Finding Christ in Genesis, Part 2

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Hebrews 2:10

We also see Christ in Genesis through the main characters of the story, and this is especially true with Joseph. The Savior was made perfect through suffering, that is, He experienced the full venting of sinful human antagonism against God. David cried in his repentant prayer, “Against you and you only have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4), and that is the idea behind all sin. In Joseph’s brother’s antagonism, anger, envy, and hatred toward him, they were revealing these thoughts were also in their heart against God. John wrote, “he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). So there is a connection, an inseparable bond, between the way we treat our fellow human and the way we want to treat God.

If you doubt this, consider the way we deal with animal cruelty. Society’s concern in these matters is not just for the animals, but also for ourselves, for anyone who is needlessly and heartlessly cruel to an animal will eventually act out those same feelings against a human. In a like manner, what we feel in our hearts toward people, we also feel toward God.

There are numerous parallels between Joseph and Jesus, and I will name only a few:

• Both were beloved by their father
• Both were hated by their brothers
• Both were sent by their fathers to search for their brothers — Joseph, out of a concern from Jacob, and Christ out of a concern from God the Father
• Both were betrayed and sold by someone named Judah (Judas is the Greek version of Judah)
• Both were falsely accused
• Both were written off as hopeless cases — Joseph in a political prison where people are not released, and Jesus by death
• Both were delivered by God — Joseph delivered from prison, and Jesus was resurrected
• Both were exalted above their brothers
• Both forgave fully those who had put them there

We can note many other parallels, but these are enough to note the connection. The sufferings of people in the world were perfected in Christ. His sufferings did not add to His character, for He was already perfect in His morality and character. Rather they made Him perfect in the sense that He perfectly and completely bore sin and the hatred of the world toward God. The Jews had hoped for a political messiah, but God gave them the Messiah they needed, a suffering Servant, and they treated Him as they had treated the prophets before Him — with contempt and hatred.

But the seed of this contempt is found in these initial sons of Jacob, the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel, and how they acted toward Joseph. With Christ, the same old animosity in the hearts of those brothers some 1,800 years before, was acted out toward Him. Only rather than selling into slavery, they put Him to death, hatred climaxing at Calvary.

We followers of Christ are on the other side of this climax, and as followers of Christ we can expect to be treated somewhat like Him. So do not be surprised if the world hates you. It hated Him as well. Learn the lesson of Joseph’s life — forgive, trust, do not despair. We are more than conquerors in Him who loves us.