to the Old Testament Scriptures and if you are a visitor we encourage you to follow the reading in your Bible or from the Bible that is in the pew rack in front of you as we turn to Genesis chapter 41 this morning and read indeed from verse 37 through to the end of the chapter verses 37 to 57 in Genesis chapter 41 Now you will remember that we are breaking into the great account of Joseph being summoned from the prison where he had spent it seems a number of years into the presence of Pharaoh and he now comes and is appointed as the Prime Minister over all of Egypt in one single hour. as it were from prison to the throne. Verse 37, the plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials, the plan of course of Joseph for the seven years of famine. So Pharaoh asked them, can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the Spirit of God? Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has made all this known to you There is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you. So Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command. And men shouted before him, Make way! Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt. Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zephanath-Paneer and gave him Asenath daughter of Potipharah priest of On to be his wife and Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt. Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt and Joseph went out from Pharaoh's presence and traveled throughout Egypt During the seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain like the sand of the sea. It was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure. Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath, daughter of Potipharah, priest of Amn. Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, it is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household. The second son he named Ephraim and said, it is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end and the seven years of famine began just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. When all Egypt began to feel the famine the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians go to Joseph then do what he tells you. When the famine had spread over the whole country Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians for the famine was severe throughout Egypt and all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was severe in all the world. and we'll stop there. May God indeed once more bless to us this reading also of His own Holy Word. Now as you are aware we are proceeding through a long series of expositions in the book of Genesis and I believe that this morning's one is the 90th in this series and it's the eighth exposition in the life of that great patriarch of the book of Genesis, Joseph. Now surely as we have been learning together on these Sunday mornings he is one of the most significant men in all of human history. one of the most significant lives that has ever been lived in this world. And you recall that we were introduced to him those number of Sundays ago in Genesis chapter 37 as a boy of 17 and we will God willing come to the close of his life eventually in the last chapter of Genesis when he leaves this world at the age of 110 years. And through all of these 14 chapters of the book of Genesis almost one quarter of the book is the most extraordinary operation of God's promises and providences and power that we could almost imagine or desire to see. One of the commentators upon the life of Joseph says this and I took out his words to share with you this morning, Dr. James Hamilton who says that viewed on the human side we have in Joseph's memoirs the history of a pious youth full of brotherly kindness and filial affection and by his good conduct and great wisdom rising to a station where he was enabled to rescue from the ruin his own family and to be a princely benefactor of his unnatural brethren but viewed on the divine side We almost lose sight of the pious youth and see nothing but God's wonderful and marvellous providence. Joseph's career, he says, is just predestination made familiar and the providence of God made evident. And that I think is what we have seen in so many wonderful ways. Now you remember that last Sunday morning we began at the beginning of chapter 41 and saw Joseph's wonderful ascent from the prison to the very throne of Egypt as it were in a single bound to the place of highest prominence and importance. and that from human points of view it was entirely inexplicable and unexpected that in one single hour a man condemned and a prisoner should become the right hand man of Pharaoh in all of Egypt Now in the rest of the chapter that we're going to look at this morning, chapter 41, we have what is nothing less, I think, than a full-length portrait of this remarkable Prime Minister over the whole land of Egypt. And it is moreover a portrait that brings out it seems to me three points on which we need to focus our attention together this morning hour. There is first Joseph's elevation, there is secondly Joseph's naturalization and there is thirdly Joseph's administration. and all of them are dealt with in the 20 or so verses from verse 37 to the end of the chapter. Now congregation we need to remember as we come to the further story of Joseph this morning that these are not simply tales of ancient things. They're not simply accounts of events of long ago that have no relevance to our lives anymore. But these accounts of the life of Joseph are nothing else but episodes of heaven let down as it were into our own ordinary lives as believers today that we may gaze at these things and feel the touch of heaven upon our own lives. They have been given to us you see for our consideration and our instruction and the application of them to our own difficulties and opportunities as we live out our ordinary lives as believers today that we might be better men and women of God and more faithful to him learning from the faithfulness of Joseph for instance and more wise stewards and servants of our heavenly master as we feel the touch of heaven upon our own lives again And so I direct you to these three parts and portions of this chapter. Now first of all there is, I think, Joseph's elevation in verses 37 to 45. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has made all this known to you, there is none so discerning and wise as you. And Pharaoh, we read, went on to appoint him over all his other counselors and advisors and all the greybeards around Pharaoh's throne to appoint Joseph his own right-hand man, his prime minister, his royal vizier, as it were. Now I want you to notice the scene particularly in these verses about Joseph's elevation because surely there is nothing more remarkable than this in all the life of Joseph and it was a very long life as you recall and you see him upon the urgent summons of the royal pharaoh hastening into this man's presence after that brief and hasty preparation in the prison when he was shaved and clothed in raiment fit for a king and from the dungeon he comes into the royal presence of the pharaoh of Egypt the man who was a prisoner an hour ago now standing in the throne room of the greatest monarch in the ancient world and what I want you to notice especially about this picture is the character and demeanor of this man Joseph But there is nothing new or unexpected in Joseph's character as he stands before this royal figure. He stands in exactly the same character that he had lived with in prison and which he had served his fellow prisoners. And one of the tremendous things about Joseph and this portrait of him before the royal pharaoh is that he is essentially the same man wherever he appears and wherever you find him. Now look at it, meek he is and lowly too, not giving himself any unwanted airs before the royal pharaoh and his grand courtiers. but a man of God to the very core with integrity and poise and principle speaking before this figure of royalty as one who himself has received authority and never with the look or attitude or words merely to please the great hearer who sat on the royal throne of Egypt before him He was essentially the same man as he always was. Now why I emphasize this I think should be obvious because you know in ordinary life that elevation or promotion often leads to a change in a man's character and in his views and aspirations. He's climbing the ladder to success and he's willing to make the compromises that are necessary in order that his advance upward may be the more speedy. But when you look at the life of Joseph, you don't see that. He not only declines to take any honour to himself, but he gives all credit to the God whom he serves. Look at verse 16, back there in the earlier part of the chapter, where he says, I cannot do it, but God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace. And four times indeed in his encounter with Pharaoh, four times over, he gives the credit and the honour and the glory to his sovereign God. Verse 16, I cannot do it but God will give Pharaoh the answer of peace. Verse 25, God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. Verse 28 again, God has shown Pharaoh what he is going to do. Verse 32, the matter has been firmly decided by God. And Joseph repeatedly insists that all that he is and all that he can do as a man is due to God alone. Now we need to mark this well, his frank confession, his simple statement as he testifies before kings and declares God's message and brings the counsel of God to bear upon this situation of such gravity and as he announces God's sovereign will concerning the dreams of Pharaoh. This youth of thirty years displacing all the grey-haired counsellors of Pharaoh around the throne and wielding with such dexterity the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God and by it swaying an empire. You say, how can this be? And the answer is, his character. You see there was in Joseph's look and demeanor and words something that carried with it the very impress of heaven stamped upon it. The authority that was divine. the truth that evidently came not from him but from God which flashed conviction into Pharaoh's heart that you are the man that this nation needs and Pharaoh agreed to everything that Joseph said. Now it's astonishing Not least because you remember that Joseph's proposals and plans stretched over a period of twice seven years. And not to Egypt only, but to the whole surrounding countries as well. And this is what makes it so amazing and so astonishing. And the character of Joseph were the grounds humanly on which Pharaoh made his extraordinary decision to elevate the prisoner to the throne. you know it's almost like the prophecy concerning our Lord in Psalm 118 verses 22 and 23 the stone which the builders have rejected has become the headstone of the corner and says the psalmist this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes And you see it is marvelous because Pharaoh and his servants who bowed down before false gods came to believe that the true God spoke through this man and that the Spirit of God as Pharaoh said was evidently in this man and that Joseph was above all the divinely sent messenger to warn that nation of impending calamity. And it came about because Joseph had his eyes upon God in every situation through which he passed. His integrity, his consistency, his faithfulness, his personal morality, his executing of all his responsibilities, whether they were the lowly ones of the prison or the highest ones of the royal prime minister of all Egypt. wherever he was, Joseph was a man who was the same, who lived with his eyes upon the sovereign God. Now I think the application is clear to us, isn't it, this morning. that if we live to God congregation if we are men and women of God whether we are passing through adversity as Joseph did for 13 painful years of unjust treatment or whether we are living through prosperity as Joseph also did from here on we must live by the power of God in our lives And what we're reading about, you see, in terms of Joseph's elevation is a very precious principle indeed, where the Lord says to his people, those who honour me, I will honour. Now of course not all of God's choice servants have been elevated to such positions of honour and recognition as Joseph was, even though they were equally faithful to their Lord. Jeremiah certainly was not elevated to that honour and recognition, nor was Isaiah. nor were many of the prophets and faithful servants of God but they knew nevertheless in all their experiences the same truth that those who honor me I will honour and it often pleases the Lord to lift his faithful servants to positions of great responsibility and usefulness when in their character they have consistently looked to him. What I say to you this morning congregation is this, let us stand firm whatever may be the adversities outside of us Let us seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness as Joseph did in his day. Let us deny ourselves, if necessary, immediate gratification and pleasure for the sake of the far-off harvest of reward. Let us honour God as Joseph did by every manner of obedience to his revealed will. Let us dare to say no and let us be willing if necessary to decrease in order that the glory of God may increase. And then this passage teaches us, then the tide will turn and God will not be unfaithful to forget us. and he will have mercy upon us and he will exalt his people to inherit the earth. Joseph's elevation, he walked into the Pharaoh's presence, a condemned prisoner and walked out of it the greatest man in all of Egypt next to Pharaoh himself. Now secondly there is Joseph's naturalization. I want you to look with me as you have your Bible open at verse 45 and verses 50 through 52. of course we've read that Joseph received from Pharaoh the insignia of royal office he was invested with the royal signet ring in verse 42 the emblem of Pharaoh's full authority so that he could act in the name of Pharaoh and put as it were the Pharaoh's imprimatur on every decision of Joseph's he was bestowed with the chain of office as a mark of dignity he received the robe of fine linen as befitted a man so close to the king and proclamation as we read was made before him wherever he went that men should bow down before him or as the new international version renders it give way But you see more than this had to be done for Joseph's acceptance by the Egyptians and the fulfilment of his role as the saviour of Egypt and ultimately of the ancient world. He had to undergo a process of naturalisation as well as one of elevation. I look at verse 45, his name was changed to that formidable looking polysyllable that we can scarcely get our tongues around. Zaphonath Paneer. Now what it means, and I don't know why the Egyptians found it much easier to get their lips around that name than the simple Joseph, but what it means is very probably saviour of the life, even supporter of life. possibly even revealer of secrets. We don't know, and Egyptian and Hebrew scholars debate the meaning of that strange expression, Zaphonath Paneer. But he was given a new name as befitted the great task that lay before him to save all of Egypt from the terrible famine that was to come upon the whole land. But then again you notice in verse 45, he was given to Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, the priest of On. And Asenath, you may be interested to know, literally means belonging to the goddess Neith, one of the Egyptian pagan gods, the earth mother of the delta of the Nile. and she was attributed with much of Egypt's fertility. Her father Potiphar means the gift of Ra, the sun god, the main god worshipped by the Egyptians. And the priest of Onn means that he was priest of the later city of Heliopolis, the city of the sun god in the Nile Delta, given over entirely to the worship of the sun. Now such a woman formed the wife of Joseph. Why? Well we might immediately say such marriages and marriage alliances were surely forbidden in the scripture. But clearly Pharaoh did this to bring Joseph into the very innermost circle of Egyptian aristocracy. that aristocracy that he might be accepted fully by the Egyptians and regarded as one of them marrying in to both a princely and a priestly family as it would seem from the description of Asenath's father and he would be fully accepted in the Egyptian culture of that day Now as to that other issue of Joseph marrying a woman who was the daughter of a pagan priest, we must say that Joseph's marriage here was clearly an exception. Not only did his high position require evidently such a marriage alliance that he might be given princely rank, among the Egyptians but the evidence is that Asenath far from turning Joseph's heart away from the things of God became herself a believer in the true God Jehovah as I think this is shown in the naming of Joseph's sons. Do you notice they're given not Egyptian names but Hebrew names. Manasseh and Ephraim, names of great significance as we'll see in a moment. Evidencing the fact that in Joseph's house he was the head of his family and led his family in the worship of the true God. Now the third thing I want you to notice is indeed the birth of Joseph's two sons during those seven prosperous years before the famine came. They're really a window into Joseph's heart you see. He's there at the very zenith of his power and influence in Egypt. And the names by which he calls his sons are a window into the heart of Joseph that show us how he is really thinking. Manasseh the firstborn, meaning made to forget. Summing up, in other words, all of Joseph's attitude to the hurt and suffering that he had undergone through those bitter thirteen years of rejection, and his saying before all of Egypt, as it were, God has made me to forget my bitter toils. all my hardships and even my father's house in terms of being rejected there by my brothers. Now what is this but a healthy refusal to allow the memories of injustice to fester? And you know many of us who are Christians need to do that. and by a deliberate act of the will by God's grace leave behind the past and live in the present. Though of course Joseph was never going to forget in an absolute sense his family and his godly ancestry far be it that he should. But the second son you notice Ephraim meaning doubly fruitful shows that after all the loneliness and fear of those bitter years He realized that God had caused him to be fruitful in the end. Doubly fruitful. It's the Hebrew plural. He's entered fully into God's glorious purposes at the last. And the great vision that God had given him in the dreams as a 17 year old of the sun and moon bowing down before him and the sheaves of the field bowing down before his sheaf. was all being abundantly fulfilled. And in thankfulness for the manner in which God had richly blessed and prospered him in the land where he had been so unjustly afflicted for so many years, he calls his second-born son, Ephraim, doubly blessed, doubly fruitful. Now what this says to us, you know, as Christians today is that how God dealt with Joseph is often the way he deals with believers still, especially those of us who are called to particular service and special fruit bearing in our lives. There is the time of testing followed by the time of triumph. Was it not so with the Lord Jesus Christ? In Hebrews 12 we read of Him, for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God on high. Do we not read in 2 Timothy 2 and verses 11 and 12, if we have died with Him, with Christ, we shall be raised with Him. If we suffer with him, we shall reign with him. And Paul says again in Romans 8 verse 18, For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that shall be revealed. And what Joseph's experience says to us is this then, that even if our entire life be spent in suffering and rejection, we should have the confidence that all is the preparation for a great work that God has for us in the ages yet to come. You see all service is not rendered here on earth even and a life spent under the cloud and in suffering unjustly has the promise even in glory of great usefulness to the Lord in ages to come. And yet I do not know of such a life that is not also useful here on earth as well. Be true, says one of the commentators, you shall forget your sorrow and your long waiting and you too shall be fruitful. You know many of us are still in God's school here at this moment learning the lessons of the spiritual life. How are we getting along? How are we preparing for graduation day? Are we with Joseph able to say, Manasseh, Ephraim? Or are we failing the tests that he is sending us from time to time? So there is Joseph's elevation, there is Joseph's naturalization. And thirdly, you know there is Joseph's administration. As we finish, look at verses 46 through 49 and 53 through 57. Now we noted Joseph's immediate entrance into his great task of preparing for the famine when we read the scripture a few minutes ago. He went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. It's so characteristic of this man, isn't it? As we've seen all through his life. A man who doesn't allow the grass to grow under his feet. Is he a slave sold in the slave market of Egypt? We see him rising almost meteor-like to be the chief estate manager of Potiphar's house. Is he plunged into the darkness of the dungeon? We see him almost immediately being the jailer's right-hand man in charge of all the prisoners in the dungeon. And here, there is an immediate start with the characteristic energy of this unfailing and almost infallible man of God. No grass grows under his feet. He is everywhere, personally overseeing all the arrangements, the storehouses, the grain gathering, in preparation for the seven long years of the famine to come. And you notice just as Joseph predicted, Egypt experienced a productivity and a prosperity that she had probably never before known in her long history. Seven years of abundance as the earth brought forth, the Hebrew says, gometz. handfuls and it's the picture of the earth bestowing her bounty with full hands on every side. and Joseph is there wisely gathering up and storing the grain from the fields around the particular city for the use of that particular city what wisdom he had until so vast a store of it is ingathered it becomes impossible to keep the records anymore now you can see something of the bounty of that harvest in that twenty percent of it was laid aside only for the seven years of the abundance and from that twenty percent, one-fifth, all of Egypt was fed for seven years and all the surrounding countries as well. And you see by way of application the picture I think that we are given here of Joseph's administration is this. It's the picture of a perishing world that is hanging upon the great fact that Joseph reigns. Because the seven years of famine swiftly come and the people though warned doubtless by Joseph of the impending disaster do not plan ahead and they come to Pharaoh as we see and they cry to him for food And he says to them in verse 55, go to Joseph and do what he tells you. And the picture is unfolding of a perishing world that hangs for its existence upon this great fact that Joseph reigns. Now as you read these things you see you cannot help but think of Jesus as we have often done in this series of studies in the life of Joseph. Of Jesus, the great prime minister of the universe, the interpreter of his father's will to men, the executor of all the divine decrees. And on his head his many crowns, And on his finger is the signet ring Of all authority and sovereignty, And upon his loins is the girdle of power, And blistering robes envelop him, And the cry that precedes him also Is the cry, Make way, bow down, because he is the one who has brought salvation from certain death and spiritual bread into this starving world. And you see the great question for us as it was in a sense for the Egyptians many years ago before Joseph was have you gone to that Joseph for deliverance? Have you bowed down before his feet? Have you recognized? But the whole world depends upon this great fact that Jesus, God's Joseph reigns. It's of no avail to oppose him. The Father's decree and plan cannot be upended. Yet have I set my son upon my holy hill. and at his name every knee shall bow. And in Joseph, God's man, you see, we see the Lord Jesus, God's other man, coming and the king of the universe, commanding the starving and dying men and women of this world. to come to him and the Bible assures us that all who come to him will not be cast out but will receive from him without money and without cost. Well, as I finish, famine, yes, but famine relief is available, thanks to Joseph. And that administration congregation became a blessing to Pharaoh, a blessing to his counsellors, a blessing to the whole land of Egypt. a blessing to all of the ancient world of the Middle East. And the unexpected unfolding of God's plan is only just beginning, as God in his sovereignty uses that famine to bring the little family of Jacob and Joseph's brothers down to Egypt. Well, that we will wait for, God willing, next Sunday morning. Let's pray together. Our Father we're very thankful this morning that from these ancient portions of the Holy Scripture there is much to instruct us and much to guide us in the living of our Christian lives. We thank Thee that there is a reward for the faithful Christian who honours God and has his eye continually upon his sovereign Lord and that even those experiences of bitterness and of unjustness can be replaced by situations of usefulness and blessing and glory that there may be a Manasseh and there may be an Ephraim and that there is one appointed over the administration of all this world's affairs to which, to whom we are to go as the great Joseph of God, the one who has the answer for the sinner's every need. Father bless us as we have looked at this passage, strengthen us in these coming days of this week and enable us all to honour Thee in our lives and to bring Thee the glory of a sanctified obedience such as we see in the life of that ancient servant of Thine, the man Joseph. For Jesus' sake, Amen.