The great deliverance

“God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God.” (verses 7,8)

Read Genesis 45:1-15

Joseph finally revealed his true identity to his brothers. As the ruler of Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh, he had the court cleared of all servants. His brothers would have been distressed, to say the least. Then Joseph weep bitterly over his brothers and desires them to live with him. He then tells them that they should not feel bad about selling him into slavery all those years before.

So not only does he state that it was God that sent him there to save many lives, but he forgives them of their sin and even the guilt of their sin. So did Jesus for you, friend, 2000 years ago. On the cross he said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Your sin is forgiven because God sent Jesus to take your guilt and shame. For those that believe in him have been saved by a great deliverance!

What do you feel guilty about?

Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending your Son to take our sin and shame upon himself on the cross. Help me to walk in that forgiveness today. Amen.

by Dean Mills, in ‘Time Out with the Shepherd’  (ACR, Australian Church Resources, 2017)

Visit the Daily Devotion archives page.