Suffering Saves

Behold, I have heard

that there is grain in Egypt;

go down there

and buy some for us from that place,

so that we may live and not die.

Genesis 42:2

Jacob and his eleven sons and their families need food in this famine. Jacob sends his sons—all but Benjamin— to Egypt. Oh, what a surprise it will be when they learn that the very one they wanted to rid themselves of is the only one who can give them life.

My friend, what a surprise it will be when those descendants of Israel who have so wanted to get rid of Jesus discover that the very Jesus they have been trying to rid themselves of is the only One who can save them. In Acts 2:36 we read, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Paul explains to us in Romans 11 that God has placed a partial hardening over His people so that the nation does not recognize Jesus for who He truly is, but the day is coming when the hardening will be removed. Then all of Israel will be saved.

They will recognize Him and they will worship Him. They will mourn when this realization hits, but still they will praise Jesus as the Messiah. They will know Him as Lord and King.

As Jacob said, “Behold, I have heard there is grain in Egypt,” Israel will say, “Behold, I have heard that there is life in Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). They will say, we have heard that He is the true bread that comes down out of heaven and whoever eats this bread lives forever (John 6).

In Zechariah 12:10 we read, “They will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him.” We can read on in Zechariah 13:6 that “one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then He will say, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.”

Yes, Jesus was wounded by those who once claimed to love Him. He was not turned over to the cross by the Gentiles but by His own people. Yet it was for God’s purpose. Had the nation of Israel recognized Jesus for who He truly was, then they would never have sent Him to the cross, and it is only by the cross of Christ that we may all be saved, Jew and Gentile.

If Joseph’s brothers had recognized him for who he was going to be, then they would not have sold him as a slave. Yet by the suffering Joseph received from his brothers, he was not only able to give them life, but he was able to give life to the world.

So are we to hate Joseph’s brothers for their ignorance?

Joseph, the one they sinned against, did not hate them. Joseph saw the big picture. He knew that God was in control, even when he didn’t completely understand. Joseph never stopped loving his brothers.

My friend, Jesus does not hate those who put Him on the cross. He has never stopped loving them. It was His great love for them, for us, that led Him to that cross and held Him to that cross. Sin was what threw Joseph in that pit. Sin was what sold him as a slave, and it was sin that sent him to prison. The same is true of the cross. Sin—mine, yours, and the world’s—sent Jesus to the cross.

Oh, precious one, do you hear?

Do you hear that He provides for His own in ways that we cannot even fathom?

Have you heard that the nation of Israel would have perished before the nation could have ever begun had it not been for her God, who sent Joseph ahead of her to Egypt, and not just Israel, but the nations of the world? Here we are, and here is the whole world dying in our sins, yet there is a way. Have you heard there is the way (John 14:6)?

Oh yes, Jesus is the way!

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Oh Father,

I hear that Christ died for my sins, according to the Scriptures. I hear that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures. I hear that He appeared to many (1 Corinthians 15:1–6). Oh Father, I hear and I believe! This gospel, this good news, that was promised beforehand through Your prophets and in the Holy Scriptures (Romans 1:2), this truth so displayed through the book of Genesis and in the life of Joseph, oh Father, I believe. My Jesus, I believe that You are God and You are my Savior. I love You and I thank You.

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.