The Troubling of Pharaoh
Because we have read the end of the story we know what the prophetic destiny was in the dreams of Joseph: He had to get to Egypt; he had to get right up next to the throne of the Pharaoh of Egypt. We know that – but keep in mind Joseph did not know that.
Scripture Reading:
Gen.37:6 He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had; for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
Gen.41:14 Then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh.
(verse 38) Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?” So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. ”You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you.” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck. He had him ride in his second chariot; and they proclaimed before him, “Bow the knee!” And he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”
Theme: The Troubling of Pharaoh
Because we have read the end of the story we know what the prophetic destiny was in the dreams of Joseph: He had to get to Egypt; he had to get right up next to the throne of the Pharaoh of Egypt. We know that – but keep in mind Joseph did not know that.
I have arranged this scripture reading to take you immediately from Joseph’s dreams to the fulfilment of those dreams. I did that in order to stimulate in us a dream we all have – and here it is: Wouldn’t it be grand to have a prophetic dream of our destiny or purpose and awake from that dream and find ourselves right in the middle of its fulfilment? What I did not include in this scripture reading are the time notes: Here they are: Gen.37:2 Joseph, when seventeenyears of age…. Gen.41:46 Now Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Between those dreams and the prophetic destiny communicated within those dreams there was thirteen years. What can possibly happen in thirteen short years? Well, let’s see.
Reaching all the way back to my Sunday School days, I have had a favourite Old Testament Bible character. We meet him in Genesis 37; he is seventeen years old, and his name is Joseph. His story runs from chapter 37 right to the final verse of the Genesis record. The last word concerning him is this: ‘So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.’ At seventeen he is full of dreams; at one hundred and ten his dreams have been established and it’s time to go home. You can’t beat that arrangement.
One of the first things we read of Joseph is this: Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age.
One of the greatest expository preachers I have ever read is G. Campbell Morgan. For many years in the early twentieth century, he pastored Westminster Chapel in London England. I have always been very comfortable with his interpretations of scripture because from a very early age he was a fiercely committed student of the Word. He suggested that the actual meaning of the verse I just read is this: Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was a son of old age to him.
By this Morgan was suggesting that the reference here is to Joseph’s maturity – and that regarding his maturity he was always well beyond his years. Whether that be the intention of that verse or not, the reality remains that Joseph always demonstrated a level maturity way beyond his years. And certainly he demonstrated a maturity way beyond that of his older brothers.
As we watch his story unfold from the age of seventeen to one hundred and ten, the fruit of that maturity is demonstrated in this core factor: No matter what environment he found himself in he never caved into it – but rather he overcame it, and beyond that he transformed it.
At seventeen his brothers hated him. His response was to dream a dream. We are told that,‘They hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.’ Joseph’s response to this was to dream more dreams. Those dreams were critical to his future. In fact his future was prophetically contained in those dreams. And let me just say that when we find our core passion, our life defining desire, our deepest dream we will have found our prophetic future.
The one thing the enemy hates more than us is the dream we carry within us. He hates and fears that dream because in it is the future, and if he can destroy that dream he has compromised the future in his direction.
What I want you to see is that in this family environment of hostility, resentment, bitterness, jealousy and hatred Joseph rose above it by reason of a maturity that was shaped by his focus upon the prophetic word of God to him in the form of dreams.
In the next movement of the story his brothers actually plot his murder. Reuben talks them out of it, and they throw Joseph into a dry well. The intention is to leave him to die. Being good economists, they take advantage of an opportunity presented them when a band of traders come upon them. Joseph is sold. He is carried into Egypt and sold again. Notice that he is not sold to just any old Egyptian; he is sold to Potifar, captain of Pharaoh’s bodyguard. Great news: He is now two steps closer to his prophetic destiny – he is in Egypt, he is connected to someone who is connected to Pharaoh. See how easy it is!
He is now in an environment he has never been in before. And though that environment is totally foreign to all that defines him, rather than caving into it he rises up in the presence of it and is given the total government of Pothifar’s house. Potifar’s wife tries to seduce him, and when he rebuffs her she falsely accuses him and the result is life in jail. But it wasn’t just any old jail – we are told that it was the jail where the king’s prisoners were confined. Great news! Could it be he is inching his way towards Pharaoh?
Once again he is in an environment he has never been in before. And once again, rather than caving into that environment he rises up right in the presence of it and is given the responsibility of government of the entire jail.
We have now seen Joseph in several different environments. In each environment he has come to a place of government. Could it be that his rise to government was based upon and reflected his maturity? And do you suppose that his maturity was based upon and shaped by the prophetic word of the Lord rather than the false values of the environments in which he found himself?
In the jail, Joseph gets to meet two very important people: Pharaoh’s personal cupbearer and baker. Each has a dream. Joseph interprets the dreams. The dreams come to pass exactly as Joseph said they would. The cupbearer is restored to his position- the baker is executed. Understand that Joseph is now only one cupbearer away from Pharaoh. And then we come to the detail upon which everything turns.
Gen. 41:1 Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream… The result of that dream was this: (vs.8) Now in the morning his (Pharaoh’s) spirit was troubled….
The final detail that brought Joseph into the prophetic destiny of the thirteen year old dreams was the troubling of Pharaoh. And that is the particular point of this message: How should the church respond to a troubled Pharaoh?
Your response may be that it really doesn’t matter since the last time any of us have had to deal with a Pharaoh was when we went to a museum to see his mummified remains – as Wenda and I did when we lived in Memphis. I get the point – Problem is, that’s not the point. The point is what Pharaoh represented. And what he represented is the system or order of the age. That order is made up of three fundamental systems: The political / governmentalsystem; the economic system, and the religious / philosophical system or body of beliefs and values.
The titles and offices may have changed a thousand times from age to age but the basic structures have never changed. There is a world order- and by that I mean the order of the present age- and that is what Pharaoh represented in the story of Joseph; the government of the age, the economics of the age, and the beliefs or values of the age. And just as every age has its “Pharaoh-head”, so also God has His Josephs in each and every age.
In speaking of the troubling of Pharaoh I am speaking of the troubling of those systems he represented. That troubling is showing up most right now in the world economy. But let me prophesy in the words of Christ that this is but the beginning of sorrows- the very preliminary pains of birth.
But the issue is not the troubling of Pharaoh – the issue is: What does it mean in relation to Joseph and the prophetic dreams he had in his youth? And the point is the troubling of Pharaoh was nothing more than the final detail that ushered Joseph into the full manifestation of the prophetic destiny contained in some dreams that, at the time, made absolutely no sense, and seemed only to cause confusion and bring suffering.
Joseph finds himself once more in a new environment. If you think he needed maturity to handle those preceding environments- they were nothing compared to this one. Quite literally the whole economy of the then known world flowed through his hands. His chariot was positioned right behind Pharaoh’s. Wherever he went in public, a crier preceded him shouting three words: “Bow the knee!” “Bow the knee!” Do you think it might require just a bit of maturity to handle that?
I will say it yet again – his maturity directly related to the posture of his heart regarding the prophetic word he carried through thirteen years of severe preparation. And in the end- as the Psalmist stated it- it was that very word that he carried that proved or demonstrated the truth of what and who he had become within the process of his making.
This morning the “economic Pharaoh” of our own age is critically troubled. Could it be that this very troubling is little more than the God-ordained opportunity for the “Joseph remnant” of this same age to come into their prophetic destiny of Kingdom government; and rather than caving into the present environment they will rise up within it and even transform it?
There is a Kingdom generation – a Joseph remnant – scattered across this planet today; they have passed through various environments, and for all the judgements they have made of themselves and others have made of them – the bottom line is they have never thrown away the prophetic promise, the dream, the word of purpose and destiny God wrote within them. These do not panic when Pharaoh becomes troubled. They know in the deep privacy of their own hearts: The time has come.
Scripture Reading:
Gen.37:6 He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had; for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
Gen.41:14 Then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh.
(verse 38) Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?” So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. ”You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you.” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck. He had him ride in his second chariot; and they proclaimed before him, “Bow the knee!” And he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”
Theme: The Troubling of Pharaoh
Because we have read the end of the story we know what the prophetic destiny was in the dreams of Joseph: He had to get to Egypt; he had to get right up next to the throne of the Pharaoh of Egypt. We know that – but keep in mind Joseph did not know that.
I have arranged this scripture reading to take you immediately from Joseph’s dreams to the fulfilment of those dreams. I did that in order to stimulate in us a dream we all have – and here it is: Wouldn’t it be grand to have a prophetic dream of our destiny or purpose and awake from that dream and find ourselves right in the middle of its fulfilment? What I did not include in this scripture reading are the time notes: Here they are: Gen.37:2 Joseph, when seventeenyears of age…. Gen.41:46 Now Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Between those dreams and the prophetic destiny communicated within those dreams there was thirteen years. What can possibly happen in thirteen short years? Well, let’s see.
Reaching all the way back to my Sunday School days, I have had a favourite Old Testament Bible character. We meet him in Genesis 37; he is seventeen years old, and his name is Joseph. His story runs from chapter 37 right to the final verse of the Genesis record. The last word concerning him is this: ‘So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.’ At seventeen he is full of dreams; at one hundred and ten his dreams have been established and it’s time to go home. You can’t beat that arrangement.
One of the first things we read of Joseph is this: Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age.
One of the greatest expository preachers I have ever read is G. Campbell Morgan. For many years in the early twentieth century, he pastored Westminster Chapel in London England. I have always been very comfortable with his interpretations of scripture because from a very early age he was a fiercely committed student of the Word. He suggested that the actual meaning of the verse I just read is this: Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was a son of old age to him.
By this Morgan was suggesting that the reference here is to Joseph’s maturity – and that regarding his maturity he was always well beyond his years. Whether that be the intention of that verse or not, the reality remains that Joseph always demonstrated a level maturity way beyond his years. And certainly he demonstrated a maturity way beyond that of his older brothers.
As we watch his story unfold from the age of seventeen to one hundred and ten, the fruit of that maturity is demonstrated in this core factor: No matter what environment he found himself in he never caved into it – but rather he overcame it, and beyond that he transformed it.
At seventeen his brothers hated him. His response was to dream a dream. We are told that,‘They hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.’ Joseph’s response to this was to dream more dreams. Those dreams were critical to his future. In fact his future was prophetically contained in those dreams. And let me just say that when we find our core passion, our life defining desire, our deepest dream we will have found our prophetic future.
The one thing the enemy hates more than us is the dream we carry within us. He hates and fears that dream because in it is the future, and if he can destroy that dream he has compromised the future in his direction.
What I want you to see is that in this family environment of hostility, resentment, bitterness, jealousy and hatred Joseph rose above it by reason of a maturity that was shaped by his focus upon the prophetic word of God to him in the form of dreams.
In the next movement of the story his brothers actually plot his murder. Reuben talks them out of it, and they throw Joseph into a dry well. The intention is to leave him to die. Being good economists, they take advantage of an opportunity presented them when a band of traders come upon them. Joseph is sold. He is carried into Egypt and sold again. Notice that he is not sold to just any old Egyptian; he is sold to Potifar, captain of Pharaoh’s bodyguard. Great news: He is now two steps closer to his prophetic destiny – he is in Egypt, he is connected to someone who is connected to Pharaoh. See how easy it is!
He is now in an environment he has never been in before. And though that environment is totally foreign to all that defines him, rather than caving into it he rises up in the presence of it and is given the total government of Pothifar’s house. Potifar’s wife tries to seduce him, and when he rebuffs her she falsely accuses him and the result is life in jail. But it wasn’t just any old jail – we are told that it was the jail where the king’s prisoners were confined. Great news! Could it be he is inching his way towards Pharaoh?
Once again he is in an environment he has never been in before. And once again, rather than caving into that environment he rises up right in the presence of it and is given the responsibility of government of the entire jail.
We have now seen Joseph in several different environments. In each environment he has come to a place of government. Could it be that his rise to government was based upon and reflected his maturity? And do you suppose that his maturity was based upon and shaped by the prophetic word of the Lord rather than the false values of the environments in which he found himself?
In the jail, Joseph gets to meet two very important people: Pharaoh’s personal cupbearer and baker. Each has a dream. Joseph interprets the dreams. The dreams come to pass exactly as Joseph said they would. The cupbearer is restored to his position- the baker is executed. Understand that Joseph is now only one cupbearer away from Pharaoh. And then we come to the detail upon which everything turns.
Gen. 41:1 Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream… The result of that dream was this: (vs.8) Now in the morning his (Pharaoh’s) spirit was troubled….
The final detail that brought Joseph into the prophetic destiny of the thirteen year old dreams was the troubling of Pharaoh. And that is the particular point of this message: How should the church respond to a troubled Pharaoh?
Your response may be that it really doesn’t matter since the last time any of us have had to deal with a Pharaoh was when we went to a museum to see his mummified remains – as Wenda and I did when we lived in Memphis. I get the point – Problem is, that’s not the point. The point is what Pharaoh represented. And what he represented is the system or order of the age. That order is made up of three fundamental systems: The political / governmentalsystem; the economic system, and the religious / philosophical system or body of beliefs and values.
The titles and offices may have changed a thousand times from age to age but the basic structures have never changed. There is a world order- and by that I mean the order of the present age- and that is what Pharaoh represented in the story of Joseph; the government of the age, the economics of the age, and the beliefs or values of the age. And just as every age has its “Pharaoh-head”, so also God has His Josephs in each and every age.
In speaking of the troubling of Pharaoh I am speaking of the troubling of those systems he represented. That troubling is showing up most right now in the world economy. But let me prophesy in the words of Christ that this is but the beginning of sorrows- the very preliminary pains of birth.
But the issue is not the troubling of Pharaoh – the issue is: What does it mean in relation to Joseph and the prophetic dreams he had in his youth? And the point is the troubling of Pharaoh was nothing more than the final detail that ushered Joseph into the full manifestation of the prophetic destiny contained in some dreams that, at the time, made absolutely no sense, and seemed only to cause confusion and bring suffering.
Joseph finds himself once more in a new environment. If you think he needed maturity to handle those preceding environments- they were nothing compared to this one. Quite literally the whole economy of the then known world flowed through his hands. His chariot was positioned right behind Pharaoh’s. Wherever he went in public, a crier preceded him shouting three words: “Bow the knee!” “Bow the knee!” Do you think it might require just a bit of maturity to handle that?
I will say it yet again – his maturity directly related to the posture of his heart regarding the prophetic word he carried through thirteen years of severe preparation. And in the end- as the Psalmist stated it- it was that very word that he carried that proved or demonstrated the truth of what and who he had become within the process of his making.
This morning the “economic Pharaoh” of our own age is critically troubled. Could it be that this very troubling is little more than the God-ordained opportunity for the “Joseph remnant” of this same age to come into their prophetic destiny of Kingdom government; and rather than caving into the present environment they will rise up within it and even transform it?
There is a Kingdom generation – a Joseph remnant – scattered across this planet today; they have passed through various environments, and for all the judgements they have made of themselves and others have made of them – the bottom line is they have never thrown away the prophetic promise, the dream, the word of purpose and destiny God wrote within them. These do not panic when Pharaoh becomes troubled. They know in the deep privacy of their own hearts: The time has come.