WE can, in a measure at least, understand the feelings of anxiety and sorrow which the patriarch Jacob had, when he uttered the following words, “Me have ye bereaved of my children, Joseph is not and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away; all these things are against me.” He was addressing his sons, and he was remembering that dark day when they had given him the blood-stained coat of many colours, which appeared evidence enough of the loss of his much-loved Joseph. Benjamin was now the consolation and hope of his old age, and the thought of parting from him made Jacob feel that the burden of this sorrow would weigh him down to the grave. How hard Jacob found it to reconcile the promise of God made to his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, with the providences which followed, and which he now was concluding were all against him. He was seeing the pattern from the underside, a mass, as it were, of tangled ends, and a confusion of strange colours. However, he had not seen ALL the pattern; he had not seen Joseph being cast into the pit, nor into the prison. He had not known his rise and progress in the house of Pharaoh, nor the purpose of God in setting him over the abounding store-houses in the land of Egypt. He did not now see that his parting from Benjamin was the only unforged link in the wonderful chain of providences, which was ultimately to re-unite him with his long-lost son.
It is beyond question that the pattern of God had another side; and though the aged saint could not fully understand, there was here given a glimpse, only a glimpse, of its glory, just a shadow of its beauty, an earnest of the greater glory yet to be unveiled. Little could sorrowing Jacob know that, in the humiliation and exaltation of his son Joseph, and the incidence of his beneficial office in Egypt, there was being fore-shadowed the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave to His sorrowing people this great promise, “I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” Little also, could sorrowing Jacob know that, as Joseph was making himself known to his brethren, the men who formerly would not have him rule over them, so, in the fulness of the time, this shadow would fade before the brightness of the day of grace, when the Lord Jesus Christ made Himself known to his brethren, with the seals of a broken body and blood that was shed. Jacob, then, did not experience the dark days he had laid up for himself, nor did he sink in sorrow to the grave. The Lord had intermingled the unfolding and fulfilling of His great promises with many clouds and shadows, but the promise was fulfilled. And, as with Jacob, so it is with the Lord’s people in every age, they pass through many dark hours before the bright dawn of the land of promise.
The people of God are seldom free from trouble in this world. They have sorrow on account of the sharpness of the inward warfare, which they wage day by day. They have sorrow because of the abounding sins found, alas, in the professing Church, as well as in the State. As we are wont to specially notice here, they have sorrow because of the departure of those whom they love in the bonds of the Gospel, to that Land where separation and sorrow shall never be known.
During the tragic years of the War now ended, a number were removed from the congregation of St. Jude’s, Glasgow, whose departure, one after another, was a source of grievous loss to the Lord’s people there. As we write, some of their names come before our minds; and, looking back, we ought to praise Him who, in High-priestly fashion, said, “Those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled.” We think of Mr. Donald Stewart, Miss Mary MacDonald of Overnewton, Miss Aggie Cameron, Mr. Duncan Young, Mrs. Moreland, Mr. Alexander Matheson, the Misses Morton, Mr. Norman Graham, Mr. James Skinner, Miss Mary Beaton, Miss Isabella McDonald, and Miss Jean Matthew.
We venture to say, in the words of the Apostle, “These all died in faith.” In the turmoil and unrest of a busy world, their walk and conversation was such, that it was evident their confidence reposed in Him, who rules supreme in heaven and earth. Their brightness of disposition was an encouragement to those who, in troublous times, might fear, as did the patriarch of whom we have already written. Their calm and clear discernment, in a dark and cloudy day, evidenced that holy fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. They were steadfast in the Cause of Christ, esteeming the reproach of His blessed name of more value than the praises of the world. They were of those who love one another in the bonds of the everlasting Gospel, and we miss the sweetness of their fellowship, so much the more as in this day, from the gospel kingdom, the warmth of Christian friendship is becoming conspicuous by its absence. “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye love one to another.”
God is gathering in His golden grain, and it is ours to scan the almost barren fields. We cannot do so without a feeling of sorrow and anxiety. We are apt to recall, “Joseph is not, Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away.” We commonly say that we see very few being raised up to take the places of those who, for the cross, have been given the crown, and who, we believe, are now with Christ, “which is far better.” It is truly a day of small things, but such a day, we are exhorted not to despise. We ought to bear in mind the wonder-working power of Jacob’s mighty God, and how, when the aged saint had thoughts of sinking in sorrow to the grave, his long-lost son was enjoying an exalted position in the land of Egypt, who was yet, not only to receive his father in person, but also his families and flocks, and on the authority of Pharaoh, they were to enjoy the fulness that characterised the land of Goshen.
May we be enabled to wait upon the Lord, with whom are the issues of life and death, that He would raise up a seed that would do Him service. “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt” (Amos ix. 13).—A. E. Alexander.