Genesis: AUTHORITY
With Us Today: Genesis 41:1-57
Pastor John Weathersby
Sunday November 19, 2023
Notes, not at Transcript:
Recently, I was able to encourage a brother who is in the thick of leading through family strife and who’ll stand as their protector that the God who was with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob is the God who is with us today.
Malachi 3:6
6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
Hebrews 13:8
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Psalm 102:25–27 (ESV)
25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.
Isaiah 40:28 (ESV)
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
Does this principle encourage you and add lastingness to your walk? It should. Notice something about the book of Genesis – we’ve elected to study it with the theme of Authority. In Genesis, we see God is the Authority for all of life. He is its designer, creator, and, as such, sole authority. He alone gives life purpose.
And so, the God of creation is the God that, by His sovereign choice of election, chose Abraham from his father’s pagan land, as Pastor John Nicholas pointed out. Saying:
Genesis 12:3 (ESV)
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Abraham has “the son of promise,” Isaac, through God’s electing choice and Divine involvement. Abraham and Sarah, if you recall back, worked to make the promise happen by their path since Sarah was too old and hadn’t yet conceived, but God in Genesis 18:10 intervened (and encouraged their faith while intervening)
Genesis 18:10 (ESV)
10 The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife, shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.
Next, Isaac has children, Jacob the chosen (by God’s electing choice)
Romans 9:11–13 (ESV)
11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—
12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Jacob has 12 sons, the tribes of Israel, and this is where we are today in this massive section of Genesis focused on Joseph, a story of God’s sovereignty, provision, deliverance, and perfect plan. When we pair that with his sameness today, we should have a calm about our lives that vexes the watching world, a peace that surpasses understanding, as Philippians 4 says.
So let’s see this story to find vexing peace in the God who was with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, who is with us today.
At our point in the story of Joseph’s life, he is no longer that spry 17-year-old checking on his brothers in the field for his dad. He is now 17, a 30-year-old man sold into slavery, sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit, forgotten in prison by Pharaoh’s cupbearer, and about to lay this line on us Genesis 41:16
Genesis 41:1–57 (ESV)
Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams
1 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.”
Genesis 41:16 (ESV)
16 Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”
Here is an important point. This dream interpretation and Joseph’s ability to do so, was God. So many people want this to be daily life, your dreams are almost undoubtedly random gibberish. God gave dreams with meaning here to move forward his plan, just like he made Sarah pregnant at an old age well beyond childbearing years, just like he caused a ram to be stuck and provided for a Ram with Abraham and Issac in Genesis 22 (or a bandaid on the ground for Stephen during yesterdays move) God has worked in miraculous ways stepping into time and causing things to be, but these are miraculous. By the nature of miracles, they’re out of the ordinary.
Moreover, look at the number of Bibles we have today – you can choose from any number of wonderful translations from Hebrew and Greek to English, preserving the sense perhaps, word by word, maybe, working to keep the poetry that would be in a KJV perhaps – you can have glinting, yapp and custom binding Joseph had none of that. He’s PART of the book of Genesis compiled by Moses, who would have been born many years AFTER Joseph’s death. Yet God, by His grace, accommodated and spoke to them. He did so here in dreams, in Numbers 22, through a donkey; this isn’t normative.
Just like in Genesis 39, we saw the Lord was with Joseph three times (Genesis 39:2, Genesis 39:21, and Genesis 29:23). In Genesis 41, Moses won’t let us miss the point either, with 3 mentions across 7 verses to bring it all together.
Genesis 39:2 (ESV)
2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master.
Genesis 39: 21 (ESV)
21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
Genesis 39:23 (ESV)
23 The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.
Genesis 41:25, 41:28, and 41:32, with 41:32 being the hammer:
Genesis 41:25 (ESV)
25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Genesis 41:28 (ESV)
28 It is as I told Pharaoh; God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Genesis 41:32 (ESV)
32 And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.
17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile.
18 Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass.
19 Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt.
20 And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows,
21 but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke.
22 I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good.
23 Seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them,
24 and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”
25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one.
27 The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine.
28 It is as I told Pharaoh; God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
29 There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt,
30 but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land,
31 and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe.
32 And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.
Genesis 41:29–32 (ESV)
29 There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt,
30 but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land,
31 and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe.
32 And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.
So what was the result:
33 Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt.
34 Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years.
35 And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.
36 That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”
We see that the God of Genesis 39, is till with Joseph:
Joseph Rises to Power
37 This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.
38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?”
39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are.
40 You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.”
41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”
42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck.
43 And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. 44 Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”
45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.
Joseph has risen to power for the second time by being recognized as being in God’s favor. How about that, and the man sold into slavery recognized as in God’s favor, a man in prison for years, identified as in God’s favor, and Moses in Genesis 41 reminds us this IS all God’s doing. This is where we find the vexing peace in the God who was with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, who is with us today.
46 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.
47 During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly,
48 and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it.
49 And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.
50 Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him.
51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.”
52 The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
53 The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end,
54 and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
55 When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”
56 So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.
57 Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.
Psalm 105:16–22 (ESV)
16 When he summoned a famine on the land
and broke all supply of bread,
17 he had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 His feet were hurt with fetters;
his neck was put in a collar of iron;
19 until what he had said came to pass,
the word of the Lord tested him.
20 The king sent and released him;
the ruler of the peoples set him free;
21 he made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions,
22 to bind his princes at his pleasure
and to teach his elders wisdom.
Seeing this protracted story, tracking it from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob to see God’s election and sovereignty over even the most minor details to see through His plan, is encouraging. It’s a bedrock of truth that Romans 8:28 rests on:
Romans 8:28 (ESV)
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
And knowing that God is the same today as He was then encourages me in this cloud of witness that:
Romans 8:31–39 (ESV)
God’s Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Pray, Observe, Apply.
