(Genesis) Genesis 40 Introduction

Now, here in the 40th chapter, we have a section here that, frankly, it doesn't seem to advance the story of Joseph. Rather, it seems to slow it down to absolutely no movement at all. We see Joseph now in prison, and he's delayed and circumscribed by the ingratitude of the chief butler of Pharaoh.

Here he is in prison. The question arises, well, what about him? Well, may I say to you, all of this is accomplishing God's plan and purpose in his life, as we're going to see now as we get into this chapter. But we said at the beginning that no person in the Bible has so many parallels in his life to that of the Lord Jesus, and there's no one so much like the Lord as Joseph is.

And let me pick up. I made that contrast the other day, or rather comparison the other day. Now, let's look at some more.

We mentioned the other day that Joseph was sent to his brethren. The Lord Jesus was sent to his brethren. He said, I've been sent to the lost sheep, the house of Israel.

And Joseph was hated by his brethren without a cause. The Lord Jesus was hated by his brethren without a cause. And Joseph was sold by his brethren.

The Lord Jesus Christ was sold by one of his brethren. And Joseph was sold for 20 pieces of silver. The Lord Jesus was sold for 30 pieces of silver.

And the brethren plotted to kill him. His own brethren plotted to kill Joseph. And the brethren of the Lord Jesus plotted to kill him.

Came unto his own. His own received him not. He was put in the pit, and that was to be a place of death.

You will recall for him, the Lord Jesus was crucified. Joseph was raised up out of that pit. The Lord Jesus was raised up the third day.

Joseph obeyed his father, and the Lord Jesus obeyed his father. I do always the things that please him, the Lord said. And Joseph, his father sent him to seek his brethren.

And the Lord Jesus Christ, we're told that he came to do the will of God, and he came to seek his brethren. And Joseph was mocked by his brethren. Behold, this dreamer cometh.

The Lord Jesus was mocked by his brethren. If he be the Christ, let him come down now from the cross. And the brethren refused to receive Joseph.

And the brethren of the Lord Jesus refused to receive him. And Joseph, they took counsel to kill him. And the Lord Jesus, they plotted his death.

And in Joseph's life, his coat was returned to his father, dripping with blood. And they took the coat of the Lord Jesus and gambled for it. And Joseph, after being sold into Egypt, he was lost sight of for many years.

Christ ascended up into heaven, and he says, you'll see me no more. And he was tempted, Joseph was, by the world, the flesh, and the devil. And he resisted.

The Lord Jesus was tempted by the world, flesh, and the devil. And he won. And Joseph, he became the savior of the world during this period, physically, of course.

And Christ is the savior of the world today. The parallels there, I think, are indeed striking. And we need to note them, of course.

Now, let's get into this 40th chapter, and we'll notice something here. Last time, I think I ended with a question, how could it be the will of God for him to be put in prison now? And you'll recall that he was put in prison. Actually, this fellow Potiphar, someone's raised the question with me.

I don't think that he believed his wife at all. Certainly wasn't a happy home. She called him he, you know.

That wasn't very complimentary. And Potiphar actually had no confidence in his wife. Why, if he had, he would have put Joseph to death immediately.

There'd been no ifs and ands about him. What he did was just put him into prison and forget about it. This man, I think, recognized the kind of wife he had, but he's sure to be pitied to be married to her.

But all of this is working to the advantage of Joseph. Somebody says, well, wait a minute. How can it do that? Here he is now sold into slavery and unjustly accused, and now he's put in prison and forgotten.

How do you interpret that? Well, I interpret that that the Word of God is certainly being fulfilled and the will of God is accomplished in his life. The thing is that this man, Joseph, is kept in prison for a definite purpose, God's purpose. Suppose that when he's going to interpret the dream of the butler, and suppose the butler, when he got out, did as he promised he'd do.

He went into Pharaoh on behalf of Joseph and said, this young fellow's in there and he's accused falsely, and you ought to let him out of prison. Well, the night he had his dream and needed someone to interpret it and someone to become prime minister of Egypt, why, Joseph at that time would have been halfway back to the promised land. He would have been long gone from the land of Egypt.

But you see, he's here and being kept here, detained for a purpose. You see the hand of God working in this man's life all the way through. Joseph, hated by his brethren without a cause, delivered him to the Gentiles.

He couldn't defend himself, though he's unjustly accused. The Lord Jesus was delivered by his own to the religious rulers who in turn delivered him to the Gentiles, and he was innocent. And Pilate, like Potiphar, didn't believe the accusation against Jesus, found him innocent and scourged him.

You see, Joseph had to suffer because this man, Potiphar, had to put up a front there at the court of Pharaoh. And Joseph found favor inside of the jailer here. And we find that the Roman centurion said, truly this is the Son of God, and Joseph was numbered with the transgressors.

And he was a blessing to the butler, and he was judgment for the baker. And you remember the Lord Jesus was crucified between two thieves. One was judged and the other was blessed.

And you'll notice as we go through now, chapter 40, Joseph gives all the glory to God.