Genesis Chapters 37

A Picture of Jesus and the Church

Prayer:

            Father, You have clothed me in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and have favored me with Your presence and with Your promises of a bright future. May all I do bring honor and glory to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Introduction:

            Centuries ago, American Indians believed that good and bad dreams drifted through the air at night. In an effort to capture the dreams, they designed ornaments called dream catchers. When hung in the window where they could move freely in the breeze, these beautiful artifacts supposedly caught both the good and bad dreams. Some myths claimed the good dreams knew the way and slid down the feathers to the person sleeping below, while the webbing trapped the bad dreams until the morning sun consumed them. Others suggested that as the bad dreams fell through the whole in the center the web trapped the good dreams to be utilized.

            When my eight-year old grandson received a dreamer catcher, the well-intentioned giver explained the legend to him. After thanking her, Zack said, “Only God can give good dreams. And only God can take away bad ones. I don’t really need a dreamer catcher.”

The Lesson

            Joseph knew that only God could give good dreams and that only God could give the interpretation of them. He trusted in the dreams the LORD had given him, and his brothers hated him for it.

            Through the life of Joseph, God reveals a detailed portrait of Jesus and presents an unmistakable foreshadowing of the true follower of Christ, the Christian—little Christ.

Picture 1:

                        Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren  (Genesis 37:2). This shows Joseph as a shepherd.

                        Jesus identifies Himself:  I am the good shepherd. . .(John 10:11).

                        As for the follower of Christ: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. (1   Peter 5:2-3). Although Peter specifically addressed the elders of the church, the command for believers to care for one another is clear throughout all Scripture placing the shepherd’s staff in every hand.

Picture 2:

                        While Joseph worked with his brothers, he observed them and brought to his father their evil report (Genesis 37:2). By whose authority did Joseph judge his brothers’ deeds to be evil if not by his father who sent him? (see verse 14).

                        Jesus identifies Himself: For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: (John 5:22); I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. (John 5:30).

                        As for the follower of Christ: Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). As our example in Jesus, we must judge only by what He and the Father revealed to us through the written word and not by our own knowledge or emotions.

Picture 3:

                        Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children . . . (Genesis 37:3).

                        God’s proclamation of Jesus: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:17)

                        As for the follower of Christ: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,    an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10). All Scripture proclaims God’s favoritism on His people,        the true believers. Nevertheless, the above passage sums up the concept of God’s heart toward those who choose to follow Christ. Isaiah prophesied, all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. (Is. 61:9b)

Picture 4:

                        Israel expressed his deep love for Joseph by clothing him in special attire . . . and he [Israel] made him [Joseph] a coat of many colors (Genesis 37:3).

                        From the beginning Jesus has been cloaked in the Father’s glory, but He willingly put aside His magnificence to cover Himself in the robes of servant for our sake. [Christ Jesus] Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:6-8).

                        As a token of His love for believers, Jesus offers His righteousness to cover our nakedness before Almighty God. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10a). 

Picture 5:

                        And when his brethren saw that their father loved him [Joseph] more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him (Genesis 37:4).

                        Jesus was acquainted with rejection by His own people: He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, an his own received him not (John 1:10-11).

                        Christians continue to suffer rejection because of their love for Christ. This is to be expected as Jesus revealed to His disciples: If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; (John 15:19-20a).

Picture 6:

                        Joseph received a promise to rule over his brothers through two dreams that God had given him. Even his brothers recognized the meaning of the dreams and hated Joseph all the more. Genesis 37:5-11.

                        Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to earth in the form of a servant    Nevertheless, He promises to return as the conquering King of all: And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever  (Revelation 11:15).

                        According to Scripture, Christians shall reign with Christ: And I saw thrones,   and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years (Revelation 20:4). As Joseph’s dreams fueled the fire of his brothers’ hatred, so the promises of Christ stoke the coals of bitterness in the world.

Picture 7:

                        And Israel said to Joseph, Do not your brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them (Genesis 37:13). Out of concern for his sons, Israel sent Joseph to them.

                        Jesus came to earth at His Father’s beckoning: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved (John   3:17). Our Heavenly Father sent Jesus to bring salvation to all who will believe.

                        Likewise, the Son sends Christians into the world for the sake of the lost: And   Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in   earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.             Amen (Matthew 28:18-20).

Picture 8:

                        And when they [Israel’s sons] saw him [Joseph] afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him (Genesis 37:18).

                        Jesus’ own people conspired against Him: Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him (Matthew 12:14).

                        Christians can expect persecution by their own people: But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them (Mark 13:9).

Picture 9:

                        And it came to pass, when Joseph was come to his brethren, that they stripped   Joseph out of his coat (Genesis 37:23a).

                          Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe (Matthew 27:27-28).

                        As for the Christians: We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).

Picture 10:

                        . . .and they [Israel’s sons] drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver. . .(Genesis 37:28).   

                        One of Jesus’ closest disciples betrayed Him: Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me,    and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-15).

                        Jesus prophesied in regards to the future of believers: Now the brother shall   betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved (Mark 13:12-13).

Conclusion and Challenge

        The future must have looked bleak in the eyes of young Joseph. Perhaps he wondered and even doubted God’s promise to rule over his bothers. Whether he doubted or not, Joseph believed and trusted God to deliver him from the hands of the enemy. God took Joseph further than the lad ever imagined he would go. But along the way, Joseph learned that God is ever faithful and worthy to be praised.

            In times of adversity, it is human to doubt, but we should not falter in our expectations of God’s promises. Let us hang on to the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.