Pharaoh's Dreams

Morning, Church.

Thank you.

Genesis forty-one, verses one and eight through thirty-six.

After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile.

So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men.

Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, I remember my offences today.

When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation.

A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard.

When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream.

And as he interpreted to us, so it came about.

I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit, and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.

I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.

Joseph answered Pharaoh, It is not in me.

God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Behold, in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile.

Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass.

Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt.

And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, but when they had eaten them, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning.

Then I awoke.

I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good.

Seven ears, weathered thin and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, and the thin ears swallow swallowed up the seven good ears.

And I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.

Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dreams of Pharaoh are one.

God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years, the dreams are one.

The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine.

It is as I told Pharaoh, God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt.

The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe.

And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.

Now therefore, Pharaoh, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt.

Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land, and take one fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years.

And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.

That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.

This is the word of the Lord.

You may be seated.

Thanks for joining us this morning.

My name is James Rathman.

I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver.

That was a long reading, wasn't it?

Great standing.

Brandon, great reading.

It makes it easy to follow when you track so well with the text.

So I appreciate that.

This is a long story, and it's another story about dreams.

So I've got a uh I used up all my uh dream interpretation preaching last week uh for the Baker and the Cupbearer's dreams.

So uh we you might get a bit of a revisit to uh dream interpretation uh preaching this week.

So I I hope you really enjoyed that.

Uh, because we'll do it again here shortly.

So let's pray and then we'll move into today's text where Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dreams.

Father, we we do praise you for the tenderness with which you've sought us, uh, the grace with which you've called us back to your fold.

Lord, as we come in here uh from all sorts of weeks and um uh fears and sins, that those things which so easily entangle, Lord, to pray that we would sit and hear your word, having confessed our sins, recognized our forgiveness that you've given to us, and have our hearts enlightened to be able to see the world as you've shown it to us in your word.

That you might make us wise to interpret, just as you've made Joseph wise to interpret.

And Lord, that we might have courage, like Joseph, to bring order to a world so that thousands might be saved.

Lord, this is your desire.

You accomplish this perfectly in Christ.

It is the grace that you that you sought us that we experience in the death of Christ.

Lord, you are King, you are the true Pharaoh, you are the one who orders the world.

We pray that our hearts would receive that.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, so last week Joseph interpreted the dreams of two of his fellow prisoners.

Joseph is in tur is in prison in our story at this point, and uh the cupbearer to the king and the baker to the king are uh put into prison because of some offenses that they committed against Pharaoh.

So they both have dreams one night and they're downcast, and Joseph notices that they're downcast and he says, Why are you guys sad?

And they said, Because nobody can, we had these dreams and nobody can interpret them, a relatable feeling.

And it's not relatable, is why I say that.

Because I've never really thought, like, oh, nobody can interpret my dreams.

It's a very Egyptian thing, a very ancient person thing to consider that there's meaning in our dreams.

So Joseph is able to offer an interpretation to them, and the interpretation that he offers is that the cupbearer will be restored to his position as chief cupbearer to the Pharaoh, and that the baker will be executed for his crimes.

And these things come true.

Now Joseph asked the cupbearer, Remember me when you are restored to your position, because I was wrongfully kidnapped and sold into slavery, and I was wrongfully accused, so that I shouldn't even be in this prison.

And so the cupbearer is restored, and the cupbearer does not remember Joseph.

So for two years, Joseph is back in the prison.

He had been given this glimmer of hope, and yet it does not come to pass.

Not for two whole years.

Now, in our story, we begin with Joseph being forgotten for today's story, and we also see that a famine is coming onto the land.

As we're reading the whole story of Joseph, and we see these terrible things that take place in his life, we're being taught by the story of Joseph how to interpret our lives.

Because being kidnapped by your family and sold into slavery, that do that goes in the bad category.

Right?

That would be a bad thing.

Um I don't think you need to be like some ethicist, you need to be Peter Singer to know that that would be bad.

To be wrongly accused and then thrown into prison, that's bad, right?

Bad category.

To be have be given a glimmer of hope that you might escape from this situation of being in prison and then to be forgotten for two years, that's bad, right?

And yet, behind all of this is the sovereign plan and work of God in all of these bad things.

Now, I want to, in my mind, I want to be able to collapse those two things, the the faithfulness of God and the promises of God, and then the real products of sin that we experience and even participate in over the course of our lives.

And I wanna I want to make like a clean sentence.

I want to collapse it into one thing and say, look, because God was really in control of these things, it wasn't bad that Joseph was sold betrayed by his family and sold into slavery.

And it isn't bad that Joseph is forgotten because God was really in control of these things.

And so if you understand it rightly, then you would say, oh, those things, they only appeared bad.

But that's just an illusion.

There is no real bad in the world.

But the Bible doesn't talk about it like that.

The Bible shows us this thing that I think cannot be described in a sentence or just a syllogism.

You know, uh a syllogism is premise, premise, conclusion.

Let's try it.

God is really good and his promises are true.

Bad things are real, therefore, I don't know.

What do you deduce from those two premises?

You can't make a therefore to one conclusion there.

Some of the most brilliant philosophers have made themselves look like fools trying to do that.

This is the type of truth that we can only understand narratively.

And that's why this is the very way that the Bible teaches us this truth.

Have you noticed that God created the world and the world fell into sin in uh three chapters?

Well, it didn't take very long.

In this same book, uh, created the whole world.

Really, that was it was just like one chapter and then a bonus chapter of like a um inside the episode of creating the world.

That's Genesis chapter 2.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

Joseph's story is extremely long.

You know, this is it just we just read like a very small part of it today.

And it was, do you know how long you were standing?

We should have asked you to stretch before a reading of the word like that.

Now, why is it so long and narrative-y?

It's because you can't say this type of thing in a sentence.

You have to be shown how to live in a sinful, corrupted world that is not yet redeemed, but yet is being guided absolutely and authoritatively by the promises of God.

And Joseph shows us in the pattern of his life how to live like that.

That's why Joseph's story, you'll notice, is not a lot of conclusion, it's a lot of middle.

Because I don't know if you've noticed about your life, but it's mostly middle.

It just takes some time.

A little bit of a little little girl, you're uh anyone in the middle of the ride?

Everything, everything with Jimmy World?

Just me?

That's fine.

Huh?

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, yeah.

Deeper than I thought.

Um, but yeah, uh a reference that might not land has never stopped me before.

So in the middle, that's where Joseph's story takes place.

We have to learn how to live in a world where bad things really happen, but those do not undermine the promises of God.

But we live in faith in the promises of God, and that is where we participate in God's working.

It is not as though these things aren't really bad, that's just an illusion.

No, they are.

But God, they they are not so strong to unwind the goodness that God is doing.

So let's learn from Joseph how these things are held together, how to become people of true faith in a world of true corruption, not just an illusion of corruption.

All right, Joseph finally gets remembered.

Genesis 40, verse 1, and then verse 8.

Genesis 40:1

I skipped verses 2 through 7 because it's Joseph describing his excuse me, Pharaoh describing the dreams that he has, but Pharaoh will do that very same description later.

So you're welcome.

Genesis 1, uh 40, it's actually 41, sorry.

I mistyped that.

41, 1, and 8.

After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile.

Here's the dreams, verse 8.

So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men.

Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

So, just as with the cupbearer and the baker, he has a series of dreams, and he's unable to interpret those dreams.

But it's worth noting that Pharaoh is in some ways in a worse position with his dreams than the cupbearer and the baker were.

Because the cupbearer and the baker might have thought something like this there's nobody here to interpret our dreams.

And why is that?

Because we're in prison, and we don't have the wise men of Egypt, and we don't have access to the magicians who are able to offer interpretations for these sorts of things.

And so, in that sense, it's a frustrating situation, but it's not the type of situation which throws their whole world into question.

Pharaoh has dreams, and he calls all the wise men of Egypt and all the magicians of Egypt, and they could not put Pharaoh's dreams back together again.

There was a breakdown at a fundamental level of all of the wisdom which he had structured his life by.

And so his situation here is in many ways, it's like a maximal example of what took place for the baker and the cupbearer.

The baker and the cupbearer could think to themselves, there's someone somewhere in my way of thinking who is able to interpret this.

They're just not here.

The Pharaoh had no such option.

He was being confronted with this reality that there was something here which his whole view of the world, all of the best uh understanding that he had at his disposal, could not account for.

Now that's a that's a break in understanding.

That's a uh uh he it that's that's prime for conversion right there.

Because his old way of seeing things was insufficient.

So all of the wisdom of God, uh or all of the wisdom of Egypt is gathered together to try and answer Pharaoh's dreams, and it's insufficient for the task.

And then in a way that is so like God, where does the wisdom reside for Pharaoh?

It resides in a Hebrew slave turned prisoner who is forgotten in one of Pharaoh's own prisons.

The where is it hidden?

It is hidden in the absolute depths, which will become the heights we'll see in Joseph's story.

That there's this incredible reversal that takes place.

The last place that Pharaoh would ever think to look, the foolish things are used by the Lord to shame the wise.

And that takes place in Joseph's story.

So uh after hearing the dream, the cupbearer remembers this Hebrew slave and prisoner that he was with that he was with.

This is two years later, Genesis 41, 9.

And the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, I remember my offenses today.

Then he goes on to explain the story.

I was there with the baker, you may remember, uh, after we had offended you, and uh there was a Hebrew slave there who interpreted our dreams to us.

And just as he said, the baker was executed, and I was restored to my high position.

Now, this should throw light back on what Joseph did in those interpretations.

How important was it that Joseph give the interpretation that was from God to the cupbearer and the baker, and not give an interpretation which was in some way self-serving?

Because if I'm Joseph and I've got two two folks that are high-ranking officials that come down to my prison and I'm in their I get this glimmer of opportunity that Joseph obviously spotted to appeal to them to be freed, then I wouldn't interpret one of them as going to be killed.

I'd hedge, I'd hedge.

I'd say, okay, I look, if either of you remember me, uh when you're restored, then then just appeal to me because I shouldn't actually be here.

And look how nice I've I've been to you uh since we've been in this prison.

You know, I've taken care of all the all the things, the Egyptian prison things.

So uh that would have completely undermined Joseph's trustworthiness.

Instead, he made an interpretation that was from the Lord, one good, one hard, both from the Lord, and his faithfulness and trustworthiness now speak towards the accuracy of Joseph's interpretation.

His credibility is real now.

Oh man, the Christians.

Let's drop the tactics.

No more tactics.

Let's speak the truth of God.

Let's seek to just plainly say what the truth of God is.

Because look, if Joseph had done otherwise, he would have unbeknownst to him, been shooting himself in the foot.

He would have been cutting off his own credibility.

And afterwards, two years go by, and he's probably sitting there thinking, like, I should have told the baker he was a blabbermouth, and even if he had 10 seconds before he got executed, he could have advocated for me in a little bit, in a little way.

And that cupbearer, I didn't like the look of him anyway, and I didn't know why he would be restored.

You know, two years of walking around, strategizing, thinking like that.

I don't know if he did that, but if I were Joseph, it would have been two years of second-guessing my faithfulness to the Lord.

And yet, what did it accomplish?

This Hebrew who's in the depths is worth bringing up to the heights of Pharaoh because he was faithful in relaying what God had said.

Joseph could not have mapped that out on his own.

He could not have planned that.

Uh, it is something that took place in just his simple trust in the Lord.

So they call Joseph to him.

Genesis 41, 14 through 15.

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit.

And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.

I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.

Okay, Joseph is now before Pharaoh.

This is pretty this is quite a turn of events.

Remembered at precisely the right time.

We've got to see God's working through this whole story.

I might have said this already, but it's worth saying again at this point, now that Joseph is brought before Pharaoh, imagine if the cupbearer had remembered him right after he was restored to his position as cupbearer to Pharaoh.

He would have had something like this to say there was a man who interpreted my dreams well.

He says, he seems like a truthful and honorable man.

It seems like he shouldn't be in this prison.

And then what would happen to Joseph?

He probably would just have been let out of prison and then left in Egypt to cobble some sort of life together there.

You know, what I don't know, what canopic jar maker, scarab collector, read and rush analyzer, just saying Egyptian things.

And I've run out.

But now Joseph is brought before Pharaoh, and Pharaoh.

Is in need of Joseph.

It is the perfect timing.

It's the perfect occasion for what God's intentions were.

So, Joseph, all those two years, why has he forgotten me?

Why has he forgotten me?

Did I not do good to the cupbearer?

Was I not truthful?

Did I not honor you, Lord?

And yet, what is happening there?

God's intentions for Joseph were well beyond just getting out of the prison.

God's intentions for Joseph was that many would be saved.

Was that thousands would eat over the course of a famine.

This is God's intentions for Joseph.

Far beyond anything that Joseph could have seen.

Now, Pharaoh says to him, I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.

This is right in line with Pharaoh's view of how the world works.

Because Pharaoh views dream interpretation as a skill.

And this resides in particular people who have studied it.

So it resides in the wise men or it resides in the magicians who are of his counsel.

And uh so he thinks Joseph is like these other guys, and he just happens to be perhaps more skilled or more attuned to this particular flavor of dream.

If Joseph answers, yes, yeah, I'm like one of those, it allows Pharaoh's view of truth and understanding and of how the world holds together to hold together.

That can be maintained.

It is the wise men and the magicians of Egypt who are able to explain the truths of reality.

I just didn't have the right one of that type of thing.

But Joseph allows for no such maintenance of the Pharaoh's view of the world.

He says right away in verse 16, Joseph answered Pharaoh, it is not in me.

It's one word in Hebrew.

And he deconstructs all of what Pharaoh thinks about where truth is, about how the world can be interpreted and understood.

In one word, he says, it is not in me.

Which means that it's not in the people who you think it's in, it's not in them either.

Truth, true interpretation is not that type of a thing.

And so, in one word, it it to our Christian ears, it sounds just humble and sweet.

It is risky and dangerous for Joseph to say this thing to Pharaoh.

Because by saying it is not in me, he is saying none of what you think truth is is real.

And if you would like some of it, just as I would like some of it, it comes from God, not your God, none of your God's.

It comes from my God, the God of the Hebrews, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

This is what Joseph is saying here to Pharaoh, to Pharaoh's face.

What an opener.

It's unthinkably courageous.

And you know, Daniel does the same thing, and he it's almost the same exact situation with Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel.

Um the king goes to all the king's horses and all the king's men, and they cannot put the dreams back together again.

And Daniel is the one who is able to offer an interpretation.

And Nebuchadnezzar says the same sort of thing.

You're wise so that you can interpret this, just like my other wise men.

And then Daniel says this in chapter 2, verses 27 through 28.

Daniel answered the king and said, No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked.

But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.

Daniel might have uh been familiar with Joseph's story, and he said, What you can do in one word, I can do in 30.

There's uh the it's the same principle that he is describing.

All of the wisdom is insufficient to the task of arriving at real truth.

There's one source of real truth, and if you would like it, then you must hear it from God.

And there's no other explanation.

Leslie Newbegin, at the end of his book, Foolishness to the Greeks, he's talking about how to have a missionary encounter with Western culture.

And he offers these six pieces of advice to Christians today for how to have a missionary encounter with Western culture.

And uh the sixth one is this.

He says, we need to have the courage to hold and to proclaim a belief which cannot be proved to be true in terms of the axioms of our society.

Does that make sense, or should I read it again?

Or is that just word salad?

Let's go one more time.

Courage to hold, hold this belief, and to proclaim, we'll say it out loud, a belief which cannot be proved to be true in terms of the axioms of our society, which means that when we say it, it will just sound absurd.

And the foundation of our argument is the same as the foundation of Joseph's argument and the foundation of Daniel's argument, which is thus says the Lord.

Christians, the foundation of your argument is something so simple, so pithy, so easily written off, so apparently foolish that it sounds it, you know what?

The best argument you can possibly make for the moral convictions of Christianity, for the truth of Christianity, I'm going to share it with you, and you're going to be disappointed.

For the Bible tells me so.

This is the strongest argument you can make.

Now, prove that according to the axioms of our culture.

Prove that to a naturalist scientific worldview.

You can't.

It will look absurd, and yet it is the absolute foundation of truth.

It is the way that we know.

It is the way that we know what goodness is, what truth is, what beauty is.

These are shown to us in the scriptures, and the foundation of our argument is for the Bible tells me so.

It is the same.

Joseph and Daniel were courageous enough to say that to the standard bearers for cultural understanding in the societies that they lived in, to the highest of the highs, Pharaoh and the king of Babylon.

They said, Jesus says this is true.

The Bible conveys that this is true, therefore it is true.

To our culture, that sounds utterly unreasonable, but it is the source of our reason.

Just before the sermon, uh we were sitting in here and the band was uh playing.

And uh Andre, I'm just gonna throw you under the bus because you're here.

He said, listen to this headline.

And the headline is religion ha this is from the New York Times opinion section uh today.

Religion has friends among judges in high places.

And what you're supposed to think when you read that is, ooh, you know, that's the that's what that's supposed to convey.

So here's a a section of this uh opinion piece.

It says, the basis for the belief that a fetus in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, the time limit the FDA has set for medicate for medication abortion, is the moral equivalent.

Okay, well, sorry, I'm reading this wrongly.

The basis for the belief that a fetus in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy is the moral equivalent of a baby is theological.

That that's words derogatory in this.

Do you hear it?

Saying that uh a fetus that's 10 weeks old is the moral equivalent to a baby, that's a theological claim.

Now, what is a real claim in our culture's vision that would make sense in the axioms of our culture?

Saying that a fetus is the moral equivalent of a child is a scientific fact.

That's the highest epistemic value we can pay in our culture, to say that something is a scientific fact.

To say that it's theological is to say it is absurd.

Now, what's interesting is that to say that a 10-week-old fetus is not the moral equivalent of a child is also a theological statement.

But worse, it's not a scientific fact.

So all that to say, um the goal isn't to we're all playing theology, so we're at least tied.

We're at least tied.

Okay, next, I'll keep going.

Uh Judge uh Kaxmuric, I don't think I did, uh I think it's Khrushchevsky or something like that.

Judge K and the Fifth Circuit judges who subsequently trimmed back somewhat on his absolutist order, are certainly entitled to their beliefs.

Thank you, the generosity.

What their lifetime commissions, as federal judges, do not entitle them to is to project those beliefs onto the rest of us.

Now here's the assumption of our culture.

There are those that have beliefs, and then there are those that do not have beliefs.

The ones that have beliefs are the ones who need to keep that to yourself.

And then the ones that don't have beliefs are the ones that occupy those things which are plain and obvious to everyone.

Now, look at the situation that we have for Pharaoh.

What is plain and obvious to Pharaoh before he is unable to interpret his dreams?

The wise men, the magicians, these are the ones that hold truth and wisdom in the world.

And then suddenly it's unable to account for all kinds of things.

Look at what our scientific worldview is unable to account for.

It's unable to account for the moral legitimacy of human life.

It lacks such categories.

So if you were to ask something like that of our moral worldview, we could gather together all the king's experts and all the king's men, and they would not be able to convey any sort of uh description of the moral legitimacy of human of human life, be it in utero or out.

And so we need to go somewhere else for that type of thing.

We need to go into a theological realm.

It is a realm which does not make sense according to the axioms of our culture, but we can courageously hold it and even proclaim it because we see its legitimacy most plainly conveyed in creation and in the scriptures.

It is not as though there are people who have beliefs and those who don't.

We all have beliefs.

Uh we ought to be aware that we do and not pretend that some of ours are just obvious and neutral.

There's no such thing.

There's no such thing as an obvious and neutral belief as some theological beliefs and others non-theological beliefs.

Uh a claim of atheism is a theological claim.

Back to Joseph and Pharaoh.

I hope we understand the stakes of Joseph and Pharaoh's conversation now.

These are the stakes.

Joseph looking absurd.

So Joseph said to Pharaoh, uh, Joseph says this to Pharaoh, the dreams of Pharaoh are one.

God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

Great.

You might have wondered why Joseph said earlier that he will give Pharaoh a favorable interpretation.

Because could Joseph guarantee that?

He couldn't guarantee that to the baker, whose interpretation meant he would be executed.

But I think what Joseph means here is he will tell the truth of God.

The favor is that this will be a true revelation of what Pharaoh's dream really means.

And that is precisely what God gives to Pharaoh through Joseph.

Here's the interpretation in 28 through 30.

It is as I told Pharaoh, God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do.

There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt.

Now, you remember the dreams?

Pharaoh dreams of seven healthy cows, and then seven thin cows that eat the seven healthy cows, but still look thin.

Oh, cows eating cows, that's scary.

Pharaoh doesn't say how the thin ears of grain looked after they ate them, but we can assume they looked about as well as the thin cows.

So Joseph interprets seven years of great plenty are coming to Egypt.

And that will be followed by seven years of famine that are coming to Egypt.

The Lord is showing you what he is about to do.

And Joseph even says, because you've dreamed the same pattern twice, this is fixed by the Lord.

Now, many men throughout scripture are prophets are given visions of what the Lord will do to a place.

And sometimes these are like this: it is a simple warning.

This is coming, prepare, do something about it.

Other times it is a call to repentance.

If you don't repent, famine is coming.

You will be driven out of your land.

This one seems more like, you know, these sometimes there's famines.

But look, let's be clear.

Return to our first theme.

Famines are bad.

There's no good word for famine, I don't think, in any culture.

A word that has a positive connotation of famine.

I was thinking um perhaps nationwide diet.

Or like, I don't know.

Yeah, something like that.

Um that seems to have a bit more of a positive connotation, but I've never heard that anywhere.

Uh famine is bad.

But what do we see?

What is the call of a warning like God from this?

Or warning by God from this to a people.

Saying it, you you must, it is still it is always a call to respond.

It is a call to be prepared for what is coming or to repent so that you might be able to be prepared for what is coming and head off what is coming.

And what is a famine?

You know, remember, we're in Genesis, so let's interpret this genesically, which is just an island just off of Italy.

It's uh there's a uh what is the what is the earth meant to do?

What is the garden meant to do?

Eat of everything in here.

You know, the the world when it's operating according to God's good intentions, supports the flourishing of life.

That is the world rightly ordered.

That is the intention of creation.

And man is meant to be a steward over the land so that it is more and more drawing out the goodness that God has put into creation so that it more and more serves its purpose, which is to support the flourishing of life.

So, what is the response of the Christian when a famine is coming?

Well, it is the same as our response to all disordered creation.

We seek to bring it back into the position which God intended for it.

The land of Egypt is meant to support the people of Egypt.

This is God's good designs.

So Joseph sees this, and as the man of God that he is, he seeks to bring the world back into the intentions which God has for it at the beginning, which is the supporting of and flourishing of life.

And so Joseph, after after saying the interpretation of the dream, he offers a plan, which is a little cheeky.

Am I using that right?

Liz?

Okay, good.

Yeah.

We always have a British person up front to uh He offers this plan.

Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt.

Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years.

Joseph had been an overseer in Potiphar's house.

He understood how a house should be organized, how plans should be made, and so he offers this as the solution, and Pharaoh receives it with incredible joy, and it is so blessed by the wisdom of Joseph, and thousands and thousands of people will be saved by this insight of Joseph.

I want us to see what is it that he's doing on the edge of this famine.

He's participating in the redemptive work of God to bring back into alignment God's creative intentions for the world.

What does he see as good?

He sees as good God's designs.

He knows this will be good for all of Egypt if it is brought if it is brought back into pattern with God's designs.

In fact, thousands and tens of thousands from all over the world will come to Egypt and their lives will be saved because of Joseph seeking to return the land by the wisdom of God to the order which God intended before it was corrupted by sin.

This is the way that we live in the world.

This is our our hope for participation in the world as Christians.

We see what does God call good here?

It will be better for all of us if we bring this back into alignment.

Famine feels theoretical in our culture.

Uh we don't experience in 2020 there was a toilet paper famine.

And that's about as close as we've gotten.

But famine is in the air, isn't it?

I talked to a friend here this morning, and their company is laying off another 10,000 people.

Um I forget who said it, but w we shouldn't we shouldn't say 10,000 people.

We should say it is laying off another individual, and that is happening 10,000 times.

Stalin.

Stalin?

Is it about Stalin?

It's about death.

And Stalin said that?

Wow, that's pretty much the same thing.

Oh yeah, yeah, the statistics about Stalin.

Stalin is with this wonderful man who's um Stalin.

You can yeah, sorry.

I better get going.

The uh Matt and I will be here all week.

We've got a uh dueling pianos show.

Famine is is in the air uh in our culture.

And and I know that for many of you this just isn't theoretical.

You're you're you're going through weeks at your work.

Will I have a job?

Will I have a job?

What's uh um coming around the corner?

And uh how do you live in a state like that?

Well, we can Ask why did God bring this famine?

This famine was brought so that the glory of God could be demonstrated as Joseph, just this one man, faithfully trusted in the wisdom and promises of God and courageously held to the truth of God in the face of the highest possible, most powerful opposition.

Now, this is absolutely and ultimately demonstrated, of course, in Christ, who does not just stand up to the opposition, but takes upon himself the terror of the opposition to the kingdom of God.

And by that he establishes the kingdom of God, which it is our job to proclaim and enjoy and joyfully participate in.

So in the story of Joseph, let our hearts be encouraged.

As a famine is in the air, let us not be fearful, but trust in the providence of God.

Hold to his word courageously, even in a culture where it may not make any sense.

We see the sense in the scriptures.

And we'll trust that God will work this together as He has for the church for the salvation of countless people.

That's our hope.

All right.

Are there any questions today?

Zanna?

No questions.

Great.

Now, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he said, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you, do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

We are proclaiming that Jesus is Lord.

Now look at what even one being brought just to the right hand of Pharaoh.

Look at the order that he brings and the thousands that are saved.

We'll see this clearly next week when we look at the story of Joseph laying out, gathering up in storehouses until he can't even count, and the whole world coming to Egypt, and the generosity that they're able to show to the world.

Consider what our hope is that Christ is our Lord.

The order that he brings, the hope that we have in him, to bring a restoration that is far beyond anything that even Joseph got to see.

Here, this meal is the opposite of a famine.

It is the feast that we look forward to in him.

So we come to get a little slice of that feast that is coming because he died because we are disordered.

And he died that our hearts might not experience the punishment for that disorder, but might be restored to him.

Let's proclaim that today as we come and feast the opposite of a famine with our Lord.

Holy Father, pray that you would attune our hearts to the grace that you have given us.

Show us the feast that you have prepared in the heavens, that we look forward to.

As we live in the middle of our lives, give us wisdom to hold courageously to the promises of your word while mourning the losses that are real.

Lord, you show us your absolute participation in both, in your death on our behalf, in the resurrection that you invite us to.

Let us remember you are ascended at the right hand of the Father now, and that you are the true King, and your order will be brought.

We lift this up in Jesus' name.

Amen.