Voddie Baucham - Joseph's Dream
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Speaker 1: Well, at this phase of our journey, we have once
again taken a pause, placed a pin in the middle
of one book in order to go back and complete
our work in another. So the bad news is we
will not be continuing right now with the book of Romans.
We will be back there in short order. The good
news is we are going to finish our journey through
the book of Genesis as promised. We found a nice
stopping point there in the book of Romans as we
look at this doctrine of justification by faith. In the
midst of that journey, we have seen how important it
is for us to understand the book of Genesis in
order to understand the book of Romans, and how important
it is for us to understand the book of Romans
in order to understand the book of Genesis. And as
we continue that juxtaposition in of these two books and
the great doctrines which they teach, prayerfully, we will keep
all of these things in mind as we develop a
fuller understanding of the redemption that is ours through the
person and work of Jesus Christ. When last we journeyed
through the book of Genesis, we journeyed through the life
of Jacob. And as we came to a transition at
the end of Jacob's life or toward the end of
Jacob's life, we took a pause. Now we take up
the discourse again in Genesis chapter 37 and begin the
journey through the life of Joseph. Now, if we were
to title this last section and we wanted to title
it from a theological perspective or from a literary perspective,
We would probably have to title this The Last Toledot.
Why would we call it The Last Toledot, you ask? Well,
I'm glad you asked. That is a word that is
found 11 times in the Hebrew text in the book
of Genesis. And it actually frames the book of Genesis. Now,
it's translated in the phrase, these are the generations of.
So what we have in the book of Genesis is
an introduction or a prologue. The prologue is Genesis 1-1
through Genesis 2-3. The first Toledot happens in Genesis chapter
2 and verse 4, where we have, these are the
generations of the heavens and the earth. Now, that's the
only one that's not about a person. After the generations
of the heavens and the earth, we have the generation of...
Speaker 1>
Speaker 1>
Speaker 1: a new section is introduced with this idea of the
Toledot or the generations of. It is usually a section
that introduces the death of that particular individual and the
continuation of the line through the next individual. So as
we read here in chapter 37, we read verse 1,
Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojourning, in
the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Now,
we know that this last Toledot, this last generations of,
it's not really about Jacob. We've already heard about Jacob.
This is about those who came forth from Jacob to
continue on the line, specifically his 12 sons. And even
more specifically, the way that God used Joseph in the
lives of those 12 sons. So as we come to
a close here, recognize that there is a flow to
the book of Genesis. There's a flow to the way
this story lays itself out. And it has to do
with generations. It has to do with the promised seed.
It has to do with following that line from the proto-evangel,
the first proclamation of the gospel in Genesis chapter 3
and verse 15. where God says to the serpent, I
will put enmity between you and the woman and between
your seed and her seed. You will bruise him on
the heel, but he will crush your head. The very
next chapter, we see the first murder. What is the
first murder? The seed of the serpent killing the seed
of the woman in an effort to head off God's plan.
In the very next chapter, what do we see? We
see the birth of Seth, first and foremost, seed of
the woman again, and from Seth to Noah through 10
generations there in Genesis chapter 5, showing us the continuation
of this seed. Eventually, we get to Terah and to
Terah's son, Abraham. Abraham then to Isaac. Isaac, then to Jacob,
not Esau. Isaac, not Ishmael. Jacob, not Esau. And then
from Jacob, we get to his 12 sons. Now, we
haven't been informed as of yet which of these 12
sons it is through whom this line of the Messiah
would continue. But we know the overarching story of the Bible,
and we know that though Joseph is the favorite son,
Joseph is not the promised seed. Though Rachel is the
favored wife, she does not bring forth the promised seed.
In fact, it is the wife that was never wanted
in the first place. It is the wife who was
not part of the romantic story. It is the wife
who was standing next to the girl that Jacob looked
at and thought, she is the one, one, one, one.
It is her who gave birth to Reuben, the firstborn,
to Simeon, then to Levi, father of the priesthood, Judah,
the father of the king of kings. But now the
story focuses on Joseph. And the question that has to
come is why? Why does the story focus on Joseph
at this point? If this is about the continuing of
the generations, the continuing of the seed, Joseph is not
that one who has promised. Why does the story now
at this point focus on Joseph? To which my answer is,
stop trying to get so far ahead. Let's read here
these first 11 verses in chapter 37. And then I'll
outline what I... desire for us to do. Verse 1,
Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojourning in
the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph,
being 17 years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers.
He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah,
his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of
them to their father. Now, Israel loved Joseph more than
any other of his sons, because he was the son
of his old age, and he made him a robe
of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their
father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated
him and could not speak peacefully to him. Now, Joseph
had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers,
they hated him even more. Do you just feel the
love in this family? He said to them, hear this
dream that I have dreamed. Behold, we were binding sheaves
in the field and behold, my sheaf arose and stood
upright and behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed
down to my sheaf. His brother said to him, are
you indeed to reign over us or are you indeed
to rule over us? So they hated him even more
for his dreams and for his words. One begins to
wonder how much hate can they have. Continues to pile up.
Verse 9. Then he dreamed another dream and told it
to his brothers and said, Behold, I have dreamed another dream.
Because Joseph's really interested in increasing the love among his brothers,
as we can tell. Behold, the sun, the moon, and
11 stars were bowing down to me. But at this point,
don't you just disguise the dream maybe? Do you have
to say they were bowing down to me? Could you
not just say I had a dream? It was interesting
because there were stars bowing down to somebody. guy. He
says they were bowing down to me. But when he
told it to his father and to his brothers, his
father rebuked him and said to him, what is this
dream that you have dreamed? Remember his father who loves
him more than the other brothers? Now he's even rubbing
him the wrong way. Shall I and your mother and
your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground
before you? And his brothers were jealous of him. But
his father kept the saying in mind. So here is
the picture. This is what we're going to do. First,
I want us to contextualize this, and actually there is
much of that that happens naturally here in this particular passage.
I want us to bring ourselves up to speed. We
already have done that in a very broad sense, and
understand where we are and with whom we are dealing here. Secondly,
I want us to see some of the major theological
themes here in this passage that are introduced that are
very important for our understanding of the rest of of
the life of Joseph. And finally, I want us to
see how this fits within the context of redemptive history
because we see it here even in this introductory passage.
So there are several theological themes here. There are a
couple of them that I want to point out that
I want us to begin to understand because we'll need
to understand them better as we walk through this part
of the book of Genesis. The first thing we need
to understand is the providence of God in the lives
of the patriarch. The providence of God in the lives
of the patriarchs. Now, when I say providence, it's interesting.
We use that word a lot. And when you're in,
you know, Reformed church circles, when you're in sort of
Calvinistic circles, people throw around that term providence a great deal. Unfortunately,
for many people, especially those who are kind of new
to Reformed doctrines, When they use the word providence, here's
what they're doing. Let me just let you in on
a little secret. When people are new to Reformed doctrine
and they use the word providence, what they're really trying
to do is avoid using the word luck. So they
exchange it for providence. If you can't say amen, you
ought to say ouch. Okay? So they'll say something happened
and you'll say, oh, wow, you were lucky. Oh, I'm sorry.
That was provident. We try to avoid providence. communicating in
the wrong way, so we just take one word out
and replace it with another word, there's a small problem.
Even if you take the word providence and substitute it
for the word luck or good fortune, all you have
done is misapplied the word providence, kept the wrong theological
understanding intact, and and just used a better sounding word
for the wrong theological concept. Providence is not luck. In fact,
far from it. One of the things that we need
to understand is that when we use the word providence
only to speak about good things that happen in our lives,
we've completely misunderstood the terminology. So all of a sudden
we're riding down the road and there's a car that
runs a red light and it comes that close to us,
but it doesn't hit us. Boy, that was providence. Here's
what we just communicated. God demonstrated his providence in that
he kept us from an accident. However, had we gotten
into the accident, God would not have demonstrated his providence
because God's providence is only displayed when good things happen
to us, when things that we desire come our way.
That is not the doctrine of the providence of God.
It is far more significant than that. So here's what
I want to do. Let me give you a few
definitions here. The first one here from Charles Hodge. Listen
to Charles Hodge. God's works of providence are his most holy, wise,
and powerful, preserving and governing all his creatures and all
their actions. Providence, therefore, includes preservation and government. By preservation
is meant that all things out of God owe the
continuance of their existence with all their properties and powers
to the will of God. Let me give you one
that's a little less broad than that. This one comes
from John Gill. Gill writes, God upholds all things by
his power, governs the world by his wisdom, looks down
upon the earth, takes notice and care of all his
creatures in it, and makes provision for them, and guides
and directs them to answer the ends for which they
were made, which is the sum and substance of providence.
Little more to the point. Let's put an even finer
point on it. This is a definition that we've used
before from Wayne Grudem. He writes in his systematic theology,
we may define God's providence as follows. God is continually
involved with all created things in such a way that he, one,
keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which he
created them. God keeps all things existing and maintaining the
properties with which he created them. That's his providence. Two,
he cooperates with existing things in every action, whether the
car misses you or hits you. In every action, directing
their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do.
And three, directs them to fulfill his purposes. The providence
of God is about God directing all things to fill
his purposes. We go through those three things again. Number one,
he keeps all things existing and maintaining the properties with
which he created them. Secondly, he cooperates with existing things
or created things in every action, every action, every action.
Don't miss that. It's not as though we sort of
go along and God's uninvolved with our life until something
big happens and he needs to intervene. God's providence governs
every action. Directing their distinctive properties to cause them to
act as they do. And thirdly, directs them to fulfill
his purposes. It's how we understand the doctrine of God's providence.
There's one more issue that we have to deal with
in order to sort of round out our understanding, at
least for this point. Again, this will unfold as we
continue through the rest of the book of Genesis. But
I want us to have at least a beginning framework
in understanding what providence is before we look at the
rest of this text. From the London Baptist Confession, chapter 5,
paragraph 2. Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree
of God, the first cause, all things come to pass
immutably and infallibly, so that there is not anything befalls
any chance. Excuse me. Yeah, that's right. Let me read
that again. Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree
of God, the first cause, all things come to pass
immutably and infallibly, so that there is not anything befalls
any by chance or without his providence. Yet, by the
same providence, he ordered them to fall out according to
the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.
What does that mean? What are secondary causes? Here's something
that we have to understand if we're going to understand
this part of the book of Genesis. In the providence
of God, God is not, as it were, moving people
around like automatons. But in the providence of God, everything
is as it is because of God's decree. Secondly, God
is cooperating with everything as he has made it in
order to fulfill his purpose. And thirdly, Everything is going
to act in accordance with the will of God. Our
God is seated in the heavens. He does whatever pleases Him.
Here's one of the things that you have to understand.
Because of the fall of man, every secondary cause is
a flawed and fragile and broken and sinful cause. Let
me give you an example of what I'm talking about.
Israel sins. So God is going to judge Israel because
of Israel's sin. Well, what is God going to use
in order to judge Israel for Israel's sins? Well, he's
going to go get the Chaldeans in order to judge
Israel for Israel's sins. Well, wait a minute, God. Why
are you going to go get the sinful Chaldeans to
judge Israel for their sin? Really? Really? Here's the question
that might come back from God. Where's the perfect nation
that has never sinned that I can use to judge
Israel for their sins? The answer? There's not one. Well,
wait a minute, God. Are you going to force the
Chaldeans to do something against their will? No. He refers
to them as the bloodthirsty Chaldeans. In other words, this
secondary cause that God uses is the Chaldeans who are
a bloodthirsty nation who are going through wreaking havoc and
by his providence he is going to use them to
bring judgment on his people. Not because he's surprised by it.
But in spite of the fact that he's not. That's
the providence of God. If all you understand of the
providence of God is that when that good thing happened
to you, it was because of the good God that
you love and serve. You've missed it. When you understand
the providence of God, you understand that on your worst day,
that was the hand of God in your life. On
your worst day. And here's the other thing that you understand.
Two things. Number one, on my worst day, the worst
thing that ever came into my life came to me
by the hand of God's providence. But secondly, it wasn't
nearly as bad as it should have been in light
of who I am. And thirdly, God did it for
his glory. And therefore, it's good. When you get there,
you understand the providence of God. If you only see
the providence of God when a child is born healthy
and strong, but you don't see the providence of God
when there is difficulty in the pregnancy or some sort
of malformation in the life of that child, You don't
understand the providence of God. If you only see the
providence of God when you go to the doctor and
the doctor says, you have a clean bill of health,
but you do not see the providence of God when
you go to the doctor and he says, I think
this one might take you out, then you don't understand
the providence of God. If you only see the providence
of God when that other car misses you by that
much and you do not see the providence of God
when you're in the midst of rehab because the car
didn't miss you, then you don't understand the providence of God.
But you know when you grasp the providence of God?
When years later after your worst day, you're standing in
the midst of a circumstance and God is using you
to speak truth to and bring comfort to another saint
because of what he in his providence graciously allowed you
to endure. Now you understand the providence of God. When
you bring glory and honor and praise to the name
of God in spite of your worst day and someone
hearing that says to you, I must hear more about
this God in whom you trust because I could not
under your circumstances cry out and worship to God. Then
you understand the providence of God. Providence is not about luck.
Providence is not about things turning out the way you
want them to turn out. Providence is about God being
in control of His creatures and His creation. That's the
doctrine of providence. How do we see the providence of
God in the lives of the patriarchs here? A couple
of things. One, He overcomes the wickedness and the dysfunction
of the patriarchs. Amen. Amen. But I don't know about you,
but that's good news to me. Amen? Wouldn't it be
terrible if you read about the lives of the patriarchs
and they were perfect? Where would your hope be? I
wouldn't have any hope. Where would your trust come from?
But when you read the lives of the patriarchs, And
even here in this passage of Scripture, listen to the
things that echo from earlier in the book of Genesis.
Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in
the land of Canaan. Now, you just said a mouthful
right there. How long did it take Jacob to get
to this place where he was supposed to go? Twenty-some-odd
years with that scoundrel by the name of Laban, being
deceived and deceiving again and again and again. His hip
has been broken as he wrestled with the angel. All
of these things have happened. He has run from his
brother Esau, finally been reconciled with his brother Esau after
believing in that very moment that Esau was going to
kill him as sure as he stood there. Now, the
text says, he made it to Canaan. That's no small thing.
He didn't make it there because of his trust and
his obedience and his goodness. He made it there because
of the providence of Almighty God in spite of who
he was. Amen? These are the generations of Jacob. By
the way, these are the generations of Jacob. What does
that mean? That means that Jacob has children. Now, back
up for a moment. Jacob has children, lots of them.
So that's no big deal. Well, yes, it is a
big deal. Well, why? Because Jacob is the son of
a man by the name of Isaac who had twins
called Jacob and Esau. Yeah, so whatever. That happens every day. No, no, no, no, no, no.
Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sarah, 100 years old.
So when you read, these are the generations of Jacob,
you are reminded that God performed a miracle in the
womb of a woman who was nearly a hundred years old.
And these are her generations and her descendants. You're also
reminded that God made a promise to Abraham that his
descendants would be like the numbers of the grains of
sand on the seashore, or the number of the stars
in the heavens. So when you read that phrase, these
are the generations of Jacob, remember, this is part of
the fulfillment of the promise that God made to Abraham.
This is happening in his providence. But again, in spite
of their dysfunction. Because when you think about Abraham and Sarah,
you also have to think about Abraham and Hagar. Hagar.
When you read that phrase, these are the generations of Jacob,
you have to remember that he's got 12 sons, but
they came through four wives. Sin piled upon sin piled
upon sin. The providence of God in spite of their sin.
Not only that, but as we keep reading, Here's Joseph
and he's bringing a bad report about his brothers. What
does that sound like? That sounds about like his father
Jacob with his brother Esau. Here is Jacob loving Joseph
more than he loves his other sons and showing favoritism.
What does that sound like? Well, his father's favorite was
Esau and his mother's favorite was Jacob. This sounds like
a pattern of dysfunction being continued in this family generation
after generation after generation. And you see the providence of
God in that he blesses the patriarchs in spite of
their sin. And that's good news because there is not
a soul in this room who doesn't need that. Amen? Amen?
in spite of your sin. How often do we think, oh,
there's just no way that my family is going to
turn out okay. You just don't know what I've come from. No,
I really don't know what you've come from. But I
would venture to say that it probably doesn't come close
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Amen? Here's the other thing.
There's going to be some stuff in here that's worse
than Reuben is going to be disinherited and deservedly so. Judah,
the promised seed is going to fall flat on his
face before it's all said and done. Yet in the
providence of God, he keeps his promise and we continue
to move forward toward the promised seed in spite of
the sin of the patriarch. Secondly, he overcomes the wicked
schemes of of the enemy. We see the providence of
God in that. Over and over again, as we journey
through the life of Joseph, we're going to see this phrase,
this phrase that though they meant it for evil, God
meant it for good. Amen? That's the providence of God.
And even here, we see in these dreams the providence
of God. What are these dreams about? Well, if you
know the rest of the story, God is letting Joseph
know and letting his brothers know what he is about
to do in order to preserve them. He's letting Joseph
know that he's going to use Joseph. He's going to
raise Joseph up, that his brothers are going to bow
down to him, even though in just a few short verses,
they're going to throw him in a pit. By the way,
throwing him in the pit is a compromise because what
they wanted to do was murder him. So in the
providence of God, Joseph's in the pit. Imagine this. I'm
in the pit. Woe is me. I'm 17 years old
and I'm out here in a pit all by myself. No, actually, Joseph,
this you think is the worst day of your life,
but I got a couple of things to tell you.
Number one, it's going to get worse. You're going to prison.
for a while, after you become a slave. But it's
not all bad news, brother. You're in the pit. That's
good news. What do you mean that's good news? Your
big brother, he wanted to murder you. This was the
better alternative. Of course, he doesn't know that in the pit,
does he? You're in the pit, Joseph, and you're about
to go become a slave. But that's good news. How
on earth is that good news? The providence of God.
After you become a slave, you're going to be framed
for sexual assault, and you're going to go to prison.
How is that good news? Trust me, in the providence
of God, that's good news. Because you're going to become
the second most powerful man in all of Egypt. Egypt?
I don't want to go to Egypt. Trust me, you
want to be in Egypt. Because a famine is coming
and God is going to use you and this gift
of interpreting dreams to put you in a position so
that your brothers come and bow down, not because you're
a great man, but because in the providence of God,
he's going to get you to Egypt so that you
can save Egypt and in turn, save your entire family.
But he cannot see this in chapter 37 verse 1.
He does not know this in chapter 37 verse 2.
He cannot fathom this in the dream in verses 5
through 8. He has no idea and is probably interpreting
through his flesh the dream in verses 9 through 11.
And yet, you and I looking back on this, know
that this is the providence of God in the life
of Joseph and in the life of his family and
his brothers. Listen to this from B.B. Warfield. This theme
that God overrules the wicked intentions of men and women
in order to save his people runs throughout the Old Testament,
but perhaps nowhere more explicitly than in Joseph's narrative. Here's
Warfield's comment. on providence. Were not God's providence overall? Could
trouble come without his sending? Were Christians the possible prey
of this or the other fiendish enemy? When perchance God
was musing or gone aside or on a journey or sleeping,
what certainty of hope could be ours? Does God send trouble? Surely, surely.
He and only he, to the sinner in punishment, to
his children in chastisement. To suggest that it does not
always come from his hand is to take away all
our comfort. He continues, the world may be black to us.
There may no longer be hope in man. Anguish and
trouble may be our daily portion, but there is this
light that shines through all the darkness. We cannot be
robbed of God's providence. So long as the soul keeps
firm hold of this great truth, it will be able
to breast all storms. We said this as we stood
here the day after Hurricane Ike. Many of you were
here on that day. Some of you were not. But
we sit here in this very building after Ike has
come through. That Lord's Day right afterwards, we're here and
there are many in this church who had trees fall
through their house, many who experienced flooding or anything else.
And it was an incredible opportunity to talk about this
doctrine of the providence of God. We said this, there
are some people who believe that Hurricane Ike came through
and it was just random. There are some people who
believe that that storm knocked a tree down on their
house and it was just bad luck. And yet those
same people in the midst of this bad luck and
random chance are crying out to a God that they
don't even believe can control a hurricane. Where's your hope
if God didn't control Ike? Because if God couldn't control Ike,
how can he control the circumstances of your life? If
God can't control Ike, How can God control evil individuals
who wish to do you harm? If God cannot control
Hurricane Ike or any other so-called natural disaster, then how
on earth can you and I say that we know
who holds the future? It is only because we trust
in a God who allows nothing to happen by chance
that we can trust in a God who will take
care of his people. That's the doctrine of God's providence. Secondly,
there's this issue of progressive revelation. Something very interesting happens
here in the second half of our passage. God intervenes
in a way that is unique here in the life
of Joseph. Now, in Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 and 2,
we read these words. Long ago, at many times and
many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophet's
But in these last days, He has spoken to us
by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things,
through whom also He created the world. God has not
always communicated to His people in the same way. But
in the book of Genesis, we have examples of most
of the ways that God has communicated to His people.
For example, we have direct revelation. Now, we have once
in Genesis 46, the phrase, God spoke. 21 times in
the book of Genesis we have the phrase, the Lord said.
The idea that the Lord appeared happens five times in
the book of Genesis. Listen to the times that they happen.
Genesis chapter 12 and verse 7. Genesis chapter 17 and
verse 1. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord
appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty.
Walk before me and be blameless. Genesis chapter 18, verse 1.
And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of
Mamre as he sat at the door of his tent
in the heat of the day. Genesis 26, 2. And
the Lord appeared to him and said, do not go
down to Egypt. Dwell in the land of which I
shall show you. Genesis 26, verse 24. And the Lord
appeared to him that same night and said, I am
the God of Abraham, your father. Fear not, for I
am with you and will bless you and multiply your
offspring for my servant Abraham's sake. The phrase the angel
of the Lord happens 11 times in the book of Genesis.
That is the second type of revelation. Revelation. So in
this first type, we have this direct revelation, God speaking
directly and saying, I'm God, here's what you need to do.
The second type is we see the angel of the
Lord 11 times in the book of Genesis. And then
the third type of revelation we see in the book
of Genesis is God speaking through dreams. This happens on
several occasions, but I want to point out a few.
so that you see the difference in what's happening here.
Genesis chapter 15, verse 1. After these things, the word
of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Fear not, Abram.
I am your shield. Your reward shall be great. So
there's the Lord appearing in a vision to Abram, but
he's speaking directly to Abram in the vision. Then again,
but God came to Abimelech. This is chapter 20, verses
3 and 6. in a dream by night and said
to him, behold, you are a dead man because of
the woman you have taken, for she is a man's wife.
Then God said to him in the dream, yes, I
know that you have done this in the integrity of
your heart, and it was I who kept you from
sinning against me. Therefore, I did not let you touch her.
Now in chapter 31, verses 10 and 11. In the
breeding season of the flock, I lifted up my eyes
and saw in a dream the goats that mated with
the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled. Then the angel
of God said to me in the dream, Jacob, and
I said, here I am. So again, in a dream,
you have this more direct revelation. And again, in chapter 31,
verse 24, God appears to Laban in a dream. But
that's not what happens here. That's not what happens in
the life of Joseph. This is a different type of
revelation from God. And this is the first time that
we see it. And it becomes incredibly important in redemptive history.
Look with me, if you will, beginning at verse 5
and try to catch the difference. Now, Joseph had a dream.
And when he told his brothers, they hated him even more.
He said to them, hear this dream that I have dreamed. Behold,
We were binding sheaves in the field. And behold, my
sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered
around it and bowed down to my sheaf. Now, was
that God coming to Joseph and saying, Joseph, I'm God.
Here's what you need to do. No, not at all.
This is a dream that had to be interpreted in
order to be understood. Look at the next one, beginning
verse 9. Then he dreamed another dream. and told his
brothers and said, behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold,
the sun, the moon, and 11 stars were bowing down
to me. But when he told his father and his brothers,
his father rebuked him. Now, again, was that God appearing
in a dream saying, I'm God, do this, or I'm God,
that is about to happen. No, this is a different
type of revelation. Now, why is this important? Because this
is the very type of revelation that God is going
to use to bring Joseph to power in Egypt. This
type of revelation is important in its secondary purposes. God
shows up to Abraham and he says to Abraham, Abraham,
I'm going to make you the father of many nations.
Why is that important? That is important to Abraham because
Abraham needs to believe what it is God is saying
and go and do what God has said. In all
of these other types of revelation, God comes and he says,
I'm God, here's what you need to do. Or I'm God,
here's what you don't need to do. I'm God, here's
where you need to go. And in all of those
types of revelation, it was very important for the individual.
This is a different type of revelation in that God
gives a dream The interpretation of the dream comes from
an individual whom God is using. And God eventually uses
that to gain favor for the individual with others for
whom he interprets the dream. Now, this ought to sound familiar.
First of all, it sounds familiar because we know the
rest of the book of Genesis. But imagine this. You're
in the midst of exile. And in the midst of exile,
you think God has forsaken you. In the midst of
this exile, you are carried off into a land called Babylon.
And while you're carried off into the land called Babylon,
because the prophets have already told you that the Chaldeans
are going to come and carry you away, you think
God has forsaken you and it is all over. How
on earth would you, as a Jew, growing up with
God's scriptures, be comforted and know that God is still
with you? Oh, I don't know. Maybe. Maybe. If God
raises up a man by the name of Daniel who
interprets dreams in Babylon and gains power in Babylon because
he interprets dreams, you as a Jew who know the
story of Joseph in Genesis are immediately reminded of what
God did through this other dream interpreter in the midst
of a time in a land that was not his home.
Same kind of revelation from God, same circumstance, and God
uses it in the same way. The way God reveals
himself to Joseph is different than what's happened in the
rest of Genesis. And the way that God reveals himself
to Joseph is also a pattern that God uses to
bring hope to his people later on in the exile
as he does the same thing with Daniel. It's all important.
Here's the final piece. This is connected to the gospel
and to redemptive history. How so? We have a forsaken
favorite son. Does that sound familiar? this is my beloved
son with whom I am well pleased. What happens to
that son about whom his father says, this is my
beloved son with whom I am well pleased? Well, eventually
he is thrown into a pit as well. But where
Joseph is thrown into a pit alive, Jesus is thrown
into one dead after being crucified. Well, Not only was
he despised like Joseph, not only was he turned on
by his brothers like Joseph, but Christ's work was done
in order to save his brothers. Joseph, you're going to
the pit, but I don't want to. That's okay that
you don't want to go to the pit because eventually
you're going to prison and you'll get out of the pit.
But wait a minute, I don't want to go to
prison either. Oh, that's okay. Prison's going to be after
your slavery. Well, I definitely don't want to be a slave.
That's okay, Joseph. It's very important for you to do this. Why?
Because you're going to save your brothers. That's why. You're
going to endure scorn. You're going to endure shame. You're
going to endure hardship. And you're going to do it
in order to save your brothers. That ought to sound
familiar because that brothers and sisters is the gospel. But
what are the differences between Joseph and Jesus? Well, difference
number one, Jesus is not from a dysfunctional family. Amen.
There is no dysfunction in the Trinity. He is the
spotless sinless lamb of God. Joseph is a sinful creature.
And God is using this sinful creature in order to
preserve the line through which Jesus will come, but he's
using him in spite of his sin. Jesus has no sin.
Joseph goes to prison. He deserves worse. Joseph is a slave.
He deserves worse. Joseph goes to a pit. He deserves worse.
Jesus is scorned. He is mocked. He is forsaken. He
is beaten. He is crucified. He is stabbed and pierced.
He is buried and he deserves not one iota of it.
Joseph saved his brothers kicking and screaming. Not knowing what
was ahead of him and had he known he would
have run in the other direction. Jesus goes to the
garden knowing exactly what is about to happen. He knows
that the hour of his departure is upon him. He
knows the cross lay ahead of him. He has all
of the anguish that Joseph would have had had Joseph
been told, oh, by the way, this dream that you
just dreamed, It's going to make your brothers hate you.
That would have been enough. I don't want to be
hated by my brothers, let alone they're going to hate
you and then they're going to want to kill you.
Then they're going to want to put you in the pit.
Then they're going to send you off. No, I don't
want to do this. And you would have run in
the other direction. Jesus is there. The sin of the
world upon his shoulders about to endure the cross and
its shame as well as its pain. And he feels
this so much so that he sweats as drops of blood.
And he cries out to his father, if there is
any other way, let this bitter cup pass from me.
But unlike Joseph, he does not. not run in the
other direction in spite of the fact that he knows
all too well what is about to happen he says
nevertheless not my will but yours be done was it
fair Absolutely not. Joseph got better than he deserved. Jesus
gave us better than we deserved. Here's where another of
the similarities ends. Joseph rescues his brothers from a physical famine.
Jesus rescues his brothers from the sting of death and
the power of hell. No power of hell, no scheme
of man can ever pluck me from his hand till
he return and call me home. Was it good that
God used Joseph to save his brothers from the famine? Yeah,
it was good. but it pales in comparison to what
this episode foreshadows. Christ saves his brothers and we never
thirst again. We never hunger again. Christ saves his brothers
and he makes us right with God. Joseph saves his
brothers And they get worse and worse and worse. Christ
saves his brothers and progressively we are sanctified. Is the
life of Joseph important? You better believe it is. For
a number of reasons, not the least of which is
that it teaches us about the providence of God. It
teaches us about progressive revelation. It teaches us about redemptive history.
All of those things are important. But the most important
piece is twofold. One, God in His providence keeps His
promise and Judah stays alive. And eventually, the Lion of
the tribe of Judah is born. And two, the God
who keeps his promises to his people is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. And the God who controlled Hurricane Ike controlled
this line and brought us Jesus. How much more can
you and I trust him with whatever it is that
we believe overwhelms us? What's the worst that could happen? Well,
the worst thing that could happen is whatever it is
that God brings upon you would kill you. Really? That's
the worst that could happen. That in the Christian life
is called a promotion. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we are
grateful to you for the goodness that you've shown us.
Grateful to you for these little glimpses that you give
us throughout redemptive history. Grateful to you for your providence.
Not just on our best day, but on what we
would consider our worst day. grateful to you for reminding
us that we can trust you with the smallest of
things as well as the most significant. We're grateful to you, Lord,
that you have chosen to reveal yourself to your people.
And that rather than being dependent on the infrequent method
of dreams and visions. You have provided for us and
preserved for us and protected for us your word. And
above and beyond that, given us your final and ultimate
revelation in the person of Jesus Christ who is the
very word of God. I'm grateful to you as you
continue to unpack for us this majestic, almost incomprehensible plan
of redemption that was no accident. Would you please continue
to remind us of that? That your work to redeem
your people was not an afterthought, but that you, the
great God of the universe, ordered our steps, that you
might bring us to salvation. May that give us great
comfort and even greater hope. Guide us as we continue
to walk through this book and finish this journey in Genesis,
should the Lord tarry. And in the meantime... Would you
please be so kind as to help us to continue
to see Christ on every page? This is our prayer.
This is the earnest desire of our very souls. And
we ask it because we believe it's in accordance with
the will and the nature and the authority of Jesus,
who is the Christ. Amen.