Genesis 41

So many years ago, God had given a word to Joseph indicating that his brothers would bow before him. As Joseph lived in an Egyptian prison, forgotten by the man who might have remembered him to Pharaoh, rejected and abandoned by his brothers, and mourned by his father, he seemed a most unlikely human being to fulfill that prophetic word. But now, though all hope seemed to be lost, the long-awaited deliverance and exaltation of this favorite son of Jacob was about to begin.

Pharaoh had two very troubling dreams, dreams of life and death, dreams where the darkness of death more than swallowed up the fruitful bounty of life. In the morning, Pharaoh was troubled in his heart over these dreams, and there was no man who could be found to give Pharaoh a true interpretation.

It was then that the strange providence of God so perplexing to our minds fell perfectly into place. If Joseph's brothers had not sold him into slavery, he never would have been in Egypt now. If Potiphar's wife had not lied about Joseph, he never would have met the cupbearer of Pharaoh and interpreted his dream. If the cupbearer had not ignored Joseph's plea and forgotten him for two years, then Joseph might have been long gone, back in Canaan, when this all-important moment arrived. God held Joseph in just the right place of humiliation until the night that Pharaoh had two unsettling dreams and needed an interpreter. It was then that the cupbearer remembered Joseph.

From that moment of remembrance onward, nothing would ever be the same. Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph, and this Hebrew slave and presumed criminal was brought up out of the pit of prison.

It was at that critical juncture when Joseph could have so easily glorified himself in his sudden appearance before one of the most powerful men in the world. He instead testified to the greatness of God. He said, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

The first insight that the Lord gave to Joseph is that the two dreams of Pharaoh had one interpretation. They were both describing the same events that would soon take place. These dreams were about the next fourteen years, seven of which would be very fruitful, and then another seven that would be years of drought and famine. The doubling of the dream was like a divine oath. These events would surely take place.

Joseph not only understood what the dreams were all about; he also knew what should be done to prepare for the famine that would eventually come to the entire region. Saving for seven years was the most practical solution to the problem of the years of trouble that would soon be upon them. The solution that Joseph proposed involved the selection of an able administrator who would save thousands of lives in that nation and many others who would hear that there was grain for sale in Egypt. A discerning and wise man needed to be set over the land of Egypt during this time of future crisis and present opportunity.

Pharaoh was pleased with the idea, and recognized Joseph as the best man for the job. “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” What a change had taken place in just a few short hours. This forgotten young man had been lifted up to the heights of power in the Egyptian Empire in a matter of hours. When we think that our lives are over, we make a conjecture about matters that are clearly beyond us. God is able to take a man from the ash heap and to make him sit with princes. He does not need a lot of time to accomplish such an amazing project.

Imagine what it would have been like for him to hear these words: “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” God also provided him with a wife and two children that would be a part of the twelve tribes of Israel. His brothers would still have to be brought by God to Egypt in order to see the one that had risen to such a lofty height, but it was already possible that their arrival would mean the fulfillment of Joseph's great dream so long ago. His brothers would bow before him.

For now he would begin to implement the plan that would save so many lives that he had spoken of in the hearing of Pharaoh. Seven years of saving and and seven following years of controlled spending – this would be the way that so many people would escape starvation.

If we accept this story as one of the great turn-around moments in the Bible, we need to see it as a preparation for a far greater event in the life of Jesus, and through Him, in our lives as well. Jesus was lying as a dead man in a borrowed tomb. Then He was risen from the grave. One day, in the twinkling of an eye, the dead will be raised imperishable, and those who are alive at the coming of the Lord will put on immortality without having to go through the ugly gate of death.

The exaltation of Joseph is only a hint. Even the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a very small beginning for a kingdom movement that would take over the world. It is the full coming of the new resurrection world that will surely take our breath away. Be strong and of good courage. A man has been found who knows the story of the new heavens and the new earth. This Jesus has begun, in His own resurrection, a movement that will never end. He knows the full meaning of the current moment, and when we least expect it, he will gather us with the power of a world of resurrection glory.

Joseph's brothers soon would bow before him. We have a greater King, before whom we eagerly bow down. He has risen from the dead.