Genesis 50:20 - "Meant for Evil, Purposed for Good"

Genesis 50:20

"But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive."

This verse stands as one of the clearest declarations of God’s sovereign purpose in all of Scripture. Joseph's brothers meant evil against him, but God purposed it for good. These are not two competing wills struggling for preeminence, but One Holy God overruling wickedness of sinners to accomplish His saving purpose that He had determined from the beginning. Joseph does not minimize the sin of his brothers. He does not excuse it, soften it, or redefine it. They meant evil. Yet Joseph looks beyond their hands to God’s Hand, and there he finds Peace.

This verse teaches us that God's providence does not excuse evil acts. The brothers acted wickedly and with malice. They sold Joseph into slavery, not knowing what the outcome would be, but fully intending harm. At the same time, God was not reacting, adjusting, or overlooking their sin. He was accomplishing His purpose through it. The same act, viewed from two perspectives: evil from men, good from God. Both are according to God's Sovereign will and purpose for His glory alone. (Isaiah 45:5-7).

Joseph’s words are not spoken from theory but from experience. He was standing at the end of the road God laid out for him—a path that passed through betrayal, false accusation, imprisonment, and long waiting. Only now did the pattern become clear. God sent him ahead to preserve life. Not merely Joseph’s life, but the lives of many. The preservation spoken of here is not accidental or temporary; it is deliberate and saving. God’s purpose was life, and He brought it to pass exactly as He intended.

This verse presses us forward to Christ. Joseph is not the Savior, but he points us to Him. What Joseph’s brothers meant for evil, God determined for good; what the hands of men did to Christ was the greatest evil ever committed, yet God determined it to be the greatest Good ever accomplished (Acts 2:23). The cross was not an interruption in God’s purpose—it was the revealed purpose of God from eternity. Men acted in hatred, envy, and unbelief, yet God was delivering up His Son according to His determinate counsel and foreknowledge. They could not do one thing more or less than what God had already determined (Acts 4:28).

This verse teaches us how to think about the cross. Christ was not a victim overtaken by events. He was not crushed by forces beyond His determination. God determined it and used the very wickedness of men to accomplish the redemption of His elect. Salvation did not come by God preventing evil, but by God overruling it. The same God Who sent Joseph ahead to preserve life sent His Son into the world to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

This truth gives rest to the believer. God so rules and overrules according to His will so that the worst evil ever committed is turned to eternal good. That means that nothing in our lives falls outside His purpose. The verse does not promise ease, but it promises the fulfillment of God's purpose. It does not tell us that evil is good, but it assures us that evil cannot thwart God’s good. The believer’s comfort is not found in understanding every circumstance, but in trusting the God Who purposes good through all of them.

Joseph speaks forgiveness to his brethren when he reveals himself to them, after being brought before him by God's sovereign purpose. He did not fear his brothers, nor did he hold their sin over them. God had already ruled. God had already worked. God had already accomplished what He purposed. The Gospel produces this same freedom. When we see our sins dealt with at the cross, we are freed from both guilt and vengeance. Christ has borne the evil, and God has brought good out of it—life everlasting.

Genesis 50:20 leaves us not with Joseph, but points us to Christ. It teaches us to look beyond human intent to God's sovereign purpose, beyond present pain to eternal good, and beyond ourselves to the God Who saves. What men meant for evil, God determined for good—to save much people alive. The greatest evidence of that is in the cross of the LORD Jesus and the Salvation of His elect in the delivering up of His Son for their justification before Him.