Joseph's Restoration

0:00So good morning. Open to Genesis. This morning. We're getting very close now to finishing the book of Genesis. We have three more weeks after this one. So this week and three more. It's been a wonderful past 20 weeks, and maybe I'm biased in that, but I think it's been a wonderful past 20 weeks. So let's finish strong here, the last few weeks, which was the end of the beginning. We're in chapter 41 this morning. We're going to cover the whole of chapter 41, but I'm not going to read all 57 verses, so don't fear that. We'll just read some of them and then we'll go through the rest. What we will see as we get into the text this morning is that Joseph has now spent two full years in prison. We talked about that a little bit last week, but Joseph is now in prison and he has spent two years there in Egypt. Furthermore, this is for something that he did not actually do, right? He was falsely accused. He was in prison, really, because he was faithful both to God and his early earthly masters, and that has unfortunately, as we have seen, caused some problems for him. We skipped over completely chapter 40 of Genesis, but during these two years, at some point during those two years of Joseph being in prison, two other men who had committed offenses against the king also found themselves in prison with Joseph. And those men were the cupbearer to the king and the baker to the king. And there may or may not be some significance to those men and their professions, but there certainly was significance in that Joseph interpreted dreams for both of them. And it was the interpretation of those dreams, specifically of those two men, that ultimately became the initial catalyst for him having interpreted Pharaoh's dream and which was his restoration, for the beginning of his restoration. It took some time, though, because the cupbearer, who was one of those two men, or the one of the two men that survived being in prison, he forgot about Joseph, right? He forgot about Joseph. That's the very end of chapter 40. And he forgot about the wisdom that Joseph had from God. And it took two years then, and Pharaoh having dreams himself, before his memory was jogged, and to make mention of this wise young man, Joseph, who was essentially rotting away in prison. As we will see and hopefully have seen, everything fell into place according to God's perfect timing, and the rest is history. It's a good history. It's a really good history. Well, what I want us to grab from this text and to hold on to with all of our might is that this story calls us to entrust ourselves to God's good providence. Whether you think about it as the thread in the tapestry analogy that I talked about last week, or the pieces of the puzzle analogy, it is abundantly clear that God's sovereign hand is at work in all things at all times. Through the success, through the prison, through the abundance, through the famine, God is there, and He is not silent. So that's where we're going this morning. I'll ask you to stand with me once more, if you will. This is chapter 41, verses 1 through 16, is what we're going to read. And these will be on the screen, I believe. I think I put them up there. If they're not, I'm going to step back to the middle. No, it's all right. Oh, yeah, okay. Uh yeah, so they're up there. Let's read. After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that while he was standing by the Nile, and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed's grass. And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile, and the ugly thin cows ate up the seven attractive plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke, and he fell asleep, and dreamed a second time, and behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing it on one stalk. And behold, after them sprouted seven ears thin and blighted by the east wind, and the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump full ears, and Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men, and Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh. Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, I remember my offenses today. When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation. A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard, when we told him he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. And as he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh, and Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have a I have had a dream, and there is none who can interpret it. I have heard it said that you uh that sorry of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it. Joseph answered the Pharaoh, It is not in me, God, sorry, it is not in me, God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. This is the word of the Lord. Lord, we thank you again for your word. Lord, please speak now for Christ's sake. It is in his name that I pray. Amen. Have you ever woken up from a dream and it took a few minutes before reality set back in? Have you had this experience? And that you weren't actually living on a colony on Mars or stuck in an old mansion, which I've for some reason been stuck in a lot of old mansions. Vivid dreams are a wild experience, right? We in 2024 have the benefit of increased general revelation and understand a bit more about the mental mechanisms and the subconscious brain functions where dreams originate. And those who lived in biblical times did not have such knowledge, so you can imagine what a confusing, ominous fright it would be to wake up after a vivid dream and assume that the gods were speaking to you about something, either in your future or presenting you with some form of omen. And to make matters even more difficult, the one true God actually did speak and reveal on occasion through dreams. So it is understandable then how the lore surrounding dreams would spread and be inevitably embellished as they were spread. And people didn't just start engaging in hyperbole when the bass boat was invented, right? It's this big. Pharaoh, having had two of these dreams and not finding any wisdom in the wise men, to properly interpret this dream, is left in a bit of a predicament, right? Fortunately for everyone, the cupbearer did remember Joseph, and he told Pharaoh that there may be someone in your prison who can help. This remembrance is what brings Joseph out of prison and into the presence of Pharaoh to interpret his dream. Okay? We read that. Here's Joseph's big break. Opportunity to show himself of value here. An opportunity to show himself of value to Pharaoh. This is the temptation to exalt himself, right? To prove his importance lest he be used and thrown back into prison again. Does Joseph jump on the opportunity then to exalt himself? He actually does the complete opposite. He takes the opportunity to exalt God. It's not in me, he says. It's not in me. Joseph is essentially saying, I'll hear your dream, but the answers you are looking for will come from God, not from me. I don't have the answers. I don't have the interpretation, but God does. If the interpretation is to be favorable, it is because of God, not because of Joseph. Or the cupbearer or anyone else, right? That much is clear. What an incredible change has been wrought in Joseph, right, over these past couple years in prison. This is the same guy who had a couple of dreams himself, right? You remember? Joseph is the same guy who had a couple of dreams himself and couldn't wait to tell his brothers about them and the foreshadowing that he would be exalted over them. But now, through the discipline of suffering, he confesses that it is not in him to interpret, but God. What a humble and wise person Joseph has shown himself to be here. Joseph is about to be given much to be responsible for, and by the good providence of God, his character has been shaped through his trial. He has proven himself to be faithful in little, and now is about to be given the opportunity to be faithful in much. And this is only possible through humble submission to the sovereign God and by entrusting oneself to his providence. To say that God doesn't put us in a metaphorical prison for the express purpose of shaping us is to say it's not me. That's why he does it. To shape us, to say it is not in me. And to say that God doesn't do that is to deny large portions of the biblical text. Further, we see the same humility and trust in God's providence on display in John, specifically John the Baptist in the New Testament, John 3, 27 to 30. And John answered, A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom, the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease. Everything we have has been given to us from heaven. It is not in us. We must decrease. It is all from God for his glory. He must increase. So moving beyond what we read to open up the sermon this morning, Pharaoh recollects the dreams once again to Joseph, right? This is chapter 17 and beyond. And Joseph, according to the inspiration from God, interprets these dreams for Pharaoh and tells him that there is going to be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine. And the big takeaway here is not so much what is going to happen, right? During those seven years and seven years. The big takeaway is not so much what is going to happen, but how it is going to happen. How it is going to happen. To begin the interpretation of these dreams, Joseph notes this. He says, God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. Meaning that these dreams are not a look into a crystal ball to see things that are going to happen by chance or circumstance, but rather this is a peek into what God is going to do. This is an important aspect of our comfort and assurance that the future is not simply known by God, but planned by Him. Nowhere in Scripture do we find God looking through time and making judgments or decisions based on things that He sees happening. That is nowhere to be found. The God who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, is in sovereign control of the beginning and the end and everything else in between. If not, then we must bow down to the God called time. Or the God called the future. Because such things would operate independently of God. But since we do not bow a knee to any but the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, we must join time and the future in a prone position before the great I Am. The one who was and is and is to come. The one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And further, because God doubled the dreams of Pharaoh, he is reinforcing, as Joseph said, the fixed and unchangeable nature of his will. These things are going to happen. It's not in question. What is in question for Pharaoh is what are you going to do about it? And Joseph proposes a plan. Something to do about it, right? His plan involves storing up one-fifth or 20% of the production of the land during the seven years of plenty, so that they will have reserves and be able to sustain themselves and the people during the seven years of famine. If I was trying to be very practical here, I might seek to demonstrate the wisdom that is found in storing back a certain percentage of gain during those times of plenty, so that one has reserves to draw from during the times of want. The story of my life is often defined by abundant blessing from God, followed by times of need, which are particularly difficult because more often than not I consume the abundance. Again, I'm not digressing into that application. That's not the main focus, but the principle is taught here without question. And there are many a fool, present company included, who have not seen this or followed the clear wisdom given in God's word. As a result of the wisdom shown by Joseph in the interpretation of Pharaoh's dream, he is elevated to second in command. He's given all authority to implement the plan he devised through his interpretation. Further, he is blessed with a wife, with two sons, Joseph meaning, and he is essentially given this elevated position of royalty. I must point out not only that this is the fulfillment of the prophetic dream that Joseph himself had, right? Remember? But I also think this clearly displays the hand of God in the manner in which the fulfillment came. God's hand is here shown in the manner in which this fulfillment came. The initial prophecy came through a double dream to Joseph, right? And it was Joseph's lack of discretion and his lack of hesitancy about those dreams that got him sold into slavery in Egypt in the first place. It is then also by a prophetic double dream, and Joseph's now humble hesitancy and submission to God with respect to this dream that both fulfills the previous prophecy and restores Joseph to be the instrument of God's mercy and salvation. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. God puts his signature on all things in such a way that when you see it, it seems obvious that he is there, and always wonder how in the world we have missed it so many times. I've also heard it noted, and I'll leave it here as to whether or not this is a connection that is too far of a stretch. I'm still on the fence, uh, but the professions uh sorry, the professions of those two men in prison with Joseph were as the cupbearer and a baker. So the path to Joseph's elevation to the instrument of salvation by the will of God was foreshadowed in prison by bread and wine. Cupbearer and the baker. As always, we do want to be careful with drawing certain conclusions, but I think that's one at least worth noting. What we can certainly say is best articulated by commentator John Walton, and he says this quote, on the surface, Joseph is being made by Pharaoh. Everything he is given comes from Pharaoh's hand, his office, his status, his privilege, his name, his wife, everything. He is reborn as a servant of Pharaoh. The irony is that from the standpoint of Genesis, it is not the hand of Pharaoh that has remade Joseph, but the hand of God. For all that Pharaoh did, God brought Joseph to the recognition of Pharaoh. God gave Joseph wisdom and success. That was last week. In the end, Joseph is not the first and foremost of Pharaoh's man, but God's man. He is not Pharaoh's instrument of economic survival. He is God's instrument of salvation. According to the narrator, Joseph is God's instrument for saving the world. And in that respect, we certainly can make the connection to Christ. It was the person, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who was ultimately God's man, right? More than that he was God's son. Not the instrument of economic salvation, not the instrument of religious correction, not even the instrument of political salvation as he Was thought to be. But the full and final instrument for saving the world. John 3, 16 and 17. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. All this must reveal to us that God has had a plan of salvation since the beginning. And as I've said, this goes beyond foreknowledge, as though God only knows what will happen. We confess with Joseph in our text that the future is fixed by God. And it is Him that is bringing it about. And providentially, I think we read this this morning. Actually, hear the words of our confession of faith on this topic. Although God knoweth whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions, yet hath he not decreed anything because he foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions. Put another way, God does not decree because he can see the future. The future is the future because God decreed it. Hebrews 1, 3, he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Should God in Christ stop speaking, everything, including time and the future, would in the blink of an eye cease to be. Had God not decreed to save a people through the person and work of Christ and not decreed every second that has brought you to this point right here, right now, you would be lost forever. This may be an overwhelmingly frightful thought that the future is fixed, but it can and should also be, it should be, I'm not going to say also, it should be an incredibly comforting thing. And on that note, I'll draw some application for us. The first of which is the theme that has been the theme thus far. And that is that this text calls us to entrust ourselves to the providence of God. To entrust ourselves to the providence of God. Imagine getting on a bus and telling the driver where your destination is, and then going to sit down in your seat. You pull out a book, you put in some earbuds to listen to some music without giving a second thought that the driver will get you to your destination. Cars fly past in all directions, hit a pothole or two, or three if you're on Belton Street, that jar you a little, but you continue in this little world within a world with your destination in the hands of a stranger. How often do we commit ourselves to these pockets of dependence such that we don't even think about it anymore? What I need you to see this morning is that each of us are presently on the bus and the destination has been set. We have taken our seats. I do hope you enjoy the ride. The driver, though, isn't a stranger or an old man named Mel. He is the sovereign lord of all. He is the one who not only fixed our destination, but he created our destination. The bus and everything else in between. He made the gasoline and the engine, the rubber for the tires and the road that it's running on. Not only that, but he made and controls every other car, every traffic light, every bike rider or college kid on a scooter. Everything from the train two blocks over to the mouse looking for cheese or the storm drain outside the sandwich shop. He controls it all. Can that man get you where you're going? We must not fear the providence of God or fuss, and again, I'm preaching to myself here, we must not fear the providence of God or fuss at his sovereign control of all things. It is freeing and comforting when we release ourselves to him and entrust ourselves to his mighty hand. I will abstain from making reference to the Carrie Underwood song that I'm sure you're all thinking now about bus and Jesus taking the wheel, but I won't do it. Too many jokes. Secondly, the text is pointing us to the providence of God, as we've just said, but in pointing us to the providence of God, it calls us to rely on God in every detail of life. This text calls us to rely on God in every detail of life. Matthew 6, 31 and 33. Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these will be added to you. Again I am preaching to myself here, but the Lord who has taken care of your salvation has also taken care of all the means to bring you to that salvation. He will feed you. He will clothe you. That is to say, he didn't work out the end without also working out all the details to get you to that end. In our flesh, though, we may not like or agree with the details, sometimes, or often even. Or we may question his means. But such disagreement and worry are only hindrances to the joy that God has for us. Seek him and his kingdom. He will surely take care of everything else. And finally, the text calls us to receive the bread of life. This text calls us to receive the bread of life. Joseph saved many from certain death by providing them bread, which gave them life. Without Joseph's bread, there would have been no life for them. Our Lord and Savior is called what? The bread of life. John 6, 50 to 51. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I give for the life of the world is my flesh. The eternal bread that eternally saves is the person of Christ, who gave himself up as a sacrifice for your sins, and promises that any who eat his flesh and drink his blood will have eternal life. How does one do that, though? Receive him today. That's the only source of life. Confess your separation from him that has resulted from your sins and caused a famine in your soul. Run to him. Bow down to him. Plead with him to have mercy on your parched condition lest ye wither. I have no doubt that he will find you there. And he will refresh your soul from the spring of living water. And will give to you himself the bread of life. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you, as always, for your word. Every detail. It is very difficult. Lord, you know us. You know our hearts. You know how difficult it is for us and our sin, Lord, to trust you at times. To trust that you are working through all things. Lord, please help us. Please help me, Lord, to trust you in all things at all times, Lord. Even the things that I don't understand and disagree with, even, Lord. Help me to trust in you. Help us all to trust in you. Please forgive us where we have failed to trust you. We do love you. We thank you for always taking care of us. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.