Pharaoh’s Dream Part 8, 8/15/04

We’ve been moving along in the book of Genesis and studying this period of history where Jacob and his family are in the land of Canaan and they’re experiencing a famine in the land and before we continue on let’s just let’s just kind of summarize a little bit what’s going on. Pharaoh had two dreams he had one dream that pictured really seven years of plenty and the second dream that Joseph interpreted would be seven years of famine. And both of these dreams point to spiritually the seven years of plenty points to the New Testament church age during the nineteen hundred and some years where the church would prosper in the world and the seven years of famine points to that period of time that immediately follows the church age the great tribulation. And then after each of the dreams remember Pharaoh awoke he awoke and we saw that Pharaoh is a picture of God and God when He awakes it will be judgment day. So we have really the whole outline from the Cross to the end of the world. Seven years of plenty the New Testament church age followed by seven years of famine the great tribulation then Pharaoh awakes and it’s judgment day it’s the end of the world it’s picturing when God will awaken to judgment. Then we saw that Joseph advised Pharaoh to put away corn during the seven years of plenty to store it up against the time of famine and that’s what they did they took a fifth of the corn and they put it in storehouses and they kept it in storehouses sealed up closed up locked up where no one could have any of that corn until the time of famine actually arrived and we seen that that points to God’s sealing up His Word that as we read in the book of Daniel the word was sealed up till the time of the end. Just as the corn was sealed up which told us the corn is representing the Gospel it’s a picture of the Gospel and we’ve seen some verses that verify that that God uses corn to typify His Word the Gospel. And the Gospel was put away of course there was much available during the church age that’s why it was called or typified by the seven years of plenty they had plenty of Gospel truths that they were feeding upon that they were being nourished by God’s Word but there were certain things in the Word of God that were related to end time events; the great tribulation and the coming of Christ that were sealed up they were put away where no one could have information or insight into those things and that’s what is going on in this historical account God is really giving us insight into our present day and this account was given or it happened some thirty eight hundred thirty nine hundred years ago and God very precisely is laying out everything that’s taking place in our day as far as the opening up of the Word of God just as the time of famine finally arrived in the days of Joseph and they did open the storehouses and they fed the people. And we always have to keep in mind that Acts 7 tells us that what this famine pointed to was the great tribulation. Those two words are used in Acts 7:11 that there was great affliction in that dearth and great affliction is great tribulation God didn’t pick those two words by accident they didn’t just happen to fall together randomly and you know like we talk and sometimes we don’t know the next words that come out of our mouth that’s not how God gives His Word He’s very precise and very exact and when He says that that dearth was a great affliction and He uses the same two words that we find in Matthew 24 or Revelation 2 or Revelation 7 the only four times in the New Testament those two words are together then He wants us to understand that it is a picture of the great tribulation. And the corn was stored up until that dearth came and then the storehouses were opened and the people came from everywhere they came from all the nations around. They came from Canaan to find corn to buy corn and the Egyptians under the leadership of Joseph were selling the corn and then as we get to Genesis 42 we find that Jacob and his family hear there’s corn in Egypt and so Jacob sends his tens sons to go into Egypt to get corn. Now the spiritual picture is Canaan is a representation of the church. Genesis 17:8-9 God identifies Canaan as He’s speaking to Abraham He’s says it will be an everlasting possession which is an impossibility for the physical land of Canaan because this earth will be destroyed and therefore Canaan is a figure of the Kingdom of God which is an everlasting possession for the body of believers we’ll forever be with the Lord in Heaven and just exactly as the church is a figure a type of the Kingdom of God on earth it’s the outward physical representation of God’s Kingdom and the church therefore is being typified by Canaan and Canaan is experiencing a famine. It was the promised land it’s where Abraham dwelt and Isaac dwelt and now Jacob dwelt there for quite a period of time but now there was no corn there was no food and Canaan is picturing the church the corn is a figure of the Gospel there’s no Gospel blessing in the churches and congregations during the great tribulation. Remember God says in Amos 8:11 referring to the days of the great tribulation there will be a famine not of bread nor of water but of hearing the Words of the Lord. And that’s what’s going on. Now Jacob hears there’s corn in Egypt. Egypt is typifying something outside of Canaan that which is within the world and Jacob and his family are representing the true believers that are located in the churches and they hear that there’s a Gospel message outside of the church during the great tribulation and so they go out they go out and they think they can get the corn this is the plan and then come back come back to Canaan they have no intention of leaving Canaan permanently. Jacob remained and he kept Benjamin with him he sent his ten sons, go to Egypt find some corn bring it back and we will continue to live in the land of Canaan and that was the believers idea during the first part of the great tribulation we had no intention of coming out of the church we had no suggestion even that that was going to take place we had no idea we would leave the churches it was not something that believers could develop on their own but they did recognize outside of the church there was a Gospel message that was faithful to the Word of God so believers were being fed spiritually during the first part of the great tribulation God is telling us from a source outside of the church and that’s what’s in view as the ten the ten sons of Jacob go into Egypt. Now in Genesis 42 I’ll read verses 6-9 it says:

And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth. And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.

Now first we have Joseph he’s overseeing the distribution of the corn as the storehouses are opened up and then Joseph sees his brethren and he recognized them immediately there is no question in his mind as soon as he saw his brethren even though you know at this point Joseph is about thirty eight possibly thirty nine years old and he was seventeen years old when these same brethren threw him into a pit and then sold him to Midianite traders who in turn sold him into Egypt. And now he’s thirty eight thirty nine years old so twenty one or twenty two years have passed and immediately he recognizes them. See his brothers were older then him and they wouldn’t have changed too much in twenty one or twenty two years he would have been able to recognize them. Men do most of their physical changes in the early years of their life in their teens and early twenties and his brothers would have passed that stage by the time that Joseph was sold into Egypt and so he would have recognized them but Joseph would have changed a great deal because he was a seventeen year old boy and now he was a thirty eight or thirty nine year old man who was not in the place that you would expect Joseph to be found in royal dress overseeing all this distribution and it was very obvious that he was a lord in the land of Egypt he was a man of great power and authority and putting all that together there was no possibility they would recognize him but he did recognize them and he saw his brethren it says in verse 7:

And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, …

Now have you ever seen someone that you recognize maybe from high school or something like that and immediately you go running up to them and you say hey weren’t you the guy or weren’t you the person that was in that class I used to have? And that’s the initial reaction that people have you go towards the person but Joseph he restrained himself he did not he did not reveal himself but he made himself strange unto them. He had been living in Egypt for sometime now and he knew the mannerisms of the people of the land of Egypt and he took on those kind of mannerisms those types of behaviors and he was speaking in the Egyptian tongue because later on in Genesis 42 it says he spoke to them when he does speak to them directly through an interpreter so he made himself strange. He didn’t use the Hebrew tongue as he addressed them he didn’t even speak to them directly he spoke to an Egyptian who understood Hebrew and he made himself strange that is he did everything he could do so they would not recognize him. He did everything possible so they would not know he was Joseph and if there were any things they might recognize you know how you grow up and there are certain things about you you know if my brother saw that they would know immediately who I was he changed it he changed his behavior maybe a way he was standing or walking or whatever it was he made himself strange unto his brethren so they would not know him, they would not know him this was his purpose this was his intention he did not want his brothers to know who he was:

… but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; …

He spake roughly, now God gives us an example of what it is to speak roughly in 1 Kings 12 and this is after the death of Solomon and his son Rehoboam was given counsel by the younger generation on how he should approach this question of the ten tribes of Israel because they had come to him and said that your father has really laid a grievous burden upon us and make our burden lighter and we’ll serve you. And then he received counsel from the ancient men the elders who served with his father Solomon and they said listen to the people and they will be your servants but the younger men that he grew up with they advised him no you go back and you speak roughly to them and that’s what he does in 1 Kings 12 and beginning in verse 12:

So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day. And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him; And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

That’s what it is to speak roughly that’s some pretty hard language there there’s no gentleness in view at all. OK you had a tough time with my father well it’s going to be even tougher with me. You were chastised a little with him I’m going to severely chastise you with scorpions. And you can see that as Joseph is making himself strange unto his ten brethren and he’s speaking roughly they found no favor, no favor in his sight whatsoever when God says that he spake roughly to them there was no hint that he was going to be generous to them or show grace to them or favor to them or give them anything that they wanted he was being very difficult he was being cruel to them and you know we wonder well what’s going on here with the spiritual picture that God has developed? These ten men represent the true believers who are coming from Canaan the church during the first part of the great tribulation they’re coming to Joseph who is the Lord Jesus Christ who has removed Himself at the beginning part of the great tribulation from the churches He’s not in Canaan He’s in Egypt which is typifying the world and yet if we’re understanding this right then that would mean that Jesus was not revealing Himself to His people during the first part of the great tribulation, that He was doing everything possible so they would not know that He had left the church that they would not have insight into the Word of God and He’s speaking roughly to them. What does this mean? How could Christ speak roughly to the body of believers? Let’s look at Psalm 60 and verse 3 of Psalm 60. It says:

Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.

The word hard things is the same word as roughly. Thou hast shewed thy people rough things. You see God is showing His people during the great tribulation very hard things in His Word it’s the time where judgment begins at the house of God where God is bringing His wrath upon the churches and congregations and His people are a part of those churches and congregations they’re members they’re attendees they’re going to these churches and congregations and yet it is not God’s plan to immediately bring them out it’s not His plan to remove them from this situation where there’s a famine in the land and this is a very difficult thing this is a hard thing for the people of God. So Joseph is speaking roughly to the ten sons of Israel to the ten brethren his brethren and they just don’t understand they’re in the dark they’re ignorant they lack knowledge they don’t know what’s going on. Joseph has full knowledge of everything he knows there’s a famine and how long it’s going to last they know there’s a famine they can understand that much but they have no idea how severe they have no idea how long it’s going to last Joseph knows them intimately he knows each one of those ten he knows they’re related to him he knows they’re his brothers and yet well let’s go on here in Genesis 42:8:

And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.

Again God is making this point He’s emphasizing this fact Joseph knew them. Does Christ know each one of His elect? Will there ever be a time where He forgets one of His elect? He’ll never forget one of His elect. He knows each one of His children and we’re related to Christ. Remember when they said that you’re mother and brother are standing about and He said well who are my mother and my brethren but they that do the will of God they are my mother and father and sisters and brothers. You see and so the ten brethren of Joseph are representing the body of believers and Joseph knows them that didn’t change during the first part of the great tribulation Christ did not forget His own He did not forget His people He knew them but they knew not Him there was much that was going on that the true child of God was unaware of and we just did not have knowledge. Let’s go to Luke 24 in Luke 24 where we see that this does happen from time to time with true believers in verses 13-16 of Luke 24 it says:

And, behold, two of them went that same day …

Now this is after Jesus has been crucified and has risen.

… two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

You see Jesus of course knew them He knew them He knew they were His people but there was Jesus right in their presence walking with them on the road to Emmaus and yet God held their eyes they had no eyes to see and historically they didn’t know that that was the person of Christ but spiritually it points to when we can read the Bible and a truth can be looking at us right there we can be reading the very verse that would open up that truth and we don’t understand it we just cannot comprehend what God is saying. Whenever that happens then we’re not seeing Christ we’re not seeing Him though He sees us and knows us and you see this first horrible part of the great tribulation was a time where the two witnesses are laying dead in the streets we’re still in the church and God knew us He knew that His people were there He knew everything about the situation that it was a time of famine but we did not know what God’s plan was we did not have understanding as to all these things that were sealed up all these things that were kept closed and hid we just didn’t know it. Well then in verse 9 it says:

And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.

In our human side we think Joseph is just going like this to his brothers, getting them back he’s just getting them back he’s just putting the dagger in the back but actually Joseph has very good reasons for doing this. Benjamin’s not there, Benjamin’s not there. He’s not going to tell them, oh I’m Joseph, I’m Joseph I’m the one you threw in the pit and sold as a slave into Egypt and who you lied to my father about that I was killed and now go home go home and bring Benjamin my brother back. Sure, sure he knows what these men did he knows their character he knows that they were very deceitful for all those years and so he needs he loves his brother Benjamin and he wants Benjamin with him in Egypt Benjamin’s not there so he’s going to orchestrate events manipulate things to get Benjamin into Egypt that’s the purpose historically but spiritually, spiritually and also he says to them ye are spies now what’s a spy, what’s a spy? That comes up from time to time in the Bible in the days of Joshua and the battle of Jericho remember two spies went into Jericho to spy out the city? Or when they came out of Egypt they came out of Egypt they sent one representative from the twelve tribes to go into the land of Canaan to spy out the land to search out the land? The word spy is also translated as search it’s the very idea you search something out and yet Joseph is saying you are spies. Now when the spies went into Jericho did they walk into the city saying I am an Israelite, I’m an Israelite, I’m an Israelite I’m here to search out the city? Or did they go into the city trying to give the appearance they were a citizen of Jericho trying to be trying to veil themselves as much as possible to do it secretly to kind of sneak into the city to fit in with the people of Jericho so they could gather as much information as they could. See a spy is someone who gives an appearance of being something he’s not. A spy is someone who puts really on a show he’s putting on a show as those spies did, I’m a citizen of Jericho. And even the spies that went to search out the land of Canaan they’re just sojourners just passing through they’re not well those people of Israel that are looking to conquer the land you see a spy is someone who pretends to be another he pretends to even in our modern day you hear of spies and during the cold war we would have spies in Russia and Russia would have spies here they would try to become citizens if they could they would try to fit into society as much as possible even though say a Russian spy became an American and that’s outward that’s his outward appearance inwardly he was a Russian he was a Russian or vice versa an American in Russia. So you see how well that fits with what God says in the Bible about hypocrites, hypocrites. A hypocrite is someone who puts on an outward appearance of being a believer of being a child of God as God says with their mouths they honor but in their heart is far from me you see the Kingdom of God is the believers are citizens of the Kingdom of God and yet there are many that say they’re Christians that say they’re a child of God and therefore they’re claiming I’m a citizen of the Kingdom of God but in fact they’re unsaved and they’re still a citizen of the kingdom of Satan the kingdom of darkness. And Christ identified them as hypocrites but another way spiritually you could give them this designation and say you’re spies, you are spies. And look what they say, look at what they say in verses 10-11:

And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man’s sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.

We’re true men remember Nathanael of Nathanael of John 1:45-47:

Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

A true man, a true man not a deceitful man someone who is a true Israelite he’s a true Israelite. See what are the ten sons saying? They’re saying we are ten sons of Jacob we are true Israelites we are true men we are true believers. You see what’s going on it’s the first part of the great tribulation and that’s the picture and Joseph is a type of Christ and during this time this time period there’s a lot of confusion and yet and yet it seems that God is testing His people He’s testing His people to find out if they’re true men to find out if they’re truly born again to find out if they’re really saved or not. Ye are spies didn’t Joseph know they weren’t spies? Didn’t he know they weren’t spies didn’t he know that they were true men at least in this case in their statement that they’re sons of Jacob? He had full knowledge of that he knew perfectly that these ten men were ten sons of Jacob and they lived in the land of Canaan he knew everything about them and yet he says you’re spies, you’re spies and this just heats it up you see the fire is being kindled of God’s testing He’s putting the gold and silver through the fire during this time of the great tribulation and He is trying His people severely and let’s go on here in verses 12-16:

And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not. And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies: Hereby ye shall be proved: …

Tested, tested or tried:

Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: …

And who is truth? The Lord Jesus Christ, I am the way the truth and the life. You see, you are spies you’re giving the appearance of being a Christian you’re giving the appearance of being a child of God but you’re not is the accusation even though even though Christ knows of course His elect and He knows that His elect are true men that they are born again and yet the first part of the great tribulation is a time of testing and trial it’s a time to see who are the wheat and who are the tares it’s a time to find out who are truly God’s people and who are not who have been feigning themselves to be just men who have been trying to look like a child of God and what is the test? By this you’ll be proved, go fetch your brother and bring him to me. That’s the test that’s the test if they go back and they get Benjamin and they bring Benjamin back to Egypt and they show Benjamin to Joseph then they pass the test. Now we know Joseph again he’s trying to work this out that’s what he wants historically but spiritually the Lord Jesus Christ is saying this is the test during the great tribulation this is the time of trial for you and hereby ye are tried. How do believers accomplish this? Well Benjamin remember his name means Son of My right hand, Son of My right hand and in Ephesians 1:20 it says:

Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

The Lord Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God. Benjamin is the son of My right hand Christ is the right hand of God so Benjamin is typifying the children of God the body of believers and this is the proof this is the evidence this is passing the test. Go get Benjamin get the elect bring him out of Canaan bring him into Egypt and show him before me. And remember the picture is this is the Lord Jesus Christ it’s the great tribulation now He’s calling His people the elect of God out of the churches and into the world and this will be the evidence that you’re true men this will be the evidence this is how we are proved this is the time of trial that God is working out with His people this has everything to do with the separation of the wheat and the tares. And let’s keep reading here in verses 17-20:

And he put them all together into ward three days. And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God: If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses: But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.

So they’re going back they’re leaving Egypt with corn they have what they came for they have their corn. They also have a lot of trouble they think everything looks dark doesn’t it? I mean for these men it looks awful just later on when they get back to their father Jacob and they tell him what happened look at his reaction he’s just grieved beyond measure and he’s sorrowing because Joseph is not, Simeon is not and now Benjamin has to leave. You see everything is dark and black and dreary and it looks as bad as it can look for Jacob and his family just as during the first part of the great tribulation it looks as bad as it could look for the people of God and the people of God do not know what God has in mind they don’t understand what God’s plan ultimately is just as these ten brothers of Joseph did not understand and yet God has the best intent for his people in mind. Now let’s just read verses 21-24:

And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required. And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter. And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

You see the result is that the brethren are beginning to feel sorry about their sin they’re beginning to feel guilty they’re beginning to feel troubled about their sin God is testing God is trying and this is producing an effect in these men where they are just wondering what’s going on and they’re looking at their life and they’re seeing it must be for my sin that this is happening and this actually is similar I think to Daniel’s reaction remember when in Daniel 9 he begins to pray the corporate prayer for his sin and the sins of his people and this ties in with that God is judging the church the people of God are located in the churches God must be displeased with us and so Daniel prays and he says we have sinned and it’s true of every believer when we were in the churches we were a part of that church and that church was unfaithful we have sinned it was just as much of course those in authority have more to answer for before God than those in the congregation but we were members we were a part of that and so this I think is what is in view here. Also let’s just look at one last verse in Luke 19 because Joseph turns away and weeps he weeps as they’re beginning to feel guilty as they’re remembering what they did to him twenty one or twenty two years earlier it’s still a very fresh sore and in Joseph’s mind that his own brothers would have done this to him and so he turns around and weeps but he still, still maintained his posture of not knowing them and in Luke 19:41-42 we read about the Lord Jesus Christ weeping:

And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

That’s interesting that this is the context of God’s judgment on the church this verse goes onto say not one stone shall be left upon another just as we read in Matthew 24 Jesus looks at the city, He weeps because the things which belong unto thy peace are hid from thine eyes just as Joseph was amongst his brethren and he wept over their words and yet he himself was hidden from them. Let’s continue to read here, verses 43-44:

For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

The lacked knowledge they lacked understanding just as Joseph’s ten brethren they just did not know they did not know they were not able to perceive what was going on.

OK the next time we look at this we’re going to move on to verse 25 which says:

Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man’s money …

And we’ll try to see what God has in view there with filling their sacks with corn and see if we can maybe finish the chapter next week and move on. By the way the plan is to go as far as we can go in the book of Genesis. This account goes on at least until Genesis 47 and there’s a lot of information that once God begins to open things up as far as Joseph revealing himself and some other things there’s a lot we can learn about this time of great tribulation and that’s the reason we want to look at this and make sure that we’re learning what God will have us to know. Let’s have a word of prayer.