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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
Hebrews 11:22
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Today, we have come to the eleventh message in this nineteen message series on What Faith Brings to a believer. Thus far, we have learned that Christians get these things through faith in the Lord through which nothing is impossible:
1. They believe that all things were spoken into being by God just as the Bible depicts.
2. They acknowledge God for His greatness and majesty, bringing Him our absolute best just as He gives us His.
3. They are loyal and devoted to God in the way we live as we walk alongside Him day by day.
4. They feel a holy fear that drives us to do what God commands.
5. They go and do what God wants us to do, wherever He calls us to go.
6. They believe that miracles happen in the lives of those who hold onto their faith in God.
7. They know that a better life is to come after this worldly life is done.
8. They are able to pass the testing of the Lord when it comes.
9. They have a bold confidence about a blessed future.
10. They devote themselves to worshiping the Lord and blessing others.
Today, we continue to proceed through some of the great figures of the Old Testament and see how they represented faith in great ways. Having already covered Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel, today we look at Joseph. Look again at these words in verse 22 of Hebrews, chapter 11:
By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
You remember the story of Joseph, don’t you?
This was one of the twelve sons of Jacob/Israel who was a favorite of his father, much to the jealousy of his brothers who, after first wanting to kill him, decided instead to sell him off as a slave (Genesis 37:12-36). From this point on, Joseph became a poster child for deliverance by God.
First, he ended up in Egypt as a servant to one of the Pharaoh’s officials named Potiphar. God blessed Joseph with great success to the point of becoming the head of Potiphar’s household and all appeared to be going great until his master’s wife tried to get him to sleep with her. Having rebuffed many advances, one day Joseph had to flee from Potiphar’s wife, leaving a scarf behind. Rejected yet once again, the wife lied about being assaulted by Joseph and believing the false accusation, Potiphar had Joseph placed in prison (Genesis 39:1-20).
While incarcerated, God was with Joseph and the prison warden placed him in charge of all other being held (Genesis 39:20-23). This included a baker and cupbearer, both of which had angered Pharaoh who had them jailed. While incarcerated, both men had dreams and found out God had given Joseph the gift of interpretation. He went onto to tell each man about the meaning of their dreams. When the baker and cupbearer were removed from the prison, their dreams played out as true in real life as the baker was killed while the cupbearer survived. You may recall that Joseph asked the cupbearer to remember him when the dream came to be so he could be released but the cupbearer forgot all about him and thus he remained in prison (Genesis 40).
It was two years later when Pharaoh had dreams himself and no one could interpret them for him. It was at that point where the cupbearer remembered Joseph and told Pharaoh about his ability to discern dream meanings. And so Pharaoh summoned Joseph who successfully interpreted the visions, giving God all the glory. As a reward, Pharaoh first placed Joseph in charge of his palace and the whole land of Egypt (Genesis 41). From one delivering point to another, God had elevated Joseph to a lofty position of leadership and power that would be important when his family in Israel became in need.
For a great famine struck the Middle East region, one foretold by Joseph who put a plan in place to make sure the people of Egypt would have plenty of food in surplus when the famine happened. The Israelites hadn’t been so insightful and so when the food shortage happened, Jacob/Israel dispatched ten of his sons to Egypt to try and get sustenance. This triggered a back and forth as Joseph had his brothers go back home and get the youngest brother, Benjamin, before returning to Egypt. Then, he would consider assisting them. The ten brothers did as Joseph requested, much to the chagrin of their father, and Joseph provided them all a meal before revealing his identity. The Pharaoh then authorized Joseph to load his family down with goods to take back to Israel (Genesis 43-45).
Joseph remained in Egypt and it was there that he would die but not first by showing how faith can remove one’s fear of death and breeds a desire to abide in the kingdom granted by God.
In our passage today, we read where Joseph made it clear that he was not to be buried in Egypt when his death came. Through his faith, he made sure the Israelites knew through the testimony of his brothers about the exodus that was to come for God had made a promise that the people of Israel would inhabit Canaan, the land He promised through His covenant with Abraham and would later reaffirm through Moses after He had delivered His people from the clutches of Pharaoh. Here’s his exact words found in Genesis, chapter 50:
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” Vv. 24-25
The Israelites may have been living in oppression but God was coming to their rescue and would bring a deliverance that only He could, setting them on a path to the holy land He had set apart for them, the promised land of Canaan. There, they would live as His people and He would be their God.
Friends, Christian believers also have a promised assurance that God will one day deliver them from oppression, the oppression of sin and the judgment He would bring on anyone who refuses to place their belief in Jesus, His Son. In faith, those in Christ anchor themselves in the hope of that promise and the salvation it brings, fully trusting that a day is ahead when they will change their place of residence to a holy place called Heaven where they will abide in the presence of the God who made them and saved them through His Son.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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