There are moments in Scripture where you stop reading the Bible and the Bible starts reading you. That has been me lately in Genesis. I went in looking for Joseph and somehow kept bumping into Jesus at every corner like a man walking through a familiar city, only to realize every street carries the same King’s banner. Where I come from, it feels like the country belongs to two people, hospitals are named after them; schools, roads, streets, drives, buildings… It is crazy! I have stalled deep in meditation on this particular person in Genesis. And it continues getting more complicated the more I think about it. Definitely the Holy Spirit revealing more and more. Not because the story is unfamiliar. Most of us grew up with Joseph’s coat, the dreams, the pit, cute boy in Potiphar’s house, prison, Pharaoh, and finally the grand reunion with his brothers. We know the plot. We can almost narrate it without opening the pages. But then, certain verses begin to glow differently when the Holy Spirit turns the lights on.
“And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, ‘Bow the knee!’ So he set him over all the land of Egypt.”
Genesis 41:43 NKJV
Tell me that does not sound thunderously familiar. I am reading Genesis, but somewhere in my ears another Scripture starts echoing:
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,”
Philippians 2:9-10 NKJV
Joseph is riding in the second chariot of Pharaoh, and Egypt is commanded to bow. Jesus, however, rides in the authority of Heaven itself, exalted above all dominion and power, and one day every knee everywhere will bow. Not suggested. Not negotiated. Bow. And suddenly Genesis starts sounding unmistakably Messianic. Joseph was rejected by his brothers before he became the savior of those same brothers. Jesus came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Joseph was stripped of his robe. Jesus was stripped before crucifixion. Joseph was sold for silver. Jesus was betrayed for silver. Joseph descended into a pit before ascending to a palace. Jesus descended into death before ascending in glory.
At some point you stop calling them coincidences. The shadows are too accurate. And what fascinates me is that Joseph himself probably did not fully understand that his suffering was rehearsing a greater salvation story. He probably didn’t know that his life was a live sermon. Imagine being Joseph in prison, forgotten by men, wait, wait, – forgotten by your own blood… yet unknowingly acting out prophetic theatre about the coming Christ centuries before Bethlehem.
That is one of the mysteries of Scripture: God loves to whisper Jesus long before He arrives visibly on the scene. Sometimes we read the Old Testament like it is just any other ancient Jewish history when in reality it is a long runway preparing for the landing of Christ. The stories are not random. The patterns are intentional. The symbols preach. Joseph becomes a living sermon.
Even the famine narrative preaches Christ. When famine struck Egypt, the people could not feed themselves. Their survival depended entirely on the provision stored under Joseph’s administration. There is a place where bread comes from when the land has non. The true bread (OT) is provided by the priest not the King – But this is a whole other trajectory… Where we see Jesus combining the two and providing the true bread as both King & Priest (NT)… We won’t navigate that on this one… But, but, Pharaoh’s instruction to the people here is fascinating:
‘When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”
Genesis 41:55 NKJV
Again, does that not sound familiar? Humanity starving spiritually. Bread unavailable in ourselves and from our own efforts insufficient to sustain us. Life found only in the One appointed by the King. Jesus said:
‘Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
John 6:35 ESV
Joseph had grain for dying men. Jesus has eternal life for dead men. Joseph was the source of bread. Jesus is the bread of Life itself. And yet here is the striking difference between Joseph and Jesus. Joseph was a shadow. Jesus is the substance. Joseph could preserve physical life temporarily; Jesus- Permanently! Infact, Jesus conquers death itself. Joseph administered Egypt’s storehouses; Jesus sustains creation by His very word.
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Hebrews 1:3 HCSB
Joseph sat beside Pharaoh. Jesus sits at the right hand of Majesty itself. One administered a kingdom. The other upholds the universe. This is where the devotional weight landed for me. It is interesting how easily we can read Scripture, find moral lessons, and miss the person the entire Book is screaming about. We often approach Joseph asking:
“How do I survive betrayal?”
“How do I remain faithful in suffering?”
“How do I handle promotion?”
Those are good questions. But the bigger question is: “How did I miss Jesus standing in the middle of the story the whole time?” Because ultimately the Bible is not mainly about heroic men overcoming adversity and how we fit into those narratives. The Bible is about a glorious Savior being progressively revealed from Genesis to Revelation. Christ is clearly not an afterthought in Scripture. He is the point of Scripture. He is the Scripture. With this, Joseph’s life becomes one giant arrow pointing forward. Rejected son. Suffering servant. Exalted ruler. Provider of salvation. The one before whom knees bow. I keep finding Jesus where I thought I was only finding Joseph. And this is the same with the rest of Scripture… keenly scrutinized, Jesus is everywhere.
Honestly, it makes the Bible feel alive in a terrifyingly beautiful way. Because once your eyes begin seeing Christ woven through the text, you realize Scripture is not a disconnected collection of stories. It is one grand redemptive narrative authored by God Himself. And every road, even the dusty roads of Egypt, somehow leads to Jesus.
Let me ask you, my dear reader, what have you noticed in this story that unmistakably points to Jesus, even while hidden in plain sight?”
Grace & Peace.