Joseph - for God was with him

Our readings bring us to the remarkable life of Joseph, a man whose story is one of the clearest foreshadowings of Christ. Like Jesus, Joseph is rejected, betrayed, and humbled before being exalted. Yet the record keeps returning to one steady truth: even in the darkest moments, God was with him.

The exhortation highlights why God gives types throughout Scripture. They were vital for Jesus himself, because the Old Testament painted an intricate picture of the path God had appointed for him. But they are also vital for us, because types are not simply information. They are meant to transform us. We are meant to see the spirit of Christ in faithful lives, and then shape our own lives accordingly.

This approach is modelled in Stephen’s speech in Acts 7. Stephen divides Joseph’s life into two halves, first the suffering, then the revealing and glory that follows. It echoes the apostolic pattern described in 1 Peter, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow. And Stephen’s conclusion becomes a warning: will we respond like Joseph, or like the brothers who resisted God’s message?

Joseph’s early life in Genesis 37 is presented as gospel preaching in seed form. His dreams were not random, but prophetic. Psalm 105 explains that God “sent” Joseph ahead, and that “the word of Yahweh tested him” until what God had spoken came to pass. Again and again the narrative repeats the same reassurance: Yahweh was with Joseph, in Potiphar’s house, in prison, and in every setback that looked like abandonment.

A striking theme is the doubling of dreams. Joseph has two dreams, then the butler and baker have two dreams, then Pharaoh’s dreams are doubled. Genesis 41 spells out the point: the doubling means the matter is established by God and will surely come to pass. Prophecy is meant to anchor faith, especially through delays, trials, and long waiting.

The dreams also expand in scope. What begins as an individual message becomes national, then international. Joseph is elevated to provide bread to a starving world, and the record even links his exaltation with salvation spreading beyond Israel, pointing forward to God’s wider purpose with Jew and Gentile.

Finally, Joseph’s exaltation is shown as a rich pattern of Christ’s own glorification. Wisdom, authority, rulership over the house, bowing the knee, and a Gentile bride, all echo the New Testament picture of Jesus raised to God’s right hand and gathering a people to himself.

The call is simple and searching. Types are there to change us. Like Joseph’s brothers, we must choose whether to submit to God’s appointed saviour. As we take the bread and the wine, we remember the greater Joseph, the one God has appointed as prophet, priest, and king, and we pray for hearts that are shaped by the message that testifies of him.