Of the many “types” we find in the Bible relating to Messiah, we have been looking at Joseph, son of Israel and great-grandson of Abraham. We found him to be a beloved son, a good shepherd, a sent servant, a brother sold into slavery and one who was a lonely sufferer who became a great statesman. As we traced Joseph being a type of Messiah or Christ we found Jesus Christ fulfilled each of these stages. Finally today we want to see Joseph as a type of Savior of the Word. He put everything into place, enabling Egypt as a sovereign state to protect herself from the coming famine that God had promised Pharaoh would come through the dreams he had. (Gen 41:47-49). Due to Joseph’s proactive steps, when the famine arrived, Egypt enjoy an abundance of food.
Ge 41:53 The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, 54 and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. 55 When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.”
Apart from Joseph’s rank we see the king telling the people to depend upon Joseph.
Ge 41:56 When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. 57 And all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the world.
Here we find that the famine affected more than just Egypt for it stretched across “all the world” with “all the countries” coming to Egypt to purchase grain. In chapters 42 to 45 we see Joseph’s brothers coming to Egypt to buy grain. These chapters might at first reading seem that Joseph is getting revenge but a closer read exposes that the brothers were being taught the content of Joseph’s dreams they rejected many years before. He was 17 when sold as a slave and by the time he became Prime Minister of Egypt he was 30. After all these years his brothers would not have recognized him and so the painful exercise of him extracting information from them took place until he reveals himself in chapter 45 with his father and extended families emigrating to Egypt in chapter 46. Although their story is not the focus here, it is part of the main story leading to God creating a people for Himself who were called Israel as a nation. So Joseph becomes the savior of the world through spending years preparing many silos for the storage of grain, bulk storing grain and having it available for the duration of the 7 years of famine that spread throughout the known world of the day. Where Joseph was a type, Jesus is the reality:
Jn 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Although this verse is likely the most known Bible verse around the world, it is also the most misunderstood verse in all the Bible. Many people only use the verse like this … “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son”. When doing this you can make that part of the verse say whatever you want. You can make that verse a pretext to say whatever you want about the Savior. But … because God so loved the world that He gave His Son only make Biblical sense when you add the rest of the verse … “that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Yes God does “so love the world” but only those who believe in His recuse plan to this earth, meaning … believe and trust Jesus for salvation and new life, will enjoy eternal life in heaven and not perish for their sins in hell. Always remember you cannot take part of a verse and make that your belief system or your theology. We further read:
1Jn 4:13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.
In verse 14, John not only states under inspiration that Jesus is the Savior of the World … he says “we”, meaning the apostles, are eye witnesses to this fact and declare it as such. Then when one takes verse 15 … only when one acknowledges who Jesus really is, what He came to do and believes His substitutional salvific work at Calvary does one receive the Spirit (v13) … in the context of being born again. I am certain you spotted how the people of Egypt came to Joseph for food! They had a desperate need but they had to come to him … as did the people of all the countries from across the known world (Gen 41:57). If they did not go to Joseph for food they would not have had food and they would have died. This is the message of the gospel. Jesus is the Savior of the World. The only Savior … but unless people go to Him for salvation for their starving souls, they will remain starving and die like that … “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. God holds up the gospel before all people, but unless they take it seriously, work through it to understand what God is saying … they will be rejecting the message and face the terrible consequences of rejecting the Savior of the World. If you are reading this Note and find you are avoiding Jesus and His gospel, please stop, repent, believe and receive Him as Lord and Savior before it is too late and you die in your sins. Like Pharaoh got Joseph to stock up the grain to feed the masses, so the Father got His Son Jesus to free people from their sin. In each case the target audience needed to go to the source and receive the offering. If in Joseph’s day they refused, they died … if in Jesus’ day and today people refuse, they die in their sin and go to eternal hell. The responsibility is upon us as individuals. Then all saved souls have a responsibility to the gospel. Take the woman at the well:
Jn 4:42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
She made it known. Will you?
Lord Jesus, help me to do the same. Amen.