Exodus 1:1-22 Now There Arose up a New King Over Egypt, Who did not Know Joseph

[Study Aired March 7, 2022]

Exo 1:1  Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob. 
Exo 1:2  Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 
Exo 1:3  Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 
Exo 1:4  Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 
Exo 1:5  And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.
Exo 1:6  And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. 
Exo 1:7  And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. 
Exo 1:8  Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. 
Exo 1:9  And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: 
Exo 1:10  Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. 
Exo 1:11  Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. 
Exo 1:12  But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. 
Exo 1:13  And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 
Exo 1:14  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour. 
Exo 1:15  And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: 
Exo 1:16  And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. 
Exo 1:17  But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. 
Exo 1:18  And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? 
Exo 1:19  And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. 
Exo 1:20  Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. 
Exo 1:21  And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. 
Exo 1:22  And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive. 

The Book of Exodus traces the history of the Israelites while in Egypt and their exit from Egypt into the wilderness where they stayed at Mount Sinai where Moses received the ten commandments of the Lord and instruction about the building of the tabernacle. Spiritually, Exodus focuses on the elect’s journey in the world, our deliverance from the world and our encounter with the Lord in the worldly churches of this world called Babylon.  During Apostle John’s encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ on the island of Patmos, he heard a voice behind him, and as he turned in the direction of the voice, it was unveiled to him who Christ is, was and will be. In the same vein, as we turn to look at our journey from Egypt and our sojourn in the wilderness, our heavens will be opened to understand our Lord’s superintending love and provision, His ways and acts, to guide us in our present walk with Him. We must also bear in mind that all that happened to the Israelites were written for our admonition of whom the ends of the world are come.

Rev 1:9  I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Rev 1:11  Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
Rev 1:12  And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Exo 1:1  Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.
Exo 1:2  Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,
Exo 1:3  Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,
Exo 1:4  Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

Egypt represents the world and all that is of the world. The Israelites mentioned here represent the elect of every generation. We all start our walk with Christ in this life being dominated by the flesh and living our lives according to the rudiments of the world. In other words, we start our lives being sinful and being alienated from the commonwealth of the elect and strangers from the covenant of promise. This is what David alluded to as follows:

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Col 2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Col 2:20  Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

Before the Israelites came to Egypt, the Lord had already told Abraham that the children of Israel will come into Egypt for a period of four hundred years, and after that He will deliver them from Egypt. The number four hundred is the product of 4 and 100 (400 = 4x10x10). So, four hundred years means the whole of our fleshly lives in this world before we hear the Lord’s call to come and serve Him.

Gen 15:13  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
Gen 15:14  And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
Gen 15:15  And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

These verses are to let us know of our predestination. Before we came into this world, our lives had been written or ordered in our Lord’s Book and our presence here on earth is to fulfill that which is written. As we know, as our Lord is, so are we. His life here on earth was also written accordingly.

Psa 139:15  My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Heb 10:6  In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Heb 10:7  Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

This must encourage us that in whatever situation we find ourselves, our Lord is with us, which means He will surely deliver us, and that which He starts, He is able to bring to completion!! Let us therefore come boldly before Him, to find grace in times of our needs for He is able to do exceedingly beyond what we can even think or ask!!

Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

According to Genesis chapter 15:3 mentioned above, we are strangers in this world. This means that although we are in this world, we are not of this world.

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Heb 11:14  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
Heb 11:15  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
Heb 11:16  But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

The scriptures describe our time in the world as the time of ignorance where we were under the oppressive rule of the flesh or old man or the beast.

Act 17:30  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

Exo 1:5  And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.

This verse is to let us know that it is all the sons of Jacob and their descendants that ended up in Egypt as signified by the number 70 (7×10) which means the complete number of the Lord’s elect of every generation who are called and chosen before the world began, all started their walk here on earth dominated by the flesh, represented by Egypt. The statement “for Joseph was in Egypt already” is to let us know that our Lord, represented by Joseph, was sent ahead of us to this world by the Father to save us by a great deliverance.

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Jesus went ahead of us into this world to save our lives by a great deliverance through His death on the cross. In His life here on earth, our Jesus Christ went through every temptation yet without sin which makes Him a High Priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses while we are in this world, and as a result, we are able to obtain mercy and grace in time of need.

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Exo 1:6  And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.
Exo 1:7  And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.

The death of our Lord Jesus Christ, symbolized by the death of Joseph and the death of the old man of the elect, the Lord’s brethren, is what makes the elect (children of Israel) fruitful and mighty. This death of the old man in the elect of every generation results in the birth of a new man who is fruitful, mighty and fills the whole temple of the Lord within us.

Heb 2:11  For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
Heb 2:12  Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Heb 2:13  And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.
Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Exo 1:8  Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. 

This new king who arose over Egypt represents the old man or the beast within who opposes or ignores Christ, who is signified by Joseph. During our time in the world, this beast dominates us and sits in the throne of our hearts claiming he is God.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

Exo 1:9  And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:
Exo 1:10  Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.

The old man or the beast within powered by the devil knows that he will eventually be overthrown by the new man in the elect of every generation. Spiritually, the new king in Egypt, or the devil and his cohorts, are afraid the elect (Israelites) will join with Christ and His words to fight against them. It is when Christ comes into our lives with His brightness which is His words that our worldliness symbolized by the Egyptians are driven from the land which is our bodies.

This saying by the new king of Egypt is a prophecy of the defeat of the beast or the old man by the elect, represented here by Israel. It is to assure us of the imminent defeat of the flesh. Let us therefore not give up thinking that God is not able to finish what He’s started. In the fullness of time, we shall see the total destruction of the old man in our lives. There are times in our lives that we doubt whether our old man will be destroyed. However, those ahead of us also had their doubts, but they overcame. This was what happened to Gideon, who represents the elect, when he doubted whether he and his army would be able to defeat the Midianites. The Lord assured him through a dream of the enemies he was going to fight that victory would surely be his. The Egyptians’ confession that the children of Israel are more and mightier than they is to give us the confidence that we shall surely overcome!! These things were written for our admonition!!

Jdg 7:10  But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host:
Jdg 7:11  And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host.
Jdg 7:12  And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.
Jdg 7:13  And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.
Jdg 7:14  And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.
Jdg 7:15  And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.

Exo 1:11  Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

This verse shows us our lives without Christ while in the world. We labor in vain during this period of our lives. Solomon said it this way:

Ecc 2:18  Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
Ecc 2:19  And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity. 
Ecc 2:20  Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.
Ecc 2:21  For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil. 
Ecc 2:22  For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
Ecc 2:23  For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

Our labor when we are dominated by the old man is like the Israelites building Pharaoh’s treasure cities. We labor for nothing!! In summary, this is what happened to us:

Ecc 2:26  For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Exo 1:12  But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

In the negative context, the more we are afflicted under the burden of sin, the more we grow worse. Paul mentioned this when he said:

2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Isa 1:4  Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. 
Isa 1:5  Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 
Isa 1:6  From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. (ESV)

On a positive note, the more we are afflicted as a result of the Lord’s judgment, the more we grow stronger and stronger in the strength of the Lord to be obedient. The affliction the children of Israel were going through was all for the purpose of bringing them to Christ.

Psa 119:67  Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

Psa 119:71  It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

Exo 1:13  And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 
Exo 1:14  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

Under the burden of the beast within, our energies are directed toward the love of this world which are spelled out as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Our lives without Christ in this world (Egypt) makes us serve with rigor the cares of the world with no end in sight making our lives bitter with hard bondage. However, as Jesus told the woman at the well in Samaria, these cares of the world never satisfy. It is only the water of the word that is able to quench our thirst.

Joh 4:13  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 
Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Exo 1:15  And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: 
Exo 1:16  And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

These Hebrew midwives represent the church of the firstborn or the elect. As midwives, our role as a church is to assist in the birth of Christ in each of us through what every joint supplies. There is always this temptation by the devil (king of Egypt) through the beast within to subtly cause us to abort this role of assisting in the birth of Christ in the body of Christ, in a bid to destroy us. For example, the devil comes to us telling us that what we are doing for the body is insignificant and that nobody even appreciates it. Why then trouble yourself being so committed to the church? However, as Paul said, we are not unaware of his devices.

2Co 2:11  Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

The devil also came to our Lord Jesus Christ and told Him to bow down to him so that the kingdoms of this world would become His. If Jesus had heeded to the devil and decided not to go to the cross, He would have aborted the birth of the church just as the Hebrew women would have aborted the birth of sons who represent the elect.

Mat 4:8  Again, the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9  and he said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Mat 4:10  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 
Mat 4:11  Then the devil leaveth him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

The name Shiphrah means ‘beautiful’, and Puah means ‘to glitter’. All these adjectives relate to the New Jerusalem or the church of the elect.

Psa 50:2  Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined forth. (ASV)

The Hebrew midwives were told to kill the sons born and to leave the daughters alive. The sons represent the elect, and the daughters signify the physical churches of this world called Babylon. The devil’s (king of Egypt) motive here on earth is to destroy the sons as he continues to firm his grip over Babylon. This is affirmed in Revelation chapter 12 where the devil wanted to kill the son to be born by the woman. As we can see, the devil was not interested in killing the woman but the son to be born. When he saw that it was impossible to do so, then he turned his attention to the woman to strengthen his dominance over her.

Rev 12:1  And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars;
Rev 12:2  and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered.
Rev 12:3  And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems.
Rev 12:4  And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered he may devour her child.
Rev 12:5  And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne.
Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Exo 1:17  But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. 
Exo 1:18  And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? 
Exo 1:19  And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. 

As indicated, the Hebrew midwives represent the new Jerusalem or the elect who fear the Lord and will only listen to the true shepherd who is our Lord Jesus Christ. They will not heed other voices of the devil (king of Egypt) because they are not familiar with such voices.

Joh 10:4  When he hath put forth all his own, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Joh 10:5  And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

Here in verse 19, a distinction is being made between the Hebrew women and the Egyptian women. The Hebrew women represent the elect, and the Egyptian women signify the religions of this world. The distinction between these two women is that the Hebrew women are more vigorous and are able to give birth before midwives come to them while the Egyptian women need midwives. This is to let us know of the dependence on the Lord alone by the elect to birth Christ in us while the religions of this world, including Christianity, depend on their self-will or effort (midwives) to reach out to God.  In other words, for us as the elect, our help only comes from the Lord who made Heaven and earth. We do not contribute anything to the birth of Christ in us!!

Psa 121:1  A Song of Ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 
Psa 121:2  My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

We therefore glory in our weaknesses as His grace is sufficient for us!! It is not our effort or anything that we do!!

2Co 12:9  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 
2Co 12:10  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Exo 1:20  Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

As we continue to be faithful to our Lord, He will deal well with us here on earth and in the world to come.

Psa 115:11  Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. 
Psa 115:12  The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. 
Psa 115:13  He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great. 
Psa 115:14  The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.
Psa 115:15  Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth. 

Mar 10:29  And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,
Mar 10:30  But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

Exo 1:21  And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

A better rendition of this verse is as follows:

Exo 1:21  And because the women who took care of the Hebrew mothers had the fear of God, he gave them families. (BBE)

Presently, the Lord has given us the church as our family. We are united together with one purpose – that is, knowing Christ. As we are aware, there is a friend (the elect) that sticks closer than a brother (a physical family).

Pro 18:24  A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. 

In the fullness of time, like the Hebrew midwives, we shall be given the families of the whole of humanity. In our present situation, we are barren, but let us shout for joy because the barren shall have more children than she who has a husband!!

Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

Exo 1:22  And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive. 

As indicated earlier, a son represents the elect and a daughter signifies the church – the physical churches of this world or Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all. Pharaoh here denotes the devil or the beast within, and Pharaoh’s people here are the false apostles and deceitful workers.

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Casting every son into the river is the same as deceiving the elect through false doctrines of man’s wisdom. This, the devil had accomplished successfully at a certain point in our lives as we filled our heavens with false doctrines and in so doing blocked the glorious gospel of Christ which is able to save us.

2Co 4:3  But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Saving every daughter alive is another way of saying that the physical churches of this world were given two wings of a great eagle, to fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time from the face of the serpent.

Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Rev 12:14  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

May the Lord help us to depend on Him entirely as He works out our salvation for us. He is indeed able!! That reminds me of a song by Maranatha Singers that we sang a lot while in Babylon but did not understand the spiritual reality of that song!!

He is Able By Maranatha Singers

He is able more than able

To accomplish what concerns me today

He is able more than able

To handle anything that comes my way

He is able more than able

To do much more than I could ever dream

He is able more than able

To make me what He wants me to be

[Study Aired February 15, 2021]

Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

In the sense that the secular humanist beast who will turn on the great whore of religion and “eat her flesh and burn her with fire…”, and in the sense that the beast will be totally incapable of distinguishing the Lord’s elect from the religions of the great whore, the point is well taken that “no flesh would be saved alive” certainly includes us as the Lord’s elect.

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

The ‘eating her flesh and burning her with fire’ has been taking place within the Lord’s elect for the past two thousand years (Rev 1:3), and it is taking place dispensationally and outwardly at this very moment as secular humanism turns against all the religions of this world.

I hope in this study to demonstrate just how true the premise is that the ‘no flesh saved’ includes His elect, and at the same time demonstrate how true it is that God will provide “a way to escape that [we] might be able to bear” our trials as we “read and hear… the words of this prophecy and keep the things which are written” in this “revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev 1:3).

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 

There are three stories in scripture which reveal that the Lord’s elect would indeed be destroyed along with all flesh, if the days of their trials were not shortened.

Those three stories are 1) the story of Joseph, 2) the story of Daniel and His fellows, and 3) the story of Mordecai and Esther.

The kings who rule the world of their time in these three stories are all troubled to the point of losing sleep, and each of these three stories the Lord uses His elect to save both themselves and the kingdoms of this world.

This ‘troubling’ is how the Lord deals with all of us. His ‘troubling’ of world leaders, as the scriptures demonstrate, is the Lord’s method of operation. We have three such events recorded for us in scripture.

The first was Pharaoh:

Gen 41:1  And it came to pass at the end of two full years [after Joseph had correctly interpreted the dreams of the Pharaoh’s butler and baker], that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.
Gen 41:2  And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.
Gen 41:3  And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river.
Gen 41:4  And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.
Gen 41:5  And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.
Gen 41:6  And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.
Gen 41:7  And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.
Gen 41:8  And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

God’s elect “who first trusted in Christ” are always the target of the great red dragon and all His children, but what they simply are not given to understand is that their every move to entrap the Lord’s elect is nothing more than a pit and a trap into which they themselves will fall. Their every move is a spider’s net into which they are being entangled by the Lord Himself, as is demonstrated for us all in the story of Joseph and His brothers who sold Him into Egyptian slavery. This is the first story of how the Lord has and will orchestrate the affairs of this world to threaten the destruction of His own people, and then use those very same circumstances to deliver His people. In the story of Joseph, the Lord used Joseph, as a type of ‘His anointed… His Christ’, to save himself and Egypt and all of Canaan from a deadly seven-year drought. It was the Lord Himself who, through this drought, made Joseph’s brothers to bow down to and do obeisance to him thus fulfilling the very dreams of Joseph for which they had so hated him.

Joseph was given to know that he was to judge his brothers severely and mercilessly before revealing himself to them:

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Joseph did not deny that his brothers had chosen to sell him into Egyptian slavery. He twice said, “You sold… me… into Egypt.” Then he reveals that our will is not really our will at all when he tells his brothers, “So now it was not you that sent me here, but God.” The old man within each of us is proof positive that we are nothing more than self-centered pawns in the Lord’s chess game, and it is a rigged game in which our old man, and the father of our old man, cannot hope to win, and our heavenly Father and His son, our new man, cannot possibly lose.

Nebuchadnezzar is the second of these three troubled kings:

Dan 4:4  I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace:
Dan 4:5  I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.

Notice that in the story of Daniel being given to tell Nebuchadnezzar what he had dreamed as well as the interpretation of his dream, Nebuchadnezzar “was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.” Because he had forgotten his troubling dream and because none of his wise men and religious leaders were able to tell him his dream and also correctly interpret the dream he had forgotten, he had every intention of destroying all the wise men of Babylon including “Daniel and his fellows” Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Nebuchadnezzar in this story typifies our old man, the beast within us who rules our whole world:

Dan 2:1  And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him [Gen 41:8 and Est 6:1 – All three kings were troubled and could not sleep].
Dan 2:2  Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.
Dan 2:3  And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
Dan 2:4  Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation.
Dan 2:5  The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
Dan 2:6  But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.
Dan 2:7  They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.
Dan 2:8  The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
Dan 2:9  But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof.
Dan 2:10  The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king’s matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
Dan 2:11  And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. [True at that time]
Dan 2:12  For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
Dan 2:13  And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.

So, yes, indeed, the Lord’s elect are always being “hated by all men… for this cause”, meaning the natural man insists that religious people have no proof of their God being real. Nebuchadnezzar’s god was Nebuchadnezzar himself all the way until the Lord, in type and shadow, judged Nebuchadnezzar and made him eat grass and live out in the field like an ox for seven years.

This judgment was also preceded by giving him troubling dreams:

Dan 4:4  I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace:
Dan 4:5  I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.

Again, the Lord Himself strikes fear in the heart of the ruler of the world before He deals with him.

Dan 4:28  All this [mentally deranged curse] came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.
Dan 4:29  At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.
Dan 4:30  The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?
Dan 4:31  While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.
Dan 4:32  And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will [Gen 33:3; Lev 26:18,21, 24 and 28].
Dan 4:33  The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.

Nebuchadnezzar, as a type of us, worshipped himself until he, as a type of us, ‘fell seven times’ before the Lord made a change in him:

Pro 24:16  For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

The restoration to Nebuchadnezzar of his kingdom after spending seven years as a maniac in the field with the cattle, makes him a type of the Lord’s elect who all “fall… seven times”.

However, before that day comes, he is under the influence of the same secular humanist spirit which is taking over the entire western world, and it is affecting all of modern mankind, “all the kings of the earth”, who have for so long been subdued by the great whore:

Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Religion is ‘the great whore’, and religion is falling into disrepute with all flesh, and this is what the flesh, symbolized by the number ten, is doing to the religions of this world at this very moment (Meaning of the Number Ten):

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast [secular humanism], until the words of God shall be fulfilled. [Until the Lord has used secular humanism to judge the great whore of religion]
Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

It is most instructive for us to notice that as much as Nebuchadnezzar worshipped himself, at the same time the Lord made him to have great regard for Daniel’s connection to our Lord. Notice that the Lord’s words to him through Daniel are as a last resort when the Lord troubles him:

Dan 4:7  Then [first] came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.
Dan 4:8  But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, saying,
Dan 4:9  O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof.

The powers that be will be flourishing as they are today before the Lord begins to “trouble” them.

Dan 4:4  I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace:
Dan 4:5  I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.

The third Biblical example of how the Lord troubles the powers that be before He judges them is King Ahasuerus:

Est 6:1  On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.
Est 6:2  And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.

“That night” refers to the very night Haman was constructing some gallows on which to hang Mordecai. Here is what happened that very day:

Est 5:9  Then went Haman forth [from Queen Esther’s first banquet] that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.
Est 5:10  Nevertheless Haman refrained himself: and when he came home, he sent and called for his friends, and Zeresh his wife.
Est 5:11  And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.
Est 5:12  Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and to morrow am I invited unto her also with the king.
Est 5:13  Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.
Est 5:14  Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high, and to morrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon: then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.

In the story of Mordecai and Esther, Haman typifies the great red dragon who is seeking to destroy the Lord’s elect, the ‘man child’, who is born of the woman and is destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron:

Rev 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Haman, in type, is the son “of [his] father the devil” (Joh 8:44), that old serpent, the great red dragon (Rev 12:9 and 20:2). He is intent upon destroying the Lord’s typical elect, but he is totally unaware that even his hatred of the Lord and His doctrines and His people is all a part of a plan put in place by the Lord Himself before Haman was ever born, as the scriptures reveal:

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. 

How long before we are born did God have “the days that were ordained for [us… written in His book”? Here is the scriptural answer to that question:

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 

Tit  1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

If indeed the Lord has had “all… [of our] days… written in [His] book… before there were any of them”, then it follows that He would also have to have pre-planned all the days of all the lives of all the associates of His elect. In other words, He would have to be working “all things after the counsel of His own will” including the lives of Haman, his wife Zeresh, all his sons and everyone else who has ever been born.

Is that a scriptural doctrine? Yes, of coursem that is exactly what the scriptures teach from Genesis to Revelation:

Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Even as Haman was basking in the apparently certain prospect of fulfilling the king’s proclamation to destroy all the Jews in his kingdom, the Lord, through Estherm was causing Haman to set himself up for the ultimate humiliation and for his own death and destruction. Just look at how the Lord has provided for the success of our new man at the expense of our old man, and look at how the Lord protects His children from their enemies. Before Haman had begun to construct the 75-foot high gallows from which he intended to hang the Lord’s typical elect, the Lord, through Queen Esther, had already begun to entreat the king to answer her petition to come to her first banquet, to which she had also invited Haman. Totally unaware of the Lord’s all-knowing sovereign hand at work on behalf of His elect few, Haman left that first banquet to go home and brag to his family and all his friends that he alone had been invited to be with Queen Esther and King Ahasuerus, on the first night of Queen Esther’s banquet, and that Queen Esther had invited him alone to be with her and the king the next night.

It was that very night, the same night the king could not sleep and the night he had read of Mordecai saving his life, that at the suggestion of his wife and all his friends Haman began preparing the “fifty cubits” (75 foot high) gallows on which he intended to hang Mordecai. But the Lord was “working all things [in this story] after the counsel of His own will” and this is what He worked to deliver His typical elect the very next night, the same night Haman intended to petition the king for the hanging of Mordecai:

Est 6:1  On that night [the night of Queen Esther’s first banquet] could not the king sleep [Gen 41:8 and Dan 2:1] , and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.
Est 6:2  And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.
Est 6:3  And the king said, What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him.
Est 6:4  And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
Est 6:5  And the king’s servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the court. And the king said, Let him come in.
Est 6:6  So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?
Est 6:7  And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honour,
Est 6:8  Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head:
Est 6:9  And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour.
Est 6:10  Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.
Est 6:11  Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour.
Est 6:12  And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.
Est 6:13  And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends every thing that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.
Est 6:14  And while they were yet talking with him, came the king’s chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared.

This was all a work of the Lord himself. The king had no idea who would be in the court. He had no intention at this point of humiliating his most trusted assistant, Haman. He actually thought he was honoring Haman also by having “one of the king’s most noble princes”, to use Haman’s own words, to deck Mordecai out in the king’s royal apparel, set him on the king’s horse and lead the man the king delighted to honor through the streets of the city declaring that this is the man the king delights to honor. Nevertheless, by the words of “[his] own mouth (Luk 19:22), Haman was humiliated, and the worst was yet to come when that very night Queen Esther explains to the king in Haman’s presence that it is her people Haman is seeking to destroy.

In the end, the Lord protects His people and destroys their enemy. Haman is hanged on the very gallows he had prepared for Mordecai, and his wife and children are put to death. Mordecai and Queen Esther inherit all Haman’s wealth and are used by the Lord to save all their people. Mordecai, like Joseph, was made “next to the king” in the kingdom of Persia.

All three examples here are mere types of the fulfillment of this promise to us if we are granted to endure the hatred of this world to the end:

Rev 2:25  Nevertheless that which ye have, hold fast till I come.
Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations:
Rev 2:27  and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers; as I also have received of my Father:
Rev 2:28  and I will give him the morning star.
Rev 2:29  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. (ASV)

“Conquest and Failure”

August 31, 2020

The Awesome Hands series is now at the book of Judges. We have seen the blessings the Lord has given Israel so far, but things will change when the old man dies.

The process of the old man dying is always with us. Moses had to die before the crossing of the Jordan could take place. Now, Joshua must die before the next phase of the relationship with Israel and the Lord can move along. These are just examples of types and shadows of the old man dying and the new being born into the next “phase” of that particular story.

Jdg 1:1 KJV  Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?
Jdg 1:2 KJV  And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.
Jdg 1:3 KJV  And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him.
Jdg 1:4 KJV  And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men.

It is so true, and the point of the title of this series I’ve been doing, that the hands of the Lord are in the workings of all things if only we would stop to marvel at it.

Here we read the same story, written in this generation of God’s people from which these events took place, but it is the same story with different details.

We are God’s people, chosen to do something for the kingdom of God during our lifetimes, our aion, for this “age” and on the day of the Lord, and when you look at what happens, it simply points to God being in control of it all. Judah here is a part of the same story, and that is how we can relate to it in the sense of “us and them”, “me and thee”, head and body, above and below, Jesus Christ and another Jesus, Cain and Abel, Joseph and his brothers, Jacob and Esau, Judah and the rest of his brothers.

Judah goes up against the Canaanites first, just like it happens with Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He goes before us in the fight.

Gen 49:8 KJV  Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.
Gen 49:9 KJV  Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

Rev 5:4 KJV  And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
Rev 5:5 KJV  And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

The Lion must be changed into something else for the plan of God to work, and therefore the Lion is “raised” into the Lamb.

Rev 5:6 KJV  And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
Rev 5:7 KJV  And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
Rev 5:8 KJV  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9 KJV  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10 KJV  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

These two aspects are speaking about the Lord from two different angles.

Joh 1:29 KJV  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

So, from the beginning the Lord has been with Judah.

Jdg 1:5 KJV  And they found Adonibezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
Jdg 1:6 KJV  But Adonibezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
Jdg 1:7 KJV  And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
Jdg 1:8 KJV  Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.
Jdg 1:9 KJV  And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley.
Jdg 1:10 KJV  And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

The enemies of Judah are completely destroyed in type and shadow. Not only are they conquered, but the king reaps what he sows because Judah requires the king to cut off two thumbs and two big toes. Without big toes, your walk is always affected, and you can barely do anything with no thumbs.

The “walk” of the enemies of God and the “work”, that which is done with working hands, are now controlled by God.

There is so much symbolism being given here in this first introduction to Judah in the book of Judges.

The “old man”, King Adonibezek, goes to Jerusalem to die. The “children” of Judah, spiritually you and I, are the ones who are being used for judgment. These are just types and shadows to show us who we are in the Lord from the foundation of Israel on through from the foundation of the world.

There is a new Jerusalem and an old Jerusalem, one above and one below, and they also strive against each other.

You can see this mini-story here, even though this story is talking about different physical nations. The “children of Judah” go to the mountains, valleys, and south and conquer as they go.

They even slay three more giants. Giants were so common that they are casually named like everyone else here in scripture, “Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai”.

It is clear that the Lord is with Judah, so He is against something or someone else. The next mention of hand is found towards the end of the chapter, but we will read the context of things on the way to getting there.

Jdg 1:11 KJV  And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher:
Jdg 1:12 KJV  And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.
Jdg 1:13 KJV  And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.
Jdg 1:14 KJV  And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou?
Jdg 1:15 KJV  And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.
Jdg 1:16 KJV  And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.
Jdg 1:17 KJV  And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah.
Jdg 1:18 KJV  Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof.
Jdg 1:19 KJV  And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

The Lord gave Judah many victories, but for some reason, the inhabitants of the valley were not driven out. Maybe these inhabitants become a thorn in the flesh of Judah, spiritually speaking.

When God is with you who can be against you?

From the beginning of this chapter, God has been showing us that He indeed favors certain people for His continuation of His kingdom. While some tribes in Israel could not conquer those around them, Judah and Simeon, and a few other tribes, succeeded overall.

Jdg 1:20 KJV  And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak.
Jdg 1:21 KJV  And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.
Jdg 1:22 KJV  And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with them.
Jdg 1:23 KJV  And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)
Jdg 1:24 KJV  And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy.
Jdg 1:25 KJV  And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family.
Jdg 1:26 KJV  And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.

Speaking of marveling at things the Lord does, when the spies saw a man come out, those spies probably didn’t know this guy would be the future establisher of a opposing city named Luz?

When we follow the breadcrumbs, we see that Luz is only used a few times in scripture.

Jdg 1:26 (KJV+)  And the man^H376 went^H1980 into the land^H776 of the Hittites^H2850, and built^H1129 a city^H5892, and called^H7121 the name^H8034 thereof Luz^H3870: which^H1931 is the name^H8034 thereof unto^H5704 this^H2088 day^H3117.

Jdg 1:26 KJV  And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.

H3870
lûz
Total KJV Occurrences: 8
luz, 8
Gen_28:19, Gen_35:6, Gen_48:3, Jos_16:2, Jos_18:13 (2), Jdg_1:23, Jdg_1:26

H3870
lûz
looz

Probably from H3869 (as growing there); Luz, the name of two places in Palestine: – Luz.

Total KJV occurrences: 8

The Hebrew word H3869 is the root word of Luz.

H3869
lûz
looz

Probably of foreign origin; some kind of nut tree, perhaps the almond: – hazel.

Total KJV occurrences: 1

It is used one time in scripture.

H3869
lûz
Total KJV Occurrences: 1
hazel, 1
Gen_30:37 

There is a certain story that is meant to show the simplicity there is in the Lord and in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is fairly memorable once you have heard it, but in case you haven’t, I am going to read a little of it out of Genesis 30:37.

This is known as the prosperity of Jacob. Nothing captures the word of God like the Word of God, so I am going to read some of these verses pertaining to the only time we see the root of the word “Luz” used in scripture.

It has to do with the separation of the property of the Lord, us, as opposed to the separation of the property that is of the “them” of the world. Yes, the Lord favors one versus the other.

Gen 30:25 KJV  And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country.
Gen 30:26 KJV  Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.
Gen 30:27 KJV  And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.
Gen 30:28 KJV  And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.
Gen 30:29 KJV  And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me.
Gen 30:30 KJV  For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?
Gen 30:31 KJV  And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock:
Gen 30:32 KJV  I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.
Gen 30:33 KJV  So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.
Gen 30:34 KJV  And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.
Gen 30:35 KJV  And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.
Gen 30:36 KJV  And he set three days’ journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
Gen 30:37 KJV  And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
Gen 30:38 KJV  And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.
Gen 30:39 KJV  And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.
Gen 30:40 KJV  And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban’s cattle.
Gen 30:41 KJV  And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.
Gen 30:42 KJV  But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s.
Gen 30:43 KJV  And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

Though the Lord shows us favors, he still gives us our “Luz”, our thorn in the flesh. Early in our walk we need Luz, but Luz later is sent packing and stays a thorn in our side afterward. It is because Luz is still the “anointed of the Lord.”

I say this because king David points out just who “Luz” is.

1Sa 26:7 KJV  So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about him.
1Sa 26:8 KJV  Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time.
1Sa 26:9 KJV  And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the LORD’S anointed, and be guiltless?
1Sa 26:10 KJV  David said furthermore, As the LORD liveth, the LORD shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and perish.

David could have killed him here, but he lets him go.

David even wept for Saul and Jonathan.

2Sa 1:17 KJV  And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:

This rod Jacob used is the root of Luz.

Jdg 1:22 KJV  And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with them.
Jdg 1:23 KJV  And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)

Bethel is Luz, and Bethel had such a presence that in the bible there are several times that the house of God is the same word house of Bethel.

H1008
bêytḣ’êl
Total KJV Occurrences: 76
bethel, 66
Gen_12:8 (2), Gen_13:3 (2), Gen_28:19, Gen_31:13, Gen_35:1, Gen_35:3, Gen_35:6, Gen_35:8, Gen_35:15-16 (2), Jos_7:2, Jos_8:9, Jos_8:12, Jos_8:17, Jos_12:9, Jos_12:16, Jos_16:1-2 (2), Jos_18:13, Jdg_1:22-23 (3), Jdg_4:5, Jdg_21:19 (2), 1Sa_7:16, 1Sa_10:3, 1Sa_13:2, 1Sa_30:27, 1Ki_12:29, 1Ki_12:32-33 (3), 1Ki_13:1, 1Ki_13:4, 1Ki_13:10-11 (3), 1Ki_13:32, 2Ki_2:2-3 (3), 2Ki_2:23, 2Ki_10:29, 2Ki_17:28, 2Ki_23:4, 2Ki_23:15, 2Ki_23:17, 2Ki_23:19, 1Ch_7:28, 2Ch_13:19, Ezr_2:28, Neh_7:32, Neh_11:31, Jer_48:13, Hos_10:15, Hos_12:4, Amo_3:14, Amo_5:4-6 (4), Amo_7:10, Amo_7:13

god, 5
Jdg_20:18, Jdg_20:26, Jdg_20:31, Zec_7:2 (2)

house, 5
Jdg_20:18, Jdg_20:26, Jdg_20:31, Zec_7:2 (2)

Jdg 20:18 KJV  And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up first.

Jdg 20:26 KJV  Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

Jdg 20:31 KJV  And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

Zec 7:1 KJV  And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;

Zec 7:2 KJV  When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD,

Yes, indeed, the Lord always works out His anointing on those whom He sees fit. I’d day this man was anointed and favored of the Lord to be the one coming toward the spies when he did.

He helps the spies and doesn’t get slaughtered, but is also used to set up a city.

The Lord is always keeping His plan which He has created in order to bring about His kingdom the way He sees fit. Our lives are just another puzzle piece in that plan.

Could you please answer this question for me?

Joh 19:11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore HE THAT DELIVERED ME UNTO THEE HATH THE GREATER SIN.

We know that there is no power but Of God (ROM 13:1), So it was God that delivered Jesus over to pilot in the above verse

Is it God that has the ‘greater sin’?

Thanks, K____

Dear K____,

I thought about this very question a few years ago, and because everything that God creates is good, and God Himself cannot sin, Jesus is speaking to our old man, who is responsible by the determinate hand of God to use us to crucify Christ.

Act 2:23  Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

We are the ones with the greater sin. Our religious self-righteous man of sin is the one with the greater sin. God used the evil that is within our vessels of dishonor to crucify our LORD so that in His death we would be recreated into vessels of Honor.

The religious man in us, our second beast with two horns, brings Christ before our first beast’s image, the law of the flesh, and it is our religious beast which has the greater sin, because Christ in us does not submit to the worship of flesh and blood, and therefore must be put to death so that we can justify ourselves as righteous by the law, Pilate, the image of the first beast. James explains it this way;

Jas 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

I am not tempted by God to crucify The LORD, I am drawn away of my second beast to kill him so that I can justify myself, by the first beast. My second beast has the GREATER sin because he dresses himself up as religious and then uses the law to kill Christ.

Hi K____,

No, God Himself tempts no man.

Jas 1:13  Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.

He is working all things after the counsel of His own will, and to accomplish His plan of salvation, He sent Satan to have Judas betray his Master to the Jews:

Joh 13:27  And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.

Sin is scripturally defined as missing the mark, and all the Father does is right on the mark, including everything He sends Satan to do for Him.

He does not deny that He creates evil, but He, and He alone as God, is capable of calling light out of darkness and of making good come of evil, as he did with Joseph’s brothers whom God, through an evil spirit, had to sell him into Egypt so Joseph could come out of Egyptian slavery to being the ruler of Egypt and to bring salvation to his own sinful brothers.

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Joseph is not accusing God of sinning. He is simply acknowledging that God is sovereign over both good and evil, and is doing exactly what He has planned from the beginning. And part of that plan was for Joseph’s brothers to sell him into Egyptian slavery, as a type of our own slavery to sin.

Then, out of that slavery Joseph was delivered to rule over those who had been his masters, and it is all a type of God working Christ’s death just as the Father had planned before He ever created Christ:

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Paul deals with this matter of God’s sovereignty over evil with these facts:

Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

So number one: God is in the process of showing His mercy to the new man of every man, and in  order to do that, He has determined to “endure with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction”, meaning our sinful flesh. Secondly: as the Creator He has the right to do with His creatures as He desires, and is not capable of sinning inasmuch as all He does is exactly “what His hand and His counsel determined before to be done”. He never misses the mark, so He never sins, even when those who betray Him do so “after the counsel of His own will”:

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

I think you already know all this, but there are the scriptures which demonstrate that God does not sin.

Mike Vinson

Isaiah 1:4-6

Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers

Isa 1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
Isa 1:5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
Isa 1:6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Deuteronomy 28 is the chapter in the scriptures which contrasts the blessings of obedience to the curses of disobedience. The blessings of obedience comprise just the first fourteen verses of a chapter with 68 verses. The remaining 54 verses detail all the curses which come upon us for our disobedience to the commandments and admonitions of our heavenly Father. That whole chapter has “proceeded out of the mouth of God”. Let none of us believe the lie which teaches us that we can simply choose of our own free will to be obedient so we can avoid all those curses and simply reap all the blessings of Deuteronomy 28. That is not the voice of the True Shepherd who teaches us:

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

The words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God happen to include verses 15-68 of Deuteronomy 28, and we need to notice that verse three of Isaiah 1 calls this “sinful nation” “MY people”. “My people do not consider… do not know [their] owner… [their] master’s crib”. The argument from those who have not been granted to believe that it is God’s elect who must “live… by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” is always the same: “All these negative descriptions of the sins of God’s people, are given to us only as admonitions of what we are to avoid doing. “They certainly are not”, so the argument goes, “typical of God’s elect. If Israel rebelled against God ten times in the wilderness and if their carcases fell in the wilderness (Heb 13:7), then that all happened unto them, and it is all written only for our admonition so we will not make the same mistakes. We are not being told that these things typify us.” That is the argument, but is that true?

Granted those things did happen to them and they were written for our admonition, but what is overlooked is the Greek word ‘tupos‘, which means ‘types” in the verses in 1 Corinthians 10 which tell us why these things happened to ancient Israel. The word ‘for’ is not in the Greek in this verse:

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [Greek: tupos]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

All that happened in the Old Testament certainly did “happen unto them for our admonition”. No one denies that we should learn from the mistakes of ancient Israel. But where in that verse are we told that God’s elect will not and have not likewise rebelled against Him? Where are we ever told that the carcasses of God’s elect have not and never will fall in the wilderness? How in any way does 1Co 10:11 contradict Moses’s and Christ’s statement that mankind must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God? Of course the Truth is that the scriptures nowhere deny that mankind must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Does “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” mean that since King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband, Uriah, a captain in his own army, to cover up his sin, that you and I are required to commit adultery with another man’s wife and murder him to cover up our sin? No, that is not what “live by every word” means, any more than “the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias… verily I say unto you, …shall be required of this generation”, means that we are required to literally shed the blood of the prophets of our time.

Luk 11:51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

Then what does ‘These things happened to them as types of us’ mean? Just five verses earlier in this same tenth chapter of 1 Corinthians we read:

1Co 10:5 but in the most of them God was not well pleased, for they were strewn in the wilderness,
1Co 10:6 and those things became types of us, for our not passionately desiring evil things, as also these did desire. (YLT)

The Concordant Version tells us the same thing:

1Co 10:5 But not in the majority of them does God delight, for they were strewn along in the wilderness.”
1Co 10:6 Now these things became types of us, for us not to be lusters after evil things, (CLV)

Has there ever been a man, other than Christ, who was not a “luster after evil things”? Adam, in the Old Testament, typifies who we still are in the New Testament before we are dragged by God to begin to be judged and converted. So we are told:

1Co 10:11 But, these things, by way of type, were happening unto them, and were written with a view to our admonition, unto whom, the ends of the ages, have reached along. (REV)

The Concordant Version again agrees:

1Co 10:11 Now all this befalls them typically. Yet it was written for our admonition, to whom the consummations of the eons have attained. (CLV)

So the scriptures tell us what we will do before they admonish us as to what we are commanded to do. In Revelation 1 we read that very message. This entire prophecy is addressed to “the seven churches which are in Asia”:

Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

The sins and shortcomings of these seven churches are all things which typify all of us simply because we are all first in Adam. So notice what the preceding verse tells us about the benefits to the seven churches if they “keep those things which are written therein”, both the good and the evil:

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Again, just as clearly as it can be stated, we are told “the time is at hand [to] read, and… hear… and keep [the] things which are written” in the book of Revelation, a book filled with the sins of the seven churches, the war, famine and death of the four horsemen, the woes of the seven trumpet judgments, the seven last plagues, the great harlot, the judgment of the great harlot, and the lake of fire. How is it a blessing to read, hear and keep all of that?

Both this “vision of Isaiah [as well as] the revelation of Jesus Christ” will show us that if we do not first live out these sins with their accompanying curses, then we will never see our need for a Savior. As Christ said, He came to give sight to those who have been made aware of just how blind they have been, not to those who think they already have sight. He came to heal only those who have been made aware of just how spiritually sick they have been all their lives. He did not come to heal those who have not yet be made aware of their spiritually sick, diseased condition.

So in a very real sense these verses of Isaiah 1 are a very accurate summary of the second and third chapters of the book of Revelation because these verses describe for us the spiritual bondage in which “Judah and Jerusalem” were dwelling “as types of us” at the time this “vision of Isaiah” was penned. The book of Isaiah will add to our understanding of how we are to “read… hear… and keep” every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and how the book of Revelation simply reiterates the message of the vision of Isaiah.

So this is who we are:

Isa 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

I have included verse three, which we covered last week, just to give us some context. God is telling us that, just like the seven churches of Revelation, we come to the point in our lives where we “leave [our] first love” (Rev 2:4) and we no longer even know our owner or acknowledge that it is He who feeds us, before He drags us to Himself through the plagues and curses which occupy the bulk of the text of both Isaiah and Revelation. It is our sins which provide God with the occasion He is seeking against the kingdom of our old man. Before any of us can be cleansed we, like Job, must be brought to see that we are “vile”. We must be brought to see ourselves as a dog returning to his own vomit and as a sow who returns to her wallow in the mire:

Job 40:4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.

2Pe 2:22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

A sinful nation laden with iniquity, is what the kingdom of our old man is while he serves the doctrines of Babylon, because even after we are introduced to Christ in a most basic but very sincere way, we all forsake our first love, as the church of Ephesus within us typifies:

Rev 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
Rev 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
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.

This is what we all do before we are made to see just how vile we are:

Isa 1:5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Being sick in the head and the heart is not something Judah and Jerusalem just decided they wanted for themselves of their own fabled ‘free will’. This very same “vision of Isaiah” tells us exactly why this has “happened unto them”.

Here is a very revealing verse of scripture for all who are granted to receive it:

Isa 3:1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

There will always be those who will tell us that the only reason God took away the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water from Jerusalem and Judah was because they forgot their God and because they freely chose to err against their own God. They always point to verses like verse 8 in Isa 3:

Isa 3:8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

The only problem in always pointing to the verses which do say “Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen… because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord”, is that it simply is not the whole story of what the scriptures teach us about why they sinned and why we sin against our God. We simply cannot leave out what the scriptures state is the Maker and Creator of our sinful condition, who Himself tells us that it is He who “makes us to err from His ways, and hardens our hearts from His fear”, and give all the credit for our sins to ourselves and our fabled free will. That simply is not what the scripture teach was the reason Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave into Egypt:

Gen 45:4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Twice Joseph tells his brothers “you sold me hither”, but then he concludes concerning the sin his brothers committed against Him, “It was not you that sent me here, but God”. According to Isaiah, according to King David, according to Solomon and according to Christ and according to the apostles Paul and James, the absolute Truth is that the sins of Joseph’s brothers, the sins of Jerusalem and Judah, and all things, good and evil, are one and all being worked after the counsel of God’s own will without regard for the fact that we often do not want to do the evil things we do (Gen 45:4-8; Psa 90:3; Pro 16:4; Isa 63:17; Mat 4:4; Rom 7:17-23; Eph 1:11, and Jas 4:13-15).

This verse from this “vision of Isaiah” is typical of all the others I have listed:

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Paul makes this same point in Romans seven where he explains that our sins are not really our sins at all, but are the result of a law placed in our members by the “one lawgiver”:

Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Notice that verses 17 and 20 twice repeat the exact same statement: “… it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” This is the Truth of the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. Yet it cannot and it is not believed by anyone who teaches the false doctrine of mankind being given by God a will that is free from His own will. The doctrine which teaches that man is a free moral agent is a lie which denies the Biblical doctrine which teaches us that God is working all things, the good and the evil, “after the counsel of His own will.

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Let’s keep that in mind as we read the last verse of this week’s study:

Isa 1:6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

The image and the kingdoms of the beast, within and without, are all standing on feet made of iron mixed with miry clay (Dan 2:34-45) it is weak and sinful and cannot long stand. It is doomed to be destroyed. The fact is that it was “made to be taken and destroyed”:

2Pe 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

But it has been determined “before the world began” that every man would be “marred in the Potter’s hand”, become exalted in his own eyes, before being crushed and humbled. (Jer 18:4; Isa 14; Eze 28; Dan 2:34-45 and Mat 21:44; 2ti 1:9; Tit 1:2).

Daniel 2 gives us the significance of the symbolism of iron being mixed with miry clay:

Dan 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
Dan 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

It is when we attempt to mix the hardness of the base metal, iron, with the corruption that is miry clay, when we attempt to give structure and discipline to our lives of sin that our own inward kingdom will soon be destroyed. But there is a consummation to the ages, and at that time there will be an outward physical display of these inward spiritual types and shadows. The attempt by the beast to mix satanic apostate Christianity with satanic Islam, is as foolish as expecting the United States Constitution to mix with sharia law. They do not mix, and they will always be in conflict. “They shall not cleave one to another even as iron is not mixed with clay”.

It is “in the days of these kings [that] God… shall… set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed”. One thing we can say for certain, That day is nearer now than it was when these words were first penned two thousand years ago. We do not know when “the kingdoms of this world [will] become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”, but it will behoove us all to assume that it will be very soon (2Pe 3:3-12).

The Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven – Part 10 –

The Dream is One

Gen 41:25  And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Gen 41:26  The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.

Introduction

This dream of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is actually a prophesy of what the Lord is about to do in the land of Egypt and “in all lands”.

Gen 41:56  And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:57  And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

The Lord would soon bring a great famine upon “all lands”, and that famine would last seven long agonizing years. However, before the famine would come, there would be seven years of great plenty in which Egypt could store up grain to be able to endure the famine.

In this story we are given a vital key to the kingdom of heaven. That key is the revelation Joseph gives the Pharaoh that both his dreams have one message. The ultimate lesson for us in this key to the kingdom of heaven is that all scripture has but one message, as Christ Himself explained to the two men on the road to Emmaus:

Luk 24:27  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

We are dragged to Christ through a troubled spirit

As we are coming to understand, the keys to the kingdom of heaven are the principles we are given to help us to understand how God Himself thinks, how He expresses His thoughts and how He carries out those thoughts. In this particular case, we are being made to understand that the way God communicates with those whom He gives to see the mysteries of His Kingdom is by giving the same one message in more than one way. “The dream is one” principle reveals that Christ is working with all men in the same way.  Solomon confirms this principle with these words:

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

It was Christ Himself who caused the Pharaoh to dream two separate dreams. The first was a dream of seven fat cows being devoured by seven lean cows. The disturbing part of the dream was that after devouring the seven fat cows, the seven lean cows looked none the better for having devoured the seven fat cows. The holy spirit caused the devouring of those seven fat cows by the seven lean cows, which were then none the better, to so disturb Pharaoh that he woke up in terror, and yet he did not know why he had been given this dream or what the dream meant. He went back to sleep only to repeat the entire experience, except this time the dream was about seven ears on one stalk full and good, again being devoured by seven ears on another stalk “withered, thin and blasted with the east wind”. The holy spirit caused both of these dreams to terrify the Pharaoh and to rob him of his peace.

Gen 41:8  And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

This entire story is repeated in the book of Daniel. In that case it is King Nebuchadnezzar who is terrified by dreams which the Lord gave him. In that instance, while retaining the terror of what he had dreamed, the Lord took the memory of the dream away from King Nebuchadnezzar.

Dan 2:1  And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.
Dan 2:2  Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.
Dan 2:3  And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
Dan 2:4  Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation.

The king then decided that his Chaldean magicians, astrologer and sorcerers, if they were capable of giving him a reliable interpretation, should also be capable of telling him what the dream was he had forgotten. In this case King Nebuchadnezzar was determined to destroy all the wise men of Babylon, including Daniel and Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, if they could not tell him his dream along with the interpretation of that dream.

Dan 2:5  The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
Dan 2:6  But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.
Dan 2:7  They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation of it.
Dan 2:8  The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
Dan 2:9  But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof. 
Dan 2:10  The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king’s matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
Dan 2:11  And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
Dan 2:12  For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
Dan 2:13  And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.
Dan 2:14  Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon:
Dan 2:15  He answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.
Dan 2:16  Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation.
Dan 2:17  Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:
Dan 2:18  That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 
Dan 2:19  Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

Daniel was blessed by God with the knowledge of what the king had dreamed, and like Joseph, he was also blessed to know what the dream meant. Notice the parallels between these two events which are one more example of the principle of “the dream is one” key to the kingdom of heaven:

Gen 41:17  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river:
Gen 41:18  And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:
Gen 41:19  And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness:
Gen 41:20  And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine:
Gen 41:21  And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill favoured, as at the beginning. So I awoke.
Gen 41:22  And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good:
Gen 41:23  And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:
Gen 41:24  And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.

The only difference between these two events is that Pharaoh was given faith in Joseph’s interpretation without having to tell Pharaoh what his dream was as well as the interpretation. The fact is that if Joseph’s interpretations of the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and baker had not already come to pass exactly as the Lord had revealed their interpretation to Joseph, the Pharaoh would never have called Joseph before himself.

The point being made is that God establishes those upon whom He places His spirit, and no one can deny who they are. This same principle was played out a third time in the events surrounding Mordecai and Esther. If we recognize that prison in Egypt is a type of death, then we can say, without contradiction, that God Himself placed the lives of His elect on the line in all three of these historical events.

Do the scriptures symbolize death as being in a pit?

Job 3:18  There the prisoners rest together [in the grave]; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

Psa 88:4  I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
Psa 88:5  Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.

Isa 24:21  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
Isa 24:22  And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
Isa 24:23  Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

Isa 42:7  To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

We are all born into the “darkness… of the prison house”, and Christ Himself makes clear the meaning of this symbol of this situation out of which He is bringing us:

Luk 9:59  And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Luk 9:60  Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

If we know the mind of God, then we will know that from His perspective, these “very good… vessels of clay” are really nothing more than “very good prison houses [of] darkness… [and] of the dead”.

I will not take the time here to relate the story of Mordecai and Esther, except to point out that the death of God’s elect was again on the line, and it was again turned by God into victory against those who would have God’s elect destroyed, as was also the case with Joseph and with Daniel:

Est 9:1  Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)

So this key to the kingdom of heaven is not applicable to just the dreams of Pharaoh. Rather, this principle of “the dream is one” is applicable to every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, as Christ revealed to us through what I call His ‘Prophecy 101’ course which He delivered to the two men on the road to Emmaus. With this ‘the dream is one’ key to the kingdom of heaven, it is as if we were right there with those two men to whom He revealed this principle in these words:

Luk 24:25  Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Luk 24:26  Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
Luk 24:27  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear that “the dream is one” will know just how Christ-centric is the entirety of “all that the prophets have spoken… in all the scriptures… concerning Himself”.

This is just how Christ-centric “all that the prophets have spoken” are:

Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

2Co 4:14  Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes [Christ and His Christ], that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 
Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Col 1:20  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

If indeed “all things were created by Him and for Him”, then it follows that every detail of all things are by Him and for him, and that “all the scriptures [are in some sense] concerning Himself”.

With this dream is one key to the kingdom of heaven, we are made to understand that it is each of us who have been given to reign over all our own land of Egypt, and that God has preordained that it is only by taking away from us the peace and prosperity in our own worldly kingdom and replacing that peace with feelings of fear and anxiety (Job 1-2, Act 9:1-9) that He will gain our undivided attention. Whether it is the story of Joseph, Daniel, or Mordecai and Esther, “the dream is one”. Whether is it the story of Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, or Jacob and Esau, “the dream is one”, and the message in every case is the same. That one message is that our old man”, our “first man Adam”, must die, and that through the death of that “first man Adam… [our] new man, the last Adam” is being born into “the kingdom of God… within [each of us]” (Act 17:20-21). Spiritually speaking we are to count ourselves as having died to our old man and having already been resurrected in our new man, all in “earnest” down-payment form, yet in spiritual reality:

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

It is only by bringing us “to [our] wits’ end” that we are then in a humbled position where we will listen to “some man”, our own personal “Ananias”, a member of the body of Christ, our own personal Philip, “some man to guide [us]” and to give to us the keys to the kingdom of heaven. When we recognize that “the dream is one”, we will see that all the scriptures are concerned with Christ and His Christ, and how, through Christ and His Christ, God is bringing and will bring “all in Adam… each in his own order” to be in “the last Adam… Christ” (1Co 15:22-28).

Psa 107:25  For he [Christ, the Word] commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

Christ condenses the message of Psalms 107 into this short statement:

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.

The apostle Paul reiterates this same message with these words:

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

The adversary has a forked tongue which contradicts himself and the Words of God. The Truth is that the gospel of the kingdom of heaven is the good news that all men will, “each in his own order”, be saved through Christ and His Christ (1Co 15:22-28). This message is the same from Genesis to Revelation.

Conclusion

Whether it is King David in the Psalms, Christ in the gospels, or in the epistles of Paul, “the dream is one”, and that principle is one of the keys to the kingdom of heaven which is within each of us who have come to know and to appreciate the one mind of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ. This key to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven reveals that the message of “all the prophets have written” is one message, and that message concerns Christ and how all will one day be in Him, and will know the joy and the glory of being in Christ. That message concerns Christ and how, through the death of the old man, all will one day be in Him.

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Rev 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

[Part eleven can be found here.]

(Key verses: Genesis 49:22-26)

God declares the end from the beginning, and as such, He also works all things in between according to a perfect plan and purpose which nothing and no creature can alter. Everything works 100% according to His counsel and pleasure:

Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

The theme of the last days brings these truths to light, even as it is in our last days when God’s work from the beginning is unveiled to us through His judgment (Ecc 3:1-11). This is when the revelation of Jesus is given to us through the process of spiritual conversion (Joe 2:28-31; Mat 13:30; Mat 24:1-51; Act 2:14-21; Rom 2:5; 1Pe 1:13; Rev 1:1-18):

Joe 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
Joe 2:29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

It is indeed fitting that it is also in the final section of the book of Genesis that we see how this theme of the last days is brought to us through the words of Jacob before he died, after living in Egypt for the last seventeen years of his life. It was the time to tell his sons “which shall befall [them] in the last days”:

Gen 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
Gen 49:2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

These sons of Jacob are all spiritual types of “the Israel of God”, His elected few, who are being judged in this age (Gal 6:16):

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world [Greek: aiōn = age] are come.

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

In previous discussions we already touched on Jacob’s words to Reuben (meaning “behold a son”), Simeon (“to hear”), Levi (“joined”), Judah (“praise”), Zebulun (“habitation”), Issachar (“reward”), Dan (“judge”), Gad (“a troop”), Asher (“blessed”) and Naphtali (“wrestlings”). In this discussion we want to look at a few aspects in the lives of Joseph and his offspring. Of all Jacob’s sons, Joseph’s story is the best known as he was the firstborn son from Jacob’s favourite wife, Rachel. Rachel had to endure the pain and humiliation of seeing how the other women in Jacob’s life bore him ten sons altogether. Joseph and his brother Benjamin were the last two sons born to Jacob via Rachel. What a lesson it is for us to be like the husbandman to wait for the precious fruit of the earth:

Jas 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

This is also what the meaning in the name of Joseph wants to emphasize. Joseph’s name means “the Lord will add” or “increase”. Here are the final words of Jacob to Joseph:

Gen 49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
Gen 49:23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
Gen 49:24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
Gen 49:25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
Gen 49:26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

Joseph’s life presents one of the clearest pictures in the scriptures of what the elect of God are enduring in this life to learn how we indeed will possess our souls through longsuffering and patience (Luk 21:19). Let us take each of these verses which contain these words of Jacob and briefly discuss how they apply to us.

“Joseph is a fruitful bough [Hebrew: “bên” = son], even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches [Hebrew: “bath” = daughter] run over the wall…”

The Hebrew word “bên” (translated “bough” in that verse) means “son”, and the Hebrew word “bath” (translated “branches”) means “daughter”. These two words have the same root in the Hebrew, namely “bânâh” which relates to the building of an offspring – whether sons or daughters:

Psa 127:3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Psa 127:4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
Psa 127:5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

We know that Joseph is a type of Christ, as his whole life pictures the favour and work of God in Jesus Christ whom God established as His Son and through whom a huge spiritual offspring will be brought forth (Psa 2:7; Mic 5:2; Mat 3:17; Joh 1:14; Joh 5:26; Joh 14:13; Act 13:33; 1Co 15:22-28; Col 1:15; Heb 1:5). In this sense, Jesus was also given the role which the wife plays into a relationship. The reference to this female role through the Hebrew word “bath” also relates to the few whom Father has ordained to be set apart in this age to bear much fruit for Him through Jesus (Joh 6:44):

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.

The apostle Paul also gives this spiritual relationship between the Father and the Son, which reflects in the relationships between Christ and the church, and the husband and wife in earthly terms, for our understanding (Rom 1:20):

1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

It is the church, the branches of the vine, who “run[s] over the wall” to be used by God to bring in the rest of humanity through His judgment in the lake of fire (Neh 9:27; Oba 1:21; Luk 22:29; Col 1:28; Rev 20:14-15):

Act 1:7 And he [Jesus] said unto them [His disciples], It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Joh 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Of all the sons of Jacob, Joseph was indeed the most fruitful and blessed, although he was taken through the most difficult journey of all Jacob’s sons. This confirms such an important spiritual lesson in the lives of God’s elect that it is indeed through much tribulation that God’s elect will be qualified to be in the blessed and holy first resurrection and to be the saviours of the world (Rev 20:4-15):

Act 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

The fruits of the spirit cannot be achieved by a wishy-washy name-it-and-claim-it attitude which so many are caused to believe. To find the fiery trials of God something to complain and murmur about is indeed strange to those who are called to suffer with Christ, as they know that is how God’s elect will be brought to rulership (Php 1:29):

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

2Ti 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

This is what Joseph’s life teaches us. It is Christ in us who supplies everything we need to be fruitful to the glory of the Father (Php 4:13; Col 1:24-29):

Psa 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Psa 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Psa 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

“…The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him…”

These words spoken by Jacob to Joseph indeed were fulfilled throughout His life. As it happened to Joseph, we ourselves can testify how the calling of God can be seen from a very early age in our lives. Joseph did not ask for the coat of many colours, but his father gave it to him, which caused Joseph to be the target for his envious brothers:

Gen 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
Gen 37:4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

We know that all things we have were given to us by God, and as such, He is the One who sets us up to experience the things which will form us. It is within our “last days” that we are enabled to “read”, “hear” and see how we live and “keep” the testimony of Jesus in our lives (Mat 4:4; Rev 1:1-3). It is indeed through words and actions that the condition of one’s heart is expressed and revealed (Psa 11:2):

Psa 64:3 Who [the wicked/the enemy] whet [Hebrew: “shânan” – point/pierce/teach] their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words.

Jer 9:3 And they [treacherous men] bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.

Arrows, in this sense, equal words, and in spiritual terms, this is what archers do – we speak and act according to what the heart determines, whether for good or evil. The elect of God knows the words of truth through the Archer, Jesus Christ (Isa 49:1-3; Joh 1:1-5):

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him [Thomas], I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Joh 14:10 Believest thou [Philip] not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

The elect also know that they indeed “in times past” were the target of the arrows of evil, including the false teachings and deceptive words coming from the mouth of false prophets (1Jn 4:1-6; 2Pe 2:1-3):

Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

When we say we know the truth, as Jesus said His true church would know, we are indeed wearing our coat with many colours, and we become the target of the hatred and vileness from those who deny the true Jesus. Because Caleb and Joshua were given a different spirit to see the heavenly perspective of the promised land, their report was rejected by the moaning and complaining majority who rather accepted the reports of the other ten spies who only saw the difficulties in the promised land. These ten spies are representatives of our flesh who only focus on the perspectives of the natural mind (1Co 2:14):

Num 14:6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
Num 14:7 And they spoke to all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
Num 14:8 If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which flows with milk and honey.
Num 14:9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

The fear of the Lord negates the fear for men. Caleb and Joshua feared God and spoke the words of truth, and they became the target of hatred and belittling. In our time of being belittled and being cast down by men, God’s glory appears:

Num 14:10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.

As it happened in the hearts of Caleb and Joshua, we know that God sees the intent of the heart where the archers shoot their arrows (1Sa 16:7; Jer 17:10; 2Co 10:7). This also needs patience as our intentions will only become clear at the appointed time:

1Ti 5:24 Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.
1Ti 5:25 Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.

This is also revealed for us in the life of king Amaziah of Judah. Amaziah did the right things initially, even “that which is right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart” which was only revealed much later in his reign of 29 years in Judah (2Ki 14:1-4):

2Ch 25:1 Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
2Ch 25:2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.

After Amaziah and the army of Judah conquered the Edomites, he fell in love with the idols in Edom’s temples and built his own sanctuaries filled with these idols. This caused him not to be able to listen to wise counsel, and he followed his own understanding of things which led to his death. Naturally we do not know the depths of the deceit of our own hearts, and therefore the truth of God’s multitude of counsellors is such a vital aspect to help us being faithful until the end (Mat 18:15-17; Rev 17:14):

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Pro 11:14 Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

The life of Joseph also proves that the motives of our hearts will be challenged until the end. After living with Joseph in Egypt for seventeen years with their father, the brothers of Joseph could still not accept that Joseph’s heart and his motives were totally different from theirs. This came out after Jacob’s death:

Gen 50:15 And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
Gen 50:16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
Gen 50:17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
Gen 50:18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
Gen 50:19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
Gen 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

“…[Joseph’s] bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel)…”

Nevertheless, through all of Joseph’s trials and the false accusations from his family and those who opposed him in Egypt, Joseph always kept strong and committed to the truth. Joseph’s heart was taught to serve and do good to them who hated him, and God’s hands strengthened his hands in all of this. It is when we are emptied of our strongholds and high thoughts of self, that God’s mind becomes our strong tower and powerful mountain:

Psa 61:3 For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

Pro 18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

When we are given the servant’s heart to understand it is more blessed to give than to receive, we shoot powerful arrows of truth and love, and we do not miss the mark of being a true shepherd in God’s flock (Jdg 20:16; Mat 20:25-28; Joh 10:1-18). It is then when we witness how the Lord fights for us we can then see how our enemies, even the spiritual wolves, turn on themselves, and the fear of God will come on them (Mat 7:15-20):

Psa 64:7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.
Psa 64:8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.
Psa 64:9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.
Psa 64:10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

God’s arrows are His words which are the “demonstration of the spirit and of power” of God (1Co 2:4). It is His word which destroys all arguments against the truth as we progressively learn how to use His powerful arrows within our spiritual warfare (Isa 5:28):

Psa 120:1 A Song of degrees. In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.
Psa 120:2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
Psa 120:3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?
Psa 120:4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.

“…Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb…”

Joseph was given “one portion above [his] brethren” by Jacob when Joseph brought his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh to Jacob for his blessing:

Gen 48:21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
Gen 48:22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

In physical terms Joseph was given this double portion of the firstborn through his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, as both of them became independent tribes with a full inheritance according to all the sons of Jacob:

Gen 48:5 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.

1Ch 5:1 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.

“…The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.”

This is what Moses had to say about the offspring of Joseph through the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh also indicating the fulfillment of the double portion of rulership over the earth and the heaven for God’s elect:

Deu 33:13 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,
Deu 33:14 And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,
Deu 33:15 And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills,
Deu 33:16 And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.
Deu 33:17 His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

We know Manasseh was the firstborn of Joseph, which represents the fleshly man, while Ephraim was the second born, representing the spirit man, Jesus Christ (1Co 15:45-49). Ephraim was blessed above Manasseh by Jacob, as also confirmed in Moses’ blessing (Gen 48:5-21). Ephraim’s name means “God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction” (Gen 41:52). The sons of Ephraim indeed were “mighty men of valor, famous throughout the house of their fathers” (1Ch 12:30). However, one of the prominent judges of Israel, namely Gideon, came from the tribe of Manasseh. This double portion indeed relates to the “blessings of the deep that lies under” and the “blessings of heaven above” respectively. This blessing of Joseph is the type of the blessing of God’s elect in rulership over the physical eon (even during the so-called “thousand-year reign” on earth) and their ultimate rulership in the spiritual eon, even the lake of fire (Rev 20:4-15):

1Co 6:1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

[The author may be reached for questions or comments at glgroenewald@gmail.com]

Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the www.iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

Till The Seven Plagues Are Fulfilled
The Scapegoat
The Teaching of Rain and Archers
Who Knows The Truth?
Rev 17:12-18

(Key verses: Genesis 47:27-31; Gen 48:1-20)

[Study Aired August 6, 2015]

In the final section of the book of Genesis we see that Jacob is brought back into focus as he and his whole family were provided for by Joseph during the seven year famine which was on the whole world (Gen 41:54-57). Joseph’s whole family was drawn nearer to him to come and lived in the country of Goshen in Egypt:

Gen 47:27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.
Gen 47:28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.

Jacob was under Joseph’s care in Egypt for seventeen years before his death, and this period of seventeen years corresponds with the time when Joseph was under Jacob’s care in Canaan, being his favourite son:

Gen 37:1 And Jacob lived in the land of the travels of his father, in the land of Canaan.
Gen 37:2 These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph, a son of seventeen years, came tending the flock with his brothers. And he was a youth with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought to his father an evil report of them.
Gen 37:3 And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age…

This favour on Joseph caused much hatred in the hearts of his ten brothers who eventually sold him into slavery which took him through thirteen years of trials and tribulation in Egypt before he was appointed ruler over Egypt by the Pharaoh at the age of thirty (Gen 41:46). All of Joseph’s trials were eventually for the benefit of not only his family but for the whole earth, typifying the salvation process which God is bringing to fruition in Jesus Christ (1Co 15:22-28; 1Ti 2:1-6):

Psa 105:17 He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:
Psa 105:18 Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:
Psa 105:19 Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.
Psa 105:20 The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.
Psa 105:21 He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance:
Psa 105:22 To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.
Psa 105:23 Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.

Joseph was Jacob’s “son of his old age” and “the time drew nigh that Israel must die” makes Jacob, in this sense, a type of our old man, the first Adam. God has given the first Adam a specific time period to rule us before the new man Christ, typified by Joseph, takes us through our years of trials and tribulation before we are given final dominion over our flesh through Christ’s rulership in our hearts and minds (Rom 6:1-18):

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

These are the two ages (Greek: aiōn = eon) we must live through – the earthly or the age of the first man Adam and the spiritual age of “the Lord from heaven”, before God will be “all in all” in spirit:

1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

It is the time of Jacob’s final years on earth when Joseph started ruling over Egypt, even as the dying of our old man brings an end to the first age in us and Christ’s rulership is established in us (1Co 10:11; 2Co 5:1-2):

Gen 47:29 And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph….

This theme of the restitution of all things is central to the scriptures, and this truth is driving the life and purposes of the elect of God. Albeit in the form of spiritual promises and types, this last section of the book of Genesis highlights this theme of restitution in the life of the family of Joseph, as we also see the promise of a land and a huge offspring repeated in the final interactions between Joseph and Jacob:

Gen 47:29 And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:

Gen 47:30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.

“Thy hand under my thigh” is a way that was used in those days to make a promise. We also saw this between Abraham and his servant when the servant had to promise Abraham that he will find a wife for Isaac according to Abraham’s directions:

Gen 24:1 And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
Gen 24:2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
Gen 24:3 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
Gen 24:4 But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

It is indeed only those with the spirit of Christ in them that can make true and faithful promises. It is only in Christ that all God’s promises are ‘yes’ and ‘amen’:

2Co 1:19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.
2Co 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
2Co 1:21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;
2Co 1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

By the natural things we understand the spiritual things of God, as we also know that the thigh naturally transmits the idea of power and strength. The thigh is naturally the most powerful section of the human body which relates to action and movement (Rom 1:20; Gen 32:25; Eze 24:4; Rev 19:16). In the scriptures the thigh is also the place where a sword was attached (Psa 45:3; Son 3:8). No one else except those sealed with the earnest of the spirit of God in this age, armed with the sword of the spirit, are given this spirit of truthfulness to do His commandments and act faithfully to fulfill God’s promises in and through them (Psa 119:160; Mat 7:24-25; Joh 6:63; Eph 6:10-17):

Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Joh 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

1Jn 4:6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

It is within this position of authority and power that every son of God operates to be an overcomer to fulfill every promise of God concerning His spiritual inheritance, as typified through Joshua and physical Israel:

Jos 21:43 And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein.
Jos 21:44 And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.
Jos 21:45 There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.

We know that these words were written to be fully understood in its spiritual application as physical Israel has not as yet achieved this promise. It is all about the new spiritual “land” which is what the life of Christ introduces. Jacob asked Joseph to place his hand under Jacob’s thigh which emphasizes this powerful position of trust given to God’s elect to bring all in Adam into this “promised land”. In this physical eon it is only Christ’s elect who are given “the holy spirit of promise” until we are finally redeemed from this earthly body and this physical cosmos:

Eph 1:13 in whom also you, hearing the Word of Truth, the gospel of our salvation, in whom also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 who is the earnest of our inheritance, to the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

This position of authority is what Joseph typifies, and he was the only one from all Jacob’s children that could be trusted with the request of Jacob:

Gen 47:31 And he [Jacob] said, Swear unto me. And he [Joseph] sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.

The fleshly old man will have to eventually bow and acknowledge the rulership of the spirit man. Joseph indeed physically fulfilled this promise to Jacob when Jacob died (Gen 50:12-13), but before his death Jacob needed to remind Joseph about a few important details concerning this inheritance:

Gen 48:1 And it happened after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, your father is sick. And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Gen 48:2 And one spoke to Jacob, and said, Behold, your son Joseph comes to you. And Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed.
Gen 48:3 And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me.
Gen 48:4 And He said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you. And I will make of you a multitude of people, and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.

One of the things which Jacob brought to Joseph’s attention was that Egypt, which typifies our flesh, is just a temporary provision and was never supposed to be a lasting dwelling or something in which we can put our trust. The spiritual promises of God are much more to be relied on than to trust in the best the flesh can present, despite the flesh’s very convincing presentation. The two sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, although both were born in Egypt, will share in the future inheritance of the sons of Jacob:

Gen 48:5 And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who are born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; like Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
Gen 48:6 And your issue, which you father after them, shall be yours, and shall be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance.
Gen 48:7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still but a little way to come to Ephrath. And I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; it is Bethlehem.

Here Jacob is introducing very important detail of the birthright through these two sons of Joseph which relates to the spiritual inheritance of the chosen elect. The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh represented Joseph’s “double portion” in the inheritance of the sons of Jacob:

1Ch 5:1 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.

This “double portion” bestowed on Joseph is the blessing that caused Joseph also to prevail above his progenitors, even his older fleshly brothers, as expressed by Jacob later (Deu 21:15-17):

Gen 49:25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
Gen 49:26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

These blessings connected to the firstborn is only fulfilled in the elect of God who are the ones who are a “kind of firstfruits” of the firstborn in the spirit, namely Christ (1Co 15:23; Jas 1:18; Rev 14:4; Rev 3:14). These are the ones who are drawn to Christ by the Father to be “separate from [their] brethren” (Mat 10:36-39; Joh 6:44). They are indeed given rulership on the earth during the symbolic thousand-year reign, and as they will also be the rulers and judges in the lake of fire – the true double portion (1Co 6:1-2; Rev 20:4-15). These two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh have nothing to do with the rulership of physical nations, even powerful physical nations like Britain and the United States of America, as some claim in their spiritual blindness. God is indeed working a “spirit of slumber” for those who are persuaded by these strong and convincing delusions in our time (Rom 11:8; 2Th 2:11). Jesus even warned the physical Israelites that God’s election is on those few who will be born through the spirit of God, which is the true “remnant according to the election of grace” (Mat 20:1-16; Rom 11:5-11; Joh 6:63):

Mat 20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Through God’s direction, Jacob will also apply this same principle with regard to the distinctions in the blessings of these two sons of Joseph. Jacob could not distinguish properly, in physical terms, because of his failing eyesight:

Gen 48:8 And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these?
Gen 48:9 And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place. And he said, Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.
Gen 48:10 And the eyes of Israel were dim for age; he could not see. And he brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them.

Because of Jacob’s problematic eyesight, there were therefore no physical prejudices involved which naturally interfere in decisions we make when our judgment is blurred by physical delusions. Carnal observations will always play their natural deceptive roles when we do not have spiritual insight. Jacob himself was the second born after his twin brother Esau, and he received the blessing of the firstborn from his father Isaac because of the deceitful acts of himself and Rebekah, but also because of Isaac’s physical dying condition and weak eyesight (Gen 27:1-46). We can only have spiritual insight when we find out that our physical senses are not to be trusted and that the flesh and its deceitful heart (with its lusts and pride) are our biggest obstacles to receive the spiritual inheritance of the Father:

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Pro 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

Because Jacob could not trust his physical senses, he could only follow the spiritual patterns set out by God:

Gen 48:11 And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought I would see your face, and, lo, God has showed me also your seed.
Gen 48:12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed his face to the earth.

Even in the life of God’s elect the flesh masks and blinds us not to see the obvious ways and works of God. Joseph, blinded by his fleshly preferences, could not properly perceive that the son whom he placed at his right hand would be the one on whom God’s favour rested:

Gen 48:13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left toward Israel’s right hand. And he brought them near to him.

Joseph placed Ephraim in his right hand, but was seemingly more concerned of Jacob’s right side. Joseph knew that the right hand was a very important position to take note of, but his own judgment was failing. From the scriptures we learn that the position on the right hand is that of spiritual favour, authority and power (Exo 15:6; Exo 29:20; Deu 33:2; Jdg 5:26; Psa 48:10; Psa 110:1). We must therefore take careful note who and what we place on our right hand because that determines our spiritual judgment on important matters:

Mat 26:64 Jesus saith unto him [Caiaphas, the high priest, the night before His crucifixion]: Thou hast said [that He, Jesus, was the Christ, the Son of God]: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Jacob honoured the “right hand” of Joseph and the son who stood on that side, which was Ephraim, the youngest or last born of Joseph:

Gen 48:14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands. For Manasseh was the first-born.
Gen 48:15 And he blessed Joseph and said, May God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who fed me all my life to this day,
Gen 48:16 the Angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. And let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow like the fishes into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

As with all of God’s elect it is a humbling and devastating experience to see how our natural spirit wants to dictate and go against God’s spiritual choices, as typified here by Joseph:

Gen 48:17 And Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and it was evil in his eyes. And he held up his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
Gen 48:18 And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father. For this is the first-born. Put your right hand on his head.
Gen 48:19 And his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he is, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

Our natural preferences are not God’s choices, and this is one of the bitter pills to swallow if we are indeed able to stomach this truth (Rev 10:10):

Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Joseph is humbled, but it is only in humility that we will be able to eat the book given to us which enables us to reach to the higher thoughts of God (Mat 4:4; Rev 10:10). This is when we can admit that we have not arrived in spiritual fullness in order for us to grow in maturity:

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Jacob assured Joseph that this is how God ordained both of the sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were to be blessed – by the younger or last born:

Gen 48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In you shall Israel bless, saying, God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

The last born, Ephraim, is “the greater” as his name also means “double fruitfulness”:

Gen 41:52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

Ephraim, in this sense, represents the firstborn of the spirit – the rivers of living water, even Jesus Christ, even His elected “firstfruits” who will come with weeping, but rule with joy:

Jer 31:9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

Christ and His spiritual works in us are “the greater” works, and it is on those “greater works” in which those who believe in Christ concentrate:

Joh 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

The greater works are the inward works in the heart of mankind, which is now only the privilege of the elect who are given the faith of Christ to believe and do the Word of the Father:

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

———–

Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the www.iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

Why Are They Blessed?
Rev 1:16 – Part 1
Rev 1:16 – Part 2
Rev 1:17
Is There Spiritual significance to Being Right or Left Handed?

(Key verses: Gen 46:28-34; Gen 47:1-26)

All things in the scriptures have both a negative and positive application, and that helps us to understand that God is the sovereign Creator of both good and evil and that He works both of these to fulfill His purposes in this creation, even as we all live “by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God” (Isa 45:5-7; Mat 4:4; Rom 11:36; Eph 1:11). This spiritual mystery is inherent in the way God uses His Word, even Jesus Christ, as revealed through the pillar of cloud during physical Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness (Col 1:15-20; Rev 1:8):

Exo 14:19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
Exo 14:20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

We know God is not a territorial God, and He rules over all kingdoms of humanity which He actually appoints and directs in every aspect (Pro 8:15-16; Dan 4:17; Dan 4:25; Rom 13:1-7; 1Ti 2:1-3):

Pro 21:1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

The physical land of Egypt, also known as “Mizraim” in the Hebrew language, is generally seen in the scriptures in its negative application in relation to the flesh and our time of imprisonment to the idols of our natural mind, being enemies to God and His elect (Gen 37:36; Gen 39:1; Gen 39:20; Exo 1:8-14; Deu 6:12; Deu 7:8; Psa 105:23; Rev 11:8):

Isa 19:1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
Isa 19:2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
Isa 19:3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.

Even Egypt has a positive application in the sense that it is used several times in scripture as a place of refuge and supply (Gen 12:10; Gen 41:56-57; Exo 2:1-11; Jer 42:7-22; Mat 2:13-15). Yet in Egypt shall the “language of Canaan” be spoken which points to the spiritual salvation through the faith and mind of Christ, even as the life of earthy man shall be saved through its destruction (Mat 10:28):

Isa 19:18 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.
Isa 19:19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.
Isa 19:20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.
Isa 19:21 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.
Isa 19:22 And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.

The book of Genesis beautifully encapsulates both these perspectives of Egypt and actually concludes with Egypt being the place where Joseph reunites with his family as he also used Egypt as a platform to supply the whole earth with food. It is from this perspective that we can also get a wonderful picture of the way through which God will bring all in the first man Adam to be in unity with Him through His elected Christ (Isa 11:16; Isa 19:23-25; Isa 35:1-10):

1Ti 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
1Ti 2:2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
1Ti 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

With this perspective we are given such a solid platform by God to see to it that we have the right frame of mind, utter the right words, check our own actions when we deal with this world; as this historic event in the book of Genesis also admonishes us to do. In Egypt the family of Jacob is reunited through the instructions of Joseph who is the ruler of Egypt as appointed by the Pharaoh. As Egypt is now playing a positive role in God’s plan, so does the Pharaoh in that he now typifies God, the Father of Jesus, who instructs His Christ in all things (Joh 1:1-3; Joh 12:44-50). Jesus Christ is the “highway” of God, and through Him all things came into being, and in Him will all things be brought to a conclusion (Pro 16:17; Isa 40:3; Joh 14:6; Rom 11:36). The theme of restitution is central to the message of scripture as God will indeed bring all things together in and through the Christ (1Co 15:22-28):

Act 3:18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
Act 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
Act 3:21 Whom the heaven [His elect] must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Eph 1:9 (YLT) having made known to us the secret of His will, according to His good pleasure, that He purposed in Himself,
Eph 1:10 (YLT) in regard to the dispensation of the fulness of the times, to bring into one the whole in the Christ, both the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth–in him.

On the arrival of the whole family of Jacob into Egypt, they went to live in the land of Goshen in Egypt:

Gen 46:28 And he [Jacob] sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen.

This word “Goshen” means “drawing near” (according to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Definitions), and it is also here in Goshen where Joseph drew his family nearer to him:

Gen 46:29 And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.

Through the supply of food which Joseph gathered in the seven years of “great plenty”, Joseph is the saviour of not only Egypt, but of the whole world, foreshadowing the work of Christ as appointed by the Father (1Ti 2:3-6; 1Ti 4:10; 1Jn 2:1-2):

Gen 41:55 And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do.
Gen 41:56 And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:57 And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

Joseph consulted and confirmed the place where his family should live in the boundaries of Egypt with the Pharaoh:

Gen 46:31 And Joseph said to his brethren, and to his father’s house, I will go up, and show Pharaoh, and say to him, My brethren, and my father’s house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me;
Gen 46:32 And the men are shepherds, for their trade has been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.
Gen 46:33 And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation?
Gen 46:34 That ye shall say, Thy servants’ trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd [two Hebrew words are used to translate “shepherd”: “râ‛âh” which means “to pasture, tend, graze, feed”; and “tsô’n” which means “to migrate”] is an abomination unto the Egyptians.

The reason why the Egyptians found the life of a shepherd an abomination links to the idea that the flesh is always in need of cities and towers of its own standards in which it feels safe and secure, which then reflects in outward actions:

Gen 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

To be scattered and living by faith is what typifies the life of a sojourner on the earth, even the life of a shepherd. The family of Abraham, Isaac, and now also Jacob, was called by God to a life by faith which is typified by a life of migration and dwelling in tents and trusting in God all the time. Our Egyptian flesh despises a lifestyle based on the faith of Christ and the things of the spirit:

Heb 11:9 By faith he [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
Heb 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Joseph lived a lifestyle of faith as also witnessed when he took five brothers with him to the Pharaoh. The number five spiritually points to how one receives grace through faith, even to enter through the five pillars at the entrance to the tabernacle of God (Exo 26:36-37; Eph 2:8-10; Gal 2:16). As God is only pleased when we come to Him by the faith of Christ, so Joseph is also in need of the Pharaoh’s full agreement with the whereabouts of his family within his land (Heb 11:6):

Gen 47:1 Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.
Gen 47:2 And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.

The brothers of Joseph made it clear to the Pharaoh that they are shepherds and sojourners with no permanent dwelling on this earth:

Gen 47:3 And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers.
Gen 47:4 They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.

Pharaoh gave the best of the land to Joseph to give to his family, and he could even appoint men from his family who are virtuous to serve as “rulers over [Pharaoh’s] cattle”. This again has a spiritual application in the appointment of leaders even in God’s church by Christ (Act 14:23; Act 20:28; 1Co 12:28; Eph 4:11-12):

Gen 47:5 And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee:
Gen 47:6 The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity [Hebrew: “chayil” = ability/virtue/efficient] among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.

God will always reward those who are “diligent in [God’s] business” with the gift of service to others, even spiritual rulership as the life of Joseph reveals:

Pro 22:29 Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

Joseph also presented his father separately to the Pharaoh, and in this conversation Jacob confirms to the Pharaoh that life on earth is for sure a temporary evil existence in which we learn a total dependence on God:

Gen 47:7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
Gen 47:8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?
Gen 47:9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage [Hebrew: “mâgûr” – sojourning/stranger] are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage [Hebrew: “mâgûr” – sojourning/stranger].
Gen 47:10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

This earthy life of flesh was designed by God to be temporary, which is also called an “experience of evil” in the scriptures in which God humbles the sons of humanity to learn that God is our only true Source of life:

Ecc 1:13 (CLV) I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

Joseph supplied his family with whatever was needed for them in the land of Goshen in Egypt:

Gen 47:11 And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
Gen 47:12 And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.

But in the same period of time Joseph’s attention was also on the Egyptians within the seven year famine as he also supplied them with food:

Gen 47:13 And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.

Joseph used a specific method to supply food to the Egyptians which points out how Christ works to get our full attention to eventually see that God is the sovereign Ruler over our whole life and His will is done in every aspect of our lives (Mat 6:9-13). God supplies us with everything, and then we naturally abuse His gifts. But in the end He requires an accounting and in that process we learn so much of ourselves and His will for us. In the first year Joseph gathered all the money or silver that was in the possession of the Egyptians:

Gen 47:14 And Joseph gathered up all the money [Hebrew: “keseph” – silver] that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

Money or silver in our own hands reveals our self-righteous heart which is witnessed in our thoughts, words and actions. The ‘silver’ of the natural heart is dross, and these impurities need to be purged from us through a fiery process and much humiliation. God will gather all the pollutions of all natural hearts, and His purging fire will establish His throne and rulership in all, even as Joseph is doing to these Egyptians (Deu 7:21; Jos 7:21; Psa 119:119; Isa 2:20; Isa 30:22; Eze 22:17-22; Zec 14:14; Mat 13:30):

Pro 25:4 Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.
Pro 25:5 Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness.

After all the money was removed from the people, then Joseph targeted their cattle within that first year of the famine:

Gen 47:15 And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.
Gen 47:16 And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail.

When our self-righteous heart is exposed, we see that we are nothing more than a beast, created on the sixth day along with all the other earthly creatures. This gives all of mankind the same spiritual mark of being corrupt and subjected to vanity (Gen 1:24-31; Ecc 3:18; Jer 18:4; Rom 8:20). With this mark humanity can do nothing else but to buy and sell in the lusts of flesh and the pride of earthly life through the spirit of the world with all its false doctrines. This is what we all buy and sell until the new mind is established when we reject this mark of flesh and die daily to these lusts and pride – not like Cain who could not be killed because of this very mark of the beast given to Him by God (Gen 4:15; 1Co 15:31; 1Jn 2:16; Rev 13:15-18). This is what is typified when we, like these Egyptians, exchange our natural falsities for the truth:

Gen 47:17 And they brought their cattle to Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses [typifying our earthly strength], and for the flocks [our straying after false shepherds], and for the cattle of the herds [our labour and sacrificing in vanity], and for the asses [carrying our burdens alone]: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year.

In the second year of the famine Joseph bought the lands from the Egyptians in exchange for food:

Gen 47:18 When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands:
Gen 47:19 Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.

Here we see the spiritual connection between the physical land and our physical bodies:

Gen 47:20 And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh’s.
Gen 47:21 And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.

To receive our spiritual “land”, our “promised land”, we must “sell” our physical land as no flesh will have any glory in God’s presence (Rom 12:1):

1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

It was only the priests who were not under this procedure at this point in time as they typified the elect who already endured this whole process of judgment and redemption:

Gen 47:22 Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.

Now Joseph commanded the people to do their own sowing to provide for themselves and for others – this is an important principle in God’s kingdom (1Co 4:12; Php 2:12; 1Th 4:11):

Gen 47:23 Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.

In the process of sowing in the land spiritually, we also present our bodies as a living sacrifice in service to God and others – the land of God:

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

In the time of harvest the Egyptians were required by Joseph to add “the fifth part unto Pharaoh” and four parts of the harvest were kept for themselves:

Gen 47:24 And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.
Gen 47:25 And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.
Gen 47:26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.

The numbers that feature here are the numbers five and four. We can now see how this number five, which indicates grace through faith, confirms the judgment on these Egyptians. As Pharaoh typifies the Father here, this again helps us to see that all in the fleshly Adam shall be brought to see that they were all God’s work from start to finish. God works all things in every creature’s life, and all will be given God’s spirit in full. We are indeed bought with a price, which is the life of Christ, and when that life is in us, we glorify Him and the Father now in our time of flesh and more so when the fullness of our spiritual life is given (Col 3:17-24):

1Co 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

Four of the five parts of the harvest went to the Egyptians to use. The number four relates spiritually to the whole of the matter at hand, which confirms the truth that we can only serve God with our whole heart when we received the gift of grace through faith (Mat 22:37-38):

Psa 111:1 Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the www.iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:
The Mark of The Beast
The Lake of Fire In Genesis
Metals – Precious Metals, Silver – Negative, Part 1
Animals in Scripture
The Fifth Part and Tithing
The Priests of Egypt
Numbers in Scripture

(Sections from Genesis 37 – 41)

Within this theme of spiritual glorification, we are confronted with many aspects which God’s elect must endure within the process of being seated together with Christ in rulership over the earth and the heaven (Mat 20:28; Eph 2:6; 1Co 6:2-3; Rev 20:4-15). One of these aspects is physical confinement or imprisonment, even in terms of its spiritual application in this age. This concept of physical imprisonment first appears in the scriptures in the life of Joseph. Many people mentioned in the scriptures also experienced physical imprisonment – a few names that come to mind includes Samson and some of the prophets in the Old Testament like Jeremiah, Micaiah, Zacharias and Daniel. In the New Testament we read about physical imprisonment in the lives of John the Baptist, Peter, James, John, Silas, Paul, Epaphras, Aristarchus, Junia…even Jesus was physically laid hands on and incarcerated:

Mat 26:50 And Jesus said unto him [Judas], Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they [the “great crowd with swords and clubs, being sent from the chief priests and elders of the people”], and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.

Prison life is characterized with much sighing, suffering, groaning and death (1Ki 22:27; Psa 66:10-12; Jer 52:11; Mat 14:3-10; Act 16:23-24; 2Ti 2:9):

Psa 79:11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die.

Psa 102:20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.

The physical creation and all carnal spirit beings were created by God to be in a spiritual prison in which all these creations of God are appointed to a death experience (Gen 2:7-8; Job 4:18-19; Rom 7:24; Rom 8:5-6). Whenever we read about prisons in the scriptures, it is therefore a spiritual type which includes life in the flesh of all in the first Adam (Rom 1:20; 1Co 15:45-50). It is indeed an experience of evil and death which God is giving to the sons of man to humble them in it (Jer 52:11; Heb 13:3):

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity [Hebrew: “âdâm”] to humble them by it.

Death and the fear of death rule us in this time of our fleshly imprisonment, and it is only by the spirit of the Father that spiritual liberty and deliverance from this prison can come through Christ (Isa 61:1):

Psa 142:7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.

Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me [Christ], because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.

Jesus Christ took part of the same prison-life in flesh to open the way to spirit-life for all in this prison through His resurrection from this death:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Paul also describes this prison of flesh and its carnal mind as a law under which we must live before the law of the spirit in Christ Jesus will start to operate in us to set us free and give us rulership:

Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

We also know that God does not despise His prisoners which He appointed to this death experience, especially those in this age who are given to see that they are indeed poor in spirit being in this fleshly existence and in desperate need of God’s spirit and His redemptive work through Jesus Christ:

Mat 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Psa 69:33 For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.

To be raised to the glorious spirit-life of the Father we need to be baptised with the death of Christ, which means we must carry His cross and die to our own flesh and to the spirit of the world with all its pride and lusts in us (1Jn 2:16). This also links to us being despised and rejected for His name’s sake as we drink this cup with Him (Mat 10:38-39; Mat 20:22-23; Gal 2:20; 1Co 15:31):

Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

This death and resurrection was all pictured and typified in the global flood where the same spirit of Christ preached before the flood came to those people whose “spirits [were] in prison” and who were under the dominion of sin “in the days of Noah” (Gen 6:1-7). Even the ones who were supposed to be God’s messengers (“the sons of God”) through the generational line of Seth, sinned and were trapped in the “chains of darkness” through those in the generational line of Cain (Gen 4:16-24; Gen 4:25-26; Gen 5:1-32). Only Noah was kept perfect by God in that generation of Seth, and with his family they escaped the prison life of that “old world” as a type of how few in this age will be given first preference to escape this old flesh (Mat 22:14):

Gen 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

2Pe 2:4 For if God spared not the angels [Greek: “aggelos” = messengers] that sinned, but cast them down to hell [Greek: “tartaroō” = death/spiritual incarceration], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
2Pe 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.

1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God’s elected few are called to bring the other spiritual prisoners from their prisons at the time appointed by the Father:

Isa 42:6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Isa 42:7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

Although all in the first Adam are “concluded under sin”, this resurrection from the prison of death of the flesh is firstly ordained for these few elected ones, even as they are experiencing this now in faith as a downpayment (Rom 8:22-30; Eph 1:13-14; Jas 1:18):

Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

It is through the life of Joseph that these different aspects of spiritual glorification through imprisonment are first brought to the fore in the scriptures. We first meet Joseph in the scriptures at the age of seventeen, and from this time until he was placed on the throne in Egypt a period of thirteen years transpired:

Gen 37:2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren…

Gen 41:46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

These thirteen years in Joseph’s life were always characterised by some type of prison or restrictive living conditions under which Joseph had to live. The number thirteen in the scriptures spiritually connects with our old man and its focus on self and its kingdoms which are in a natural rebellion against God while it depends on its own strength and abilities (Gen 14:1-4; Gen 17:25; Num 29:13; 1Ki 7:13).

These thirteen years in Joseph’s life also bring the positive application to this number thirteen in the sense that these years were very important, because these trials prepared Joseph for rulership. These trials in Joseph’s life started off when he was placed in physical confinement within a pit by his envious and hateful brothers:

Gen 37:23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;
Gen 37:24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit [Hebrew: “bôr” = cistern, dungeon, fountain, pit, well]: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.

The scriptures indeed confirm that the earthly life was created in the beginning as a spiritual pit filled with darkness, being void of the spirit life and light of God (Gen 1:2). The haughty strongholds in our carnal mind obstruct the light of the truth, and we cannot see God’s purposes with us and this creation. However, the day of judgment is the process in us where we see the demise of our earthly kingdoms and the establishing of God’s rulership in us:

Isa 24:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
Isa 24:22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
Isa 24:23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

The apostle Peter describes this time of darkness when the spirit of God starts its work in our lives as follows (Joe 2:1-2; Joe 2:31; Eze 32:6-8; 1Pe 4:17):

Act 2:19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Act 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

This is the time when the seals of our book are opened and the judgment is announced by the seven trumpets which will take us through to rulership as John also alluded to in these words:

Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

This is what is typified with this pit experience and the subsequent enslavement and prison experience of Joseph. This thirteen year-long journey for Joseph reveals to us the judgment which first comes on God’s elect which will also come later on the rest of humanity who do not obey the gospel in this age, as per God’s design (Rev 20:11-15). Joseph’s brothers will be taken through their time of judgment later:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

We did not choose to be placed in this flesh, and we had no options in terms of our families and physical environment. We also do not even choose our enemies and the struggles we encounter in this life. God made those decisions for us, and we all struggle with these “wonderful works of God” at our own appointed times (Psa 107). After God brings His light, these obscurities and our silly contentions with His decisions start to lift, and we slowly learn that all things are fitting exactly into a perfectly ordained time period and purpose which are all worked after God’s glorious counsel and will (Eph 1:11):

Ecc 3:11 (CLV) He has made everything fitting in its season; However, He has put obscurity in their heart So that the man may not find out His work, That which the One, Elohim, does from the beginning to the terminus.”

It is exactly through all these works of God that we are being taught how to be humbled and how to submit to an awesome God and His glorious plan for us. This is part of the foundation of all wisdom in our lives when we can see the “fitting” purposes for these necessary evils in our lives:

Ecc 1:13 (CLV) I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

At this point in time, Joseph had no idea what was ahead of him as God also mercifully does not reveal “what shall be on the morrow” (Jas 4:14). We are also perplexed at times, but with patience we learn that all darkness of this earthly pit will be taken away when God’s revelation is given. Like Paul, we gain deeper understanding of God’s works as we grow through these perplexing trials:

2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
2Co 4:8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
2Co 4:9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2Co 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

It never ceases to amaze how God’s elect are saved through these trials that sometimes seem to take the very life from us. In the case of Joseph, this is also written for our comfort that God will bring an outcome which our natural mind cannot work out:

Gen 37:25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
Gen 37:26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
Gen 37:27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.

Joseph’s brothers then took him from this pit in order to sell him to the slave traders who brought him to Egypt where he was working as a slave in the house of a man called Potiphar. This was again a type of prison as Joseph’s movements were restricted under the orders of his slave master in Egypt for many years (Gen 39:1-6).

The elect of God are not limited by their physical environment or fleshly restrictions because their service is to a God whose wisdom rules far above what the eye can see or the ear can hear (1Cor 2:6-10; Col 3:17). God’s elect will be diligent and industrious whatever is thrown at them:

Col 3:23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men;
Col 3:24 knowing that from the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For you serve the Lord Christ.

In this sense Joseph could also not avoid being a prosperous man, as the Lord was with him. Even the world will have to acknowledge this witness in the lives of God’s elect, typified here by Joseph’s industrious attitude:

Gen 39:2 And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
Gen 39:3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
Gen 39:4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.

Even when we do our best, we will be naive to think that deeper struggles will not come or that those opposing the truth will be kept away from us. The opposition to Joseph’s impact in the prosperity of his master came from a very powerful and influential source – it came in the form of a temptation from Potiphar’s own wife. This wife of Potiphar symbolizes the false church who seduces many with its false integrity and fleshly security. Spiritual Babylon is given this power of seduction by God, and she herself is a spiritual prison. Joseph was continuously under the watchful eye of this adulterous wife of Potiphar as she also spoke to him “day by day”:

Gen 39:7 And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.

Gen 39:10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.

Jesus was also tempted like we are on a daily basis, but Jesus never succumbed to any temptation at any time during His time in this fleshly prison (Heb 2:17; Heb 4:15). This is what Joseph also typified as he never gave in to this woman’s daily temptations. When Joseph rejected her at all occasions, she eventually had him framed by giving a false report to her husband that Joseph wanted to sleep with her. Potiphar believed his wife, as he represents our carnal mind which cannot see through the lies and deceit of Babylon. These false reports and attacks on our integrity are all part of the plan in the lives of God’s elect, even as Joseph was thrown in yet another prison:

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.
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.

This prison is where the Pharaoh’s prisoners were kept, also called “the king’s prisoners”. This prison will be used by God to be Joseph’s connecting point to be later placed in direct contact with the Pharaoh. God, who is the designer and keeper of all prisons of darkness and evil, will never forsake the righteous nor let go of His plan for His elect, even the prison of death (Isa 45:5-7; Act 2:31):

Psa 37:22 (ESV) for those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.
Psa 37:23 (ESV) The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way;
Psa 37:24 (ESV) though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand.
Psa 37:25 (ESV) I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

We are the King’s prisoners, and we were purposefully chosen and elected by God to suffer for the sake of righteousness in this life (Psa 69:33). God’s elect knows this inner witness, and they rejoice in tribulation, even as they serve others now and much more in the future (Jas 1:2-5). This servant attitude is what the apostle Paul also alluded to when he wrote these words as a prisoner of King Jesus (2Co 11:23; 2Co 1:10; 2Co 12:10; 2Ti 1:7-12):

Eph 3:1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
Eph 3:2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
Eph 3:3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Eph 3:4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Eph 3:5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
Eph 3:6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Eph 3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

Joseph’s visions of rulership never departed from him, even in the darkest trials. The diligent spirit of the Lord in Joseph made him to stand out from the rest of the prisoners:

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 a testimony to the work of the Lord through His elect wherever they may be! It was here in this prison where Joseph met the butler and the baker of the Pharaoh. Both had dreams by which Joseph was used by God to correctly interpret and clarify these dreams. The baker was eventually killed, and the butler was restored to Pharaoh’s service. It was through this butler that Joseph was called to interpret the two dreams of the Pharaoh, and by doing that Joseph was placed in rulership over Egypt under the Pharaoh (Gen 41:38-44). This is a type of Jesus who is given the rulership over all by the Father:

Php 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Php 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Php 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

Number 13
Spirits in Prison
Was Christ in Prison?
The King’s Prisoners – Part 1
The King’s Prisoners – Part 2
Are Angels Always Spirits?
Revelation 6:12-17 – Part 2