Joseph And JesusTwo Different Deliverances

Joseph And JesusTwo Different Deliverances

As I begin with the third article of this three-part series, I can’t help but prayerfully reflect on how I hope this gives you the desire to read the whole of scripture regularly. I think the Old and New Testaments need to be read completely every year. Our job as preachers and teachers is to motivate Christians by showing them how it all ties together in one harmonious unit.

In February, we looked at the point of origin—of how any human being is made righteous. In March, we saw God’s working through scripture to remind us of similarities in the Old Testament theme of Israel’s inheritance and His coming messiah. Finally, we will see the two big pictures of redemption that allow us to be truly human (April). 

Why did I put the phrase “being truly human?” I think many people refuse to come to terms with the reality of the origin of creation and the spiritual realm that communicates that a creator continually reveals Himself to us. When we come to terms with our Creator’s communication to us—creation and the Bible—it is then, as a creation, that we understand what it means to be truly human. I am not saying that people are not human, because, obviously they are. However, they are a shell of who they can be when Jesus gives them life and frees them from sin’s slave market. They are grapplers longing for the real thing until they get life and freedom from Jesus. It is impossible to receive it from the world because sin and culture have confused and convoluted the path to life and liberty. 

In this article, I want to look at the life of Joseph and how it parallels the life of Jesus. When Christians see the parallels between the Old Testament and New Testament, the Bible begins to come to life, and our understanding gives us the desire to read it more. We see it as a symphony of poetry, Historical narrative, prophecy, wisdom literature, and epistles—letters written to the early churches. Like a symphony with many instruments, they make one piece of music together. All 66 books of the Bible tell us one story: God created man, but man sinned, so God had to come and free us through the sacrifice of Christ. It is a theme that runs throughout all of scripture.

And God is so creative in weaving this theme into real people’s lives in the Bible to leave us longing for the one who was to come. As we read, Joseph is betrayed by the hatred of his brothers, and they treat him wrongly. However, Joseph still delivers humanity from famine and eventually symbolically comes out of Egypt with his people. This puts us in a mental position to understand why God directed the life of the God/Man Jesus the way He did. Let’s compare how both Joseph and Jesus were betrayed by hatred.    

Joseph and Jesus Are Hated

“Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” Genesis 37:20

“And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.” Mark 11:18

In both verses, no action has been taken yet, but the motivation that will drive the action is hatred. Let me go back and review the story of Joseph and then the story of Jesus to show how God is weaving these two historical narratives together to show us our story.

Joseph was the favorite son, so much so that Joseph’s father made a special coat for young Joseph. This made his brothers furious, and to add insult to injury, Joseph had dreams about his brothers bowing down to him. God revealed to Joseph the future, but the dream was not received well by the ones he was going to save. The religious leaders had the same hatred for Jesus that Joseph’s brothers had for him.

The religious elites—scribes and Pharisees—were threatened by Jesus Christ, which fueled their hatred for Jesus. The way he spoke with authority and clarity threatened their power and position in the community. The miracles he performed proved that He was sent from God as the God/Man.

Both Joseph and Jesus were hated for being chosen by God to deliver humanity from death. Wait, let’s not be so fast to insult Joseph’s brothers or the religious elite. Just observe how many people have hatred for Jesus. If you bring the name of Jesus up with ten people in a random crowd and tell people that they must believe in Him alone for salvation, at least one will dislike that truth. Take solace in the words of Jesus, “If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.” John 15:18 This hatred comes from not understanding God’s big picture on display for all man can understand- creation and the Bible. God gives us the testament of His special revelation and allows us to see the real-time results of humanity going its own way. Just look around.  However, humans still choose to hate or dismiss the truth presented.

Now you have a cliff notes version of Joseph and Jesus. Let’s look at what hatred produces.

Joseph And Jesus Are Mistreated

“Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh. And his brothers listened to him.” Gen 37:27

“So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” John 8:59

These verses have action. Joseph is being sold into slavery, and Jesus’ enemies are picking up stones to kill Him because He called himself the great I AM. Joseph had to endure this suffering for God to get him into the place and position He needed. Notice Joseph spoke the truth according to what God revealed ambiguously in men’s dreams and visions-hence the king of Egypt- putting him in the position to deliver humanity from a worldwide famine. It wasn’t good for Joseph initially, but it got better for him. It was the opposite for Jesus. The more truth He spoke, the more miracles He performed, and the worse it got.

The principle to take into your daily life is that people who don’t have a faith relationship with God don’t like the truth Jesus represents. Humanity will continue to either humbly see their need to submit to Jesus as their creator or continue to hate those who represent Him. In the following verses, I will share the difference in who Jesus is and what He is accomplishing compared to Joseph.

Joseph And Jesus Delivered Differently

“There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace.” Gen 47:13-14

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:18-19

Joseph’s planning and preparation saved the people from famine. The people brought their money. He gave them grain to survive. Notice after Jesus’ resurrection, He states, “all authority has been given to Me.”

Jesus is delivering people physically and spiritually. Joseph only dealt with the deliverance from physical famine. Here, Jesus is shown as the true antitype that all the Old Testament types point to. Jesus pulls us into reality with the physical and spiritual freedom that His death, burial, and resurrection bring.

Joseph, the physical savior, was a signpost to point us to the true savior. They were both hated and mistreated and had a form of delivery they were involved with. Joseph was dealing with the physical, and Jesus was with the physical and spiritual.

I will take the rest of the article to talk about Old Testament and New Testament, bringing us to the point of seeing our need manifold work of Jesus.  

Joseph showed a shadow of what was to come—he was hated and mistreated but still delivered humanity. Jesus is hated and mistreated but saves all who believe physically and spiritually. Just reflect with me on your life before Jesus. We were all a mess physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Faith in Jesus allowed us to see life the way it is.

Now that we have the tools to handle life’s problems that come our way, we have the answers, not arrogance—and I state this with humility. Every “type of Christ” you read about in the Old Testament will fail and leave you longing for the one who will not. We have peace with God because we are no longer slaves to sin. This leads me to my last point: being freed from sin (Egypt).

Joseph (Symbolic) and Jesus (Physically) Come Out Of Egypt

“Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” Gen 50:25

“Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”” Matt 2:13

“And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.” Matt 2:21

Two different departures are leaving Egypt. One was faith in what God would do in the future (Joseph), and the other was parents (Joseph, Jesus’ father) being obedient to the revelation of God.

Joseph knew that God would visit Israel and bring them out of Egypt. Why did God send Jesus’ family to Egypt? If you think protection from Herod, you would be right. Nevertheless, I want you to think about the scope of the whole Bible. God is tying this grand redemption story together that is in the pages of the Old and New Testaments. God brought Israel out of Egypt, delivered them from their enemies, and judged them for not obeying his law until they had the hearts and strength to enter their inheritance. God brought His Son out of Egypt, who followed the law and lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father. His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection brought deliverance for all who would place faith in Him.  

Faith in Jesus brings an inheritance that will never be taken away. It will only continue to grow. Here is why Jesus’ deliverance is better: Joseph delivered the people, but they still had to give offerings. Jesus comes in and gives delivery from death. When you repent and place faith in Jesus, you are made alive. He pulls out your death of sin and the destruction it has caused you, and those around you, and gives you new life. He gives life where death once was king.

There is one last point I want to remind our champion partners. Jesus does another thing that Joseph could never do. He delivers from the power of sin. Not only are you made alive, but sin no longer has any power over your life. The guilt of sin is now gone. Freedom now reigns.

We can now come to terms with reality from these two lenses. God is our creator. We are His creation and need His help to give us life and freedom from our bondage. He calls the shots we don’t, and we must humbly submit to His revealed truth regardless of how many choose not to. When we do, we can help others see the reality once hidden from us.

Jesus and Joseph were hated and mistreated, but they delivered people and came out of Egypt. This was God weaving a grand narrative of redemption throughout history to show us what true life is. Jesus. He brings life and deliverance.

I close with the words of John Newton in the first verse of his hymn Amazing Grace, “I once was lost, but now I am found, was blind, but now I see.”

Jesus gives life and breaks the power of sin, so until next month, go and proclaim the Gospel because the truth worth proclaiming is the truth that transforms.