For The Serious & Intentional Reader | August 17, 2020 |
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JOSEPH AND THE PROPHETS
Dr. Stephen R. Phinney
I will be talking about the Revelation connection of the Old Testament characters that setup for the New Testament, and then formally introduce the book of Revelation.
In the Old Testament, many examples help us understand the book of Revelation. Still, there is no more explicit example like the story of Joseph regarding the persecution of Christ, the Church, and the Promised Land. All of the ingredients for a prophetic story are present: slavery, bondage, an evil woman, and the jailing of an innocent man. At the same time, he still rose to the highest level of influence under a demonic superpower.
Think about Joseph’s rejective storyline. His life was filled with constant rejection by his family. Ultimately, as you probably know, he was sold into slavery by his brothers. He stayed in the bondage of slavery for many, many years. He had challenging encounters dealing with the rejection of this new evil empire called Egypt. He had to deal with gross rumors from a wicked woman, and he was jailed because of all of that, but he was innocent, and yet he still rose to the highest level of influence in this country. Outside of the Pharaoh, no one held a more top position than Joseph. So what does this have to do with the book of Revelation? Well, it has a great deal to do with our chapter today. Joseph and everything that he went through was a setup to reveal to us what Christ Himself was going to have to go through.
In the end, Joseph’s “Revelation” to his brother that he was the one they sold into bondage, into slavery, has gone from poverty and abuse and slavery to becoming one of the most powerful men in the world. It must have been a shocker for his brothers to see with their own eyes that this was the brother they sold and believed to still be in bondage as a slave. This was not only a life-changer for Joseph, but it was a life-changer for all involved, and it changed the course of horizontal and vertical history for the Hebrew people. Joseph came from years of suffering and hardship, yet he came out on top. A clear example of what Christ does in the book of Revelation. Joseph is the Christ figure of the great revelation of the Old Testament.
Most view Jesus Christ and His time on earth as being more glorified than what it was. From the day that He was born, He was chased down like a dog. Some people and children were murdered because a ruler was attempting to find Him and kill Him. From His birth until His death, He was dealing with suffering and hardship. It was no easy pathway for Him to bear - why Joseph’s story was a perfect parallel for the life of Christ when He was on the earth. But after He died and was resurrected, He was placed in the second-highest position just like Joseph was. Jesus, being the Son of God, sits at the right hand of God the Father. This story of Joseph is God setting up the story of the book of Revelation.
A further illustration of the design of Biblical revelation history is the writing of several books: Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. This fact is found in the Hebrew Scriptures by the inclusion of Samuel, Joshua, Judges, and the Kings in a section called “the former prophets.” Even though they contain rich Biblical history, the writers focused on the theological, rather than the political.
In the Scriptures, God appointed Samuel to be raised as a political and religious leader. Replicates Satan’s design in the final days, by way of the Beast and the False Prophet. Now the Beast is considered the political system during the time of the Tribulation when Satan is given an allowance to rule the earth, but only for seven years. During that time, there was be a false prophet. The False Prophet is a religious leader - why Samuel and the Old Testament is an excellent parallel for the end-times in the book of Revelation regarding Satan being a religious and political leader at the same time.
In the design of our Hebrew God, He always chose who was to be the King of His people—good or bad. During this time in history, due to the complaints of the people, God gave them a demonic ruler—a Beast, as it were. God instructed Samuel (high priest) to choose Saul (Beast figure) as king, even though God was not in favor of it. God used this situation to set yet another prophetic stone in place to demonstrate the coming events of Revelation. He told a future story by establishing an earthy ruler, who had been foretold to be ruthless and a persecutor of God’s people.
Take a look at the diagram—Prophets and Revelation, Pathway of the Prophets. We’re going to look from Adam to Jesus and just how this whole thing unfolds, and how it is stitched together in the book of Revelation.
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It all started with Adam, and that bloodline continued in Enoch, and then went to Noah, and then down to Abraham. From Abraham, it went into Isaac, and from Isaac in went into Jacob, and from Jacob, it went into David. From David, it went into Solomon, and Solomon is where the two points of Revelation, character-wise, is shown—Zechariah and Jesus, and from Zechariah comes John the Baptist.
From this pure bloodline, Jesus picked another John, His beloved. The author of the book of Revelation was not an accident. The author himself was a pure bloodline Jew author. Jesus, coming from Solomon, was not only critical, but it was required for Jesus to come from this direct line, which sets the stage for the final closure of this earth—for everyone who ever walked upon it or is about to walk upon it.
If you look back at the diagram, you’re going to see another son who came from Abraham, Now the promises of Abraham still applied to Ishmael, and if you follow that line down in the chart, you’re going to see that Ishmael runs right into Muhammad. Muhammad’s people today claim that he was a pure bloodline from Ishmael. Is this true? I wouldn’t question it.
The true Biblical Vertical History is apparent in the writings of the prophets. The prophets of old reveal God as the one Who has been at work in the past, Who is active in the present, and Who will undoubtedly be active in the future. Under each of these prophets, God developed a Divine inspiration in the Hebrew; their customs, their beliefs, and their actions. The Hebrew belief that is being revealed to us during the Old Testament is the coming of Jehovah’s kingdom, which is the New Jerusalem. The Jews’ long-awaited expectation of an ideal society that is to come. It’s going to happen much differently than what they’ve expected. Most Jews will interpret this society that Satan is going to set up on earth to be the new society that they’ve been waiting for. Of course, you and I both know that this is not the true society—it’s not the society of the New Jerusalem. Even the prophets of old believed this new society to be a global uprising. One of the problems with the Jewish people for centuries is that they think this will be an earthly kingdom. Jesus Himself was asked by His disciples about this new earthly kingdom, and He responded that they did not understand that His kingdom was not on earth but in heaven.
A special note to keep in mind: If you examine the above diagram, you will see that God took special effort in keeping the bloodline pure particularly when it came to recording the prophecies of old and recording the revelations of those prophecies, i.e., John the beloved—a direct bloodline author. God did not randomly pick a writer for the book of Revelation; He selected one of the disciples that had a direct bloodline to Adam and the prophets - a significant historical notation.
When we look at the Messianic expectations, there is another expectation that the Hebrew people had regarding Vertical History; their expectation was apocalyptic in nature and character. Remember, apocalyptic involves a vertical deliverance (an intervention by Jehovah), from a horizontal problem (the bondage of man). This view, unknown to the Hebrews at the time, is particularly essential to our study of the Revelation of John, who, of course, was writing for Jesus. The Hebrew people were expecting this Divine rescue to be in their lifetime. Well, it kind of was. When Jesus went through the replication of everything that Joseph went through, when he was being set up to rise to the top, so to speak, to sit at the right hand of God, they missed it. They crucified Him. They weren’t about to believe He was the Messiah, the Deliverer, so they crucified. God Himself used this to usher Him into the same position that Joseph was in—the same story that the prophets of old were setting up. Jesus was placed at the right hand of His Father.
Before I close, I want to give you a little bit of an update regarding present-day Horizontal History, which is going on. The modern leader of Syria today is Dr. Bashar al-Assad. Assad is a Shia Muslim. Shias adhere to the teachings of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. Unlike many of the other groups of Muslim people, the Shias believe they are the true bloodline of Muhammad and are the rightful keepers and instructors of their bible, the Qur’an. Assad believes he is the true successor of Muhammad, who was appointed by a god and his prophet, Muhammad. Thus, he rejects the legitimacy of the first three caliphs that were formed in Turkey and has established himself basically as the leader among leaders—the great blood descendants of Muhammad. Due to this, I keep a very close watch.
We must understand that in those final days, which we are probably entering into, that we keep a watchful eye on Syria, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Lydia, and Russia. Each of these countries is marked in the book of Revelation as the aggressors that someday (probably soon), will come against Israel. When we listen to or watch the evening news, we will typically find something being said about one of these countries coming against Israel in some fashion.
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The "Eschatology IM Cultural Series" is an outreach of the IM Online Worldview School. All writing, and video productions are based on a study of the book of Revelation. A LifeWay survey stated that 97% of pastors are shifting their focus to eschatology/end times. IOM America, through Dr. Phinney's writings, has been consistent in studying present day cultural issues - while integrating each into the book of Revelation. Help us get these messages out to a panicked world. GIVE TODAY
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