Joseph in Egypt

Tomorrow (Feb. 27, 2011) will be the last message in a long journey through the book of beginnings, Genesis. The church has been patiently working its way through this wonderful account for around two years now. We finally arrive at chapter 50. Joseph is the Prime Minister of Egypt. At this time in the ancient world, Egypt was the most powerful, prosperous nation in the world. And our boy, Joseph, is a Hebrew... The irony is amazing. This young Jewish man, sold into slavery 20 years earlier by his brothers, has through the providence of God, become the second in command to the most powerful man in the world. He is more Egyptian now than Hebrew although he never denied his heritage and his God.... Joseph's father, Jacob has died (ch.49) and now his brothers are scared to death that Joseph will go back on his pledge to care for his brothers in spite of their betrayal. They are gripped with fear - and Joseph tells them, "Do not fear. Am I in the place of God?" (50:19).  In other words, Joseph knows that it is God job to get revenge, not man's (Romans 12:19). He not only will leave the vengeance to God but he also sees God sovereign hand in the midst of the travesty that had happened to him. He continues "as for you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good..." (50:20). Joseph, way before the writings of Paul (Romans 8:28), believed that God works all things for good to those who love and are called by God. Joseph's incredible grasp on the doctrine of God's sovereignty helped him survive slavery, wrongful accusations (with Potiphar's wife) and wrongful imprisonment. He was elevated to Pharaoh's highest court and became a rescuer to his family and to all the nations of the world. Joseph presents us a picture of what Christ ultimately and completely would fulfill. Joseph's Christlike treatment of his brothers teaches us about God's forgiveness to the underserving (that's us) and his comfort and care to those He had every right to destroy (again, that's us).
Joseph rightly understood and modeled God's love for us through His Son. His strong belief in God's sovereignty helped him to:
1) Be humble (Neither Joseph nor his brothers deserved God's favor)
2) Remove all bitterness (if anyone deserved to be bitter Joseph did. But through God's kindness to him he is reminded to be kind to others)
3) Be equipped to move on (with all the negative things that happened to Joseph, he could have easily done what most of us do when we are wronged... hang onto our anger and resentment because it gives us a certain power to hold over the offenders head and in essence to place ourselves in the place of God. Moving on is something we don't particularly enjoy as we get satisfaction from holding others sins over their head)
4) Enable him to give generously. ( not only does Joseph forgive them. He also provided for them and comforted them. (this is a wonderful picture of what God did for us in Christ)
The thread  that runs through the book of Genesis and indeed in the storyline of the whole bible is this; God is absolutely working His plan. That plan includes His sinless Son dying for our sin so we could be reconciled to God and Joseph reconciled with his undeserving brothers.    I hope all of you who have been  in on the sermons on Genesis this past 2 plus years have learned and enjoyed this great book as much as I have.... God bless!