The Gospel According to Joseph: Teaching Christ from the Old Testament

Back at the beginning of the summer, when I started this preaching series on The Gospel According to Joseph, one of the things I also set out to do was to teach how we can see Jesus in the Old Testament (OT), i.e. how to see what the Holy Spirit was showing the original audience and is showing us about God's redeeming nature and work in Christ. Jesus Himself told us in passages like Lk. 24:27, 44 and Jn. 5:46 that the OT is about Him, but seeing exactly how it teaches us about Him is not quite so easy. My senior pastor, Chris Hutchinson, has written a couple of great articles on preaching/teaching Christ from the OT that can be found here and here, and there are several of good books written on this subject like David Murray's Jesus on Every Page. But, in the interest of ease and practical use, I have attempted to boil it down to some basic questions that we can ask of any OT passage to help us to see how Jesus may be in that passage. Throughout the series, I presented four questions that we can ask of any OT to help us to do just that, and here I want to recap those questions.

Now, all these questions do not always apply to every OT passage, but we can ask these of any passage and one or more of them will help us to see Jesus on that page of Scripture:

1. What does this passage reveal about the sinful nature of man who needs redemption? When we see an aspect of man's sinful nature and need of redemption in an OT passage, we can see Jesus there, for He is the ultimate solution to man's need.
2. What does this passage reveal about the redeeming nature of God? When we see an aspect of God's redeeming nature in an OT passage, we can see Jesus there, for He brings together all those aspects in His person (i.e. who He is) and in His work of redemption.
3. How does this passage reflect upon or prepare us for the person or work of Christ—i.e. who He is to us (His person) and what He does for us (His work)? For example: An OT story might point us to the lordship that God exercises over His people, in which we can see Jesus' person, for He is the lord of the Church. An OT story might present a hero as a representative of the people, in which we can see Jesus' person, for He is our representative before God. Or, an OT passage may describe a sacrifice or priestly duty under the ceremonial law, in which we can see Jesus' work for us as our ultimate sacrifice and priest, satisfying God's wrath and interceding for us. An OT passage may describe a king ruling and defending his people well, in which we can see Jesus' work for us as our ultimate king, ruling and defending His Church. An OT passage may describe God teaching His people about Himself, His salvation, or this world, in which we can see Jesus work for us our ultimate prophet, revealing to us, by His Word and Spirit, the will and mind of God. 
4. How is the text calling us to respond to the grace of God and follow after Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit? This is the part of preaching and teaching from OT stories where it's appropriate to see some instances as examples to be followed, but these examples are still Christ-centered. They are OT illustrations of what Paul says in 1 Co. 11:1 "Be imitators of me [i.e. follow my example], as I am of Christ."

Certainly much more can be said about seeing Jesus in the OT, but I believe these four questions boil it down for us in a holistic, practical way. What do you think? Am I missing anything? 

B. B. Warfield once said that the OT is a room "fully furnished but dimly lit," and when we use Christ as the interpretive tool, the lights come on and we see everything clearly. I pray that these questions will help turn on the lights for you as you read through inspired Word of the OT. 

By His Grace,

Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Reconciliation

Yesterday I preached the final sermon in this series--The Gospel According to Joseph--from Ge. 50:12-21, which shows us the final reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers. Reconciliation is a fitting way to end this story, this sermon series, and even the whole book of Genesis because it brings a sense of closure to each. If you want to find out how and hear about reconciliation from this story, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

This one did not introduce any new questions we can ask of the OT to determine how we may be able to see Jesus in this story, but I plan to write a future post that summarizes the questions we have talked about in this series, so keep an eye out for that.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Hope, Even in Death

This Sunday's sermon will be the final sermon in our series: The Gospel According to Joseph. As we said in the beginning and have reiterated many times throughout this series, there is too much in this story to cover it all in nine sermons (or even nine sermons plus nine devotionals). In every passage, there is some Christ-centered content that we just do not have time to cover. So, in this short devotional, we are going to talk briefly about the hope that the final chapters of Genesis give us, which we will not have time to cover in a sermon.

Both Ge. 49 and Ge. 50 end with death--the deaths of Israel and Joseph. Death may seem like a bad way to end such a great story, but when we look at the faith of these two men, we can see that in their deaths we're given hope--the hope of the gospel. Back in Ge. 47-48 (cf. The Gospel and Finishing Faithfully), we saw in Israel preparing for his death that his true hope was not in the physical land of the promise but in the God of the promise who was preparing a "better city, that is a heavenly one" for him and his descendants. In Ge. 50:24-25, we see Joseph express the same hope (a hope that we saw he had back in Ge. 41 as well, cf. The Gospel and Perspective) as he tells his brothers and descendants to take his bones with them to the promised land when they return. This is the hope that the author of Hebrews highlights in He. 11:13, "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." And, this is the hope that we have as well--a hope beyond the sin, pain, and death of this world.

We too will die as "strangers and exiles on the earth," for this world is not our home. Our home--our true inheritance as sons and daughters of God--is life without sin, sadness, or death in the new heavens and new earth with God Himself. John describes it for us briefly in Re. 21:1-4 (one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture):

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Emphasis added)

That is our hope, brothers and sisters in Christ, and even in death it is an anchor that will not fail.

Death is not the way it's supposed to be. We were created for so much more, but sin has brought the pain of death into our lives, which is in fact is something that I have seen tragically and clearly in my own congregation recently. Yet, Christ has defeated death for us (cf. 1 Co. 15:55) and given us hope even in the midst of it. This is why Paul says in 1 Th. 4:13 that we do not grieve as those who have no hope. Now, that doesn't mean we don't grieve. We do, for death is not the way it's supposed to be and someone we love has had to endure it, and now we have to continue as "strangers and exiles" in this world without their comfort and companionship. Yet, we grieve as those who have the hope of the gospel, for we know that believers are redeemed in Christ (Ro. 3:24), live in Christ (Ga. 2:20), and even die in Christ (1 Th.4:13-14), and we know that we will see them again when we too go to our true home. We have the hope of knowing that even in death our Savior is with us and will bring us into a world so much better than our life as "strangers and exiles" here on earth--our true inheritance with Him in the new heavens and new earth for all eternity. We know that the death of a believer (even untimely, early ones) means they're finally home, receiving their true inheritance from Christ, which gives us hope. Death, as the Heidelberg Catechism says in the answer to question 42, puts an end to our disease of sin and begins our eternal life--our true inheritance. Christians have hope, even in death.

So, even though this great story ends in death, it's good ending. It's an ending that reminds us that this world isn't our home, that we have a glorious inheritance awaiting us in Christ, and that even in the midst of the pain of death in this life, the loved ones of believers can grieve with hope instead of grieving with fear and despondency. Rest in that hope that the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah gives to us here at the end.

By His Grace,

Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Grace

My apologies for not publishing this on Sunday, my friends. The weekend was very busy for a number of reasons, and I simply forgot. Please forgive that memory lapse. Here it is, though, the sermon that complements last Friday's devotional: The Gospel and Grace. Israel's life has been a picture of God's amazing grace ever since he was born clinging to Esau's ankle, and here at the end of his life and near the end of this whole narrative, he becomes a bestower of grace through the blessings he gives to his sons and grandsons. The scope of this sermon only had room to look at two of those blessings--the blessing on Joseph's sons and the blessing on Judah--but in those two blessings we learn a lot about God's grace to us. So, if you want to hear about that, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

Now, as we have also talked about in the other posts in this series, in each sermon, I try to highlight a question that we can ask of any Old Testament text to help us to see how Jesus may be on that page of Scripture. This week's sermon did not add a new question, but it does show another way that we can use a question we have talked about in previous sermons: How does this passage reflect upon or prepare us for the person or work of Christ—i.e. who He is to us (His person) and what He does for us (His work)? So, check out the sermon if you want to learn more.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Jesus, the Greater Judah

As has been the case in almost every sermon passage so far in this series, there is so much in Ge. 48:1-20; 49:1, 8-12 that we cannot possibly cover it all in this Sunday's sermon post. In fact, the sermon will only highlight one major aspect of this passage. So, in this devotional, we will talk briefly about Judah's blessing, which is really a prophecy of Jesus Himself.

In Ge. 49:8-12, Israel blesses Judah with nothing less than a prediction that the Messiah Himself will come from Judah's line, which is an amazing grace to Judah (the grace aspect of this blessing will be brought out in Sunday's sermon post). Take a look at Israel's words to Judah:

8 "Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
    your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
    your father's sons shall bow down before you.
9 Judah is a lion's cub;
    from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down; he crouched as a lion
    and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
    and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11 Binding his foal to the vine
    and his donkey's colt to the choice vine,
he has washed his garments in wine
    and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
    and his teeth whiter than milk."

There are four aspects of the coming Messiah--Jesus Christ Himself--that are brought out in this blessing and prophecy given to Judah: His praise, His preeminence, His power, and His prosperity. Let's take a brief look at each of those.

First, praise: Israel says, "Judah, your brothers shall praise you..." From a language standpoint, this is a literary play on Judah's name which means "to praise" in Hebrew, yet its meaning goes much deeper. This prophecy may have had a minor fulfillment in Judah's personal relationship with his brothers, and it did have a proximate fulfillment in the kings of Judah, of whom king David was the greatest. Yet, it finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Himself. When Christ was raised from the dead, He was given the name that is above every name (Php. 2:9), so that at His name every knee will bow and every tongue confess His lordship (Php. 2:10-11). Presently, this prophecy is fulfilled in the true children of Abraham (i.e. Christians, cf. Ga. 3:7) giving praise to the Greater Judah who comes from the line of Judah. It also will be fulfilled in an ultimate sense when every knee bows to Jesus at the final judgment, whether they want to or not (Php. 2:10-11, explained in more detail in this sermon here).

Second, preeminence: Israel tells Judah that he will be greater than all his enemies, that his brothers will bow to him, and that the scepter will not leave his house. Now, while this may have had some minor fulfillment in Judah's lifetime, this too is ultimately about what would come from his line. Israel does nothing less than predict that the right kingship of God's people will come from Judah's line, and in v. 10, Israel makes it clear that the kingship of Judah's line will have no end. This kingship began to be true with king David but has its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Himself. Out of the line of Judah has emerged the Messiah who is king (e.g. Ps. 2; 89; Is. 11:1-16; Je. 33:15; Am. 9:1-14), and this messiah is Jesus (Lk. 1:32-33; Ro. 1:3; Re. 22:16). He is the King of kings and Lord of lords (Re. 17:14; 19:16), who rules over everything (Col. 1:15-17). Presently, His rule may not be recognized by all, but one day, it will be (Php. 2:10-11, cf. Re. 20:11ff).

Third, power: Israel likens Judah to a lion in this prophecy, and, of course, the lion is a picture of power and might. The lion is the most enduring image of Judah in the themes of redemptive history. This theme is carried through to the time of the judges, then to the reign of king David, and ultimately is fulfilled in the victorious reign of the Lion of the tribe of Judah: Jesus Christ Himself (cf. Re. 5:5, 9-10). This enduring image of the Lion of Judah is often set with the image of the Lamb of God to serve as the quintessential image of Christ (i.e. power and sacrifice). Here, though, there is no hint of the lamb; there is only the power of the lion. Jesus is the powerful lion who protects, defends, and fights for His people, both now and forever more.

Fourth, prosperity: Finally, Israel tells Judah vv. 11-12 that his prosperity will be unimaginable. Now, the language of these images may seem a little odd to our culture today, but to Judah they were a picture of great prosperity. The binding of the foal and the donkey to the choice vine shows this because a foal and a donkey would eat the vine to which they were tied, which means Judah has such a successful vine harvest that it doesn't matter whether a choice vine is eaten, for there are so many more. In modern terms, it might be like us saying that someone can park their Lamborghini in the worst part of town with the keys in the ignition because they have so much wealth that one car, as expensive as it is, doesn't really matter. The washing of his garments and vesture (i.e. cloak/robe) in wine is a similar picture: so much that it does not matter how you use it. Wine is an expensive liquid (imagine your water bill calculated at the price wine is sold), so to use it to wash clothes like one would use water shows that the wine harvest is as abundant as water to them. Finally, the color of his eyes and teeth are along a similar line: Judah has so much wine that his eyes are becoming colored like the wine and his teeth are white when seen against the foreground of his red, wine-stained lips. All these images show the immense prosperity of Judah. And, like with the previous predictions, such a prosperity may have had some fulfillment in Judah and the later kings from his line (e.g. king Solomon's prosperity), but it is ultimately fulfilled in Christ and what He has secured in the new heavens and the new earth. The description of the new Jerusalem in Re. 21:9ff shows us this kind of lavish wealth in different terms but the end result is the same: unimaginable prosperity. And that, Christian, is the inheritance that those adopted into the family of God through Christ will have one day. That is our hope in Christ, not anything in this world.

Judah's blessing is really a prophecy about Jesus Himself. So, when you look at Judah's blessing, remember that he is just a picture of who Christ is as the exalted King of kings, Lord of lords, and head of the Church. And, He is your Savior.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Finishing Faithfully

As we continue our way through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, we come to the part of the story where the Israel gets the majority of the attention. We have seen a lot about Joseph so far, some about Judah, and only a small amount about Israel, but in chapters 47-49, the story shifts is character focus mainly to Israel and the end of his life. In the sermon for today's post (from a selected reading in Ge. 47-48), we see Israel, who was stumbling greatly at the beginning of this narrative, finish his life faithfully and pass on his renewed faith in God to the succeeding generations. If you want to learn more, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

Now, as we have talked about in the other posts in this series, we're not only studying the story but learning how to see Christ properly in these Old Testament (OT) narratives. To accomplish that, we've been talking about questions that we can ask of any OT text to help us to see how Jesus may be on that page of Scripture. For today's sermon, we added a new question: "How is the text calling us to respond to the grace of God and follow after Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit?" This is the part of preaching and teaching from OT stories where it's appropriate to see some instances as examples to be followed, but even these examples are still Christ-centered. If you want to learn more, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Jesus is Coming Soon!

In this Sunday's sermon, one of the things that we will see is Israel's hope in the promises of God that looked forward beyond the promised land to "a better city, that is, a heavenly one" (He. 11:16). Now, he didn't know as much about it as we do, but he knew enough to place his hope not in this world but in a "city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (He. 11:10). We know now that this city is the new heavens and new earth (cf. Re. 21) into which Jesus will take us when He returns.

When thinking about Jesus' return and the solid hope we have in it because of the truth of the gospel, sometimes we wonder why He has not yet returned. Didn't He say He was coming "soon"? Well, yes He did in Re. 22:

⁶ And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
⁷ “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, ⁹ but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
¹⁰ And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. ¹¹ Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
¹² “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
¹⁷ The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Re. 22:6ff)

In the above Scripture passage I've italicized Jesus' words just so there's no mistaking who is speaking to whom. This is, of course, a theologically packed passage, but I want to use it for this devotional since His return to take us home is our ultimate hope and because three times in it Jesus says, "I am coming soon." Do you think He means it? If you repeat something to someone three times in a single conversation, don’t you really mean it? But, it doesn't seem "soon," does it? When you pray for Christ's return, do you sometimes feel like a child in the back seat of your parents' car on a long road trip asking "How long?" and always hearing "Soon"? Almost two thousand years doesn't seem "soon" to me. Of course, I'm not the only one who's thought that for even the early Church wondered why Jesus had not yet returned. Many of them thought Jesus would return before they died, and even Paul appears to have believed this early on in his ministry (cf. 1 Th. 4:15). After several decades passed they started to wonder, "What happened to 'soon'?" If they asked it then, how much more may we ask the question two thousand years later?

As you might imagine, there have been many over the centuries who have attempted to answer this question in a variety of ways. Indeed, this is a very complex question on which Christians have come to no sort of consensus. That means I don't believe I have the final answer to this important question, but I would like to give you two things to consider that I think will help put the question in a less ominous context. First, consider Peter's answer to this question. Peter acknowledges that his readers were asking this question and answers it but not in the detail for which we (or they) might have hoped:

¹ This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, ³ knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
…⁸ But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief…. (2 Pt. 3:1-4, 8-10)

Peter knows there will be "scoffers" who will basically say, "Where's your God now? It's been two thousand years and He said He would come 'soon.'" His answer is not a systematic defense of how "soon" can be reckoned with a long delay of Jesus' second coming. He simply says, "Look, God doesn't perceive or calculate the passage of time the way you and I do, so stop acting like He does and forcing our view of 'soon' on Him. And, what you call 'slowness' I call 'patience' for the Lord is waiting so more can repent and believe." Then, Peter tells us that the day will come like a thief, which is the proverbial way of saying that we have no idea when it will come. He wisely doesn't try to answer a question no one can answer completely but appeals to God's timelessness and mercy for an explanation of His delay. There are more God wants to become Christians and He is waiting until they do (cf. Mt. 24:14).

The second thing I think we need to consider is the nature of biblical prophecy. There is in prophecy a characteristic perspective that foreshortens time and presents the future from a theological perspective as a whole with the chronological gaps unaddressed. So, for example, the prophets of the Old Testament could move from the destruction of Judah to the coming of the Messiah in a single step even though there would be almost six hundred years in between. The same is true of Revelation. In it, the future is presented theologically and is seen in terms of its entirety, not in its chronological detail. Prophecy is a theological interpretation of history, however long it endures. Think about that for a moment. Theologically speaking, what is the next important event after Jesus' death, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost? It's the second coming of Christ. Everything in between is incidental compared to those important, redemptive events. John's prophecy in Revelation, then, can make a chronological jump of unknown duration because theologically Christ's second coming is near, and it is looked at as part of the redemptive whole of Christ's work. So, Christ is coming soon, but we need to look at "soon" from God's perspective on time, in the context of His awesome mercy, and theologically not chronologically.

Today let He. 11:8-16, 39-40 (which will be discussed in Sunday's posted sermon), and the above passages remind you that Christ is coming soon. What He means by "soon" may be different than what you and I think of as "soon," but we know it's the next important redemptive event and it could happen at any time. Remember that God is delaying Jesus' return because He is rich in mercy towards the unbelieving world, not because He’s trying to drive Christians crazy. Ask Him to give you a love for the lost like He has because as our love and compassion for the lost grows, we will understand His delay and see it as a chance to spread the gospel more. Ask Him to give you a deep anticipation of His immanent return so that your love for Him will increase, your love for this world will decrease, and your concern for the lost will grow. Ask Him to help you be a testimony to the hope that you have in the gospel to the lost around you and younger generations. And, pray like John, "Come, Lord Jesus!" Perhaps today could be the day.

By His Grace,
Taylor