VAYIGASH (Then He Drew Near) Gen 44:18–47:27; Ezek 37:15–28; John 6:1–59
“I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you… it was not you who sent me here, but God.” (Gen. 45:4-8)
This was a pivotal moment in the closing events between Joseph and his brothers that prophetically finds parallels in Zech.12:10 where at the end of the Great Tribulation, all Israel will be saved in a moment of recognition. Finally, after 200 years of rejection, they will embrace the One they had pierced.
The shock of the words spoken by Joseph to his brothers in verses 4-8 of Gen.45 is almost tangible but it will be no less an earth shattering experience for Israel when they behold their Messiah after being surrounded by the armies of the Anti-Christ as they await imminent annihilation. But, Satan cannot prevail because God is faithful and present at the perfect time to protect and deliver us from all evil.
As things play out in this incredible drama between Joseph and his brothers, it is here we find the first recorded moment in the Bible where one human being forgives another. The phrase “Do not be distressed” is what is implied here. In the story of the Flood the element of forgiveness is clearly lacking as with God’s judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. When we examine the text carefully, Abraham negotiated with God to have mercy upon the people of Sodom, but he never asked God to forgive them. The focus was upon God’s justice, not His forgiveness. If there were even 10 innocent people in that city would it not be an unjust thing for them to perish?
But, in this parasha, we read something entirely different, something momentous – Joseph forgives from the depths of the heart, something so great that his brothers were entirely dumbfounded. Does it not resonate with Yeshua’s words to His disciples? “Do not let your hearts be troubled (distressed). You believe in God, believe also in Me.” (John 14). It is in Me that you can receive forgiveness even the forgiveness of sins – don’t be distressed! It was something so great that even the disciples could only grasp the reality of it later following Yeshua’s resurrection.
And so, at the end of very the story of Joseph there is a second event, some time later, after Jacob had died. The brothers met with Joseph, fearing that he would now take revenge, because the reality of his forgiveness was too great for them to fathom, so they concocted a story. They told him, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers for the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. (Gen. 50:16-18)
I will never forget the occasion when my son was around 7 years of age. He had committed some small misdemeanour for which I corrected him gently but he was so remorseful and cried out in anguish, “How could you ever forgive me?” These were perhaps the most painful words which pierced my heard and tore me to pieces. Why? Because, as his father who loved him more than life itself how could he ever believe something like that? “How could you ever forgive me?” And sometimes it is the same between us and God…
What Joseph’s brothers had spoken was a lie, but Joseph understood why. The brothers used the actual word “forgive” – the first time it now explicitly appears in the biblical text and it begs the question, “What is the essence of true forgiveness?” How could anyone truly forgive another who had betrayed him into slavery and certain death? Joseph wept because his brothers had not fully understood that he had forgiven them a long time before. There remained no anger or lingering resentment, no desire for revenge. He had allowed God to reframe his understanding of events and transform his character into something beautiful. He had learnt how to forgive, a foretaste of the nature of Divine forgiveness through Yeshua.
Forgiveness liberates us from the past and is the antidote for the poison of revenge. It is the undoing of what has been done and breaks the vicious cycle that lies embedded in hatred.
Many people question how could God really forgive their past sins? As my son cried out in anguish, “How could you ever forgive me?” And we become enslaved in the realm of self-condemnation instead of living in the liberty and fullness that God has won for us through Yeshua. “God demonstrated His love for us that while we were still sinners, Yeshua died for us.”
It becomes easy to apply this to everyone except maybe to ourselves. Scripture informs us that “… as far as the East is from the West, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” In other words, God’s forgiveness is perfect and complete. He can do no more nor less. This is the meaning of salvation. No matter who we are, whatever our background or how evil a life we may have led: the gift of salvation remains the same for everyone. And when we finally embrace this as a reality we enter a new realm that becomes transformational just as it did with Joseph.
But now we discover that the shoe is placed on the other foot because even as we have received forgiveness though Yeshua, we now become accountable to forgive others from the heart of all offences unconditionally. How’s this possible? But, then how could we do anything less in response? And, in order to emphasise this point, Yeshua told His disciples a parable in Matt.18:23-35 concerning an unmerciful servant. It immediately follows Peter’s question to Yeshua how many times we are required to forgive others when they sin against us?(18:21). Yeshua’s answer was directed to every believer, not just to Peter and He illustrates it with the parable of the unmerciful servant. And here I want to take a few moments to consider a couple of points which Yeshua made.
One can never underestimate the importance in Scripture regarding our responsibility to forgive others whoever they may be: family, friends, acquaintances, neighbours or even our enemies. “Forgive us what we have done wrong (sins, debts), as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.” (Matt 6:12) Why is this so vital for us? First, the power to forgive liberates us from the limitations of our human nature and snatches victory from Satan’s hands.
In addition, our forgiveness is but a pale reflection of God’s Divine forgiveness directed towards us. In the parable, the debt of the unmerciful servant was 10,000 Talents, an astronomical amount, impossible to repay. Our responsibility to forgive from the heart the sins and offences of others against us is minuscule in comparison. As we take on His nature, a readiness to forgive others may be challenging and even excruciating at times but it now becomes a possibility. Whether someone who has wronged us deserves forgiveness is not the issue for we are extending the same mercy and forgiveness that He extends towards us.
A third point is that unforgiveness is so destructive that it has disabled and consumed individuals and entire nations. A life that is consumed by bitterness and resentment is hardly a life worth living. Those who retain unforgiveness are the greatest losers. So, here in this parable Yeshua announces the law of unlimited forgiveness as a central feature of the Gospel to protect us from this poison.
Unforgiveness is so far outside of God’s principles that you cannot even find the word in Scripture. The cost is so devastating that Yeshua made this one of His primary focuses in the parable of the unmerciful servant. It comes in many assorted shapes and sizes but the remedy commences with first learning to appreciate how much we have been forgiven by God through Yeshua. One of the major points often missed in the parable of the prodigal son is how the passage describes the father (i.e. God) as being in a hurry when preparing to meet the prodigal (the sinner seeking His forgiveness). This is the only place in Scripture where we read that God is ever in a hurry! Why would it be here in this place?
The unforgiving servant never admitted his inability to repay his debt, due to his pride and arrogance and paid the price for it.
In contrast, Joseph learned to reframe his past by allowing God to remould him even in the most adverse of circumstances. He had been sold into slavery by his brothers. He had lost his freedom for 13 years, betrayed and separated from his family for 22 years. Who would not have yielded to bitter resentment and a desire for revenge? Yet, God gave him the grace and courage to place his experiences within a different framework which ultimately led to his full redemption.
Joseph allowed nothing to interfere with this despite all the negatives. Instead, he regarded even the worst extremes as disguised blessings which he believed God would use to mould and fashion his life and he was not disappointed! This takes faith of a kind which moves mountains yet is available for anyone willing to yield their life fully under the sovereignty of God, one pebble at a time!
Joseph’s choice of reframing was discovered by the Jewish psycho-therapist Viktor Frankl in Auschwitz under the worst of conditions. The Nazis took away almost everything that made people human: their possessions, their clothes, their hair, even their names. He wrote about those who lived in concentration camps who walked through the huts comforting others and giving away their last piece of bread. He experienced first-hand how a person could be stripped of every freedom except one thing: free choice, for it is this which defines our humanity.
Victor Frankl discovered something momentous, but had he simply studied the Scriptures, he would have uncovered this same principle far earlier, such as with Joseph that led to the salvation of his people and the survival of the great Egyptian empire.
And so too, in the fullness of time God sent His only begotten Son to yield His life freely for us as a propitiation for our sins in a manner of suffering far worse than any person in any concentration camp could ever have endured, whose open scars will remain for all of Heaven to see and bear testimony to throughout eternity.
