God Meant It for Good

Sermon Manuscript

Genesis 50

Joseph’s testimony reveals how God can redeem betrayal and suffering for His good purpose.

What others intend for harm, God is able to redeem for good according to His purpose and His faithfulness.

God Intended It for Good to Accomplish What is Now Being Done (Genesis 50:17-20)

How is faith passed down? Last week we examined the faith of Abraham—the patriarch through whom the blessing of God flowed to the nation of Israel and to all who would later become his descendants by faith. The book of Genesis then traces this faith across generations: from Abraham to his son Isaac, from Isaac to Jacob, and finally reaching its conclusion with the death of Joseph. These four patriarchs form the backbone of Genesis and stand at the center of the Bible’s unfolding redemptive history.

In Joseph’s case, he would eventually rise to become second in command of Egypt, the most powerful nation in the region at the time. Yet this exalted position came at a great cost. His path was marked by betrayal and deep personal suffering. Only in hindsight could the providence of God be clearly seen at work through these painful events. By the end of Genesis, we are shown how the faith that began with Abraham was carried forward, reshaped through trials, and powerfully manifested in the lives of his descendants.

How did his story begin? Joseph was the son most dearly loved by his father. Though he was the eleventh son, he was treated with the affection and honor often reserved for a firstborn. Rachel—whom Jacob loved more than his other wives—gave birth to only two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, before her death. Jacob’s deep love for Rachel was naturally transferred to her firstborn son, Joseph. Yet this favoritism stirred resentment among his brothers, breeding jealousy and hostility toward him.

Genesis 37:3-4

Jealousy develops over what seems unfair in treatment. The was a sin that began when Cain developed jealousy over Abel because God chose his brother’s offering over his. It was then that Satan would trap Cain and lead him to start a history of bloodshed.

Genesis 4:6-8

It would be from the flash of uncontrolled rage that the first murder in Biblical history would begin. The Lord told Cain that he must rule over his emotions; sin is crouching at his door, and it desires to have him.

Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? These words of the Lord for Cain are what we should reflect when anger comes over us. Reason escapes us when we are filled with rage. It does not allow us to see the battlefield clearly. There is the enemy who wishes to have you, and by playing with your emotions, you will blindly be walking into the trap of no return.

When I was younger, I had this fetish for learning military history. Some of the more miraculous turnarounds in battle come from toying with the mind. For example, an ambush where the enemy by surprise can turn the tide when your numbers are few. But how can you execute it? You must toy with the emotions of your enemy that he would walk blindly into the trap and not suspect there is an ambush there for him. Thus, military strategists would reiterate in their books how arrogance, anger, lack of trust and attachments are some of the greatest weaknesses exploited in battle.

Judges 7:12, 22

The miracle of Gideon where he chose 300 men to bring armies to bring down an army as thick as locust and with camels like sands on the seashore. It was to the point that Gideon started with thirty-two thousand men and still they would shutter at the sight of a battle against this crowd.

This battle that was executed with just 300 men would turn the tide of an impossible battle. What is the wisdom God giving to Gideon? To turn the valley of men from various backgrounds to turn against one another. From the gathering of different tribes who marched against Israel, their suspicions and friction with one another caused their defeat at the hands of 300 men. It’s said that by blowing 300 trumpets, the tribes turned against one another. How much anger and distrust must have built up between them though they camped together, that they would believe the sound of battle is coming from within their camp and raise their swords immediately against one another? It would be through this wisdom that Israel could be saved.

But if this was applied the other way around? How horrible would it be if the army of God fall into such a trap and turn against one another to only be swallowed by an enemy who should have no chance to hold over you in the first place? The nature of emotions and suspicions can be easily exploited by those who wish to turn the table against you. Without proper control, even if you started with great assets, you’d find yourself completely impoverished because you’ve fallen into a trap that’s set up for you.

To Cain, the Lord said you must rule over it because sin desires to have you. These are words that Cain did not heed and rather committed murder against his brother. Thus, this sin would continue to transpire in the descendants of Adam. During the time of Joseph, we see this sin at work once again from the brothers of Joseph.

Genesis 37:17-20

Brothers who should love each other rather developed anger over their own. It went as far as wishing to kill their brother and remove him from their sights. How could such darkness come over their hearts to do the unspeakable against a family member? It was from a jealous struggle for the affection of their father. How much must they have desire to be loved by Jacob but only to see Joseph receive the blunt of attention? Anger would blind them and cause them to do the unspeakable next.

Genesis 37:23-24, 28

This is how a great tragedy was unfolded. From jealousy and anger, it would go on to blind the sons of Jacob to sin against their brother and sell him over to the Midianites, who then sold him over to the Egyptians where he would suffer for years under injustice, spending time as a slave and being imprisoned over a false accusation.

Being sold over by his brothers, how sorrowful must Joseph have felt? He might not have imagined his brothers would do the unthinkable. Although thrown into a cistern, he must have thought they would get over their anger and let him out once they are over it. However, their anger would be so great that they’d rather lie to their father and sell their brother over to rid of him for good. How tragic was this act? We can see how far sin is willing to take us once it has taken hold of us.

Matthew 26:14-16

In Genesis, the act of Judas was reflected identically. It was a foreshadowing of the sin that the Jews would commit upon the Lord. Although he came to his own, they did not receive him but rather sold him for thirty pieces of silver and handed him to be crucified.

The high priests joined the scheme because they were jealous of Jesus. They are unwilling to believe that Jesus is the Son of God sent from heaven because of his worldly stature, and the nature of his unimpressive birth and lineage. At every turn where the miracles of Jesus took place, they’d rather claim it was the work of the devil to deceive men. They were unwilling to accept that the favor of God was not with them, but with this lowly carpenter who claims to be God’s one and only son and turning the hearts of their followers away from them.

But to execute their scheme, they needed a collaborator from within, a credible witness who is willing to speak against Jesus in front of the crowd. What is more powerful to turn the crowd against Jesus by pointing out what was accused by one of his closest disciples? Thus, Judas’ betrayal played a pivotal point of the crucifixion.

John 13:21, 25-30

Why did Judah’s have a change of heart despite being one of the most trusted disciples? It was his love for money. John wrote that Judas was a thief who helped himself with the money he oversaw.

John 12:4-5

To be entrusted with the money bag, Judas must have been greatly trusted by the Lord. But did his actions truly escape Jesus’ notice? Even John was aware of Judas’s character—how much more, then, must Jesus have known him to the very depths of his heart? Yet it was precisely with such knowledge that the Lord entrusted him with responsibility. This reveals the nature of Christ’s love: a love that embraces sinners.

Though we are unqualified and continually fall into temptation, the Lord still receives us and calls us his own. It is only through recognizing the grace of Christ at work in our lives that we come to understand the true source of our salvation. Apart from this grace, we would stand exposed before the unforgiving law—a law that lays bare our unrighteousness and strips away any hope of life apart from the mercy of God in judgment.

The betrayal of Judas began with an argument on how the price of the alabaster jar should have been used on. Judas thought it was a waste that Mary broke the jar and washed Jesus’ feet with the perfume of pure nard. Judas calculated that this would have cost a year’s worth of wage and wondered why this was not used for better purposes, like giving it to the poor. The Lord would reply to him that he would always have the poor, but Mary did this to prepare for his burial, foretelling the inevitable event of the cross that should happen soon. But all Judas cared about was whether Jesus was fulfilling moral righteousness and giving money for the purpose that he thought was right, all the while neglecting his own frequent thieving acts that defies his own expectations in righteousness.

What is the reason that Judas decided to betray? It is because Jesus points out where he was wrong. Judas was unwilling to admit his wrong, to the extent that it went as far as to betray Jesus, the one who loved him, to validate himself. How far can anger take us and blind us from the truth when we are overtaken by it? Unless we are willing to trust that the word of criticism is spoken out of love, we can be thoroughly blinded by Satan to do the worst.

For Joseph, he lived like a character foreshadowing the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. He was betrayed by his brothers out of jealousy and sold over the Egypt only to suffer despite being loved by his father. Yet, from an incredible turn of events, Joseph rose to the position matched only by that of pharaoh’s and saved the lives of many during the seven years of famine because of the wisdom God has given him.

Like the crucifixion of Christ, Joseph’s life was hit with the greatest tragedy imaginable and was sold over by those who should be closest to him. Though everything turned out for the good, that does not erase the fact that there was this unspeakable act that cannot be tolerated or condoned. The sorrow of the cross is real, and the sin of men was great that nailed the Lord to the cross. The event of the cross only further validates the reason why men were destined to die because they were shown to be utterly sinful and wicked before the Lord of Light.

However, the resurrection after the cross would be the Lord’s predestination. He would not be confined to the grave which men assigned for him. Why did God not intervene and punish men for their sins? It is because his love and predestination are greater, that even death cannot swallow up his redemptive work. Though men wished for the Lord to die, the Lord overcame that with love. It is from this amazing world of forgiveness that men who are destined to die finds the hope to live under God’s mercy. Though we nailed him to the cross, he rose from the grave because of his love for us, bringing not judgement but forgiveness for what men has done to him. This is how we know the extent which God was willing to love us and redeem us. He carried the fullness of our sins with him to the cross and left us with nothing else but love, a love that we fully do not deserve.

Genesis 50:18-19

The brothers were nervous once their father passed away. There was no one left who might block the inevitable punishment they deserved for selling their brother. This sinful act haunted them for the longest time. This shows us how without forgiveness from the source, there is no resolution to the sin in us. Even if we escape judgement from the world, our consciousness will gnaw at us, telling us we will ultimately face the inevitable punishment we deserve.

How were this judgement and curse lifted from us? It is when we come to witness the forgiveness of God which saved us once and for all from the revelation of the cross.

Galatians 3:13-14

The cross of Christ was a curse indeed. Only the cursed deserved this greatest cruelty invented by men to punish the wicked. Yet the Lord took the path reserved for sinners to only carry our sins so that the curse may fall on him and be taken away from us. Because he bore the blunt of our sin’s attacks and replied with nothing but mercy, we then found life in the everlasting embrace of God.

The faith of Joseph, a reflection of the faith of Jesus Christ before the cross, was one that those from his age could not have understood. It was a revelation given to him because of the faith of Abraham which he inherited, a faith that absolutely believed in the Lord despite requiring him to sacrifice his son.

Last week, we read from the book of Hebrews how the writer explains that Abraham reasoned God was able even to raise the dead. Because of this, Abraham concluded that he would receive Isaac back, even as he set his most precious son on the path to be sacrificed. This resurrection faith defies human logic, yet by obeying to it, what’s revealed was the true intent of God’s eternal purpose, grounded in His everlasting love.

God did not abandon His Son at the cross but raised Him on the third day in glory. Through this, humanity came to recognize the redemptive power of Christ. This is why we lift the cross high in the church: the suffering of Christ is not the destiny of a curse, but the very revelation of God’s love and his redemptive purpose for the world.

Philippians 2:8-9

Paul teaches that the Lord was obedient even to death on the cross, and because of this, God exalted Him to the highest place. Death could not hold the One who entrusted Himself fully to the power of resurrection. Likewise, even amid tragedy, the God of love continues to guide us toward the good He intends to accomplish.

Genesis 50:20

Joseph bore a faith that trusted in God’s love behind all that He had predestined. Though he had every reason to remain in sorrow over what he endured, Joseph persevered, believing that a day would come when God would bring glory out of his life through His providential purpose. Looking in retrospect, he is the one who testify that I became who I am because of God’s providence despite the tragedy that occurred.

How remarkable it is that Joseph could grasp such truth, living thousands of years before Christ would fully reveal it in Himself. The faith of resurrection was already alive in the hearts of the patriarchs—beginning with Abraham and powerfully exemplified in Joseph—when he made this profound declaration: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” This was a revelation that could only be perceived by faith.

I hope that, as we face the challenges of life, we may bear the faith of Joseph. It was through this understanding that Joseph was able to forgive his brothers—though he had every right not to. In the same way, we too encounter circumstances where forgiveness feels difficult, if not impossible.

Unless we recognize that a greater love has always been guiding our lives and leading us toward the good God intends to accomplish in us, we will find ourselves without a true foundation for loving others. Yet because God has predestined us for His good purpose and loves us abundantly in every circumstance, we are given the grace to forgive even those who have wronged us. Joseph, through this realization, opened a powerful history of forgiveness. May we also come to discover the same source of love at work in our own lives.