Genesis 45:9

Joseph not only freely and fully forgives his brothers; he commissions them as well. And we, if reconciled to God, have been commissioned. We have a mission towards this famine-stricken world. We are to make Christ known to men. We are to testify as to His exaltation and glory, just as the burden of the message of the sons of Israel was the lordship of Joseph over all the land.

The love of Joseph has brought his brothers into sweet communion with himself. We read, "And he kissed all his brothers… and after that his brothers talked with him" (v. 15). Now we are to learn that the intimacies of love prepare for the service of love. Those whom Joseph has won for himself he will enlist in his service. His brothers shall become his witnesses.

They had badly deceived their father. Before him they had denied all knowledge of Joseph. Now he is the very one before whom they must bear witness of Joseph. Nor is it otherwise with Christ and His disciples. The woman of Sychar goes back to the men of the city to bear a bright witness for Christ before those who well knew the manner of her life. In the very place of her sin she is to bear witness to the One who has set her free from sin (John 4:28-29). Peter, too, bears witness to Christ before those in whose presence he had once so shamefully denied Christ.

Fourth, Joseph sends his brothers back with a very definite message. They must deliver it with all the authority of Joseph's word, introduced with a "Thus says your son Joseph" (v. 9). We do well to remember that the power behind the Gospel message is the authority with which it is proclaimed. It goes forth with a "Thus says the Lord."

Fifth, the great theme of the message was Joseph and his glory. Tell my father, Joseph can say, that "God has made me lord of all Egypt" (v. 9). And he adds, "You must tell my father of all my honour in Egypt, and of all that you have seen" (v. 13). This is still the message that alone will meet the world's famine. Peter preached it with no uncertain sound to the Jews. On the day of Pentecost he said, "Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." And again before the Gentiles he can say that Christ "is Lord of all" (Acts 2:36; Acts 10:36).

Sixth, the message that Joseph sends to Jacob is "Come down to me" (v. 9). If Joseph is lord of all with the riches of glory at his disposal for all, yet it is only those who "come" who receive the blessing. If all power is in his hands to bless, all grace is in his heart to attract to himself — the blesser. Joseph says in effect to his father, "I want you," for it is not only "Come," but "Come down to me."

Finally, the message carries with it a word of warning. There is untold blessing for those who come, there is imminent danger for those who delay. So Joseph's word is "do not tarry… lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty" (vv. 9, 11). How far greater the danger if we trifle with that far greater message that comes from the Lord in glory! Well may the apostle ask, "How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?"

Joseph presents himself to his brothers as one sent by the father; they reject him, and, so far as lies in them, put him in the place of death; God takes him up from there, and raises him to a position of highest dignity: thus exalted, he gets a bride; and when his brothers, according to the flesh, are thoroughly broken and prostrate before him, he makes himself known to them, calms their hearts, and brings them into blessing; he then becomes the channel of blessing to them and to the whole world.