13th July 2019

The death of their father, Jacob, was a time of uncertainty for the brothers as they were worried that Joseph would now extract revenge on them for the wrong they had done to him. Joseph reassures them that He had seen the hand of God in all that had happened to him and he would not make them suffer. On the contrary, he would look after them, as he had looked after so many who were in need during the great famine. Joseph is an exemplar in terms of how one who is blessed and graced by God is able to bring the cycle of evil to a standstill by making a choice to forgive rather than take revenge.

In the new covenant, we have Jesus, Jeshuah, the new Joshua, Who has given us eternal life, which is so much better than the promised land. The waiting is over. The Messiah has come! He has saved us, and we have become sharers in the divine nature (2 Pt 1:4) and children of God. We literally have God within us, and we are also in Him (Jn 17:23). We can even receive the Body and Blood, the soul and divinity of Jesus. We have received much more than anyone can ever ask for or imagine (Eph 3:20). Because of the astounding graces of our being in Christ, we are greater than Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and all those before Jesus (Mt 11:11). Let us be eternally grateful to Jesus.

Promise: “Whoever acknowledges Me before men I will acknowledge before My Father in heaven. Whoever disowns Me before men I will disown before My Father in heaven.” —Mt 10:32-33