Joseph — A Type of Christ

    "And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.”

    Most every Sunday School child has heard the story of Joseph and his brothers many, many times. Who is not familiar with the instructive narrative? Who does not know about Joseph’s coat of many colors? Who is unaware of the fact that his brothers hated him and sold him into slavery? There are numerous moral lessons and warnings to be drawn from the story.

    Joseph, in his character and conduct, shows us how we ought to live in this world for the glory of God and how that God honors those that honor him. Joseph’s wicked brothers, in their character and conduct, represent everything that is base, vile, and malicious. They were wicked, covetous, self-centered, self-serving men. Obviously, Joseph represents all that we should be and do. His brothers represent all that we should avoid.

    These lessons might be readily perceived by any natural moralist. Yet, there is much more here than lessons about moral conduct. In fact, if that is all we learn from the story of Joseph and his brothers, we have never yet understood the last fourteen chapters of Genesis. This story, like everything else in the Old Testament Scriptures, is intended by the Spirit of God to be a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ in type and picture.

    •Adam typified Christ as our Covenant Head.

    •Abel showed forth the death of Christ as our Sacrifice.

    •Noah represented Christ in the saving of his household.

    •Abraham and Isaac portrayed the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ on Mount Moriah.

    •Melchizedek revealed Christ as our great High Priest.

    •Isaac pictured Christ the promised Seed, in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed.

    •Jacob saw Christ as a Ladder, the only Mediator between God and men.

    However, the fullest, most complete and striking type of Christ to be seen in the Book of Genesis is Joseph. A. W. Pink, in his Gleanings From Genesis, shows 100 points in which Joseph is a picture of our Savior. I heartily recommend Pink’s excellent, much more detailed study of Joseph as a type of Christ. Looking at just a few of the highlights of Joseph’s life, we see him as a beautifully, instructive type of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we have observed, the Book of Genesis is the Book of Beginnings. Here, God revealed his purpose of grace in the salvation of sinners, and showed fallen men how he would save his elect by the sacrifice of his own dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Joseph is one of the many pictures we are given of God’s grace and salvation in Christ.

    1^st. Joseph was typical of Christ in his name. Actually, he was given two names - Joseph and Zaphnathpaaneah (41:45). Zaphnathpaaneah is the name which Pharoah gave him when he made him Lord over all of Egypt. In this he was like our Savior who has two names given to him, a divine name and a human name. His divine name is Christ, which means “Anointed of God.” His human name is Jesus, which means “Savior.” He has two names given to him, because he is both the Son of God and the Son of Man.

    The names given to Joseph are very significant as the type of our Savior. Joseph means “Adding” (30:24). Adam was a subtracter. We lost everything in Adam. But Christ, the Second Adam, is the Adder. Christ is the One who adds to heaven the sons of God. To this end, he came into this world, lived in righteousness, and died upon the cursed tree (John 12:24; 14:3).

    Joseph’s second name, Zephnathpaaneah, has a twofold meaning. It means Revealer. Christ is the Revealer of God (John 1:18). It also means Provider. And Christ is our great Provider. He is Jehovah-jireh, the Lord who provides. He provides his people with all things temporal and physical, as well as all things eternal and spiritual.

    2^nd. Joseph is typical of Christ in his relationship to his Father. “Israel loved Joseph more than all his children” (v. 3). How Jacob loved Joseph! His happiness all his life long was wrapped up in Joseph. He rejoiced when Joseph was born. He distinguished Joseph from the sons of Leah, making for him a coat of many colors. His heart broke when he thought Joseph was dead. He took a long journey in his old age to see Joseph’s face. He committed himself to Joseph (47:29-31).

    As Joseph was the object of his father’s love, so the Lord Jesus Christ is the object of His Father’s love (John 3:35). The Lord God delights in his Son (Pro. 8:22, 30; Matt. 3:17; 17:5). God has given all things into the hands of his Son (John 3:35). Christ, the Son of God, has pre-eminence over all things and in all things (Col. 1:18).

    Joseph was the object of Israel’s love, because he was the child of Israel’s old age (v. 3). Here again is a picture of Christ. From all eternity, he is the Son of God. He was not born in time. He is the eternally begotten Son of the eternal Father, very God of very God, equal with and of the same substance as the Father (John 1:1-3). The Lord Jesus Christ is not a creature of God. He is God the Creator. He is not a mere emanation of God. He is God, the One in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells (Col. 2:9). He is infinitely more than a manifestation of God. He is “God manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16).

    3^rd. Joseph represents the Lord Jesus Christ in his occupation. He was a shepherd, “feeding the flock” (v. 3). No representation of Christ is more beautiful than that of a Shepherd. “The Lord is my Shepherd” (Psa. 23). He is set before us as the Good Shepherd in his sin-atoning death (John 10:11-16; 1 Pet. 2:21-25). He is the Great Shepherd in his resurrection glory (Heb. 13:20-21). And he is the Chief Shepherd in his glorious second advent (1 Pet. 5:4). What can be more beautiful than the comparison of Christ to a Shepherd? The figure suggests his tender care, his unceasing devotion, his constant provision, his watchful protection, his blessed patience, his peaceful presence, and his matchless love. Our Joseph is our Shepherd, the “Shepherd of Israel” (Psa. 80:1).

    4^th. Joseph Is a picture of Christ in his coat of many colors (v. 3). There has been much debate about this coat of many colors. Some find fault with Jacob for making it, and some find fault with Joseph for wearing it. Yet, it cannot be denied that this coat was providentially and prophetically significant. It was not, as Dolly Parton’s song implied, a coat of many rags. This coat was made with great care and given to Joseph by his father as a mark of distinction and honor. It separated Joseph, the son of Rachel, from his brothers, his half brothers, the sons of Leah. It identified Joseph as one of noble birth, distinct from all others (Judges 5:30; 2 Sam. 13:18).

    Did not the Lord God so distinguish his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, from all other men? At his birth the angels sang and a star appeared. Never was there such a birth. At his baptism heaven opened, God spoke, and the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove. This never happened before or since. Our Lord washed his disciples feet with water; but his feet were anointed with precious ointment. When he died upon the cursed tree, the Lord God made it apparent to all that he was no ordinary man. The three hours of darkness covered the earth. The earth itself shook and quaked at the death of the God-man. The veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom when by his blood the Lord Jesus opened the way for sinners to draw near to and be accepted by the holy Lord God. After the Lord Jesus died, one of the Roman soldiers, who had observed the whole day’s infamy, declared, “Truly, this man was the Son of God!” And, after he arose from the dead, many of the saints arose with him. Throughout his life and ministry, God the Father put on his Son a coat of many colors.

    5^th. Joseph was an eminent type of Christ in his character. As Joseph excelled his brothers in every feature of his character, so Christ excels all the sons of men in the infinite excellence of his character. Joseph was obedient to his father, righteous in his behavior, faithful to God, kind to men, and patient in suffering. In all these things, Joseph typified the Lord Jesus Christ, who for his great love for us was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, that he might glorify God, his Father and our Father, in redeeming and saving his people from their sins.

    6^tth Joseph was typical of Christ in his actions. As we read the life of Joseph, if we simply changed his name to Christ, we might think we were reading one of the four Gospels instead of the Book of Genesis. As Joseph was sent by his father into the wilderness to visit his brothers who treated him contemptuously, so the Lord Jesus Christ came into this dark wilderness, being sent by his Father, to visit and redeem his people. When he came here, our Savior, like Joseph, was hated without a cause. His own kinsmen conspired and plotted to kill him (John 1:11). As Joseph secretly fed and cared for his brothers in their time of need, though they knew him not, so the Lord Jesus secretly cared for, fed, and protected us when we knew him not (Hos. 2:8).

    *Joseph suffered much by the hands of his brothers. His brothers betrayed him. They sold him into bondage. It was by the deeds of his brothers that he was imprisoned in Egypt. His own brothers delivered him up to die. So far as they knew, Joseph was dead. So it was with our Savior.

    As Joseph did nothing but good for his brothers, though they fully deserved his wrath, so Christ, who was and is no greatly abused by us, does nothing but good for his elect (Rom. 8:28). In the time of love, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers (45:1-3). So Christ, at the time of love, reveals himself to God’s elect (Ezek. 16:8; Gal. 1:15-16). As Joseph forgave his brothers of all their crimes against him and assured them that he was in the place of God for the salvation of his household (Gen. 50:19-21), so Christ forgives us and assures us of God’s purpose of grace. Though we killed the Lord of glory, he is in the place of God to save his people. As Joseph taught his brothers to love one another (“See that ye fall not out by the way” -- Gen. 45:24), so the Lord Jesus, above all else, teaches his disciples to love one another.

    7^th. Joseph was an eminent type of Christ in his exaltation. Joseph’s two dreams, described in Genesis 37, prophetically made him as lord over the earth (vv. 5-8), lord over heaven (vv. 9-11), and thus lord over his brothers, just as the Old Testament Scriptures prophesied that Christ would be made Lord over all things as a man as the result of his accomplishments as our God-man Mediator (Isa. 53:10-12). After much humiliation and suffering, Joseph was highly exalted by Pharaoh (Gen. 41:39-41, 53-57). He was given the place of highest honor in the land. He was made to have dominion over all Egypt and all its stores. Everyone in Egypt was required to bow before him. And anyone who wanted anything from Pharaoh’s bountiful store was required to “go to Joseph.”

    So it is that the Lord God has highly exalted his Son as our Mediator (John 17:2; Rom. 14:9; Phil. 2:8-11). What do you stand in need of? What is it that you want from God? Grace? Forgiveness? Righteousness? Peace? Eternal life? Strength? Comfort? Direction? Go to Christ. Christ is all. Christ has all. Christ gives all. Christ is our Joseph. He is in the place of God. He rules all things. He possesses all things. If we would live, we must “go to Joseph.” We must go to Christ.