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Awesome Hands – part 30

“In the Vine were three branches”

In the last study titled, “in the house of his master” we saw Joseph being prosperous in the “masters house” that he was sold to and being recognized as an individual who was being blessed of the Lord.

During this time of his life, the masters wife sought to persuade Joseph to lie with her.

Joseph recognizes that if he commits this great wickedness he is really sinning against God.

Likewise, when know that when we have trials and tribulations of which constantly weigh us down and beat against us “day by day” we too will flee without being completely diligent to make sure that we “get our garment” before we flee.

Joseph was used to leave his garment to show us that all is in the hand of the master potter, and it had already been determined that Joseph would be alone in the house with the masters wife so that she could then be used to accuse Joseph of the very act of what she herself wanted him to do.

Gen 39:11 And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within.
Gen 39:12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.
Gen 39:13 And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth,
Gen 39:14 That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice:
Gen 39:15 And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out.
Gen 39:16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home.

The blessings that the Lord have Joseph after being thrown in a pit and then sold as a slave are to show us that while we are delivered from one trial, we are placed in another so that our faith may be tried.

After all, in order for Faith to be exercised there must be something that causes us to want to have Faith in the Lord in the first place. In other words, the Lord loves the trial because it produces the Faith of the Son of God in us.

Like an muscle that is worked out, Faith is made stronger by being exercised. By the end of Joseph’s ordeals while in Egypt, he will be able to give God all the glory in that he will tell the very brothers that sold him as a slave that, “you meant it for evil but God meant it for good.

In our walks today, we constantly have our old man and the ways we have learned in “babylon” being used to try us so that we miss the mark.

As for Joseph and the situation we currently find him in, we will continue this story to see how the Lord once again puts Joseph in progressively worse situation for his flesh but a progressively better situation for the “new man” he is being shaped and molded into in type and shadow.

With the death of Joseph’s type and shadow of old man, the new man and ruler he is being created into will only glorify the Lord in the end.

“The Lord shows Joseph mercy”

Gen 39:16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home.
Gen 39:17 And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me:
Gen 39:18 And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out.
Gen 39:19 And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled.

Joseph finds himself doing the work that the master has placed in his hand, and doing it well, just to then come to the point where due to nothing he had done he was falsely being accused.

The very deed that the master’s wife was guilty of, she accused Joseph of. This is similar to how Christ was treated in that Christ simply came to do the work of the Father by doing/ obeying His will, but those who looked at Christ wanted to kill him.

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Joh 8:45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

Joh 8:48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

Joh 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

We find Joseph now being shown mercy of the Lord because as he was being falsely accused, he is also going to be put in prison. As he is put in prison, He is going to be shown mercy of the Lord so that the keeper of the prison shows him favor.

Gen 39:20 And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.
Gen 39:21 But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
Gen 39:22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
Gen 39:23 The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.

What we are being shown is that whatever the Lord is doing in our lives, no matter how we perceive it, the Lord is going to being working a “very good” work for His people.

It is hard to argue that being in prison is a good thing. However, just like Joseph being sent to prison due to nothing he had done, we find ourselves being prisoners of the Lord due to nothing we have done.

If we are the Lord’s chosen generation, we will be used so that everything “put under our hand” will be made to prosper the new man in us.

It won’t always be pleasant, but the Lord always adheres to the plan He has set in motion so that at “the end of the day”, we will be able to say with Joseph, “the Lord meant it for good”.

It is now that we find Joseph progressing from being seen to have things prosper in his hands to actually using those blessings to help others.

In helping others, Joseph is actually going to be helping his own situation so that in turn he can be used to help even more people but this is going to be a process that doesn’t happen overnight for Joseph.

To the Lord, when He speaks a thing it is as if it is already completed, but we must still live out the details. In one night, God is going to give two men dreams with similar interpretations but ending in different results.

Gen 40:1 And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt.
Gen 40:2 And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers.
Gen 40:3 And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.
Gen 40:4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward.

“Joseph serves the officers”

We see a very intriguing and revealing type and shadow being shown to us in chapter 40 of Genesis.

Firstly, notice that we are being given a witness of two officers. Both have their positions taken away due to offending the king. We aren’t given the reason why the Pharaoh is angry, but we know the Lord has worked out the scenario so that Joseph can be involved in what will happen later with the Pharaoh.

Joseph is told to serve the chief butler and baker while they are prisoners with him. With this type and shadow, we are being told that the wheat and the chaff, the wheat and the tares, must grow up together until the harvest.

Luk 3:16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:
Luk 3:17 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.

Mat 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Mat 13:25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Mat 13:26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
Mat 13:27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
Mat 13:28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Mat 13:29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

In spiritual terms, though we have the new man forming in us day by day, Lord willing, the Lord still has something against us because we all originally leave our first love.

Nonetheless, the Lord will gather up what is His into His barn.

Rev 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

It takes repentance to remember where we have fallen and to do the “first works” just as Joseph is going to determine is ordained for the butler to do.

Gen 40:5 And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.
Gen 40:6 And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad.
Gen 40:7 And he asked Pharaoh’s officers that were with him in the ward of his lord’s house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day?
Gen 40:8 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.

Again, these men are sad because there is not interpreter of their dreams. They know they have had something important happen to them being that they were given this intense dreams, but how can they know what it all means unless God sends an interpreter their way?

In our lives today, God is doing just that with His chosen people, but it is up to the Lord to choose when we are sent and to whom we are sent to.

If we only learn in thing from this story, it is that the Lord is working it all so that He can be glorified at the end of it all. It is all His works and He will get all the glory.

Act 8:26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
Act 8:27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,
Act 8:28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.
Act 8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
Act 8:30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
Act 8:31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
Act 8:32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
Act 8:33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
Act 8:34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
Act 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

So, just like we see happening in Act 8, we are going to see Joseph being used in this type and shadow to foreshadow God’s Light to the butler and baker.

We are being given the same admonition today in our lives. In whatever situation we find ourselves in, we will be witnessing one way or another for that which will remain, the butler, or that which is passing away and will be taken, the baker.

Gen 40:9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me;
Gen 40:10 And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes:
Gen 40:11 And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.
Gen 40:12 And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days:
Gen 40:13 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.
Gen 40:14 But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:
Gen 40:15 For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

Notice, in the butler’s dream there is a vine made prevalent. It isn’t hard to see that the vine is Christ, and we are the branches.

Joh 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Joh 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Joh 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Joh 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Joh 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

We know that 3 is the number of the process of judgment from scripture and we know that becoming ripe so that we are good enough to be used is a process.

When we take what we are and are able to “pour it into the cup of the Pharaoh” we are simply just giving back to the King what the King has already nourished us to be.

Without the Branch, the grapes cannot be brought forth from budding clusters shot forth from the blossom. It is all of the Lord and because the Lord has ordained this for the new man typified by the butler, we will be restored to our former estate of “being with our first love.”

Notice it is also the butler whom Joseph puts into his ear the request to remember Joseph for the works he has been used to perform seeing as he was falsely made a slave and accused of things which caused him to be made a prisoner.

We now will see a contrast with bakers dream.

Gen 40:16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head:
Gen 40:17 And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.
Gen 40:18 And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days:
Gen 40:19 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.

The baker also has a 3 items mentioned. However, these items are already made into what they are going to be. Instead of having a vision of branches budding and blossoming, the baker sees 3 white baskets already prepared.

As with all words we see in scripture there is a positive and negative application, and in this story we see that the white represents that it is God Himself who has caused the situation to arise.

White also is shown to represent leprosy and when we connect that with the fowls of the air, we know that the false doctrines of the old man have already been prepared of the Lord to be burned away as chaff and tares.

The “all manner of bakemeats” are those works we prepare of ourselves which the King will not be happy with. All of our works are as filthy rags and the old man’s works will be cast into the fire.

The tree that the baker will hang from is none other than the cross we all must bear. We die daily, and as we do, we will bare the marks of the Lord Jesus.

As such, the old man will be dying while with the same cross we will be given the Life of Christ.

1Pe 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
1Pe 2:25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Gal 6:17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

1Co 15:35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
1Co 15:36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
1Co 15:37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Our goal, as the Lord wills it, is to gain eternal life and to do all we do to the glory of God. We are to live our new life for the kingdoms sake.

When we are used in this capacity, our interpretations as given to us by God and will ultimately be shown to be true regarding what is happening in our current lives and the life to come.

Gen 40:20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.
Gen 40:21 And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand:
Gen 40:22 But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them.
Gen 40:23 Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.

“Conclusion of part 30”

Today we have seen how the Lord uses all circumstances to bring about His ultimate goal to save all of humanity.

The process we just read of what Joseph is going through is alike to the process the Lord puts His chosen people through now so that fruit will be born later.

We are all guided by those the Lord puts in our paths to use the “foolishness of preaching” to show us what the interpretations of our dreams, i. e. our lives, are all about.

Next week, we will see that Joseph will again use the custom talents the Lord has given him to again interpret dreams and to ultimately move towards the next step of his walk to becoming a savior for “many people this day” and not only those who are immediately around him.