Genesis 42:8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.
2 Corinthians 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.
When Joseph became ruler over Egypt, his name was changed, and his identity was altered so that he no longer appeared or lived as a shepherd son of Israel from the land of Canaan but as an Egyptian Prime Minister. The transformation was so thorough that when his ten brothers arrived in Egypt, he was totally unrecognizable to them. This true story beautifully illustrates Mashiach ben Yosef (Yeshua/Jesus at His first coming) and contains a prophetic picture pointing to Yeshua and His Jewish people living today as we approach the Second Coming.
Several details elaborate on this amazing parallel. After Joseph was rejected by his brothers and sent to Egypt, his life naturally began to develop in the nation of his exile, including learning its language and culture. Constantly proving his capacity, responsibility, and leadership, Joseph was ultimately embraced by the Egyptians, exalted, and given an Egyptian bride (Asenath, daughter of the priest of On). In like manner, the rejection of Yeshua by the Jews of His day resulted in His becoming a light to the Gentiles, who rightly accepted and exalted Him so that, in many ways, He seemed to take on a Gentile identity and characteristics. As He betrothed Himself to this predominantly Gentile “Church” (with its Jewish roots), He ironically became virtually unrecognizable to His own Jewish people.
To illustrate further, Yeshua and His disciples had lived and worshiped according to the Biblical Jewish calendar: Shabbat, Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, and Feast of Dedication (Chanukah). The later Christian (largely Gentile) church instead adapted and transformed pagan festivals and used them in their worship calendar, changing the cultural expression of the Jewish Messiah and His original followers to a Gentile expression and even prescribing the use of Jewish festivals in “Christian” worship. All the while, Yeshua’s true nature and identity remained, even as Joseph’s did.
But through these parallels, we can begin to understand the portent of Joseph’s experience with his brothers; weeping bitterly when he first recognized them; then carefully arranging the circumstances which would bring them to repentance, and finally, removing the Egyptians for the dramatic revelation of his true identity to his brothers, the sons of Jacob. Likewise, Yeshua, weeping over His Jewish brothers, finally gathers them back into the Promised Land, and begins to arrange the circumstances which will bring them to repentance so that finally, at some final private revelation, “they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him” in amazed gratitude. [Zechariah 12:10].
God, Himself, working behind the scenes, has allowed Satan to do his blinding work on Israel for a season while gathering the Gentiles into His fold. But this season is ending. The mystery of Israel’s blindness is being broadly revealed, prompting the prayers of millions of Gentile believers, and their love for Yeshua and His Jewish brethren is making Israel jealous; so the veil is being removed from Jewish eyes, just as it was from Joseph’s brothers.
And what is our part? To understand the times and seasons in which we live, to pray and labor for both the fullness of the Gentiles and the spiritual revival of Israel which will usher in the coming of Messiah and life from the dead! Through the story of Joseph and the prophetic revelation of both Testaments, we know that all Israel will be saved with the fullness of the Gentiles. Since much of the world is still blinded to Messiah, we need to make the most of every opportunity to open blind eyes, Jewish or Gentile.
Let us reveal Yeshua to the entire world, especially reaching those whom the Lord has placed in our lives. Every time Yeshua is truly revealed, another one of “Joseph’s brothers” can weep with joy, gratitude, and amazement that a humble Suffering Servant is also a great and glorious King!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Some of the wealthiest individuals in the United States are real estate developers. They make their money by buying a piece of property that is terribly run down, seemingly useless, without any value to the naked eye and reforming it completely, making it look brand new! These businessmen are not as much interested in what is on the property as they are interested in the land it’s on!
A sailor who was shipwrecked on a desert island was captured by some of the natives of that island. They carried him off on their shoulders to their village, where he was sure he would end up being the main course. But instead, they put a crown on his head and made him king. He was enjoying all the attention he was receiving but was growing a little suspicious. He started making inquiries and discovered that their custom was to crown a stranger king for a year and at the end of that year the crowned king would be sent to a deserted island where he was allowed to starve to death.
With war drums beating even more intensely in Iran and Syria, we’ve received numerous phone calls and emails expressing their concerns — and understandably so! Nevertheless, even in this climate of anxiety, we are preparing to enter into Shabbat (the Hebrew word for Sabbath) this afternoon. And as we do, we are remembering again, the deep lesson of God’s entering into His rest following the six creation days.
This is one of my favorite promises in the Bible — that God turns mourning into dancing! He takes away the anguish of being clothed in sadness and replaces it with gladness. However, notice what God doesn’t do — simply stop your mourning and make it disappear. No, He transforms it…into joy!
As we discussed last week, the word for “sign” in ancient Hebrew is “oht”. It was used in Genesis to designate God’s covenant sign with Noah, (the rainbow). And we see now the same word again, in Exodus, identified with the deliverance of the Jewish people from the tenth plague, when the angel of death passed through all Egypt to strike the firstborn. Anyone under the “sign” of the blood was spared.
Yesterday we wrote about one of the greatest moves of God … the Moravian Revival. When the community was in complete disarray, Count Zinzendorf focused on how they could live together in love despite their differences. He called all the men together for an intense study of the Scriptures to focus on how Christian life in community was portrayed. These studies combined with intense prayer convinced many of the believers that they were called to live together in love and that their disunity and conflict were contrary to the clear calling of Scripture.
In the late 1800s, an awakening in South Africa led by Andrew Murray was a powerful move of God. Studying that revival yields essential insights concerning the events occurring now throughout the United States. As the spirit of God began to move in Cape Town, Murray compared the SA revival with past experiences of revivals in Europe. He decided that the intense “emotionalism” was a false experience of God and charged in to break up the meeting. Stepping out of the church, he encountered his father standing and weeping. His father rebuked Andrew, “How dare you stop something that I have prayed to happen for 30 years!”