Joseph - Reflections (6)

 

 

“The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples, and set him free. He made him lord of his house and ruler over all his possessions, to imprison his princes at will, that he might teach his elders wisdom” (Psalm 105:20 – 22).

 

2 Corinthians, 1 Peter, and Revelation are three New Testament letters that especially focus on suffering for Christ and others. As Peter moves to his conclusion he writes:

 

“But resist him [the devil], firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Pt. 5:9 – 10).

 

Paul writes that we suffer with Christ, “so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:17 – 18).

 

As an element of Joseph’s exaltation was to rule in judgment, so does Christ Jesus in His exaltation judge the world; Joseph is a picture of Christ. As members of the Body of Christ we participate with Christ in judging the world.

 

“Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? …  Do you not know that we will judge angels?” (1 Cor. 6:2 – 3).

 

God’s People, the Church, the Israel of God is to have, “The high praises of God in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute on them the judgment written; this is an honor for all His godly ones. Hallelujah!” (Psalm 149:6 – 9).

 

Jesus says, “He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father” (Rev. 2:26 – 27; see also Psalm 2:8).

 

Whatever all of this means, it is beyond me. Whenever that Day comes in which these things are fulfilled, I will look to Jesus and brothers and sisters far greater than I am to teach me the Way I should go. There may be a measure of this happening today, there may have always been a measure of this throughout history, for certainly God gives words of judgment to His saints to speak into the world. Sometimes these words are public, sometimes private. Sometimes people claim to speak God’s Word of judgment, but rather than it being a Word from God it is a word of their own imagination, a word of their own emotional and mental confusion. Let us remember that all of God’s Word is Christocentric.

 

My sense is that it is generally presumptuous to declare God’s specific purposes in world events, the reasons for disasters – man made or otherwise. We may discern our sin and foolishness, we may see (to one degree or another) things in the realm of the Spirit, we may have insight granted to us as individuals or groups to help us through seasons of life; but I think until our exaltation in Christ is fulfilled that we continue to “see through a glass darkly.”

 

I think that when we have a sense of judgment or warning, that more times than not it is for our own instruction and for those immediately around us. When we hear grand pronouncements, sweeping in scope, from Christian “leaders,” they are typically an embarrassment to those with eyes to see and ears to hear, flowing from speculation.

 

This is not to say that we don’t need prophetic messages calling us back to the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ – and perhaps herein we may find the validation of true prophetic messages, that which points us to Jesus Christ and His Cross is likely to be valid, that which does not is to be suspect. Messages of judgment ought to come from broken hearts, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, as did Jeremiah, Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses pleaded with God to judge him rather than blot out Israel, Daniel bore the sins of his people in intercessory prayer. Haughtiness and pride have no place in a message of judgment.

 

I touch on this image of judgment because it is in our text, “to imprison his princes at will,” but let’s note that the story of Jospeh in Genesis provides no example of Jospeh disciplining the princes of Egypt. This isn’t to say that Joseph didn’t do this, but it is to say that the Biblical narrative focuses on other things.

 

We will pick this back up in our next reflection in this series, the Lord willing.