Loving Pardon 1

Having made a study on the Living Presence of Jesus, as we looked at Joseph and his brothers, we continue in like vein. We again seek the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth and to enable us to have seeing eyes and hearing ears. We plead with Him to help us not to just see and hear, but that everything we receive may live in us and bear sound, lasting fruit.

Brother Jesus, we want to receive all, as Joseph’s brothers received. Amen!

We move on, from Living Presence to Loving Pardon in the Name of Jesus.

The second fact is Loving Pardon. There is Loving Pardon in the Name of Jesus. Here again is Genesis 45: 3 – 5. Then Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph; does my father still live? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. And Joseph said to his brothers, Please come near me. So they came near. Then he said: I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 

There is so much going on here that we are made silent in our Brother’s Presence. What is the relationship with Joseph and his brothers? We must be refreshed about details concerning Joseph and his brothers, to appreciate the pardon being so lovingly, freely and graciously offered.

Joseph was intensely disliked by his older brothers. This dislike developed into hate and this hate wanted him killed. The opportunity came one day when they were alone with Joseph, in a distant place.  They cast him into an empty pit, with the mind to kill him. However, as they sat there to have a meal, lo and behold, in the distance, they spied a band of Ishmaelite traders coming their way. The camels of these traders were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, which they were carrying to Egypt.  Then one bother had an idea. 

So Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brothers listened. Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Genesis 37: 26 – 28.  What a ghastly, horrible wrong against one’s brother.

The last time these brothers saw Joseph was when they sold him for money, stripping him of all that he had and leaving him with absolutely nothing. This is the same Joseph, years later, whose love for his brothers never waned, despite all that they thought to do to him. 

If you are as I am, then we need to pause for a moment and think of Jesus, our Brother and how He was sold for monetary gain. However, we cannot linger long here, for we are in our Brother’s Presence to receive forgiveness, pardon from such an unconscionable crime.  But what are we seeing?

Joseph does not bring his brothers in his presence to berate them, lord it over them, or point accusing fingers at them. He has not called them into his presence to take revenge on them, for the evil they did to him. No!  Absolutely not! Joseph calls them into his living presence and gives them his loving pardon. His single motive here is to pardon them, for without his pardon they will forever live, lugging along the guilt of their crime against him.

Is this not what Jesus wants from us also? He has forgiven us and has granted us pardon from all our sins. Jesus once answered His people with these words. Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. John 8: 34b - 36

We continue with this pardon, knowing that Jesus sets us free with His Pardon, so that we can live with Him and in Him, free of sin, guilt and shame.