Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob, is one of the many characters in the
Bible who served as a shadow of Jesus… a type of Christ. Early on, both Joseph and Jesus knew they were called to rule over their families, and the
families of both Joseph and Jesus did not take kindly to the knowledge of their
high callings.
Joseph was betrayed and sold into slavery for 20 shekels of silver, and
Jesus was betrayed and arrested for 30 pieces of silver (the price of a slave).
Just as Joseph was sent down into prison because of the sins of another, Jesus
was murdered and then descended into Hades because of the sins of the world.
However, similarly to the way Joseph was brought up out of prison and exalted
to second in command to Pharaoh, Jesus was raised from the dead and exalted to
the right hand of God the Father.
Last week, I noticed another area of Joseph’s life that points to Jesus.
Once Joseph became second in command, he instructed the people to begin
prepping for a famine. He called them to work extra hard and focus on storing
food away for a future time. He called them not to worry, but to live for what
was unseen rather than what was seen.
Jesus calls
us to be spiritual preppers: to live for what is unseen and build up
storehouses for a future time in heaven.
Do not
seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. For
all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows
that you need these things. But seek His kingdom, and these things will be
added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly
to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to charity; make
yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven,
where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. – Luke 12:29-33
The apostle Paul echoes the heavenly perspective of Jesus’ words as he
writes in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, “We do not lose heart, but though our outer
man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary,
light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all
comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things
which are not seen are eternal.”
You must understand, when Paul writes of Christians’, “momentary, light
affliction,” he’s not simply referring to a headache or a cold. This is a verse that
shows the importance of reading Scripture in context. Earlier in the chapter
Paul, tells us exactly what’s been troubling him and his companions. He writes that they are
afflicted in every way, perplexed, struck down and constantly being given over
to death for Jesus’ sake.
Why in the world would Paul refer to such troubling circumstances as 'light and momentary'? He was aware of eternity. He had a heavenly perspective. He
knew that a lifetime of hell on earth can’t compare to an hour in Paradise with
Jesus. Paul believed more in what is unseen than what is seen.
Ignatius,
who wrote his epistle to the Romans just before being executed for Christ, was
a man who faithfully and bravely embodied both Jesus and Paul’s instructions to
live for what lasts rather than what is passing away.
“For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which
are not seen are eternal.” … Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild
beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocations of bones; let cutting off of
members; let shatterings of the whole body and let all the dreadful torments of
the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ. … All the pleasures
of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing. It
is better for me to die in behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the
ends of the earth. “For what shall a man be profited, if he gain the whole
world, but lose his own soul?” Him I seek, who died for us: Him I desire, who
rose again for our sake. This is the gain which is laid up for me. – Ignatius 105CE, Vol. 1, p. 123, 125-126 [CD-ROM]
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