Joseph Pictured Christ – Part 3

Joseph was the special messenger of his father.

Genesis 37:13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.

Genesis 37:14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

He did not send just any servant, and do not forget he had plenty of servants. Instead he send his beloved son.

Jesus was sent by The Father. He sent to us His Son with the message for us. The Father did not sent other servants. He did not send angels. He sent His only Son because only He was fit for the work.

1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Joseph went in perfect obedience. Joseph said here am I. You see in Joseph a willingness to submit with a free will to do his father’s will. Joseph did not complain or just go silently. He said here am I. That shows willingness.

Hebrews 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

Hebrews 10:9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.

Jesus also came willing to do The Father’s will.

Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Jesus voluntarily submitted to the will of His Father. He in effect also said here am I.

Joseph left his home to do his father’s bidding.

The work Joseph was sent to do could not be done at home. It had to be done among his brethren. He had to go. Joseph had to travel to where they were.

John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Jesus also had to leave home to do His Father’s will. He left the glories of heaven and became a man to travel to us to do His Father’s will.

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Philippians 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

Philippians 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Philippians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Joseph came to seek his brethren who had gone astray.

His brothers were supposed to be feeding the sheep in Shechem. But that is not were Joseph will find them. They are not in the place that their father sent them. Not feeding the sheep in the place that they were told. They were not being obedient to their father’s will. They went to Dothan because that is what they wanted. They were going to do it their own way based on what they thought was best.

Genesis 37:15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?

Genesis 37:16 And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.

Genesis 37:17 And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.

Jesus also came to seek his brethren who had gone astray.

Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Jesus does not come to this earth and find Jewish brethren being obedient to the Father’s command. Instead He finds them gone astray. They are still feeding sheep, like Joseph’s brothers, but not in the way they were told to.

Matthew 16:12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

You do not have to read very much about the religious leaders of Jesus’ day to find out that Jesus was not happy with their teachings. They had changed and twisted the instructions of The Father to suit what they wanted. Just like Joseph’s brethren they were going to teach what they wanted. They were going to do it their own way based on what they thought was best. They were going to twist what they wanted and do it how they wanted.

Just like Joseph’s brothers they were not going to totally quit feeding the sheep. They were just going to do it without regard to the Father’s wishes. So when Jesus comes he finds them feeding the sheep contrary to The Father’s wishes.

I hope you are seeing the parallel; the picture in the Old Testament of what was to come. It is amazing. It was given not only to deepen our appreciation of scripture and the God who wrote it, but also so they would recognize Jesus when He came.

Another reason that these pictures were given is for our learning.

Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

One thing that we can learn from all of this is that The Father’s feeding of the sheep should be done in strict obedience to His wishes. Not only are the sheep to be fed, but they are to be fed according to His instructions. We should not pick and choose which instructions to obey and which ones to disregard. Choosing to ignore the scripture on what music to use, or who can preach, or living a life that is pleasing to Him, or witnessing, or sending missionaries, or, or, or…

We are to follow all His instructions as close as we can. I say it that way only because no one is perfect. None of us has arrived yet. If it was possible to do everything perfect, then it would be possible to work our way to heaven. Which is not the case. Everyone messes up now and then. However, what we should do is strive to get everything right, and when we see that we have something wrong, then we need to be humble and change our thinking and our ways to fit His instructions.

Let us not be like Joseph’s brothers who went to feed the sheep in Dothan in rebellion to their father’s instructions.

See more posts on Jesus in the Old Testament