The greatest privilege we possess as humans is the call of our holy Creator to worship. There is nothing greater than entering into relationship with God where we get to know Him personally. Jeremiah speaks to this truth, stating, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on the earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
God is for our good (Psalm 73:28), and the more a person beholds His glory and beauty, the more they will be drawn into worship. As wonderful as this is, we all face a devastating problem. All people are born into this world in a cursed state of sin and rebellion. The natural man is born with a disposition to reject his holy Creator and live instead for himself (Psalm 51:5, Ephesians 2:1-2). As such, every person faces the same predicament. Our sin severs our relationship with God, Who is both the purpose and source of our life. We are dead in our trespasses, and blind in our sin. In our cursed state, we neither know God, nor do we seek Him (Romans 3:10-12), and we stand doomed to face His eternal wrath and judgement. Our only hope for this relationship to be restored is for God to reveal Himself to us again, and to reach out to save us from our sin.
Our salvation depends on God revealing Himself through His plan of redemption in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Because of this, God’s Word is central to our salvation because His Word is the means through which He makes Himself known to us. The canon of Scripture is God’s complete testimony to us regarding the person and work of Christ, through Whom is the forgiveness of sin and offer of eternal life (Luke 24:44-47; Hebrews 1:1-3).
As we continue in this series examining the correspondence between Joseph and Christ, the next topic we consider is revelation. The revelation of God’s Word is seen in the life of Joseph and is fulfilled in Christ.
Another way Joseph foreshadows Christ is the way he reveals God’s Word. Joseph’s prophetic ministry occurred through dreams. God not only gave Joseph two dreams revealing His divine appointment to become a ruler (Genesis 37:5-10), but he was also granted the wisdom to correctly interpret the divine message behind dreams which God sent to other people.
In Joseph’s account, the gift of interpretation first comes to light while he was in prison. After being wrongly accused by Potiphar’s wife of attempted rape, Joseph was thrown in prison by Potiphar (Genesis 39:7-20). Eventually, Joseph found favor in the sight of the jailer who appointed him to manage the prison (Genesis 39:21-23).
After this took place, two of Pharaoh's servants, the cup bearer and the baker, were thrown in prison for offending Pharaoh. Then after some time, both the baker and cup bearer had a dream on the same night. The next morning, Joseph took note of each man’s sorrow. They explained to him how they both had dreams, but there was no one to interpret the dreams for them. At this point Joseph responds with a vital statement, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” (Genesis 40:8). In other words, God is the only one who correctly interprets His Word and He must grant access to that interpretation.
People cannot discover God by their own efforts and understanding. Nor can they know His will unless He discloses it. God must reveal Himself to us. This is why Peter carefully reminds us, “no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:20-21, emphasis added). From this passage we see God not only supplies the content of His Word, but also the correct interpretation.
For Joseph, God disclosed His Word by granting Joseph the ability to correctly decipher the meaning behind each man’s dream. In this case, knowing God’s Word was a matter of life and death. The cupbearer’s dream revealed he would receive mercy from Pharoah, who would forgive him of his offense and restore him to his position of service (Genesis 40:12-13). The baker, on the other hand, was not so fortunate. When Joseph interpreted the baker’s dream, he revealed the Pharoah would not overlook his offense but would instead be beheaded for his transgression (Genesis 40:18-19). Everything Joseph said regarding the two dreams came to pass, showing God did indeed reveal His Word through Joseph.
The climax of Joseph’s gift occurs in Genesis 41 when he interpreted Pharoah’s two dreams. In this case God makes it known to Pharoah through Joseph a famine was approaching. There would be seven years of bounty followed by seven years of extreme famine, threatening the lives of not only the Egyptians, but everyone in the surrounding nations. The unveiling of God’s Word through Joseph’s interpretation enabled Pharoah to respond to the oncoming famine by putting Joseph in charge of Egypt, who alone possessed the wisdom needed to survive. Egypt’s survival was only possible because Joseph revealed God’s Word to Pharaoh.
The Gospel of John opens with these famous words, “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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:1-3). Jesus is the living Word of God. He is the One Who reveals God to us, and His testimony is recorded in God’s written Word, the Bible.
God did not give us His written Word to merely provide a few helpful pointers on how to live, nor to discover a secret ten-step program to have a successful life. The Bible is not simply a book we read to become more moral (though that is a good thing). The central purpose of why God breathed out His sacred Scripture was to reveal a Person (John 5:39) — someone who transcends all human categories of beauty, majesty and glory. Someone who is completely holy, unique, and worthy of all worship. This person, of course, is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
All subsequent aspects of the Christian life stem from having a true relationship with Jesus Christ by coming to know Him through the truth of His Gospel. Every truth God wants us to know flows out of the Person and work of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:2-3; John 14:7-11). The entire Bible centers around Jesus. He is anticipated in the Old Testament, revealed in the Gospels, proclaimed in the book of Acts, and explained in the Epistles.
These are only some of the ways Scripture centers around and reveals Christ:
- He is the Only True Obedient Son (Luke 3:22; Romans 5:19).
- He is the Fulfillment of God’s Law (Matthew 5:17-18).
- He is the Perfect Sacrifice for Sinners (John 1:29; Hebrews 10:10-14).