Chapter 1: How does God work through evil for good?
God worked through Pharaoh to bring about his redemptive work of the Exodus. Pharaoh meant it for evil. God meant it for good. God worked through the betrayal of Judas for the atonement of Christ. God's intent was perfectly righteous. Judas meant it for evil. And so we see in this enormously important passage a reaffirmation that God is Lord of history.
And Joseph is saying, even while what you did was evil, God was bringing everything together for good for those who love him.
When we get to the end of Joseph's story, we hear the famous line from Joseph to his brothers that though they meant their actions for evil, God meant them for good. This is more than a dramatic and perhaps unexpected ending to the story.
Chapter 2: What does Joseph's story reveal about God's sovereignty?
This is a truth that anchors the Christian life and reveals the comforting reality that God is truly sovereign. It's good to have you with us for this Friday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Lee Webb. Joseph's story is captivating.
It reads like a screenplay, but it's a story that reveals important truths about God and the Christian life, which is why I recommend you request the entire 20-message series and the hardcover book on Joseph's life. Today is the final day of this offer, so request this resource bundle when you make a donation at renewingyourmind.org before midnight tonight.
Well, here's Dr. Sproul on the final installment on the life of Joseph.
As we come now to the end of our study of Joseph, I'm going to skip over the 49th chapter of Genesis almost in its entirety, not because I regard it as unimportant. In fact,
Genesis 49 is one of the most important chapters in the whole book of Genesis because it sets forth the patriarchal blessing that Jacob gives to his sons and serves as a kind of prophetic instrument to the whole future history of the nation of Israel. And that in itself makes it extremely important.
But because it doesn't have direct bearing on our consideration of the biography of Joseph, I'm going to skip over most of that chapter until we come to verse 29, towards the end of chapter 49, where we read this. It is said of Jacob, "...then he charged them," that is his sons, "...and said to them, I am to be gathered to my people."
Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abram bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife. And there I buried Leah.
The field and the cave that is there were purchased from the sons of Heth. And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people. Now this, of course, is a poignant moment for Joseph, the death of his beloved father, Jacob. And Jacob's final instructions are for his resting place.
He wants to be buried with his fathers in Machpelah, which reminds us of one of the great ironies of the patriarchal history. We remember that this whole drama began when God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees as an old man and sent him to a place he knew not where he was going.
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Chapter 3: Why is Jacob's burial significant in the narrative?
And they were enraged and filled with jealousy and anger and hatred against him. And that's what precipitated their betrayal of him in the first place. And now it's like a broken record. It's like a litany in these later chapters of Genesis where now this is the fourth or fifth time that they are bowing down before him and offering themselves as slaves to Joseph's household.
But Joseph said to them, verse 19, do not be afraid. For am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about, as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now, therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Now those of you who listen to our series on renewing your mind on the providence of God will remember that this text that I just read was crucial to the classical doctrine of divine providence as it relates to one of those concepts subsumed under the doctrinal heading of providence, the doctrine of concurrence. or sometimes called the doctrine of confluence.
And if you recall at that time, I mentioned the city of Pittsburgh as an example of what concurrence is or confluence is, where we have what's called the golden triangle or the point where the
Three Rivers Stadium is, and every time the Goodyear blimp flies over that, the commentators show you that viewpoint from above the stadium and show you how these two rivers, the Allegheny and the Monongahela, flow together at the point in Pittsburgh and form the beginning of one of America's great rivers, the Ohio River, which then flows west until it empties into the
Mississippi and becomes part of the Mississippi River. And usually the jargon that the commentators use to describe this is they speak of the confluence of the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivers to form the Ohio. Now what does the word confluence mean? It simply means to flow together. it's a synonym for the word concurrence.
We get the word current from the same root that is found in the word concurrence, and it means currents that come together and mix together. Now, what that doctrine points to is the mysterious way in which God governs the affairs of men,
whereby even though we are acting according to our desires, according to our choices, according to our will, that God brings to pass His sovereign will, not apart from the choices of human beings or apart from the actions of people, but in, through, and by the work of people. That even though There are two streams flowing, the human stream and the divine stream. These two merge into one.
And that's what Joseph is saying to his brothers when he said, you meant it for evil, God meant it for good. And now he puts his accent on the intent of the action. He's saying that when you betrayed me, you weren't the only actor in the drama. God was involved in that. God was working His good plan even through your evil plan.
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