THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #12
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3693
THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #12
THE PROPHECY TO ABRAHAM, JACOB, AND JOSEPH THAT THEIR DESCENDANTS WILL BE SLAVES IN EGYPT.
1. In Gen.15:13 -16 God told Abraham "Know for certain that your offsprings will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward, they shall come out with great possessions."
2. Jacob was surely aware of this prophecy in the distant future given to his grandfather Abraham. In fact, God told him: " Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes." ( Gen.46:2-4 )
Jacob's move to Egypt is as historically momentous as Abraham's departure from Ur of the Chaldeans into the Promised Land.
Thus he need not fear to take Joseph's advice and move to Egypt, for there the mission of making Israel a great nation would be realised despite the future sufferings of his descendants who will be enslaved in Egypt.
3. God never spoke directly to Joseph. But he must have heard in his childhood the details of God's covenant with Abraham as central to the family's great calling.
This lesson never left Joseph, and God's presence was with him in Egypt even in prison.
To his credit he never completely assimilated into Egyptian culture nor embraced their gods although he looked and spoke like an Egyptian, was Egypt's chief minister, and had an Egyptian wife from the highest priestly order. His two sons Ephraim and Manasseh were even blessed by Jacob and were accepted as two tribes of Israel.
What is the spiritual lesson to us other than we must be obedient to God's call upon our lives?
For me, it is whether we and our children are as committed to further God's kingdom as Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph was?
The warnings in the New Testament of the dangers of falling in love with the world were not made lightly.
What we see now is an increasing trend among the young to go for the things of the world.
The foundations of life must be laid for the children of believers on the Word of God so that even as they go forth to make their own decisions in life, they will always have the Word to back them up or fall back on.
Parents if you can't say amen say "ouch" and do something about it when there is still time!
