Intro

Today, I will begin with the end. Don’t you hate it when you ask someone about a movie and they get so excited about the story that give you the end of the story before you have a chance to watch it? Why watch the movie if you already know the end of the story? Well, I will begin with the end, but I won’t really give you the end, until the end.

At the end of the book of Genesis, Joseph’s brothers ask him for forgiveness. Their father, Jacob, has just passed away and they are afraid that Joseph, whom they sold into slavery, will now take revenge. This is Joseph’s response. Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

This is the ultimate statement of God’s sovereignty over Joseph’s enslavement, the famine in Canaan, and Jacob’s journey to Egypt. Joseph’s brothers intended to harm him, but God meant it for good. How did God manage to work this out?

Of course, this reminds us of one of the great questions of the whole book of Genesis.  In Genesis 1, God’s creation is good. Men and women are created in His image. They are blessed with the joy of God’s presence and the abundance of the Garden of Eden, but by chapter 3, they are turning from God. They decide to go their own way and be their own gods. How will God overcome their sin? That is the question.