JOSEPH'S WORD OF HIS GLORY IN EGYPT
JOSEPH’S WORD OF HIS GLORY IN EGYPT
Genesis 45: 1 - 15; John 16: 7 - 15
Taking up this scripture may have the appearance of going back, since last time we had before us the close of Joseph’s career. But it struck me that there was a point which it was of some moment to see. I do not look upon Joseph as being at all times typical of Christ. I doubt if here he is typical. I use the history of Joseph only in the way of an analogy, and you do get striking analogies in Scripture. The analogy in Joseph is to what Christ is doing at the present moment, to the position and action of Christ; and that is a very important point.
The first time we were together the point before us was the beginning of Joseph’s history. He had the testimony of God. We do not see him at the beginning as the man of faith, but as having a testimony from God. That testimony was to his own exaltation; his brethren and his father and mother were all to bow down to him. Now before anybody is exalted according to God, testimony must be borne to it; we see this principle in the case of the Lord. He bore testimony to His exaltation when He rode into Jerusalem on an ass; He claimed what was His in the way of testimony. The church, too, is here in witness to its own place in association with Christ — its moral exaltation. It is in that way that I understand the epistle to the Ephesians; the church stands to its place of union with Christ, and that testimony precedes the actual exaltation. You first get moral exaltation, for that is the great thing with God.
Now, Joseph reached in due course the glory of which he had testified; he may have been the greatest man of his time; he was in a peculiar position, second to none but Pharaoh; he had everything at his disposal; the administration of Egypt was committed to him, and his [p. 33] brethren had to come down and bow themselves to him. They did not at first know him, but eventually he makes himself known to them, and he sends by them to his father the tidings of his glory in Egypt. That is now my point. Then his father was to come to him in Egypt, for that was the object of Joseph sending; and if Jacob had not come down to Joseph in Egypt, he would have come to want (verse 11). Joseph was urgent in the matter; he lays stress upon his glory in the land of Egypt, and desires his father Jacob to come down with all his household into Egypt. Now, as I said, I am not taking this up as typical, but only by way of analogy.
Joseph is no doubt, in a great deal of his history, figurative of Christ; he is spoken of in that way in Acts 7. We see him there as the deliverer of his brethren, though first rejected of them; he is, like Moses, a figure of the Deliverer of God’s people. But I do not see in what is before us that Joseph was quite a figure of Christ, though you get certain points which illustrate the position and activity of Christ at the present moment. In John 16 Christ speaks of going to the greatest place — the place of supreme honour and glory; and He would send down here a testimony to His glory; when He goes His way to Him that sent Him, He sends down the Holy Spirit. The Lord says to them, “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you”. He speaks of the coming of the Comforter, and of what the Comforter will do: “He shall take of mine, and shall show it to you” — He was to bear witness to the disciples of the glory of Christ, so that their hearts might be attracted to Him. They were to reach Him in that sense; if they did not act on the testimony that came to them, the effect would be that they would come to spiritual poverty. So in regard to the present day: if christians do not act on the testimony that has come down to them, they come to spiritual poverty. Probably the bulk of christians in the present day are [p. 34] suffering from spiritual poverty. They hardly fulfil the functions of priests, to which God has called them. I see in the epistle to the Romans the idea of a good christian in the wilderness, and in a sense you cannot go beyond that; but I do not see much about the priest there. You have the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit but after all the fringe of God’s purpose is hardly touched. We have to go to other scriptures to find all that the Holy Spirit has come down to testify of the glory of Christ. All this is much like Joseph in the land of Egypt, hidden from his brethren, in a position of great honour and glory. And what led Joseph to send word of his glory to his father was that he had strong affection for his father. I think he had affection too for his brethren, badly as they had treated him; but he had been the favourite son of his father, and loved his father. I do not think Joseph sent to his father simply to preserve his life from famine and death, but he had pleasure in the thought of the company of the one he loved; and that is the difference between love and philanthropy. A philanthropist does not necessarily care for the company of those he ministers to; a millionaire may give much to benefit man, but the evidence of love is that it delights in the company of those upon whom it showers favour.
So, though one object with Joseph was that his father and his household might escape famine, yet one can see a deeper motive — the promptings of real affection. And if we love one another, what we desire is the company of one another. Do you think that I could believe that a person really loved me, if he did not desire my company? If I have real affection for christians I shall desire their company.
Now I leave Joseph and come to John 16. The Lord was going to the Father, and that was the greatest possible place. The Lord Himself had said, “My Father is greater than I”; He came forth from the Father, and He was now going back to the Father.
[p. 35] The ground on which He was going to His Father was that the Father’s will had been completely accomplished; everything that stood in the way of divine counsels had been removed. Jesus said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work”, and now He goes back to the Father. It is brought out prominently in the gospel of John that “all things that the Father hath are mine”. This came out first by His own testimony, and then in the testimony of the Holy Spirit: “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand”. Everything is centred in the Son, so the Lord says, “He shall glorify me; for ... he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you”. I will endeavour to make it plain to you that the Holy Spirit was sent down here in testimony to what was Christ’s. If you read John 16 you can see that verses 8 to 11 are, in a sense, parenthetical; the direct line of the Lord’s communications goes on from verse 7 to verse 12. The Spirit, when He came, would convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; that is to say, incidental to His presence here. In view of the rejection of Christ, everything was brought to an issue; sin and righteousness had come into conflict, and the result was judgment — the “prince of this world is judged”. The whole world-system is judged in the presence of the Holy Spirit; it is not a question of judging persons, but the system is laid bare and judged. Sin and righteousness never came perfectly to an issue until Christ was here, but now all is judged for God and for the christian who has the light of the Holy Spirit.
But the point was that the Holy Spirit, when He came, was to bring into view another system — a system of things that lay in the Father’s counsels. There is nothing more important for us to apprehend than that God is sovereign in what He creates; it was so in regard to the first creation. If God sees fit to create millions of suns, He does so according to the sovereignty of His will. And if He sees fit to display His love, He is [p. 36] sovereign in the display of His love. God has His own plans and purposes, but the Object in all — the One who was to be displayed in them — was the Son. “All ... that the Father hath are mine” — all that system of things that lies in the Father’s counsel is centred in the Son; it is the glory of the Son. The glory of the Son is this, that having become man to give effect to divine counsels, He becomes the Head and Centre of those counsels. He has power to give “eternal life to as many” as the Father had given to Him; the Father’s counsels all have the Son for their Object and Centre.
In Ephesians 3 the apostle prays to “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in heaven and earth is named”. I cannot tell you what those families are, but they are named of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every family is named according to the place in which the Father is pleased to set it. In Psalm 45 you can see earthly families; or you can turn to the Book of the Revelation, and try to make out the different families mentioned there. All those families centre in Christ, who is the Head of every family. I would like to see more clearly the relation in which Christ stands to every family. I can in measure see in what relation He stands to the patriarchs and to Israel, and in some sort the way in which He stands to the church; but there are evidently other families referred to in Scripture. It would be a great study to find the light in which Christ stands to every family in heaven and on earth, all of which have their names from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we apprehend the greatness of the Father’s purposes, we get enlargement of heart; you cannot know anything of the testimony of the Holy Spirit without getting enlargement of heart. But one finds that the hearts of people are so engaged with the things of this world, and they will not get enlargement of heart from these. What brings enlargement is the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the glory of Christ.
Now the effect of this was to lead the hearts of the [p. 37] disciples to the place where Christ was; it could not have any other effect. The Holy Spirit did not come to leave people down here, but to conduct their souls to Christ where He is. Like the servant of Abraham, who was sent to conduct Rebecca to Isaac, so the Holy Spirit conducts us to Christ where He is. The testimony to the glory of Christ could not have any other effect. What led to the Lord’s sending this testimony was affection towards the disciples. It is a difficult thing to take in the thought that the Lord loves us; we may challenge ourselves as to how much we love Christ, but your love to Christ will not be greater than your appreciation of the love of Christ to you. “We love him because he first loved us”. Now if Christ loves the church, He has pleasure in the company of the church; and this must be so, because company is what I would call the exigency of love. Love will have company; so Christ will present the church “to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing”.
So if Christ sent down the Holy Spirit to make known His glory to the disciples, the object of the Holy Spirit was to lead them to where Christ is with the Father. If you read the latter part of John 16 you will see how the Lord brings out the liberty that they would have with the Father. He says: “The Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me”. The Holy Spirit has come down to conduct us to where Christ is; but if you do not give the Holy Spirit His place, you will undoubtedly suffer from spiritual famine. You can see people all round suffering from spiritual poverty because they do not apprehend the glory of Christ, and therefore do not see their place in connection with that glory. The church is a most important item in the glory of Christ; there is no company in heaven or on earth so intimately bound up with the glory of Christ; and as you understand your proper place in connection with the glory of Christ, you will get more and more insight into that glory. The church is that which is given of the Father [p. 38] to Christ in the day of His rejection by Israel; and the Holy Spirit has come down to show His glory, and thus to conduct the church to where Christ is in glory. And if you do not give the Holy Spirit His proper place, you will surely suffer spiritual loss.
Now the prayer in Ephesians 3 brings out the state in the christian which enables him to enter into John 16. You see all the divine Persons in activity here, or two of them, at all events — that is, the Father and the Spirit; and this, I think, makes it run pretty much with John 16. The apostle bows his knees to the “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”; the movement springs from the Father, it is effectuated by the Holy Spirit. Saints are to be “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man”, and the object is that the “Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith”. So the source is the Father, the energy is the Spirit, and the end that the Christ dwells in your hearts by faith. In order that this state may be produced two things are necessary — one is love, and the other the knowledge of love. These are the two things that the Spirit produces; you are rooted and grounded in love, that is the effect of the Holy Spirit in dwelling. The love of God is shed abroad in the heart; the Holy Spirit is here in testimony to the love of God, and the object of that testimony is that we may be formed in love. It is a good way on when we are rooted and grounded in love. The love presented to you has had effect. Then you begin to comprehend with all saints what is the [p. 40] length and breadth, and depth and height. I connect that with John 16 with all that is connected with the glory of Christ. We come to comprehend the whole range of divine counsel, and to see how God has effected it all; we see not only what God effects, but His wisdom is displayed in the way in which He has effected it. All is by Christ; of course, it is in the immediate power of the Holy Spirit, but Christ is the wisdom of God, and all God’s ways are carried through in Christ. It is of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that every family in [p. 39] heaven and earth is named, and they get their character from Christ. Christ is the second Man as well as the last Adam, and every family must take its character from Him.
The company in the Revelation that stands before the throne without guile, where do they get that from? Why, from Christ. And those who love God with all their heart, and their neighbour as themselves, they get that from Christ. And the church “rooted and grounded in love” has that from Christ; everything is from Christ — takes its character from Him. The Holy Spirit has come down here in testimony of the love of God, but where do we see the love of God displayed? In the death of Christ — “God commendeth his love to us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. Now, being rooted and grounded in love, you are able to comprehend the whole range of wisdom and glory. And then you come to another thing, you “know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge”, you get exceeding power in being “rooted and grounded in love” — that is the work of the Holy Spirit. I feel we are not simple enough, or contented to leave ourselves in the hand of the Spirit; but it is when we are rooted and grounded in love that we comprehend with all saints — it is then that we get intelligence and wisdom. A man of the world cannot touch divine things, for he has not got the capacity. Rooted and grounded in love is the capacity; acquaintance with Scripture in the letter of it will not enable one to enter into God’s wisdom. For that you must have a man of another order, the man rooted and grounded in love by the work of the Holy Spirit. Then you can comprehend what is the breadth and length, and depth and height, and know the love of Christ, that passeth knowledge. The Holy Spirit exercises a wonderful power down here, shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts, that He may form us according to that love; and then making known to us the glory of Christ, so that we might know what is the length and breadth, and depth and height, and then that we may know the love of Christ, that passeth knowledge, “that ye may be filled ... unto all the fulness of God”.
It is that which I wanted to bring before you. I took up Joseph on account of the analogy he presented. But the Holy Spirit is come in testimony to Christ, sent from the Father — from the very source from which Christ Himself came, everything having been accomplished for God. Now, if you have only the state for it, you may know the love of Christ, that passeth knowledge, the practical effect of which is that in the church there is that which is adequate for the full expression of God. God has introduced a man of a new order, a man of completely new powers, rooted and grounded in love. Man of every order after the flesh, whether philosophic or scientific, or of great powers of assimilation, cannot comprehend God’s wisdom. What could Christ have thought of the cobwebs that men spin down here? What would philosophy have seemed to Christ? He had all the light of God, saw through all the theories and systems of men. “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness”. And if we are rooted and grounded in love, we can comprehend the breadth and length, and depth and height, and know the love of Christ.
May God give to us to know these two great principles — the love of God and the glory of Christ, that which is the fruit and expression of the Father’s counsel. I have thought much of the importance of our hearts being kept continually in the light of God’s testimony, and that is by the Holy Spirit; it cannot but have the greatest effect upon us, for we are formed in that way in the divine nature.