Sufferings And Glory

by R. ARMSTRONG, Vancouver | Category: Sufferings And Glory | Mar 1956

"He called for a famine upon the land; He brake the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them; Joseph was sold for a servant: his feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in chains of iron: until the time that his word came to pass; the word of the LORD tried him. The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance: to bind his princes at his pleasure, and teach his senators wisdom" (Psalm 105.16.22).

From the day that Joseph left the care and protection of Jacob's home to go out and seek for his brethren, one tragedy upon another befell him, until at last he found himself in the solitude of an Egyptian

prison.

We wonder what his thoughts were as he looked upon those dungeon walls. Joseph was a loving, tenderhearted youth (Genesis 45.1, 2, 14, 15), and doubtless his couch was wet with tears, as through lonely days and long nights he thought of home, with its love and affection, and Jacob there with his hoary head bowed in grief.. Were his dreams meaningless? Would he see his father's face again? Why had all this come upon him? Had God forgotten to be gracious? Had the villainous deeds of his brethren, and the wickedness of a. lustful woman passed unnoticed by Him? Perchance these were his thoughts as he lay in his narrow prison.

Could he but see beyond those days and know, as God knew, the purpose, the planning, the provision of El Shaddai (God, the All-sufficient One)! Amid the darkness of his bitter experience, naught but faith in Him could shed rays of hope before him. The future was hidden in the secrets of God "until the time that his word came to pass," and God's timing of events within His own purpose is perfect.

Joseph's experiences were part of a divine process, and out of their pain and bitterness God brought forth a great man. In later years, when with royal mandate in hand, his voice of authority rang out across the land of Egypt, and hungry nations bowed at his feet, it was then that he saw the perfect plan of God and realized the purpose behind those bitter experiences.

If he had not been Egypt's prisoner, he would never have seen Egypt's governor, and if his feet had not worn those chains of iron, he would not have worn the chain of gold about his neck (Genesis 41.42). How like the. darkened way the Christian sometimes treads, when neither sun nor light across his pathways falls, and finite understanding fails to solve the mystery of afflictions sore, which are allowed to pierce the soul!

"Not now, but in the coming years,

It may be in the better land,

We'll read the meaning of our tears,

And there, some time, we'll understand.

We'll catch the broken threads again,

And finish what we here began;

Heaven will the mysteries explain,

And then, ah then, we'll understand."

As Joseph reaped the rich harvest of God's purpose in him, he spoke those heart-moving words of assurance to his repentant brethren.

"As for you, ye meant evil against me; but Gad meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not" (Genesis 50.20, 21).

It was with glad hearts and willing feet that Joseph's brethren hastened to tell their aged father, Jacob, the wondrous tidings of Joseph's exaltation and greatness in the land of Egypt.

"Come down unto me, ... thou shalt be near unto me ... and there will I nourish thee ... tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and... he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them" (Genesis 45.9,

Before the kiss of reconciliation was bestowed upon Joseph's brethren the sins of years past were laid bare; lies, deceit, and evildoings had to be uncovered; and in humble confession all these were made known in the presence of Joseph and were forgiven. How sad if any of us should seek to serve the Lord with unconfessed and unforgiven sins upon our conscience!

The happiness of which David speaks cannot be ours if this is so. See Psalm 32.1. What peace of soul and blessing come when we seek the Lord in the time of finding out sin! (Psalm 32.0. Newberry, margin).

Joseph revealing himself to his brethren is a scene which foreshadows that heart-searching time in the future when Christ is revealed to His own people Israel, for in great bitterness of soul they shall look unto Him whom they pierced (Zechariah 12.11, 14), and realize that the One who was nailed to the cross at Calvary was in reality their long expected Messiah.

The path to the throne for Joseph was one of suffering, and in those experiences he is set forth as a remarkable type of the Lord Jesus, who, by reason of His obedience even to the death of the cross, knew the path of suffering in the scene of His rejection.

As He neared Calvary's dread hour of darkness, we think of all that lay behind Him. No room in the inn at His marvellous birth, and in the later years of His ministry when heaven's richest blessings fell upon the sons of men from His hands, still naught but hatred and envy filled the hearts of His own Jewish people to whom He had come (Matthew 27. 18; John 1.11).

His life of sinless perfection and grace, wholly spent in the service of His Father on behalf of others, brought little of human comfort to His oft-weary body (John 4.6). In those years, too, He withstood the fierce blasts of temptation from the great adversary, the devil (John 14.30), and at last Judas, in dark counsel with Jewish priests (like Joseph's brethren of old), made the awful bargain to sell the Lord!

Concerning the last, the dreadful storm, which gathered across the Redeemer's path, one has well written

"Hell has gone forth in power,

And ye should wake and weep:

Could ye not watch, one little hour?

This night is not for sleep.

Earth trembles in the scale,

Yet knows not of the fight,

And, if her fearful foe prevail,

It will be always night."

Thank God, He triumphed over all His foes; the prince of this world found nothing in Him. Then came the last dread day, whose morning light shone upon earth's strangest scene, Christ the forsaken and lonely Sufferer at the bar of Pilate!

"See! He stands at Pilate's bar,

Most despised of all by far,.

Still to Him belong the words:

King of kings and LORD of lords."

Then followed the mock trial, His silence as men plucked the hair from His holy face and spat upon Him, the cruel lash, the crown of thorns, the taunting soldiery, and then at last the cross. See the patient Sufferer as He toils up Golgotha's slope and in perfect submission lays Himself down upon that rude cross, while heaven's myriads watch in wonder the One

"Who gave Himself a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2.6), who "gave

His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20.28);

"Who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2.20).

"And when they came unto the place which is called The skull, (Calvary, A.V.) there they crucified Him" (Luke 23.33). Men had done their worst and He was left alone to die. It was then that He entered into the deep places of God's judgement.

"Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts: all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over Me" (Psalm 42.7).

"Save Me, 0 God; for the waters are come in unto My soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow Me" (Psalm 69.1, 2).

"It pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed" (Isaiah 53.10).

Does this not move our hearts, beloved, and fill our eyes with tears?

"It was the sight of His dear cross,

First weaned my soul from earthly things,

And taught me to esteem as dross,

The mirth of fools and pomp of kings."

The Lord Jesus looked beyond the night of storm and sorrow to all that lay before Him in glory (John 17.4, 5). "Jesus, ... who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12.2).

To the two men on the road to Emmaus, He said, "Behoved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory" (Luke 24.26). He suffered to bring many sons to glory (see Hebrews 2.10), and now He waits at the Father's right hand for the day of His glorious appearing.

"Who is He on yonder throne,

Sits till all His sway shall own?"

Yes, He is coming again soon to consummate this age of God's marvellous grace to man, by receiving unto Himself the glorious "Church which is His Body" (Ephesians 5.25-27; l Thessalonians 4.16, 17). Afterwards He will come to earth to subdue His enemies, and deliver the persecuted remnant of Israel, to sit as Judge over the nations of earth and give peace to a warring earth.

All this will usher in the glorious millennial age, whose golden dawn will take place in the rise of the "Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings" (Malachi 4.2), to fill the earth with peace and abundance (Psalm 72.7, 16). "For He must reign."

As Joseph lived to see the fruit of sorrows patiently endured, so Christ also " shall see Of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied" (Isaiah 53.11).

In Hebrews 11. we learn too, that God's great men came through the school of suffering and trial to gl6ry, and one has truly said, "There are no great souls without great suffering."

Worthy men, and women too, these were, and God was not ashamed of them. (See Hebrews 11.16). How they dwarf our attainments when we stand beside these spiritual giants of old!

R. ARMSTRONG, Vancouver | Mar 1956
Sufferings And Glory