Genesis 43:9

SURETY FOR A BROTHER

‘I will be surety for him.’

Genesis 43:9

I. I will be surety for him,’ said Judah; and so he became, in a faint and far-off way, the forerunner of Jesus.

II. ‘I am Surety for thee,’ my Lord whispers to my heart; and then He asks me to remember the flawless perfection of His obedience. I should have kept the holy law of God, but I have broken all its precepts—I have sought out many inventions of my own. But the Well-beloved Son takes my place, and fulfils commandment after commandment; and His righteousness is counted mine.

III. ‘I am Surety for thee,’ says the Lord again; and He points me to the wonder and the worth of His sacrifice on the Cross. I deserve to die. The sword hangs over my head. The sentence is written against me. But my Saviour, ‘both Victor and Victim,’ loves me and gives Himself for me. The Good Shepherd lays down His life.

Out of pity Jesus said,

He’d bear the punishment instead.

IV. ‘I am Surety for thee,’ my Lord tells me once more; and He directs my eyes upward to His priesthood in the heavenly places. Day and night there is no pause in His intercessions on my behalf. Day and night He ever liveth to plead for me. O, prevailing and persevering grace of Jesus Christ! It gains for me, unworthy, helpless, every good gift and every perfect boon.

Illustration

‘The older sort of worshippers, the Rev. C. P. Golightly used to catch with guile. His plan was to announce from the pulpit on a Sunday afternoon, what next Sunday afternoon the sermon would be about. Of course he made a judicious selection of subjects— e.g., Noah in the ark, Jonah in the whale’s belly, Daniel in the lion’s den, and so on. The church used to be thronged to suffocation; and Golightly on emerging from the vestry in his M.A.’s gown was devoured by the eyes of the expectant rustics; some of them by a slight confusion of ideas, seeming to suppose that it was Noah himself, Daniel, or Jonah, as the case might be, who had come back in order to relate his experiences. We were talking about the character and sayings of Jacob—full of human pathos. “Come now,” said I, “tell me which you consider the most human of all his utterances.” Instantly—in a deep tone of mournful reproach which quite startled me—he exclaimed, “Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother.” ’