ALL SCRIPTURES POINT TO JESUS (PART XV)

“Come! All Who Labor and are Heavy Laden”

By Akin Ojumu

This commentary series is a reminder to anyone who cares to pay attention that paramount to any accurate interpretation of Scriptures is the realization that all Scriptures are about Christ. The Law and the Prophets prophesied of His Coming. In the Gospel we read about His life, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The Epistles are roadmaps on how to follow Christ.

Today’s installment of the series will examine the connection between Joseph and Jesus as givers of bread to the hungry.

Connection 34: The whole world came to buy grain

When the seven years of famine hit, it was pretty severe. The extreme food scarcity not only affected Egypt, but it was also felt across the entire known world of that time. The whole world was seized with a paroxysm of excruciating starvation. Barrenness and drought filled the whole earth. Severe emptiness blighted barns and storehouses everywhere. No nation was spared of the food shortage except for Joseph whose storehouses in Egypt were brimming with abundance of supply. 

While bare shelves and empty grain stores were the realities everywhere else, the storehouses of Joseph scattered all over Egypt were loaded with an assortment of robustly healthy grain and varieties of garden-fresh food. Like an oasis in the desert, in Joseph was life and sustenance. And it was to him that all nations and tribes turned to replenish their empty barns and it was to him they came to find bread for their hungry stomachs.

Genesis 41:56-57

“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.”

When you consider how the whole world, in desperation, sought Joseph to have their physical needs met, it’s impossible to miss the connection to Christ and how the people flocked to him seeking help for their spiritual needs. 

Prophesying about the Messiah, Prophet Isaiah, by the Holy Spirit, beckoned to the spiritually thirsty and hungry world to come to the LORD to buy and eat.

Isaiah 55:1

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

During His three-year ministry, the anointed Christ went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. As a result, in every town and every village He entered, great crowds always gathered around Him.

Matthew 15:30-31

“And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.”

Such was the succor and solace He brought to the sick, weak, and weary, so much so that the people would turn over rocks looking for Him and when they found Him, they’d earnestly beseech Him to stay and not go.

Luke 4:42

“Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them.”

There was that time, after He had fed five thousand with two loaves and five fishes, that the people came back the next day looking for him. They had determined they were going to forcefully seize Him and crown Him as their King. And this they did just for the loaves of bread.

John 6:14-15

“When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”

Thinking they’ve found a permanent solution to their perennial hunger problem, the people went all over the place looking for Jesus so that He can meet their physical need for food.

John 6:24-26

“So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.””

Joseph provided bread to the hungry that would enable them to survive the temporal famine. Likewise, the Lord Jesus provides bread to the hungry that would help them survive the spiritual famine of this sinful world. While Joseph’s bread is perishable providing temporal sustenance, the bread the Lord Jesus provides is imperishable and it gives eternal life.

John 6:27

“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

The people sought Jesus looking for miraculous provision of free food. Instead, He tells them they need to be seeking the “true bread from heaven” to obtain eternal life. They came in hope of temporal bread for their hungry bellies, not realizing that what they really need is the Bread of life who alone can truly satisfy.

John 6:35

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

To all those wandering about in spiritual famine and to everyone wallowing in spiritual deadness, the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind says, “Come!”

Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”