Audio Download

Zec 12:1-14  “The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel”

[Study Aired August 17, 2023]

In chapter 11 of Zacharias, we learn of the effect God’s word has on the nations during the symbolic period of time known as the thousand-year reign (Rev 20:6, Rev 12:5). The word of God is not contemptible to the masses at the beginning of this reign (Rev 11:15) because anon with joy the word will be received (Mat 13:20-22). In time, however, “the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.“

Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Mat 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

As time goes on, the judgment with a rod of iron will produce the results God intended it to have all along; results that are explained in this twelfth chapter of Zacharias and all of Malachi 1:1-14. It will be a time of plenty for the flesh: plenty of watering and planting of the word, plenty of physical healing, along with the needs of society being met plentifully, as Christ demonstrated when His ministry began on the earth.

The ministry of our Lord on earth as a man parallels the elect’s rule and reign under Christ during the thousand-year reign, the natural revealing the spiritual (1Jn 4:17, 1Co 15:46, Rom 1:20). Christ healed all the sick that were brought to him, and fed the masses and met the needs of people as those needs arose and were brought to His attention. However, Christ never converted a single soul, and neither will God’s elect during their reign, to teach the world that the increase of all that watering and planting can only come from God and at an appointed time that has been ordained according to the counsel of His own will (1Co 3:6, Eph 1:11).

The beginning of miracles which Jesus did in Cana of Galilee [another need met by Christ (Joh 2:11)] declared the end from the beginning and was the reason Christ said “Woman, [Mary, a type of elect church] what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.” That the new wine is better than the present wine at the wedding of Cana represents the thousand-year reign of the saints “when men have well drunk.” The new wine represents the time when the saints are ministering and judging the world in the great white throne judgment with the better wine. A most glorious part of our relationship with Christ, a blessed and joyous experience will be in giving the word, the better wine, the cup that Christ longed to drink with us today and does, to the rest of the world in the lake of fire which will produce converted children for the Groom and Bride of Christ (Luk 22:15, Act 20:35, Gal 4:27). 

Joh 2:11  This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. 

The six earthen vessels in this story in John 2:1-11 represent the witness of the process of judgment that must come upon all mankind in the great white throne judgment (witness 2 x process of judgment 3 = on all mankind = 6). God’s elect have this treasure in earthen vessels today and are being sanctified by God’s word [wine] today (Joh 17:17, 2Co 4:7), and will fill the world with that better wine in the lake of fire. The first wine at the wedding of Cana represents the thousand-year reign when the saints will shower the world with both physical and spiritual abundance, symbolized by the first wine given at the wedding that ran out – “the mother of Jesus saith unto him, they have no wine.” In like manner, there will be a famine of the word toward the end of the thousand-year reign in the sense that the hunger and ‘anon with joy’ spirit will dissipate until the second resurrection, which is when the better wine will be given to all of humanity. 

Joh 2:1  And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 
Joh 2:2  And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 
Joh 2:3  And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. 
Joh 2:4  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
Joh 2:5  His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
Joh 2:6  And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.
Joh 2:7  Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 
Joh 2:8  And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. 
Joh 2:9  When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, 
Joh 2:10  And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. 
Joh 2:11  This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. [His disciples believed because of the sign but did not yet understand the spiritual significance of this first miracle.] 

Keeping all of this in mind, it becomes clear that the number 1000 in the expression ‘thousand-year reign’ symbolizes for us the inability for the world to hear the word of the Lord with spiritual eyes that see and ears that hear (Jer 22:29). “O earth (10), earth (10), earth (10), hear the word of the Lord” if multiplied, adds up to the complete one thousand years, and it is at the end of the thousand-year reign when the contempt of mankind will become very evident as a result of the familiarity of their relationship with Christ and his saints without the accompanying spirit of God which makes that relationship grow into one becoming a disciple indeed (Rom 8:9, Joh 8:31). The “inhabitants of Jerusalem”, to which humanity is likened in this study, will rebel against our Lord and His Christ’s rulership being overtaken by Satan who will be loosed for a season (Rev 11:15, Rev 20:7-9).

It will be akin to that moment when Christ said, “Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?” For which of all the works done during the reign of the saints does the world (Gog and Magog) come up against the camp of the saints (Joh 10:32)?  This whole scenario with mankind coming up against the camp of the saints reveals the man of perdition within, a man typified by Judas who was also sent a spirit which caused him to betray Christ and come up against Him (Joh 13:27). 

The “burden of the word of the LORD to Israel” brings with it, in time, a contemptible spirit as mentioned in Malachi 1:1 and 1:7.

Mal 1:1  The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. 

Mal 1:7  Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. 

Here are the verses for this study:

Zec 12:1  The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. 
Zec 12:2  Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 
Zec 12:3  And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. 
Zec 12:4  In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. 
Zec 12:5  And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God. 
Zec 12:6  In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. 
Zec 12:7  The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. 
Zec 12:8  In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. 
Zec 12:9  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 
Zec 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 
Zec 12:11  In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 
Zec 12:12  And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 
Zec 12:13  The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 
Zec 12:14  All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

Zec 12:1  The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. 

“The burden of the word of the LORD” for the world, represented by Israel, is juxtaposed against what God’s word does within us, in our heavens and in the earthen vessels which we are, which is used by God to bring His workmanship unto perfection. It is He who “stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.” This “burden” has become a joyful burden we can bear through Christ today, and if we are granted to endure until the end, we and all the elect will be used to bring forth the manifold knowledge of Christ that will then become “the burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD.“

These physical events Christ has created, stretching “forth the heavens” and laying the “foundation of the earth” (Rom 1:20), represent what Christ will do within every man in his appointed time in order to conform “the spirit of man within him” to become a new creation by the author and finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ (Rom 12:1-2, Eph 2:10).

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. 
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 

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. 

Zec 12:2  Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
Zec 12:3  And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

God is making the body of Christ, Jerusalem above the mother of us all, “a cup of trembling unto all the people round about [that are] in siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.“ Jerusalem becoming a “cup of trembling” is the burden of the word of the LORD or “Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people.” Jerusalem as a cup of trembling is talking about the elect in the first resurrection, “the people round about” represent the world which doesn’t recognize the ‘man of perdition’ on their hearts (2Th 2:3, Rev 2:13). “Israel” (verse 1) and “the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (verse 5) include the religious world and their corrupt spiritual influence on the earth (Rev 11:8, Rev 18:2-3, Isa 1:4-6).

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 

Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 
Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

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.

The world will be “cut in pieces” as a result of burdening themselves with the stone of stumbling Christ and his bride will be during the thousand-year reign, which is something that is going to happen via the sharper-than-any-two-edged-sword of God going forth from the elect (Heb 4:12). Even if all the earth comes up against the body of Christ, “though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it“, God’s judgments will prevail even from the start of the thousand-year reign until the end (Mic 4:3).

Mic 4:3  And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Zec 12:4  In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
Zec 12:5  And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

“In that day” means the day the saints rule with a rod of iron and the world is shown their blindness. God will take away the power of influence the churches of the world have (“every horse“) by showing them their blindness, to which “I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness” refers (Rev 14:16-20). 

Rev 14:15  And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
Rev 14:16  And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. 
Rev 14:17  And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
Rev 14:18  And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. 
Rev 14:19  And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 
Rev 14:20  And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

That “astonishment” being talked about is connected to the amazement the world will feel when they come to sober up spiritually and understand this verse, “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration”^{G2295 wonder} (Rev 14:8, Rev 17:6).

Rev 14:8  And another, a second, angel followed, saying, Great Babylon has fallen, has fallen, which of the wine of the fury of her fornication has made all nations drink. 

Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 

The world will begin to wake up to where God’s power resides, “And the governors of Judah [the elect] shall say in their heart: The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.” The world will serve the same God the elect serve, and the elect overcoming the giants of the land that are accompanying the worlds yet defiled land [wood, hay and stubble], will reveal the strength of the elect’s relationship with God to the world.

Zec 12:6  In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.

“In that day will I make the governors of Judah [God’s elect] like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf” is another example of men learning righteousness because God’s judgments are in the earth burning up the wood, hay and stubble “like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf” (Jer 5:14). 

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Zec 12:7  The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.

God’s elect are represented by “the tents of Judah” who are saved first (Rom 2:10) and the world is represented by “the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem [who] do not magnify themselves against Judah.”

Rom 2:10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first [“the tents of Judah“], and also to the Gentile: 

Zec 12:8  In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.
Zec 12:9  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 

When we understand that the man of perdition who must be destroyed  is represented by “all the nations that come against Jerusalem“, and that the world, represented by “the inhabitants of Jerusalem“, are precious to God and beloved (Rom 11:28), these verses open up for us (Zec 12:8). This destruction of the nations has an inward application for the body of Christ today who are being judged (1Pe 4:17) and the outward dispensational view of the man of perdition’s destruction is being shown in these verses (Zec 12:8-9).

They [the world] are feeble without the spirit of God within them, “shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God“,  with the elect before them “as the angel of the LORD before them” who will guide them and teach the world the truth of God only to later see the nations “come against Jerusalem” (Isa 26:9).

The world really is, as are God’s elect, sheep for the slaughter (Rom 8:36), and this verse, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” is referring to the time of Gog and Magog when an end of all physical flesh will come (Rev 20:8). That natural event of the destruction of the nations by fire is a shadow of the spiritual baptism of fire that will take place in the lake of fire when all the world is raised in the second resurrection. It is the judgment of all the nations of the world to which God has called the elect (1Co 6:3).

1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Zec 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

These next few verses (Zec 12:10-14) demonstrate the progression of God’s plan, to which we just saw God referring at the event of Gog and Magog in the previous verse “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (Zec 12:9) resulting in the next great event which will be the great white throne judgment when all the books of humanity are opened (Rev 20:11-12).

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

These following verses (Zec 12:10-14) help us understand how God is going to judge “the inhabitants of Jerusalem” by pouring out “the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn“, meaning God will lead all of humanity to repentance and an understanding (Rom 2:4) of what flesh was and how the spirit of man apart from God’s spirit within does not produce the blessed relationship of knowing God and Christ (Joh 17:3). It is the gift of “the spirit of grace and of supplications” which starts that process in all the world that will be judged at that time (Eph 2:8-9).

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 

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.

Zec 12:11  In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

Historically there are several interesting connections to look at regarding “the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon“, specifically in regard to the death of pagan kings and the idolatrous worship of deities. In the book of Joshua we learn of all these kings who were killed in this area of Palestine, “all the kings thirty and one” (Jos 12:1-24).

In this verse, Jerusalem represents Jerusalem below, all the world that are being judged, all Israel who are going to be saved through that judgment (Rom 11:26), through the mercy that will have already been shown to the saviors who come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau (Oba 1:21).

The mourning in Jerusalem on that day will be as the mourning of Hadadrimmon^{H1910 H1908} in the valley of Megiddon^{H4023 H1413} because the idols of man’s hearts will be exposed through God’s judgment (Rev 17:9-12).

Rev 17:9  And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
Rev 17:10  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 
Rev 17:11  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition [2Th 2:8].
Rev 17:12  And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

Inwardly this judgment begins at the house of God with the elect (1Pe 4:17). The names Hadadrimmon^{H1910 H1908} and Megiddon^{H4023 H1413} also establish the pagan origins of this location, and most importantly what its spiritual significance is for God’s elect today.

H1910
Hadadrimmon
hădadrimmôn had-ad-rim-mone’

From H1908 and H7417; Hadad Rimmon, a place in Palestine: – Hadad-rimmon.

H1908
hădad
had-ad’

Probably of foreign origin (compare H111); Hadad, the name of an idol, and of several kings of Edom: – Hadad.

H4023
Megiddon
megiddôn    megiddô
meg-id-done’, meg-id-do’

From H1413; rendezvous; Megiddon or Megiddo, a place in Palestine: – Megiddo, Megiddon.

H1413
gâdad
gaw-dad’

A primitive root (compare H1461); to crowd; also to gash (as if by pressing into): – assemble (selves by troops), gather (selves together, self in troops), cut selves

Zec 12:12  And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 
Zec 12:13  The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 
Zec 12:14  All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

The land that mourns represents all of humanity [the whole represented by the four family groups named], “All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart”:

the family of the house of David (beloved/loving) apart, and their wives apart;
the family of the house of Nathan (giver/given) apart, and their wives apart;
the family of the house of Levi (joined/attached) apart, and their wives apart;
the family of Shimei (my listeners/renowned/famous) apart, and their wives apart;

“All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart^H905 [apart, alone, by self]” These names we’re looking at are connected to the world, and to the court, and give us great hope of how ‘as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive’ (1Co 15:22). 

David H1732 beloved/loving
youngest son of Jesse and second king of Israel

Nathan H5416 giver/given

a son of David by Bathsheba
the eminent prophet in the time of David and Solomon
a man of Zobah, father of one of David’s mighty warriors
father of Azariah who was over the officers of Solomon
son of Attai and father of Zabad of the tribe of Judah
brother of Joel of the tribe of Judah
one of the head men who returned from Babylon with Ezra
a man with a foreign wife in the time of Ezra
head of a family of Israel who shall mourn when they look on him whom they pierce

Levi H3878 “joined to”/attached
the third son of Jacob by Leah and progenitor of tribe of Levites

Shimei H8097 Patronymic from H8096; Shimei or Shimhi or Shimi or Shimea = renowned/famous
a Benjamite, son of Gera of the house of Saul in the time of David
a Benjamite, son of Elah and commissariat officer in the time of Solomon
the Ramathite in charge of the vineyards of David
son of Gershon and grandson of Levi
a Levite, son of Jeduthun and chief of the 10th division of singers in the time of David
a Levite of the sons of heman who took part in the purification of the temple in the time of king hezekiah of Judah
a Levite, brother of Cononiah in charge of receiving the tithes and offerings in the reign of king hezekiah of Judah
a Levite who had a foreign wife in the time of Ezra
a Judaite, son of Pedaiah and brother of Zerubbabel
a Simeonite, son of Zacchur
a Reubenite, son of Gog and father of Micah
one of the sons of Hashum who had a foreign wife in the time of Ezra
one of the sons of Bani who had a foreign wife in the time of Ezra
a Benjamite, son of Kish, father of Jair, and grandfather of Mordecai in the time of Esther
a Levite, son of Jahath, grandson of Gershon, and great grandson of Levi
Benjamite, father of Adaiah, Beraiah, and Shimrath. Spelled ‘Shimhi’

The world will be feeling very alone, very bad, and very apart in this moment when they have been separated for judgment, as God has intended for all the world to feel like Joseph’s brothers felt when they came to see the one they pierced. It will take as much time as it needs to take for the world to understand these words of Joseph in Genesis 45:5, which will always be true for all of God’s creation that must experience, “The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel”, judging each man, in his appointed time and bringing us all into the realization of His great unending love toward each of us (Joh 3:16, 1Co 15:28). 

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.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

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.