Pharaoh’s Dream Part 3, 7/11/04

The last few weeks we’ve been studying from Genesis and we started we looked at chapter 38 we looked at chapter 39 and we saw how Joseph was in Potiphar’s house and Potiphar’s wife was tempting him to the point where she falsely accused him of adultery. And so Potiphar in anger and wrath cast Joseph into prison and we saw how that was a spiritual picture where Potiphar is a picture of God, Joseph’s a type of Christ and Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh cast Joseph into prison just as God brought the Lord Jesus Christ under the wrath of God. And we went to that verse in Matthew 5 that says agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him lest he deliver thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the officer and the officer cast thee into prison and you will not come out thence till you have paid the uttermost farthing. And without any question that’s a picture of Jesus being thrown into hell. Then Pharaoh in chapter 41 after having those dreams he beckons he commands that Joseph be brought out of the prison and hastily quickly this command is carried out and the soldiers of Pharaoh go and they bring Joseph out of prison which is tied into spiritually with the resurrection with the resurrection as Joseph comes out of prison it’s a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ rising from the dead coming up out from under the wrath of God and it’s done hastily because once Christ has paid the penalty for the sins of His people there’s no more that hell has on Him just as remember we mentioned this a couple of times Jonah is suddenly vomited out and he was a definite picture of Jesus under the wrath of God because Christ said as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And after that three days and three nights the whale vomits him out and he came out about as fast as he could possibly come out there’s no more payment to be made therefore Christ comes right out of hell there’s no more payment to be made therefore Jesus rises early in the morning that Sunday morning from the dead He comes right up from the grave which is pointing to the fact that the atonement has been accomplished that the equivalent of an eternity in hell has been paid and so Jesus is resurrected as Joseph is hastily brought out of prison and brought into Pharaoh’s presence he interprets the dreams Pharaoh’s two dreams which are really one and in that interpretation of the dream we saw that Pharaoh was amazed that he had been troubled by those dreams because God had impressed upon him the great importance of those dreams they affected his whole kingdom they affected all the land of Egypt and we know how God can impress His Word upon men of old as He did with the prophets when a prophet had the Word of God he could not help but speak and to declare the Word of God. Prophets did many unusual things as God moved them to do so as Isaiah walked naked and barefoot. The Word of God has that troubling affect upon Pharaoh and therefore when Joseph interprets the dream correctly and Pharaoh knows it, it fits it harmonizes everything that he dreamt about he understands by the interpretation of the dream this was it this is exactly what was meant by those dreams that God had given him and so he is overjoyed and he begins to lavish praise and lift Joseph up and that lifting up of Joseph is the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ following the Lord Jesus’ rising from the dead He is lifted up to be seated at the right hand of God the Father just as Pharaoh just as Pharaoh is lifting up Joseph from the prison a lowly prisoner about as low as you can get in Egypt and from one moment to the next moment Pharaoh lifts up Joseph from the lowest individual perhaps in Egypt because not only is he a prisoner he’s a foreign prisoner he’s a Hebrew to second in command prime minister of Egypt to be the next in charge at the hand of Pharaoh. What a tremendous exaltation that is just as we think of the Lord Jesus Christ one moment He’s under the wrath of God one moment He’s paying the penalty for He has become sin Himself for His people the next moment God raises Him from the dead and His glory returns to Him in a mighty way and He is then seated in the heavenly places at the right hand of God and we saw that this language all ties in and fits exactly with what took place with the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s just look real quick at Genesis 41:39:

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:

And we saw how of course that’s pointing to Christ who is wisdom Himself and then verse 40:

Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.

And once again we won’t turn there Hebrews 3 very definitely indicates that Jesus is set over the house of God a spiritual house whose house are we and we’re ruled by the Word of Christ just as Pharaoh says that the people of Egypt will be ruled by the word of Joseph. Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. Now we saw how Pharaoh is a picture of God and we asked the question and this is an important question because when you paint those kinds of spiritual pictures as God is painting in order to find truth everything has to fit together everything has to fall into place we can’t skip we can’t avoid something that is said there in order to make everything else fit but we really can’t harmonize this well is it true, is it true if Pharaoh is a type of God and Joseph is a picture of Christ is God the Father greater than Jesus as Pharaoh says, only in the throne will I be greater than thou? And the answer is yes, the answer is yes and we went to a verse in the Gospel of John and Jesus says the Father is greater than Me, the Father is greater than me and we won’t go there but in John 13 we were given the reason why Christ says that the Father is not more of eternal God than the Son they’re both eternal God they’re both infinite God but in the fact that Jesus says the Son was sent Jesus as the Son was sent to carry out the will of the Father to keep the commandments of the Father to provide Himself as the Lamb of God to be the atonement in that sense it can be said the Father is greater than the Son and let’s just look at that real quick in John 13 we didn’t go here it’s another reference to this in verse 16 of John 13:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

You see here well Christ is making another point indicating that those that are sent by Him must also be humble as the Lord Jesus Christ was humble but that’s actually not the verse I wanted. John 14:28:

Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

So there we have the Lord Jesus making that statement that Pharaoh is making to Joseph only in the throne will I be greater than thou. And that fits in it ties together with the relationship that the Lord Jesus Christ has with the Father. And so we can carry it through we can continue on with the rest of the statements. Verse 41:

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.

Was Jesus set over the world when He ascended out of the grave? Has God given Him everything, well we’ll look at that question a little later on when we get to verse 43. And then verse 42 says:

And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;

Now last time we saw that king Ahasuerus king of the Medes and the Persians took off his ring and gave it to Haman and then Haman wrote a law he wrote a law that all the Jews would be slain in the month Adar I forget which day of the month it was and then he took the ring the king’s ring that the king had given to him and he sealed that document. Then a little further on in the book of Esther the king took off his ring again and he gave it to Mordecai and Mordecai wrote a law saying that in contrast to what Haman had written that the Jews may defend themselves and they may fight against those that would rise up to slay them and then that document was sealed with the king’s ring that the king had given to Mordecai indicating when the king takes off his ring and when he gives it to someone whether it be Haman or Mordecai or Joseph that that person then has the full power and authority behind them of that king to make law to enact law to enforce law. And so Joseph is the second in command he has the king’s ring he can begin to make laws over the land of Egypt and the king is behind him he has the king’s blessing the king support just as the Lord Jesus Christ of course and God the Father are one and whatever Christ says is the law of the Father whatever the Father says is the law of Christ and so this taking off of the ring from Pharaoh’s hand and the hand represents the will and putting it on Joseph’s hand again the hand represents the will of Joseph is indicating that their will is one. They are now going to speak with one voice they’re going to speak with the authority of the one who rules over Egypt and so Joseph has that ring on his hand and then he’s arrayed in vestures of fine linen and a gold chain is about his neck. In Daniel 5 we find a similar situation with the king of Babylon Belshazzar and in verse 29 I’m not going to get into this context here but just look at verse 29:

Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

After Daniel had interpreted the writing on the wall and then Belshazzar again he was troubled by that writing on the wall and he lifts Daniel up he exalts Daniel and we see the same the same type of reaction by the king in clothing him with fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck which indicates that he’s now third ruler in the kingdom and so did this action here in Genesis 41 indicate that Joseph is now a ruler in the land of Egypt he has this authority and power given to him by the king and it goes on in verse 43:

And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Now the second chariot was Pharaoh’s chariot Pharaoh had two chariots and if Pharaoh rode in his second chariot that was a royal chariot and the fact that he gave Joseph his second chariot indicates that he gave Joseph a royal chariot and it’s in keeping with this whole dialogue here this whole situation that Joseph has been highly exalted he has been exalted to the highest place imaginable upon earth at least in this ancient kingdom of Egypt he has been lifted up on high and you know we just can’t get over this rags to riches tale that God has given us there’s nothing like this I believe anywhere in history. I just recently read of a woman who was a cleaning woman who won a lottery of like three hundred million dollars or something like that and so there you know the world is amazed at that kind of transition from a cleaning lady from a lady who’s really living at the poverty level to someone who now has three hundred million and now she has all this wealth and all these riches but that’s nothing when we think of Joseph’s change from being this lowly prisoner in the dungeon to being exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh and all had to bow the knee they had to bow the knee they had to genuflect they had to go down upon their knee when Joseph came by this same man who the day earlier if they had seen him they might have spit upon him he would have been this prisoner in the dungeon and who was he and yet God is making a point of letting us know that Joseph’s situation has greatly changed. Let’s go to Philippians 2 and I’m sure that several of you knew that I would go here in Philippians 2 and verse 8 it says:

And being found in fashion as a man, …

This is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ:

… he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

First, first you have the submission of Christ first we have the humbling of Christ then verses 9-11:

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This is the glorious raising up of the Lord Jesus Christ on high the glorious exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ is in view every knee at the name of Jesus should bow and when Joseph comes by in Egypt every knee should bow every knee should bow when Joseph comes by. You see how God is making it crystal clear He doesn’t want us to miss this point that Joseph is a picture of Jesus Christ in coming out of prison as Jesus is resurrected from the dead and now is taking His seat as Ephesians 1 let’s read this while we’re at it. It says in verses 20-22:

Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

See Christ is exalted in that in that grand fashion just as Joseph historically this is about as great as the world can make anything to be you go from poverty to riches you go from a man who is despised to one who is honored and respected you go from the dungeon to a royal house you go from controlling a couple of prisoners that are under your care to controlling all the land of Egypt a great and mighty kingdom that had conquered many other nations of that day and so Joseph was I’m sure it was just an incredible, incredible moment and this actually took place this occurred in history some well about thirty nine hundred or about thirty nine hundred some years ago. OK let’s continue on in verses 44-46:

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

Again God is emphasizing that fact it’s all the land of Egypt it’s not some of the land and Egypt is picturing the whole world and it’s interesting God gives us Joseph’s age when this took place he was thirty years old. Now does that remind us of anyone else who happened to be that age, thirty years of age? Remember first of all king David in the year 1007BC was thirty years old when he ascended the throne and David is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And also we know regarding the Lord Jesus Christ that the Bible says that He was about thirty years of age, He was about thirty years of age when He had His ministry upon those three and a half years up until the Cross the Bible indicates Jesus was about thirty actually He was closer to thirty eight or thirty nine but the fact is God uses the word thirty He says He was about thirty and so we see the connection with Joseph he’s thirty years old. Thirty the number pointing to the complete purpose of God this is God’s purpose in Joseph’s life this was why God had him go through all the experiences He had him go through in first being thrown into a pit by his brethren being a slave in Potiphar’s house and being a prisoner in the dungeon God had His purpose in mind and just as He has with the Lord Jesus Christ in Christ coming to earth and dying for the sins of His people and we see this as God gives us Joseph’s age. Well now here’s the interesting thing in verses 47-53:

And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number. And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended.

And that’s it, that’s it seven years of plenty from verse 47 to verse 53, six verses total, six verses and then beginning in verse 54 through the rest of Genesis 41 until the end of Genesis 47 the next six chapters God is going to begin discussing the famine, the famine. You see Pharaoh had two dreams he had two dreams he first dreamt about seven fatfleshed and well favoured kine and then the seven leanfleshed and ill favoured kine rose up and swallowed up the fat kine then he had the dream of seven ears of corn rising on one stalk as good and delicious of ears of corn as you ever want to see and then seven lean ears of corn rising up after them devouring those seven ears of corn then he awoke it happened to him twice and he awoke after having that pattern in the dream then he was troubled and Joseph was called but Joseph interprets the dream the seven fat kine and the seven good ears of corn as being seven years of plenty. Now he also says that God has doubled the dream because He is going to shortly bring it to pass indicating that after Joseph rises out of the prison and is exalted to be prime minister over Egypt that not long after that the seven years of plenty will begin and what could those seven years of plenty tie into if we have confirmed if we verified that Joseph’s coming out of prison is the resurrection which occurs at the beginning of the New Testament period? Then the seven years of plenty must be the New Testament era, the New Testament era and God gives it six verses, six verses and then He’ll write six more chapters on the seven years of famine which relates to the great tribulation. Isn’t that something and you know we’ll think about that a little later on but first let’s confirm let’s make sure that the seven years of plenty can be tied to the New Testament era. Remember on the feast of Pentecost the feast of Firstfruits when Peter preached one sermon three thousand souls were saved we read in Acts 2. Immediately a bountiful harvest is coming in one sermon is preached isn’t that plenty is that plenteous? When we look at the Old Testament we don’t see anything like that and suddenly he preaches that one sermon or let’s go to Matthew 9:36-38 and it says:

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

You see that plenteous harvest it’s not really dealing with corn God didn’t have corn in view in those passages in Genesis He’s not concerned with corn He’s not concerned with oxen God doesn’t take care for kine or those kinds of things He is concerned with the harvest of souls and when Pharaoh has the dream that Joseph interprets about seven years of plenty it has to do with the time where the Gospel will go forth and a great harvest of souls will be brought in the fields are white already to the harvest as it says here the harvest truly is plenteous it’s plenteous. That time of plenty is pointing to the time when the Gospel goes out via the churches and congregations of the world when they go out two by two they go into all the world they go into Europe they go into Africa they go into China they go into all the world they establish churches and God begins to work over nineteen hundred and some years and He’s saving sinners all across the face of the earth throughout this period of time it’s a plentiful harvest a plenteous gathering of the elect of God and that is what is in view by Pharaoh’s dream of seven years of plenty and that harvest though is the harvest of firstfruits it’s the firstfruits harvest that’s why it began on the day of Pentecost which was the feast of Firstfruits that’s why in Revelation 14 when we find the hundred and forty four thousand twelve thousand saved from each of the twelve tribes of Israel the hundred and forty four thousand are called the firstfruits unto God they’re the ones that are saved during the New Testament age. That’s why in Revelation 7 after the hundred and forty four thousand of the twelve tribes are named God says after this there’s a great multitude that comes out of great tribulation He’s separates the two harvests He separates the two groups of those He intends to save and let’s turn to Proverbs 3:9-10 it says:

Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

See God says honour the Lord with the firstfruits and your barns will be filled with plenty. He is connecting the time of plenty with the firstfruits. And this took place during the New Testament era the New Testament period was when this time of plenty began. Now OK that seven years and we can’t fit the seven years into any kind of timeline you can’t relate it to seven hundred years you can’t relate it to seven thousand years the number seven just points to perfection of what’s in view. Exactly as the seven years of famine following which by the way let’s turn to Acts 7 and look at verse 11 which is an account it’s an account of what we’re reading in Genesis and it says there in verse 11:

Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.

And the word affliction is the word tribulation of Matthew 24 found only four times in the New Testament. Therefore God is locking it in He’s locking it in what those seven years of plenty are Joseph comes out of prison the resurrection seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine without question it’s the great tribulation following the seven years of plenty which must be the New Testament era it has to be there’s no other possibility it is the New Testament period it was typified by these seven years of plenty. Well now the curious thing is the interesting thing is and the unusual thing is that during the seven years of plenty what did Joseph do? What did Joseph do? They gathered bushels of corn. I mean it was a bountiful harvest as great as any crop you could imagine and they had plenty of food for everybody nobody wanted for corn or bread or food of any kind during those seven years it was a time where the people did not feel deprived at all that they didn’t get all the corn they didn’t get all that corn of the harvest they got most of the corn they got a lot of the corn but they didn’t get all the corn. The corn from that harvest that seven years was stored away in storehouses it was placed in storehouses against the time of famine that was to come and the people who lived during those seven years of plenty didn’t miss it they didn’t complain they didn’t feel deprived they didn’t think that they were lacking anything because they had everything to their hearts desire and then following the time of plenty comes the time of great tribulation and let’s look at verses 54-57 in the time we have left:

And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do. And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

So now the great tribulation that’s what Acts 7 told us the great tribulation begins and there’s corn in Egypt there’s corn there the corn though it’s not new corn it’s not new corn it’s not corn that was just harvested it’s old corn it’s corn that had been stored away that had been put in storehouses some of it perhaps seven years ago and so there is this corn that is available in Egypt but not one grain of it is coming from a new harvest it’s all corn that has been stored up that has been locked away that no one had access to nobody was allowed to touch that corn nobody was allowed to partake of that corn it was a fifth, a fifth was taken of the harvest it was gathered it was collected it was put in the storehouses in all these cities and it was (35:08)________ I’m sure they had guards on it they had guards on it, it was sealed up it was sealed up about as well as anything could be sealed up. See that corn was it was an impossibility for any of the Egyptians to get hold of that corn first of all they didn’t need it they didn’t need it, it wasn’t for them. See Joseph and Pharaoh with the wisdom of God were making provision making provision for the future and for people that would live and exist during the seven years of famine for the seven years of great tribulation and well next time we’re going to look at that corn and we’re going to try and find out what that corn represents because I think we can get some insights into what’s going on today and what God is doing because He is really laid out the whole history of the world from the Cross to the end of time within Pharaoh’s dreams and God has really is making a point now at this time I think of giving us information regarding this time we’re living in.

Well let’s have a word of prayer.