Genesis 41
The dreams of Pharaoh
- part 2
I.
Review
A. Pharaoh’s
dreams
1. 7
fat cows and 7 thin cows that eat the 7 fat ones.
2. 7
healthy heads of grain and 7 thin grains that eat the healthy ones.
B. Moses
is writing this portion of Scripture for the Israelites in the wilderness. They
are preparing to go into Israel
and take the land from the people who are currently living there. God had given them the promise that he would
give it to them. But they have their
doubts and fears.
1. Moses
is teaching Israel
through this passage about the power and sovereignty of God. And showing them that the great nation of Egypt
with it Pharaoh is under the dominion of God and his revelation.
2. The
one who rules the future is God. It is
not Pharaoh. It is not the kings and
people occupying the Promised Land. Israel’s
destiny to be there had been set by God.
3. And
when God says something is going to happen it requires a response of discernment
and wisdom. For Israel,
that meant having faith to follow the plan to cross the Jordan
and take the land.
II.
Pharaoh’s response to the dreams
A. Last
week: vs. 8 – he was troubled
1. He
was troubled because he had a sense the dreams meant bad news. He did not know the precise meaning, but knew
there was something “ugly/evil” in the dream.
B. This
week: another reason he was troubled: He was the king/pharaoh and was used to
being the one who was in charge. But
this dream changes all of that. Notice
in the dream, he is not a part of the dream.
His land, river, food are all in the dream, but he is nowhere to be
found in the dream. He is the dreamer. He
dreams/sees the “ugly” that is coming, but is not a part of the dream to solve
it. This dream/fate has fallen upon him and he is powerless before it.
1. As
Joseph interprets the dream he gives a straight-forward interpretation – Seven
years of abundance followed by seven years of famine.
2. But
notice vs. 16,25,28,32 – in each of
these passages Joseph let’s Pharaoh know who is in charge.
a. vs.
15 – Pharaoh tries to give Joseph some credit for being a dream interpreter,
but Joseph brushed it off – he refutes it.
b. “I
can not, but God will give Pharaoh the answer”
c. And
then the other verses – make plain that God is going to act. It is already decided by God – firmly
decided.
3. Pharaoh’s
will, power or decision is not a factor.
God has ordained it.
a. Notice
as the story is told that Moses does not even let Pharaoh respond to the
dream’s interpretation. He does not get
to agree with it or disagree with it. It
lands on him. God has ordained it.
III.
4 world and life views
A. Deterministic
– everything is already determined. We
live in a closed universe. All
there is matter and forces– bosons
(which make up fields of force) and fermions (from which all matter is derived)
[1] Life and everything that happens in this world
is just dumb luck – the working out of the second law of thermodynamics –
entropy. (Class on Eccl in August)
B. Fatalistic
– a god has determined what will be and human intervention plays no part. What ever will be will be. Whatever is going to happen is going to
happen. There is nothing I can do about
it. I play no part. The gods are doing their thing and all we do
is suffer or benefit from it. God is the
puppet master and we are the puppets.
1. This is not our view. Though we sometimes confuse our view with it.
C. Free-will
– the future is derived from the present.
Man makes his decisions and the gods/God reacts and respond.
1. This
is a poplar view, (until we examine it).
It is the way it looks to us from our earthly perspective. We hear the gospel, respond in faith and God
then decides to accept us. (or we cheat
– he looked ahead and saw what we would do and from that vantage point decides
to make us his child.)
2. God
can take action in our life only after we give graciously give him permission. (Pharaoh was not consulted to give his
assent.)
3. Man
is now the puppet master and God the puppet.
D. Predestination
– God in his sovereignty ordains all things.
But he ordains them through the use of means. He firmly determines what will happen, and
then simultaneously ordains how it will come to pass.
1. And
he includes our actions in that plan.
2. Predestination
does not exclude human action – it demands it.
(Note Joseph’s strong predestined view followed by his plan of action in
light of God’s determined will.)
3. i.e.
– If God has predestined/elected all who will come to salvation, then there is
no need to pray for the lost or send out missionaries or evangelize. The elect of God will not perish therefore I
do not need to do anything. (That is
fatalism, not Christianity.)
4. The
Christian faith believes that God has ordained the salvation of some and so
therefore we must be busy going out doing evangelism. God has ordained the end and the means. The elect and the evangelist. We may not adopt fatalism.
IV.
With Pharaoh’s dreams
A. God
ordained the years of plenty and then the years of famine. That was coming.
B. But
notice what Joseph says after he informs
Pharaoh of this: vs. 33 – NIV – “And now”. Since God has ordained it, now there must be
a human response.
C. Vs.
33 – it will take a person with discernment and wisdom.
1. Wisdom
– God is sovereign and to be feared.
Wisdom takes God seriously and responds appropriately. That is what Joseph did.
V.
The troubling part of Pharaoh’s dream
A. The
aspect of the dream that troubled Pharaoh is that he is not the one ordaining
and ordering things. He was the
king. That was what kings and rulers
did/do. They are the ones who give
orders in the present that shape the future.
(Or at least that is what they think they do.)
1. But
these dreams undercut all of that.
2. God
is the one who determines the future of Egypt,
the Promised Land, and our lives.
3. And
Scripture tells us of one other person (that I will mention today) that God’s
predetermined plan troubled.
VI.
Herod and the birth of Christ
A. In
the story of the wise men Matthew, who uses the pattern of the Pentateuch, to
write his book – tells a similar story.
1. The
wise men come to Jerusalem and ask
where the one is who was born king of the Jews.
2. When
Herod hears this (he is probably in the Herodion just outside Jerusalem
overlooking Bethlehem (approx 3
miles)) and Matthew tells us that 2:3 – that he and all Jerusalem
were troubled. (LXX and Mt use the same
word - ἐταράχθη
)
3. And
Herod was troubled – he was not a full Jews, he fought to be made king of the
Jews; was declared king of the Jews by the Romans – and here now he hears that
one has been born king of the Jews. God
had in his sovereign power and wisdom caused the Christ to be born. And Herod had nothing to say about it. The real king – a king who could actually
unfold history had been born.
4. The
king Israel had
been looking for – longing for – had been born.
One who truly had the power to rule and whose rule would not be
characterized by a grab for power and dominion.
His rule would be characterized by justice, mercy and humility.
a. The
world has had enough Herods.
b. And
Herod was troubled.
VII.
Joseph is God’s instrument to bring life and direction
to a powerless Pharaoh and Egypt.
1. The
dreams of Pharaoh ended in death. The seven fat cows and seven healthy heads of
grain were devoured. Gone.
2. Joseph,
believing in God’s sovereignty brings the means of life to a world that was on
the path to starvation and death.
3. Our
task in the world today with the gospel is to bring life to a dying world. God
has predestined that the gospel would be preached to the entire world before
Christ returns. The world is on the path
of death. We have in the gospel, with
Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit – life.
It is our task to act wisely and go.
VIII.
God’s predestined will for our life – (to mention just
one – there are more in Scripture.)
A. Rom
8:29 – God has predestined us to be
conformed to the image of his Son.
1. God
has a predestined plan for our life.
2. That
is for us to look like his Son. For the
world to see Christ in us. (The world
has had enough of the likes of me.)
3. God
has predestined some to eternal life.
And that predestining demands our wise response. It demands that we be God’s instruments to
bring Christ to a dying, bored, empty world.
B. In
our own life – trials are going to come to us.
Hard times.
a. It
is our task to understand that what comes to us is from God’s hand.
b. And
the appropriate response requires wisdom and discernment. How do respond and reflect Christ to the
world? To my neighbors? To my family?
1) It
is easy to whine and throw a pity party.
Easy to focus on ourselves.
2) But
our God is at work in our life to bring about his plan and his will. Fear him.
Act with wisdom. Let the
righteousness and salvation of Christ be seen in us. It is what God has ordained.
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