which I have now done and we're
going to start our reading again. So it's Genesis chapter 37 verse
1. These are the generations of
Jacob. Joseph, being 17 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, Here 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 same. Amen. May the Lord bless this
little account to us also. So today we are moving on a little
in the story of the Patriarchs to think about Joseph's dreams. And we've missed out some verses
about the death of Isaac at 180 years of age and also his burial
by his two sons, Jacob and Esau. And we've also passed over the
genealogy of the children of Esau, many of whom became dukes
and kings, but who, as the nation Edom, troubled the children of
Israel for many years and indeed centuries. And here we're now
coming to the beginning of chapter 37, and we're dwelling on the
beginning of the narrative of the account of Joseph. And Joseph
is just a teenager. He's in his mid-teens. He's 17
years of age. And just as we're told that Jacob
loved Rachel. We find also that he now has
a special affection for Joseph, her firstborn. Rachel has died,
we read about her death and burial last time. And now here is Jacob
and he is expressing this particular affection that he has for Joseph. There is also a younger child,
Benjamin, who was born to Rachel and indeed she died in childbirth. but Joseph has the affection
of his father. And he gave special attention
to Joseph, and he gives him an elaborate gift. He gives him
a coat of many colors. And that special or particular
love that Jacob had for Joseph, we discover it was a source of
envy. for the other brothers of Joseph
and indeed they had several reasons to be offended at Joseph and
they were offended at his morality, they were offended the fact that
he told about their immorality. They were offended by the fact
that his father loved him and they were offended by the fact
that he was given gifts. But he was also an offence to
them because he dreamed dreams and he told them about these
dreams. So not only were these other
reasons against Joseph, so also was this matter of his dreams. These dreams spoke about things
that bowed down and whether that was the sheaves in a field or
whether that was the stars in the sky and the sun and the moon,
it seems as if Joseph was implying to his brothers that these dreams
that he was having and it may well be that he wasn't particularly
aware of this himself. Perhaps his youth made him slightly
naive, but his brothers interpreted these things as Joseph taking
priority over them, and they disliked that. Here was this
young man, who did he think that he was? And I'm pretty sure that
all the brothers would be aware of the promises that had been
given to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob because none of
these men kept them secret. They passed on these things to
their own children. And Jacob I'm sure would have
spoken to his family about the promises that the Lord had given
him. Promises for the possession of
the land, promises about the seed that would come and the
coming Messiah. And I'm sure that all of these
brothers would wonder if this special person was going to come
in their line And I am also quite sure that they would connect
the dots and they would be thinking to themselves, what is this Joseph
talking about? What are these dreams about?
And are they to suggest that the line is going to be with
Joseph? Now, be that as it may, here
we find that the family were in contention one with the other. And Jacob certainly understood
that there was a dimension of spiritual meaning in the dreams
that Joseph had. And we've seen in the past how
the word of God tells us that God sometimes spoke to people
through dreams. dreams and visions. Sometimes
the Lord appeared in person, other times he spoke to them
in visions or in dreams. And here was the expression of
the way in which God would deal with the children of Israel and
how God would act amongst them. So God taught his people in those
earliest days of how he would deal with them for centuries
to come. And indeed, what we discover
as we look at this history of Joseph is that these brothers,
and even Jacob and his wife at that time, would indeed be brought
to honour and fear Joseph. though it would be in a way that
they could never have conceived. And as we will see as we progress
in this story, even the wickedness of men is employed by God to
accomplish his holy will. There's two things that I want
just to mention to you from these verses. And the first one is
this. This is the beginning of the
history of Joseph. And we will see in many ways
that Joseph is a clear type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I
hope you remember what a type is. A type is a picture or a
likeness or a mould or a pattern. by which aspects of the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ were revealed to his people before
the Lord actually came. And so there is something present
that gives hints or prefigures the Messiah that is still to
come in the future. And there were lots of those
types in the life of Joseph. And indeed, we might even say
that Joseph himself was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ for
the experiences that he had. And as we follow Joseph in the
coming weeks, we will see that many of these types and pictures
in his life all point to the life and the work and the ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The other thing I wanted just
to mention was this coat of many colours because people find it
interesting to wonder what that must have been like and what
it meant and we really don't know too much about it beyond
the little phrase that is used here that it was a coat of many
colours and that may have been to do with the way in which it
was sewn or the material that was used, the threads or the
colours that were put into it by way of dyeing it or or even
painting it. It's not entirely certain. but it does appear to have been
a mark of honour or favour or indeed favouritism that was given
to Joseph. And there may well be questions
about the wisdom of Jacob preferring Joseph so blatantly over his
brothers. And yet perhaps we can simply
say that it follows on from that particular love that Jacob had
for Rachel above Leah and Bilhah and Zilpah. It reminds us how
God has provided a garment of righteousness, not a coat of
many colours, but a robe of righteousness to those whom he favours in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That God, out of that particular
love and affection that he has for his people, has bestowed
upon them a justifying righteousness. He has gifted it to us. It is
not because we have deserved it, but out of his own mercy
and magnanimity. He cares for us, he loves us,
and he provides for those things that we need. And he has chosen
a people in his elective purpose to justify and sanctify and redeem
in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that when the Lord Jesus Christ
died on the cross, and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was
spilled so that people whom God chose benefited from his sacrifice. And he sends his spirit to convert
and he gives the gift of faith through the preaching of the
gospel. and the Lord does good to those whom he loves. He gives
us a coat of many colours and of many blessings and of many
graces. In Isaiah chapter 61, there's
a lovely little reference to the provision of this garment
by the Lord. Verse 10, and it says this, I
will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God. Why? For he hath clothed me with
the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness. As a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels. This is what the Lord has done
for his people. He has given us these garments
of salvation, these coats of righteousness and many colours. In the coming weeks, God willing,
we will discover the Lord is with Joseph. We will read about
that in chapter 39 in verse 2, and blesses him in all that he
does. And may the Lord bless you also,
and may his blessing in the Lord Jesus Christ rest upon you and
on me to the saving of our precious souls. Amen. Now let us read a hymn together.