In our last study in the life
of Joseph we saw the rise of Joseph to power as prime minister
over all of Egypt. And again, As we've seen unfold in Joseph's
life, we've seen the mighty hand of God at work and how he sovereignly
works in his people's lives. And he has events come to pass
as he's pleased. As he's pleased. And we know
that this is by his will and by his decree from eternity.
And Joseph's rise to power as second in command over all of
Egypt has been decreed by God. And that which our great God
decrees, He has come to pass. And just think of our salvation
in Christ. He decreed that we would be saved
in Christ. And He made it come to pass,
didn't He? He made it come to pass. And
truly, as we saw Joseph taken out of prison and brought before
Pharaoh, and then he interprets the dreams of Pharaoh, And then
he's made second in command again over all of Egypt. Truly we've
seen that the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. The
king's heart is in the hand of the Lord and he turneth it whatsoever
he will. He just turned it. He turned
the king's heart. It's incredible. Now let's read
our text. Joseph's been promoted by Pharaoh
to second in command over all of Egypt. He's going to be in
charge of storing food for seven years of plenty for the seven
years of famine. And again, all this is falling
out as we read the text. Never forget that all this is
falling out according to the sovereign will and the decree
of our great God. And His eternal purpose is being
accomplished right before our eyes. So let's read verses 37
to 46 now. And the thing was good in the
eyes of Pharaoh and in all the eyes of his servants. And Pharaoh
said unto his servants, can we find such a one as this is a
man in whom the spirit of God is? Now remember, all his wise
men couldn't interpret dreams, but Joseph did. And Pharaoh said
unto Joseph, for as much as God has showed thee all this, there
is none so discreet and wise as thou art. He's the only one
who's been able to interpret Pharaoh's dreams. Thou shalt
be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people
be ruled. Only in the throne will I be
greater than thou. Again, as I said last week, or
two weeks ago, this is where the type breaks down. Joseph
has Pharaoh over him. Christ has no one over him. He's
God. He rules and reigns. So that's
where the type, as Joseph is a type of Christ, starts to break
down, and every type will break down, because Christ is the substance,
and there are but types and shadows, beloved. But we will see that
Pharaoh is the dispenser of all the bread and corn, is like Christ
who is our life. He's the dispenser of all spiritual
blessings to God's people. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. Look at that,
over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring
from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him
in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him to ride in the
second chariot which he had. And they cried before him, Bow
the knee. And he made him ruler over all
the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
I am Pharaoh, without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot
in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name
Zaphnath-Paneah, and gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter
of Potiphar, and Joseph went out over the land of Egypt, and
Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh. Remember,
he was 17 years old when he went into slavery. Oh, my. How old was our Lord when he
started his ministry? 30 years old. Oh, my. And Joseph was 30 years old when
he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and Joseph went out
from the presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land
of Egypt. So we see that Pharaoh gave Joseph
an Egyptian name, Zathnathpeneia, and even the name of Joseph has
reference to our glorious Savior, beloved. Now, Pharaoh did not
know this, but again, all this was falling out according to
God's sovereign plan and decree. The name Zathnathpeneia means
treasury of the glorious rest. Treasury of the glorious rest.
And is not Jesus Christ the glorious rest of his people? He's the
glorious rest for His people. And it's in Him and Him alone
who the believer finds true rest. We find rest from our labors
and we find rest for our souls. We've ceased from our labors,
beloved, and we've entered into the rest of Christ. And the Lord
is now our Sabbath, isn't He? He's our Sabbath. He's our rest. He's our rest. And true rest
from the labors of work-based religion is only found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. True rest for our souls is only
found in him. And so what a glorious rest the
born-again blood-washed believer has, as the Lord Jesus Christ
is the one who shed his precious blood to redeem our eternal souls. Let's read verses 41 to 43 again. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,
see, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. He was a slave
in Potiphar's house. Then he was cast into prison.
And now he set over all the land of Egypt. Only God could do this,
beloved. Only God could make this come
to pass. See, I have set thee, again,
the heart of the king is in the Lord's hands, beloved. I have
set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his
ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand and arrayed
him in vestures of fine linen and put a gold chain about his
neck. And he made him to ride. in the second chariot which he
had, and they cried before him, bow the knee, and he made him
ruler over all the land of Egypt." Now note that Pharaoh didn't
just make Joseph the master over the corn gathering or the food
gathering, did he? No, and that's what Joseph said,
just get you a man that can that can do this for you, get all
this set aside, and he was just speaking about getting the food
together. Well, here's Pharaoh, he made a master over all of
Egypt. He made a master over all. So, again, what's passed
here is the wondrous power of our great God at work. The sovereign
power of our great God. The king of Egypt, the Pharaoh,
is but putty in the hands of the Lord. He just moves him to
whatever he wants. Now remember that, and what we
see around our world too. The Lord's in control, beloved.
He's in full control. He's in full control. And again,
the king of Egypt had just put a former slave, a prisoner, in
control of all of Egypt. Oh my. It's wondrous, isn't it?
It's absolutely wondrous. So we see again, the unfolding
right before us in the scripture here, of God's sovereign will
and purpose being accomplished by our great God, by our great
God. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph
again, verse 41, and Pharaoh said unto Joseph, see I have
set thee over all the land of Egypt. Now remember the contempt
that Potiphar's wife had over Joseph. Turn, if you would, to
Genesis 39. Remember when she spoke About
Joseph, she said, you bought this Hebrew slave. Remember how
when we looked at that, she spoke that with contempt? Now he's second in command. What would some of Pharaoh's
court think about this? Well, there probably were some
noses bent out of shape, wasn't there? But God's sovereign will
will be accomplished, beloved, no matter what. No matter what. Look at Genesis 39 verses 14. That she called the men of the
house and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in a Hebrew
unto us to mock us. She's speaking with contempt
there, beloved. This is a Hebrew slave. Potiphar put him in command of
the house. Well, it wasn't Potiphar that did it. He was just a tool
in the hands of our great master. See, he hath brought in the Hebrew
unto us to mock us. He came in unto me to lie with
me, and I cried with a loud voice. So there's her slanderous spin. And we know Joseph's totally
innocent. Then look at verse 17. And she spake unto him according
to these words. Again, the Hebrew servant mentions
again that he's a Hebrew. Which thou has brought unto us,
came into this house to mock me. Now, beloved, a Hebrew. Now
think of this. Now, beloved, a Hebrew. No less.
A foreigner. A foreigner. Has power over all
the people of one of the greatest nations in ancient times. This is before they were wiped
out at the Red Sea. Egypt was one of the greatest
ancient nations for trade and for military. And now here, a foreigner, a
Hebrew no less, has power over all the people of one of the
greatest nations in ancient times. A nation of much wealth, again,
a very formidable army, And all this has come to pass by God's
sovereign hand and decree. That which he decreed in eternity
is now coming to pass right before. Now Joseph has no idea, right?
You imagine how Joseph felt? Remember he told the butler,
just remember me. I'm here unjustly. Well, no,
look what happened. Oh my goodness. And again, let us never forget
that the same God, the one true God who has planned out salvation
and eternity, who's paid for and obtained our redemption,
is the same God who's at work right here in Joseph's life.
Same God. He don't change. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever, beloved. So what comfort we can
glean? And he's gonna take us home. He's gonna take, just as
he had Joseph rise up to power, He's gonna take us home, beloved.
So again, what comfort we can find here. The God of the universe
who has ordered all the things that have come to pass in Joseph's
life is the very one who has saved us. Is the very one who
has saved us and the very one who keeps us. And what do we
say? Glory to his name. Glory to his name. So why do
we worry? Why do we stew? about things
when they occur? The flesh, the flesh, the flesh. We have the flesh, beloved. And
what do we cry out to our King? Lord, help my unbelief. Help
my unbelief, Lord. Now, Pharaoh would have made
sure that the whole kingdom was to know about Joseph being now
raised to power as second-in-command as prime minister over all the
land. Verses 41 to 46 hint at that. Let's read verse 42 now. And Pharaoh took off his ring
from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him
in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck.
So we see that Pharaoh took the ring off his hand and put it
upon Joseph's hand. Some condemnators believe that
this is a signet ring. This is a signet ring which had
Pharaoh's seal upon it. And by which he sealed public
deeds and anything he wanted to have the royal seal upon. Because he's given Joseph now
authority over all the land. All the land. All authority over
all of Egypt. And we see Pharaoh or Ray Joseph
in vestures of fine linen. Most commentators say that's
the best linen that they had available in Egypt. So he's went
from prison garb, being a slave, to prison garb, to now being
enraged in the finest linen in all of Egypt. My. And why did he have to have this
fine linen on? To make him presentable to the
king, beloved. And Pharaoh gave it to him. We have given to us the righteousness
of Christ, beloved, to make us able to be in the presence of
the King. The King of glory. And it's God
the Father who raised us in the finest linen. In Luke it's called
the best robe. In Luke 15, the best robe. Turn
if you would there, the prodigal son. We'll just look at that
quick. Joseph has had the garments of
slavery and being a prisoner replaced with the garments of
royalty, beloved. Garments that only a king would
be allowed to wear. Again, remember the prodigal
son here in Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. Remember his clothes had been
sawed, he'd been working in the pig pens. Finally came to his right mind.
Well, what happens when we're born again? We come to our right
mind, don't we? And we flee to the Father, don't
we? We go back to the Father. And we come to Him just as we
are, right? In our soiled clothes. Being
in the pen of this world. Look at this. This is wonderful.
Luke 15, 21-24. And the Son said unto Him, Father,
I have sinned against heaven and in Thy sight. And we We know,
we proclaim, we've sinned against the Father. He's the one we've
sinned against. When the Lord regenerates us,
we confess we've sinned against him. And look at this, and I'm
no more worthy to be called thy son. Isn't that not what we say?
Lord, I'm not worthy of this. I'm not worthy of this. But look
at this, but the Father said to his servants, bring forth,
singular, the best robe. That picture's the righteousness
of Christ, beloved. The best robe. Put it on him. Put it on him. Oh, and look at
this. And put a ring on his hand. He's
my son. He's not a servant. That's what
the father said. And shoes on his feet. And bring hither the
fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry. For my son
was dead. We were dead in trespasses and
sins, beloved. And is alive again. Glory to
His name. He was lost and is found, and
they began to be merry. So we see in our text then that
Joseph is now clothed in fine linen. And it also says he has
a gold chain about his neck. Look at verse 42. Let's go back
to Genesis chapter 41. Verse 42, and Pharaoh took off his ring
from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand and arrayed him
in vestures of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. A gold chain about his neck.
Turn if you would to Daniel chapter 5. Daniel chapter 5. Now a chain of gold about the
neck during this time was a symbol of authority throughout Egyptian
history. particularly in the 12th dynasty. And all these details
that we see coming forth in the scriptures here are all true
of Egypt's culture of the period, all true, all true. And we see
Daniel here over in Daniel chapter five, he's arrayed with a chain
of gold by King Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's son. Daniel chapter five. 7, 16, and 29. 7 first. The king cried aloud to
bring in the astrologers to the Chaldeans and the soothsayers.
And the king spake and said to the wise men of Babylon, whosoever
shall read this writing and show me the interpretation thereof
shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about
his neck. Look at that. It's a sign of authority, beloved.
and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Remember the
letters appeared? Didn't know what it was. The
words appeared. And I have heard, look at verse
16, and I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations
and dissolve doubts. Now if thou canst read the writing
and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shall be clothed
with scarlet and have a chain of gold about thy neck. Again,
it's a picture of authority. It's a picture of authority.
Now she'll be the third ruler in thy kingdom. Then verse 29.
Then commanded Belshazzar and they clothed Daniel with scarlet.
Again, he's clothed to be in the presence of the king. And
put a chain of gold about his neck and made a proclamation
concerning him that he should be the third ruler of the kingdom. So again, it's cultural back
then. This is what they did. It showed that one had authority.
It showed that one had authority. And let us never lose sight of
the pictures here before us. Christ. The church of Christ
is adorned in the righteous robe. The righteous robe of Christ's
righteousness. We're arrayed in that. And like
Joseph, how differently clad from the former wretchedness
of our state. We were like Joseph. Were we
not in the prison house of sin? Unable to get out? Unable to
free ourselves? Well, the Lord set us free, hasn't
he? It's wonderful. And now we're
clothed in fine linen, beloved. The best robe. The best robe. Oh, my. King's daughters were
among the honorable women. Upon thy right hand did stand
the queen in gold of Ophir. Harken, O daughter, and consider
and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people
and thy father's house. So shall the king greatly desire
thy beauty, for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him. Psalm 45,
verses 9 to 11, speaking of the bride of Christ. Oh, she's adorned
in gold of old. And the king, the Lord, shall
greatly desire thy beauty. God the Father sees us clothed
in the righteousness of Christ, beloved. And never forget that
Christ loves his bride. He loves her so much that he
gave his life for her. Gave his life for her, oh my. Now let's go back to our text
and look at verse 43. He made him to ride in the second
chariot which he had and they cried before him, bow the knee
and he made him a ruler over all the land of Egypt. Now Pharaoh
had many chariots. He had many chariots. He's Pharaoh,
he's king. He had many chariots and when
he rode through his kingdom he always rode in the first chariot.
In the first chariot. And according to their positions
of authority others would ride in the chariots that fall. That
fall. Again this was All part of the
Egyptian culture. And we see here in our text that
Pharaoh made Joseph the ride in the second chariot. Right
behind him. Right behind him. Which publicly
declared that Joseph was second in command over all of Egypt. Publicly declared. Every time
Pharaoh went through Egypt and Joseph was with him, it was declared. as they went, bow the knee, bow
the knee, bow the knee to Pharaoh and bow the knee to the rulers
with him. My, so marvel what's come to
pass. In just a few short verses, again,
Joseph has went from Potiphar's house to the prison to second
in command over all of Egypt. And it's all come to pass by
the sovereign, almighty hand of God. All of it. All of it. And again, think of this, all
the other prominent men who may have been in line for that position
are now all under Joseph. They're all under him. They're
all under him by God's doing, by his will and decree. And during
these times, Pharaoh's royal servants, his royal guard, would
go before the chariots with a public cry, bow the knee. The king is
coming. Bow the knee. And they'd bow.
They'd bow the knee. And this was done not only to
Pharaoh, as we see in our text, but also to Joseph. Look at verse
43. And he made them to ride in the
second chariot, which he had, and they cried before him, being
Joseph, bow the knee. and he made him ruler over all
the land of Egypt. Bow the knee. And this is a token of veneration
and respect to Pharaoh and to Joseph because he's his prime
minister. He's second in command. And then we see in the latter
part of verse 43 that Pharaoh has appointed Joseph to be governor
over the whole land. He's invested in him with that
office and made him appear to be so before the people. Look
at the latter part. And he made him ruler over all
the land of Egypt. Again, the heart of the king
is in the Lord's hands. He just turns it to wherever
he wants to do his will, to do his will. And again, Joseph's
exaltation was all according to God's sovereign decree. That
which God had planned and purposed in eternity is unfolding right
before us in the scriptures. unfolding right before us in
the scriptures. And this was executed to typify, one commentator
said, the glorious exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
glorified God-man. Now again, some of the prominent
Egyptians probably resented the fact that Joseph was placed in
authority over them, but there's absolutely nothing they could
do to change, nothing they could do to change what Pharaoh had
done. Any open rebellion would have resulted in their execution,
wouldn't it? It would have. Look at verse 44, And Pharaoh
said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man
lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. Look at that. He's got absolute control. The
only one he's answerable to is Pharaoh. And again, Pharaoh's servants
went before him, before Joseph, crying, bow the knee to typify
all of God's preachers who declare that our Heavenly Father has
sent His darling Son. Sent His darling Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, as His exalted King on the holy hill of Zion.
And we cry, bow the knee, receive Him. Bow the knee. Bow the knee. Receive Him as your Lord and
Savior or die in your sins. and go to a Christless eternity.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when
his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in him. Blessed are God's people. And
while he was here on this earth, the Lord Jesus Christ was despised
and rejected of man, wasn't he? He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. He was found in the fashion as
a man, and he humbled himself, beloved. He humbled himself.
and became obedient unto death, all as our substitute, even the
death of the cross, and now God has highly exalted him. Highly
exalted him. Oh, he was bought low in his
condescension, but now God's highly exalted him. He's highly
exalted him, and he's given him a name which is above every name.
Every name. I was talking to someone the
other night, and they said, well, there, when it talks about Jesus
Every knee shall bow, that's just believers. And I said, no,
no. That's everyone who's ever lived
shall bow their knee and profess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. Ah, that's our king. Oh my. And this is the earnest, sincere
cry that comes to the lips of all of God's people, or preachers.
Bow down to King Jesus. Bow to the glorified God, man. He's the only Savior of sinners. The only one. Let's read verses
45 and 46 now. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name
Zathnaphaniah, and he gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter
of Potiphar, priest of On. And Joseph went out over all
the land of Egypt, And Joseph was 30 years old when he stood
before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the
presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land of Egypt.
So we see here that Pharaoh again gave Joseph the name Zathnathpeneia,
which again means treasury of the glorious rest. And again,
only the Lord Jesus Christ is the rest for his people. And
we see then that Pharaoh also gave to Joseph a wife, an Egyptian. A woman by the name of Asenath. And we see that she's the daughter
of Potipharah, the priest of On. Again, this was all according
to God's sovereign plan and purpose. And remember that the Lord Jesus
Christ was given a bride too, wasn't he? By the Father. Yeah,
he was given a bride by the Father. Those of his choosing. Again,
which pictures And where did we come from? Egypt. And what
does Egypt picture? The world. The world. Joseph was given a bride from
Egypt. Oh my. And what a wonderful picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
he purchased us with his own precious blood. And now he's
exalted in glory. Again, we see in verse 46 that
Joseph was 30 years old. Remember again, he's 17 years
old. 13 years have come to pass, beloved.
That's a long time. 13 years have come to pass. And think of this, he's 30 years
old now. He's been in the Egyptian nation
for 13 years. He knows the culture now. He
knows the culture. He probably speaks the language
fluently. He's well acquainted with the ways of the Egyptians.
He's been in charge of all the Potiphar's house, remember? And
then the jailer put him in charge of all the prisoners there. So
he knows the Egyptian culture now, and now God raises him to
second in command over all of Egypt. So he's prepared. He's prepared. And we see twice
in these verses of Scripture we read where Joseph went out
over all the land of Egypt. Last part of verse 44 and once
in the last part of verse 45, John Gill brings forth that this
probably refers to two different trips that Joseph made throughout
all the land of Egypt, just to survey. To survey what was happening. and to find where he would put
the dispensaries of the grain. And once Joseph was dressed in
his royal garments, all the Egyptians throughout the land would know
that he was their prime minister. By the gold chain about his neck,
by the ring on his finger, they would all know. And again, he would choose the
best places that would be suitable for the building of the attended
storehouses of grain. during the seven years of plenty.
And he would also appoint those who were in charge of that grain,
just as he told Pharaoh, that the person that he put in charge
of that should do that. And he would give them the needed
instructions to carry out their order, his orders. And never
forget this, I want to close with this, never forget this.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is not just idly sitting upon the throne
of glory. He's not just sitting idly on
the throne of glory with hopes that things will work out themselves. He's not doing that. Some false
preachers, some foolish false preachers proclaim that, right? Well, he's hoping things will
work out. Or he's done everything he can, now he's just like let
it spin off into the, no, no. No, I like what you guys have
heard me say it more times. I'm gonna keep saying it. There's
not a maverick molecule in all this universe. Not one. Not one. That doesn't, the Lord's in full
control. That dust we see in the sunlight,
it's all ordained by God to be there. No, nothing happens by
chance. There's no such thing as chance.
He is right now seated on the right hand of the Father. He's
working all things out of the counsel of His own will, beloved.
And all things are naked and open to His eyes. Everything
is naked and open to Him. The eyes of Jesus Christ, the
risen, exalted God, man, He knows all things. And Jesus Christ,
our sovereign, risen, exalted King, knows the end from the
beginning, doesn't He? Because that's what the Scripture says.
That's what the Scripture says. He ordained the end from the
beginning. He ordained the end from the beginning. And He does
all according to His sovereign will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay His hand
or say unto Him, what doest thou? Daniel wrote that. Nebuchadnezzar
said that. After he'd been eating grass
for a while. He thought he was something. The Lord put him in the dirt,
didn't He? He said, this God is the God
and he does whatever he pleases. And remember, he's a great leader
who's saying this. And he says he does whatever he pleases with
the army in heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth are
reputed as nothing. And none can stay his hand. Our
Lord Jesus Christ knows who his lost sheep are, beloved. And
he has appointed a time of love for them to come to him. To come
to them, him. And he seeks them out. He seeks
them out. He brings them under the preaching
of the gospel to himself by his sovereign, irresistible power,
invincible power. You cannot resist the power of
the Holy Spirit of God. My. And he makes us well and
in the day of his power and we say glory to his name. Heavenly
Father, we thank you again for your mercy and goodness and grace
to us. Thank you that you've allowed us to come together.
look in thy word, and as we study the life of Joseph, oh, how clearly
and evidently we see forth, brought forth the hand of your almighty
power brought forth, and how you move king's hearts, and how
you have things come to pass all according to thy will and
purpose, and let we who are your people take refuge and glean
great comfort from the fact that you do that in every one of your
sheep's lives. Glory to you, Lord. We stand
amazed, Lord, at who you are and what you've done for us.
In Jesus' name, amen.