Advent 2023: November 15 - People

Wednesday, November 15th: People

Read Genesis 37-50.

Our next person who foreshadows who Jesus is and what he does is Joseph the son of Jacob.

Genesis has been building up from the beginning.  Genesis 3 taught us to look out for a Son of Eve.  Genesis 12 taught us that through Abraham’s son all people of the world will be blessed.

Genesis 37-50 makes us wonder if that son promised to Adam and Eve and Abraham is Joseph.
 
Think about it.  Joseph is the favored Son of his Father Jacob.  Joseph is sold by his own brothers and for all they think, doomed to die.  Joseph is left in Egypt, a slave who is exiled from his home in the promised land with his father Jacob.  Back home, Jacob thinks that his son is dead.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, Joseph rises through the ranks, is betrayed, and then cast into prison.  But by means of being able to interpret dreams is eventually brought before Pharoah, gains Pharoah’s confidence, and is exalted as his right hand.  Joseph then saves the world from famine. (He just blessed all the nations of the world as we have wondered).
 
Eventually, Joseph’s brothers come to get relief as well from the famine.  They don’t recognize Joseph in all his glory.  Joseph tries them and comes to discover that his brothers are changed men.  He then reveals himself to them, much to their shock and relief.  Then Jacob learns that his Son is alive.  He was dead but now is alive.  They are reunited and all their problems are over.

Genesis is making us think, “Maybe Joseph is the Savior we have been waiting for!”  And then, Genesis ends with a bombshell.  Joseph dies.  And he dies by saying that they are to continue to wait for God to act and fulfill the promises that God has made.  We are told to keep waiting and that leads us to the book of Exodus.

It is a shock.  Joseph is not the one we were waiting for.  But. Joseph is very much like the one who we should be waiting for.
 
Does Joseph’s life sound familiar?  When you plug Jesus into Joseph’s life you see Jesus playing out.  Jesus is the favored Son of the Father.  Who is rejected by his own people.  Sold by Judas for money.  Jesus is lowered as far as you can go.  He is not just thought dead, he is killed and placed into the depths of the earth.  But Jesus is then raised.  He is glorified.  He is seated at God’s right hand.  Jesus brings the blessing that everyone has been waiting for and it is a blessing for all nations.   And just like Joseph, people didn’t recognize Jesus after he rose from the dead.  And yet, Jesus was there, revealed himself, and makes us realize that he is the benefactor of all the gifts we receive.

Jesus is the one we have been waiting for.  He is restoring us to God and preserving us through these years of famine.  But Jesus will never die, death no longer has dominion over him.  Jesus is making a new heaven and a new earth.  A new home where we will dwell forever.