Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Genesis (6)

Pray Psalm 16.8-11.
I have set the LORD always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope.
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Sing Psalm 16.8-11.
(All to Christ: Jesus Paid It All)
You are ever with me, LORD; in You I shall not fall.
But rejoicing in Your Word, I abide within Your call.
Refrain v. 11
Make me know life’s way! Pleasures fill Your hand.
Fill my life with joy each day! Before Your face I stand.

Soon Your glory I shall see, for as Jesus rose again,
You will come to gather me to my home with You in heav’n.
Refrain

Read Genesis 45.1-7; 50.20; meditate on verses acts 2.22-36.

Preparation
1. What had happened to Joseph?

2. How did God use this situation?

Meditation
In Acts 2.22-36 Peter declared to the gathered crowd that what they had intended for evil—the crucifixion of Jesus—God planned and used for good—the salvation of a people for God. Surely his words would have cued up the story of Joseph for many of his hearers.

Joseph’s story foreshadows the story of Jesus. Joseph was favored by his father, as evidence by the multicolored wrap Jacob gave him (which itself recalls the rainbow of Genesis 9, a symbol of God’s patience and favor). His brothers became jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery. Joseph was now “dead” to his father and his family. But God intended good out of this. He raised Joseph, as it were, from the grave of imprisonment and exalted him to the second highest place of authority in Egypt. From that platform, Joseph was able to redeem his brothers and his family and bring much good to the world.

Joseph’s gracious comment to his brothers in Genesis 50.20 points us forward to a time when a horrible and cruel act would be turned for the salvation of God’s people and the blessing of the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God would bring good out of evil, just as He had done with Joseph.

Many in that crowd in Acts 2 would have seen in Jesus an anti-type (the fulfillment of the type) of Joseph. Like Joseph’s brothers, they had acted lawlessly and cruelly; but God in His grace raised Jesus to show them mercy. No wonder “they were cut to the heart” and sought eagerly to be saved (Acts 2.37-41).

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Joseph was sent before his brothers to:
-preserve life
-preserve a posterity
-save lives
-bring a great deliverance (Gen. 45.1-7).

Joseph’s brothers thought to rid themselves of him with evil intent; but God used their evil for good to save many people alive (Gen. 50.20).

Jesus willingly came to earth, unlike Joseph who was betrayed by his brothers and forced into a place of authority, to save our lives by a great deliverance. His deliverance encompasses and is sufficient for the whole world. All Scripture tells the same story. Jesus is there.

Our daughter Kristy uses an emoticon to show happiness that makes me laugh every time. It consists of a joy-screaming face, with expressively victorious arms, bulging eyes, one lock of upstanding hair, a pink shirt, and a yellow explosion behind it. All the recipient of said emoticon can say when in receipt is, “There she is!”

The other day when talking on the phone with her about this study of Jesus throughout the Scriptures she said, “This study causes the same response. Everywhere you look in the Scriptures they joyfully scream out, ‘There He is! Ah, there He is!’” Yes, indeed. There He is.

So, too, this story of Joseph is reminding us of God’s great deliverance through His Beloved Son Jesus.

“Therefore the LORD will wait,
that He may be gracious to you;
and therefore He will be exalted,
that He may have mercy on you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for Him” (Is. 30.18).

After waiting, like Joseph’s brothers did for food,
all mankind waited for the arrival of Jesus, the Bread of Life (Jn. 6.48).
And in God’s mercy and time He sent this One of Whom He said:
“I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness,
And will hold Your hand; I will keep You
and give You as a covenant to the people,
as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes,
to bring out prisoners from the prison,
those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
I AM the LORD, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another…” (Is. 42.6-8).

On the Sabbath day, when handed the book of Isaiah, Jesus opened to this passage and read:
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me
to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me
to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed;
to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD” (Lk. 4.17-19).

There I AM!
“…these are they which testify of Me” (Jn. 5.39).

Reflection
1. How have you experienced God bringing good out of evil in your own life?

2. How can such situations help improve your witness for the Lord?

3. Joseph forgave his brothers. Jesus forgave us. Is there anyone you need to forgive?

Christ’s resurrection did away the reproach of his death; Peter speaks largely upon this. Christ was God’s Holy One, sanctified and set apart to his service in the work of redemption. His death and sufferings should be, not to him only, but to all his, the entrance to a blessed life for evermore. This event had taken place as foretold, and the apostles were witnesses. Mathew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Acts 2.22-36

Pray Psalm 16.1-7.
Thank the Lord for saving you, directing your life into “pleasant places”, and storing up an inheritance with you among all the saints in glory. Bless the Lord and seek instruction for serving Him this day.

Sing Psalm 16.1-7, 11.
(All to Christ: Jesus Paid It All))
Preserve me, O my God; I refuge seek in You.
You alone are all my good, my LORD and Savior true!
Refrain v. 11
Make me know life’s way! Pleasures fill Your hand.
Fill my life with joy each day! Before Your face I stand.

The saints within the earth, majestic in their day,
delight me with the worth of all they do and say.
Refrain

They endless tears shall weep who worship idols vain;
their ways I will not keep, nor speak their empty names.
Refrain

My portion and my cup are You, my Savior dear;
You help and hold me up and ever keep me near.
Refrain

I bless Your Name, O LORD; my mind instructs each night;
You teach me by Your Word and guide me in the right.
Refrain

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.