This Can Be Your Story - Part 30

We have come to the conclusion of the series; “This can be your story”. The story of Joseph from being his father’s beloved son to a rejected slave and finally ‘an exalted ruler’ can be our story too. We see no character flaws in his nature whatever be the stage of life that he was in.

Looking into the last portion of chapter 49 we can see the death of Jacob and how his body is being embalmed in Egypt. This was a common practice among the Egyptians where they embalmed the dead body and preserved them in fragrance to prevent decay inside pyramids.

Genesis 49:29-33
Then he gave them these instructions: “I am about to be gathered with my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites” When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people

Then moving on to the last chapter it starts by the lamentation and great funeral procession by Joseph and his brothers for their father.

Genesis 50 :1-10
And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.  And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days. And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have dug for me in the land of Canaan, there shall thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray there, and bury my father, and I will come again. And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, And all the houses of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father for seven days.

We can see that there were seven days for lamentation in between. 

Genesis 50:14-15
After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father. 15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”

Usually in homes, when either the father has passed away or mother or both, there is a tendency for the children to have arguments or fights over the inheritance, Will etc. This problem arises mainly because no one is able to cover the father's position and make decisions.

Genesis 50:16-17
So now the brothers come to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died, 'Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you. ' Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?

Joseph's brothers were scared as they thought he would take revenge on them for all the cruel acts done on him now that Jacob was no more. It saddened Joseph as he had forgiven them completely. But again, we see his brothers bowing down before him as he had seen in the dream when he was a child.

Genesis 50: 20
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive

This verse is what we can learn from Joseph, his life lesson. Always remember any wrong or struggle we may be facing now, God will work for the good for us . He will make it a testimony in our life and ministry to take upon. Joseph gave his brothers assurance that he will not harm them for their wrongs. God worked it out for the deliverance of nations.

Genesis 50:22-26
Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years and saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”  And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Joseph asked them to never leave his bones after his death in Egypt but carry it when they returned to Canaan. 

Hebrew 11:22
By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones

After 430 years, Moses did exactly as was instructed by Joseph.

Exodus 13:19 says “Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.”

In Joshua 24.32 it is written that; “And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.

God is a God of generations. If He has given a promise, it will be fulfilled through the generations.

Now we will look into the book of Breaking Barriers.  There is one full chapter more specifically chapter 8 that looks at dreams and fulfillment.  It gives some examples of dreams. DREAMS can happen when one is sleeping. It can be ‘inside the box dreams’ in the subconscious mind and ‘outside the box dreams’ . 
The outside box dreams can be due to evil spirits that result in fear etc and other is Holy Spirit lead dreams which are known as divine dreams and this is what Joseph had. There are also Life dreams which are dreams God imprints in our life and this can occur in sleep or not.

 Different stages of dreams:

1. Birth of a dream : it is the starting phase of a dream and this is what Joseph had when he was 17 years.He later had another confirmation dream too.
2. Growth of dream: this is when we meditate on a particular dream and it becomes fruitful. 
3. Death of dream : this occurs when we experience struggles and feel these will never be accomplished. Especially when Joseph has so much cruelty from all .
4. Burial of dream :  An example is when Joseph was put in jail. His dreams were buried .

 Resurrection of dream: the dead dreams can be alive because the resurrected Lord is capable of resurrecting our dreams 

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