ALL SCRIPTURES POINT TO JESUS (PART II)

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“Seeing Christ Through the Life of Joseph”

By Akin Ojumu

Scriptures are all about Christ. It’s not about you or your dreams. When the Holy Spirit inspired men to pen the sixty-six books of the Bible, God’s motive was to tell the story of His beloved Son of whom Apostle John wrote:

John 1:1-4
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

People, events and stories written in the Old Testament are types and shadows of what was to come in the future, and the name of Jesus is woven into the fabrics of every book. With the exception of David, of all the patriarchs mentioned in the Old Testament, the story of Joseph is one that, by far, most parallels the life of Christ. 

Just as Jesus came down from glory, took on the form of man, endured hate and persecution, suffered shame, humiliation, and death, rose again from the dead, ascended to Heaven, and then restored back to glory to sit at the right hand of the Father, so also was Joseph. 

Joseph’s story is that of a beloved son who went from basking in his father’s glory all the way down to slavery in Egypt and restored back to glory again. As the favorite son among twelve brothers, he incurred the envy, hatred, and persecution of his brothers who sold him into slavery, and his father was made to believe he had been torn up by wild animals. He was humiliated and suffered the shame of an ordinary slave in the house of Potiphar, a gentile. 

While in Potiphar’s house, he was falsely accused and was further humiliated by being imprisoned for an offense he did not commit. He was subsequently rescued, and was appointed the second in hand in Egypt, and made to sit at the right hand of Pharaoh. Joseph was made to go through all these humiliations and sufferings for the purposes of saving the very same people who sold him into slavery.

In today’s commentary, we are going to thread a line from various aspects of Joseph’s life to see how they connect with Christ. There’s so much in the life of Joseph that point directly to Christ in compelling and fascinating ways that it’s impossible to capture them all in a commentary series. I encourage you to dig deep into Joseph’s story to add to the list whatever I miss.

So, here we go.

Connection 1
Joseph’s father, Jacob, had twelve children. This is reminiscent of Jesus choosing twelve Apostles.

Genesis 35:22
“Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.”

Luke 16:13
“And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles.”

Connection 2
As we stated earlier, Joseph was loved by his father more than his brothers the same way Jesus is God’s beloved and only begotten Son.

Genesis 37:3
“Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors.”

Matthew 17:5
“He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Connection 3
Joseph was hated by his brothers. In similar fashion, Jesus was hated by the Jews.

Genesis 37:4
“But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.”

John 15:18
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”

Connection 4
Joseph is hated even more by his brothers because of his dreams. Likewise, Jesus was hated by the Jews because He referred to God as His Father making Himself equal with God.

Genesis 37:5-8
“Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.”

John 5:18
“This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

This is just a start. We’ll take it from here next time.

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