Page 54 - The Divine Unfolding of God's Plan of Redemption

will” work out for the accomplishment of His eternal purposes.

The whole long story beginning with the sale of Joseph into Egypt, followed by

the migration of his whole family into that land, the subsequent four hundred years‟
captivity, the redemption by blood, the wilderness wanderings, the conquest of Canaan,
is a record wherein God‟s primary will for His testimony people was departed from in
the first place, but He turned the whole back to His glory and the instruction of His

people in all ages by demonstrating (1) The results of departure from the divine will
and the place of testimony; (2) The principles of redemption—grace and power; (3)
The sad plight of a half-way position; (4) The way of ultimate victory.

Nothing could have been plainer than the expression of God‟s directive will in His
special appearance to Isaac (Gen. 26:2-3) “Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the
land…sojourn in this land, and I will bless thee.” Local circumstances can never effect
the obligation of the believer to adhere rigidly to the divine principles and commands.

He never tells us to obey Him when we find it humanly convenient or expedient to do
so. Even when the believer is in the place where God wants him, he is likely to have
times of leanness and even famine, but that does not provide an excuse for him to rush
off to Egypt. There was famine when God commanded Isaac specifically to stay out of

Egypt. There was also famine when he told Jacob, “Fear not to go down into Egypt”
(Gen. 46:3). The first was directive, the second was permissive, and was tenderly
granted by Jehovah on account of the deep desire of Jacob to be reunited with his son.

Here is another phase of the age-long warfare between the seeds, and as in every
other case the real underlying explanation is the desire of Satan to draw the testimony
people out of the place of the testimony.

Let us remember that he will do his utmost to prevent the existence of any clear,
untrammelled testimony to God in the world that he rules. God‟s people in God‟s
place is a state of affairs that he cannot abide, because he knows that then and then
alone do they shed for a bright light of witness to the Redeemer and the King. He will

do his very utmost to get them out of that place, and when he has once succeeded in
that, he will leave no stone unturned to prevent them from returning. If we bear these
axioms in mind the facts and events in the whole story will stand out with deep

significance and crystal clarity.

Here Jacob has a family with twelve sons, all of whom with their descendants will
compose the testimony people. They are going to wax stronger and more numerous,
and he must do something about it before they become rooted in the land.

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