In Joseph we see a person who accepted everything from God’s hand, one who did not blame or accuse others but lived a life under the rulership of the Spirit. He had feelings and emotions, but he kept them in check, and he didn’t express his excitement or his sorrow.
The rulership of the Spirit is one of the highest aspects of the Spirit, since it is the reigning aspect of a mature saint. We may enjoy the conviction of the Spirit, the regeneration of the Spirit, the infilling of the Spirit, the anointing of the Spirit, the inspiration of the Spirit, the life of the Spirit, and the power and light of the Spirit, but we need to go on and experience the rulership of the Spirit, the reigning aspect of a mature saint.
What is “the rulership of the Spirit”? It is what the Lord Jesus taught and practiced in the Gospels and what Paul and the apostles lived out and spoke of in Acts and the Epistles: a life of reigning in life by being under the restriction and limitation of the divine life within to be in the reality of God’s kingdom.
We all need to live a life under the rulership of the Spirit, both allowing God to sovereignly limit us outwardly and living inwardly under the restriction and limitation of God’s life to be in the reality of God’s kingdom today.
We need to see a revelation of the rulership of the Spirit so that we may realize that God is not only outwardly arranging all things for good (to deal with us, break us, and transform us; see Rom. 8:28) but He also wants us to cooperate with the restriction of the divine life within, allowing the Spirit to limit us, restrict us, and balance us in our living, expression, attitude, and speaking.
May we not take the easy way, choosing to do what we want to do – many times under the cloak of “serving in the church” – but may we be those who choose God’s way, the way of obeying the inward limitation and restriction of the Spirit so that we may reign in life with Christ.
May we have an open heart and a prayerful attitude as we come to the story of Joseph in Genesis so that we may see a vivid picture of a person who lived constantly under the rulership of the Spirit.
Joseph Lived a Life under the Rulership of the Spirit, just as Christ did
Genesis 43:30-31 And Joseph hurried – for his inward parts burned for his brother – and sought a place to weep. So he entered into his chamber and wept there. Then he washed his face and came out, and he controlled himself and said, Serve the meal.
As we read the story of Joseph in Genesis we realize that he wasn’t a person without feelings; rather, he was full of feelings and sentiments toward his brothers, but he kept himself with all his feelings under the rulership of the Spirit.
When his brothers came to buy food, he didn’t react by being either upset at them or excited to see them; rather, he dealt with his brothers soberly, wisely, and with discernment (see Gen. 42:9, 24; 43:30-31; 45:1-2, 24).
He didn’t rebuke them nor was he angry at them, but he disciplined them according to their need in order to perfect them and eventually build them up to be a collective people living together as God’s testimony on earth.
He never forgot his family and his dreams, and he was full of feelings for his brothers; when they came, he asked about their father – and since the emotions were welling up in him, he went to another room and wept, and then controlled himself and came back as if nothing happened.
Like Joseph, we also need to learn to keep our feelings, sentiments, and emotions under the rulership of the Spirit. We need to learn to be wise and sober in the Lord, having discernment in the situations we’re in, and not letting excitement take over us, but be calm and restricted according to the inner sense of the divine life and under the rulership of the Spirit (Gen. 45:24; Matt. 16:24; 2 Chron. 1:10; Isa. 30:15a; Phil. 1:9; 1 Tim. 5:1-2; 1 Thes. 3:12; 4:9; 2 Thes. 1:3; Rom. 12:10; 1 John 4:9; Heb. 13:1).
Joseph might have wanted to reveal himself to his brothers from the very beginning, but he denied himself and placed himself under God’s sovereign leading, conducting himself wholly for the interest of God and His people.
Actually, he could have sent for his family to bring them to Egypt any time after he was raised to power by Pharaoh – but he didn’t; he knew there is something about God’s timing and His way.
When his brothers came, he realized that there is a process of discipline and dealing, there is a right timing, and there has to be some perfecting of his brothers, so he denied his own enjoyment of his father’s presence and his own timing, and he put himself absolutely under God’s sovereign leading, being entirely not for himself or his interest but for God’s interest and for the interest of God’s people.
This kind of living that Joseph had is a portrait of the human living of Christ; Christ is the One who fully lived under the restriction of the Father’s will, spoke the Father’s words, did the Father’s works, sought the Father’s glory, and did everything according to the Father’s desire and plan (see John 5:19, 30b; 7:16, 18; 14:10; Matt. 8:9-10).
Joseph’s constant and daily living under God’s restriction manifested the maturity and perfection of the divine life and brought in God’s kingdom; by living in such a mature way, the perfection of the divine life was manifested.
Joseph first ruled himself, and then he ruled over Egypt; no man can rule anything without first ruling himself.
Lord Jesus, bring us in the reality of the kingdom of God. We want to be those who live a self-denying life, a life under the rulership of the Spirit. Keep us enjoying Your divine life growing and spreading in our inner being until we live daily under the limitation and restriction of the divine life. May we be those who are sober, wise, and full of discernment, those caring for others’ needs more than for our needs!
Living under the Rulership of the Spirit within by Denying the Self and Recognizing God’s Sovereignty
The most powerful person is the one who has the strength not to do what he is able to do — this is the real denial of the self and the genuine bearing of the cross (W. Lee, Life-Study of Genesis).
Joseph is a living illustration of what the New Testament reveals concerning our Christian life – he was a self-denying person who had no self-interest, no self-enjoyment, no self-feeling, no self-ambition, and no self-goal. Everything that Joseph did was for God and for God’s people.
The Lord Jesus lived such a life and He called us to follow Him by denying our self, losing our soul life, and taking up our cross (Matt. 16:24). We need to live a self-denying life as the practice of the kingdom life as Joseph did, keeping our emotions and feelings in check with the divine life within, and living a calm life, a sober life, and a discerning life with love toward the brothers and the sisters.
The practice of the kingdom life in the church life is a self-denying life, a life of denying our disposition, our intention, our desire, our preference, our timing, and placing ourselves entirely under the control of God’s leading. This is not easy, but it is the kingdom of God and the real reigning in life.
Without being under the rulership of the Spirit in our daily life we can hardly have the church life. Many of the problems in the church life are due to the lack of the living under the rulership of the Spirit.
We need to exercise our spirit and live according to the resurrection life in our spirit, caring more for others’ needs than for our needs. God’s life in us has a concern for others’ needs, and when we live by the divine life under the rulership of the Spirit we will take care of the real need of our brothers more than for our preference and desires.
In the end, it is not a matter of being strict or loose but – are you doing this according to your enjoyment to satisfy yourself, or to genuinely meet the need of the saints and perfect them?
It is the Lord’s mercy that we would realize that the most powerful person is NOT one who can do many things for the Lord in his strength but the one who does not do what he is able to do because he is limited by the rulership of the Spirit within; this one denies himself and bears the cross in a genuine way.
We need to realize that everything is under God’s control and it is all of God. In Joseph’s case, he realized that his brothers meant what they did to him for evil, but God turned it to good; his bothers sold him as a slave to go to Egypt, but God turned it to good, even to their salvation (see Gen. 45:5, 7; 50:19-21; cf. 41:51-52).
As Paul tells us in Rom. 8:28-29, all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Apparently there are some people in our life giving us a hard time, “persecuting us”, causing us trouble, and even hating us; actually, God is working behind the scenes and within us to work out good for us.
If being in a dungeon worked out good for Joseph, how much more all things happening in our life work out for good to us! We need to learn to say, It is Of God! It is not so-and-so that does this and hates me, and it is not this situation or that situation that troubles me; it is all of God.
Joseph realized that it is all of God, and he didn’t blame his brothers but recognized God’s hand; they were afraid that he would turn against them, but he told them he didn’t even need to forgive them because he didn’t blame them; God worked it all out for good (see Gen. 45:5-8; 50:15-21).
We need to live under the rulership of the Spirit within and see God’s sovereign hand in our life, realizing that all things are from the Lord and staying under the supply and the limitation of the Spirit within.
Lord Jesus, may we learn to live a life under the rulership of the Spirit. May we be saved from doing what we want to do or following our own interest and desire in our Christian life and church life. May we be those who learn to turn to You, accept Your sovereign arrangement in our life, and live a life under the limitation and restriction of the divine life within. Lord, thank You for everything You are doing in us and around us – You cause all things to work out for good! Oh Lord, even as we go through tests and trials, just be with us and make it prosper for us so that You may gain us as those qualified to rule and reign with You!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minor Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (msgs. 115-116), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (3), week 8 / msg 8, Joseph – The Reigning Aspect of the Mature Life.
- Photo credit for Genesis 43:30-31 and more spiritual quotes on this topic via, Christian Pictures Blog.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Christ to me is so subjective, / Regulating all the day; / He corrects and rules and guides me, / And adjusts in every way. (Hymns #537)
# The essence of the Kingdom is / A life that’s under heaven’s rule, / A life whose nature is divine / With Christ experienced in full…. / ’Tis strict with self, with others kind, / And always dealing with the Lord; / It ever does the Father’s will / And acts according to His word. (Hymns #944)
# Ever tender, quiet, restful, / Inclinations put away, / That Thou may for me choose freely / As Thy finger points the way. / Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / For my very life art Thou; / Thee I take to all my problems / As the full solution now. (Hymns #403)
# A person one with Christ, / Full of Christ. / And one who is saturated / with Christ / One who is so broken / And even terminated / In his natural life, / Softened and flexible / in his will, / Affectionate, yet restricted / in emotions, / Sober and considerate / in his mind, / And pure, genuine / in his spirit. (Song on Being Flexible and Restricted)
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