Genesis // Message 40 // Genesis 37 // Joseph & Jesus

Thank You Janu and and I just want to put everybody's minds to rest at first because maybe you saw that the double-page outlined in today's bulletin and your first thought was I should have brought snacks I just want to want to let you know everything's gonna be okay we're gonna finish on time as usual we're just gonna be making a ton of references it's gonna be a very very interesting powerful and illuminating mind-blowing kind of study we're getting into our study on a man named Joseph we're in about the back quarter of the book of Genesis Joseph was the firstborn son to Rachel who was Jacob's favorite wife and they had waited a long time through seasons of Baroness for his arrival and so you can imagine how treasured and yes even spoiled this beloved son would have been when he finally arrived and as we shall see in the chapters to come this Joseph who's gonna be 17 years old in our story today was apparently a good-looking dude in part because Rachel was his mom and she was famously good-looking but Joseph was also a man of incredible character he's one of only two men in the Old Testament of whom is mentioned no sin the other being Daniel and that doesn't mean they never sinned only Jesus ever lived a sinless life but it does point to the integrity and the purity that they lived their lives with you know it's interesting in in the creation account in the book of Genesis we have the Lord describing how he made the earth he mentions the Sun he mentions the moon and then the rest of the cosmos the rest of the universe gets five words Genesis 1:16 says he made the stars also five words for the rest of the universe and yet the Lord used a quarter of the book of Genesis to talk about the life of Joseph why well it's not because Joseph was just such a great guy though he was this is going to be the first fill in on your outline it's for this and Joseph is a picture of Jesus Joseph is a picture of Jesus and the purpose of the Bible is to reveal Jesus now I love the science side of everything that we did at the beginning of Genesis but it's interesting because the Lord says you need you need five words about the rest of the universe what you need to know about the rest of the universe is that I made it but he says what you need to know even more about is Jesus so we're gonna take a quarter of the book of Genesis to talk about Joseph whose life is a picture of Jesus and today's teaching was a challenge to put together because there's some great practical stuff that I could talk about in chapter 37 but there's nothing higher there's nothing more helpful there's nothing greater there's nothing that will build you up and encourage you more there's nothing that will grow you more than seeing more of Jesus seeing more of Jesus and I hope that's why you came this evening because that's what you're gonna get and so I'm gonna hit on some practical things very quickly in our study but we're gonna take most of our time to look at the ways in which Joseph is a picture of Jesus the ways in which his life parallels the life and Ministry of Jesus the famed theologian aww pink personally identified over 100 parallels between the life of Joseph and the life of jesus you're saying Jeff I don't see how we're getting out on time I'm not gonna do all 100 don't worry okay it was impossible to put them all on your outline I put as many of the verse references as I could on there but if you're a student of Scripture you might want to listen to the message when it gets posted later this coming week then you can just pause it as you need to to explore because it's really gonna be a journey of jumping back and forth all over the Bible especially between the Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John in the New Testament and Genesis so that way you can just pause and listen to it and keep going and get deeper into your own study so let's jump in chapter 37 verse 1 it says now Jacob Joseph stad dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger it just means where his father had been a temporary resident in the land of Canaan this is the history of Jacob Joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with his brothers now in the original Hebrew language there the implication is that Joseph was giving oversight so he was in charge he was the chief shepherd of the family business which was raising and selling sheep of all the brothers that were working in the family sheep business Joseph was the youngest and yet he had been put in charge by his father over his older brothers and if you know anything about brothers that sort of setup isn't usually going to be well received by the other brothers and that's kind of the setup for what's going to take place here then we read and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah his father's wives now you might recall this but to refresh your memory if you weren't with us Jacob was married to Rachel and then he was also married to Rachel's sister Leah and they sort of got in a childbearing contest they were very competitive sisters and they both wanted to give birth to as many sons as possible for Jacob and the short version is they did a weird thing that was considered okay in the pagan culture around them at that time to help boost their numbers in this contest they each had a handmaiden who was like their personal servant and so they said to each of them Bilhah and Zilpah hey why don't you sleep with Jacob too and then maybe you'll get pregnant and then your kids will count towards my score as weird as it sounds that's what happened right here and so Jacob has has brothers and sort of half brothers and three quarter brothers and so when these Bilhah and Zilpah ladies came into the family they became like second tier wives not as important as Rachel and Leah but but still wives and so the sons that were born to them were still sons but they were kind of second tier sons not as important as the ones that came from Rachel or Leah and so this is where it Joseph is he's hanging out with all his brothers who were born to Bilhah and Zilpah the second-tier sons they don't like him because dad loves him they don't like him because he's the youngest and he's supposed to be in charge of them and then we read this and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father here's what's going on these guys were not doing a good job taking care of the Sheep they were not behaving the right way they were not being responsible and so Joseph lets his father know Joseph brings that report to his father because his father put him in charge but the reason his father put him in charge is because he knew that he could count on Joseph to be trustworthy and reliable and bring him honest information if his other sons were getting out of wine he knew that he could rely on Joseph to tell the truth and far too many times when you hear this passage taught in church it's kind of taught as though Joseph is a tattletale he's a snitch he shouldn't have done that but that's not what's going on this is this is a family with a lot of messed up dynamics if you haven't picked that up by now and all the sons are working in the family business and Jacob needed someone who was reliable and trustworthy to keep an eye on things and bring him back reports he needed someone who would tell the truth rather than lie just to cover for his brothers so that his brothers would like him and that person was Joseph he was the only son who could be counted on to tell the truth even if it meant that his brothers didn't like him verse 3 now Israel you'll remember that's what Jacob's name was changed to he's called both in this chapter now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age because he had waited so long for him to be born and he was born born to Rachel his favorite wife also he made a Matunuck of many colors many colors the Hebrew term there in the original language for many colors is a bit vague it's a bit egg Matic some scholars feel that it could have been a robe made up of a patchwork of different colors you got to remember that dyeing technology isn't that advanced then so if you have multiple colors you have multiple bricks all sewn together but some of your Bibles will have a note in the column that will say the term could also mean a coat with sleeves because at this time most tunics did not have sleeves because if you worked you did manual labor and sleeves will get in the way if you were working with wheat or picking fruit or digging ditches or fishing or anything like that so if you were a manual laborer you had a tunic that did not have sleeves if you had sleeves if you had sleeves that meant you're the boss man because you don't need to get your hands dirty you don't need to have all this freedom of movement because all you're doing is making notes about what everybody else is doing and so sometimes apparently they would even store stuff like plans for the day or plans for something they were building or Ledger's or notes store them even inside their sleeves they were sort of the original fanny packs these giant sleeves keep their lunch up their spare pair of shoes anything they want to really so here's the big point when Jacob gives Joseph this tunic possibly of many colors but probably definitely with sleeves he's conveying to Joseph and everybody else that Joseph is going to supervise he's going to oversee he's going to manage he doesn't have a life of manual labor ahead of him he's not going to be out working with the Sheep in the fields he's going to be the boss he was special it's almost like Jacob understood that it was through Joseph that all of God's blessings were gonna flow through his family so write this down Jacob appointed Joseph to oversee the family business and how do you think it went when Joseph went check it out Bruce I got a new coat I think that went over well didn't go over well and as we shall see that robe will soon be covered with blood to signify Joseph's death we'll get to that verse 4 but when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers you see even when mom and dad deny they have a favorite if they do the brothers and sisters know they can tell they perceive it and all of Joseph's brothers he was daddy's favorite and then we read they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him every time they speak to Joseph there's bitterness there's anger there's hostility verse 5 now Joseph had a dream and he told it to his brothers and guess what they hated him even more why well check out the dream that Joseph shared with them so he said to them please hear this dream which I have dreamed and so everybody understands right off the bat Joseph isn't saying check out the Solaris dream I had last night guys it's probably just the pizza or the tacos I had last night the implication is what he's saying is guys I had a significant dream this means something that this is something from the Lord everybody understands that's what he's implying he says there we were binding sheaves in the field so a sheaf is just a whole bunch of wheat that gets bundled together and tied up so that you can carry it out of the field into storage then behold my sheaf arose and also stood upright so as sheaf just stands up and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf isn't that neat guys now here's why this is offensive because as far as dream interpretations go this is not a hard one they all understand what Joseph is implying is going to happen in the future that's why we read in verse 8 and his brother said to him shall you indeed reign over us or shall you indeed have dominion over us so they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words then he dreams still another dream and told it to his brothers and said look I've dreamed another dream and this time the Sun the moon and the Eleven stars bowed down to me so not only did his brothers his eleven brothers show up in this dream represented by the eleven stars and bow down to him but now there's also the Sun and the moon clearly representing his mother and his father verse 10 so we told it to his father and his brothers and his father rebuked him and said to him what is dream you have dreamed so your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you and his brothers envied him but his father kept the matter in mind and that's interesting because Jacob has the the understandable initial reaction of like come on boy but but then he begins to think about it he begins to ponder what Josephus says he begins to meditate on it and and Jacob can begin to tell there might be something to this something is going on he has that sense God is doing something here and in that is a lesson and a reminder for you and I make a note of this we'll talk about a little bit instead of asking is this offensive to me or do I approve of the messenger we should be asking is this true is this true instead of asking is this offensive to me or do I approve of the messenger we should be asking is this true and I wish I had more time to expand on this idea right now but I'm gonna ask you to just spend some time meditating on it this week in your personal devotional time and see what the Lord might want to show you because there's so many times that I think God wants to speak to us but we have these filters first and sometimes we don't listen to the Lord even when he's speaking clearly because what he's saying is offensive to us you want me to serve who you want me to do what you want me to forgive who come on or or we don't like the person that God is using to speak to us how often does the Lord use your spouse to speak to you you don't like it you don't like it you chafe against that how about your kids that's even worse right isn't it awful when you realize they're right it's terrible you're like well it's not really respectful but it's also completely true and I fear God but I'm also angry that's what it's like and there's so many times we miss out on things that God wants to show us speak to us and reveal to us or or save us from because we say well I'm offended I don't like the way that was delivered to me right how often do we do that with our spouse oh yeah I know what you're saying might be right but I don't like the way you said it you didn't say it the right way so I don't have to listen to it we don't like the messenger we don't like the message but instead we should be asking the most important question which is is this true is this true how long could we talk even in our society right now about this very issue how we're losing the very idea of truth in our society with the most obvious things because instead of asking the question is this true we're asking the question instead first is this offensive to anyone oh it is then never mind that it's true never mind that it's true spend some time thinking about that this week I'll say it again instead of asking is this offensive to me or do I approve of the messenger we should be asking is this true and after an initial reaction of being offended Jacob begins to ponder that question but but is this true is this maybe true and what we're gonna find is that indeed both dreams were from God both dreams speak prophetically about things that are gonna happen in the future God's plan was to elevate Joseph above his brothers but that's gonna want to fold in the most incredible and unexpected way in the next few chapters well we don't know how much time passes between verse 11 and verse 12 it could be a few days could be a couple of years but in verse 12 we read then his brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem it's about 50 miles north it would have taken them at least 20 hours to get there with their sheep the valley of Shechem was known for its abundance of water verse 13 and Israel or Jacobs said to Joseph are not your brothers feeding the flock and Shechem come I will send you to them so he said to him Here I am then he said to him please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks and bring back word to me so he sent him out of the valley of Hebron and he went to Shechem so Jacob the family business Oh sends Joseph the young CEO to check in on how his brothers are doing make sure they're okay make sure they're taking good care of the Sheep see if they need anything so notice that Joseph the favorite son is where he's at home with his father in a management role while the other sons are out working so they're probably not gonna be all that happy to see him when he shows up verse 15 now a certain man found him found Joseph and there he was wandering in the field and the man asked him saying what are you seeking so he said oh I'm seeking my brothers please tell me where they're feeding their flocks and the man said oh they've departed from here for I heard them say let us go to Dothan so Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan that's about another 15 miles north and it would seem they actually went around the valley of Shechem just to the north most likely because they probably weren't that popular in Shechem as you might recall from a couple of chapters ago that two of those brothers Simeon and Levi had killed all the men in the town of Shechem as payback for their sister Dina being raped back in chapter 34 god bless to us the reading of his word okay so that had happened so they probably go in there they're going to check him and one of the brothers says hey uh do you think they are over the whole us killing all the men in the town thing do you think that things are cool now and they go probably let's let's just go around the town to the north just to be safe probably a good move verse 18 now when they saw him when they saw Joseph afar off even before he came near them they conspired against him to kill him now let me ask you do you have tension in your family in your extended family wait let me answer for you no you don't this is tension in the family okay they see them from a distance and they begin conspiring to kill them however bad your family situation is I don't think any of you are at the place when you have a get-together and a relative calls and says oh I'm about 30 minutes away where you all begin conspiring how to kill them I hope none of you are in that place if you are come talk to me after the service okay but tension in this family and now we understand that when we were told that Joseph's brothers hated him I mean they really hated him they really hated him they hated him for being their father's favorite they hated him for giving truthful reports about their behavior to their father they hated him for the blessings their father had bestowed upon him they hated him for the position their father had given him and it's also possible that they hated him because they suspected his dreams might actually come true they might actually come to pass perhaps they had taken note that Joseph's life seemed to be blessed by God and they were thinking we better do something so he doesn't end up ruling over us verse 19 then they said to one another look this dreamer the actual phrase is master of dreams they're being sarcastic look this master of Dreams is coming come therefore let us now kill him and cast him into some pit and we shall say oh some wild beast has devoured him we shall see what will become of his dreams so these guys mean business Simeon and Levi have already killed the whole town of men before in their lives the rest of the brothers pillaged the town after those murders they weren't good guys they weren't afraid to get their hands dirty and in John's First Epistle he tells us why Cain killed his brother Abel he says because his works were evil and his brothers righteous and then he says do not marvel my brethren if the world hates you in other words what John the Apostle is saying the believers he's saying since Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden those who choose to reject God have hated those who choose to love God and these people who reject God they don't want to serve God but they hate something about the fact that you do and you shouldn't be surprised that's what Stephen the Apostle tells us in acts 7-9 he tells us Joseph's brothers were jealous that verse should be on your outline they were jealous verse 21 but Rueben heard it and he delivered him out of their hands and said well let us not kill him and Reuben said to them shed no blood but but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness and do not lay a hand on him that he might deliver him out of their hands and bring him back to his father Sir Reuben knows what they're talking about doing is is evil it's wicked but he gets the sense he's not gonna be able to change their minds so what he says is he says guys let's not let's not get blood on our hands let's just throw them into a pit and just leave him there to die and Reubens plan is then I can come back later and pull him out of the pit and save Joseph's life that pit was likely what's known as an empty cistern and in places where it was dry when it would rain the water would run down the sides of mountains and into valleys and they would dig out these holes in the rock in some of these places so that the water would collect and it would have a small opening on top and then would be dug out on the inside and if you fell in there was really no way to climb out there was nothing to hold on to and so this is what they're going to throw Joseph into verse 23 so it came to pass when Joseph had come to his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic the tunic of many colors that was on him this is the tunic they're gonna use to convince Jacob that Joseph has been killed verse 24 then they took him and cast him into a pit and the pit was empty there was no water in it you just imagine he can't imagine really how terrifying this would have been for Joseph he goes there to check on his brothers they pounce on him they strip him and then they throw him into this pit so not only is he in fear of his life but but this is now coming crashing down on him his brothers hate him enough to kill him it would have been a sense of being incredibly alone in that moment as he's in the sister and in a place of hopelessness and then verse 25 we read and they sat down to eat a meal because plotting your brother's death will give you a serious appetite and so they just they just go about their business you know they're eating their Sammy's eating their snacks while Joseph is wailing and crying out from this pit behind them then we read that they lifted their eyes and looked and there was a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels there's this traveling caravan of men on bearing spices bomb and myrrh on their way to carry them down to Egypt so the reason they're carrying spices bomb and myrrh down to Egypt is because that stuff was more in demand in Egypt than anywhere in the world because it was all used for embalming the dead but if there's one thing we know about the Egyptians they love to embalm dead stuff right people cats dogs they'll embalm anything that's dead so that's where they're taking this stuff verse 26 so Judas said to his brothers well what profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood come let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him for he is our brother and our flesh so their their moral compasses off just to say a little bit because the morality of Judah here is if we kill him we get nothing but if we sell him as a slave we get a little bit of extra cash so let's do that I mean after all he is our brother and his brothers listen verse 28 then Midianite traders passed by so the brothers pulled joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver and they took Joseph to Egypt and Joseph had to be thinking oh what did i do what did I do I only told the truth I only did what my father asked me to do do I deserve any of this and he didn't verse 29 and then Reuben returned to the pit and indeed Joseph was not in the pit any tourists clothed so apparently Reuben had left and Joseph had been sold to these slave traders while Reuben was away he comes back finds that Joseph is gone the brothers tell him what they've done and he tears his clothes which was an ancient middle-eastern sign of grief and sadness and despair and he returned to his brothers and said the lad is no more and I where shall I go he's just saying I'm done I'm devastated verse 31 so they took Joseph's tunic killed a kid of the goats that's a baby goat and dipped the tunic in the blood then they sent the tunic of many colors and they brought it to their father and said we found this do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not and he that's Jacob recognized it and said it is my son's tunic a wild beast has devoured him without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces then Jacob tore his clothes put on sackcloth on his waist that's another sign of mourning and mourn for his son many days and all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said for I shall go down into the grave the literal word there is she ol to my son in mourning thus his father wept for him so why does the text go back here to calling him Jacob instead of calling him Israel his new name well it's because he's actually not in harmony with God on this you see he thinks Joseph is dead and he thinks everything is falling apart he thinks God's plan is just collapsing but in reality God is doing something incredible Joseph is still alive and the plan is still completely on track you see the name Israel means governed by God it means that God is in control and following his name change whenever Jacob behaves like he actually believes God is control is in control the Bible refers to him as Israel and in the times when he acts like he doesn't believe God is in control it will generally refer to him as Jacob and there's a tragic irony here again or should I say a case of sowing and reaping here because when he was 75 years old Jacob had himself made a presentation to his own father hadn't he Isaac in order to fool his father into believing something that wasn't true Jacob had dressed up himself to deceive his father into thinking he was Esau instead of Jacob and now Jacob and his old age is cruelly deceived by his own sons into believing that Joseph his favorite son has been killed as we've discussed in other messages sowing and reaping is is painful that his son seemingly learned this sort of behavior from him whether it was taught whether they observed it or whether it was just passed down spiritually to them the word that Jacob uses therefore grave is is the Hebrew word Sheol and if you want to know all about what she all is we're not gonna talk about it I just put a link on your outline to a message that you can listen to it's a really interesting study it's it's not hell as we know it it's not heaven as we know what it's something else so you can go check that out this week but what I want you to just notice is that Jacob clearly understood and expected that his son would be waiting for him in the same place he was going to be going to after he died he clearly expected and believed that they would see each other again verse 36 now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard so Potiphar was the chief of the executioner's of Pharaoh's court in Egypt they killed people but also animals for things like ritual sacrifices all kinds of killing basically and this all took place around 1900 BC almost 4000 years ago almost 2,000 years before Jesus was born on the earth and this is just the end of Act one of Joseph's life it's quite an incredible story so now we're gonna shift gears and take a look at the parallels between the life of Joseph and the life of Jesus and you might have begun to pick up some of these already I'm not gonna share all of them you're probably gonna see some in your own studies that I've missed but I want you to remember when we think about prophecy as Westerners we think about prophecy being there was a prediction and then it came true there was a prediction and a fulfillment that's the Greek model of prophecy in the Hebrew model of prophecy there's a third ingredient there's prediction there's fulfillment but in the Hebrew model there's also pattern you see they believe that patterns could be prophetic that patterns could point to the future and that's why in the Old Testament you have all these different people where parts of their lives point ahead to the life of geez they serve as a pattern that Jesus would later fulfill in a greater way in his life their prophetic patterns Joseph's brothers will go on to become the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel they're going to represent and I know this is a stretch Israel that's who they're going to represent prophetically and Israel's religious leaders and it's interesting that while Joseph is one of the sons of Jacob there will be no tribe of Joseph there's no tribe of Joseph there's some technical reasons for that you can look into on your own but I just want you to notice that as we begin Joseph's is part of the family he's part of the family of Israel but yet somehow he's not part of the family he's in the family but he doesn't quite fit much like Jesus and we'll find that Jacob Joseph father will be a picture of Jesus Heavenly Father our Heavenly Father so I'm just gonna point that some things we'll go through in verse 2 as our story begins we find Joseph the Sun dwell in harmony with his father just as at the beginning of the Gospel story we find Jesus dwelling in harmony with his father in heaven Jesus described himself as the shepherd and as followers a sheep many times in the Gospels Joseph is essentially the chief shepherd in his family and his brothers are not taking care of the Sheep the way the father wants them to and so Joseph lets the father know and when Joseph exposed his brothers when he told the father what they were doing they hated him for it when Jesus came to the earth he found religious leaders who were supposed to be shepherding the people caring for the people he found them instead inventing their own laws and teaching them to the people as though they were as important as the scriptures he found religious leaders who were corrupt who were hypocrites and when Jesus exposed them called them out they hated him for it this is what Jesus said about the religious leaders of his day it's on your outlines he said therefore whatever they tell you to observe that observe and do but do not do according to their works in other words when they tell you to do the stuff that's in the scriptures do it but don't copy the way they live before they say and do not do they're hypocrites for they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers but all their works they do to be seen by men Jesus says when they tell you to do the stuff that's in the scriptures do that but don't follow their example because they don't actually do what's in the scriptures in fact they invent other laws to make your life more difficult but then they don't actually do anything to help you do those things that they're telling you to do they're no help at all and the only things that they do are not to bless God or honor God they're just so that people will see them and be impressed by them that's the only motivation they have Joseph cared more about pleasing his father than pleasing his brothers Jesus cared more about pleasing his Heavenly Father than anything in John 829 also in your outlines jesus said of his father he said I always do those things that please him do you remember when Jesus was twelve years old his family had gone to the city of Jerusalem to celebrate a feast they're heading out of town and they realized Jesus isn't with them and it's actually after a few days different time they go back they hunt high and low in Jerusalem they find Jesus in the temple he's 12 and he's talking with the best religious teachers of the day listening to them and asking them questions but incredibly insightful brilliant questions and they stand there and they're just shocked and they're like Jesus what what the heck is going on like like where were you and you remember what Jesus said he said why did you seek me did you not know that I must be about my father's business you imagine your twelve-year-old saying that did you not know I must be about my father's business I'm just hanging out in my father's house in verse three we're told that Joseph was the son of Jacob's old age he was around 91 when Joseph was born the prophet Isaiah prophesied about the Messiah who would come about Jesus and he said that he would grow up as a root out of dry ground would you agree that a child being born to a man who's 91 years old qualifies as dry ground I would say so as well and because of this his father loved him so much he gave him a special gift this tunic of many colors or with big sleeves in John 335 it says the Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand not just a coat but the father is given Jesus all things in verse 4 we learned that Joseph's brothers couldn't speak peaceably with Jesus just as the Jewish religious leaders Jesus brothers so to speak always spoke to him with hostility and bitterness and then in verses 5 to 10 we find that Joseph's brothers don't believe his dreams while Jesus brothers don't believe his words either in fact when the people first begin gathering around Jesus when people first start coming around Jesus to hear what he has to say when he begins his ministry at the age of 30 they're packing into this house Jesus family members hear about this they hear oh people are coming to hear your brother Oh Mary people are coming to hear your son speak to teach and they're like oh oh this is bad you're kidding me and in fact the Bible tells us in mark 3 that they go to get Jesus to bring him back home because they thought he was quote out of his mind that's how much they didn't believe that their family member was actually the Messiah the son of God they say we've got to get this Jesus back home before he embarrasses himself in the family anymore he's out of his mind Joseph shares that it's his god-given destiny to rule and reign and his brothers respond by hating him rejecting him and saying how can we kill this guy the Jewish religious leaders respond to Jesus the same way after he was a stood close to his crucifixion and he was being interrogated by the religious leaders the Sanhedrin mark 14 tells us this it's on your pages it says again the high priest asked him saying to him are you the Christ in other words are you the Messiah the son of the Blessed Jesus said I am and you will see me the son of man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming with the clouds of heaven in other words Jesus says yeah yeah I am I'm the son of God and not only that the day's gonna come when you're gonna see me sitting at the right hand of God the Father in all my glory you're gonna see that one day then the high priest tore his clothes and said what further need do we have of witnesses you heard the blasphemy what do you think and they all condemned him to be deserving of death then some began to spit on him and to blindfold him and to beat him and to say to him prophesy in other words tell us who hits you and the officers struck him with the palms of their hands they didn't believe Jesus either in verse 11 Joseph's father Jacob is he's offended at first by Joseph's words and actions but then he he ponders them he thinks about them when Jesus was twelve years old and they have to go back and find him in the temple and Mary saying what are you doing Jesus we read later on after that that his mother kept all these things in her heart just like Jacob who at first is offended by what Joseph is saying in doing Mary at first being offended that Jesus is staying there in the temple then begins to consider these things in her heart at verse 14 we're told that Joseph's father sent him out of the valley of Hebron and he went to Shechem Hebron means Association or the place of fellowship and as we mentioned a couple of weeks ago Shechem means place of the burden or place of burdens so literally Joseph's father Jacob sends Joseph on a mission from the place of fellowship to the place of burdens just as God the Father sent His Son Jesus from the place of fellowship in even to the place of burden on earth where he would ultimately die and take the burden of the sins of the whole world in verses 15 and 16 a man finds Joseph wandering in a field and asks him what he's looking for Joseph shares his mission and tells the man I'm seeking my brother's the Gospels and the Bible tell us that Jesus was actually sent first specifically to the Jews to his brothers in Matthew 10 Jesus sends out the twelve disciples and he gives them these instructions your outline will say it these twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them saying do not go into the way of the Gentiles so don't go to the non-jews do not enter a city of the Samaritans don't go to the half Jews but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and as you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand just as Joseph is sent looking for his brothers the sons of Israel Jesus was sent first to go to the Jews the sons of Israel at verses eighteen and twenty Joseph's own brothers betrayed him and plotted his death John 1:11 tells us speaking of Jesus that he came to his own and his own did not receive him in John 11 53 it says from that day on they plotted to put him to death his own people plotted to put him to death in verses 21 through 22 when they're just about to beat Joseph to death that's what's implied from the text Reuben comes up with a plan to try and spare his life now there's a couple of things here one of them is that it's specified in Exodus 12 46 and numbers 912 that the bones of the Passover lamb were never to be broken in other words when Jesus is crucified it's the feast of Passover every time they would celebrate Passover that once a year every family would sacrifice a lamb at the temple and that lamb would serve as payment for their sins temporarily and so the whole idea is that Jesus is the greater Passover lamb he's not just a lamb that takes away sins for a year for just a family he's the sacrifice that takes away all sins forever for everybody who chooses to receive him as their Lord and Savior but the specification in the law was that when they killed the Passover lamb none of its bones could be broken and the incredible thing about Jesus as though even though he was beaten even though he was scourge Divac no he was crucified because he was to be the greater Passover lamb not one of his bones were broken you remember even when the Roman soldiers about to come around and break the legs of all of the men who have been on the cross so that they would die faster they get to Jesus and they don't break his legs because he had already died not one of his bones is broken and just as Joseph is about to be beaten to death by his brothers Reuben shows up with another plan and says hey why don't we put him in this pit and then he ends up getting sold into slavery instead Reuben he tries to change the mind of his brothers he knows what they're doing is not right but he knows that they're not gonna let Joseph go so he says well why don't we just why don't we punish him a bit why don't we just throw him in this pit we don't have to beat him up then we'll just leave him to die remember when Jesus is handed over to Pilate Pontius Pilate the Roman leader of the region interviews Jesus says I find no fault in this man but the the mob of Jewish people is saying now are now crucify him crucify him and he has Jesus scourge he's an awful awful beating that would often kill people but Pilate was thinking if he survives that then maybe they'll see him so beaten and bloody they'll say well well that's enough we don't need to kill him so you remember he has Jesus scourge and then he brings him up in front of the crowd and he says behold the man and there's Jesus beaten to within an inch of his life and he's thinking they're gonna say okay that that's enough but they still say crucify him crucify him and Jesus says well I can free one of them and what do they say they say no free Barabbas free that other criminal send Jesus to his death the pilot plays the role of Ruben in the life of Jesus in verse 23 it says they stripped Joseph of his tunic the Roman soldiers stripped Jesus as they took him to the cross and cast lots for his clothing verse 24 Joseph was cast into a pit Jesus was cast into the grave verse 25 having captured Joseph this is an interesting one this is how incredibly specific these parallels are having captured Joseph and secured his fate his brothers sat down to eat a meal as things were going down with Jesus and the Romans after he'd been handed over to the Romans what did the religious leaders and the other Jews who had arranged for Jesus to be killed do sat down to eat the Passover meal they sat down to eat the Passover meal we're told that the slave traders were coming from Gilead the word Gilead literally means he loved witness or he loved testimony and we're told that they were transporting spices balm and myrrh which were all used for embalming the dead preparing them for burial and this is a clear reference to Jesus journey to the cross through his life where he would die on the hill of witness known as Mount Calvary or Golgotha and his body after he had died would be prepared with things like spices balm and myrrh by Nicodemus you'll remember that and another follower of Jesus Joseph has handed over to traders who are literally in the death business that's what they do in verses 26 through 27 Judah has the idea to sell Joseph into slavery for silver to betray him for silver when you get to the New Testament and books begin being written in Greek a whole lot and Greek culture Hellenistic culture is the dominant culture on the earth even though the Roman Empire is ruling at that time the name Judah changes in that Hellenistic Greek culture to Judas the name Judah is the name Judas in Greek it's the same name just at a different time in history Judas of course being the one of Jesus disciples his closest twelve brothers so to speak who betrayed Jesus for silver to the religious leaders in verse 27 Joseph's brothers sell him to foreigners to benefit politically and financially the Jewish religious leaders sold Jesus so to speak to the Romans by handing him over to be crucified to benefit themselves politically and financially you see they knew that if Jesus got a whole bunch of people to follow him the Roman soldiers would go to the religious leaders and say apparently you can't keep your people under control because they're all following this Jesus guy so if you can't keep him under control what do we need you for and they would have stripped them of all their power and all their means of making money on all their corrupt schemes so they betray Jesus for political and financial gain Joseph was pulled out of the pit alive Jesus came out of the grave alive and then Joseph's brothers remember they mixed in some hypocrisy with their hatred when they said well we shouldn't murder him because he is our brother after all the Jewish religious leaders did the same thing they mixed in some hypocrisy with their betrayal of Jesus they told the Romans oh we can't come into your Praetorian your building when you interview Jesus because you're Gentiles and that will make us unclean because murdering the Son of God won't make you unclean but they said that we don't want to go into that and and then they said well we can't put him to death because that's against our law and we're law-abiding people Joseph is taken into slavery in Egypt and in Scripture Egypt is always a picture of the world the world system that belongs to Satan it's a picture of sin 2nd Corinthians 5:21 on your outlines tells us that he that's God the Father made him who knew no sin that's Jesus to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him you see Jesus was sold in slavery in Egypt he was sold over given over to sin and actually became our sin in our place in verse 28 Joseph's brothers sell him to the slave traders for 20 shekels of silver Judas betrayed Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders for a bribe of 30 pieces of silver Jeff why the difference I don't know nineteen hundred years of inflation I don't know but what's interesting however is that historians tell us that around this time in history the price of a slave in Egypt was thirty pieces of silver still actually we can safely assume that whatever Joseph's brothers were paid for him was less than what the traders would sell him for in Egypt so they sell him for twenty shekels of silver but he sold in Egypt likely for thirty shekels of silver which is the price of a slave the same amount that Judas betrayed Jesus for but the big point is this that Joseph was sold for the price of a slave Jesus was betrayed for the price of a slave Joseph goes from being the favored and privileged son to being a slave Jesus of course underwent a much more dramatic transformation it says on your outlines Philippians 2 Jesus who being in the form of God made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of man Jesus didn't just go from a favorite son to a slave he went from being the God of the universe the maker of heaven and earth to being a servant being handed over to be crucified and killed Joseph was left completely alone but he still had God with him Jesus was left completely alone at the cross even his Heavenly Father had to turn away as Jesus became sin that he couldn't even look upon that's why from the cross Jesus shouts my God my God why have you forsaken me Jesus is totally alone when Joseph's brothers hand him over to the Ishmaelites they assume that's the last I'll ever see of him he's as good as dead as far as they're concerned when the Jewish religious leader handed Jesus over to the Romans and watched him be crucified on the cross they assumed they had seen the last of him spoiler alert both the Brothers of Joseph and the Jewish religious leaders would be spectacularly wrong spectacularly wrong Joseph's brothers lie about Joseph's death using his tunic dipped in blood as false evidence as a false explanation for what happened to Joseph the Jewish religious leaders also lied about the death of Jesus when news reached them that Jesus had risen from the dead it's on your outlines Matthew 28 tells us this some of the guard came into the city that's Jerusalem and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened that Jesus is apparently alive when they had assembled with the older elders and consulted together they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers these are the soldiers who had been in charge of guarding the tomb of Jesus they bribed them saying tell them tell everybody his disciples came at night and stole him away stole the body away while we slept of course how do you know that if you're asleep but and if this comes to the governor's ears we will appease him and make you secure so the whole issue is if you were a Roman soldier and you fell asleep while you were meant to be guarding something and it got away or stolen or escaped you'd be killed so what these priests say is they say listen we're gonna bribe you guys tell everybody that the disciples of Jesus came and stole his body that's what happened to the body and if your boss finds out about it we'll bribe him to to make sure that you don't get in trouble verse 31 joseph's blood sprinkled coat is presented to his father as evidence of his death while the blood of Jesus is presented to our Heavenly Father as evidence of his death and sacrifice as evidence that he's made payment for our sins so that we can be forgiven they've been paid for in verse 34 Joseph's father Jacob tore his clothes when he heard of Joseph's death when Jesus died his father tore the veil in the temple that veil that separated the whole of Holy's from the rest of the temple the holy of Holy's this place where the presence of God would go this one room and this thick curtain in front of it because if anybody came into the presence of God they would just die instantly if they weren't prepared properly if they weren't the specific priest that God allowed to come in once a year they would die because God's presence cannot be around sin and so when Jesus dies every sin that we've ever committed is paid for so when Jesus looks at you and I there's no sin and suddenly at the moment of Jesus death that curtain tears into as God the Father makes the statement to everyone you can come in to my presence now Jesus is taking care of that you don't need the curtain you can have a relationship with me now because sins been taken care of would you agree that there's an incredible amount of parallels between the life of Joseph and the life of Jesus I mean just amazing stuff far too many to simply be a coincidence and what's even more amazing is that the life of Joseph was recorded and written about around 1900 years before Jesus walked the earth came to the earth as a man and these are not details when you get into these that Jesus could have faked he couldn't choose to make this stuff happen there's no way to pull that off you couldn't fake it if you tried to many of the details are simply beyond a person's control so what is the Lord most want us to understand about Genesis 37 what does he most want us to understand is God's goal listen this is some cool stuff really cool prophecy stuff I'm gonna just put it out there so that your pastor can sound really smart at least once a year when he teaches through this did God put this in there so that we could have cool stuff to talk about in our Bible studies or ways to impress our friends at parties did you know that there are why is this here what does he want us to understand let me suggest that this is in here at a point to Jesus so that we would know that from the beginning God's plan was to save you and I through Jesus that was the plan from the very beginning long before the universe was made Jesus was the plan to save you before the world was created jesus knew that bringing you into his family would cost him his life and yet he made the world and he made you because he loves you he created you for the sole purpose of knowing him and being known by him you were made for a relationship with God your maker your Creator that's what you were made for the stuff were reading about today happened almost 4000 years ago and if you get one thing out of today's study please let it be this Jesus loves you and He loves you he loves you so much God allowed some terrible terrible things to happen to Joseph does that mean that God didn't love Joseph of course not well how do we know that because we know how the story turns out God the Father allowed some terrible terrible things to happen to Jesus does that mean the father didn't love jesus the son of course not how do we know because we know how the story turns out and maybe God has allowed some terrible terrible things to happen to you maybe he's allowing some terrible things to happen to you that mean God doesn't love you of course not how do we know that because we know how the story turns out we know that for every believer every person who gives their life to the Lord God is preparing us for eternity with him he's preparing us to rule and reign with him and the way that we're prepared for eternity is by becoming as much like Jesus as possible in this life right now and if we could see the end results of what God is doing in our lives if you could see the end result of what God is doing in your life we'd only say one thing would just say god you're so good you are so good thank you for what you did in my life that's what we'll say at the end I guarantee it don't judge what God is doing in Joseph's life solely on chapter 37 the story's not over yet don't judge what God is doing in your life if you're in the middle of a chapter 37 the story's not over yet don't give up don't lose faith don't lose hope in Chapter 37 your story's not over yet there's a lot more to come and like Joseph you would not believe me if I could accurately describe for you how your story's going to end because it's too good it's too wonderful it's too amazing and if you've been following Jesus for a while I hope that you've grown to the place where you no longer question God's love for you if you're in the middle of a chapter 37 I hope you're not panicking I hope your faith isn't shaken I hope you remember all the Lord's already done for you and I hope you're in the place and your spiritual journey where you can bless and praise God while you're still in chapter 37 and if that's not you yet let me call you up to that higher place of faith let me call you up to that next level of relationship with God of trusting in the goodness of your heavenly Father with that let's pray would you by your head and close your eyes father thank you so much for the story of Joseph in your word God thank you for the example thank you for the picture Lord God that we can learn from thank you for the lessons that you show us God through his life thank you for chapter 37 that there's a period of difficulty before we get to the good part and lord help us not to give up in Chapter 37 lord help us not to lose faith not to lose hope but to trust in your goodness knowing that you have written an end to our story that is better than anything we could imagine and Lord even though we don't understand everything about what it's going to be like we know that you have something amazing planned something incredible planned and so father we pray that you would help us to trust you and bless you and praise you and thank you while we're still in chapter 37 because you are trustworthy and you deserve our faith Lord and we love you for it

Channel: Gospel City Church

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Keywords: new hope church, bible study, genesis 37, joseph, preaching, teaching, sermon, message

Id: YgjxukwNNQ8

Length: 60min 36sec (3636 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 06 2018