Introduction

Good morning and welcome once again to our walk through Genesis. We are getting very close now to finishing up Genesis, only 3 more weeks after this one.  It has been a wonderful past 20 weeks, perhaps I am biased, so let’s finish the end of the beginning strong.  

We are in chapter 41 this morning, covering the whole of this chapter, but do not fear we are not going to read all 57 verses.  What we will see as we get into the text this morning is that Joseph has now spent 2 full years in prison, in Egypt, for something that he did not do.  In fact, he has been in prison because he was faithful both to God and his earthly master and that has unfortunately caused some problems for him.  

We skipped over it (chapter 40) but during these two years Joseph had a short stint with two other men who had committed offenses against the king and found themselves in prison.  Those men were the cupbearer to the king and the baker to the king.  There may or may not be some significance to these men and their professions but there certainly was significance in that Joseph interpreted dreams for both of them and it was the interpretation of these dreams, of these two men, that ultimately became the initial catalyst that started Joseph’s restoration.  

It took some time though because the cupbearer, who was the one of those two men who survived his time in prison, forgot about Joseph and the wisdom that he had from God, and it took 2 years and Pharaoh having dreams before his memory was jogged to make mention of this wise young man rotting away in prison. As we will see and hopefully have seen, everything fell into place according to God’s perfect timing and the rest is history.  A really good history.  

What I want us to grab from this text and hold on to with all our might is that this story calls us to entrust ourselves to God’s good providence.  Whether you think about it as the thread in the tapestry analogy or the pieces in the puzzle analogy it is abundantly clear that God’s sovereign hand is at work in all things, at all times. Through the success, the prison, the abundance, or the famine, God is there and he is not silent.  That is where we are going this morning so stand with me once more as we read starting in Genesis 41, verse 1

41 After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, 2 and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. 3 And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. 4 And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. 5 And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. 6 And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind. 7 And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. 8 So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh. 9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my offenses today. 10 When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, 11 we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation. 12 A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. 13 And as he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.” 14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. 15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” 16 Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

Joseph is Remembered

Have you ever woken up from a dream and it took a few moments before reality set back in and that you weren’t actually living on a colony on mars or stuck in an old mansion? Vivid dreams are a wild experience, right? We, in 2024, having the benefit of increased general revelation understand a bit more about the mental mechanisms and subconscious brain function where dreams originate.  Those who lived in biblical times did not have such knowledge so you can imagine what a confusing, ominous fright it would be to awake after a vivid dream and assume that the gods were speaking to you about something in your future or presenting you with an omen.  

To make matters even more difficult, the one true God did actually speak and reveal, on occasion, through dreams so it is understandable how the lore surrounding dreams would be spread and inevitably embellished.  People didn’t just start engaging in hyperbole when the bass boat was invented. It was for this reason that all the royalty in these days would employ, or have on retainer, all manner of magicians, gurus, dream interpreters and wise men who they could call on to interpret for them all the signs, dreams, and omens.  

I suppose there is nothing really new under the sun as such a practice is still used today by “royalty” we just call them psychiatrists or therapists.  I shall not digress on that point but I must show us that by Joseph’s spirit inspired wisdom he sets the record straight on this matter.  Pharaoh, having had two of these dreams, and not finding the wisdom in any of his wise men to properly interpret his dream is left in a bit of a predicament.  Fortunately for everyone the cupbearer did remember Joseph and told Pharaoh that there may be someone in your prison who can help.  

This remembrance is what brings Joseph out of prison and into the presence of Pharaoh to interpret his dream.  Here is Joseph’s big break, and opportunity to show himself of value to Pharaoh.  This is a temptation to exalt himself here and prove his importance lest he be used and thrown back into prison.  Does Joseph jump on this opportunity to exalt himself? No, it’s actually the complete opposite.  He takes this opportunity to exalt God.  “It is not in me,” he says.  Joseph is essentially saying, “I’ll hear your dream but the answers you are looking for will come from God not me.” “I don’t have the answers, I don’t have the interpretation, but God does.” If the interpretation is to be favorable it is because of God, not because of Joseph, or the cupbearer, or anyone else.  

What an incredible change has been wrought in Joseph over these past two years in prison.   This is the guy who had a couple dreams himself and couldn’t wait to tell his brothers about them and the foreshadowing that he would be exalted over them but now, through the discipline of suffering, he confesses that it is not in him to interpret but God.  It is not his wisdom or knowledge but God’s. What a humble and wise person Joseph has shown himself to be here.  Joseph is about to be given much to be responsible for, and by the good providence of God his character has been shaped through his trial.  He has proven himself to be faithful in little and is now about to be given the opportunity to be faithful in much.  

This is only possible through humble submission to the sovereign God and by entrusting oneself to his providence.  To say that God doesn’t put us in a metaphorical prison for the express purpose of shaping us to say “It is not in me” is to deny large portions of the biblical text.  Further we see that same humility and trust in God’s providence on display by John the Baptist in the New Testament. 

27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3: 27-30

Everything we have has been given to us from Heaven, it is not in us, we must decrease. It is all from God, for his glory, he must increase.  

Pharaoh’s Dream

So moving beyond what we read to open up the sermon this morning, Pharaoh recollects the dreams once again to Joseph.  Joseph, according to the inspiration from God, interprets these dreams for Pharaoh and tells him that there is going to be 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine.  The big takeaway here is not so much what is going to happen but how it is going to happen.  To begin the interpretation of these dreams Joseph notes that “God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.” Meaning that these dreams are not a look into a crystal ball to see things that are going to happen by chance or circumstance but rather this is a peek into what God is going to do.  This is an important aspect of our comfort and assurance that the future is not simply known by God but planned by him.  Nowhere in scripture do we find God looking through time and making judgements or decisions based on things that he sees happening.  The God who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, is in sovereign control of the beginning and the end and everything else in between.  If not, then we must bow down to the God called time, or the God called the future because such things would operate independently of God.  

Since we do not bow a knee to any but the king of kings and the lord of lords, we must join time and the future in a prone position before the great I am.  The one who was, who is, and who is to come.  The one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Further because God doubled the dreams to Pharaoh, he is reinforcing the fixed and unchangeable nature of his will.  These things are going to happen, that is not in question.  What is still in question for Pharaoh is what are you going to do about it.  

Joseph’s Plan

Joseph proposes a plan, something to do about it.  His plan involves storing up 20% of the production of the land during the 7 years of plenty so that they will have reserves and be able to sustain themselves and the people during the 7 years of famine.  If I was trying to be very practical here I might seek to demonstrate the wisdom that is found in storing back a certain percentage of gain during those times of plenty so that one will have reserves to draw from during times of want.  

The story of my life is often defined by abundant blessing from God, followed by times of need which are particularly difficult because more often than not I have consumed the abundance.  Again, I won’t digress into that application because that isn’t the main focus but that principle is taught here without question and there are many a fool, present company included, who have not seen and followed the clear wisdom given in God’s word.  

As a result of the wisdom shown by Joseph in the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream he is elevated to second-in-command and given all authority to implement the plan he devised through his interpretation.  Further he is blessed with a wife and two sons and is essentially given an elevated position of royalty.  I must point out not only that this is the fulfillment of the prophetic dream that Joseph himself had but I also think this clearly displays the hand of God in the manner in which the fulfillment came.  The initial prophecy came through a double dream to Joseph and it was Joseph’s lack of discretion or hesitancy about those dreams that got him sold into slavery in Egypt in the first place.  It was then also by a prophetic double dream and Joseph’s now humble hesitancy and submission to God with respect to this dream that both fulfills the previous prophecy and restores Joseph to be the instrument of God’s mercy and salvation.  

If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times, God puts his signature on things in such a way that when you see it, it seems so obvious that he is there in it that it is a wonder how you missed it the whole time.  I have also heard it noted, and I will leave it to you as to whether or not this connection is too far a stretch, but the professions of those two men in the prison with Joseph were a cupbearer and a baker.  So the path of Joseph’s elevation to the instrument of salvation by the will of God was foreshadowed in prison by bread and wine, the baker and the cupbearer.  As always, we do want to be careful with drawing certain conclusions but that one is at least worth noting.  

What we can certainly say is best articulated by commentator John Walton, 

“On the surface, Joseph is being ‘made’ by Pharaoh. Everything he is given comes from Pharaoh’s hand: his office, status, privilege, name, wife—everything. He is ‘reborn’ as a servant of Pharaoh. The irony is that from the standpoint of Genesis, it is not the hand of Pharaoh that has remade Joseph but the hand of God. For all that Pharaoh did, God brought Joseph to the recognition of Pharaoh, and God gave Joseph wisdom and success. In the end, Joseph is not first and foremost Pharaoh’s man, but God’s man. He is not Pharaoh’s instrument of economic survival; he is God’s instrument of salvation.” According to the narrator, Joseph is God’s instrument for saving “the world”

In that respect we certainly can make the connection to Christ.  It was the person, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who was ultimately God’s man, right? More than that he was God’s son.  Not the instrument of economic salvation, not the instrument of religious correction, not even the instrument of political salvation as he was thought to be, but the full and final instrument for saving the world.  

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3: 16-17

All of this must reveal to us that God has had a plan of salvation since the beginning.  As I have said, this goes beyond foreknowledge as though God only knows what will happen.  We confess with Joseph in our text, the future is fixed by God, and it is him that is bringing it about.  Hear the words of our confession of faith on the topic of God’s decree.  

Although God knoweth whatsoever may or can come to pass, upon all supposed conditions, yet hath He not decreed anything, because He foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions. 1689 BCF – 3.2

Put another way, God doesn’t decree because he can see the future, the future is the future because God decreed it.  

he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Hebrews 1:3

Should God in Christ stop speaking, everything, including time and the future, would, in the blink of an eye, cease to be.  Had God not decreed to save a people through the person and work of Christ and not decreed every second that has brought you to this point right here, right now you would be forever lost.  This may be an overwhelmingly fightful thought that the future is fixed by the providence of God but it can and should be an incredibly comforting thing.  

Conclusion

On that I will draw us to our points of application.  This first of which has been the theme of this sermon thus far.  The text calls us to entrust ourselves to the providence of God.  Imagine getting on a bus and telling the driver where your destination is and then going to sit down in your seat.  You pull out a book or put in some earbuds to listen to some music without giving a second thought that the driver will get you to your destination.  Cars fly past in all directions, you hit a pothole or two (or three if you are on Belton Street) that jars you a little but you continue in this little world within the world with your destination in the hands of a stranger.  

How often do we commit ourselves to these pockets of dependence such that we almost don’t even think about it anymore.  What I need you to see this morning is that each of us are presently on the bus and the destination has been set.  We have taken our seats and I do hope you enjoy the ride. The driver though isn’t a stranger or an old man named Mel, he is the sovereign Lord of all.  He is the one who not only fixed our destination but he created the destination, the bus and everything else in between.  He made the gasoline and the engine, the rubber for the tires, and the road it’s running on.  Not only that, but he made and controls every other car, every traffic light, every bike rider or college kid on a scooter.  Everything from the train two blocks over to the mouse looking for cheese in the storm drain outside the sandwich shop is in his control.  Can this man get you where you are going? We must not fear the providence of God or fuss at his sovereign control of all things.  It is a freeing and comforting thing when we release ourselves to him and entrust ourselves to his mighty hand.  I will abstain from making reference to the Carrie Underwood song I am sure you are all thinking about right now.  

Secondly, the text in pointing us to the providence of God, calls us to rely on God in every detail of life.  Hear the supporting words of our Lord from Matthew 6, 

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6: 31-33

I am preaching to myself here but the Lord who has taken care of your salvation has also taken care of all the means to bring you to that salvation.  He will feed you and he will clothe you.  That is to say he didn’t work out the end without also working out all the details to get you to that end.  In our flesh, we may not like or agree with the details sometimes, or we may question his means, but such disagreement and worry are only hindrances to the joy that God has for us.  Seek him and his kingdom, he will surely take care of everything else.  

Finally, this text calls us to receive the bread of life.  Joseph saved many from certain death by providing them bread, which gave them life.  Without Joseph’s bread, there would have been no life for them.  Our Lord and savior is called what? The bread of life.  

50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” John 6: 50-51

The eternal bread that eternally saves is the person of Christ who gave himself up as sacrifice for your sins and promises that any who eat his flesh and drink his blood will have eternal life.  How does one do that? Receive him today as the only source of life.  Confess your separation from him that has resulted from your sins and caused a famine in your soul.  Run to him, bow down to him, plead with him to have mercy on your parched condition lest you wither.  I have no doubt he will find you there and refresh your soul from the spring of living water and will give to you himself, the bread of life. Amen.  

Bibliography

Greidanus, Sidney. 2007. Preaching Christ from Genesis: Foundations for Expository Sermons. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.