Part 7 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series
David Pawson, looking into Genesis, notes that Joseph is the 4th generation - great-grandson of Abraham. There is a clear pattern. The natural heir does not get the blessing. God never calls himself the God of Joseph; angels never appeared to Joseph; his brothers are not rejected. God reveals things in dreams to Joseph and gives him their interpretation. There are 4 levels to Joseph’s story - the human level, God’s angle, as a study of Joseph’s character, and Joseph as a picture of Jesus. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are models of our faith in God; Joseph is a model of God’s response to that faith. The genealogies of Genesis are the genealogies of Jesus. You see Jesus not only in Joseph but in Isaac. He submitted to being put on the altar, but an alternative sacrifice was provided, a ram with its head caught in thorns. King and priest, Melchizedek, brought out bread and wine to refresh Abraham and his troops and Abraham gave him a tenth of the spoils. Jesus implies He is Jacob’s ladder, i.e. the link between Heaven and Earth. God says to the serpent in Eden, the seed of the woman will bruise your head, even while you bruise his heel, implying Jesus would deal Satan a fatal blow someday. In Romans 5, Paul says, “as one man’s disobedience brought death, so one man’s obedience brought life.” Jesus was involved in the creation of and is the reason why for the whole universe. It was made for Him, through Him and by Him.