THE STORY, Week #3
“God Sent Me Before You”
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| Donny Osmond |
This week in THE STORY we encountered a man named
Joseph. He is a very important character
throughout the story of salvation, and thirteen chapters (38-50) in Genesis are
set apart to tell hispersonal story. Many
people, when they hear of Joseph, immediately think of the story of the coat of
many colors that his father had given him.
Our understanding of Joseph is derived more from, “Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat” than from the witness of Scripture. While I enjoy Donny Osmond’s skill and craft
as much as the next person, there is more to Joseph than the coat of many
colors. The story of Joseph is rooted firmly in God’s vision for his creationàand points to ultimate
telos, the Lord Jesus.
To fully appreciate the importance of Joseph in salvation
history, we need to go back to the story of creation found in Genesis 1 and
2. In this account we learn that God is
not a single, solitary figure, but rather a community: Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit—who have always existed; are eternal in their makeup; and are not the
product of any other type of creation by any other “god.”
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| Michelangelo's "God Creates Man" |
God has a desire to create and a vision for that
creation. We read that God speaks
creation into existence out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo). This goes on for a
number of days with creation growing progressively more diverse and complex within the creative will of the Creator. God saves
the greatest aspect of creation for the sixth day—“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created
him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27 ESV). These first humans, Adam and Eve, were
charged to be the caretakers, stewards, and priests of creation. But they failed in their task…
We learn early on that God is a God of love. How do we know that?—because despite knowing
that his creation would reject him, his plan, and his vision—God chose to
create anyway. Before creation was
spoken into existence by God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit knew the
rejection that would take place and understood that they only way to reconcile
this creation back to themselves was for God to give fully of himself. That is, God knew that he would have to
sacrifice himself, in the person and Lordship of Jesus, to pay the debt, ransom
the demand—to atone for the sins of our first parents. In other words, JESUS IS NOT PLAN B ON GOD’S
PART TO HEAL WHAT HAS BEEN BROKEN.
JESUS’ DEATH ON THE CROSS WAS ALWAYS PART OF GOD’S VISION FOR HIS
CREATION: THE ULTIMATE ACT OF LOVE.
At the Fall, God promised Adam and Eve that through them a
savior would come to make right that which had become broken (Genesis
3:15). This promise was sustained and
protected through Noah in the flood narrative as he faithfully responded to
God’s calling to build the ark.
The promise was then formally covenanted through Abraham as
God made a binding, eternal covenant to bless the world through his progeny
(see Genesis 15, 17, and 22). Through
Abraham, the promise was passed to Isaac, and then through Isaac’s son Jacob. We learn, as the story progresses, that Jacob
has twelve sons from four different women. There is significant dysfunction within this
family—and giving a special coat to his son Joseph, and clearly favoring him in
other ways, doesn’t make the family situation any more tenable.
The older boys would have been familiar with their
grandfather Isaac and his half brother Ishmael.
Like Ishmael, they have probably spent much of their lives hearing about
the promise of God that would be passed through their line. This was surely something for them to latch
onto and cherish as they lived their daily lives toiling as shepherds and
laborers for their father.
Were there echoes of Ishmael and Isaac in their decision to
sell their brother Joseph into slavery?
The text doesn’t explicitly say so.
It makes sense, though, for the brothers to not only take out their
anger on Joseph by selling him, but it also protected their status—and their
right to inheritance with their father.
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| Sold into slavery |
Exhortation: Suffering will come to all of us. It is an unavoidable part of life on earth. Suffering is a symptom and condition of a broken world, yet the Lord God uses suffering to shape and mold us into the people that he desires for us to be. We will all experience poor health, workplace issues, and broken relationships. If not first hand suffering, we may experience it vicariously through the hardships of people whom we love and care for. The suffering may not be exclusively for our own benefit; rather, it may be to help shape the lives of people around us.
This flies in the face
of the teaching of many televangelists and best selling books at Christian
bookstores. Our teaching on suffering must be universal in scope. What is taught in middle class North America
and Western Europe must also make sense to people in Iraq, China, Indonesia,
and the slums of India. The “health and
wealth gospel” don’t meet this standard.
After all, in Matthew 5 the Lord Jesus himself teaches that it will rain
on the righteous and the unrighteous alike.
Back to the Joseph story…
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| More Donny Osmond! |
God protects Joseph throughout his sufferings, and
eventually he is placed in charge of all of Egypt; second only to Pharaoh
himself! This is the plan that God has
had all along for Joseph—he would be the vessel of salvation for his family and
for the world. Joseph had to be prepared for this important work; he needed to
be molded and shaped into the person that could handle this responsibility.
There are a number of remarkable things that take place
during this time (some might even call them miracles): 1) When Joseph reveals
himself to his brothers, he immediately offers them forgiveness for the
terrible thing that they had done to him; 2) It is apparent that his brothers
have changed. The years have shaped them—perhaps
through their own regrets and shame, maybe through their father Jacob’s grief,
or perhaps even through the loss of trust that they experienced with their
father—into the repentant men that Joseph encountered in Egypt twenty years
after he had been sold into slavery; and 3) In Genesis chapter 44 Joseph is
prepared to imprison his younger, full brother Benjamin, for stealing his silver
cup (Joseph was framing him) when Judah, the fourth-born of Jacob offers
himself in his stead. He would be Benjamin's substitute.
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| The Lion of Judah |
As we read through THE STORY, we need to constantly remember that God has a vision for his creation.
A plan is in place and it is unfolding.
God, in remarkable ways, is going to use very ordinary people to bring
about the fulfillment of this plan.
Joseph saved the people through his obedience to the Lord. Joseph allowed himself to be shaped by the
suffering he endured throughout much of his younger years in order to bring God
glory through his obedience.
Joseph allowed himself to be humbled that he may be exalted. Jesus, also, was humbled (Philippians 2) that
he might be exalted.
This blog post on Joseph could go on for pages. It is time to bring it to a merciful close…Amen.
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