“Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.’ ‘I cannot do it,’ Joseph replied to Pharaoh, but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.’” (Gen. 41:15,16) 

God is his own interpreter. Joseph was the instrument in the hand of the Lord to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh’s butcher and baker. Four thousand years later, God told Jimmy Carter that he was destined to become the 39th President of the United States. Why did the Lord decide to announce his choice for the U.S. presidency a year and a half in advance of the election at the Byfield Parish Church? Did the decision relate to the emergence of the “United Church People For Biblical Witness” that was formed the year Carter was inaugurated? Was the Lord preparing for the day at Byfield when the U.C.P.B.W. would become the Biblical Witness Fellowship? Was God working out a master plan to confront the liberalism in the original churches of the United States? Did he want the Byfield Parish Church to bear witness to the claim of Holy Scripture to be entirely the Word of God? 

Jesus believed the Bible down to the tiniest mark. “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matt. 5:18) Many that preach and teach in the United Church of Christ profess to not believe what Jesus believed regarding what the Bible is. Many of us who grew up in the UCC heard from the pulpit that the Bible was whatever a person believed it to be. Those of us who believed that Holy Scripture was true down to “the smallest letter” and “the least stroke of a pen” were dismissed by the words, “That’s your interpretation.” It was the same as saying, “that’s your opinion.” In this way the pulpit was reduced to proclaiming the pastor’s opinion.  We who believed the Bible was the inspired word of God were told, “That’s your interpretation.” “That’s your interpretation” was meant to rob the Bible of its authority. While it is necessary to interpret what the Bible says, we are not free to interpret what the Bible is.

To Read: Genesis 42

“Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them. ‘You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.’” (Gen 42:8,9) 

“Through a dream God revealed to Joseph that his brothers would bow before him. “Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, ‘Listen to the dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.’ His brothers said to him, ‘Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?’ And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers, ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’” (Gen. 37:5-9)  

When Jesus read that Pharaoh elevated Joseph to be prime minister of Egypt, he recognized himself. Almighty God said, “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.” (Is. 44:22,23)  In Jesus, God Almighty united with human nature. Those who imagine that the God of the Old Testament differs from the God and Father of Jesus Christ teach error. The apostle Paul in writing to the Philippians, identified Jesus Christ as the God of the Old Testament. “Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should 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.” (2:5-11) What God did partially in Joseph he did perfectly in Christ.

To Read: Genesis 43 

As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he said, “God be gracious to you my son.” Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there.” (Gen. 43:29,30) 

Blood is thicker than water. Blood relations exert a more powerful claim on us than do strangers. Lester was an unforgettable character. He and his brothers owned a thriving lumber business, but Lester was an eccentric. Had he not been one of the brothers, he would have been fired long ago. Being family, he was made a silent partner and the more silent the better. 

Joseph was betrayed by his very own flesh and blood and sold into Egyptian slavery. Later, in desperation, the brothers went down to Egypt in search of food. They did not know that the man who had the authority to help them was the brother they once would have killed. Unknowingly, they needed mercy from the one they had shown no mercy. Because the men were Joseph’s brothers, mercy is what they received. His heart went out to them and therefore he wept. 

Jesus entered our human family to bond with us by shedding his blood. Like Joseph, Jesus wept for Lazarus (Jn11:35), and even over Jerusalem. (Lk. 19:41) Jesus is the savior of his family. An angel told Joseph, Jesus father, that the son his wife would bear would, “save his people from their sins.” (Lk. 1:21) Those set free to believe in Jesus Christ become the spiritual children of his heavenly father. Jesus is family.

Saturday:  Genesis 44

Sunday:  Genesis 45

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