We are in an ongoing study in the book of Genesis where we have been looking at the historical account of Jacob and Joseph. It is important to keep in mind that this is an historical parable. We are learning about the actual history of that period of time, yet we also know that this passage contains spiritual meaning and that we are to, therefore, search for the Gospel meaning to what we are reading. We understand the spiritual meaning of this historical parable because in Acts 7:9-11, we read:
And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
As we have previously discussed, the two words that are translated “great affliction” are the same two words that are translated “great tribulation” elsewhere in the Bible. These two words are only found together four times in the New Testament (Matthew 24:21, Revelation 2:22, Revelation 7:14, and, here, in Acts 7:11). In each case, there is only one period of time in view—that little season that is referred to as the Great Tribulation that comes right before the end of the world. Therefore, God is telling us that as we read about the dearth that came over the land of Egypt in the days of Joseph, we are reading about the Great Tribulation.
We have been keeping this fact in mind as we have studied these chapters in Genesis, and we have been trying to see how these passages fit in with our present day and with the time of the Great Tribulation.
We begin this study in Genesis 45:1, were we read:
Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.
Again, let us keep in mind that we are reading about the Great Tribulation. Historically, this is taking place during the famine, during the dearth of Joseph’s day, which we have been able to establish as a picture of that period of time which God identifies as the Great Tribulation, which is in our day. As we have moved into Genesis 45, we are no longer at the beginning of the Great Tribulation; we are at a dividing point. Later on in verse 6, we read:
For these two years hath the famine been in the land…
The beginning of the Great Tribulation is no longer in view; the Great Tribulation has been going on for a period of time. Now, a change is going to take place.
This famine, in the days of Joseph, lasted seven years total. For two years, Jacob and his family were in the land of Canaan. They were suffering; they were experiencing the famine. During this period of time, they came to Egypt to find corn because they had heard that there was corn in Egypt. Joseph recognized his family, but he concealed his identity. He hid the truth regarding what God had done to him in Egypt. He basically pretended to be someone whom he was not—he presented himself as a cruel Egyptian lord. This has been going on for two years out of the seven, and now Joseph is at the point where he can no longer refrain himself.
Going back to Genesis 43:29-31, we read, referring to Joseph:
And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread.
Joseph refrained himself. Benjamin was before him, his mother’s son (his other brothers were born of different mothers, but Benjamin was born of Rachel, the same as he), and his bowels yearned for Benjamin.
We looked at the word “bowels,” and we saw that it is translated as “compassion” in several places in the Bible. It is translated as “tender mercies” in Psalm 51:1, where we read “according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”
His bowels yearned; the tender mercies of Joseph yearned for Benjamin. Yet, he refrained himself. He kept back the great emotion he felt towards his brother, and he basically presented a stone-cold face. At first, he could not control himself and had to run away and weep; then he came back expressionless. He gave no clue as to his inner feelings. He did not show that his bowels were yearning for Benjamin or that he felt a great amount of compassion for his brother. This is what the term “refrained himself” refers to.
Is there a period of time when God refrains Himself during the Great Tribulation? We are learning here that the Great Tribulation is a two-part tribulation. We are learning that it is not one long event that remains consistent throughout, but that there are two parts, two aspects to it. We can see this when God likens the Great Tribulation to an hour of judgment, but says in Revelation 8:1, “There was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour.” For the first half hour, there is silence. God refrains Himself from speaking, from opening up the Scriptures and from revealing the truth of the situation. For the first part, the two witnesses are lying dead in the street (for three-and-a-half days—Revelation 11:3-11), then they stand upon their feet—there is a second part to the Great Tribulation. When God states that there is a half hour of silence, this is indicating that the silence will be broken. It is not for the whole hour, it is only a half hour of silence, and it is broken after the mid-point of the Great Tribulation.
This is what we see as Joseph keeps silent. He hides the truth; he is reigning as lord in Egypt, yet he conceals the identity of who he really is. However, the time comes when he can no longer refrain himself. He cannot hold back any longer, and so he cries, “Cause every man to go out from me.”
In our studies, we have come to realize that God cannot refrain Himself throughout the entire period of the Great Tribulation. He cannot do so because if He continued to hold back the truth, to refrain Himself, then the great multitude that is referred to in Revelation 7:9-14 would not become saved, and there would be no latter rain. If the Lord continued to refrain Himself, His salvation plan would be interrupted, and what is predicted in Matthew 24:22 would come to pass, “there should no flesh be saved.” This means that the elect would not become saved. Just as Joseph could no longer refrain himself, there comes a time during the Great Tribulation where God cannot continue to refrain Himself, so we read in Genesis 45:1:
…and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him…
Joseph would have had an entourage. He would have had staff and bodyguards. He was the second in command to Pharaoh—he would have had servants. There would have been plenty of people around Joseph, and that is why he says, “Go out from me.” All the Egyptians had to leave. All his guards and servants and any other people who were in his confidence had to go out. This left only him and his brethren. The verse continues:
…And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.
It is interesting to note that he made himself known exclusively to his brethren and not to anyone else, not to the Egyptians. He did not reveal himself to anyone but his brothers. Since we are looking at this historical account and trying to find the spiritual meaning to it, we, of course, wonder what the spiritual meaning would be.
From this passage, we can learn that during the Great Tribulation, God is going to reveal Himself. To whom will God reveal Himself? He is going to reveal Himself to His people, His brethren. Let us look at Daniel 12:10, which says:
Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
God will declare His message. It will be sent abroad. Everyone who is under the hearing will hear, but only the brethren, the elect of God, will understand. Only the wise, the true believers, will understand. Joseph revealed himself only to his brethren, just as Jesus is revealing Himself to everyone who is a child of God. Let us turn to Habakkuk 3:2, which says:
O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
What is the work of God? The work of God is salvation. The work of God is giving people faith to believe. We see this in the Gospel of John, where we read in John 6:28-29:
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
This is the work of God. Now Habakkuk 3:2 says:
O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years…
“Revive Thy work,” the work of saving people, “in the midst of the years,” not the beginning point of the years. It goes on to tell us:
…in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
This account in Genesis is typifying the Great Tribulation, as Acts 7:11 tells us. From this we know that God’s judgment is on the churches; His wrath is upon the congregations. As 1 Peter 4:17 warns, “judgment must begin at the house of God.”
“In the midst of the years make known”—Joseph, after two years of famine, is making himself known to his brethren. This is God’s mercy. This is God reviving His work of salvation during the famine, during this awful time of Great Tribulation that has come upon the world. This is what Genesis 45 is revealing to us, as Joseph is making himself known unto his brethren.
God is not going to leave something as important as understanding His revealed will up to mankind. It is absolutely necessary for us to study His Word to come to the knowledge of truth, and if it is God’s will, He will make Himself known and cause us to understand His Word. God is the One who is responsible for making certain that everyone who is a true child of God will understand His truths. Remember, Jesus is the Good Shepherd. His sheep hear His voice, and they know the voice of the Good Shepherd. They follow His voice because God makes Himself known—He makes Himself known to His people (John 10:27). Moving on in Genesis 45, we read in verse 2:
And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.
Joseph wept aloud. Again, we can understand the historical setting and see that the situation is very dramatic. Joseph has now broken the silence. There he is as Joseph, standing before his brethren. He is telling them that he is their long-lost brother. He is weeping because he loves his brothers. Even though they committed a terrible act towards him by throwing him into a pit and selling him into slavery, he loves them and he is weeping. It is a very emotional moment.
Spiritually, though, why would Joseph weep? Joseph is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. We read that Christ wept when He heard that Lazarus was in the tomb; the Jews said, “Behold how He loved him!” (John 11:32-36). Therefore, we learn from the Bible that to weep indicates love, in one sense. Certainly here, Joseph loves his brethren, and he is weeping.
We can understand that Joseph’s revelation in making himself known to his brethren is spiritually pointing to God’s revelation that comes in the midst of the Great Tribulation when the Scriptures are opened up. The information that is revealed at this time is very sad and mournful. We know that this is the time of God’s judgment on the churches. We know that the Church Age is over, that God’s Spirit has departed from the church, and that Satan has entered in. We know that it is time for the people of God to leave their congregations. This is very sorrowful information. God deals with the sadness of this period of time as we read of Jeremiah weeping again and again in the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations (Jeremiah 9:1, 13:17 and Lamentations 1:16). The fact that He will longer use the churches and congregations of the world to carry the Gospel is a subject of great sorrow to God.
Joseph weeps and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh hear. Why does God make a point of telling us that the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard Joseph weeping? Let us turn to Numbers 14:11-19, which says:
And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my LORD be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
The Israelites had provoked God to anger to the point where He was ready to destroy them. He said of Moses, “I will make a great nation of you,” but Moses intercedes saying, “No, do not destroy them, for then the Egyptians will hear. They will hear that You have delivered the Israelites out of Egypt in a great deliverance, and now they will say that You were not able to bring them into the Promised Land. This will be an accusation that the people of the world will make against You.” Therefore, God does not destroy the Israelites.
Genesis 45:2 tells us that Pharaoh and the Egyptians hear Joseph weep. Later on, they will hear that Joseph’s brethren have come, that Joseph has found his brethren. God is indicating here, I believe, that His judgment on the church is a very troubling thing. The world might get the idea that God has destroyed His people and is finished with them. God’s judgment is on the churches and congregations—they are the people of God in the New Testament just as the Israelites were the people of God in the Old Testament. If the world hears that God has judged His people, they will say that He was not able to bring them into the Promised Land. It could be a possible cause of offense towards God.
Yet, God is going to make certain that the people of the world hear that He is not finished with His people nor has He judged His people, the elect of God. The people of the world are going to hear that He has judged the corporate body, but that He will continue to bless His people and deal with them as individuals in the world. Egypt and the house of Pharaoh will hear this. This news will reach their ears, and they will understand that God is not through with people in this world. He is not through saving His people—He will bring His company of elect into the Promised Land, into Heaven itself. Therefore, Joseph weeps, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh hear.
Going on, we read in Genesis 45:3:
And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.
Joseph is wondering about his father—is he yet alive? Did Judah not just finish telling him in the previous chapter that if Benjamin remained in Egypt, Judah would have to go back to his father and give him the bad news, and that his father would then go down to the grave? Does this not indicate that his father was still alive? His father was not dead, and Judah had just finished telling him that his father was not dead. But we can see that he has now revealed himself, and this is one of the questions that has been on his heart. It just bursts through—“Tell me about my father. Tell me, he is alive? I have worried about him for so long; tell me that he is okay.” This is the first thing that he says:
…I am Joseph; doth my father yet live?…
It has been twenty-two years since he last saw his father. He was seventeen years old when his brothers threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery (Genesis 37:2), and now, he is thirty-nine. We know this exactly. When Joseph was lifted out of prison, he was thirty (Genesis 41:46). Then came seven years of plenty, which would have made him thirty-seven when the time of famine began. Now there have been two years of famine (Genesis 45:6). He is thirty-nine years old; he is entering into middle age. He was a teenager the last time he saw his father, and, therefore, he asks, “Does my father yet live?” He is concerned and worried about his father. The rest of the verse says:
…And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.
There is another reason, a spiritual reason, why Joseph refers to his father, asking, “Does my father yet live?” This goes with Joseph’s age. He is thirty-nine years old, which is three times thirteen. The number three represents the purpose of God, and the number thirteen in the Bible points to the end of the world. It is a number that God has assigned to deal with the end of the world. The world will only reach a few more than 13,000 years of history; so the number thirteen points to the end of the world. And when does the Great Tribulation begin? It began in 1988, when the world was 13,000 years old.
Joseph is thirty-nine, three times thirteen, and it is significant that he is also asking, “Does my father yet live?” How old is Jacob? Soon the brethren will go back and tell Jacob that Joseph is alive. Jacob will enter Egypt and stand before Pharaoh, and Pharaoh will ask him, “How old art thou?” Jacob will say, “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been,” and he will reveal that he is 130 years old (Genesis 47:8-9).
The number thirteen is, again, in view. Jacob is 130 years old, which is ten times thirteen. The completeness of God dealing with earth will come after thirteen thousand years of history. This is what is in view as Joseph is asking, “Does my father yet live?”
In 2 Chronicles 24, we read the account of Joash the king of Judah. Joash was the boy-king who began to reign when he was seven years old. He was the one whom Jehoiada the priest sat upon the throne after Athaliah was slain. It says in 2 Chronicles 24:2:
And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
“All the days of Jehoiada…” A little further down, in verse 15, we read:
But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.
Jehoiada was 130 years old—the exact same age as Jacob when he entered into Egypt and stood before Pharaoh, which is pointing to the end of the world and the time of Great Tribulation. Jehoiada died at 130. It says that Joash did that which was right all the days of Jehoiada, but once Jehoiada dies, we read in verses 20-22:
And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD. Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look upon it, and require it.
After Jehoiada dies at the age of 130, Joash, who did that which was right all the days of Jehoiada, now forsakes the Lord. He turns to wickedness and slays Jehoiada’s own son.
This is pointing to the New Testament church. The church does that which is right all the days that Christ, typified by Jehoiada the priest, is with the congregations. Then, once Christ departs (which occurs during the beginning point of the Great Tribulation after 13,000 years of history), the churches and congregations do wickedly. They kill the believers; they kill Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada.
Jesus makes reference to this in the New Testament. In Matthew 23:34-35, the passage that leads right into Matthew 24, we read (Jesus speaking):
Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
This is the same Zechariah that we read about in 2 Chronicles 24. I am not completely sure as to why this passage in Matthew refers to him as the son of Barachias. It could be that this son of Jehoiada was a grandson, and that Zechariah’s father was the immediate son Jehoiada—I am not exactly sure. We know that this is the same man because in 2 Chronicles 24, we read that they slew Zechariah in the court of the house of the LORD.
Jesus is referring to all of the blood of the prophets from Abel to Zacharias. It is interesting to note that in our language these names are from “A to Z.” That is not what is meant here, but just the same, it is an all-encompassing type of statement. It is all the blood—from the first man who was ever killed, the first true believer, Abel, to the last true believer, Zacharias.
Now Zacharias died sometime during the reign of Joash, which would have been some time between 835 to 795 B.C., probably a little closer to 795 or 800. Many more believers would have died in the hundreds of years remaining in the time of the Old Testament and up until the time of Christ. Yet, Jesus, to use as an all-encompassing statement of all the believers that have died, refers back to an incident eight hundred years earlier. Why it begins with Abel we can understand. But why does it end with Zacharias—why Zacharias?
Zacharias’ father was Jehoiada, the priest who died at the age of 130. This points to 13,000 years of history, which points to the time of the Great Tribulation when Satan will be loosed and the saints will be overcome in the churches and congregations of the world. This shows that we are on the right track, that we are understanding many of the things that God is saying about the time in which we are presently living.
We are living in the last days; this is the time that comes right before the end of the world. So Joseph says:
…Doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.
If we had done something despicable to one of our brothers as these brothers had done, would we not be troubled, too? Joseph’s brothers would have been troubled if they had found him alive at all. If they had found some slave in the street who testified that he was their brother, Joseph, that would have been troubling enough. But for Joseph to wind up being second in command to Pharaoh, to be the high ruler of Egypt—a powerful man full of authority and riches, a man who had the power of life and death in his hands, a man who could provide or take away corn—and then to have this man reveal, “I am the brother that you treated so awfully such a long time ago,” would have caused them to be extremely troubled at his presence. We can only imagine how troubled they were.
That word “troubled” is sometimes translated as “afraid.” We see this in Isaiah 13:7-8, where we read, speaking of the Day of the Lord and of the end of the world:
Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth…
This word “afraid” is the word that God uses to describe the reaction of the brethren. They were troubled at his presence; they were afraid. This is a good thing, because in Jeremiah 5:20-22, the response is just the opposite. It says there:
Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence?…
This is God speaking to the people of Israel and, also, to the people in the churches. Joseph is making himself known, which points to the time when the Word that has been sealed up and hidden until the time of the end has been opened up. It is now open and the truth of God’s Word is being declared. The people in the churches are hearing this. Many of them are not troubled or afraid, even though verse 22 says:
Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence?…
Will you not greatly fear that all this information is indicating that we are close to the end of the world? Will you not fear that My judgment is upon you, and that you are doing unfaithfully?
The answer is no, they are not afraid. They are not troubled at the presence of God and the fact that He is revealing these truths today. We know this because they are continuing to go to church. They are going on as though the Word of God does not indicate that the Church Age is over and that God’s spirit has left the corporate body. They are not troubled at the presence of God as He is opening up the Scriptures. They are not troubled as Joseph’s brethren were.
There should be something that is very unsettling to us about all of this. There should be something that makes us tremble and fear. There should be something that makes us wonder about all of this information—something that causes us to stop and think. It should stop us in our tracks, so that we will stop and consider what the Bible is saying. Yet, many of the people in the churches today are not troubled at the revelation of God as He is making Himself known, not as Joseph’s brethren were troubled. The fact that the brothers were troubled is actually a positive thing; it is good that the brothers were afraid at this revelation.
Then in Genesis 45:4, we read:
And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Perhaps they did not believe, or they were so stunned that Joseph needed to encourage them, “Here, come closer. Take a good look at me.” Joseph would have had a nice tan, and he would have grown from a teenager to an adult, but there would still have been some resemblance. There would have been some features that would have stayed the same. It would be no different than someone who is middle-aged looking at a picture of themselves when they were a teenager and being able to see some big differences in their features and in the way in which they had aged, but also some similarities. Therefore, they came closer to get a better look. Joseph wanted them to be absolutely certain of who he was. To them, it must have seemed amazing and incredible that he was, in fact, their brother, Joseph. So Joseph called his brethren near to him in order to verify the fact that he was the brother that they had sold into slavery so long ago.
What does it mean, spiritually, that Joseph calls them near? Does this remind us of anything? Come near to me—remember that Joseph typifies Christ. He is saying to his brethren, “Come near.”
Let us go back to Genesis 27, and we will see a very strong emphasis on coming near. In verses 20-27, we read:
And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me. And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him. And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank. And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. And he came near, and kissed him…
Isaac is about to give the blessing to whom he thinks is Esau, but is actually Jacob. The emphasis here is, “Come near, come close to me, and I will bless you.”
Also, in Genesis 48, we have Jacob on his deathbed. Joseph brings him his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. It says in verses 9-10:
And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
Then verse 13 says:
And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him.
When it was the time for the blessing, the child would come near to the father; the father would put his hand on the head of the child and bless his child. God is telling us that during the time of Great Tribulation, He is going to call His brethren near. He is going to call the people of God near unto Him. He is going to convince them to come out of the churches and congregations and to go directly to the Word of God.
This is a picture of Christ calling His people near to Him in order to bestow a great and tremendous blessing. Is that not what Joseph intends to do? He is going to feed and nourish them, he is going to protect them and give them a wonderful place in the land of Egypt where they can keep their cattle and have safety and be well-fed in the time of famine. Joseph first calls them near—“I am Joseph. I will give you the blessing.” Similarly, God is calling His people near during our present day. As those whom God intends to save go to God, He will bestow His wonderful blessing upon them with salvation. That is what is in view here as the brethren go near to Joseph. There is obedience to this command, and they will be blessed.
As Geneses 45:4 says:
And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt
Next time, Lord willing, we will move further along in Genesis 45 and look at verses 5 and 6. Verse 6 is a very important verse because Joseph is revealing to his brethren exactly how long the dearth will be. He is telling them, in no uncertain terms, that the famine has been two years in the land and that it will last five more years. From Joseph’s knowledge, they will be able to calculate the exact year in which the dearth will be over.
That is significant, since God likens this to the Great Tribulation. If Joseph, who is a type of Christ, revealed the length of the time of the dearth to his brethren, will Christ reveal the exact duration of the Great Tribulation to his brethren, the believers? And if He does, if we know when the Great Tribulation will come to an end, what is the next thing that will happen after that? After that comes the end of the world.