ALL SCRIPTURES POINT TO JESUS (PART VII)

“On the Side of Truth”

By Akin Ojumu

We are at the End of the Age. The End Times are upon us. Mankind is on a collision course with destiny. As the days turn into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years, we all are witnesses to, as well as characters in, the unfolding drama set in motion even before the foundation of the world.

Deception and dissimulation, we’ve been warned, will be defining features of this period of human history. This epoch, the Scriptures warn, will be marked by duplicity and dissembling. Knowing the end is near, Satan and the forces aligned with him will let loose a barrage of dissimulation to lead many astray.

Matthew 24:3-5

“As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.”

Like no other time in human history, truth is hard to come by in our day. More than ever before, there’s a deliberate assault on honesty, and probity is under a coordinated onslaught. Even though we are supposed to be living in the information age, verity lay buried under the avalanche of manifest mendacity, and veracity is swept away by the deluge of blatant banality.

Just as it was in the Garden of Eden, when Satan lured Adam and Eve into questioning the fidelity of God and His Word, Scripture is in the bullseye of demonic attack. As Satan trains his gun on God’s Word, the ground zero of the war on truth is the Body of Christ. In various ways and by diverse means, the truth of God given to us in the Bible is under assault both from within and from outside the Church.

African Plume is a blog created in defiance. As part of the resistance movement against the satanic invasion, it’s dedicated to fight back against the assault on God’s truth. The essays and write-ups you will read on this platform are carefully and prayerfully chosen to equip readers with tools they need to shield themselves from the onslaught of lies emanating from the various places of worship where God’s pulpits have been turned into bully pulpits promoting doctrines of demons.

This commentary series is another little step forward in our overall defiance against the lies of Satan. Focused on examining the life of Joseph, it explores the various parallels between this ancient patriarch and the Lord Jesus Christ. At the conclusion of this series, it’s the hope that the readers would’ve been enriched in their grasp of Scriptures, and they’d have come to a better understanding that from Genesis to Revelation, Christ Jesus is the central theme of Scriptures.

Connection 16

Joseph’s brothers sold him to slavery in Egypt. Jesus took the form of a bondservant i.e., a slave.

Genesis 37:28

“Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.”

Philippians 2:7

“But emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave...”

Connection 17

Joseph was taken to Egypt. Jesus was taken to Egypt.

Genesis 37:28

“And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.”

Matthew 2:13-15

“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.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.””

Connection 18

When Joseph was sold into slavery, his father believed his son had died. So being sold into slavery was like the death of Joseph. This is a parallel to Jesus’s death on the Cross. While on the Cross, Christ paid the wages of sin, which is death.

Genesis 37:34-35

“Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.”

Romans 6:10

“For the death he died he died to sin, once for all.”

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10

“For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.”

Connection 19

Joseph was sold to Potiphar, a high-ranking officer in the royal court of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Jesus was handed over to Pilate, governor of Judaea, and a high-ranking officer in the royal court of Caesar Tiberius, the Emperor of Rome.

Genesis 37:36

“Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.”

Matthew 27:1-2

“When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.”

Connection 20

As a slave in the House of Potiphar, Joseph attended to the needs of His master’s household and not his own. Similarly, Christ Jesus is the ultimate example of a bondservant. Everything He did was in the service of God’s Household and not His own. He did not come to be served, but to serve.

Genesis 39:3-4

“His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him…”

Mark 10:45

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Luke 22:27

“For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.”

Philippians 2:5-8

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

We’ll take it from here next time.