Answer of Eternity and Sanctuary that Joseph Enjoyed (Genesis 45:1-8) 2/25/2024
Eternal Answer of the 1st 2nd 3rd RUTC:
Answer of Eternity and Sanctuary that Joseph Enjoyed (Genesis 45:1-8) 2/25/2024
Joseph is a model of someone who was used for the conclusive blessing of world evangelism, which all saved people of God must experience and enjoy.
It is a blessing that was promised the moment we received salvation. It is the conclusion to every covenant. This is the conclusion of the covenant that God came and gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Genesis 12:3, 26:4, 28:14) This is also the conclusion for all the problems and circumstances we face. This is the reason why God must heal and change all our scars, pain, and failures into evidence (last week’s message talked about Jacob as our model). Above all else, this is God’s heart (John 3:16, 1Timothy 2:4), and this is the absolute reason the world still exists (Matthew 24:14).
God has raised us and our church, despite our inadequacies, for world evangelism. He has given us much evidence up until now. Through Joseph, may we hold onto the conclusion for all problems and the conclusion of the blessing that we will enjoy throughout our entire lives. May this week be a time of experiencing the eternal and absolute answer, for which we can prepare ourselves, through the answer of the sanctuary.
- The work that God accomplished to use Joseph as the witness of world evangelism.
Why is this important? We are not the ones who can do world evangelism that will save 237 nations and 5000 people groups. It is something that God allows. God calls us, to use us (“Missio Dei”).
1) God chose Joseph. This is the beginning.
① God prepared the Gospel that will save all lives before creation, and He prepared His people that will be used as witnesses, for that Gospel. (Romans 16:25-26, Mark 3:13-15) The standard for that is according to what pleases God in His will, thus, His sovereignty.
② Why is it us? It is to save others alike, through us who are the weakest and most lacking. It is to therefore boast of only Christ. (1Corinthians 1:26-31) Will God not use those who are strong and complete? The fact is that there is no one complete before the eyes of God.
2) God trained Joseph, who He chose, to raise him as a witness. We must correctly realize the way God trains us. God sent Joseph, whose mother died early and grew up as a daddy’s boy, early into the world. He was able to experience in advance what kind of place the world is and the pain and suffering that people went through. (Hebrew 4:15 “sympathy”, God’s RUTC) The Bible tells us of at least three reasons why God allows suffering in our lives.
① It is God’s test to make us, who are lacking and weak, complete. (James 1:2-4) Through various problems and suffering, God heals our hidden scars. Only then, will we stop being deceived and stolen from ,by Satan. Joseph was always loved by his father. He grew up with a character that was hated by others. Only Joseph wore colored garments, he told on his older brothers, and even his dream shows of him boasting himself. (Genesis 37:1-5)
② God takes this Joseph through times of suffering to make him experience unique God. (Psalm 62:1-2) This is God’s time schedule. (Psalm 105:17-19) The 7 remnants all experienced this. It does not mean we do not need anything else (love, help from others). However, the love and help of others is not complete. We do not know what may happen. If Satan works, things can become fatal. The absolute love, absolute power, and absolute blessing that can surpass all things is only. (Genesis 39:2-5) That is why when problems come, we wait as we hold onto the covenant. (Lamentations: 3:26-30) We wait for God’s kingdom to come.
③ God allows us to enjoy important blessings of meetings within those times of suffering. (1Samuel 22:1-2) Joseph learns how to take care of a big house, when he goes as a slave to the house of the Egyptian general, (finances). He went to the palace and trained how to manage the finance of the nation. He was unjustly sent to prison but meets the people who used to work in the palace, (politics). Joseph received training to be a governor in the future within his suffering there. Are you going through suffering? It is a time of training for you to become a person of God, a person of only, and a person who will save the world.
- There are three things that were established in Joseph’s life through God. These are three blessings that bring no choice but to do world evangelism.
1) It was evidence that was made through suffering and pain. This is also the future that God prepares within suffering, and the key to evangelism.
① Joseph finally becomes governor and meets his brothers who sold him off to slavery. There is no doubt that he must have been hurt and lonely. He revealed himself to his brothers and cried our loud (vs.1-2).
② Joseph then confirms the reason he was sent to Egypt as a slave and ultimately became the governor in the palace. His family came all the way to Egypt which became the region of Palestine, which faced 7 years of famine. Joseph realizes that God sent him ahead to save those lives, and to save all the lives of Egypt (vs.8). Hold onto all problems and pain that you go through as God’s absolute plan and evangelism to save people like yourself and the future.
2) It was the heart and love of God that was placed within his heart, within his problems and suffering. This is another key to being used as an evangelist.
① He was abandoned by his physical family, but he experienced the love of God that never forsook him. The foundation of being able to love and help everyone was made through that time.
② It was the character and lifestyle that was able to share and give what he had. Giving is not conditional. We can be this way when we realize that our salvation, as well as the fact that we can stand here through all our times of pain. It is through the unconditional grace and unlimited love of God. Because we received it unconditionally, we can give unconditionally (Agape Love).
③ His brothers committed evil to Joseph, but he shared with them what God gave him. This is the true blessing of the sanctuary. It is our spiritual state that reflects God’s character (mercy, forgiveness, giving) within us.
3) It is the answer of the future and the eternal blessing that was created through his life. Joseph lived for one generation, but the legacy that he left behind was eternal.
① Through the brothers that he saved and their descendants, the 12 tribes of Israel are formed. (Revelation 7:4-9) Through the 12 tribes came innumerable saved people of God, thus all the nations and peoples that are saved. That gospel has reached us. This is eternal world evangelism.
② Later, they become a great nation and enter Canaan just as it was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In that land of Canaan, Christ, who solved all curses and granted blessings of the heavenly throne came down. That Christ has now told us to spread this Gospel to all nations and make disciples of all nations.
③ The spiritual leaders that came through the descendant of Joseph (Deborah, Gideon, Machir, Amnon, Judges and Joshua). God will raise spiritual summits that save the future through us and our church. This is the absolute reason for our remnant ministry.
Conclusion – All our pain and suffering is God’s absolute conclusion. May it be a time of preparing for the holy sanctuary. That is the greatest and eternal answer for world evangelism (Religious reformation leader Saint Bernard’s On the Love of God)