Thru the Bible

Host: Welcome to Through the Bible. We're taking a deep dive into one of the best stories from the Old Testament, the life and experiences of Joseph. Now, this story is for any follower of Jesus who has ever had to wait on God to answer their prayer for years. Joseph's story is for any of us who have been terribly hurt by family members, or for any of us who have been unjustly wronged or maybe feel forgotten. Really. Joseph's story is for all of us. So why don't you turn to Genesis 44 yourself, beginning with verse 25. And in a moment, we're going to hear Dr. J. Vernon McGee explain just how Joseph was able to respond with mercy to those who brought such suffering in his life. But first, Greg Harris is here with me and we got a few great letters that we want to share.

Guest (Male): We do, Steve, and these are from the home team here in the United States. We never get tired of hearing from our listening family here in the US because the US is still the foundation of our global ministry. The most of the financial support, most of the prayer support comes from this amazing group of people. So let's hear what they have to say.

Host: Yeah, this first one comes from Douglas, who tells us how Through the Bible is a family affair. He writes, "Our family has been on the Bible bus since 1996. My wife and I have used Dr. McGee and Through the Bible to homeschool all 12 of our children." Wow. "We continue to learn and grow after all these years. Recently, I had the opportunity to share with my church family by giving a brief presentation on the ministry and distributing Bible bus passes. I will give these bus passes to our evangelism team to use when talking to people on the street. Thank you for being such good stewards of the funds that the Lord has blessed you with. We provide oil changes as often as we can, as this program has been a blessing to our family and many others worldwide. In the famous words of Dr. McGee, may the Lord richly bless you, my beloved, that is, all of you at TTB."

Guest (Male): Wow, and I love, you know, talk about a home group. They had 14 people listening in the home group. I love that. And just if you've not heard what a Bible bus pass is, it's just a business card with a QR code, you can carry it in your wallet like you and I do. And when a person points the camera at their phone, it takes them to a special website where they can download the English app or an app in a hundred different languages. And so it's a great way to share Through the Bible.

Host: Yeah, and if you're not really comfortable with, you know, giving the whole gospel presentation in an elevator pitch format, all you got to do is have these things in your pocket and say, "Hey, can I share something that's really had an impact on my life?" And just hand it to them and say, it's a it's teaching Through the Bible with a guy named Dr. McGee, give it a listen.

Guest (Male): Yeah, yeah, and most people would not find that offensive in any way. So, let's hear another great response from JC, who shares this experience. About 15 years ago, my wife became a devoted listener. It wasn't something that got my attention except when I visited my cabin in a remote area. The radio station WBRF in Galax, Virginia, played bluegrass gospel for 30 minutes, and then Dr. McGee came on. Fast forward, and my wife is now in an assisted living community due to severe mental illness. And as I understand, she still listens. I have also suffered emotionally as her caregiver, and I have found the Bible bus and Dr. McGee to be a light in my morning devotions. Thank you to the entire team for the timeless message you provide.

Host: Thank you, JC. We appreciate the message. Now, after 34 years of listening, here's Bob in Alabama, and he's got a reason to celebrate. So here's his story. "I'm happy to tell you that I have finally gotten my wife to join me on the Bible bus." Well, way to go, Bob.

Guest (Male): Yeah.

Host: I continue. "After years of fussing saying, turn that down or put your headphones on, nobody wants to hear that. Suddenly she wants to go through Revelation with me. We're listening on the iPhone app, so that we can pause and rewind as needed to help in taking notes on the study outline printed out. I have been giving monthly, so I hope that it can be used to put new double seating for all of us couples on the Bible bus."

Guest (Male): That's great. Three letters, all about family. I love it.

Host: Yeah. Greg, let me pray for us as we begin. Heavenly Father, we're thankful for the listeners, particularly in the US, who faithfully pray for this ministry and support it. Pray that you would bless them. Bless them even now as they listen to Through the Bible in Jesus' name. Amen.

Host: Well, it's time to turn to Genesis 44 as we go Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We're looking here in the 44th chapter of the book of Genesis, one of the most human stories and dramatic stories that you possibly could have. You will recall that the family of Joseph, that is, the boys, 11 of them have now come down to the land of Egypt again to buy corn. Joseph insisted that they bring their brother Benjamin with him, and they brought him along, and he made them a dinner, invited them to dinner. And as we concluded chapter 43, we read, they drank and were merry with him. Apparently, they were at ease now. They accepted Joseph's hospitality, and they feel very comfortable.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But he's preparing a test for them, and we saw that he sent them back home, but he took his cup. I wish I could say more about that cup, but it was used for divining for prophecy. I don't think you can read into it here anything of a heathen nature, for this man was a prophet of God. We've had several instances of that. But we find that that cup was put in the sack of Benjamin, and when the brethren came back, they were so sure that the cup was not there, they said, the man should be put to death if you find it in any sack. And the rest of us will be your slave. They were so sure it was not with them, but of course, Joseph had put it in Benjamin's sack purposely or had one of his servants there to do that.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: When it was discovered, all of them came back. They went in before Joseph, and Joseph wanted to test them now about their love for their brother Benjamin. He says, all right, Benjamin is guilty, leave him here, he'll be my slave. You see, they had sold him into slavery one time. And now he says, just leave him here, he'll be my slave, the rest of you can go home. But we're told that Judah came near to him, and believe me, Judah pled for his brother, and he's speaking for all of them. And he recounts the history, and it's a very tender story of how he said that they had to come again to the land of Egypt. And probably, I should drop back in verse 25 and begin just to read. This is a story that doesn't need my comment.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Verse 25, And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food. And we said, We cannot go down. If our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down. For we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant, my father, said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons. And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely, he's torn in pieces. And I saw him not since. And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, there are several things here that I think we need to note. I think that Judah here in this statement of recounting of what's happened and the condition of their father, that actually the father had been deceived, and Joseph can see that now in what actually was told the father of what had happened to him. And you wonder whether this isn't a confession now. I feel that it is, for this is the first time these boys actually said exactly what had happened to the other one. That is, they said he was not, that he was dead, but they hadn't told anything about him at all.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, we also see something else, that Jacob is growing in grace. But he hasn't arrived for the very simple reason that instead of trusting the Lord, he's leaning on this boy Benjamin, and actually it would have killed him. I'm sure of that had he gone down. There are those today, Christians, that when death comes, that sometimes they can reveal and do reveal a wonderful faith in God. And others, that the taking of a loved one absolutely causes them to collapse. And I don't care how much you love a loved one, friends. As a child of God, you ought to know if they are a child of God, you're going to see him someday. And the one walking by faith is not going to collapse at a time like that.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Then you recognize, therefore, that Jacob has not arrived yet, but we're going to see, he's growing in grace. Now, listen here to this boy Judah, for he here is making a tremendous statement. And I'm reading now again, verse 29, And if you take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. 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, it shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad's not with us, that he'll die. And thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad, a bondman to my Lord. And let the lad go up with his brethren, for how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me, lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father. You notice the concern that Judah had here for old Jacob, and Judah is the spokesman for the group. I think anyone of the other brothers would have made this same statement. It's a magnificent statement. And he is the spokesman for the group, anyone of them would have done this. And Joseph now has made the test. Judah's willing to take his place.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, friends, there came one later on in the line of Judah, the lion of the tribe of Judah, and he bore the penalty for the guilty. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He took the place of the guilty. Now, Judah is willing to take Benjamin's place. Now, that brings us to chapter 45, and this incident just continues right on here, and here is where Joseph now reveals himself to his brethren and identifies himself with them. Now, notice this in verse one of Genesis 45. Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him. And he cried. This time, he couldn't get out of the room. He just broke down and began to weep. And no one knows why, except Joseph. His own brethren at this time do not know. And the servants that are there, the Egyptians didn't know. And now Joseph is going to clear the room. 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.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee McGee: And there's coming a day when the Lord Jesus, as we said last time, is going to make himself known unto his brethren. He came the first time, he came unto his own, his own received him not. And they delivered him to be crucified, but the day is coming when he comes the second time. He'll make himself known unto them, and one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Make himself known in that day to his brethren. In that day, there'll be open, we're told, a fountain for cleansing in Jerusalem. That is a family affair. And that is the time that he makes himself known to them, the Lord Jesus. What a picture this is.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, after the others got out, poor Joseph, he's just so charged with emotion here. I'm sure you can visualize the pen up emotion of Joseph at this point. And we're told here, he wept aloud, and the Egyptians in the house of Pharaoh heard. They couldn't understand what had happened over at Joseph's palace. He couldn't conceal his feelings. Now, will you notice the reaction of his brothers? And Joseph said unto his brethren, I'm Joseph. Doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him, for they were the word troubled that we have in our translation is really not strong enough. For they were terrified at his presence. I tell you, if you think they were afraid before, they really are afraid now. About 23 years before, they had seen him, and the last they saw him, they had sold him to the Ishmaelites. Believe me, they feel now that he'll want to get revenge. They're absolutely afraid, they're terrified, but there was no basis for their fears.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Will you listen, and Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near, and he said, I'm Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. I'm your brother, and this is the dramatic moment of this incident. Can you imagine how they feel about it? Now, notice the reaction of Joseph here. He's not angry, and he doesn't seek revenge. Why doesn't he do that? A normal human reaction would be, well, I'll take care of you brethren now for what you did to me. Listen to him. Now, therefore, be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither, for God did send me before you to preserve life. You see the thing that Joseph could see in all of this, that God had permitted this for a purpose. That God was moving in his life. If you and I could see the hand of God in our lives, actually, would we become angry and seek revenge? I don't think we would.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: If you'll notice the explanation that he gives here. This man, he gives God the glory. He says, God sent me before you. Now, listen, let me read on. Verse 7, And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now, it was not you that sent me hither, but God. And he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. God had been in his life, and you can see now that this famine is yet to run. Well, we'll see in verse 11. He says, and there will I nourish thee, for yet there are five years of famine, lest thou and thy household and all that thou hast come to poverty. So that, frankly, there was about two years into the famine.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, notice, he sees the hand of God. Listen to him. Verse 8, So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God. God was back of it. Verse 9, Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me Lord of all Egypt, come down unto me, tarry not. And so he sends up word for his father to come down. We'll read on. And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast. And there will I nourish thee, for yet there are five years of famine, lest thou and thy household and all that thou hast come to poverty. In other words, actually Jacob and his family could not have survived had they stayed up in the land of Palestine at this particular time. They would have perished. And so Joseph wants to bring them down to the land of Goshen, which is actually the best part of that land, and it was in that land that God was going to make them a nation, sheltered from the rest of the world, out of the land of Canaan. It's in this place, and the life of the family reveals, they needed to get out of the land of Canaan.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, verse 12, he says, and behold your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it's my mouth that speaketh unto you. I think that they stood there absolutely spellbound and were down on their faces and up again and just had absolutely nothing to say as they listened to Joseph speaking words that absolutely seemed unbelievable, and would have been had he not been right there before them. Now, will you notice as we read on here. And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that you've seen. And ye shall haste and bring down my father hither. And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. This is a tender scene. These two brothers, full brothers, both marvelous men, Joseph and Benjamin. And moreover, he kissed all of his brethren and wept upon them, and after that his brethren talked with him. Don't you see that they absolutely were puzzled. They were stunned. They didn't know what to say. Now, they begin to recover their senses and they have quite a talk.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And so this thing now is spreading abroad, we read here, and the fame there was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come and it pleased Pharaoh well and his servants. You see, what had happened was that all this noise of this carrying on that it caused everybody to hear in Pharaoh, he wanted to know what was going on. One of the servants from Joseph's house came by, and Pharaoh said to him, What's going on over there? He said, Well, do you know those 11 men that came down from the land of Canaan, they are his brethren. Well, it delighted Pharaoh. And why would it delight him? Well, he was of the same racial strain that Joseph and his brethren were. You see, the Hyksos kings were on the throne now, and they had come from out in the desert, and they probably hadn't been able to trust the Egyptians too much. And so Pharaoh was delighted to have somebody that he could trust. Now, he's delighted that there're going to be some more.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And so Pharaoh said to Joseph, say unto thy brethren, this do ye, lay your beasts and go, get you into the land of Canaan, take your father, your households, and come unto me, and I'll give you the good of the land of Egypt and ye shall eat the fat of the land. Now, thou art commanded, this do ye. Take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones. And note that word wagons, because they say the wheel is quite an invention, you know. And these men from the land of Canaan were not using the wagons yet, but the Egyptians were well advanced. And he says, now take your wagons up there, and bring your father and come, also regard not your stuff, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. Don't need to bring anything extra. You will have it down here. We'll furnish it to you. Children of Israel did so, and Joseph gave them wagons according to the commandment of Pharaoh and gave them provision for the way. To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment, but to Benjamin, he gave 300 pieces of silver, five changes of raiment. To his father, he sent after this manner, 10 asses, laden with the good things of Egypt. 10 she asses laden with corn, and bread, and meat for his father by the way.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: So he sent his brethren away and they departed. And he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way. And they went up out of the land of Egypt and came unto the land of Canaan, unto Jacob their father. They told him saying, Joseph is yet alive. He is governor over the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted. He just couldn't believe this was true. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he'd said unto them, and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. This was a thrilling moment for him. And Israel said, it's enough, Joseph my son is yet alive. I'll go and see him before I die. But the prospect of seeing Joseph certainly influenced Jacob to make the decision to go down to Egypt. But do you think that he intended to remain in Egypt? I don't think so. I think he intended to pay a brief visit to his son, then return back home as soon as the famine was over. But he never returned except for the burial, his own. He came back for his own funeral. For he died in the land of Egypt. And his whole family was moved down there. This is a tremendous story, and we'll follow it on. The hand of God is now very evident in the life of Joseph.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Host: Looking back, it's clear to Joseph how the Lord directed his life. And you know, the same is true in our lives, isn't it? The conclusion of this incredible Genesis study is coming soon. So if you want to catch up on any that you may have missed, well, you can listen anytime with our app or at TTB.org. And if we can answer a question to help you find a resource by Dr. McGee, just give us a call at 1-800-65 Bible. I'm Steve Schwetz, praying God's very best for you.

Speaker: Jesus made it all to him I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.

Host: Well, ride the Bible bus for five years and you'll be amazed at what God teaches you from his word about what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It's a blessing that keeps on going. That's what we believe at Through the Bible.