Honour

View daily reading plan: Genesis 41.33-44

Invested with authority, arrayed with all the trappings of that authority, honoured by the people as he rode in the chariot, the prisoner is now the president! “He (Pharaoh) made him lord” (Ps 105.21). A golden chain around his neck replaced the iron chain around his ankle! (Ps 105.18).  Joseph’s story is a beautiful picture of the experience of the Lord Jesus; “God also hath highly exalted him” (Phil 2.9).
 
In Joseph’s bride there is another picture. Having been rejected by “his own”, the people of Israel, there will come the blessed day of “the marriage of the Lamb”; He will be officially united with His predominantly gentile bride (Rev 19.7). Before their union with their brides, all of the bridegrooms of Genesis had experiences that hint at the sufferings of Calvary; Adam’s deep sleep; Isaac on the altar at Moriah; Jacob’s years of strenuous labour; Joseph in the pit and the prison.
 
 
Mountains of corn were harvested in the years of plenty, and then as predicted, the famine came. To famishing Egyptians the message was, “Go unto Joseph; what he saith unto you, do” (Gen 41.55). To a spiritually starving world we can but say, “Go to Christ”. We stress that He alone can meet their need, but at the same time we emphasise that He must be acknowledged as Lord (Rom 10.9).
 

Thursday, 15 February, 2024