In the Beginning: A Study in Genesis 37-50Sample

How can you find freedom by forgiving?

Congratulations for making it through 50 chapters of one of the most incredible books of the Bible! As we look at the final verses of the last chapter of Genesis, we should reflect on the largest theme from the story of Joseph: forgiveness.

Jacob has just died, and Joseph’s brothers are afraid that Joseph has just been faking his forgiveness all of these years to make their father happy. They’re afraid he will seek vengeance, which is the opposite of forgiveness. Joseph’s brothers are people who have been given the gift of forgiveness, but have not yet accepted the gift of forgiveness. The same is true for every Christian. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

Imagine receiving a gift from someone who loves you but leaving it in its wrapping paper and hiding it in the closet. You possess it, but you haven’t opened it to enjoy and experience it. If you are in Christ, Jesus died for your sin. He’s forgiven you. You possess that gift of forgiveness so don’t be afraid to experience it. It’s not humility to deny God’s forgiveness; it’s pride.

Joseph’s brothers send a message to him, acknowledging all of the evil they have done to him, and begging for forgiveness. They are acknowledging, they are recognizing, they are confessing sin; this is the essence of Christianity: not just acknowledging your sin and repenting but accepting forgiveness.

What is Joseph’s response? He weeps. He realizes that they have lived all of these years without opening the gift of forgiveness he has given them. Had they opened and enjoyed the gift, they would be healed; they would be living in love, not in fear. Here's how you know that you have truly forgiven someone: when you see them burdened by things that you no longer hold against them, it grieves you because you want good for them.

Some of you need to know this: God's heart toward you is reflected in the heart of Joseph. God forgives you, He loves you, He wants a relationship with you. You're far away from Him because you're afraid of Him. And He is weeping because He wants to forgive you and have a relationship with you. And that gift comes through His Son, the Lord Jesus, and that's a gift that you need to open and enjoy.

There are things that you've done in your past; you've sinned against God, you've confessed, repented, and God has forgiven you, but you're still begging God, “please forgive me for that.” And God’s response is, “That's over, get up, let's have the relationship. I love you. You're forgiven.”

Joseph reaffirms his forgiveness towards his brothers. This is amazing. When he reunited with his brothers, he could have thrown them in prison. He could have had them killed. Instead, we read earlier in Genesis that he blesses them and saves them from famine then establishes them in Egypt with their own land to tend their livestock on.

Everyone will have their day in court. What Joseph said and what we should say is that we will not sit in the judge’s seat in that courtroom. “Vengeance is mine,” says God. We need to let God be God, rendering the verdict on those who have offended us, and we should instead do what we have been called to do - forgive. And what’s the test of whether or not we have forgiven someone? If we have the capacity to bless them, in spite of everything they’ve done. Joseph comforted his brothers and spoke kindly to them. Do you speak kindly of the people who have hurt you or do you curse them?

Forgiveness is not a one-time event; it’s an ongoing process. If someone has really hurt us and we honestly forgive them, the memory of that hurt can still come up later. And when that happens, we need to consciously, actively re-forgive that person in that moment. If we don’t, we allow a root of bitterness to take hold in our heart.

Forgiveness is not trust or reconciliation. Forgiveness can be given whether or not the offender accepts it or asks for it. Trust, on the other hand, needs to be earned back by the person who offended you. Reconciliation might not even be possible. Forgiveness is also not covering up a crime. If my friend breaks into my house, steals my things and hurts my guard dog, I can forgive him. But I’m still going to report the crime to the police, testify against him in court, delete his phone number, and I’m probably not asking him to dog-sit for me any time soon.

If your spouse cheats on you, you must forgive them. But trust is totally lost in that moment and needs to be earned back. Reconciliation is a possible outcome through the healing power of the Holy Spirit but tragically isn’t possible in all cases. The bottom line is this: forgiveness, trust, and reconciliation are three different things.

It is impossible for us to walk in freedom if we refuse to forgive. The bitterness of that moment of hurt will haunt us and torment us, ruining moments and spoiling our relationships; Hebrews says that bitterness will defile us. Forgiveness is a self-serving act: it allows us to be free from thoughts and emotions that would control us and punish us our entire lives.

If we are to learn one thing from Joseph, it is this: the more our capacity to forgive, the more anointing of God we will have. Joseph forgives more than anyone I’ve ever known, except for Jesus. He forgives his brothers for beating him and selling him into slavery, effectively murdering him. He forgives Potiphar’s wife for wrongly accusing him, and Potiphar for wrongly punishing him. He forgives the Pharaoh’s cupbearer for forgetting him. He forgives his father for being a passive, useless patriarch.

Joseph forgives and forgives and forgives. And through it all, from the pit in the desert to the Egyptian prison to the right hand of the most powerful man on earth, he never loses God’s anointing and blessing all over his life.

Joseph lived to be 110 years of age, a blessed man who got to bounce his great-grandsons on his knee. Before dying, Joseph reiterated his faith in God’s promises to Abraham (Genesis 15:13) and, in some 400 years, his family would leave Egypt under God’s mighty hand to return to the Promised Land, which is explained further in the book of Joshua.

Not wanting to remain in Egypt but instead to be buried with his father Jacob, grandfather Isaac, and great grandfather Abraham, Joseph, in faith, instructed his brothers that, when their small family had become a mighty nation of a few million people, their descendants would carry his bones to the Promised Land. Joseph’s request was fulfilled in Joshua 24:32 about 400 years later. Joseph died and there was never a more godly or faithful man in human history until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like Joseph, Jesus loved those who hated him and suffered unjustly at the hands of those who were jealous of His fame and glory. But, like in the days of Joseph, what sinners meant for evil, God used for good as He originally intended creation to be, and the saving of many lives through Jesus (Genesis 50:20).

At the end of his life, Jesus, like Joseph before Him, spoke words of kindness, blessing, and forgiveness from His cross to His enemies thereby making them friends and brothers. Jesus, like Joseph before Him, was buried in a tomb. Unlike Joseph who remains buried today, the Lord Jesus Christ, rose from death in triumphant victory over sin as the second Adam who atoned and redeemed all that our first father Adam had lost. In so doing, Jesus proved that He was the covenant God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who had come to seek us as He had Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. One day, perhaps very soon, the Lord Jesus Christ will return as the King of Kings from the line of Judah promised in Genesis 49:10 with the scepter of sovereign lordship in His hand.

On that day, our faith, which is the mark of God’s covenant people, will be no more and instead be replaced by sight. On that day, King Jesus will call the names of all of His covenant people as He did the names of their forefathers Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Like Jesus did, God’s covenant people will arise together to walk with God like the giants of Genesis - Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph - into their Promised Land, the New Heaven, New Earth, and New Jerusalem where the stain of sin is no more, and covenant blessing is forevermore.

My prayer for you is that you would actively pursue that heart of forgiveness, and that you would live your life under God’s wonderful, loving, amazing anointing, just like Joseph. This story of Joseph is that, because God’s sovereign hand is over you, and His Spirit is in you, your life can be a wonderful ministry even if others are trying their best to make it a woeful misery.

Question:

What are some biblical examples of the harm that unforgiveness and bitterness can cause?

Thanks for studying Genesis with me. If you enjoyed this plan, there are sermons that accompany it as well as more free resources at realfaith.com.