Genesis 45:28

Back to Jacob they went with news of Joseph, astounding and to him almost unbelievable. But there were the wagons sent from Joseph with their full supplies. To him they were a foretaste and pledge of the good things waiting in Joseph's presence. That produced conviction and revived Jacob's heart. His nerve returned and he was ready for the journey. The words of Joseph had been supplemented by the firstfruits he sent.

Thus with Jacob, grace overcomes his unbelief... The grace and goodness of Joseph breaks down the unbelief of Jacob... This is the confession of faith. He believed with his heart and confessed the truth with his lips. Nor is there any other way of blessing for a sinner today... Jacob sees that Joseph has made every provision so that he himself might be blessed. In the same way, we see that Christ has done a great work so that each of us might be saved. God is satisfied with that work, for He has raised Christ from the dead.

It was Jacob — the man so often marked by unbelief and crooked ways — who could not believe the good news. But as soon as he uses the language of faith, God gives him his new name "Israel." Jacob expressed all that he was by nature, Israel all that he was by grace. Faith is kindled in the heart of Jacob, and love also goes out in longing to Joseph — "I will go and see him before I die." This is the language of love. It is satisfied with nothing less than the one who is loved... Are we content to say, "we shall see Him when He comes, or when we die," or do we say "I will go and see Him before I die"?

And what convinced him? What was it that decided him? It was the wagons... It was the word and the wagons. And since we take the wagons as a figure of the Holy Spirit, the meaning is beyond question. Sinners are convinced, not by the word of the gospel alone, but by the Word and the Spirit. And the Spirit on earth is the evidence to men that Christ has been received up into glory. He is alive and at the Father's right hand in the heavens. (See John 16:8-11.)

How true this is in the life of an "unbelieving believer." Some small, unimportant outward evidence — a gift from the Lord that he can touch and handle — confirms him more than the combined testimony of the eleven apostles and all their followers. It is not to our credit that this should be so, when a passing gift of providence, or an answer to prayer, encourages us more than the sacred words of Christ Himself. That shows a low spiritual condition. That is the difference between faith and credulity.

They bear the clear mark of God's ordering. They prefigure what the prophets promise in Jehovah's name. A greater than Joseph was rejected by His brothers. He was exalted to sit at God's right hand, with richer supplies for a starving world. And He is about to make Himself known "the second time" to His brothers, whose hearts are broken in deep repentance.