Friday, January 29, 2016

Did God Send Joseph to Egypt? (Part 1)


January 29
 
Did God Send Joseph to Egypt (Part 1)?
 
And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. (Gen. 45:7-8)
 
Men in their distorted picture of God have attempted to redefine good in order to maintain the Biblical truth about God’s goodness while at the same time teaching doctrines in which God does, what appears to the average human, to be evil acts. As we saw yesterday, statements made by Joseph are often proof-texted to support these ideas. This has served to extinguish an aggressive faith that stands against demonic evil and claims God’s promises.
However, these passages are indeed recorded in the inspired Word of God and must be addressed if we are to put our full and undying faith in the Bible as we should. So how do we address Joseph’s statement, “So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God”? One rule of Bible interpretation is to always interpret the Old Testament in light of the New Testament. Stephen, speaking by the Spirit of God, says this about Joseph’s brethren:
 
And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house (Acts 7:9-10).
 
Rather than saying that God used the brothers to send Joseph, Stephen says that God was with him despite the actions of his brothers and delivered him. The Holy Spirit speaking through Stephen never says that God made Joseph’s brothers sin. Stephen states that God was with Joseph and overruled the sinful acts of his brothers.
God is love (1 John 4:8) and love “envieth not” (1 Cor. 13:4). “Envyings” are the works of the flesh and not the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:19-21). Satan works through envy (James 3:14-16). God does not make people become envious (Matt. 7:17-18). Is this a Bible contradiction? No. We will continue to examine Gen. 45:7-8 tomorrow for further understanding of its application.




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