Joseph as a Type of Christ in Genesis 44-45
Sunday March 11, 2007
Genesis: Joseph as a Type of Christ in Genesis 44-45
Tape # 294
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 44:1.
Last Sunday, we completed a study of Genesis 45:1-15 and left off with Joseph reconciling with his brothers.
As I noted on Tuesday, before we complete our study of Genesis 45, I thought it would be instructive to study the various ways in which Joseph is a type of Christ in Genesis 40-45.
In this study, we have seen this past week and will see this morning that many of the events that took place in Joseph’s life that we studied in Genesis 40-45 “foreshadow” or “parallel” the events that took place in the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This past week we looked at the various ways that Joseph typifies our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Genesis 40-43 and this morning we will wrap up this study of Joseph as a type of Christ by noting how he is a type of Christ in Genesis 44-45.
Genesis 44:1-2, “Then he commanded his house steward, saying, ‘Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of his sack. Put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his money for the grain.’ And he did as Joseph had told him.”
Genesis 44:3, “As soon as it was light, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys.”
Genesis 44:4-5, “They had just gone out of the city, and were not far off, when Joseph said to his house steward, ‘Up, follow the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? Is not this the one from which my lord drinks and which he indeed uses for divination? You have done wrong in doing this.’”
The purpose of Joseph ordering his house steward to put his silver cup in the mouth of Benjamin’s sack was to test the character and integrity of his brothers and to lead them to confession of guilt for selling him into slavery and to reconcile them to himself (See Colossians 1:22).
Joseph’s actions in seeking a reconciliation with his brothers typifies our Lord’s actions during His First Advent when He came to seek and to save that which is lost and reconcile them to God (See Luke 19:10).
Joseph’s actions in sending his house steward after his brothers in order to convict them of sin and to reconcile them to himself typifies the Lord Jesus Christ sending the Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin and reconcile men to God (See John 16:7-11).
Genesis 44:6, “So he overtook them and spoke these words to them.”
Genesis 44:7, “They said to him, ‘Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing.’”
Genesis 44:8, “Behold, the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks we have brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord's house?”
Genesis 44:9, “With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord's slaves.”
Genesis 44:10, “So he said, ‘Now let it also be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and the rest of you shall be innocent.’”
Genesis 44:11, “Then they hurried, each man lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack.”
Genesis 44:12, “He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.”
Genesis 44:13, “Then they tore their clothes, and when each man loaded his donkey, they returned to the city.”
Genesis 44:14, “When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground before him.”
Genesis 44:15, “Joseph said to them, ‘What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed practice divination?’”
Genesis 44:16, “So Judah said, ‘What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; behold, we are my lord's slaves, both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been found.’”
Genesis 44:17, “But he said, ‘Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose possession the cup has been found, he shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.’”
Genesis 44:18, “Then Judah approached him, and said, ‘Oh my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord's ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are equal to Pharaoh.’”
Genesis 44:19, “My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’”
Genesis 44:20, “We said to my lord, ‘We have an old father and a little child of his old age. Now his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’”
Genesis 44:21, “Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him.’”
Genesis 44:22, “But we said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’”
Genesis 44:23, “You said to your servants, however, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’”
Genesis 44:24, “Thus it came about when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.”
Genesis 44:25, “Our father said, ‘Go back, buy us a little food.’”
Genesis 44:26, “But we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.’”
Genesis 44:27-28, “Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons and the one went out from me, and I said, ‘Surely he is torn in pieces, and I have not seen him since.’”
Genesis 44:29, “If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”
Genesis 44:30-31, “Now, therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad's life, when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.”
Genesis 44:32, “For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then let me bear the blame before my father forever.’”
Genesis 44:33, “Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.”
Genesis 44:34, “For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me -- for fear that I see the evil that would overtake my father?”
Genesis 45:1, “Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried, ‘Have everyone go out from me.’ So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.”
Genesis 45:2, “He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it.”
Genesis 45:3, “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.”
Joseph does not reveal his identity to his brothers until they confessed their guilt before God for selling him into slavery, which typifies our Lord’s Jewish brethren confessing their guilt before the Lord comes back at His Second Advent.
Hosea 5:15, “I will go away and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”
Just as Joseph did not publicly reveal himself to his brothers until their second trip to Egypt so the Lord Jesus Christ will not reveal Himself to His Jewish brethren until His Second Advent.
Just as Joseph’s brothers rejected his rulership over them when he was seventeen years of age but accepted his rulership the second time that they meet up with him so the nation of Israel rejected the rulership of Jesus Christ over them but will accept His rulership at His Second Advent.
The chart below will help us to understand when the Second Advent will take place in history.
The “Second Advent” is the visible return of Christ to planet earth with the elect angels and the Church in order to save the nation of Israel from her enemies and end the Tribulation dispensation and establish our Lord’s 1000-year millennial reign (Daniel 2:44-45; Zechariah. 14; Matthew 24:29-31; Revelation 19:11-21).
The Lord and His armies will orbit the earth before landing on the Mount of Olives, which was the site of His Ascension (Acts. 1:9-11) and there will be a great earthquake when our Lord’s foot touches the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:1-8) and it will be a unique day having neither day nor night (Zech. 14:7).
Zechariah 14:1, “Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you.”
Zechariah 14:2, “For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.”
Zechariah 14:3, “Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.”
Zechariah 14:4, “In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.”
Zechariah 14:5, “You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!”
Zechariah 14:6, “In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle.”
Zechariah 14:7, “For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.”
Zechariah 14:8, “And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.”
Zechariah 14:9, “And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.”
Zechariah 14:10, “All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin's Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's wine presses.”
Zechariah 14:11, “People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.”
Zechariah 14:12, “Now this will be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth.”
Zechariah 14:13, “It will come about in that day that a great panic from the LORD will fall on them; and they will seize one another's hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another.”
Zechariah 14:14, “Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance.”
Zechariah 14:15, “So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps.”
Zechariah 14:16, “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”
Zechariah 14:17, “And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.”
Zechariah 14:18, “If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the LORD smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”
Zechariah 14:19, “This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”
Zechariah 14:20, “In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, ‘HOLY TO THE LORD.’ And the cooking pots in the LORD'S house will be like the bowls before the altar.”
Zechariah 14:21, “Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the LORD of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts in that day.”
Just as Joseph’s brothers were terrified when he revealed himself to them so our Lord’s Jewish brethren will be terrified and dismayed when He reveals Himself to them at His Second Advent.
Zechariah 12:10, “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”
Genesis 45:4, “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Please come closer to me.’ And they came closer. And he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.’”
When Joseph said to his brothers “come closer to me” this typifies a sinner drawing near to God through faith alone in Christ alone (See Ephesians 2:13).
Genesis 45:5, “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”
The fact that Joseph was sent by God to deliver his family and the world from famine typifies God the Father sending His Son Jesus Christ to deliver Israel and the world from sin and Satan.
1 John 4:9, “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.”
Genesis 45:6, “For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.”
Genesis 45:7, “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.”
Genesis 45:8, “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”
Joseph communicates to his brothers that it was a part of God plan from eternity past that they sold him into slavery, which typifies God the Father’s plan from eternity past to send His Son to be crucified in order to perform a great deliverance.
Acts 2:22-23, “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know, this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”
Genesis 45:9, “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, ‘God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay.’”
Genesis 45:10, “You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have.”
Genesis 45:11, “There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.”
Just as Joseph told his brothers to hurry and bring their father and entire family to Egypt to be delivered from the famine in Canaan so the Lord Jesus Christ through the agency of God the Holy Spirit urges all men to be saved through faith alone in Christ alone.
2 Corinthians 6:1-2, “And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain for He says, ‘AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.’ Behold, now is ‘THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,’ behold, now is ‘THE DAY OF SALVATION.’”
Joseph’s promise to provide food for his brothers and their families typifies the Lord Jesus Christ promising spiritual food to the nation of Israel and all men.
John 6:36, “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.’”
Genesis 45:12, “Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to you.”
Genesis 45:13, “Now you must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt, and all that you have seen; and you must hurry and bring my father down here.”
When Joseph commanded his brothers to declare his glory in Egypt to their father in Canaan, this typifies the Lord Jesus Christ’s Jewish brethren declaring His glory to the Gentiles during the millennial reign of Christ.
Isaiah 66:19, “I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Rosh, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations.”
Genesis 45:14, “Then he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.”
Genesis 45:15, “He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.”
Just as Joseph treated his brothers in grace and mercy so the Lord Jesus Christ will treat His Jewish brethren in the same manner at His Second Advent.
Isaiah 54:7-8, “For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you, says the LORD your Redeemer.”