Description

My
brother and I received a call to ministry at a young age. I remember once
speaking with him about what we envisioned for our lives in ministry. We both
discussed our hopes and dreams (e.g., playing music in front of hundreds and
even thousands of people, preaching before large crowds and seeing God move
mightily through the work to which he called us, and living within the context
of a successful occupation). We both agreed that we desired to be used of God
tremendously and we would go anywhere the Lord sent us; we were willing to do
anything, but it became clear that it was not acceptable to us to do so unseen.

Paul
teaches that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance or
irrevocable (Rom 11:29). Nonetheless, human nature holds a propensity to forget
or even neglect such truth, especially when one’s call from the Lord goes
unseen. Christians should take care in approaching tasks to which God has
called them, for his plans are higher than the plans of humankind and his ways
are unsearchable (Isa 55:8-9). The narrative in the final third of Genesis
presents an often unseen and (assuredly) misunderstood focus, for the primary
character, Joseph, does not hold the most important role. The aim here is for
believers to perceive and understand their own task and calling as 1) for the
glory of God alone rather than self and 2) meaningful despite the possibility
of being unseen, rewarded, or praised.

To
properly comprehend Genesis 45, background of the book to such a point must be
conveyed. Mindful of the fact that Joseph seemingly satiates the final fourteen
chapters of the book of Genesis (chapters 37-50), a reader could
straightforwardly miss the point of the story, which is precisely what occurs
when believers make feeble attempts to turn the Bible into compartmentalized
individual stories with the aim of moralistic therapeutic deism. One, for
example, might interpret the story of Daniel refusing to eat anything but
fruits and vegetables as a comprehensive approach to diet rather than a purpose
for a specific time and a specific people and then proceed to imitate Daniel’s
diet with a belief that it is the only appropriate diet for the people of God
when such a viewpoint would be a gross misinterpretation. In the book of
Genesis, Joseph takes considerable space because he is a tool to preserve the
chosen seed, which ultimately would be Jesus.

The Apostle Paul
referred to Adam as a type of the one to come (Rom 5:14). The doctrine of
original sin infers that through Adam, the human race has been infected with
the disease of sin; we are, therefore, sinners by nature. Just as humankind is
dead in sin through Adam, so also are we, the church, made alive through Jesus
Christ. Adam then was a type of what was to come, but the abundantly apparent
truth is that Jesus is better than original sin. The gospel centers around
Christ and his fulfillment of the law and of the covenant God made with his
people. From the beginning of the Bible, God told the serpent, “I will put
enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will
crush your head, and you will strike his heal” (Gen 3:15). This tells of the
miraculous virgin birth that was to come, for Jesus had to be born of the Holy
Spirit so as not to be conceived in sin. From the beginning of time, a promised
seed was established to save God’s people in the covenant, and while Satan
continued to try to thwart the line of seed, God continued it. Cain killed
Abel, but the covenant continued because then Seth was born. Then in Genesis 5,
there is a genealogy of ten generations from Seth to Noah so that the promised
seed is preserved. Seth and Noah are both promised seeds but not the ultimate
promised seed; they would preserve the promised seed that is to come. Noah has
three sons (Shem, Ham, and Japheth), and while the world is judged in a flood,
they preserved the seed. Shem then preserves the seed later through Zerah who
has a son named Abraham, the next link in the seed of promise. The problem,
however, is that Abraham’s wife, Sarah, is beyond childbearing years so Abraham
tries to manipulate the situation by having a child with his servant and
Ishmael is born. However, Ishmael is not the promised seed and eventually Isaac
is born and then Jacob and Esau. Esau, the older, would seem to be the promised
seed, but it is, in fact, Jacob, the younger. Jacob then has twelve sons. We
might think Jacob’s son, Joseph, is the promised seed, but the promised seed is
Judah; Joseph merely preserves the seed. From Judah’s line eventually comes
Jesse who bears a great son named David who is again a promised seed but not
the ultimate promised seed. The covenant is then renewed with David in that his
lineage will sit on the throne forever. Even David’s son, Solomon, is not the
promised seed, but eventually through David’s line, the ultimate Savior of the
world was born of a virgin to save his people in the covenant.[1]

Thus, Joseph is merely a tool for the
Lord to use in preserving the life of Judah, for without Joseph’s high position
in the land of Egypt, his brothers might have perished in famine. Christians
should understand that God’s plans involve the entirety of his people and there
is no job or calling too small or insignificant for him. The primary character
of the story (at least in relation to the covenant of the Lord)—the protagonist
if you will—then is Judah, for Judah preserves the promised seed in Jesus
Christ. Therefore, after nine chapters of focusing on Joseph, the account is
brought to chapter 45 of Genesis.