Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. – Luke 24:27
It’s time to renew our quest for discovering Jesus in all of Scripture. Today we’re excavating the life of Joseph. This dig site is almost too easy. It is impossible to read about the life of Joseph and not see Jesus. Still, there’s much for us to learn from this archaeological site. So let’s dig in!
A lesser known fact is that the book of Genesis has twice as much text about Joseph as Abraham. This isn’t because Joseph is greater than Abraham but that Joseph’s life is a living prophecy of Jesus as the Messiah. Here are just a few of the similarities [a]:
Joseph Points To Jesus
- Now Joseph was Israel’s favorite child (Gen. 37:3).
- This is my beloved Son (Jesus), in whom I am well pleased (Matt. 3:17).
- When the brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more, they hated him (Gen 37:4).
- The chief priests had delivered him for envy (Mark 15:10).
- Israel said to Joseph, go and see if your brothers are okay (Gen. 37:14).
- I will send my beloved son… (Luke 20:13).
- The brothers planned to kill Joseph (Gen. 37:18).
- But they cried, saying, Crucify him! Crucify him! (Luke 23:21).
- The brothers stripped Joseph of his coat of many colors (Gen 37:23).
- And they stripped him (Jesus) (Matt. 27:28).
- The brothers took Joseph and threw him into a pit (Gen. 37:24).
- The Son of man (Jesus) was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt. 12:40).
- The brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit (Gen. 37:28)
- And He (Jesus) rose again on the third day according to the scriptures (1 Cor. 15:4).
- Joseph was tempted by Potiphar’s wife (Gen. 39:7-12).
- Jesus was in all points tempted, as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15).
- And they cried before him (Joseph), Bow the knee!”(Gen. 41:43).
- That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow (Phil. 2:10).
- And all the countries came to Joseph to buy grain (Gen. 41:57)
- Jesus said to them I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger,and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35).
a] Thanks to Jews of Jesus for their article, “The Gospel of Jesus in the Story of Joseph” for providing the comparative verses between Joseph and Jesus.
Another Prince
In closing, I’d like to quote a small passage Sally Lloyd-Jones wrote in her book, “The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name.” March 1, 2007, Jago (Illustrator)
One day God would send another Prince, a young Prince whose heart would break. Like Joseph, he would leave his home and his Father. His brothers would hate him and want him dead. He would be sold for pieces of silver. He would be punished even though he had done nothing wrong.
But God would use everything that happened to this young Prince – even the bad things – to do something good: to forgive the sins of the whole world.
Closing
So far our biggest challenge is to limit how much of Jesus we should excavate from the Old Testament books. Please join me tomorrow for a watershed moment in world history. We’re going to tackle Jesus in the life of Moses!
Photo by Spencer Davis on Unsplash
You may like:
https://www.rockexcavationservice.org/eye-salve/