonderful words--"Come near to Me."
In Deuteronomy Jehovah is speaking to His people in view of their going into the land to lay hold of their inheritance, and He desires that His Word be very much before them. It must be so if they are going to succeed in making that land their own. He wanted the Word to be in their hearts. I believe that one of the lessons that God our Father and the Lord Jesus would have us learn today is that even with all our knowledge of the Scriptures (it isn't much it's true), such knowledge is not in itself all that God desires from us. He desires the response of our hearts to Himself. We don't hear Him saying in the Word as we ought, "Come near to Me." When we think of all those sufferings upon the cross, both His atoning sufferings and His abandonment by God, as well as those physical sufferings from the hands of men, is it oversimplifying it to say that it was all so He might have us near Himself? "Come near to Me." Oh, may God by His Spirit cause those words to burn in our very hearts.
Let us notice a bit of the circumstances under which Joseph speaks these words. We read his brothers had been filled with envy toward him. And when there are feelings of envy, feelings of jealousy, resentment, these can produce even hatefulness, and that's the word used concerning the attitude of Joseph's brethren towards him. This cuts off all lines of communication. We know the story of how Joseph's brothers put him into a pit and feeling there was no profit for them in that, they sold him into Egypt. And from there we read of Joseph going into prison and from prison to the throne, a beautiful, perhaps the most outstanding type of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.
Go back a few chapters to find him in the character in which he speaks those words, "Come near to me." In Chapter 41, verse 40 Pharaoh says to Joseph, "Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled." This is the position of the one that is speaking that to his brethren. Look at verse 44, "And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." What a man was this Joseph! The nation of Egypt was beyond many others in its development, culturally, technologically, agriculturally, in any way we may think, Egypt was outstanding at that time. Yet no one could lift a hand or a foot without Joseph. Think of the greatness of that one and then his saying to those brothers, and how unworthy they were, "I pray you," he says, "Come near to me."
Oh, what a voice that has for us when we think of that One greater than Joseph. Go on to verse 55 of Chapter 41, "And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do." So, Joseph was everything. Those last words are practically identical to those of Mary, with respect to our Lord Jesus in John 2:5, "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." And so does Pharaoh to the people concerning Joseph, and so does God, the ruler of the universe say to us concerning the Lord Jesus--"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." What does He say? Oh the importance of having that Word fill our hearts and when it does, it will give us a message, unquestionably, and we'll want to go out with it and tell others. What can we write over all those words, over all of Scripture? We haven't learned it aright if we haven't drawn from it the expression of the heart of the Lord Jesus to you and to me, saying, in it all, "Come near to Me." Oh the power of those words and the deep, abiding love and affection of those words. How personal they are, how real they are, how timely they are.
So, we are drawn in our thoughts to the story and we read of how God caused a famine over the land. God will move heaven and earth to fulfill His will, and His purpose is to bring every one to Him who alone can meet their need--to joseph. If there had not been that famine, there would not have been this coming to Joseph. Due to the famine which was felt in Canaan, Joseph's brethren are brought to Egypt. It took a famine to bring them to Joseph. God knew what it took. God knows what it takes to bring us to the Lord Jesus. And so those words are certainly fitting that we read in Revelation 3. It is the rebuking and the chastening that is expressive of His love. Those brethren in Canaan were Jehovah's--how He loved them. You don't like to see your children hungry. You don't like to hear them say, "I'm hungry," and have nothing to give them. We don't like to see our loved ones hurting. This was Jehovah's way of bringing them to where Joseph was. Little did they know what was in store for them! Little did they know that this famine meant more for them than simply not having crops, not having food, and having to go where they could to get it. They didn't see God's hand in it. It is wisdom from God to discern His hand in all that comes to us, for He does have His all-wise, all-powerful, loving hand in every detail of our lives. Surely He does!
So, they are brought to Egypt. Let's look at Chapter 42, verse 7, "And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them." He knew them because he remembered them. The years had not changed his knowing them, and in knowing who they were, knowing what they had done. He "made himself strange unto them; and spake roughly unto them." I underlined those two words, "spake roughly." It reminds us again of what we have in Revelation 3. "Spake roughly." Who? This one, who a little later, this great one says, "Come near to me, I pray you." But before there could be a response on their part, before they could really appreciate that and have ears for it and respond to it, there must be that rough speaking first.
Joseph's heart towards them was not less outgoing here in Chapter 42 than it was in Chapter 45. But, with the wisdom that God had given him, this was necessary. It must come first, this speaking roughly. It was love that spoke roughly. It knew when to speak roughly and when to cease that kind of speaking. If it was true of Joseph, who was a man just like you and me, think of the great wisdom of our Lord Jesus. He knows just how much to lay upon us, how much to allow, that we might consider our ways and might repent, might turn around and have again an ear for Him and might realize that our knowledge is not at all enough. Are you impressed, as am I, in reading Romans 12, that the whole basis of the appeal of the Holy Spirit through His servant is the known mercies and compassions of God? He does not say there, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by what I have told you," nor "by what you know," but by that which has its voice to the heart, the compassions of God. Not that the truth is not designed to speak to and reach our hearts, but being deceitful as they are, we can hold things in our head that are not translated into our daily lives--our dress, our speech, our conduct in general. So, Joseph speaks roughly to them, but appropriately, considering what they had done and what they needed to learn.
What was this rough speaking producing in them? Notice verse 21 of Chapter 42, "And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us." They talked like it was yesterday but it was really about twenty years before this. This had been weighing on their hearts or their consciences to a greater or lesser degree all those years. "We are verily guilty concerning our brother." The hand of God upon us makes us realize what has been our relationship with the Lord practically, makes us realize what has been lacking, wherein we have failed, wherein we have been guilty.
There are many applications which could be made to this. If we think of His eye being upon us, as it is, lovingly, and a holy eye continually, how do you think the Lord feels when we are not walking in holiness and truth? How do you think it makes our Lord feel? What do you think His feelings are about that? Does it not grieve His heart when He sees in you and when He sees in me that which is not pleasing to Him? May the Holy Spirit give to us a fresh awareness of walking and speaking and living continually under the holy eyes of God and our Lord Jesus.
So they felt their guilt, then, concerning their brother. Guilty feelings will keep us from responding to the Lord's appeal to come near to Him. If we feel guilty, we want to step back a little, we want a little distance between us, we do not feel comfortable and at ease in His presence. But these feelings must be awakened, they must come to the front, we must realize them, know them for what they are and then they will be handled by Joseph, by that assurance of His love.
So Joseph, to search them out the more, requires that one stay with him and that the rest go back home. Later on, in the sense of their recurring need, the famine still being over the land, they come back to Joseph. Now he wants the youngest to be kept with him while they go back again to Canaan. In chapter 44 we have the most impassioned plea by Judah for his youngest brother, Benjamin. It is very striking, very moving to read that. Notice verse 16 of chapter 44, "Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants." The hand of God upon them in that way led ultimately to their saying, "How shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants." Joseph would bring them to that proper state of soul, to that realization of what they had done, that they might be able to respond to what was in his heart all along.
And though they had treated Joseph shamefully, Joseph loved them. You might wonder at it. How could Joseph love them when we think of what they had done? How could He that is greater than Joseph, our Lord Jesus, say He loves us when we think of how we have conducted ourselves, how we have lived in self-will and selfishness so frequently to such a large extent? We wonder at it. But, Joseph distinguished between his brethren and what they had done. He was not going to pass over what they had done, but he loved them and what they had done did not change his love for them. But what they had done necessitates his speaking roughly to them.
So Judah speaks then to Joseph in a very touching way. Notice verses 30 and 31 of chapter 44.Judah is winding up his appeal, his plea to Joseph concerning this matter of leaving Benjamin there and says, "Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life;" that is, Jacob's life bound up with Benjamin's life, the son of Jacob, "It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die:" that is, Jacob will die "and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave." That tells us a lot. Judah is now concerned that the retaining of Benjamin by Joseph will cause the gray hairs of his father, Jacob, to go down with sorrow to the grave. But Judah and the others had come to their father years before with that bloodstained coat of Joseph's and had brought it to him, "You see the coat, Father, you can read what it says." They didn't come back with the son, they came back with his coat, all filled with blood, so Jacob had said "Oh, without a doubt he had been torn by wild beasts," and he said, "I will go down to the grave mourning." If they had been concerned about their father, would they not have said then, "Oh, we see your sorrow, so we'll just have to own up and tell you he isn't dead, we sold him." But they didn't say that then. They kept their mouths shut, and as far as they were concerned, their father could go down to the grave sorrowing. If it took his life in grief, they would keep their mouths shut. But now that speaking roughly has done its work, they have a heart, they have a care for their father fearing that it might cause his death if Benjamin doesn't go back.
Now we come to chapter 45. Joseph feels that the work has been done. They had care now for Jacob, their father. They had come to a realization of their guilt. There is no longer that hostility towards him, no more that envy. There is a real brokenness on the part of these brothers, and I believe that Joseph, with divine perception, knows that the time has come when he can refrain himself no longer. We read in chapter 45, verse 1 that he wants to be alone with his brothers, and he says, "Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren." We might know what it is at times to have our soul weeping. We might weep inside. But then when feelings get deep enough, strong enough, overwhelming enough, we can't keep it in, and instead of our souls simply weeping, we weep aloud and that's what Joseph does. I see no reason to doubt that this breaking up of his heart was solely because of the great love of his heart for his brethren. Love which had thrilled his heart like Jehovah's love to him. Yes, that was it-- his great love for his brethren. He wept aloud, how loud it was! The Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard it.
"And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph." I believe we have so much in that statement. He wanted them to know of his relationship with them--"I am Joseph!" Then we read, "His brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence." They couldn't answer him. But the work had been done in their hearts, and so joseph says, "Come." No longer the rough language. "Come near." I don't want anything between us. "Come near to me." The feelings that they had originally--hostile feelings towards him--were gone. They have come out with their guilt, they acknowledged it, but there is something else that would keep them from entering into this true love relationship which was so much the desire of Joseph's heart, and that which will prevent it is fear. Fear will prevent that. But, Scripture tells us that "Perfect love casts out fear."
So now all is gone that would hinder their drawing near to him. "Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near" That outpouring of Joseph's heart had taken away from them now through all these various stages--we have scarcely touched on them--it had taken away all that hindered their response, and they came near. It is very commonly the case that we may feel anger for someone when there is no basis for it at all, and we may turn it in to ourselves; and so Joseph, a very wise man, anticipates that and says in verse 5: "Be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves." We can well understand how depressed they would have felt. "Don't be angry with yourselves." Love covers all these feelings, these emotions that hinder this relationship. "Come near to me."
And now Joseph is going to follow that up, as love does, telling them to come down to him, and in verse 11 he says: "There will I nourish thee." I have underlined those words, "will I nourish thee." Or, if you want to take them as a sentence in its own power--"I will nourish thee." That follows the appeal of the Lord's heart to you--"Come near to Me." You won't lose out. It will not be a question of having to give up this, of having to sacrifice any so-called friendships. But our hearts might try to reason, what will be the cost if I draw near to Him and do whatever He says, as Pharaoh who stands there in that context in the place of God, "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." If He, the True Joseph, asks me, as a woman to be a woman to act like a woman, to dress like a woman, and a man to carry himself like a man and to take his place in the assembly in participation as a man, as a priest, as a servant, and if we would do as He asks us to do, what will it mean for me? If we would do what he asks us to do, it may bring its reproach, it may bring its exercise, it may bring its heartache, but "I will nourish thee." He will much more than abundantly compensate us for whatever we may lay aside or relinquish for Him.
Isn't this related to that word we have in Romans 12, to yield our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto Him? What is it but an "intelligent service"? When we think of the compassions of God, nothing less could really meet God's heart than giving ourselves to Him. No less a response than that would meet the heart of God. And nothing less than this response of our lives to the Lord Jesus will satisfy His heart. "Come" is His word to you. "Near"--nothing less than unhindered nearness is in His mind. "Come near to Me, I pray you, and I will nourish you." Oh, that nourishment!
May we desire with a fresh and holy resolve to draw daily of that divine nourishment. Maybe the hand of the Lord has been upon us and is upon us because we have been too busy to draw upon that spiritual nourishment. Maybe our eyes have not been in the right direction. Oh that we might be like Stephen who, "filled with the Holy Ghost, he looked up steadfastly into heaven." That enabled him, with all the persecution that came to him, to have the spirit of Christ towards those who were persecuting him, and you remember his words, as those stones hit him, those in front of him to whom he had spoken, trying to batter the glory out of that face, "Lord lay not this sin to their charge." We cannot have the right spirit, the spirit of Christ, to meet situations unless we are filled with the Spirit, which we shall be if we are looking "steadfastly into heaven." Satan wants to divert our gaze so that it is anywhere else but "steadfastly into heaven." But from there our Lord is saying, I believe, in these days, "Come near to Me, and I will nourish you."
Now read verse 15 of chapter 45, "Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him." That he should kiss and weep upon the brethren who once had so cruelly wronged him was a remarkable thing. The kiss and the tears were the sign not only of affection but also of a full forgiveness. It is significant that the record is, "after that his brethren talked with him." The free conversation which flows from communion could only be established on the ground of forgiveness.
So it is with us today. Until we are assured of divine forgiveness and thus we are in the enjoyment of communion with God, we cannot be at home in His presence. Until communion is restored, as it was between Joseph and his brethren, we will find it impossible to freely address Him in either thanksgiving or in prayer.
I would leave with you in closing now a verse in John's Gospel chapter 15. This chapter, as we know, is a part of that portion of ministry delivered by the Lord Jesus to His disciples in view of His departure. He was going away. It was necessary that the Holy Spirit might come. But though He was going away, His heart was still with them, His love was still with them, and He was preparing them for His absence. He said in verse 9, "As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love." Continue ye, abide in My love. The soul that abides in the love of Christ is as a weaned child. We no longer have that fretfulness, those feelings that we must have this, we must have that, can't do without this, and so on. "Abide ye in My love." That is the place where we want to rest. It gives calmness to the soul and a peace that nothing else will give. There is nothing that can make us secure like abiding in the love of the Lord.
Consequently, then, we are ready to appreciate and respond to what the Lord says in verses 10 and 11, "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." Well, it is all of one piece here and all very precious for our hearts. As we abide in His love, our desire will be to keep His Word, as we have known it; that we have learned it aright; that what we know draws us to Himself, and gives us a fresh appreciation of His love; that our affections, our love, are kindled and responsive to His. This is communion, this is power, this is praise and joy and in itself our testimony.
Soon He is going to come in the air, and He is going to cry out, we may say, out of the fulness of His heart, "Come near to Me." He is going to call us up to be with Himself. Now by faith we may respond to this. But even then, His heart still longs for the time when He will come in the air and say, "Come near to Me," and take us up to be with Himself, to be near Him for eternity. May our hearts be set upon Himself and His love as we await that home-call.
Pages in this Category:
Being A Nazarite
Building God's House--Willingly
Cleansing, Communion, and Rest
Conflict and Progress
Fear Not
Nurture and Admonition
The Liberty of the Spirit in the Lord's Supper
