Scripture

And they saw him from a distance, and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death.

~Genesis 37:18, LSB

Quote

We will fall, we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus.The greatness of mercy and love will compel us to cry
holy, holy, holy is the LAMB.

~Chris Tomlin

Joseph was a type of Christ. There are amazing similarities and parallels between Joseph and Jesus and you see several in chapter 37 of Genesis. Joseph was hated by his brothers and they conspired to kill him. They wanted him out of the picture, not because he was evil but because he was good and they were jealous. They not only conspired against him, they stripped him. They took his robe of many colors and put him down into a pit. Jesus was lowered into the pit, a dungeon beneath Caiaphas house. I have stood in the same spot {possibly, no one knows for sure if it is the same dungeon}. They tore his garments. They betrayed him. These parallels are all found in chapter 37, but in Genesis as a whole you see more. Joseph was humiliated and then exalted. He was a suffering servant and then exalted as Lord of Egypt. It gets better; the hate filled brothers that betrayed him and mistreated him later bow before him. Previously they had said pridefully, “You will not reign over us,” but he does and they bow willingly. Joseph never commands them to bow. He never uses force although it was available to him.

I am telling you folks, the very people who hate Jesus now will one day bow before Him. He will not have to use force although it will be available. If you talk to them right now, they will have the same attitude as Jospeh’s wicked brothers, “I will not bow the knee to Jesus,” but they will bow just like Joseph’s brothers. Years ago June and I visited the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, N.C. and at first I was not impressed. One of the attendants could tell that I was going to hurry through and they said to me, “Sir, I am not telling you what to do but I recommend that you begin at station one and follow all the steps to the cross. When you get to the cross you will see what I mean.” Believe or not, I listened and began at station one and listened and watched all the videos. The most amazing thing happened, when I got to the cross I fell on my knees. I can’t explain it. I think the Spirit began convicting me at the third or fourth stop and when I got to the cross, my burden of guilt and shame was so great that I fell on my knees in an instant. I do believe with all my heart that when Jesus returns every knee will bow and every tongue confess. I do not believe force will be necessary. I think we will be overwhelmed by His majesty, His love, and His holiness, and that no one will be able to restrain us from falling on our face before Him. I think the weight of His glory will be so heavy that we will not be able to stand.

Extra

We had a little bug killing weather last night. I was 29 when I went to Hardee’s this morning. It does appear to be a beautiful day. I think the flu is going around. We have several sick in our tiny congregation. It is a part of winter I suppose. I am just glad to be able to go again. I’m still not visiting senior adults or those that our sick. Hopefully I will be back to normal next week.

Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.