Joseph - Reflections (8)

 

“And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bead. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters, he himself [his soul] was laid in irons; until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him” (Psalm 105:16 – 19).

 

There is a sense in which we can speak of three Josephs when we read Genesis and Psalm 105. This may seem strange to us, it may even seem outrageous to some, but it is the truth. It would not have always been viewed strangely, certainly not, I think, in the early days of the Church, the Church which was seeing Christ throughout all Scripture, and in seeing Christ was seeing His Body, and in seeing His Body was seeing themselves.

 

In Joseph we see Jesus Christ. We see Jesus rejected by His brothers, sold into death, released from prison, exalted to the right hand of God. In Jospeh we see Jesus in that what men meant for evil, God meant for good. In Joseph we see Jesus in forgiveness. In Joseph we see the salvation of many through suffering, and thus we see Jesus. Joseph becomes a source of salvation, a refuge for many, a picture of Jesus the Christ. Just as Joseph’s brothers rejected the message of Joseph’s dreams, so Jesus’ brothers, Israel, along with mankind rejected the Word of Jesus. Just as the Word of the LORD was tried in Joseph, so the Word was tried within Jesus Christ. “Though He were a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8 – 9).

 

There are, of course, contrasts in the story of Joseph and Jesus. Jacob did not knowingly send Joseph down into Egypt; the Father knowingly, willingly, and lovingly gave His Only Begotten Son. Joseph did not understand that betrayal, slavery, and prison lay between his dreams and their fulfillment, Jesus knew that the Cross beckoned Him.

 

If then we see Jesus Christ in and through Joseph, we also see the Body of Christ in and through Joseph, for as Augustine says, “As with the Head, so with the Body.” That is, if we are the Body of Christ, then we participate with Christ in His story, in His calling, in His mission. This is a theme of the Bible and an explicit teaching of the New Testament. We love as He loves, we are in the Trinity in Him, we are sent as the Father sent Him, we are to live in the koinonia of His sufferings, we are even to “fill up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Col. 1:24, whatever that may mean). We are, let us recall, to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29).

 

This means that we suffer on behalf of others, that what others mean for evil, our God means for good. It means that we, as His Body, are tried in the fires of testing and obedience and persecution just as Joseph and Jesus were tried. It means that God’s Word is tested within us, as His Word was tested in Joseph and Jesus (1 Peter 1:3 – 9). It means that the calling of God the Father is within us, just as it is in Jesus Christ. It means that the Incarnation continues within us because Christ lives within us His Body.

 

This further means that when we read “they afflicted his feet with fetters” that we can read, “They afflicted His feet with fetters.” The feet of the Body of Christ were afflicted with fetters, they are being afflicted with fetters, they are bound, their movement is restricted, they are in prison.

 

Can we see “they afflicted His feet with fetters” in Romans 8:18 – 25? Can we see that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18)? Just as the sufferings of Joseph were not worthy to be compared with his exaltation to Pharoah’s right hand and his feeding of the people and his family, just as the sufferings Jesus were not to be compared with the “joy set before Him” (Heb. 12:2), so our present sufferings pale in comparison to the coming glory of Christ in us and us in Christ. Indeed, Christ in us fully and completely is our “hope of glory” (Col. 1:27; see also 2 Thess. 1:10 – 12).

 

The culmination of the suffering of the saints in Revelation is the glory of God in His People and His People in God (Revelation chapters 21 – 22).

 

O dear friends, our hope is in Jesus and His Word, our hope is in the promises of our Father, through which we partake of His Nature (2 Peter 1:4). The temptation while we are in prison is to scheme our own way out rather than wait for God. We have pressure to build the House of God when only God can build His House (Psalm 127:1 – 2). Our Christianity is driven by a “make it happen” mentality which abandons abiding in the Vine (John 15:1ff).

 

We have left our first love, and we pride ourselves on our sparkling and entertaining and man-centered Christianity – we have no grain with which to feed the people, there is a famine for the Word of God (Amos 8:11 – 12). Let there be no mistake, we can know the Bible in the sense of knowing its informational content and not know the Word of God. The Word of God transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ. The Word of God results in radical obedience to Jesus. The Word of God emanates from the Cross of Christ. The Word of God bears the fruit of Matthew 25:34 – 40, a fruit which transcends political, economic, social, national, and cultural considerations – in fact, it puts the earthly to death.

 

I take great hope in Psalm105:16 – 22 and the story of Joseph. I believe that while our feet may be in fetters, that while the Word of God tries us, that Romans 8:18 – 25 awaits us. I believe that the manifestation of the sons of God not only awaits us, but that blessing awaits the peoples of the earth, for whatever we are experiencing is for the glory of God and the blessing of others.

 

Just as Joseph was able to say, just as Jesus has told us again and again, we also can say both now and in the consummation of the ages, “What you meant for evil. God meant for good.”

 

As the Father sent Joseph, as the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us (John 17:18; 20:21).

 

 

 

 

The Four chaplains

Robert L. Withers

February 7, 2026

 

“I’ve got a conference call this afternoon at 2:00, it’s concerning a memorial foundation I’m associated with back in Philly. I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of it; it’s called The Four Chaplains.”

 

“Of course I know about the Four Chaplains, I was raised knowing about them,” I replied to my client Frank, who had lived in Philly before retiring to Richmond, VA.

 

When I was growing up in the D.C. area in the 50s and 60s, Washington City had a wax museum and among the exhibits were The Four Chaplains. I can still see the wax figures of Rev. George L. Fox (Methodist), Reform Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, Father John P. Washington (Roman Catholic), and Rev. Clark V. Poling (Reformed Church in America) standing together by the rail on the troop ship Dorchester, the water of the dark display lapping against the hull of the ship.

 

My mother made sure I knew the story, she made sure that I was not looking at entertainment but at sacrifice, at the way we were to live our lives. As I write this, I realize that all the trips we took to museums were about learning and exploring and understanding, understanding where we had come from and where we ought to be going. Understanding who we ought to be. To me, libraries and museums were sacred spaces, easily on par with the sanctuary of our Presbyterian church. The image of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, which I stood before in awe, was the image of God I had while being with Mom in church. I suppose Lincoln was an ikon to some degree.

 

The troopship was torpedoed on February 3, 1943, at 12:55 AM off Newfoundland. There were not enough life jackets for everyone, so these four young chaplains, from different backgrounds and traditions, gave their life vests to others. In the midst of confusion, chaos, and terror, these four men guided others to lifeboats, encouraging and comforting the frightened men around them…and then, having done all they could, linked arms together, stood together, prayed together and sang hymns…and died together.

 

Grady Clark, a survivor, wrote the following:

 

As I swam away from the ship, I looked back. The flares had lighted everything. The bow came up high and she slid under. The last thing I saw, the four chaplains were up there praying for the safety of the men. They had done everything they could. I did not see them again. They themselves did not have a chance without their life jackets.

 

William Bednar, a survivor said, "I could hear men crying, pleading, praying and swearing. I could also hear the chaplains preaching courage to the men. Their voices were probably the only things that kept me sane."

 

Having heard this story as a young boy, having seen it depicted in the wax museum as a lad, having a mother who emphasized the sacrificial nature of the story, and the fact that these men represented different traditions, it would be impossible to forget Fox, Goode, Washington, and Poling. It would be impossible to forget what unity in sacrifice can look like.

 

This past Tuesday I was thinking about the conversation with my former client, which took place about ten years ago. As I continued to think about the Four Chaplains on Wednesday, I decided to look up the foundation and refresh my memory. Then I saw that Tuesday, the day before when I had started thinking about them, February 3, was Four Chaplains Remembrance Day. I had no idea, no idea at all.

 

Dear friends, all around us is confusion and cursing and darkness, the question is not whether we have extra life vests to give to others, the question is whether we will give our own life jackets away.

 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son…” (John 3:16).

 

“As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (John 17:18; 20:21).

 

“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).

Unfinished Thoughts On The Soul (3)

 

Return to Your Rest

 

Where do our souls live?

 

Where are we headed today?

 

As our souls return to our Father through the Lamb, we learn to live in that City whose Builder and Maker is God (Hebrews 11:8 – 16). This means that the One and only Light of the soul is our Father and the Lamb (Revelation 21:23; 22:5). We do not wait for a future day for this to be so, we learn to live by the Light of God and the Lamb Today. It is today that we are not to harden our hearts and souls, it is today that we are to hear His Voice and obey, and it is today that we enter into His rest (Hebrews 4:1 – 9).

 

Entering into His rest means that we cease from our own works, even as God did from His on that first Sabbath; indeed, now we come to know and see that Jesus Christ is our Sabbath and that we abide in Him (Heb. 4:10; John 15:1ff). We can do nothing in and of ourselves, only as His Life flows in us and through us can we live and bear fruit (see also Galatians 2:20).

 

Our souls come to know our Father and the Lamb as our Temple (Rev. 21:22). All the images of Tabernacles and Temples in Scripture are lifted upward and subsumed in the Godhead, we enter into Him and He enters into us. The Incarnation is consummated in the Marriage of the Lamb, for the Marriage Supper is more than a shared meal, the Marriage Supper is the prelude to a consummation, the Nature of which is beyond us, it is beyond us because it is hidden in Christ – there is a reason marriage bedrooms have doors that are shut.

 

When the soul comes home to the Father and Lamb it does so with these words ringing without and within:

 

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them” (Rev. 21:3).

 

Now friends, as we live in that City we must surely know that we must live in the Light of the Lamb and the Father, and we must surely know that nothing can be hidden, nothing should be hidden; that there should be no subterfuge, no shades of meaning, no “spin,” no guile. We must surely know that the wrath of man has no place in this City, that the violence of man will not be admitted to this City, that the greed and selfishness and pride of man will not enter the City or the Temple – for God is All in all.

 

To enter into this City is to dwell on the Holy Mountain in which “they shall neither hurt nor destroy.”

 

The souls of those purchased by the Lamb belong to this City, we are citizens of this City. This City is not only our future destiny, we are to breathe the air of this City today, to walk the streets of this City today, to fellowship with the inhabitants of this City today, to live in the Temple of this City today, to follow the Lamb of this City today.

 

If the Lamb (and the Father) is the Light of this City, then all of life is to be lived in the Light of the Lamb – all of life today. The Lamb shines His Light in our hearts, minds, and souls. He shines His light on all around us. We do not “see” as others see (2 Cor. 4:18; 5:7; Heb. 11:1), we do not judge as others judge, we do not discern and evaluate as others evaluate – our eyes are fixed on the Lamb, the Sun of Righteousness…and there is no righteousness apart from Him…all pretense to righteousness is as filthy rags…it is disgusting. This is true whether it is personal, institutional (religious or other), national, ethnic, economic, or philosophical. O how foolish we are to look anywhere other than Jesus Christ for identity, for righteousness, for fulfillment, for a place for our souls to live and abide.

 

As we live in this City, the Name of our God is on our foreheads, the Name of the Father and the Lamb (Rev. 22:4; 14:1; 3:12), indeed, even the Name of the glorious City is written upon us. This City comes down upon us out of heaven, we enter the City and the City enters into us.

 

Shall we not cry with the psalmist, “Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you”? (Psalm 116:7).

 

Are not our deaths precious to our God because through them we come home to Him and our City? (Psalm 116:15).

 

Do we not anticipate rejoicing in the presence of the saints? (Psalm 116:14, 18, 19).

 

Is not the House of God and Jerusalem (Psalm 116:19) that City we see in Revelation chapters 21 – 22?

 

Yes, the LORD has indeed rescued our souls from death and our eyes from tears (Psalm 116:8; Rev. 21:4).

 

Let us say today, and tomorrow…to ourselves and to one another, “Return to your rest, O my soul! Return to the City of God!”