I. Introduction The Unbelievable May 20, 2012 Genesis 41:39-57 Over a 13-year period of time, Joseph has gone from riches to rags and now back to riches again. During this same time, God enabled Joseph to accomplish some unbelievable things. Soon after being sold into slavery, Joseph brought blessing to Potiphar s house and later to the people in the king s prison. He overcame temptation, and because of that, he endured false accusations and great injustice. Throughout those years, Joseph was a man of faith who trusted and served God. He expected God to work in and through his life. Joseph was ready to obey God whenever and wherever God called him to work. Although we aren t told about any down days Joseph might have had, I suspect that there were days when Joseph wondered about his situation; days when his faith in God trembled just a little. In Psalm 73 there are some thoughts that may have gone through Joseph s mind just like they do still for people today. Turn to Psalm 73 we don t have time to read the whole chapter, I ll leave that up to you, we ll look at just a few verses: Psalm 73:1-7, 16-17, 25-28. The important thing isn t that our faith or trust in God may be shaken, but what we do when we have doubts or questions or fears. As Psalm 23 tells us, God is there leading us as the Good Shepherd, we just have to listen to His voice and follow Him in the path where He leads. Isaiah put it a different way. Turn to Isaiah 40:29-31. One of the purposes of the Bible is to show that God is faithful to those who trust Him. Joseph is an example of one who trusted God. There may have been some difficult days for Joseph like the day his brothers threw him into the well and then sold him as a slave or the day Potiphar s wife lied and had him thrown into prison or the day Joseph realized that the cupbearer had forgotten all about him and he wasn t going to be rescued from prison. But through it all, Joseph s life was built on faith in God. The prophet Habakkuk had similar issues, listen to his conclusion: turn to Habakkuk 3:17-19: Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights. Because Joseph trusted God and walked with Him, in today s Scripture we see God use Pharaoh to elevate Joseph from rags to riches. 1
II. Joseph s Elevation Joseph s behavior, his skill at interpreting dreams, his wisdom in finding a solution to the problem of the famine all impressed Pharaoh and convinced him that Joseph was the man for the job. Thirteen years earlier, his brothers had stripped him of his special robe, but now as Pharaoh promoted Joseph, he gave Joseph a robe of far greater significance. Joseph was also given the ring from Pharaoh s finger. This ring allowed Joseph to speak and sign edicts in Pharaoh s name with Pharaoh s authority. The ring and the gold chain were both symbols of Joseph s authority as second in command over all of Egypt. At the young age of 30, Joseph was the Grand Vizier or Prime Minister of Egypt. Unlike a democracy where things are debated and then voted on, Pharaoh was all powerful. When he made the official proclamation to Joseph and all his officials, the matter was settled. Joseph wasn t just in charge of food stuffs, he was in charge of everything in Egypt he was number 2 behind Pharaoh. Pharaoh gave Joseph a new name, an Egyptian name, Zaphenath-Paneah. The meaning isn t clear, but it indicated Joseph s acceptance as a naturalized citizen of Egypt. Pharaoh also gave Joseph his own personal limousine--he called it a chariot. As Joseph would be carried throughout Egypt, there were men who would go before him commanding the people to bow down to Joseph just as they did to Pharaoh. As the unbelieving Egyptians bowed down before him, Joseph must have been reminded of the dreams he had had back in Canaan. Surely one day Joseph s whole family would bow down before him, just as God had announced in those dreams of long ago. Finally, along with the robe, ring, gold chain, new name, and chariot, Joseph was given a wife, Asenath. She was the daughter of one of the priests of the sun god Ra. The priests of Ra were one of the most powerful priestly families of Egypt. Having an Egyptian wife from such a family would strengthen Joseph s relationship with the religious leaders of the land and would raise his social standing in the eyes of all the people. God used Pharaoh to elevate Joseph in several ways. III. Joseph s Family But God didn t stop there. God gave Joseph a family. And then God brought peace and healing to Joseph through the gift of children. Before the years of famine, Joseph and Asenath had two sons. The name of the first son, Manasseh, means forgetting. Joseph didn t forget his family or the events that occurred leading up to this point in his life. But he did forget the pain and the suffering they had caused. As he will tell his brothers in Genesis 50:20, Joseph realized that God intended it 2
for good. With this perspective, Joseph could look past the bad memories and bitterness and go on to have a joyful, happy life. The name of Joseph s 2 nd son Ephraim means doubly fruitful. Egypt had been a place of trials and tribulations for Joseph, but now he had two sons and was fruitful in the land. But even more than that, he would become fruitful as the second ruler in the land as he was used by God to save many lives, including his own family and the nation of Israel. IV. Joseph s Vindication There was Joseph s elevation, then there was Joseph s family, and finally God brought Joseph vindication. Joseph s interpretation of Pharaoh s dreams came true. For seven years, Joseph and his commissioners had traveled throughout Egypt collecting and storing food from the seven years of bumper crops. We re not told how the people reacted, but if they are like people today, there must have been complaints about Joseph s economic policies and all this unnecessary activity. Then the famine descended on that area of the Middle East. God s hand is obvious here in creating this famine. The famine in Egypt was caused by the inability of the Nile River to flood at its regular times. The lack of water for the Egyptians was due to lack of rain at the head waters of the Nile and its tributaries which stretch over a distance of 4000 miles into central Africa. The famine that Joseph s family experienced was caused by a lack of rainfall in the area north of Egypt in Canaan. God was controlling rain to two totally different areas for fourteen years in order to bring about His will. After the 7 years of plenty, when the famine hit, Joseph and the Egyptians were ready. When the people went to Pharaoh for help, he sent them to Joseph. Pharaoh s trust in Joseph was probably stronger than it had ever been Joseph had been right. As the famine continued, visitors started to come from other countries to buy food from Egypt; from Joseph. Joseph must have known that one day his brothers would arrive and bow down before him. He had time to contemplate this meeting. I wonder what kind of thoughts went through his head. V. Conclusion Instead of choosing to forget his pain and suffering, Joseph could have carried a grudge in his heart about the way his brothers had treated him; about the way Potiphar and his wife had treated him. He could have let his hatred and anger gnaw on him until he was useless to God, his family, those around him, and even himself. He had a choice of what to do. But Joseph had the right attitude. He served God and it isn t possible to love God with all your heart, and soul and mind and your neighbor 3
as yourself and carry a grudge. Joseph buried the past hurts and rejoiced in his blessings, being forgetful and fruitful at the same time. To the best of his ability, Joseph was ready to forgive and forget the past. It would be easy to say but incorrect that Joseph was a very special type of person but for the average person it is not possible to forgive and forget the past. Turn to Ephesians 4:22-32. When Pharaoh brought Joseph up from the prison, Joseph took off his old clothes, he shaved and put on new clothes. He made a new beginning. In a similar fashion, when you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior when you were saved, you took off your old sinful nature Paul calls it your old self or the old man and you put on your new nature the new self; the new man. When Joseph changed, he only changed the outside. When you were saved, you were given a whole new nature or attitude. As Paul says in Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. As a believer, you possess a new nature, a new self. You are a holy and righteous person fit for the presence of God. But being a new self in the image of God does not eliminate sin. It is still present in the body in the old self including your thinking and behavior. While the old self loves and longs to sin, at the same time your new self loves and longs for the holiness and righteousness for which it was created. This is why there is a struggle about what to do. That s why there were times when Joseph would have had thoughts of anger. This is the struggle Paul writes about in Romans 7:25, So then, I myself in my mind (that is my new self) am a slave to God s law, but in the sinful nature (that is my old self) a slave to sin. This is why sometimes, even if you know the right thing to do, you still do the wrong thing. As Christians, we are new, but not yet all new. We are righteous and holy, but not perfectly righteous and holy. The continuing need of the Christian life is to keep getting rid of and burning the remnants of the old sinful clothing. Romans 6:13 says, Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. Joseph had a choice of what to do, and so do you. Because of your new life, your new Lord, your new nature, and your new power, you are therefore called to live a correspondingly new life-style. Like Joseph, you need to make some changes. In the verses from Ephesians which we just read, Paul says: 4
A. Change from lying to telling the truth. Lying is more than simply telling falsehoods; it includes things like exaggeration and cheating whether in school and on income tax returns. Making foolish promises, betraying a confidence, and making excuses are also forms of lying. Instead we are to speak truth to everyone and in every situation. On top of that, we have a special motive to be truthful to other believers we are all part of one body. B. Change from unrighteous anger to righteous anger. Anger that is selfish, undisciplined and hurtful is sinful and has no place even temporarily in the Christian life. Anger that is unselfish and based on love for God and concern for others is permissible. Genuine love cannot help being angered at anything that hurts the object of that love. C. Change from stealing to sharing. Stealing in any way, shape, or form whether big things or little things is sin and has no part in the life of the new man in Christ. Every child of God is responsible for his own provisions and to share with those who, in spite of hard work or because of devastation or inability, are in need. D. Change from unwholesome words to wholesome words. Off-color jokes, profanity, dirty stories, vulgarity, double entendre, and every form of corrupt talk should never cross a Christian s lips. The words of a Christian should provide strength and comfort for those in need; they should help retard the moral and spiritual decline in the world. They should always reflect the grace of Christ. E. Change from natural vices to supernatural vices. As he walked with God, Joseph was able to forgive all those who had wronged him. As believers, we all have to forgive just as in Christ God forgave you. Can we who have been forgiven so much not forgive the relatively small things done against us? We, of all people, should always be eager to forgive and forget the past. The good news is you don t have to do any of this in your own strength. Philippians 4:13 says, I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Like Joseph, ask God for the strength; walk with God and you will be able to do the unbelievable. 5