Timeless Truths.. God's Divine Appointments... Joseph

Описание: One of the most important truths that we discover from a study of the Bible is one, which unfortunately, many believers do not know about, nor do they understand. Basically, it involves a consistent pattern of the Lord working supernaturally through everyday natural events. This was not only true in biblical times, but it is also true today.

Our first illustration is the story of the Patriarch Joseph.

We must go all the way back to the time of Abram. He was given a number of promises by the Lord. Among them were the promise of many descendants, as well as a Promised Land in which his descendants would eventually live (Genesis 12:1-3).

Abram believed God, left his family, and set out and settled in the Promised Land. But later in his life he was then told that the nation would go into a foreign land, eventually become slaves for 400 years, before the Lord brings them back to the Promised Land with great wealth (Genesis 15:13-16 NET).

The biblical account of Joseph explained how this happened (Genesis 37-50)

As we examine the story of Joseph, we find at least 11 divine appointments that led him to be exactly where God wanted him to be.

In Hebron, Jacob asked the 17-year-old Joseph to check on his brothers who were grazing their flocks in Shechem.

Divine Appointment 1: No good grass in Shechem
The brothers were not in Shechem because it was not good for grazing.

Divine Appointment 2: Joseph learns they went to Dothan
An unnamed man who was in Shechem just “happened” to overhear them saying they were going to Dothan. When he reached Dothan, His jealous brothers immediately plotted to kill him.

Divine Appointment 3: The caravan going to Egypt.
While Joseph was in the pit in Dothan, dying of thirst, a caravan that was headed for Egypt just “happened” to be passing by at that time.

Divine Appointment 4: The move to Dothan was pivotal.
Dothan was on the caravan route to Egypt, Shechem, where the brothers were originally supposed to be, was not. In other words, if the brothers grazed where they originally intended this episode could not have happened.

Divine Appointment 5: They could make money off of Joseph.
He was sold to these traders who were on their way to Egypt.

Divine Appointment 6: In Egypt, Joseph was sold to an important person. Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard, is the person who bought the slave Joseph.

Divine Appointment 7: Joseph was thrown into the Royal Prison.
Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph of attempting to rape her. For this false charge he was placed in the “royal prison” for the crime in which he was accused of but did not commit.

Divine Appointment 8: Joseph was promoted in the prison for working hard.
In the royal prison, he was given the job of looking after the incoming prisoners.

Divine Appointment 9: The Two Prisoners from Pharaoh.
Joseph was put in charge of two prisoners from the court of Pharaoh. They each dreamed a dream that bothered them. Joseph interpreted the dreams of these two people from Pharaoh’s court miraculously outlining their future.

Divine Appointment 10: The Butler Remembers.
Scripture tells us that the chief butler did not immediately tell Pharaoh about Joseph. Yet, two years later, Pharaoh had his own two dreams that troubled him but no one in Egypt could rightly explain the meaning to Pharaoh. At that time, the butler remembered Joseph’s supernatural interpretations and informed Pharaoh.

Divine Appointment 11: Joseph was still alive in the prison.
He was then brought to Pharaoh. He supernaturally interpreted his 2 dreams. Joseph told Pharaoh that Egypt would experience 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine.

He then told Pharaoh to appoint someone as administrator during the 7 years of plenty to make sure the excess food was safely stored before the famine reached the land. Pharaoh agreed and chose Joseph to be that overseer.

Therefore, after 13 years, Joseph woke up one day as a prisoner in Pharaoh’s prison and by the end of the day he was second in command of all of Egypt!

For this to happen, each of the 11 divine appointments “must” have taken place.

Finally, as the Lord promised Abraham, after spending 400 years in Egypt, the Lord supernaturally brought the people out of Egypt into the Promised Land where they brought with them much wealth.

In all of this, the entire account of Joseph has the Lord amazingly working supernaturally through the natural world without any miraculous events taking place!

See our book God’s Divine Appointments: The Supernatural Working Of God Through Everyday Events The Stories of Joseph, Judah And Jonah. It’s a free download from our website educatingourworld under the heading of Christian Living.


Support the ministry of Don Stewart here:

https://goinchrist.com/our-misionarie...

Get access to all the materials from Pastor Don Stewart here:
http://educatingourworld.com/

Follow Pastor Don Stewart
Facebook:   / educatingourworld