Tribulation To Glory

Take your Bibles and let's turn back to Genesis chapter 41. Steve has read this text up to verse 25. Let's continue to the end of the chapter. Get the full story of this episode in Joseph's life. Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dreams of Pharaoh are one. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years. The dreams are one. The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine. It is, as I told Pharaoh, God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt.

The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will surely bring it about. Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt.

Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities and let them keep it. that food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt so that the land may not perish through the famine this proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants and Pharaoh said to his servants can we find a man like this in whom is the spirit of God then Pharaoh said to Joseph since God has shown you all this there is none so discerning and wise as you are you shall be over my house and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, see, I've set you over all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in his second chariot and they called out before him, bow the knee. Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt.

Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt and Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zephanath Paneah and he gave him in marriage Asenath the daughter of Potiphar a priest of On so Joseph went out over the land of Egypt Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt and Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly and he gathered up all the food of these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it and Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea until he ceased to measure it for it could not be measured. Before the year of famine came two sons were born to Joseph.

Asenath the daughter of Potiphar a priest of An bore them to him Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh for he said God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house the name of the second he called Ephraim for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction the seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end and the seven years of famine began to come as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished the people cried to Pharaoh for bread.

Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians go to Joseph what he says to you do. So when the famine had spread over all the land Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth. Let's pray. Father, once more as we consider this, remind us that you intend us to know more about Jesus and in that knowledge to grasp all that we need for life and godliness.

We pray, Father, that you would give us truth today. Truth that would transform us. Truth that would give us confidence in you. So, Father, help us as we look today in Jesus' name. Amen. What a difference a day can make, huh?

For Joseph, the day must have dawned like any other. He's dressed in the same prison clothes. He began to do the duties he had to do every day. Two years had passed since the cupbearer had been released, and Joseph's hopes of freedom had surely evaporated by this time. Then in the midst of his duties, there was an urgent call. Hurry up, we have to get you shaved and properly dressed because we just got word that Pharaoh has summoned you into his presence.

Joseph's period in the pit ended even more dramatically, even more dramatically than it had begun. He went from the pit to the peak, from the prison cell to Pharaoh's right hand in the course of a single day. Now that an incredible story It almost like a fairy tale or a heroic story in some novel But this is God telling the story and its intention is not to inspire awe at these marvelous events That's not what it's intended to do.

What is the point of this story of dramatic reverse of fortunes? Well, it's really not about reversal of fortunes. What it's about is the sovereignty and rule of God over the fates of nations and families. More precisely, it depicts the sovereignty of God as he fulfills the promises he had made in his covenant with Abraham. Now remember the larger story here.

God had made a covenant with Abraham and he is determined to fulfill those promises that he had made. we see those in Genesis chapter 12 we have seen if you remember if you've read through the book of of Genesis you see how God has worked toward the fulfillment of that covenant in the life of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and that story has taken many twists and turns but through it all you see God remaining true to that covenant and I would suggest to you that the theme of this book is that God had promised that there would be a seed that would bless all the nations of the earth. And the whole book, with all its twists and turns and drama and craziness, is a story about how God in His sovereignty is determined to fulfill that promise to send a seed that will bless all the nations. Now, we've seen His work in the life of Joseph, a life of great humiliation and suffering and now we come to this his exaltation what you see in this narrative again is God fulfilling the promises that he had made in the covenant he made with Abraham now I want to remind you just something that the New Testament tells us in first Corinthians 10 as it as the apostle Paul reviews the things that happened to Israel he says this these happened as an example to them but these are written down to those upon whom the fulfillment of the ages has come that is to say Paul was saying the word of God is intended for you today God wrote this story with you in the 21st century in mind and so as we read the story God never intended it to be merely a history of what happened in the past but a means of communicating to you what you need to hear.

So, what does God want you to hear? Well, as we look at God's sovereignty this morning, I want you to consider three words. Remember, believe, and trust. Remember, believe, and trust. Well, where do we start? Well, in the first eight verses, and I'm sure you will give me a little bit of slack here if I don't re-read the whole text, okay?

I'm sure you're not just giving me slack, you're pleading with me by your eyes, you're saying, please don't read that whole chapter again. So, you're going to have to remember what these words were. I'll give you the verse references, but you recall what they say. Here's the thing, here's the first point. Remember the helplessness of man. Remember the helplessness of man, verses 1 through 8.

Pharaoh has a dream, and he cannot, for the life of him, figure out what it means. He had this really weird dream about cows and grain. First, there's seven fat cows in the water. Now we're familiar with this. We see cows, you know, if you get National Geographic, you see cows in the Nile that are there to get away from the insects and the heat. Well, they're coming out into the long grass that typically is around a river, and they come up on the bank and start eating that reed grass.

And then seven ugly, thin cows come out of the water, and they eat up the fat cows. And Pharaoh wakes up. Well, he falls asleep again, and this time he sees seven fat ears of grain, or corn, on one stalk. Now, that's going to present a pretty good harvest. If you could, right, seven ears on one stalk. Really nice fat ones.

But then seven thin withered ears grow on that stalk, and they consume the fat ones. And Pharaoh probably wakes up in a sweat. Now, remember, the Egyptians put a lot of stock in their dreams. To them, dreams gave them a sight into the next world. Or into the future. And Pharaoh's probably troubled that he can't figure out this dream because he's thinking, you know what?

I'm not going to understand this message from the gods. If I don't get it, we're in big trouble. So he calls all the wise men and the magicians, the men schooled in interpretations and the experts in dreams. But they have no clue what this means. Maybe because they've never seen these kind of symbols before. They've never seen this before.

They don't know what to make of it. So what we need to see here is that man left to his own devices ends up in confusion, and he's helpless to navigate the waters of life, or of power in this case. Without the revelation of God's truth, men will always remain helpless and find themselves in all sorts of confusion. Without a word from God, we can never understand the world around us.

Look around today and you see the fruits of life understood and lived with no reference to God revelation Look around you and what you see is a world that lives without any reference to God revelation Without a category called sin, we end up excusing the most wicked acts as sickness. right have you ever heard for example have you ever heard someone say adolf history hitler must have been mentally ill why would anybody say that why would we say no he was a wicked man because we have a category that interprets that data and says man is depraved and that's adolf hitler which means by the way you're capable of what he did too so we don't have a category of sin without acknowledging god's creative purposes we end up with transgender nonsense without embracing god's commandments we end up with no ethical standards and really no way of determining what's right or what's wrong without believing the gospel that saves us from our sin men end up hopeless and powerless in the face of evil with no confidence with nothing and so it is with pharaoh he's confused hopeless and helpless now remember you need to remember the helplessness of men for it's in that arena that God's sovereignty manifests itself. If you remember, remember this. Remember that man's helplessness is the very theater in which God reveals his sovereignty.

And so you need to believe that God rules. You need to believe that God rules. Pharaoh's closest advisor, the cupbearer. cupbearer. Remember, cupbearers were the most intimate advisor a king could have. And the Pharaoh's closest advisor suddenly remembers Joseph's part in his restoration. And now, now we begin to understand the meaning of Joseph's sufferings and affliction.

The false accusations that landed him in prison put him in contact with two royal officers, also sentenced to prison. Their dreams occurred so that Joseph would show himself a prophet of the true God. All of it coming to this point where the cupbearer remembers and sets in motions Joseph's release from prison and his entrance into the palace. Now Pharaoh can't be kept waiting.

And so maybe, as we imagine, Joseph is hurried out of prison. He's prepared for his audience with the king. Now, from our perspective now, we're starting to see why all these things happened. From his brothers, right? His brothers selling him to the slavers who sell him to a man in Egypt. He's wrongly accused.

He's put in prison. He comes into contact with royal officials. He ends up in the palace. Now it all starts making sense. Now we see the sovereignty of God. Now we see what he's doing through all those events.

Now Pharaoh says, I've had a dream. And I heard that you have the uncanny ability to interpret dreams. And so Joseph hears him out. The king gives him all the details of the dreams. By the way, the king adds a detail that we didn't hear before. And that is that the seven ugly cows, the seven thin cows, eat the fat ones. and they still are ugly and thin.

They don't have any change in the way that they look. And Pharaoh says, look, none of the experts can get the job done, but I've heard that you can. Now look carefully at this. Look carefully at verse 16. Well, look at verse 15. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I've had a dream, and there's no one who can interpret it.

I have heard said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it. Now watch. Joseph answered Pharaoh, it is not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer. Do you see what he says here? Joseph takes no credit for any ability he has.

Joseph could have given into the temptation to go along with the flattery. He could be the hero. The opportunity was open for him to do that. but he makes it clear, see, he makes it clear that he is not just another clever, intelligent, gifted interpreter. He's not just a cut above the rest. In fact, he takes no credit. He corrects the king, and he humbly recognizes that the true God can set Pharaoh's mind at ease, since he alone, God alone, provides the interpretation.

Now, these little details, you know, they can jump out at you when you look at it. He could have taken credit, but he did not. He did not take credit. He says, look, it's the one true God that I serve. He is the one who interprets dreams, right? He gives the credit to God.

Now, notice Joseph's confidence in God. He didn't have to promote himself after so many disappointments. if you were in his shoes wouldn't you be tempted to say yeah that's me I'm your man and you're going this will get me some places I will get out of prison he doesn't know that but he still gives all his credit to God right this is in God's hands this is in God's hands it's God who says it And he has confidence in the interpretation even to the point of correcting the king because he knew that God ruled in every particle of the universe He says no it not me You wrong It God He had confidence in his interpretation This is what God says. And he has so much confidence in that, that he's convinced it's going to happen.

This is God who's at work. Look, believing in God's rule in the world ought to promote confidence and humility in his people. Did you hear the New Testament reading today? 1 Peter 5. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he might exalt you in due time. This story is that in living color. he humbled himself under the mighty hand of God and God exalted him in due time not to worry I'm just going to humble myself in the circumstances in which I find myself because they come from God because I know that at the proper time he will exalt me that ought to promote confidence and humility in his people.

Listen, I'll just put it this way. Whenever you come to this chapter, I mean, if you haven't done it, write 1 Peter 5 in the margins. This is it written in living color. Now Joseph now delivers a risky interpretation. He gives Pharaoh the interpretation he's received from God. It's the only interpretation that makes sense out of these symbols in his dream.

Right? Seven fat cows, seven ugly eat. Fat corn, thin corn consumes. But you'll notice the reason why that interpretation is correct. Do you see what he says in verse 25? God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

Notice verse 28. God has shown to Pharaoh what he's about to do. Verse 32. And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. It's not just God revealing what would happen as if he had better eyesight. Right?

It's God accomplishing what he has planned. He alone, he alone is the one responsible for both prosperity and famine. God is the one responsible for that. Now why is this such a risky interpretation? For the Egyptians, Pharaoh himself was considered a god. Pharaoh was considered a god.

You've got to understand that about the Egyptians. The Pharaoh was a god. and his divine power balanced the natural forces in the land and ensured peace and prosperity. He was the one who got it done because he was divine. One pharaoh historically said, I produced the grain because I was beloved by the grain god. No one was hungry in my years. Joseph essentially tells the king that he's not what he claims to be. that really, and he really makes the point that it's his God, the true God, who gets all the credit for what happens.

He says, God has fixed these things to happen and he will do it. You know, essentially saying to Pharaoh, you don't play a part in this at all. The true God, my God, is the one who has said it's going to happen. he's the one who'll get the job done. Listen. Believing that God rules produces confidence in the face of power. You know, a lot of you face difficult situations.

You worked really hard and not get paid enough. I get that. I understand that. No, not because of that. not because I don't know. No, I have no complaints. All right?

I've been where you are. Let me just say that. I've been there. And I remember those days. You have confidence in the face of power even then. You know, if you have to say something, something unethical has happened, and you have to say something about it at work, you can have confidence.

Why? Because God rules. you believe that God rules and then notice he offers a risky course of action Pharaoh had not asked for this mind you Joseph ventures beyond interpreting the dream right now he takes a risky step he says so this is what you need to do Pharaoh with all due respect here's what you need to do because he's so confident in God's sovereignty, he tells Pharaoh what to do. He says, appoint the prime minister, appoint local overseers, institutionalize a rationing system.

Okay? The revelation of God's rule calls for a response from us, right? It calls for a response from us. Again, note the confidence of Joseph. He truly believes that God will do what he says he will do. He hasn't seen any of this, but he believes that God rules, and so he says this is the course of action we ought to take.

Now, this faith is contagious, and it results in Joseph's elevation to the second place of power in the most powerful nation in the world at that time. Egypt ruled that part of the world. Alright? The king and his servants recognized that God's truly at work in him. And so they said, okay. They believe him and they say, you're the man.

You're the man. He elevates him to the place of prime minister. And almost all the authority of the throne is vested in him. And by the way, you see the same pattern here. And Moses does this on purpose. You see the same pattern here.

He says, I'm going to put you over what? The entire house. Okay? Remember what Potiphar had said. I want to put you over the entire house. You got everything except for my wife.

Right? Right? And so, the same thing happens. The same thing happens. And then Pharaoh makes it official by giving him all the trappings of authority. You know what a signet ring is?

A signet ring is like this big ring that a king would have. And when the king would issue a decree, he would stamp. That's what it means to seal. When you read in the Bible seal, it doesn't mean seal an envelope. It means seal a document. And the king's ring was used on those decrees to put a seal on the document, which is to say this comes from the hand of the king.

He turns over his signet ring to Joseph. In other words, Joseph, every order he makes, every decree he makes in the pursuance of this plan, has got the imprimatur, the stamp of the king's authority on it. In other words, the king is entrusting him with incredible authority. Unbelievable authority. He is speaking. If he says it, it's just as good as if Pharaoh had said it.

He gets official clothes and a gold chain. You know when the president goes and speaks? I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but whenever the president gets up to speak, you see the presidential seal. They carry that all the time. whenever he speaks the seal is there if he would speak tomorrow at uh at elgin gym the seal would be there okay so in other words he's given joseph all the trappings of authority it's like the presidential seal he has a chariot with heralds everyone has to now bow to him now again this is pure speculation but it may give us kind of an idea of what kind of power has or what happens here.

Can you imagine with him with the ring on and all the trappings of royalty when he meets Potiphar's wife? Okay, you know, we spill ink on the things that we know the least about. And I'm not going to just, but just imagine that. I mean, that's the turnaround that he's experience. The new name that validates his new position, right? He's got a new name, and what it means is God lives and sees.

That's what his name means. And finally, he gives him a wife that makes him a member of the nobility of the country. So you see that he has really got all the trappings of authority. He's gone from the pit to the peak. Now, how did Joseph go from slave to prisoner to prime minister Because God rules And God has to fulfill his purposes and his covenant and this is the way that he does it.

The false accusations that led to his public humiliation are now replaced by proclamations that lead to public acclamation. His position of powerlessness in prison is replaced with the role of incredible power at Pharaoh's right hand. His impossible dream of people kneeling before him now starts coming true as heralds proclaim him and everybody bows when he goes by.

God puts Joseph into prison, interpreting dreams, revealing and moving the weather patterns in order to position this man to do what? To save his people. All of that to put him in a position, as we will see, where he can save his people. Right? And what happens because he saves his people? the seed comes that will bless all the nations you got to get the big picture here do you see God ruling here he's ruling so that you would be sitting here now he put Joseph in power so that you'd be here today isn't that incredible to think about that is the sovereignty of God do you believe that God rules do you believe that God rules last word trust trust that God will do what he says so what happens next God fulfills the dreams exactly the way he said it would happen and because Joseph trusted God's revelation as completely accurate his plan worked what would have happened if oh wait i misunderstood god you know they'd be starving right or maybe a famine wouldn't have come you'd have people really ticked off because they had to give up so much grain during for seven years see god fulfills the dreams exactly as he said he would and because joseph trusted him his plan worked he trusted that god would do what he said and notice that through all of this joseph remembers the presence and the faithfulness of god he gives hebrew names to his two boys a way again of recalling god's sovereignty and his faithfulness he names them forget and fruitful again you know we all have names and we say this is what it means because it's you know because it's um um timothy if i'm if i remember right comes from greek um i think it it means honored by god or honors god something like that so we all have names and they have meaning but we don't know because it's foreign language i mean he just gave him the names forget and fruitful that's their names okay he interprets the loss and sorrow of his life through the lens of God's presence and faithfulness.

So he names his son Manasseh. I suffered greatly because of my family, but God has removed the injury of my treatment. He interprets the great success he has experienced through the same lens. Ephraim, I have experienced the marvelous goodness, I have experienced marvelous goodness, but that's because of God. his sons will be a constant reminder to him of the faithfulness and the power of God He can trust this God Now finally, he trusts God because of his faithfulness to the covenant.

How do you see God's faithfulness to this covenant? Now not all the promises have been fulfilled and they're not fulfilled completely. But I want you to notice what happens here. God promised to make a great name of his people. He promised to make a great name so that the seed would be a great blessing. And it happens.

God promised that all who bless that name will be blessed, and whoever dishonors it will be dishonored. What happens? He honors Joseph, and God honors him. God said that there would come a seed that would bless all the nations and you can see it here you notice the last verse all the earth came so that they wouldn't starve to death now this isn't the fulfillment completely of the promise it looks like a down payment you don't think I'm going to remain faithful? look what I've done I've started to fulfill the promises.

Can we say this? This is an Old Testament version of already, not yet. He's starting to fulfill the promises he made to Abraham through Joseph. But not completely. And of course, you certainly have to see this. That these are all pointers.

These are all pictures. that will point us to the greater reality of Jesus, the great Deliverer. The seed who was promised to bless all the nations. And you ever wonder, when Jesus talks to the Pharisees, and He says to them, Listen, if you'd read the Old Testament, you would have seen Me. Now I remember as a kid, I'd hear that, I'd read it, and I'm going, Gee, I don't see it.

Right? But when you look at the Old Testament, who does Joseph look like? He's come. He goes through suffering. He is exalted. And he saves his people.

This is just a little picture of what's yet to come. God remains faithful to his covenant. Joseph went through long-lasting suffering in order to be a fruitful blessing to many and more to come. God is sovereign and God is faithful. He exercises His rule for the purposes of fulfilling His promises. he exercises his rule not God doesn't exercise his rule like I'm just moving the chest the pieces on the chessboard to get what I want his sovereignty is engaged in order to fulfill his promises he's going to see that all his promises are fulfilled so remember remember the helplessness of life.

Do you remember the helplessness of your situation before the Lord stepped into your life? Do you believe that God rules And in light of that do you trust Him You see God rules in order to keep His promises to you Now you may not believe that given the difficult circumstances you have You know, I've talked to folks. I've had people sit down and say to me, it looks to me like God has forgotten us.

I don't even know if God loves us, right? but you need to remember that God uses suffering to bring about fruitfulness. The path of suffering before fruitfulness is God's normal providence. You see that? That's the way He normally works. Before we're fruitful, we often have to suffer. Look at Jesus.

Look at Jesus. He experienced long-lasting suffering in order to be fruitful. And what kind of fruitfulness are we talking about here? he suffered before his exaltation so you so you could be saved and God did that to fulfill his promise as we've heard over the last few weeks anyone who comes to me I will not cast out you know that's going to be true because God rules and he rules to keep his promises he had to Jesus had to take the path of the cross before receiving the crown and from the place of his rule after he received the crown he proves fruitful in blessing all the nations with being right with God now I don't know where you are today Christian you have to understand something you have to believe that God rules and you have to trust him it may look helpless and hopeless to you but you need to believe that God rules and to trust him and those of you here today who may be strangers to Christ who who've never actually committed yourself to him know what you need to hear God orchestrated all of this to keep his promises to save anyone who will come to Jesus he did all of this to bring to us Jesus the blessing to all the nations he did all of this to keep his promise and he promises to save you if you entrust yourself to his son that's what that's the message god has for us that's what he wants us to see thank you father we're so thankful for your word it is so powerful it changes us it shows us that you rule and that we can trust You.

It shows us that we have to look at the hopelessness that surrounds us because there is no belief in You. Father, help us as Your children to truly believe and trust You. And Lord, for those who are strangers to grace, help them to see that you will fulfill your promises so that all who cast everything with Jesus who entrust everything to him and what he's done that you will keep the promise of forgiving them and giving them new life.

Thank you for your word. what a delight it is to see you work help us then in light of that word to see you continue your work in us we thank you, Amen