Beginning of the End: Seeing Christ in Joseph

 The life of Joseph illustrates the life of Christ. It was envy that moved the brothers of Joseph to sell him as a slave; they hoped to prevent him from becoming greater than they themselves. They felt certain that they would no longer be troubled with his dreams, and that they had removed all possibility of their fulfillment. But God overruled their course to bring about the very event they intended to hinder. Similarly, the priests and elders were jealous of Christ. They put Him to death to prevent Him from becoming king,  but in doing so they brought about this very result.

Through his bondage in Egypt, Joseph became a savior to his father’s family, yet this fact did not lessen the guilt of his brothers. So the crucifixion of Christ by His enemies made Him the Redeemer of mankind, the Savior of the fallen race, and Ruler over the whole world; but the crime of His murderers was just as dreadful as though God’s guiding hand had not controlled events.

Joseph was falsely accused and thrown into prison because of his faithfulness; so Christ was despised and rejected because His righteous, self-denying life was a rebuke to sin. Although He was not guilty of any wrong, Christ was condemned on the testimony of false witnesses. And Joseph’s patience under injustice, his ready forgiveness and noble graciousness toward his brothers who had shown him no kindness or sympathy, represent the Savior’s uncomplaining endurance of the hate and abuse of wicked men and His forgiveness of all who come to Him confessing their sins and seeking pardon.

Joseph lived to see the growth and prosperity of his people, and through all the years his faith in God to restore Israel to the Land of Promise was unshaken.

When he saw that his end was near, his last act was to show that his destiny was connected with Israel. His last words were, “God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” And he took a solemn oath from the children of Israel that they would carry his bones with them back to the land of Canaan. “So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.”

Through the following centuries of toil, that coffin testified to Israel that they were only staying in Egypt temporarily. It called them to keep their hopes fixed on the Land of Promise, for the time of deliverance would surely come.