Delivered

DEVOTION

GENESIS

DELIVERED

Gen 45:1-15

45:1 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, "Have everyone leave my presence!" So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh's household heard about it. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still living?" But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. 4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.   8 "So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. 9 Now hurry back to my father and say to him, 'This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don't delay. 10 You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me — you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. 11 I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.' 12 "You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you. 13 Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly." 14 Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.

NIV

We are at the revelation of Joseph to is brothers, finally. It seems it has taken him some time to come to this point. It appears this was his plan from the very first time he saw his brothers come to buy food, yet he surely was rather deceptive in the beginning. Nevertheless, he no longer could keep his identity a secret from them. He tells them they have nothing to fear, nor should they be sorry for what they had done, in selling him. It was not their choice, but it was God’s hand at work. Here we have the same kind of language we would expect to find Jesus saying to his people. "Come close to me", “God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance” Some of his other words seem as though Jesus should be saying them. “I will provide for you there…..otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute”.

We certainly can see some pictures, some parallels without looking deep into this narrative. It is clearly on the surface for the purpose of being able to see it. God always has had a plan to provide for his chosen people, the family of Abraham. He made a covenant with Abraham, a promise that all the nations would be blessed through him, through his seed, which is Jesus. Jacob and his twelve sons were the descendants of Abraham and through Jacob the nations will be blessed. Therefor Jacob and his sons needed to be preserved, not become destitute, or die off due to the severe famine. He sent Joseph ahead to preserve them. God has sent Jesus to preserve us. Through faith, we have become the family of Abraham.  

Gal 3:6-9

6 Consider Abraham : "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."   7 Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham . 8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham : "All nations will be blessed through you."   9 So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham , the man of faith.

NIV

We might see Egypt as a type of heaven, the new city of Jerusalem. As Joseph provides a special place for his family, Jesus has provided a special place for his family. If people are not in the family of Abraham, or we could say the family of Jesus, they are both not blessed and will in fact become destitute, or die, or perish because of a great spiritual famine in their lives. Of course Abraham and his physical descendants were marked by physical circumcision. We, on the other hand, are marked by the circumcision of our hearts.

Rom 2:28-29

 28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

NIV

Col 2:9-12

 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

NIV

All this completely fits perfectly together in this picture we see in Joseph being their deliverance from the great famine, through the hand of God. This is our story. This is our deliverance from a great famine by the hand of God, through Jesus. Praise God we are delivered.