For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. Gal. 3:26
Joseph had tried to forgive his family, forget his past, and move on in his new life in Egypt, with a family of his own, when he brothers appeared. He probably never thought that he would see his family again, now in our passage for today you read that his entire family made its way to Egypt. But Joseph understood that all that had happened to him and the joy that he was experiencing was about more than just being reunited with family.
And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. (Gen. 42:8-9)
Notice what Joseph remembered when he saw his brothers. It wasn’t their cruelty, their selling him to slave traders, it was the dreams. It seems that for the first time Joseph had his “Eureka” moment. He realized what it had all been for, what God’s plan had been from the beginning, when God first revealed his purpose in Joseph’s dreams. God was saving his people through Joseph!
It is much like the “Eureka” moment George Bailey had in “It’s a Wonderful Life”, if you will permit me to cite a movie. After the angel helped George to see what the world would have been like had he not been alive, George realized how events were changed by his being alive.
Joseph realized the same thing. He saw for the first time that he was in Egypt for such a time as this. If he had not been there his family would have died, because there would have been no food for them, because there would have been no preparation for the famine, because there was no leader to lead and prepare, because there was no one to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. Joseph now knew the truth, and he told his brothers this as the book of Genesis closes:
But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Gen. 50:19-20)
That is how Joseph prefigures or is a type of Jesus. Jesus was sent to earth to suffer and die so that many people could be brought back to life, spiritually, and be saved from the spiritual famine of sin and death. Encourage the children on this last day that the story of Joseph is meant to help us better understand the story of Jesus. God loves us and has a plan to save us when we trust in Him, as we become a part of his family by faith.
I Commend Joy! 