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Joseph: A Foreshadow of Christ

Joseph: A Foreshadow of Christ

The Bible tells us that the stories of the Old Testament were recorded as examples to us (1 Corinthians 10:6 NIV84).

The Bible is a record of real historical people, real events, and literal places. For instance, the record of Joseph’s life is a reliable record of real events that happened—his birth, abduction, imprisonment, and eventual rise to power in Egypt.

But the Bible is more than a history book. The specific lives and events recorded in Scripture were included by the inspiration of God for the purpose of advancing the plan of salvation. We read about the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—such as Joseph—because it was through them and their families and descendants that the promised Messiah would come.

But even more than this, many of the life experiences recorded are examples, object lessons, or foreshadows of greater realities in the plan of salvation.

For instance, there were seven miracle births recorded in the Bible besides Jesus’ virgin birth. These other miracle births were not virgin births; they were women with infertility whom God healed—thus, it was a miracle of healing the malady of infertility and then the women became pregnant in the normal way. These seven special births all represent Jesus in some way:

  1. Sarah—Isaac: represents the promised Child who would be sacrificed.
  2. Rebekah—Jacob: in union with God, Jacob wrestled with his own fears and selfishness and overcame, eventually becoming the father of the nation built upon his twelve sons. This foreshadows Jesus, who wrestled with temptation and overcame to be the cornerstone of the church, which was built upon the work of twelve apostles.
  3. Monoah’s wife—Samson: Samson was blessed with strength to deliver Israel from bondage and rule over them. Jesus has the strength to deliver us from sin and rule the universe.
  4. Hannah—Samuel: represents our heavenly High Priest, Jesus.
  5. Shunammite woman—child who died and was resurrected: represents Jesus, who died and rose again.
  6. Elizabeth—John the Baptist: John was described as the greatest of prophets and accurately represents Jesus, who was the greatest of all prophets.
  7. Rachel—Joseph: the events in Joseph’s life greatly foreshadow the life of Jesus.

 

Joseph: A Foreshadow of the Savior

There is more written about Joseph in the book of Genesis than any other Bible patriarch. This is because Joseph’s life, in a very real way, foreshadows Jesus and provides powerful lessons about the plan of salvation.

Below are some of the ways Joseph’s life foreshadowed the life of Jesus:

  • Jacob gave Joseph a coat of many colors. This was Jacob’s way of setting Joseph apart from his brothers as the one who would occupy the position of firstborn (which is not about birth order but about position of authority in the family). The firstborn received a double inheritance, something that Joseph received, as the Bible explicitly confirms: “The rights of the firstborn belonged to Joseph” (1 Chronicles 5:2 NIV84).
    • Jesus “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15–17 NIV84).
  • Joseph’s brothers were jealous, betrayed him, and lied about him.
    • Lucifer was jealous in heaven and betrayed Jesus and, lying about God, led a third of the angels into rebellion; he then lied to Adam and Eve, leading humanity into sin. When Jesus came to Earth, He was despised and rejected by men. His own people betrayed Him, lied about Him, and handed Him over to Roman authorities to have Him killed.
  • Joseph was sold and became a slave.
    • Jesus left heaven and humbled Himself all the way down to that of a slave, just as Scripture describes: “You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross! As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5–11 NET)
  • Joseph was faithful in all his duties as a slave.
    • Jesus was faithful in all His duties as our human Savior (Revelation 1:5).
  • Joseph was tempted by Potiphar’s wife but rejected the temptations.
    • Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness but rejected the temptations (Matthew 4:1–11; Hebrews 4:15).
  • Joseph was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife.
    • Jesus was falsely accused by the Jewish leaders.
  • Joseph was wrongly imprisoned in a dungeon.
    • Jesus was wrongly imprisoned in the grave.
  • Joseph was raised to the right hand of the sovereign.
    • Jesus arose from the grave to the right hand of God (Ephesians 1:20).
  • Joseph was Hebrew but also became Egyptian and took an Egyptian name.
    • Jesus is divine but He became human.
  • Joseph married an Egyptian woman.
    • Christ’s bride is from this world of sin.
  • Joseph prepared a place for his family.
    • Jesus prepares a place for us (John 14).
  • Seven years of plenty to prepare for the seven years of famine.
    • Seven is a number that represents spiritual completion. We are in a spiritual war, and Jesus is the bread that came down from heaven that provides the spiritual sustenance for all who trust Him (John 6:33, 41). Jesus has a storehouse of spiritual food sufficient for all our needs. Despite living in a world of sin, a world of spiritual famine, Jesus is the Bread of Life for all who will trust Him.
  • Joseph required those who wanted the grain of Egypt to purchase it and, ultimately, they sold everything they had to Egypt.
    • In order for us to partake the bread of heaven, we must surrender all other means whereby we try to obtain eternal life. We are instructed to buy from Jesus the gold tried in the fire (Revelation 3:18). We buy from Jesus through the barter method. We exchange what we have for what He has. We exchange a sinful heart for a righteous heart, guilt and shame for purity and peace, condemnation for commendation, eternal death for eternal life.
  • Joseph received the land of Goshen, a rich and bountiful land, from the sovereign for his family.
    • Jesus will receive the earth made new from His Father for His human family.

The Bible is the record of real historical people, who lived real historical lives. But it is even more: It is a divine revelation of God’s love, character, methods, principles, and His plan to save you and me from sin.

As you study Scripture, not only learn the historic truths, but also seek the deep eternal truths.

 

 

 

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Thank you and may God continue to bless you as you share with others the intricacies of how we are all “fearfully and wonderfully made”. I must share that you have opened a whole new world to me, and I have found tremendous healing through what you have shared in two of your books, “Could It Be This Simple?” and “The God Shaped Brain.” I praise God for what you shared, what I have learned, and how I have grown and healed! My prayer is that My Precious Jesus will be seen by others in the way I live, act, talk, etc. and they may be encouraged to know He is truly a GREAT God of LOVE, desiring that no one should perish! God Bless you in your continued endeavors to present Him as He really is!

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After reading your book, ‘Could It Be This Simple,’ someone was explaining Christianity in a way that made sense to me for the first time in my life. One morning, I simply prayed “I’m sorry and I love you.” As soon as I silently said that, I could literally feel God’s presence and light flood down on me from above and fill me up with love and joy. I sat there crying my eyes out, because I was so overpowered with this feeling of love and joy. It was just so incredible. I hope that more people can read this book and get a blessing from it. It’s really amazing.

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God lead me to your book “The God-Shaped Brain” while I was searching for another book about the brain and then to your interview about your book on HeartWise Ministries [where] I found out about [Come And Reason Ministries]. I’m now devouring the webcasts of your Bible studies. I have been so greatly blessed and I thank God so much for your courage to speak the Truth in love no matter what. Listening to you contrast the two opposing systems (laws) and digging deep to unearth the hidden treasures in the Bible makes me so incredibly happy and I feel very blessed to be part of your Bible Study Group although I live far away. I am just so excited that there is a group of people that is spreading the Truth about the character of God and it saddens me how few realize what our Father in Heaven is really like.

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I’ve been reading the bible and walking with Jesus since I was around 16. I’m 42 now. I’ve mostly been alone in my walk although I went to several churches in different denominations. For the past 3 years God has been showing me His character of agape. It’s been a blessing and changed how I view God and my walk with Jesus. About a year ago I came across the power of love and the principles of design law. These teachings changed how I read scripture and have been such a beautiful blessing. I’m very excited and grateful for these truths. We share these truths of agape, design law and the reality of the principles of the two trees in the garden of Eden with people on Facebook and YouTube. People all over are learning to trust God and His agape design law which makes life possible. Thank you for everything you shared with me. May God continue to bless your ministry and lives.

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Michael A., Ghana

 

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You have helped make sense of thirty two years of confusion. The material you freely provide reorganized so much of my life into such a beautiful pattern that has always been hinted at from within, but misguided with my training and what I was experiencing externally. My filipno parents, who were converted from Catholicism to SDA, were sincere and did their best to raise me the right way and I have deep respect for them. However, being immigrants and not understanding the language made for a difficult transition as I was growing up, which also applied to my spiritual growth as I learned the patterns of religion. I have been listening to as many bible study classes and reading blog posts as my time in a work truck will allow, searching for the practical applications of where spirituality and reality meet, and I thank you for helping me find that. You have helped me reach a point in which I can truly say that I love God, that I believe He loves me, and, like David, I delight in His law. God bless.

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