2005 North American Bible Study MeetingDecember 26, 2005, EveningTherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house.  Hebrews 3:1-3Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of Godwhich He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.Romans 1:1-4Joseph, a Shadow of JesusIsaac, the son of Abraham, had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. The Israelites that appeared in Exodus were named after this man, Jacob. Jacob had four wives—Leah and her servant, Zilpah, and Rachel and her servant Bilhah—with whom he had twelve sons. Rachel was the wife he loved the most, yet the wife with whom he was buried, along with his fathers in the cave in Machpelah, was not Rachel, but Leah the mother of Judah. Joseph was born to Rachel. From a young age, Joseph was greatly loved by his father, and as a result, he was envied by his brothers. One day, Joseph dreamt that he was binding sheaves in the field with his brothers, and his sheaf arose and stood upright, while their sheaves stood all around and bowed down to his sheaf. He also dreamt that the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down to him. His brothers were jealous when they heard about these dreams, so they sold him as a slave for twenty shekels of silver to some Ishmaelites who were on their way to Egypt. (Much later, Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.) Then, when Joseph’s older brothers arrived home, they showed to father Joseph’s tunic covered with the blood of an animal, and Jacob, thinking that Joseph had been devoured by a wild beast, wept bitterly. At that time, Joseph was seventeen years old.Having been taken down to Egypt, Joseph was sold to Potiphar, a captain of the guard, to be a slave in his house. Joseph worked wisely and well, and so he was made overseer of Potiphar’s entire house. But then a problem arose. Potiphar’s wife cast longing eyes on the young handsome Joseph and desired to lie with him. One day, Potiphar’s wife grabbed his garment, saying, “Lie with me,” but he fled, leaving his garment in her hand.When Jesus as a Man in the flesh came to this world, He, too, was tempted. When we consider how He prayed to let the cup of the crucifixion pass from Him, we can see clearly that even though He was God, He also had the nature of man within Him and so He, too, was faced with the temptations of this life. Yet, Jesus said, “Not as I will, but as You will.” He resisted the temptation, praying that the words of the Old Testament might be fulfilled in Him (see Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-46).When Joseph fled from the woman, she was holding onto his garment, so he had no choice but to leave his garment behind. The woman then used the garment as evidence of Joseph’s sin; she framed him. She told the men of her house that Joseph had tried to rape her, and that when she cried out, he ran off, leaving his garment behind. When Potiphar heard these words from his wife, he was furious, and he threw Joseph into prison without listening to both sides of the story.Then one day, the chief butler and the chief baker were thrown into the prison where Joseph was confined. One night, both of these men each had a dream, but they had no idea what these dreams meant. At that time, Joseph interpreted their dreams for them. He said that in three days, the chief butler would be restored to his position, and the chief baker would be put to death. He asked the chief butler to remember him after he was restored to his position. And it happened exactly as Joseph had said. Yet, the chief butler did not remember Joseph, and Joseph spent two more years in prison.Then one day, the Egyptian pharaoh had a dream, and Joseph was able to interpret this dream when no one else in Egypt had been able to do so. It was a dream about seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. We need to consider the order of events here. In the prison, Joseph interpreted the dreams of the two officials, and then, undeservedly, he spent another two years in prison. When those two years had passed, Pharaoh dreamt about seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. This corresponds precisely to the order of historical events. According to the prophecy in Daniel, seven years after the Messiah was put to death, the history of mankind would come to an end. Yet, very strangely, over two thousand years have passed since then.The additional two years that Joseph spent in prison are a shadow of the age of the Church. Once this period had passed, the dream of the seven years of plenty and seven years of famine would take place. The seven years of plenty refers to the seven years of the wedding feast that will take place when the Church meets Jesus in the air. At the same time, there will be a period of seven years of tribulation, like the seven years of famine. This order of events is revealed precisely within the life of Joseph. After Joseph had interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, he was made governor over the whole of Egypt. Pharaoh even took off his signet ring and gave it to Joseph, saying, “Only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” This image of Pharaoh is similar to the image of God the Father, and shows us the position of Jesus. It was then that Joseph married Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah, an Egyptian priest. This image of Joseph marrying a Gentile woman is a quiet passing prelude to the marriage of Jesus to the Church, which consists mainly of Gentiles. Joseph had two sons with his Egyptian wife. The first was Manasseh and the second, Ephraim. Before Jacob passed away, as he blessed both of Joseph’s sons, he crossed his arms and placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head and his left hand on Manasseh’s head. Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Joseph’s two sons; in each case the positions of the elder and younger sons were switched.These aspects of Joseph’s story are vastly different from the simple story of Joseph related by the people of this world to the children in their Sunday schools, telling them that there was a man called Joseph who had eleven brothers, he was sold into slavery in Egypt and later he was reunited with his family. The Bible’s short account of Joseph’s life reveals clearly the relationships between brothers that are to be found throughout the book of Genesis and the entire Old Testament; the relationship between Old and New Testament times; and the relationship between the period before the Pentecost and the Church that arose after it. Now let’s look at the situation that arose when Joseph met his brothers again. Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt to buy grain, but their father did not let them take their youngest brother with them. They were not aware that the person before whom they stood trembling was in fact their brother whom they had sold into slavery. This is what Joseph said to his brothers at that time. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.”  Genesis 45:3-5After that, Joseph brought his father and family down to Egypt to live in the land of Goshen, and some time later, Jacob, his father, passed away. Then his brothers began to worry, thinking, “While our father was alive, Jacob did not deal harshly with us, but now that our father is dead, will Joseph repay us for the evil we did?’So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.”’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.  Genesis 50:16-17Joseph’s heart must have been really heavy for him to have wept like this. It is also true that his was the heart of Jesus at this time. Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.  Genesis 50:18-21In this passage, Joseph appears as an image of the resurrected Jesus when He returns to this earth to reign as King of kings. When the Jews come to realize that Jesus, whom their ancestors crucified long ago, was the Messiah of whom the Law and the prophets testified, there will be a tremendous movement of repentance amongst them. Also, the twelve tribes of Israel will clearly witness with their own eyes Jesus’ return to this earth.From man’s perspective, we may think it obvious that Jesus will punish the nation that put Him to death on the cross. It is this type of thinking that led to incidents such as the Crusades. Yet, just as Joseph comforted his brothers, Jesus will also comfort the Israelites. At that time, Jesus will reign over the world as the King of Israel. The Israelites crucified Jesus, but God used this as an opportunity to wash away the sins of all the people in the world, in order to save mankind. These words of testimony appear in these verses.So the latter part of Genesis bears many similarities with the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible. As you read the book of Revelation, you will come across this kind of content. Such content is also to be found in detail in Matthew’s Gospel and the book of Zechariah. In this way, Genesis, which is full of references to events that will unfold in the future, comes to an end.Shadows of Jesus in the Old TestamentAs you reach the end of the book of Genesis and turn the page, you come to the book of Exodus. The course of events between Genesis and Exodus, however, covers a very long period of time. We only turn one page, but we move ahead four hundred years, and four generations. What happened during those four hundred years? Exodus begins after those four hundred years have passed, at a time when the Israelites was crying out to God. The transition from Genesis to Exodus is very similar to the transition from Malachi to Matthew’s Gospel. Abraham lived around two thousand years before Christ, and the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt occurred some time between 1500 and 1400 years BC. Then, David lived about one thousand years BC. It is not exact, but you can think of the exodus as occurring some time between Abraham and David.  The southern kingdom of Judah was destroyed by Babylon in about 586 BC. God allowed this to happen because the people were continuing in their wicked ways and worshiping idols. Many parts of the Bible were written around that time. Isaiah was recorded before the destruction of Israel, and Jeremiah, during the destruction. Then, in view of the contents of Ezekiel, Daniel, these books appear to have been recorded around the time when the people of Judah were taken away as captives. In the book of Ezra, we find that Zerubbabel and Jeshua returned from Babylon with the people. The books of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were written a short time after this. The last of the books of the prophet were recorded in this way, and then another period of about four hundred years passed until the birth of Jesus. So there is a great similarity between the period of time between the end of Genesis and the beginning of Exodus, and the period between Malachi and Matthew’s Gospel. There is a great similarity between Moses appearing in Exodus, after Genesis, and Jesus appearing in Matthew’s Gospel, after Malachi. At the beginning of Exodus, we read that a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph, and the Israelites went through severe suffering under this king. It is important to be aware of the situation during the age just before Jesus was born into this world. This will be a help when reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John’s Gospels and the book of Acts. Israel was attacked again and again by its surrounding nations. They were dominated by Assyria and Babylon, and after that, Persia. The Greece assailed Israel several times. Egypt, to the south of Israel, made numerous attacks, and in the end, Rome dominated Israel. The Israelites who had been taken captive to Babylon returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of people like Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, and there they rebuilt the temple, and Jerusalem. From that time on, there was no king in Israel; instead they had governors, people like Zerubbabel. Just as Jacob’s family lived in Egypt, politically, Israel came live under the rule of various Gentile nations, while, in terms of religion, the authority of the high priests began to increase, with the priests being at the center. These figures of religious authority conspired with those holding political power, leading to severe corruption in regard to the office of high priest. There were even incidents of the position of high priest being bought and sold. During these chaotic times, as the system of authority centered on the temple itself became corrupt, groups of those who honoured the law began to emerge, among them being the sect of the Pharisees. It was at that time that the sect of the Sadducees also formed. The Sadducees hailed from the wealthier levels of society and so they had closer ties with the high priests who were entrusted with the work in the temple. At first, the Pharisees censured with all sincerity the high priests’ buying and selling of their authority, but the Bible tells us the Pharisees also disputed later over the traditions of the elders (see Matthew 15:1-2, Mark 7:1-5). It was a time of chaos not only in a political sense, but also with Judaism itself. Those who did not appreciate the situation at that time, fled together to the region of the Dead Sea. There are even books that contain historical accounts of those times, that recorded by these people: books like the book of Judith and the books of Maccabees, the content of which seems to be similar to that of the books of Ruth and Esther in the Bible. Judith decapitated an enemy king, and these books are full of such stories.The books that do not focus on Jesus were not included in the 66 books of the Bible. For anyone who thinks we need to read these other books that are not included in the Bible, there is a verse in Isaiah chapter 34 that tells us that God Himself gathered together the book of the Lord. It says He cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. (see verses 16-17) The Bible is a collection of books that are focused on Jesus Christ alone. When we think about the Bible we read, we should be grateful to God. As this chaotic period of time continued to unfold, Judaism became corrupt. More importance came to be put on the traditions of the elders who interpreted God’s law than the law itself. Theologians call this the Oral Torah, in other words, the Torah that

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