A Dream Came True - Genesis 41:1-37

[0:00] So we're in Genesis 41. We've been traveling with Joseph now for a while. We're on his with his narrative. Abraham, the father of faith. Isaac, the son of promise. Jacob, the man of the covering or man of the covenant. And then Joseph, the son of favor. And Joseph has now been in Egypt for about nine years, I think we figured, between or maybe seven years because well, no, the beginning of 41, he's been there two years in prison. So about nine years between Potiphar's house and then in prison. And then he interprets the dreams of the baker and the cupbearer for Pharaoh. And he finds out, okay, one of them, the baker is going to be hanged and the cupbearer is going to be restored.

[0:48] And he says to the man, when you are restored, remember me to Pharaoh because I'm here unjustly. Um, he doesn't remember him as two years now. It says in the beginning here in verse 41, that two full years have come to pass. And this is where we're going to pick up with Joseph.

[1:05] The title for today's message is a dream come true because many dreams are going to come true, uh, in this text today. The outline for today, verses one through eight is a sleepless night where Pharaoh keeps waking up having these dreams that God is giving him. Verses nine through 13 is an awakened memory where his cupbearer is going to be like, Oh, that's right. I know a guy. And then verses 14 through 16, uh, rise and shine. It's where Joseph is essentially he's risen up and it's his time to shine. Um, verses 17 through 24 daydreaming is Pharaoh recounting his dream. Now to Joseph 25 through 32, Joseph, the dream catcher, the dream master, he, uh, interprets his dream. And then lastly, 33 through 37 is sweet dreams. Our theme verse as we've gone through kind of through Joseph's life is Jeremiah 29 11. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you sayeth the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end or a future and a hope. Uh, and we see that with Joseph's life. God has, he has thoughts and he has plans for Joseph. They're going to come to pass because he's determined they are. It's Joseph's part to determine whether he will be faithful as God brings about his promises. So let's pick up in verse one. And it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed and behold, he stood by the river. Um, the wording there two full years means two years of days, means two full years of days. And for Joseph, that probably felt like each day was a year, right? You know, all right, the cupbearer has been restored. He's going to remember me, you know, a week's gone by. Well, that he's getting settled back in, you know, I'm sure.

[2:51] Okay. Two weeks have gone by now. Three weeks. Is this guy going to remember me? A month goes by four or five, six months. And it's like, God, I thought, I thought this was your means of deliverance. Was it God's means of deliverance? It was just wasn't God's timing for deliverance. Yeah, but it was his means. And so you think here at the end of two years, man, what's Joseph's heart like?

[3:13] Where's he at? Um, Proverbs says that hope deferred makes the heart sick, right? To defer it. You think you're going to be there and it's like a detour. And it just, uh, you thought, you thought the Amazon package was coming today. It says it's delayed, you know, and you're all bummed out now. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. But we're going to see with Joseph, he's not, he hasn't forgotten God. He hasn't gotten bitter. Um, he's just continuing to be faithful. And again, if you see this dream Pharaoh has, it says he stood by the river. I'm going to look some more dreams. Remember the Egyptians, they didn't just think that some dreams were special. They believed, believed every dream was a message. They believed every dream was an interpretation, was speaking to them. They're very into dreams. And if you saw yourself in a dream, whoa, that was extra. That was just extra.

[4:02] For Joseph, every day was an opportunity for him to be faithful. It was an every day was an opportunity for God's grace in his life. And do you realize each one of these days is something that will stand alone for all of eternity? Yesterday is a day that now stands alone for all of eternity.

[4:19] You got, you were not going to affect that. We're not going to change that. That is set. The fruit from that, that stands alone for all of eternity. It's not something that has changed. God has given us these days. Psalm 118 24, this is the day which the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

[4:35] This day. Now it's speaking specifically of the coming Messiah, that scripture. But we can apply it to each and every day the Lord gives us. For Egypt, the Nile represented the source of life. They worshipped it. They worshipped it as a, as one of their gods. They recognized that the seasons and the cycles of the Nile were, was the source of life. And so Pharaoh is standing by the source of life. And he has this interesting dream in verse two. And behold, there came up out of the river, seven well-favored cows and fat fleshed. And they fed in a meadow. Literally, they fell in the rush. They fed in the rushes, the banks of the Nile. So out of the Nile, out of the source of life comes these cows. And the idea is that they are the best looking cows you ever did see. I mean, I haven't seen that many great looking cows. They just all look like cows to me. But for Pharaoh, these were the best. But there's something different about this as well. In Egypt, cows represented fertility and sustenance and nurturing. They worshipped the cows too. In fact, these seven cows would ring a bell to Pharaoh because in Egypt there were seven celestial cows. You know, seven celestial cows. In ancient Egypt, the arturi, or the seven cows, were conceived as supporters of the sky. Their connection to the sky, the realm of stars, and celestial cycles intertwined the concepts of earthly fertility and cosmic rhythms.

[5:58] This cosmic dance of celestial bodies was reflected in the cycles of the Nile. So they looked at them together, which brought fertility to the land. The seven cows in this light could be seen as guardians of this essential balance. So Pharaoh, he dreams this dream and he sees seven sacred cows coming up out of the source of life. This is very, this would be a very impactful dream, seeing these seven well-favored cows, the seven celestial cows coming out of the source of life. In Egypt, they had handbooks for dreams.

[6:30] This is one of them from 1200 years before Christ. The red lettering would be bad dreams and the black lettering would be good dreams. They believed that every dream had an interpretation. We're going to see here that Pharaoh is going to go to his magicians and they're not going to be able to interpret it.

[6:43] The reason is, it's not like they couldn't just make something up, but they had books that they expected they could go to and find this dream. But we're going to see that God had concealed the meaning. And just because it's kind of funny seeing what man comes up with, here's some examples of their good dreams. If a man sees himself in a dream, so if you see yourself in a dream eating crocodile meat, it means you're becoming an official among the people. If you see yourself in a dream drowning in the river, it means purification from every evil. If you see yourself in a dream sawing wood, it means your enemies are dead. And I love this last one. I've never had a dream of burying an old man.

[7:22] But to the Egyptians, if you saw yourself burying an old man in a dream, it means prosperity. It was kind of nuts, the things that they believed. Why were they so into dreams? Why were they so desperate for an interpretation? Because God's put in the heart of every man a desire for truth. We want revelation. We want to know what God is speaking.

[7:43] We want to know our purposes. And if we can't find it here, what does it say in Romans, right? When they knew him as God, as creator, but refused to acknowledge him and worship him as creator, well then they turned to the creation and began to worship creation. And you see that with Egypt.

[8:00] So as we look at these dreams, we get the interpretation. Joseph's going to give it to us. We said we can't apply our own interpretation to what the Bible already tells us is the interpretation. But since we know what they mean, we can kind of, as we go through, see some of those characteristics.

[8:16] So we see these fat cows and we see that they are unnaturally fruitful. They're like the best thing he's ever seen. And yet at the same time, they're continuing to add fruitfulness to their lives. They're the most well-nourished cows, but they're still adding from the bank of the Nile, the source of life. So he's looking at something very fruitful here.

[8:36] Verse 3, And behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river. He's probably like, what are these cows? Maybe even more blessing. Ill-favored and lean-fleshed and stood by the other cows upon the bank of the river.

[8:50] And the ill-favored and lean-fleshed cows did eat among the bulrushes in the bank of the river? No. They turned and they ate the other well-favored cows, the fat cows.

[9:02] And so here we see the second cows, they had no fullness in themselves, and they did not desire to add fullness either by eating by the bank of the river. Instead, they consumed the fullness that was already there in the other cows.

[9:17] And he slept, so he wakes up, has this dream about the cows, and he falls back to sleep. And he slept and dreamed a second time, in verse 5. And behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good.

[9:29] I'm reading from the King James. Yours may say seven ears of wheat. It's wheat. And so seven ears of wheat upon one stalk. How many of you grow wheat? No, I don't either.

[9:40] But if you look at wheat, here's a sheaf of wheat. How many ears of corn are on each stalk? One. You only get one per stalk.

[9:51] And each ear, just like an ear of corn, has a bunch of seeds. So this is a very unnatural production. You have one stalk with seven ears coming off it. Pharaoh's seeing this in his dream. Unnatural production. Great potential here, as he sees in his dream.

[10:06] And then in verse 6, And behold, seven thin ears and blasted, that means scorched or blighted, with the east wind, they sprung up after them. So now you have a stalk, I guess, with 14 ears on it.

[10:20] And the seven thin ears, they devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. That means they devoured or swallowed them up.

[10:30] So you have this unnatural catastrophe happening. I mean, it's possible for cows to eat another cow, I guess. But that's pretty unnatural. But now you have wheat eating other wheat.

[10:41] This is very unnatural. And it's a catastrophe. The fruitfulness that he saw is now gone. In verse 8, And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, literally agitated.

[10:53] And he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all the wise men thereof. And Pharaoh told them his dream, but there was none that could interpret, or literally could open this up.

[11:04] The word interpret could open the dreams unto Pharaoh. Pharaoh. You know, Pharaoh is a pretty big dude. He's pretty powerful, right? Egypt, you see all through when Israel's in the land, and they have enemies coming, and they've rejected God.

[11:19] What do they do? They go to Egypt, or to Assyria, or they try and hire someone, mercenaries, to come and protect them against the other bad guy. Right? What do we say today? We got an election coming up, right? We say, well, you vote for the lesser of two evils.

[11:31] That's what people will tell you. But what are you voting for when you vote for the lesser of two evils? You're still voting for evil. And if you continue to vote for evil, guess what you get? Or if you continue to choose evil, you get evil.

[11:44] So we can't hire Egypt, the world, to come and defeat the bad guys. The bad guys always end up being bad guys. So Egypt was pretty powerful, and Pharaoh was the head of Egypt, right?

[11:55] You're not going to just get an audience with Pharaoh. Pharaoh, I have a message from the Lord. I'd like to just come in and tell you. Who are you? Right? But look where God gets to him. God speaks to him in a dream. Nobody could speak to Pharaoh in a dream except God.

[12:07] God spoke to Pharaoh in a place and in a way that nobody else could, and he was able to get to him in such a way that it agitated or troubled his spirit. It's something that's weighing on him. And he calls all these masters together, these dream masters.

[12:21] Tell me what my dream is. But none of them could open what God was keeping closed, right? They said, interpret this to me. Open this to me. And they opened up all their dream books. They're like, sorry. Did you see yourself burying a dead man by any chance?

[12:35] No? An old man, I mean? Sorry. And then the chief butler or the chief cupbearer, he's standing there. He's like, oh, hey, I just remembered something.

[12:47] I do remember my faults this day before you, Pharaoh. No. Proverbs 21.1 says, The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turns it whithersoever he will.

[12:58] That's the king's heart, and that's everybody else's heart, right? God's going to direct that heart. You can't get to Pharaoh's heart. God can. And God is now directing this chief butler as well.

[13:09] For Joseph, he's still in prison. He doesn't know what's going on. He's down there. We're going to find out there's a word used here that says he's the servant of the warden of the prison.

[13:21] Remember last week we saw that word that he was to serve the chief butler and the chief baker who were put in there, and that word meant to minister. This word means the lowest of slaves. So he was treated as the lowest of the low in the prison.

[13:34] And this is where he's at. He doesn't know God is working deliverance in his life. He has no idea that, like, this is his day. I always picture it like God's got a big filing cabinet. If you go next door, they've got a lot of filing cabinets over there.

[13:46] They've kept every record forever. But it's like I picture God pulling it out and then pulling out a file and going, Oh, all right, this is the day we're going to work in Jared's life. And he says his angels, Come on, let's go.

[13:58] It's their turn. You don't know. Joseph had no idea what was going on. James 5.7 says, In other words, there are seasons.

[14:22] He has to wait through these seasons before he gets to reap the harvest. And Joseph, that's what he's doing. He's being patient and he's waiting. For us, we can be in a season where it's like, Lord, how long?

[14:33] When are you going to take me out of this season? When are you going to bring deliverance? Or when are you going to come back, Lord? But we wait long because God has his seasons. And in every season, he has a reason.

[14:45] I'm just a season. So in Egypt, they believe that all dreams had an interpretation, not just some. And so here the chief butler says, Hey, I do remember this day, my faults before Pharaoh.

[14:56] In verse 10, he says, Pharaoh was angry with his servant. And he put me in prison, in the captain of the guard's house, both me and the chief baker. And we dreamed a dream in one night. I and he, we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.

[15:11] And there was with us a young man, a Hebrew, a foreigner, one who was not among us, one who was separate from us, who dwelt with us. He was servant.

[15:21] That's that word meaning the lowest of the low of servants and slaves. He was a servant to the captain of the guard. And we told him our dream. And he interpreted to us our dream. Each man, according to his dream, did he interpret.

[15:37] And we said last week how it was very interesting was that they dreamed a dream according to their interpretation. Like there was an interpretation that God already had and he just fit a dream to it. We would look at it in reverse and so would the world.

[15:48] They would say, well, there's your dream. I need to fit an interpretation to it. Like, okay, you dreamed about burying an old man. I need to fit an interpretation to that, right? And I'm going to make something up. Well, God does the reverse.

[15:59] God's already got the message that he wants and he's going to get that message to that person however he wants. And so he already had an interpretation prepared for the dream. And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, and I look at the wording here, so it was.

[16:15] And the King James says, me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged. The idea is, not only do they see interpretation of dreams as divine, Egypt, they think that, hey, if you have that, you're divine.

[16:30] He doesn't just look at Joseph as the one who interpreted the dream. He looks at him as the fulfiller. Which is kind of ironic that he's been two years forgotten about in prison. And yet, right now, this chief butler is saying, man, there is a man who interpreted our dreams, and he restored me unto my office.

[16:48] And him, he hanged the baker on the tree. Both Joseph's family and the Egyptians were wrongly attributing the work of God to Joseph.

[16:59] Remember his family when he had those dreams? God's work in his life? They attributed it to Joseph. Joseph. They hated his guts, because they thought he was being arrogant, and they thought he was being self-righteous, or one of those goody-goodies.

[17:11] You're always talking about Jesus. Always talking about the Bible. Who do you think you are? It's not anything I chose to do. Man, that's what God's done in my life. And so it just comes out, right? It's just who I am. They wrongly attributed the giftings God had given him to himself.

[17:28] The Egyptians are doing the same thing, but in a different way, right? Remember when Peter and John, they went up to pray, and they met the lame man, right?

[17:42] And he said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I you. In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. And he went walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people came running together. And Peter kind of looks and realizes they think this was me.

[17:55] And he says to them, he says, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Why do you look on us as if some goodness in ourself did this? But through the name of Jesus Christ, who you crucified, is this man made whole, right?

[18:06] But they were wrongly attributing these works to Joseph. Our gifts and abilities, they do come from God. And it's just as wrong to overemphasize as it is to underemphasize, right?

[18:19] God had perfectly suited Joseph to his calling, and he had fitted him to this ministry. What at one time Joseph might have thought was a burden in his life. Man, God, why have you called me to this? Why have you gifted me in this way?

[18:30] Nobody receives it. I tell everybody in my family, and they threw me in a pit and sold me to Egypt, right? I get down to Egypt, and it goes from bad to worse. Little did he know that what at one time seemed like a burden, God was specifically using, or would specifically use at just the right time.

[18:49] And he was being perfectly fitted for the ministry God had for him. Hebrews 13, 20 says, Now the God of peace make you perfect, or complete, or whole, in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ.

[19:05] He's doing the same thing for us. He's perfectly fitting us for the ministry he has for us. Because you each have a ministry, and you each have a calling. We all do. And God is perfectly fitting us for it. What was Joseph's part through this whole process?

[19:19] Man, just be faithful. Just be faithful where God puts us. Where God put Joseph. Joseph was content to serve in the calling God had placed him in, and the capacity that God had given him.

[19:31] And he would stay that way until God redirected. We don't have the freedom to just be like, Well, Lord, it was good. I'm out. When God gives us a calling, when he gives us a direction, we continue in that path unless he relieves us from it or redirects.

[19:46] So then Pharaoh, in verse 14, he sent and called Joseph. He's like, Are you serious? There's a dude in the dungeon? And they brought him hastily out of the dungeon.

[19:58] That word means on the run. He's like, You get him, and you get back here. They were running. Why? They were afraid they'd imprisoned a God. We've had a God in prison? Get him out of there.

[20:09] And he shaved himself, Joseph, and changed his raiment and came in unto Pharaoh. Because that's the Egyptians. That was their hygiene. They shaved themselves fully.

[20:21] And so Joseph, to come before the throne, come before Pharaoh, he had to be fitted for it. But that word there where it says he changed his raiment, it means to pass away quickly or to vanish. So here's Joseph's fourth and final garment, right?

[20:34] Just as Abraham had four altars, Isaac had four wells, Jacob had four pillars, Joseph has four garments. And we saw they line up pretty well with the Gospels.

[20:45] The first one, he's rejected among his brethren, the sons of Israel. He's rejected by them, even though he's clearly the chosen one. It was Matthew, the Messiah, coming to the house of Israel.

[20:57] And then he goes down into Egypt, and he serves. He's a servant in Potiphar's house, where in Mark you see the suffering servant. And then even further down, down into the prison, puts on the prison garments.

[21:08] And there you see, just like in Luke, he's identified with the lowest of the low. He identifies with all men. And then John, he's the risen son of God.

[21:19] He's the exalted Savior. And here you see Joseph now putting on that garment, totally different garment. But I love it because raiment means covering, covering, and changed means to pass away quickly or to vanish.

[21:32] So very quickly, they hastened. Like in a twinkling of an eye, they took off his covering and put on a brand new one. 1 Corinthians 15, beginning in 51.

[21:44] Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed. Vanish away quickly. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.

[21:54] For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. We will put on a new garment, right? We are clothed in righteousness. We are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

[22:07] Positionally. But man, experientially, we haven't received the fullness of that. But one day we will. We'll be at the wedding feast with our new garment. In a moment. In a twinkling of an eye. Joseph, he had to go before the throne, didn't he?

[22:21] Before he could go before the throne, taken from prison, to stand before the throne, what did he have to have done? He had to be washed. He had to be changed. Once rejected, now honored.

[22:34] Once a prisoner, now free. Once filthy, now clean. Once an old garment, and now a new. Man, what a picture. What a picture. The picture of the Son of Favor, of Christ.

[22:47] Risen from the dead, as if dead in prison, and now standing, exalted. And what a picture of the place we have in Christ as well. And Pharaoh says unto Joseph, so he's standing there before him, and he says, I dreamed a dream, and there is none that can open it up to me.

[23:03] There's none that can interpret this. And I have heard say of you, don't disappoint me, bro. I just brought you from prison. That you can understand a dream to interpret it.

[23:16] In other words, he's saying, Joseph, I heard you have power over dreams. That's what I heard. No man can interpret this. There's none that can interpret this.

[23:27] All of my wise men, all of my magicians, they can't because no man can reveal what God has concealed. When God chooses to conceal it, no one's going to reveal it. But at the same token, no one can conceal what God has chosen to reveal.

[23:40] We live in a day where God has chosen to reveal. Right? Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit.

[23:52] For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. We live in a day where God's not looking to conceal his truth. God's not looking to hide this. For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

[24:08] I did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through me might be saved, said Jesus. Right? And then he's given that message into our hands. Don't conceal this. Don't put it under a bushel. Don't put it, you know, it's a city set on a hill.

[24:20] You're not going to hide that. Let your light so shine. Pharaoh has no idea why this is so concealed. You see, God doesn't conceal anything without the intent of revealing it.

[24:35] And he had a man there, didn't he? And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace, or literally a word of shalom.

[24:48] God can give you a word of shalom, Pharaoh. It's not in me. You might see in me a reflection of what God's done, but it's not in me. It's not me that has done that. Here's Joseph.

[25:00] Stand. This is your moment, Joseph. You're before Pharaoh. Take it. Own it. Yes, Pharaoh. I can interpret dreams. I can. Get something out of it, Pharaoh, and for 1995, you too can have your dreams fulfilled.

[25:14] You know? And if you join my monthly plan, I can. Right? Pharaoh, Joseph was the same person in prison as he was the palace. The same guy. Right? Didn't matter what garment the world put on him.

[25:25] Didn't matter how they identified him. We look at you as the lowest of the low. In one minute, now they're like, whoa, he could be a god. Joseph's like, I know who I am before my god. Same person.

[25:37] Joseph was not responsible to correct Pharaoh's bad theology, but he was responsible to speak the truth to Pharaoh. He wasn't responsible to try and like, Pharaoh, let me set you straight here. But he spoke the truth to him.

[25:49] And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, all right, in my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river. And behold, there came up out of the river seven cows, fat-fleshed and well-favored, and they fed in a meadow.

[26:02] Behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ill-favored, lean-fleshed, such as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt for badness. Unprecedented misfortune.

[26:15] And the lean and ill-favored cows, they did eat up the first fat cows. And when they'd eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them. Now, we didn't have that information before when we heard the dream the first time.

[26:29] Pharaoh is telling us now that when they'd eaten them, you couldn't even tell, right? You ever see a snake eat something, right? You know, there's the chinchilla. Where'd the chinchilla go? And there's a big bulge in the snake.

[26:40] You can't hide it. It's like, okay, dude, I can see you ate it, right? Well, here, these skinny, lean cows completely devoured them. And there's no evidence of that. The fruitfulness was consumed and then the fruitfulness is forgotten because he said, you couldn't even tell.

[26:56] And I saw in my dream, verse 22, and behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, that seven ears of grain on one stalk, full and good, and behold, after that, seven ears that were withered and thin and blighted with the east wind, they sprang up after them.

[27:13] And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears. More unnatural behavior. Very unnatural. First, you got cows eating cows and then you got weed eating wheat. And I told this unto the magicians, that literally means the engravers or the writers, right?

[27:28] Those that would engrave or write, the scribes, those that would have the books, that would be engraving the hieroglyphics to keep track of these dreams. I told it unto the engravers and the writers, but there is none that could declare it to me.

[27:41] The word there, declare it, in Hebrew, is to give insight. None of these guys could give any insight. Pharaoh's dream had been engraved upon his mind by God. It's amazing how he repeats this dream exactly as he had it.

[27:55] I don't know, maybe some of you are dreamers. I don't dream. Thank the Lord I don't. The few times I do and I remember a dream, I mean, my daughter tells me I do dream, I just don't remember them. They're weird. You know, I'd be one of those like, well, I saw myself burying an old man, you know, or eating crocodile meat.

[28:10] They don't make any sense. My wife can repeat her dreams like she was watching television. You know, I can't, I can't do that. So this dream seems to be very etched upon Pharaoh's mind.

[28:23] But man has no capacity for insight into the divine. Pharaoh is very troubled by this and he wants these men to give him insight and he's saying to Joseph, nobody could give me any insight into this. It's because man has no capacity for insight into what God has to reveal.

[28:39] Romans 11 34 says, for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor or who has first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again. Man, are you going to give God counsel?

[28:51] Do you know God's mind? Can you have insight into the divine? Pharaoh, the head of Egypt couldn't and neither could any of his men. And Joseph says unto Pharaoh, now look at how simple Joseph puts this.

[29:06] The dream of Pharaoh is one. God has showed Pharaoh what he's about to do. The word there showed is to be conspicuous. Pharaoh, you wanted insight? Well, God is making known.

[29:16] He's making it very conspicuous. He doesn't want to hide this Pharaoh. He wants you to know what he's about to do. Joseph did not embellish God's revelation but he simply spoke the truth simply.

[29:30] Have you ever seen anybody do a really good card trick? And he gets you like, whoa, how did they do that? And you find out how they did it that they knew from the very beginning what your card was? Right? The trick wasn't them finding out the card.

[29:40] The trick was they're tricking you into thinking that they're doing something amazing. Right? They knew from the start what your card was. Well, Joseph doesn't embellish anything here. He doesn't go, well now, Pharaoh, let's see here.

[29:52] You know, ooga, ba-booga, right? He just says, I'll just tell you simply what it is. We are to simply speak the truth simply. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul describing his ministry about the gospel.

[30:04] He says, but we have not walked in dishonesty or in craftiness nor handled the word of God deceitfully. Man, we haven't tried to hide anything. We have not deceived you. You know, I mean, all I got for you is the word.

[30:18] You know, we were talking with Damon ahead of time though, saying that, man, if I had to rely on illustrations or stories or come up with a sermon, it'd be a short-lived church.

[30:28] It'd be short messages too. Probably like 50, 15 minutes instead of 50. Sorry. Right? I'd run out of things to say, but man, God's word's so rich. Like we saw before, I don't know if that was when we were looking at Acts?

[30:40] I think it was, yeah, with Paul, that when he's before Agrippa, that he just keeps saying the same thing. He had like four different trials and he just said the same thing because the truth never changes.

[30:52] It never changes. It's always the same, but amazingly, it's always relevant. It's always relevant, but it never changes. And he gives the interpretation now in verse 26. He says, the seven good cows are seven years and the seven good ears are seven years.

[31:08] The dream is one. That fast? That's it? And you want Pharaoh to probably like, boys, how come you couldn't? This was easy. That makes so much sense.

[31:18] Why couldn't you figure that out? God's word makes sense. God's word makes sense. It just fits, right? I mean, it doesn't make any sense to me. I'm sorry, I keep harping this one just the one I remember.

[31:29] Why burying an old man means prosperity in a dream? I don't understand that. Why eating crocodile meat would mean, it doesn't make any sense the things people make up, right? When you look at prognosticators or fortune tellers or the things in this world, it doesn't make any sense.

[31:47] Titus 3.9 says, Paul says, avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and striving about the law for they are unprofitable and pointless, right?

[32:00] God's word makes sense. It's not going to lead you down a rabbit hole where you spend so much time and get so much little in return for it. Verse 27.

[32:11] And Joseph says, and the seven thin and ill-favored cows that came up after you are seven years or after them are seven years and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind, well, they shall be seven years of famine.

[32:26] Famine means hunger, obviously. It also means empty and evil. Very evil, empty, hungry years. This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh. What God is about to do, he shows unto Pharaoh.

[32:38] As we said last time, the authority that he speaks with, kind of like how they were so surprised about Jesus because he spoke with authority and not as the scribes and Pharisees. Pharaoh needed to know the meaning of God's revelation, didn't he?

[32:51] God was giving him revelation but he had no one to interpret it, right? Well, Joseph is our picture of Jesus, our son of favor, the ultimate son of favor. He gave meaning to God's revelation through the words that he spoke, didn't he?

[33:05] Jesus was the word made flesh. He revealed the Father. In John 17, beginning in verse 25, Jesus says, O righteous Father, the world has not known you but I've known you and these, the disciples, have known that you have sent me and I have declared or revealed them.

[33:24] I have revealed unto them your name and will reveal it that the love wherewith you have loved me may be in them and I in them. God doesn't leave us without understanding of his revelation.

[33:36] Jesus, our son of favor, came to reveal the Father. And behold, verse 29, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt.

[33:47] Great plenty means a multitude of satisfaction. I mean, there's more than you could ever imagine. No place shall be untouched by fruitfulness. All the land of Egypt will produce, possibly up to 80% more.

[33:58] And then there shall arise after those seven years, there shall be seven years of famine and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt and the famine shall consume the land and the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine for it shall be very grievous.

[34:17] No place shall escape want. All fruitfulness will be forgotten at that time. There'll be none that will escape want. And then Joseph says, And Pharaoh, for that the dream was doubled unto you is because the thing is established by God, God will shortly bring it to pass, which is a principle with God's nature.

[34:35] Paul repeats the same thing in 2 Corinthians 13, verse 1, where he is talking about coming back to the Corinthians and visiting them again. He says, This is the third time I'm coming to you.

[34:48] In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. And he's quoting Deuteronomy 19, 15. So he's saying, Pharaoh, this is a principle with God. He's establishing this work and he's showing you that by showing it twice.

[35:04] God has no desire to hide his will. 2 Peter 3, 9 says, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

[35:18] God is not looking to hide his will. That's his will. His will for each of us and everybody else out there who would receive that. that he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

[35:30] A change of mind and a change of heart about who they are before God and who God is. Now, therefore, let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise and set him over the land of Egypt.

[35:41] Let him look out a man who's full of perception and understanding. Joseph now goes beyond interpretation, right? And he moves into application, right? I teach, the style I teach is inductive.

[35:55] Observation, interpretation, application. What does the Bible say? What does the Bible mean? What is the Bible saying to me and to others? Observation, interpretation, application. Joseph now moves beyond the interpretation and moves to application because God's revelation never comes without application.

[36:13] We are to be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving our own selves. We're to be like that wise man who built his house upon the rock. Jesus said, I liken him, I liken those who hear my word and do it unto those, the man who built his house on a rock.

[36:27] The one who built on the sand, he likens unto those who hear his word and don't do it. Joseph now moves into application here. He says, let Pharaoh do this.

[36:41] Let him appoint officers over the land and take up the fifth part or 20% of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. Now it was believed that at the time they already tithed 10%.

[36:52] The tax in Egypt was 10%, so he's going to double it. But if you've got an 80% production rate above what's usual and then you're going to take 20% of that, it's believed that by the time Egypt had finished up storing all their grain, they could have had over 100 years worth of food available, which you're going to then see as all the other nations, the whole eastern world is going to go to receive food from Egypt.

[37:19] That's why Jacob heads down there as well. He says, let him take up a fifth part of the land of Egypt in seven plenteous years and let them gather all the food of those good years that come and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh and let them keep food in the cities, the cities of grain.

[37:37] And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt that the land perish not through famine. So Joseph says, Pharaoh, use the time wisely.

[37:48] There's a time to gather. There's a time to gather and that is during seasons of fruitfulness. John 4, 35, Jesus tells us that our time right now is to be gathering during this season of fruitfulness, this age of grace.

[38:01] Say not you, there are yet four months and then comes harvest. Excuse me. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest. We are in a fruitful season.

[38:12] It is a time to gather. It is a time to bring in. There's also a time to store up. In Matthew 6, beginning in verse 19, Jesus would say, store not up, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust do corrupt and where thieves break through and steal.

[38:29] But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust do corrupt and where thieves do not break through or steal. We are in a time of gathering and fruitfulness and it's a time also to lay up.

[38:41] There will be a time where we will get to kick back and enjoy the fruits of those labors. That's not now.

[38:52] That's when we receive that new garment. Joseph was not afraid of a future that looked bleak, that looked scary to him because he knew God had prepared it.

[39:04] He already knew that God had prepared for deliverance and he prepared for him. He was not afraid of a future that he knew God had prepared him for and for him. And we know, Peter tells us, that we have an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, reserved in heaven for us that fades not away.

[39:21] We have an inheritance. We have a future prepared for us. We don't need to fear it. And Joseph's able to give application from a life of faithfulness. He had the gift in the beginning, didn't he? Man, I can, God's given me interpretation of dreams.

[39:33] All right, I got this gift. It took 13 years for him to be prepared to use that gift. He had the gift right away, but it took a lot longer to prepare him to use it.

[39:46] Through Joseph's seasons of suffering, he had learned administration, delegation, and distribution. God had prepared him perfectly for this in Potiphar's house, working at his first at the family ranch under his dad, and then Potiphar's house, and then in the prison, he had learned.

[40:03] He had learned from the highest and the lowest. Proverbs 3, Solomon is writing to his son. He says, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, the discipline of the Lord.

[40:16] It doesn't mean just like, I'm going to give you a whooping, come here. No, it means like, being disciplined, disciplined in mind, disciplined in body, disciplining yourself. Despise not the disciplining of the Lord.

[40:27] When the Lord determines that you need discipline in your life, and he's bringing you to a narrow place where he's training you, don't despise that. Neither be weary of his correction or his arguments. That is like, when the Lord says, No, that's the wrong way, go the right way.

[40:39] No, that thought, that's not of me. I want to retrain you. Don't be weary. For whom the Lord loves, he corrects, or he convinces by reason, even as a father, the son in whom he delights.

[40:52] Joseph, don't despise these times. Man, it was tough. It was hard. Stay faithful, because God has an end in mind. The last verse for today. The last verse in Genesis for today.

[41:05] And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, in the eyes of all his servants. The son of favor was finally seen for who he really was. Right? One of these days, we will see the son of favor face to face, and we will see him for who he really is.

[41:21] 1 John 3, verse 2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, currently, positionally, but it doesn't yet appear what we shall be. I don't know what you're all going to look like when you get to put on those new garments, but it's going to be amazing.

[41:35] But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We shall see the son of favor for who he really is. Hair like, like, white like wool, eyes like fire.

[41:47] Right? It's going to be wonderful. In Revelation, when John sees Jesus like that, the last time he saw Jesus, he was ascending into the clouds. He looked like nice, normal Jesus.

[41:57] And now it's like, whoa, feet like brass, you know, face shining like the sun, and he falls at his feet, he's dead. But Jesus says, hey, do not fear. Right?

[42:08] Do not fear. It's the same Jesus. And we know as well that Joseph, as a type of Jesus also, the foreshadowing of the Messiah, that he has been sent for the deliverance of God's people, Israel.

[42:23] He's been sent for the sons of Israel. And they will see him too. But they will not see him until they say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, just as today. In Matthew 23, Jesus, weeping over Jerusalem, says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stones them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings.

[42:48] And you would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, you shall not see me hence till you say, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.

[42:59] And when Joseph's brothers see him, the next time they see him after they threw him in that pit, down into death, risen now from the dead, they will see him. Right now, it's just the Gentiles seeing him as he really is.

[43:11] It's just the Egyptians saying, you know, in their eyes that he is good. But one day, Israel will see him, the sons of Israel, and they'll say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. In Mark chapter 10, the rich young ruler has just come to Jesus.

[43:29] And he said, good master, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus looks at him and it says, looking on him, loved him. Here's this guy saying, I want to have eternal life.

[43:42] I want to do the right thing. By golly, I'm going to earn it. You tell me what I got to do and I'll do it. I'll keep every law. He said, why do you call me good? There is none good, only one, and that is God.

[43:56] Why do you call me good? And recognize too, that means, what good thing must I do? You can't do any God things. Only God can. There's nothing you can do in your life that's going to equal or elevate you to a place where God will accept you.

[44:08] He has to do the work. What good thing must I do? Will you not recognize Jesus is saying essentially, if you're calling me good and God's only good and what you want to have done in you is a good thing, may only God can do that and I'm God.

[44:23] Well, here Pharaoh and the servants of Pharaoh, they say, man, Joseph, this is good. We see that God is with you. And for you and I, we can come to the Lord and we can say, Lord, do a good thing in me.

[44:39] Do a good thing in this world. I want to be part of the good things you're doing. And sometimes I think Jesus is kind of like, but do you realize I'm good? Do you just want something good from me or do you realize I'm good?

[44:50] Do you realize that I love you? Psalm 34, verse 8, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Just like Pharaoh and his servants, they saw, they saw that he was good.

[45:03] Blessed is the man who trusts in him. Now, I don't know what season each of you are in. Some of you I just met today. Right? I don't know the season.

[45:14] I don't know. But I know that whatever season you're in, God is preparing you, or God has prepared that season for you. He already knows the thoughts and plans that he has for you.

[45:25] As we read, they're not of evil, but they're of peace to give you a future and a hope or an expected end. That's already done. That's already, you can sign that one as finished. The process is just as God fits different pieces around you as he prepares circumstances for what he's already doing in your life.

[45:44] Our part then is what? Faithfulness. Just like Joseph. How do we do that? Psalm 34, verse 8, taste and see the Lord is good. Man, you want God to do a good thing in your life?

[45:55] Understand how good he is. You want a good life in this world? Well, you're not going to find it through the means Pharaoh was looking. You're not going to find it going outside of here and outside the Lord, right?

[46:06] God is good. And Joseph is a beautiful picture to us of how God took a man who was in prison and he washed him and he clothed him and he set him in the king's throne room.

[46:18] Man, one of these days, guys, one of these days when we see him face to face and like I just pictured that we're there and Jesus is going to come and he's going to be, and we're going to go bow before him and throw our crowns and he's going to come and he's going to lift us up.

[46:38] He's going to go, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You sit here. I did this all for you. So, that's a beautiful thing. Oh, Lord, thank you, Lord.

[46:50] Thank you so much, Lord, for that picture of your grace, Lord, of your love. What faithfulness. We love you, Lord, because you first loved us, Lord.

[47:02] Lord, Joseph was a man of faithfulness and faith because he believed in a faithful God. Because you'd never failed him. You never would.

[47:14] Here we are today, Lord, can any one of us look back over our lives and say, God failed me? I would say, that's not true because you're here. But God has faithfully brought each of us to a place where we can understand his revelation.

[47:28] Today, we heard from God's word. God, you interpreted your word to us. You don't want us to be, you don't want your word and your will to be closed to us. We know your truth.

[47:40] We've had God's will, God's love, and God's grace revealed to us. Lord, our part's so small. It's like Joseph. He was on a big stage with big people, and he just spoke very simply what he knew was true.

[47:54] So, Lord, we want to speak that today to each other and to our own hearts. We just want to declare the simple truth that God is good, that we have tasted and seen that God is good, and blessed, and happy, and fruitful is the man who puts his trust in you.

[48:09] Lord, as we worship now with this last song, Lord, minister to our hearts, and Lord, just as you etched upon Pharaoh's heart that dream, Lord, etch upon our hearts the work that you've done here.

[48:23] In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.