I seem continuously drawn back to the study of Joseph, the first born of Rebecca. So many correlations exist between Jacob’s son and Christ, the Son of God, for this to be mere coincidence? For one, Joseph was a favored son, one who always stayed close to his father. His brothers seemed always preoccupied, though desiring to please their father as well. We are so much like the brothers!
The story of Joseph’s coat of many colors is likewise loaded with spiritual meaning. Crafted by his father out of love, it would later be delivered back to the father, stained with the blood of a goat. The coat, perhaps designed by the very hands of the father, was meant as a cloak of honor, esteeming this favored son above all others.
My mind imagines the Creator God, secretly designing a cloak for His own Son, a human garment fashioned deep behind the veil of a virgin womb, sacred sinews knit together by the Spirit of the Father, apart from the seed man. All others before, had been fashioned in moments of lust between a man and a woman. This garment of flesh would eventually represent many colors; and too, eventually set aside through a bloody sacrifice, becoming the scapegoat of all mankind.
Yes, Christ’s historical life bears uncanny resemblance to that of Joseph; He too sold into slavery through the sins of his brothers, long before His appearance on earth as King of Kings. Joseph’s infamous pit to palace journey was necessary to preserve the legacy of his father when famine would fully come. His brothers stood in shock when he eventually revealed himself. Likewise, the earthly mission of Jesus may not yet have been fully revealed to us? Ironically, we too face famine at this time, at least spiritually. Moral decay is secondary only to the rank failure of the religions of our world. Could it be that all this is setting up a physical famine as well, even more so as multiple nations somehow sense a longing for freedom and democracy? A recent statistic indicated that if everyone on this globe ate like the average American, it would take at least three globes to grow the necessary food, not to mention the limitation of excessive global debt!
Like others, I have more questions than answers. Possibly, this sudden desire for democracy is nothing more than a lustful desire to participate in the American excesses brought on by abused capitalism? Or, it truly is a desire for deep spiritual freedom, evidence of the inalienable rights of all people mentioned by the forefathers of our democracy? Even the invention of social media, could now a tool employed by the Author of invention to set up another global transition?
Back to the Joseph, and the Christ; was this first born and highly favored Son of God, cloaked in human skin, in fact a gift of love from our own Father. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son…” and just as Joseph’s journey took some time to fully unfold, so might the full mission of this God of love, for the full offspring of Noah, be nearing fulfillment?
First, Shem, the father of Abraham and the children of Israel, the seed of Judaism; then the Greeks, the children of Japheth, gentiles grafted in as Judaism rejects their Messiah; and now, as that second phase nears its end, perhaps this God of love is moving once on the continent of Africa, Egypt in fact, favoring the children of Ham? These descendants, for millennia have been abused by demagogy and slavery, Canaanites from whom both Esau and Ishmael took their wives and the radicals of Islam took their spoil.
The desire for freedom and liberty is the litmus test for those stirred by Christ; the uprisings of our day could be evidence of the final fruition of the blessings promised both Esau and Ishmael, as men and women everywhere shed the tyranny of religion for the liberty of the Son!