"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This
is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.
Where is Jesus in the Old Testament? What relevance do these stories have? These are the questions I hope to be addressing and answering this week on the blog. Today we tackle Joseph and his not-so-secret Jesus-like qualities!
Joseph is born loved by his father, who demonstrates this buying him an ornamented coat. His brothers see this, and are jealous of him. Loved by his fathers and hated by his brothers, Joseph has a dream about being greater than
his brothers. They hate him all the more.
Why are details about this man's life relevant? Because one day a man named Jesus would come, sent by His loving Father. He too would be hated by His brothers. He would be despised and rejected by the Israelites - all 12 tribes - each descended from the brothers of Joseph.
Joseph goes to join his brothers in a field, and when
they see him coming, they agree to kill him. Reuben, being a merciful brother stands up for
him. They grab him and throw him into a pit. Judah sees some passing Ishmaelites sells him to them. The brothers then take his coat, cover it in animal blood and lie to their father, saying he is dead. Their father, believing them, mourns the death of his son.
Joseph, for all intents and purposes is dead. His brothers have all decided to kill him. He is as good as dead, and thrown down into the ground. In his father's eyes, he really is dead. Joseph's symbolic death is foreshadow to the actual death of Jesus. Both men are taken and thrown down into the ground. Both will rise up out again.
Joseph is sold to a man named Potiphar and does a
great job as a servant. Potiphar's wife sees Joseph one day and asks him to sleep with her. Joseph refuses, fleeing the house, but she lies about him and has him thrown into prison.
Joseph is a pure man. He overcomes temptation. This is an obvious Christ-parallel since almost no other Old Testament character is portrayed with so few flaws. But this pure, innocent man is wrongly condemned, and through deception is sentenced to something he didn't deserve. 2000 years later, another man would do the same.
In the prison, Joseph interprets two dreams for two men who work in Pharaoh's household. He sees the future for both of them - for one, deliverance from prison. For the other - death.
Jesus too, was a prophet. He didn't interpret dreams, but he certainly knew the future. And not just the death of others, but frequently spoke of His own coming death.
Pharaoh had a dream while Joseph was still in prison, and Joseph's former cellmate recommends him to Pharaoh. Joseph is pulled from prison and asked to interpret Pharaoh's dream. His response is, “I can not do it, but God will give
Pharaoh the answer he desires.”
In many ways, this is the heart of Jesus' message. 'You can't do it, but God will give....' We can't bring salvation on our own, but God gives freely.
Joseph interprets the dream and predicts a famine. Pharaoh, seeing Joseph is wise, places
him in charge of managing his household. Before long, Joseph's brothers came to Egypt to buy
grain, and after sending them back for Benjamin, reveals himself to them.
Interesting, isn't it? The men who condemned and 'killed' him are now coming to him for salvation. Joseph provides physical salvation from starvation and Jesus provides spiritual salvation. Jesus died for the very men who crucified Him, and Joseph provides for the very men who sold him to Egypt.
Jacob his father comes to Egypt and begins to live there. Joseph continues to sell grain to Egypt until he has all of Egypt's money. So then he asks for livestock, and trades grain until he owns all of Egypt's livestock. Then land is the price for grain, and he becomes the owner of all of Egypt's land.
Some day, Christ will return and the Father will hand over all things to Him, making Him the all in all. What Joseph became on a national scale, Jesus will some day be on a global scale.
And then the story of Joseph ends off with this classic quote, "You intended to harm me, but God
intended it for good"
See Jesus? He's here. The Bible only has one story. The book of Genesis, inspired by God, tells the life story of our Saviour through the analogy of a historical figure.
