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Bob Davis: It looks like Jacob wanted to make Joseph a ruler before Joseph really learned how to be a servant. He wanted Joseph to step into the role of leader of the family, but Joseph is only 17. He is not prepared.

Guest (Male): If you want to be great in God's kingdom, learn to serve everybody else.

Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply His word within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible. Our study of Genesis continues in chapter 36 as we take a look at Joseph's dreams. Here is Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: Now when we move into chapter 36, I'm not going to read the whole chapter to you. I'm not going to read it to you because it's almost all names. They should have named them Bob and Bill and Shorty and whatever, but they named these names that are hard to pronounce. I'm not going to take you through this, but I'm just going to give you a brief of the chapter because you can then go through and pronounce all those names yourselves.

Now, these, Chapter 36, verse one, are the generations of Esau, who is also known as Edom. Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite. Just know here is what's going on in chapter 36. It's mostly just the lineage, not leaving out any amazing information; it's just the names.

Just as the Lord promised Abraham, Esau was great. Esau was a powerful—I guess the term they would use in those days is overlord. He's the father of the Edomites and he's the father over clans and actually regions, many, multiple. You can see that in verse 40. With 11 chiefs—you and I might call them leaders—descended from him.

Esau moved his family away from the Promised Land, not because he didn't like his brother Jacob, but because his clan was so large and Jacob's spread was so large, there was not enough room for both of them to hang around the area of Bethel. Chapter 36 will tell you that as you look at it. Esau's family—he had 11 chiefs, 11 leaders over sections.

Jacob dwelt, he stayed finally. Jacob stayed in the land wherein his father was a sojourner, a stranger in the land of Canaan. Jacob finally obeying God, 120 years old, finally doing what God has called him to do. Don't put him down, because look at me, look at you. We belong to the Lord, but there are times where we're just not doing, we're not in the place He wants us to be, we don't have the attitude He wants us to have.

So God so patiently works and works, and that's what He's doing in my life, that's what He's doing in yours, and that's what He's doing in Jacob's. So now Jacob has finally obeyed the Lord and he's living in the Promised Land. Don't overlook this: while Esau and his children rule the land as chiefs or as overlords, Jacob doesn't do that.

He's not in charge of anything over the Promised Land. He simply occupies the land and he has no one to govern; he's just keeping an eye on his household. Basically, the language that the Bible uses is a sojourner. What that means is a temporary resident. Isn't that interesting? Jacob knows that this is the Promised Land, yes, but he's just a temporary resident on this earth.

Christian, isn't that what I am? Isn't that what you are? Isn't that what we all are that belong to the Lord? This is not our home. We're not planning permanently to be here, although in times of troubles you look around and people are sure fighting hard to stay here. But yeah, just like his father Isaac and just like his father Abraham, trusting in the Lord for everything.

The Lord is the one that's overseeing them; they're not overlording and overseeing everybody else. In the book of Hebrews, the New Testament, chapter 11, I'll just read verses 8 through 10 and hear the language and hear the word of the Lord.

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as a stranger as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles, tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For Abraham, he looked for a city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God.

We are temporary here. Jacob is a sojourner. Our home is heaven. If you belong to Jesus Christ, if He is your Lord and your Savior, this is a temporary place to live. We're dwelling in tents, so to speak. We're not here permanently forever. We're going to go home someday. However it happens, we're going to go home someday. Just like Abraham was looking for a city which had foundations whose builder and maker was God Himself.

That's our home, that's Abraham's home, that's Jacob's home, that's Isaac's home, and that's your home if you belong to the Lord. So verse two says this, "These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. The lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report."

I don't know what they were doing, but the language says it was something that was so far out of bounds, so wicked, that he had to let somebody know. Joseph is not this little tattler, "You know what I saw them do? You know what I saw?" That's not his heart, that's not Joseph. He's 17; he's not a little baby anymore. So he saw something that he realized that his father needed to know about.

Now Israel, his dad, Jacob—remember Jacob's name is changed to Israel—Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, he loved Joseph more than them all because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. And when his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than all his other brothers, they hated him, and listen to this, they could not speak peacefully to him.

They couldn't even say good morning to this guy. They couldn't do it. They hated him so fiercely that they couldn't say any nice thing to him. I know people like that that are Christians. They'll just turn when they see you coming. They don't even want to say good morning. There's something wrong there. There's something wrong in a heart. Be careful. Don't let that heart be mine; don't let it be yours. That's not us.

Some people question, and it's a great question, did you notice this? These are the generations of Jacob, and all he's talking about is Joseph being 17. People say, "Why does it say the generations of Jacob and then start to talk mostly about Joseph?" The answer is very clear. Joseph turns out to be a type of Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son. Joseph is a type of Jesus Christ.

A type means a symbol or a picture or an illustration of what Jesus Christ will be like and what would happen to Jesus and some of the things that Jesus would do and say. Joseph is a type. So even though we've been already told the generations of Jacob, now we're going to focus on Joseph. Why? Because he is a type over and over and over again of our Lord Jesus.

In his commentary, A.W. Pink points out 101 types between Joseph and Jesus—illustrations between Joseph and Jesus Christ. 101. There are other commentators that say there are more than 200. Joseph, you're looking at Joseph, he's a type of Jesus Christ. You say, "Give me a few." I thought you were going to ask that, so I have some.

Joseph was specially loved by his father, specially loved. And you know, Jesus was specially loved by His Father, His only begotten Son. "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Joseph was specially loved by his father. Jesus Christ, the same.

Joseph rebuked his brothers for their sin. Isn't that what Jesus did? He rebuked the Jewish people, the Jewish leaders, the rabbis, the Sadducees, the doctors of the law, the lawyers, the scribes. He rebuked them for their sin, calling them to come back, pointing out their sin.

Joseph was hated by his brothers. Jesus was hated by His brothers and His whole nation, right? Joseph was sold into the hands of his enemies. Jesus was sold into the hands of His enemies, if you recall. Joseph was punished unjustly for no crime. He went to prison and was in prison nearly—well, he got sent into Egypt and then spent in prison probably about almost 13 years.

So he was punished unjustly. Jesus was arrested and punished unjustly. Joseph became the savior of the world back then. Remember, we learned that they had to come to Joseph for bread to stay alive. All nations were coming to Egypt. Joseph was at the head of the food supply. So Joseph became the savior of the world. Jesus Christ gives us the bread of life today. He is the bread of life.

And here's something that is so cool. During the time of his rejection, Joseph received a Gentile bride. And Jesus, who has been rejected and sits at the right hand of the Father, is gathering His bride together, and the most part of the church are Gentiles. Now I could go on and on and on, but you get the point. That's amazing to me, and so that's why the focus will be on Joseph.

Joseph will be used by God to save all of Israel and all of the rest of the known world who came for food because the drought was so bad. Now Jacob loved Rachel. He loved Rachel, and Joseph was Rachel's firstborn. So you can put two and two together and come up with a simple answer here: Jacob had a special love for his son Joseph.

Jacob made for Joseph a special garment called a coat. It's what you and I would call an outer garment, a tunic. So it was not just a little jacket; it would cover him all the way to the feet. Sort of a long, colorful robe with large sleeves. And that's why it was called a coat of many colors. Something about that coat: the other sons didn't have one. Joseph, the beloved son, he had that.

That type of outer clothing that Jacob made for his son at 17 years old, that was normally worn by those in authority or in high positions. So it looks like here, Jacob made this coat because Jacob wanted to make Joseph a ruler, an overseer. He could be trusted. He was smart. He paid attention. He was specially loved. He was a blessing to have as a son.

Wait, before he really learned how to be a servant, he wanted Joseph to step into the role of leader of the family. But Joseph is only 17. He is not prepared. You have to, if you want to be great in God's kingdom, learn to serve everybody else. Because it was a sign of his father's special love, his brothers were jealous and they hated.

They were jealous and they hated their brother. It hurt them so deeply that they hated Joseph with a passion. They were so enraged with jealousy, you can see trouble's coming. They can't even say, "Good morning, how are you doing?" They can't even say that to Joseph. They aren't speaking. They run if they see him coming. They don't want to even deal with this guy.

You say, "Well, I got a reason." Yeah, so did his brothers. If you want to give a good reason, this 17-year-old gets his own coat of many colors and nobody else gets one. The little brother's too little, and the other guys are older and they're the ones running the show. And remember, he's out there with his brothers working, and now he comes back and has to give his dad some ugly news and they don't like that. We're going to have to just do something about this kid.

But remember, it was God's especial love that caused his brothers to hate him. It was Jesus Christ coming down from heaven, becoming flesh, dwelt among us—God the Son—and people hated Him because of the love that the Father had for Him. He healed leprosy and His so-called brothers, the Pharisees, hated Him for that, wanted Him dead.

God spoke out loud, "This is my beloved Son, hear Him." People heard that. And the Pharisees and Sadducees said, "Hey, God never said nothing like that about me. I'm mad, I hate you Jesus," right? Watch out, Christian, because look how easy bitterness can get into our simple little daily lives. Anger, frustration, bitterness, and it builds and it builds and it will cause suffering and trouble.

You can see trouble coming. And I'd like you to know that we will see a whole lot of suffering in Joseph's life. A lot of suffering. That tells me something. New Testament has already told us, but we're back here in the Old Testament. A lot of people skip the Old Testament for these very reasons because some of these things frighten them.

Now listen to this. A whole lot of suffering coming in Joseph's life. If you've read on, you already know it, the things that are coming. A lot of suffering is coming in the life of his brothers as well, in the life of his dad as well, in the whole family. Suffering, everyone, suffering is a part of everyone's life—my life, your lives. Suffering is a part of all of our lives.

Joseph is called righteous, and so we're watching one of the righteous suffer, be mistreated, be cheated, be lied about. Suffering tests Joseph's heart. Suffering tests your heart, my heart, our hearts. Suffering is a part of walking through. Watch Jesus and the things that He suffered, and He is the only begotten, the beloved of the Father, and God allowed suffering in the life of Jesus Christ Himself. And Jesus willingly walked in it.

Joseph will have a whole lot of suffering. Suffering tests our hearts. It tests our character. It strengthens us and it shows flaws. Each and every one will go through sufferings, believer or non-believer. You say, "Oh, I'm not a Christian, I don't care." You will go through suffering. Some of you are going through it right this very moment of all kinds of different things. And you say, "What's going on? What am I doing wrong?" You know what? It is something that we need to learn.

It tests our hearts, it tests our character. Joseph was, if I can use the term, a believer. He was righteous. He trusted in the Lord, he did. And you will watch him do it, and he will and he does. He walked with the Lord, he rested in the Lord, trusted the Lord for everything. We're told that Joseph was righteous.

Okay, so put two and two together then. Joseph trusted God, he walked with the Lord, and Joseph was not kept from suffering. Instead, he was preserved by his faith through all the years of suffering that he went through. What strengthened him, what encouraged him, what built him up, what trained him, was trusting in the Lord the whole way.

The suffering was just as real. He was preserved by his faith through all those years. We will see that Joseph, when his brothers finally come and meet him in Egypt and find out it's him, Joseph will acknowledge that God let this happen. And now in hindsight, he says, "God meant it for good. God sent me here. Yeah, you guys did it, but this was the Lord. This was His plan."

So someday, no matter how your heart is broken now, no matter how you're struggling, no matter what fears you may have, rest in Jesus. Stop and rest because you're going to look back someday and say, "That's exactly why. That makes sense now." Now that may not be till we get to heaven, but don't worry, we'll get there. By grace through faith we're going to get there. You're going to make it to heaven if you belong to Jesus Christ. You just count yourself there because it's by God's grace.

But there is suffering. There are sufferings along the way. And we'll see some of Joseph's and we've seen some of Jesus Christ's, and we will see as we go through. You know who else was also righteous? The most holy and righteous of them all, Jesus Christ Himself. Completely holy, completely righteous. Listen to Hebrews, chapter five. Messiah Jesus, "who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and with tears unto God that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared."

"Though he were a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered." Jesus learned obedience; He walked through it. He learned obedience by the things He suffered. And being made complete or mature, perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.

Jesus went first. I belong to Him. If you belong to Him too, we belong to Him and He went first. We follow. And He suffered and trusted the Lord and cried out to God when He cried out in the garden, "If it be possible that this cup pass by me that I not drink from it, that's my prayer. Nevertheless, not my will but Thy will be done." And He surrendered to what was coming and He went to the cross and He suffered and shed His blood and died there.

He suffered hanging between heaven and earth for six straight hours. He let them nail Him there. He died on the cross and He cried out, "Father, forgive them. They don't understand what they're doing." Jesus suffered, willingly suffered. And that's what Hebrews is talking about here. Being made complete or mature, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey Him. What do we do? We trust.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM.

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