THE JOSEPH ANOINTING

It's a spiritual heritage, or inheritance, a lot that that fell to the church in pleasant places on the Day of Pentecost, and brought them into a wide place, and it's being reclaimed and proclaimed in these last days, with the grace to forgive sinners and the vengeance of our God, against those that oppose His redemption! (Acts 13:8) There were firstfruits of this revelation, in the apostles of the Lamb, who walked with Messiah, and heard this as "sons of the day who did not draw back, but pressed on to the saving of the souls." It's as relevant for these last days, as for their day, and "Who will hearken and hear for a time to come," the Prophet Isaiah said. (Isaiah 42:23)

Peter and John went to the Jewish Temple for prayer. (Acts 3:1-11) In Acts 20:16, Paul booked his passage on a sailing vessel, hurriedly; in order to arrive in Jerusalem for the Feast of Shavuot/Pentecost.

The first gospel preaching and teaching that went forth from the Jewish Apostles in Jerusalem, came to Israel, to bring her, if she would receive what the prophets said, into her finest hour. Those who received God's word, existed as a sect within Judaism, which was known as "the Nazarenes." The Apostle Paul when brought before Felix, was called the "ringleader" of this sect. (Acts 24:5)

In those early years, Rome considered all believers in Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ to be Jews, and they were granted whatever priviledges was extended to Jewish people living as legal residents of the provinces of Rome.

As Joseph who suddenly found himself alienated from the familiar surroundings of his home and family, a similar thing happened to the early believers in Messiah, living in Jerusalem, or the outlying regions. By 70 a.d. the fires of persecution raged against the Jews at Jerusalem. Under Titus, the Roman general, the temple at Jerusalem was destroyed, and those of Jewish descent fled the city. Many of these were Messianic believers whose faith was strongly rooted in Yeshua as "The Rock of Salvation--The Shepherd, the Stone of Israel," who lead them to safety in other surrounding countries or regions, as they sought His face in prayer.

JOSEPH IS A FRUITFUL BOUGH-EVEN A FRUITFUL BOUGH BY A WELL:

It doesn't take a perfect set of circumstances for a tree to bear fruit, but it's the normal process that the icy winter conditions, are simply part of the fruit bearing process. So it was Joseph's trials, which produced in him the fruitfulness that God fore-ordained for him. In this description of Joseph, the 11th son of Jacob and Rachel, as the shoot of a tree type plant bearing good fruit, the phrase "fruitful branch," is literally "Son of a fruit-bearer."

The Patriarch, while not discounting his own fruitfulness in producing 12 sons, seems to recall to some extent, his great love and admiration for his deceased wife Rachel, who died giving birth to their second son, Benjamin. (Gen. 35:16-21) Although Rachel did not produce numerous children, this son she did produce named Joseph, was the choice one of his father Jacob, i.e. "His father's favorite, loved more than any of his sons." (Gen. 30:22-24,) Jacob recounts in the narrative, his own progenitors, honouring those of Rachel, in the mention of her male offsrping, but also the daughters, which would spring forth, from the 2 tribes Ephraim and Manasseh, who inherit Joseph's firstborn blessing.

The phrase concerning Joseph's "fruitfulness," is repeated, with emphasis on his being planted by a well or fountain. With the vine-shoot of excellent stock, and the water supply abundant, the branch thrives, sending forth it's branches, which advance any barrier, as God commanded in Genesis 1:28, saying:

"Be fruitful and multiply and replentish the earth."

JOSEPH AS FAITHFUL BRIDEGROOM

Joseph had not been unfruitful during the time he dwelled in his father's house. But in in destiny, there was to be a time of greater fruitfulness. He was 30 when he married Asenath (Gift of the Sun-god.") She was the daughter of Potipherah, (meaning "Consecrated to the Sun") the Egyptian priest of On. On, or Hieropolis was the seat of the sun-god Re. The city was located in lower Egypt, and is called Beth-Shemesh in Jer. 43:13. It's identified with Heliopolis, or City of the Sun, which was situated on the east side of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, below the point of the Delta, and about twenty miles northeast of Memphis." Today it is known as "Cairo."

There was a highly developed solar cult in this region, the chief center located at On, the Delta city. The chief object of worship of course, was the sun, and the temple contained a single obelisk of red granite, 68' 2" in height, which stood for 4000 years, having been erected by Pharoah Senusret 1, the second king of the 12th dynasty.

On was the birthplace of Joseph, and the place where he took Mary and Yeshua/Jesus, as an infant when they fled into Egypt, at the time of the slaughter of the infants. The children were born during the years of plenty. (Genesis 41:50-52)

"And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On, bare unto him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: "For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house." And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction."

The two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, are but part of Joseph's fruitfulness, to come forth in the last days, according to Jacob's prophecy: "I will show you what shall befall you in the latter days." Ephraim and Manasseh will also bear fruit of their own, which stems from their life of faith in God, and the values of God's Joseph Generation. In this term "fruitful," as we see a play on words in the name of the younger son Ephraim, with the root parah meaning "Double fruit, or The fruitful one," for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. (Gen. 41:50-52)

FORGETTING THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEHIND

"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prise of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13)

In Manasseh's name, which means "Forgetting," Joseph recalls that "God has caused me to forget all my toil and all my Father's house." There is an important truth in the selection of this sons name. As believers in Yeshua, we come to Him, cognizant of the fact that we are sinners. The good things we have done, cannot out weigh the bad. "There is none righteous, no not one, the scriptures say. (Romans 3:10) When a person becomes born again, there is this "putting off of the former life of sin," as an old robe which is tattered and soiled, and a new robe of righteousness is given to him. The Prophet Isaiah said it this way:

"Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood anymore." (Is. 54:4)

We read of memory loss or amnesia, in people who have suffered from extreme stress, so that they literally block out memories, so as to be able to endure their lives. At times it's immediate, or may be the result of delayed stress. Perhaps in many ways, it is selective forgetting. They can still remember when they have to, such as Altheimer's patients suddenly being in possession of their faculties in time of an emergency, such as a house fire. But this "forgetting" which Joseph experienced, is much more than that. He said: "God caused me to forget..." By God's Spirit people are not yielding to the "fear of separation," and the "fear of death," which gains access created by this tragedy, but moving with God's compassion, they are dealing with this through God's commanding power. Believers in Yeshua/Jesus are not to place themselves in subjection to a spirit of fear concerning dying." (Heb. 2:15) At times it is "a spirit of trauma." Only God can prescribe the proper cure, in your situation as you seek His face, for the answer.

There was a situation we knew of where a family was called when a woman was going to die. A stroke left her with no appetite and her memory was gone. She did not recognize family members. The doctor said if left on the saline solution, her heart would give out in a matter of days. The family member did not sign the paper at the hospital, but went to the "Right to Life" office for information. She would visit her mother and would comb the patients hair, stroke her face, tell her they loved her, bring her small cartons of buttermilk with liquid calcium-magnesium and liquid B vitamins, in her purse. She did not ask the doctor's permission. When the meal tray would come to the room, she would talk to the patient of the food as if the situation were normal, thinning cereal with milk, so the patient could take small sips.

The situation turned and when the old woman died, her memory had not only returned, so the family was able to enjoy their mother's companionship, but she could recall events when she was very young, such as the address of the family home.

God who gave herbs to mankind as medicine. A fig poultice was put on Hezekiah's boil. God is teaching people how help people whose bodies have been severely depleted by the strain of severe stress. Memory loss is not the unconquerable giant some suppose it to be. Sometimes people feel it's not faith to treat disease with nutrition. That healing should always some supernaturally. But in Proverbs 8:12, "Wisdom dwells with prudence, and finds out knowledge of witty inventions." Prudence is the practical side of wisdom.

In another situation, a soldier was sent home from battle, with amnesia. He had experienced a severe blow to his head. The medical profession now knows more about brain injuries. Family members would push him in his wheelchair and treat him as normally as possible. One day, following an event which seemed to trigger the return of his memory, his memory simply returned.

Joseph processed the grief he experienced in the abusive treatment of his family members, while in Egypt for 12 years, and in prison, for 3 years. God caused such healing of his soul, from the affects of the forms of victimization which he suffered, that his mourning was turned to dancing.

In a life of sin there is shame, and today the Good News is that Messiah bore the sin and shame of mankind, carrying it away. What is needed is for men and women to believe and to appropriate by faith, all that was wrought at Calvary. When Yeshua/Jesus died on the cross, it was so those who place their faith in Him as Redeemer, could avail themselves of His life and possess "the righteousness of God in Christ." Whereas in time past, we were instruments of sin, we now can live as instruments of righteousness, (Romans 6:9-13) through faith in the shed blood of Messiah.

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Knowing this, that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; sin having no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves, dead to sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:8-14)

When Christ died on the cross, He bore the sins for many. (Isaiah 53:12) He who knew no sin, became sin, that we might be the righteousness of God in Christ." "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. " (2 Cor. 5:21, James 2:23,1 Cor. 1:30) And be found in Him not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." (Phil. 3:9) We must appropriate Messiah's death, burial and resurrection. In water baptipm into Yeshua's name, as the apostles administered to their converts, we see this in a figure. (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:46-48, Acts 19:5) In many ways, the believer must make a conscious effort to "forget," the former life with it's toilsome fruitless works. In what was were our lives like this, before knowing Yeshua? We lived them, without the full knowledge of God, which God gave in and through Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ.

Scripture calls these "former things" or pre-salvation works, poneros"And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19) These works stem from mankind's attempts to "save himself," rather than to appropriate the Way which God made, by grace through faith in Yeshua haMashiach, and His shed blood. Again, in a warning concerning the judgment of Babylon, which is the symbol of the ungodly world system, we read: "And the fruits that thy soul ed after, are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more. " (Rev. 19:14) The "fruitfulness" they sought was not after God, and His works, but in all the wrong things.

Joseph wanted to forget the portion of his life spent in his father's house, that had caused him great pain, because of sin. The beautiful coat of many colours given to him by his father, was purposely stained with animal blood, in his brother's attempts to explain that a mishap had happened to him. At least this was the story they told to their father Jacob, when they returned home without him. The word of God tells us in the New Testament, that the "blood of bulls and goats," can never remove sins. (Heb. 9:13, 10:4) But the blood of Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ totally washes us, removing all man's sin and shame. So complete is this cleansing, that the very conscience is made clean. (Heb. 10:22)

In Joseph's case, there was the sin of broken family relationships. His working relationships with his step brothers who hated and were envious of him, to the point of plotting to take his very life, were also something he wished to forget. In providing for him, God made a way for him to do this, by giving him a new family in Egypt, and new working relationships. Where his strength had previously seemed spent for nought, now he was useful and productive beyond all of his dreams. He'd lived his entire life with and for his birth family, working amid an atmosphere which did not always testify of God's holiness. To cover their own sins, he was slandered by sinners such as Potiphar's wife. Now, having been tested by God, and exalted, his testimony was honourable, even among the heathen.

Joseph longed for God's presence to illuminate the spiritual darkness in his life and family. But Joseph needed God to act as the Saviour. We cannot save our selves or our families, though we may try. He wanted a life among people who lived and acted like they belonged to the Redeemer of Israel. It had all seemed so futile--His life and work which now lay behind him. He'd been unable to save them, or even himself. Then God took Joseph out of the midst of that life, and placed him into a brand new life. Joseph learned to administrate in ways he'd not done before. This is a picture of salvation, through Messiah, in which man realizes that he cannot save himself. God must redeem us from evil, as we respond to His Word, and to Messiah, the way God made of salvation, through His own righteousness. On the Day of Pentecost, as God poured out His Holy Spirit on all flesh, with signs and wonders, the Apostle Peter stood and uttered the words of the Prophet Joel, (Joel 2:27-32) And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed." "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh..." (Joel 2:28, Acts 2:1-4)

Peter said: Repent, be baptized in the name of Yeshua haMashiach, for the remission of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:46-48, Acts 19:5) In salvation, water baptism, and the baptism of God's Holy Spirit, we see the means God made, for us to forget the "fruitless, dead works of a life of sin." Reading the book of Acts, we see the disciples of Messiah, learning to be "lead of the Lord." We learn to administrate on a level far above this earthly sphere. To follow His leading, that they might experience the abundant fruitfulness of everlasting life. As many as are lead of the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Sons of light, amidst a crooked and perverse generation. (Phil. 2:15) But even in this, the Joseph's of the Most High God learn that through the Lord, and His righteousnes, we can do valiently. We do not have to live lives of sin, or victimization. But through salvation, the kingdom of God, which is in the power of His haMashiach/Christ with those gifts of God, (1 Cor. 12) which Messiah died to give, and poured forth, when He arose from the dead and gave "gifts unto men," we can love not our lives to the death. (Rev. 12) We can overcome.

ISRAELS PROPHETIC BLESSING TO EPHRAIM & MANASSEH

47:29 When the time approached for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him: "If you really wish to please me, put your hand under my thigh as a sign of your constant loyalty to me; do not let me be buried in Egypt. 47:30 When I lie down with my ancestors, have me taken out of Egypt and buried in their burial place." 47:31 "I will do as you say," he replied. But his father demanded, "Swear it to me!" So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed at the head of the bed. * 48:1 Some time afterward, Joseph was informed, "Your father is failing." So he took along with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 48:2 When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you," he rallied his strength and sat up in bed. 48:3 Jacob then said to Joseph: "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz * in the land of Canaan, and blessing me, 48:4 he said, 'I will make you fertile and numerous and raise you into an assembly of tribes, and I will give this land to your descendants after you as a permanent possession.' 48:5 Your two sons, therefore, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I joined you here, shall be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as much as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 48:6 Progeny born to you after them shall remain yours; but their heritage shall be recorded in the names of their two brothers. 48:7 I do this because, when I was returning from Paddan, your mother Rachel died, to my sorrow, during the journey in Canaan, while we were still a short distance from Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)."

EPHRAIM & MANASSEH'S PORTION

Geographically speaking, the central part of western Palestine fell to the children of Joseph, with the boundaries of Ephraim and Manasseh, given in Joshua 16-17. The southern boundary of Ephraim was the borthern border of Benjamin, starting at Bethel, passing westward by Beth-horon, and Gezar toward the sea. At Beth-horon, it turned northward to the southern bank of the Brook Kanah along which it ran eastward to Michmethath. (the plain of Mukhneh) Then it continued northward along the western edge of the plain to Shechem. It then went eastward and southward past taanath-shiloh, (Ta'ana) Jonoah (Yanun) to Ataroth and Naarah and the Jordan. From Ataroth, which corresponds to Ataroth-addar, the southern border passed up to Bethel.

The tribe of Manasseh occuppied the east of Jordan, with the main military exploits in the east of Palestine performed by Manassites. Gideon and Jephthah belonged to this tribe. Golan, the city of refuge, lay within their territory. The Canaanites in cities of both divisions were not utterly driven out, the thinking perhaps being to instead enslave them. (16:10, 17:13)

In Israel's prophecy for Joseph, extending to the end times, in Gen. 49, Joseph is seen as a choice vine, whose branches, i.e. "daughters" mount up over a wall. The daughters as replentishers of the earth, alludes to the first woman, Eve in Eden, and to spiritual daughters in the end times.

In Joseph's name is seen this allegory of fruitfulness. But also in these precious end time daughters, of the Most High God. In certain heathen countries today, daughters are not valued as in the Hebrew culture, with their foundations not in superstitious pagan beliefs, but in the righteousness, truth and holiness of the monotheistic God, from whom sprang Yeshua haMassiach/Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World.

In the east, vines, are trained to climb up the wall on trellises, like warriors mounting a seige, but in this instance we see the daughters of Joseph under this metaphor.

YESHUA haMASHIACH/JESUS CHRIST AS SEEN IN THE SYMBOL OF THE POMEGRANATE

Gen 48:5 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. 6) And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.

Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

With the phrase in the prophecy to Joseph, that he is a "fruitful bough," (extending to the sons of God of the last days) we see a truth regarding "the pomegranate fruit" as a portion of this marvellous "fruitfulness unto every good work." (Col. 1:10) Twelve years after the famine ended, Joseph brought his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, before his father Jacob to receive a blessing. In these verses in Gen. 48:1-6, Israel brings the sons of Joseph born to him in Egypt, into the national name, Israel. Manasseh and Ephraim are destined to be counted among the twelve tribes of Israel. Since Israel is the covenant birthright name, this same name transfers over from srael (i.e. Jacob), to Manasseh and Ephraim.

Gen 48:13) And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him.

14) And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.

Now Israel (Jacob) had bad eyesight, but his right hand which is for the elder firstborn blessing was on Ephraim, the younger. Then came the blessing Promise from God given through Abraham and Isaac and Israel:

15) And he blessed Joseph, and said, "God, before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God Which fed me all my life long unto this day, 16) The Angel Which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. 17) And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his fathers hand, to remove it from Ephraims head to Manasseh's head. 18) And Joseph said unto his father, "Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head." 19) And his father refused, and said, "I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations." Gen 48:20) And he blessed them that day, saying, "In thee shall Israel bless, saying, haShem make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh:" and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. 21) And Israel said unto Joseph, "Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. 22) Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow."

God's ways are higher than ours. As Jacob prophesied to Ephraim and Manasseh, their father Joseph couldn't understand why his father did not place his "right hand," on the head of Manasseh, his "firstborn son." Joseph thinking this was a mistake, sought to correct his father's mistake. But Jacob's prophecy was lead of the Lord.

God is vitally concerned with the spiritual upbringing of children, and not only does Israel give prophetic blessings to his own sons, but also to Joseph's children, laying his hands on the heads of the lads, bestowing on them, their father Joseph's blessing. Ephraim and Manasseh had a powerful example in their father Joseph, who although he, as an Israelite, was forced to live in the foreign, hostile environment of Egypt, he did not assimilate, but remained true to his faith, although the Egyptian society was filled with so many temptations.

Father's know their children's strengths as well as their weaknesses. God, our Heavenly Father, knows His sons and daughters in this way. In the New Testament, prophecy is one of the earmarks of the New Testament church. (Acts 2:18, Acts 19:6, 1 Cor. 12:10) In the prophecies to the sons of Jacob, the weaknesses are not glanced over, but warned of, as part of the blessing, because correction is a blessing, not to be dispised. "Furthermore, we had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection to the father of spirits and live?" (Heb. 12:9)

The greatest "blessing" that a father can give to his children, is to be a man with a revelation of the Godhead which establishes him in faithfulness and fidelity, first toward God, and secondly toward his wife. A relationship in which children can see the reality of God in your relationship with Him. Fruitfulness has a negative side, in that evil brings forth after it's own kind, and if not watched over, even that which was planted as "a choice vine," can go awry or degenerate into that which is no longer desirable. God said through the Prophet Isaiah: My beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst, and also made a winepress therein, and looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth "wild grapes." (Is. 5:2) God summoned the nation to judge for themselves. The seed was good, "and what more could have been done that wasn't? Therefore says God, I will take away the hedge, and it shall be eaten up, and break down the wall, and it shall be trodden down. I will lay it waste, and it shall not be pruned nor digged, but there shall come up briars and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it."

Joseph was a man of integrity before God. Even in that foreign land where he was carried as a captive, and given a foreign Egyptian wife, he had as deep a respect for his marriage covenant with Asenath, as he did for the covenant with God. She was his life long mate, the mother of his children, and appears to have been a faithful wife to Joseph.

What a tremendous blessing it was to Jacob, who loved Joseph's mother Rachel so much, and who had been bereft of his son for many years, and had now been reunited with him, to hold these 2 small grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and to prophesy their futures, to the end of time.

There are those of you who like Jacob, have been deprived of the blessing of the godly family which the Lord has intended for you, because of , rebellion, and treachery within the family. And like Jacob, you will see a holy reunion, through the power of Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ, as you have fortitude, and faith through the power of the Lord and walk in His might, trusting in Him, as the "God who sees," believing His eyes are over the righteous, and that He will "restore that which the locust and the cankerworm have eaten." (Joel 2)

Jacob knew that in the future, his children and grandchildren, the Jewish people, would spread out throughout the world, living oftentimes in very difficult surroundings. The message to Ephraim and Manasseh is that they should remain true to the God of their fathers. Only is faithfulness of this sort, can we experience the type of increase that God promises and desires to see His children have.

Joseph, estranged from his Hebrew family, had in-laws deeply involved in a pagan religion, and in many ways this must have been difficult. Jacob adopted the 2 children of Joseph, and the little boys were thus able to be raised in a holy environment. We see the Apostle Paul commending the Jewish mother and grandmother in their faithfulness of training of Timothy in the things of the Lord. Ordinarily in a non-racially mixed home, the Jewish father would undertake the spiritual training of his sons, but Timothy's father was Greek. (1 Tim. 1:5) This training of Timothy in Messianic Judaism, was very a valuable asset to the Apostle Paul, whose leadership calling and skills, caused him to recognize the ministry God wanted for Timothy. (1 Tim. 1:5)

BY THEE I HAVE RUN THRU A TROOP AND LEAPED OER A WALL

The picture painted of Joseph as a fruitful vine whose branches run over the wall, is that of the rapidly flourishing growth of the two tribes through the sons of Joseph, and their influence. The psalmist wrote:

"For by thee I have run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall." (Psalm 18:20)

Ephraim and Manasseh became "the adopted sons," of Jacob, ranking as his own sons, and each becoming ancestor of a tribe.

Joseph's two son's lineage through the foreign wife Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of the Egyptian city of On, means that Ephraim and Manasseh were half Israelite (Joseph's nationality) and half Gentile (Egyptian).

Ephraim and Manasseh's position then, is seen as that of a thirteenth tribe, which at times replaced Joseph as one of the 12. We see here, the fulfillment of the phrase: "One portion above thy brethren." (Gen. 49:26)

It is interesting to note that encoded in the Hebrew text, is seen the fruitfulness of Messiah, who is our Great High Priest, (Hebrews 3:1) wearing the garments of the High Priest, (Rev. 1:13) walking among the lampstands of Rev. 1-3, ever living to make intercession for His own, (Hebrews 7:25) and as seen "in His people" and His people "in Him," in the end times. (See: "Yeshua" The Name of Yeshua/Jesus Revealed In The Old Testament" By Yacov Rambsel)

Chapter 37

15) The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

16) Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel his companions:

17) And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

18) And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?

19) Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

20) And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.

21) And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

22) And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.

23) Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.

24) And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.

25) And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.

26) Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.

27) My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

28) And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

The Hebrew code which speaks of "fruitfulness," in this passage, has to do with counting every 13th letter, from the 6th yod to the last of verse 19, and when you do this, it spells: "Yeshua Ri'mon, (Rimmon) or transliterated, "Yeshua the Pomegranate." This portrays Yeshua/Jesus title as that of progenitor, in the messianic title of Isaiah 9:6, "the Everlasting father," an incredible revelation spoken by the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 9:6. I will discuss more of this, later in the article.

Before I learned about the encoded name "Yeshua the Pomegranate," as seen in the scripture concerning Ephraim and Manasseh, as "one" in the Father's hand, God gave me a prophecy for His people in a city in England, to which reference was made of them as a "pomegranate."

In Numbers 13:23, 20:5, Deut. 8:8; pomegranates are seen as symbol of Canaan'fruitfulness. The beauty of an orchard of pomegranates is referred to in Song of Solomon. (4:13) Pomegranates were embroidered in many colours on the skirts of the High Priest Aaron's garments, with golden bells. (Exod. 28:33, 39:24-26) The pomegranate as motif is also seen hammered into the brasswork ornamentation in 200 pomegranates in rows covering the chapiters of the pillars in the temple, in 1 Kings 7:18-20, 2 Chron. 3:16, 4:13.

Ephraim and Manasseh are counted with the twelve tribes of Israel, with the double portion given by Israel, through Joseph. The tribal staff or ruling sceptre of Ephraim, who though the younger, received the double portion becomes one with the stick or staff of Manasseh, for the greatest degree of fruitfulness to come from God's end-time harvest. In this we see the end time body of Mashiach/Christ.

In God's words to Abram, when he was 99 years old: "Neither shall thy name be called anymore Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee," (Gen. 17:5-6) we see that the fruitfulness would extend beyond anything that he could physically ask ot think, to the kingdom of people desired by the Lord Himself. A people "sanctified, or set apart for the service of God, as the man Abram, whose heart God knew intimately, was faithful.

Such fruitfulness is the product of covenant relationship between God and men, and there are responsibilities on both sides, if prophetic promises are to come to pass. How often people's attitude is: If God wants that for me, He knows my address." As if to say that believers are passively waiting on God. Or that it is God who is not being faithful. I can assure you that this is never the case. In the Father of Lights, "there is neither variableness nor shadow of turning." (James 1:17)

God found faithfulness in Abraham, and said: (Gen. 18:19)

"For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice, and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him."

Prophetic promises depend as much on man's response by faith to the prophetic word, as on God's prophetic promises. The Abrahamic blessing states: "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen.12:3); and to Jacob "And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." (Gen.28:14)

THE ARCHERS HAVE SORELY GRIEVED HIM & SHOT AT HIM:
(Is Your Bow Abiding In Strength?) (Gen. 49:22)

The Joseph generation, and I speak prophetically, regarding whose whom the Patriarch Israel prophesied would live and minister unto the Lord, in the "end times," (Gen. 49:22-26) has been promised abundant fruitfulness," for God made covenant (BEIT) with Jacob's forefathers, beginning with Abraham, saying:

"Fruitful I will make you." (Gen. 12:2-3, 22:16-17,27:27-29)

Natural fruitfulness is one thing. But here, God says: "Fruitful, "I" will make you." With the fruitfulness seen in the preceeding figure, it was accompanied by tremendous conflict and warfare. In Israel, there was the subversion of temptations to sin, which the man Joseph successfully warded off. But in this way, the archers, called in Hebrew, ba'aley chitstsim meaning "masters of the bow." These archers grieved him sorely,from the root marar: yemararuhu, "to make life bitter for one," try to make life unpleasant. In the three verbs, seen in these phrases, have greieved him sorely, shot at him, and persecuted him, it's apparent that this will be an on-going conflict. The answer is seen in adequate defence, and since God is Joseph's defence, he has the one who is more than adequate. Though Joseph must draw his bow again and again, his arms of his hands do not weaken, but remain firm.

When God gave Joseph's forefather Abraham, to whom the covenant came, specific instructions saying: "Go to the land I will show you," God promised fruitfulness and a fruitful land, but there was warfare for him. (Gen. 14:8) (Gen. 12:1)

God who has given you that covenant, that promise or prophetic word. He wants your bow to abide in strength!

What sort of things can tend to test or even try to weaken the bow? The man of God receiving a prophetic word regarding a mission or ministry in another city, might not have a wife as submissive as Sarah, Abraham's wife. He may have a father-in-law or a boss like Pharaoh, who says "If you take 2 weeks off to go on that mission, you're fired! But you feel God is calling you to go. This may be God's opportunity to give you greater faith in His provision. "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. (Eph. 6:10)

When you announce that you are packing up and moving, in obedience to the word of the Lord. Job said: My bow was renewed in my hand. (Job 29:20) Spiritual warfare can come in some sudden or surprising ways. Your wife, who had seemed to be in agreement, may turn and withstand you, saying: "I'm not pulling these kids out of school!" (The implication might be not when school ends--"not ever"--It's too hard for them to make all new friends!)

The "daughters of Sarah" adorn themselves with submission to their husband's godly authority, trusting in God. (1 Peter 3:5) Well...what if my husband makes a mistake? God will not forsake you, and will teach you through it. God may be dealing with your own unwillingness to suffer for the gospel's sake! A Christian man fears: "She might call your inlaws, or my unsaved parents to ask me if I've lost my mind or something! They might start working to break us up." These are "wiles" of the devil. "For we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Romans 6:12)

The bible speaks of these wiles, or methods as "military stradegies" of your adversary the devil. God has said that you will be fruitful, and increase, and the devil has come to thwart God's purpose in your lives. In what other ways did the archers shoot or do "the archers shoot to wound in the present day?"

GOD WITH US VS FALSE MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD

Like the Patriarch Joseph, who lived in Egypt during the reign of a Pharaoh who considered himself "The manifested God," the believers in Yeshua, have contended for the faith, with rulers of this sort. One of the most strategic battles ever waged against the true Messianic-Judaic monotheism of the New Testament, is seen in the clever devices of Emporer Constantine, against the Messianic Jewish believers, whose one-God" beliefs, were based on the Shema: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord," together with obedience to the first commandment, as Messiah taught in Mark 12:29. Constantine was an anti-Semitic who was bitterly opposed all Jewish Christians as Judaizers. Yet, we see the Messianic Jewish concept of One God in Messiah, clearly outlined in Colossians 2:9:

"In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead in bodily form." We see an example of this in Rev. 21:21-12. "And I saw no Temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it." (22) This does not personify "two members of the Trinity, but ONE God in Mashiach/Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. (2 Cor. 5:19) ..."And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light (Greek: LAMP i.e. "visible representation of God's person.") thereof." (23)

Contrary to the popular belief of many in the demoninations, the church did not begin in 325 a.d. with their denominational leader "Pastor Constantine."

To those first century Messianic Jews whom God used as spiritual leaders to lay the foundations of the Christian faith, as well as the believers in Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ, of today, who hold "The Revelation Yeshua haMashiach," (Rev. 1:1) which Apostle John held, (Rev. 1:8) ones revelation of the Godhead, doesn't come from a third century Catholic council, where the anti-semitic spirit of their pagan leader Constantine, and those 318 bishops present, drummed the Messianic Jewish leaders out of the corps, "forbidding to marry--" i.e. (those calling themselves Christians) to marry anyone who was a Messianic Jew." Remember that it was at Antioch, (Acts 11:26) that believers first called themselves Christians. Prior to this, Jewish believers in Messiah, continued to see themselves as Jewish.

Our faith should be centered in Yeshua haMashiach, as focal point, as it states in Colossians 2:9: "For in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead in bodily form". He is no lesser God. He is the great and true God manifest to us all. The Almighty Living God, who incarnated Himself "in the fulness of time" in Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ. Scripture admonishes not only the Hebrew Community, as the Apostle Paul writes in his epistle of Hebrews, but to all those whose spiritual focus should be Yeshua/Jesus, saying to them:

"Looking unto Yeshua, the author and finisher of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2)

"And he will speak out against the Most High, and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law..." (Daniel 7:25)

CONSTANTINE'S CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD

Constantine was no fool when it came to military campaigns. He had a secret agenda, and he was on a subversive mission, to "invade with his troops," (Habakkuk 3:16) i.e. demonic spirits-- the liberty-filled church of believers in Yeshua. The means by which to accomplish this was given him by the demonic realm, as well. There were charges that a group of followers of a man named Arians "made Yeshua/Jesus some form of lesser God." After a sinful life of political intrigue and mayhem, Emporer Constantine subjected himself to water baptism by one of the bitterly hated Arians. At the time that the Nicean Creed was set in place, Constantine, a friend of the Arians, had achieved a grand victory. Those calling themselves "representatives" of the church, had deposed Arius, but were so confused that their own misunderstanding of doctrine "made Yeshua/Jesus the "lesser God." Ask many who call themselves Christians today to define the Godhead, and their belief in Jesus Christ. contrary to scripture which states that we are not to know Messiah after the flesh, though He came in the flesh and the Apostle Paul acknowledges that in the past He was known in this capacity as mankind. Pointing to the Son of Man who lived in absolute obedience to the Father they say: Yeshua/Jesus said: "The Father is greater than I." (John 14:28) In what capacity was this said? In the capacity that:

"Though He was found in the form as God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given Him a name above every name, that at the name of Yeshua/Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." " (Phil. 2:6)

The pagans united under Constantine, would not stand for Messiah being the head of the church. The emperor was their only ruler, and he looked to Mithra, for his power. Their focus, therefore was on Ra-the Sun God, in the form of Mith-ra, the Indo-Iranian god of the sun. The only prevelent faith of Rome, was this diety with the feastday of Dec. 25th in honour of the pagan deity, which the Messianic Jewish church repudiated with a passion, and refused in. God told His church, "that righteousness has no fellowship with unrighteousness, and Christ had no concord with Belial (meaning: "mixture")(2 Cor. 6:15) He that believes has no part with an infidel. This should have eliminated 318 bishops from participating in a church council at Nicea, in 325 a.d, but those who attended, chose to ignore the clear-cut warnings of scripture. Besides the Emporer paid their way, and they were flattered. Daniel the Prophet also warned that "Many shall cleave to them with flatteries." (Dan. 11:34)

Sunday also was the day set aside for Mithra worship, as contrasted with Shabbat of the Messianic Jewish community. This also served to separate out the Jewish leaders and their converts, and to identify them for the pograms which were to follow. Constantine and the church councils carefully eradicated both the autumn Jewish festivals, and Shabbat observances, which Messianic Jews participated in, instituting that of Mithra, but calling it "Christian," and anathamizing anyone who violated these "Catholicized holy ordinances." This opposed the Apostles doctrine:

"Let no man act as your judge in regard to food or drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a sabbath day, which things are a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Messiah." (Colossians 2:16)

The doctrine of the trinity, a decidedly Gentile invention, lacks the revelation of the oneness of God found in Judaism, which Messianic Judaism, came by revelation from the mouthes of the Jewish apostles, whom God Himself anointed and ordained. Of course the oneness belief of the Jewish nation, which God commanded for thousands of years and never retracted, was of little concern to the political ambition of Emperor Constantine, and the bishops of the Nicean Council, who toyed with it for several days and came forth with a compromise doctrine. His greater focus seems to have been in getting the Jewish church leaders influence "out of" the church, because they stressed not merely Messiah in the Godhead, but the Godhead in Messiah, as the scripture states: "For in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead in bodily form," adds, "And ye are complete in Him." (Col. 2:9) It liberates people to know this.

Modern day doctors and counsellors would be penniless in the face of this revelation of this Godhead. They have preferred "The Spirit of Mammon," to the revelation of God, found in the bible. Isaiah 9:6, calls the child that was to be born: Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Yet today, at the slightest twinge of pain, men and women frequently fail to avail themselves of Messiah as Wonderful Counsellor. The scriptures are given that we might be walk in the light of the Lord. "Is any afflicted, let him pray," we are commanded. (James 5:13) Through prayer--we will come to know the voice of the Lord and to receive His counsel first-hand.

With the Greek philosophies in so many of the cities in early New Testament times, it was to the advantage of church councils to water down the gospel, and alter the Godhead, with threats to excommunicate any one who disagreed. i.e. The Jewish segment of the church, whom they derided with mockeries beyond imagination, so that the church could become thoroughly estranged from the teaching of it's Jewish apostles, and hellenized. See the article "The Conspiracy of the Great Harlot)

By the medieval era, there was such Nicolaitan authoritarian abuse, that the common people didn't own a bible, and Catholic popes bribed whole nations with threats of anathema. Yet in many places such intimidation did not prove fruitful, as men and women hungered and thirsted "Him whom to know aright if life eternal." They came into an understanding of the "oneness of God," repudiating the doctrine of the trinity. Quakers like George Fox, and William Penn, would have rather died than accomodated "the spirit of intimidation." Penn was once placed in the Tower of London and given a life sentence, for his writings: "On The Errors of the Trnity, and "A Sansy Foundation Shaken."

THE GODHEAD IN CHRIST (Col 2:9) OR CHRIST IN THE GODHEAD?

To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not inputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:18-19)

The use of Elohim, Yahweh and Adonai is all part of the unfolding revelation of God in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament Elohim is first used in Gen 1:1, and occurs over 2000 times. Yahweh is first used in Gen 2:4. In the Old Testament Yahweh occurs 6,519 times, and is used more than any other name of God. In the Old Testament Adonai occurs 434 times. This name "Adonai" is first used in Gen 15:2. Adonai is used frequently in Isaiah. And it occurs 200 times in Ezekiel. Daniel Chapter 9 contains 11 uses of Adonai.

The term "Godhead" is used three times in the New Testament, in Acts 17:29 where it is the Greek "theion. Romans 1:20 where it is the Greek theiotes. Colossians 2:9 where it is the Greek theotes. The titles Father, Son, Holy Spirit are not names but titles for God, and not three members of the Godhead, as was surmised by the Gentiles participants in the church councils, whose councils also eliminated the representation of any Jewish leadership in the church at this time. Grevious wolves Apostle Paul stated would come in not sparing the flock, and one of the major assaults was clearly directed at the very revelation of who God is.

The early church clearly defined their understanding of Yeshua/Jesus command in Matthew 28:19 for the generations of believers to understand beyond a shadow of a doubt. In every case in the book of Acts as the Lord's apostles and His disciples planted churches, they baptized in the name of Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ, for this alone is the "saving name revealed by God." Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:10, 12).

In the Old Testament Yahweh, who was the eternal and invisible Spirit states: "Before me was not formed a God." (Isaiah 43:10) This means there were no other members of any supposed trinity. We understand that "in the fullness of time" God sent forth His Son. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (Galatians 4:4-7)

In speaking of Messiah, we read: And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have preeminence, for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell. (Col. 1:18) Why does Messiah have preeminence? "Because the Father is glorified in the Son of God." (John 14:13, 12:28) Messiah glorified the Father in His obedience even to His substitutionary death on the cross for the sins of all mankind, and for this cause, God has highly exalted Him.

Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and given him a name above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess thaaaat Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

(Phil. 2:9)

In the phrase "a name above every name," we also understand the preeminence as seen in the fact that the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Messiah in bodily form. "He is the image of the invisible God." (2 Cor. 4:4, Col. 1:15) The express image of God's person. (Remember that "person," in Greek, doesn't mean "person" but is from two Greek words, which basically mean "appearance.")

In defining the doctrine of the trinity, which supposed member of the Godhead is denoted as "The Father?" Elohim, Yahweh, haShem, Adonai. Isaiah prophesied an incredible prophetic word concerning Messiah, in Isaiah 9:6, that the Son who would be born unto us, shall be called "The Everlasting Father." (Is. 9:6) Yahweh's statement is that of Heavenly Father in Exod. 4:22, where He says: "Israel is My Son, My firstborn." Some trinitarians, define Elohim as the Father as to His is creating of the heavens and the earth. (Gen. 1) Isaiah 43:15 states that The Holy One (i.e. The Holy Spirit) is the Creator of Israel. Messiah Himself, tells us what His own doctrine was/is concerning the Eternal Godhead: "He that has seen Me has seen the Father." If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. I and My Father are one. (John 14:3, John 14:9, John 10:30) Never did He claim to be one member of the Godhead and say His Heavenly Father was an entirely separate, distinct person, or Godhead member.

Who is the trinitarian Godhead member defined as "Spirit, the Holy One, in Greek, or the Holy Spirit?" Is the Father even seen as a Spirit? Or does only the Holy Spirit equate to some as Spirit?

Messiah said: In that day you shall know, that I am in My Father and you in Me and I in you." When the apostles assayed to go to Bithynia, the "Spirit of Jesus" forbid them to go." (Acts 16:7) How many spirits are in the Godhead? One or two or three? Ephesians tells us there is but "one Spirit," even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. (Eph. 4:4) Yet many see, in a triune Godhead, Spirit #1, and Spirit #2, and the Messiah as if He had no Spirit at all--and is merely flesh, as if there are at least two Spirits. However, in Paul's discussion of spiritual gifts, he states these come through the working of "that ONE and self-same Spirit, dividing to each man severally as He wills." (1 Cor. 12:11) Again, we see God's Spirit is "one," exactly as defined in Eph. 4:4. Not two and certainly not three. When you read Rev. 1:8, Messiah terms Himself as that Spirit--saying: "He who was and is and is to come, the Almighty!" "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!" (2 Cor. 3:17)

In the Old Testament, God is always seen the King Eternal, or King of the Universe. Isaiah 43:15, calls the Holy One (i.e. Holy Spirit) your King. The New Testament states that Messiah is King of Kings, (Rev.17:14, 19:16) the Blessed and ONLY Potentate. The blessed and only potentate does not ever equate as "three in one." Blessed and ONLY is exactly that. If Messiah is the ONLY Potentate, or King, where does this leave the Trinitarian's other persons of the Godhead? Israel in the Old Testament knew but "one king eternal." Only through the incarnation, would Israel recognize this King of theirs.

Messiah is hardly in the subordinate position, as King of ALL Kings. In Psalm 2, God states that He Himself has established Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ as King, upon His holy hill. (Psalm 2:6) When the apostles wrote of the Godhead, they only give this in benedictions and salutations: From God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to define the incarnation, and work of the cross of Mashiach/Christ. There is an absence of any reference to "3 in one," as the church espoused from Emperor Constantine's Nicean Council in 325 a.d.

MESSIAH AS ANCIENT OF DAYS (Rev 1) OR A SUBORDINATE IN HEAVEN?

Because the Son of God was obedient to His Heavenly Father in His role as Messiah, He has been viewed by some in a subordinate position eternally. God clothed Himself in flesh in the incarnation. Thus in heaven, we read: And I saw no temple therein...Because of the fact that people fail to understand that Messiah is the Victorious King Israel has looked for! The children of Israel saw the prophetic promises concerning the triumph of Messiah over His adversaries. What they many times failed to observe, was that this high exaltation, would be made possible only through a Lamb meek and lowly, that would shed his blood and die for the sins of the people. It was for the "sufferings of death" on the cross as the Lamb of Pesach, that He was made a little lower than the angels." (Heb. 2:7) "He thought it not robbery to be equal with God" or "Did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped" in Philippians 2:6. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. As our glorified Lord, He calls Himself, in Rev. 1 "The Almighty." You must read the rest of the book, clear through to the end.

In Revelation 1:8, as Messiah brings forth the revelation of Himelf, now glorified, He calls Himself, "The Almighty." What part of "ALMIGHTY" do people fail to understand? Those who tend to shrink Messiah into the subordinate role, but nevertheless calling Him co-equal and co-eternal with the other supposed Trinity members, need to see Him as the ALMIGHTY God, not as one third of God! He's the focus both now, and the eternal "focal point," with the church "looking to Yeshua/Jesus, as Author and Finisher of our faith. (Heb. 12:2) Such ignorance flourishes in a climate in which the church is too encumbered and overtaken with the cares of life, to search out the scriptures as the Bereans whom Paul termed as "More noble than those Thessalonica, for they searched the scriptures daily, to see if the things he was teaching were so." (Acts 17:13)

The disciple Thomas called Messiah: My Lord and My God! (John 20:28) What portion of "In HIM dwells ALL the fulness of the Godhead in bodily form," subordinates Him to the other so called members of the trinity, as if some lesser life form?

And Unto the King, Invisible, Immortal...be honour and glory forever and ever amen? And "The Only wise God, our Saviour?" (Jude 25) Where does this leave the other two members of the Godhead, if the Blessed and Only Potentate (1 Tim. 6:15) is "the fulness of the Godhead" in bodily form? (Col. 2:9) The point is the Godhead emmanates from His glorious face. (Rev. 21:21-23) Isaiah said: "He shall be for a glorious throne to His fathers house." He's not just seated at the right hand of God, but He is the throne. (Is. 22:23) These are metaphors for His position of all-power in heaven and in earth which have been given to Him.

Now, centuries later, many worship Him, not as "the King Immortal, Invisible, the ONLY wise God, (1 Tim. 1:17) the Blessed and ONLY Potentate, (1 Tim. 6:16) with the focus solely upon His glorious person, but simply as "a part or portion of God." How many kings do you count here? Timothy states there is just the blessed and ONLY Potentate or King!

Moreover, they see Him not as Apostle John saw Him, as "The Almighty," but as much less than that.

Thomas, the Jewish disciple, called Christ: My Lord and My God. The old Jewish Apostle John, saw the glorified Messiah, as Ancient of Days who did sit, in Rev. 1:8. And the glorified Saviour identifies Himself in Rev. 1:8, saying:

"I Am Alpha and Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was, and who is to come, The Almighty."

Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ commanded His disciples to fulfill the Great Commission, saying: "Go into all the world, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the "name-singular not titles plural) of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe and to do whatsoever things I have commanded you: and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the world. (Matt. 28:19) He stated in Mark 16:18-18, "These signs shall follow them that believe."

• In my name they shall cast out devils. (Acts 16:16)
• They shall speak with new tongues. (Acts 2:1-4)
• They shall take up serpents. (Acts 28:3)
• If they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them.
• They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. (Acts 5:12, Acts 9:33,Acts 14:10)

Those Jewish apostles, who had walked with Yeshua/Jesus, and had known and touched Him, went forth and did a seemingly strange thing to the Gentile or Trinitarian mind...They baptized into the name singular of Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ. This was the Messianic Jewish and Gentile Christian belief of of the first century, that had come down to them from the Apostles of the Lamb, who were all Jewish, and who understood the truthes of scripture by direct revelation, from God. Revelation is still available to those who want to know the Lord. (Luke 10:22) Messiah said: "Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject to you, but that your names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. In that hour Yeshua/Jesus rejoiced in Spirit (Greek shows Him dancing) and said: I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered to meof my Father. and no man knows who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is, but the Son, and him to whom the Son will reveal Him. And he turned to His disciples and said: Blessed are the eyes which see the tings that you see. For many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which you hear, but have not heard them. " (Luke 10:21-22)

In the present day, as with other generations, God is calling leaders to teach the precious truthes of His word, and among them, is a proper understanding of the Godhead, with signs and wonders, confirming God's word.

When Jewish leaders were persecuted and driven from Jerusalem, and other areas, and omitted from the Councils of the emerging Roman Catholic church, those with a mixture of pagan and Christian beliefs prevailed, and endeavor to prevail over the Church of Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ until this day.

Where are the Judah Maccabees of our day? Where were they, when the Council at Nicea and successive councils were hammering out false doctrine, and ratifying it at church councils, one after another? There is the wide-spread hellenizing even now of those Messiah died to save. Pick up your workman's Hammer Judah! Where are the sons of Judah, who hate to see the hellenizing of their Messiah's teaching? How many of the sons of Judah, have for hundreds of years permitted the hellenizing of the faith once delivered to the saints?

It was a clever ruse that was used to perpetrate such truth of scripture, and to erode solid doctrinal foundation in people's lives. A strategic but spiritually military ploy or thing was done, as an actual military campaign, to raise the banner of an anti-christ spirit, through false apostles, by anointed principality spirits who are angels of light. (2 Cor. 11:14) But the New Testaaament on the Day of Pentecost, shows us that "This is that..." The real apostles of God baptized in Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ's name alone, (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:46-48, Acts 19:5) spoke in tongues, (Acts 2:1-4) cast out demons...And the kingdom of God came to earth as it is in heaven...The persecution was also quite immediate, coming then, through an attack primarily against the Jewish segment of the church. To be Jewish at all, was to be called a Judaizer, by those subservient to the Emperor Constantine.

RECEIVING THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THROUGH REVELATION FROM GOD'S UNCHANGING WORD

Yeshua said: "All things are delivered to Me of My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and him to whom the Son sills to reveal Him." (Matt. 11:27)

God always intended that belief or knowledge of God in Messiah (Immanuel "God with us", Yeshua= "Yahweh the Saviour") come by revelation. As men and women repent of sins, and do the will of the Lord, God's will is made clear, for God's word states: If any man will do my will, he shall know the doctrine, whether it's of God or whether I speak of Myself. (John 7:17)

Messiah called Nathaniel a "true Israelite," in whom is no guile, stating that "Hereafter you shall see the heavens opened and the angels of the Lord ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." (John 1:51) This indicates that ones "heart condition or humble attitude" is a central issue in the understanding of doctrine, and eliminates Constantine as a teacher of doctrine.

Jewish believers of the first century, did not fragment Messiah, as Messianic Jews were taught to do through the intimidation of Catholic Gnosticism which compartmentalized the Godhead as three separate distinct persons, in later centuries. The Roman Catholic church that held sway over whole nations with their threats to anathemize all who disagreed with their pagan hierarchy, filled the Catholic coffers. They paraded and still parade the bone relics of saints, and have enough supposed splinters of the cross to build a cathedral. Many succumbed, to the "trappings of the Great Harlot," as Jews in the story of Hanukkah, came in subjection to Antiochus Ephipanes. (Feast of Dedication-John 10:22-23) When Hellenized Jews submitted to Antiochus Epiphanes threats, commanding them to bow to his gods, those children of Israel who found this abhorrent, had to be ready to die for the faith.

The birth of Messiah which occurred during an autumn Jewish feast period, was also changed to that of December 25, the pagan Sun-God, so as to accomodate pagans without the need for conversion. Under the guise of eliminating legalism, which was not of major import to Constantine, who history records murdered his own family members for political advantage, he purged Messianic Jews so as to accomodate a new breed he could effectively work through.

When the Apostle Paul taught all believers to accept one another, he was not accomodating false doctrine, which he hated, and worked to correct, warning of "science falsely so called, overlords over the flock of God, and many other things. He said to:

"Accept one another, just as Christ also acceped us to the glory of God. For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers," and for the Gentiles to glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: Therefore will I give praise to Thee among the Gentiles, and I will sing praise to Thy name. (Romans 15:7-12)

The Council of Nicea opposed the truth of God's word to "accept one another," which was God's heart brought forth by the apostles. Constantine declared that there should be "punishing and excommunicating of all those observing the Messianic Jewish Sabbath."

The day which the pagans of the kingdom set aside for observance of Nithra which was Sunday, became through new laws passed by church councils, the Christian Sabbath. The Jewish "calendar year" was eliminated and replaced, with Roman months of the year, which recall the pagan feast days or holidays. Today, in America, the public recognizes the Roman names given to the days of the week. The New Year celebration for a many, is the license for drunken debachery, rather than the holy associations of the autumn Feast of Roshashanah, which speaks of the need for searching ones heart before God and for repentance.

On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. (Given the 7th day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time [321 CE].)

The Council instituted the observance of Easter with it's fertility symbols, to replace Pesach's lamb sacrifice.

It was basically Pharaoh of Egypt all over again, observing that God had blessed these Jewish apostles, and believers, who had gone into all the world, to fulfill the Great Commission, as Messiah commanded, baptizing converts in the name of Yeshua haMashiach. (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:46-48, Acts 19:5)

They'd been fruitful and multiplied, replentishing the earth with converts of the faith in Messiah, through the careful observance of as holy men and women of God, and preaching of God's word...Now what to do to reduce their effectiveness. Constantine would utilize the Council of Nicea, to gain entrance into those areas where gnosticism failed.

Moreover, the Messianic Jews had prophets. Gnosticism had succeeded in suffocating much of this among Gentile believers, but not among Jews with a long heritage of hearing from God through prophecy. Harsh discriminatory decrees followed, such as Canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea which cited:

"Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ".

EMPEROR CONSTANTINE'S POST HUMUS WAR AGAINST THE END-TIME JOSEPH

The "Christianity" Constantine endorsed was already considerably different from that practiced by Jesus Christ and the apostles. The emperor accelerated the change by his own hatred of Jews and religious practices he considered Jewish. "Constantine's Sword" was against the true church of the Yehsua haMashiach/Lord Jesus Christ!

The following excerpts are from a letter of the Emperor (Constantine) to all those not present at the council of Nicea. (Found in Eusebius, Vita ConsL, Lib 11118-20)

"When the question relative to the sacred festival of Easter arose, it was universally thought that it would be convenient that all should keep the feast on one day; for what could be more beautiful and more desirable than to see this festival, through which we receive the hope of immortality celebrated by all with one accord and in the same manner? It was declared to be particularly unworthy for this, the holiest of festivals to follow the customs (the calculation) of the Jews, who had soiled their hand with the most fearful of crimes, and whose minds were blinded in rejecting their custom, we may transmit to our descendants the legitimate mode of celebrating Easter; which we have observed from the time of the Saviour's passion (according to the day of the week).

We ought not therefore to have anything in common with the Jews, for the Savior has shown us another way; our worship following a more legitimate and more convenient course (the order of the days of the week): And consequently In unanimously adopting this mode, we desire, dearest brethren to separate ourselves for it is truly shameful for us to hear them boast that without their direction we could not keep this feast How can they be in the right, they who, after the of the Savior; have no longer been led by reason but by wild violence, as their delusion may urge them? They do not possess the truth in This Easter question, for in their blindness and repugnance to all Improvements, they frequently celebrate two Passovers in the same year. We could not imitate those who are openly in error. How then, could we follow these Jews who are most certainly blinded by error? For to celebrate a Passover twice in one year is totally inadmissible.

But even if this were not so it would still he your duty not to tarnish your soul by communication, with such wicked people (the Jews). You should consider not only that the number of churches in these provinces make a majority, but also that it is right to demand what our reason approves, and that we should have nothing in common with the Jews."

*Gleaned from Dr. Henry R. Percival's "The Nicean and post Nicean Fathers". Vol. XIV
Grand Rapid: Erdmans pub. 1979, pgs. 54-55

AND HATED HIM"

The scriptures admonish us:

Take unto you the full armor of God, (which is the word of God) that ye may be able withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, with your loins girt with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer, and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."

(Eph. 6:13-17)

What God has joined, let not man put assunder! The warfare a marriage goes through is serious business. That "first love," those once cherished vows, can turn sour in a moments time, if you don't guard your marriage and hold it sacred. Remind your husband--Remind your wife of your covenant vows. Perhaps you have never been aware of the kind of spiritual warfare that our adversary the devil can generate in his hatred of Christians. This can be at times, subtle, or downright oppositional. The inlaws will ask me: Aren't you concerned, that you won't be able to find a job? This will undermine my wife's faith in me. "Many waters can not quench love, neither can the floods drown it." (Song of Solomon 8:7) Still and all, as you act in faith, you really might look like "Joseph the Dreamer, in the eyes of those relatives!" Be secure and confident in your knowledge of God and His word!

Sometimes Christians do not heed God's command to:

"Come out from among them and be ye separate." (2 Cor. 6:17)

They continue to receive counsel from their ungodly relatives, which make the truth of God of no effect. Relatives who at times are envious, because their own evil lifestyle has not brought down God's blessings upon them, while they observe yours has.

One young woman was constantly battled with temptations to commit adultery. One day it became apparent that she was in fellowship a great deal with a sister of hers, who was adulterous.

"While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of sin. (2 Pet. 2:19)

At other times, it's a wife, complaining: "My husband doesn't act very spiritual. He's a good provider, but I wish he would act more like the spiritual head of the house." A domineering mother may attempt to interfere, simply because she doesn't want her child to do anything that takes the individual out from under her control. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." (Gen.2:24)

Pastors, seeing the magnitude of an individual's calling, may advise that you to take more time in preparation. And as we look into God's word, we see God working with people to prepare them for a calling, to which He has called them. Much of the spiritual warfare individuals go through, is because they do not wholly obey the word of the Lord.

THE COMPLICATIONS OF WILLFUL DISOBEDIENCE<

It was approximately 25 years from the time God spoke and promised a son to Joseph's ancestor Abraham. He was old when the promise came, and Isaac was born in the fulness of God's prophetic time. That's the way it is with God's prophetic promises. Abraham's hope wasn't hung out there on nothing, as he hoped against hope! His faith covered him like a huppah, or canopy, those long years he waited, and God prepared him to receive God's marvellous promise. With regard to Abraham, God called him and he didn't say: Abraham, ten years from now, I want you to move out of Ur. But God did command him saying: "Leave those relatives of your fathers house, behind. Do not take them along." The Lord worded it to Abraham this way:

"Depart from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy fathers house, unto the land which I will show thee." (Gen. 12:1)

In the bible, Abraham's father, Terah's name means "Delay." Terah, who was father of Abraham, Nahor and Haran, is said in God's word, to have been an idolator. (Joshua 24;2) Abraham seems to have not readily understood that God wanted to separate Abraham from the idolatrous culture in which he lived, as part of the covenant promise and blessing. Perhaps, like it is to some people today, the word of God appeared in conflict, to what were emotional ties and social obligations.

Terah was old! At Abraham's birth Terah was no less than 70 years of age. Some speculate he was over 100, or as old as 132. After Abraham's marriage, Terah, Abraham, Sarah, and Lot emigrated from Ur of the Chaldees on the road to Canaan, stopping in Haran. (Gen. 11:24-32)

Abraham also took his nephew Lot with him, who having no children of his own, appears to have been looked on as somewhat of an heir. Then Abraham went out not knowing whither he went. (Heb. 11:8) Whereas Abraham had been a wealthy man in Ur, and moving would necessitate "not taking it all with him, Lot was also rich in possessions, so a dispute arose with regard to the water and pasture rights of the flocks and herds. (Gen. 12:7-8)

With regard to the choice of land, after the move, Lot chose the well-watered plains of Sodom. This decision caused him to be vulnerable. He was at one time kidnapped by the kings of Sodom, and Abraham had to rescue him, which was time consumming. (Gen. 15:1-5)

Sarah was old when God gave her husband this prophetic word concerning the birth of a son. She laughed! Have you ever wondered how many women God would have to pass over today, to find one--especially a mature older woman, to whom he could say: I want to give you a child, that shall be great in the kingdom of God?

Did Sarah have any concerns about what her women friends would think of this idea of an old grey haired woman who was pregnant? Oh Sarah, old age happens to everybody. Now I think you are just afraid or uncomfortable with growing old! A kid at your age? Go enjoy soebody elses children, there are plenty of them around! God's idea of removing her from Ur, helped protect her from the obtrusive remark of the neighbor in Ur?

It was God's covenant blessing to give to Abraham a new land, in which to raise his son, Isaac. Have you ever felt God was calling you to relocate, or considered the effects of such a move on your family?

THE PILGRIM IMMIGRANTS TO AMERICA

What did the pilgrims immigrants do, when fleeing England, leaving relatives behind, in search of religious freedom? After arriving in America, they often sent for them! This was a marvellous thing if relatives shared belief in Messiah. Sometimes today, people who move from one continent or country to another, work and pay the passage of their kinfolks. Depending on whether those relatives have a heart for God, or not, has the potential to effect generations. In no time, America has become the vast mixed multitude "Israel" had to deal with before they left Egypt!

Some of these pilgrims or immigrants fled purposely because they knew that ungodly relatives had an extremely negative or derrogatory impact upon the family, and they longed to raise their children in a more godly atmosphere.

Gideon was a man who learned to be selective in who he took along with him on a mission of importance. (Judges 6:11) He looked for "fruit," in the lives of his men, because the conflicts they would face demanded spiritual strength in their physical bodies, as well as their souls and spirits. By the time he finished weeding out the "takers," there were but 300 warriors left.

We see Joseph, in the end, tests his brothers, and looks for fruitfulness in their lives. They didn't know he could even understand their language, as they talked. It takes more than a vast multitude-- to produce the fruitfulness God desires. God often begins with just one man or just one woman and gives them a prophetic promise, such as He gave to Abraham. Like he promised the man Joseph.

Joseph in these end-times must be a virtual grain silo, filled with God's word. (Amos 8:11) He must learn to withstand social pressure, and to be led of the Spirit of God. The success of your venture will depend in part on how discerning you become with regard to people, their character and motives. We move or act when God tells us. God sent Joseph before his brothers as a type of first-fruits of a harvest...that he might be a blessing! We hear a lot of bold faith these days, which is confrontational. Sometimes faith ambushes. It can be stealthy, such as Rahab was when asked if she'd seen spies. (Josh. 2:1-6:25) It can act courageously, even secretively, like the midwives in Moses day. (Exodus 1:20) All of these biblical examples were manifestations of godly wisdom.

THE ARMS OF HIS HANDS WERE MADE STRONG BY THE HANDS OF THE MIGHTY GOD OF JACOB

It's by faith and patience, that we obtain the Lord's promises. (Heb. 6:12) Our strength comes from the absolute faithfulness of God's promises, which are contained in His word. His blessings are sure because His word is true. The bible says: They are amen, to him that believes. Through these come with trials, so that through them we will gain a deeper understanding or knowledge of God than we have ever had before. So that we will not become complacent, in our pursuit of God. That "having done the will of God, we might obtain the promise." What has God promised you? Your true blessing is in God's hands, now. It is a stephanos, or "victor's wreath," which awaits you at the completion of what God has told you to do. This is the victory that overcomes...even our faith!

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written: The just shall live by (out of) his faith." (Romans 1:17)

What has the Lord revealed to you is necessary on your part to secure it? Joseph was given a vision from God of great blessing. He received it too, and is even now receiving it, let him that has an ear hear what God's Spirit is saying...

From the time you receive a prophetic word from the Lord, till God brings it to pass you will be tested. The scriptures tell us "Joseph, like our Saviour, was put to grief. "The archers sorely grieved him, and shot at him. But his bow abode in strength." Why? "The arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob." (Gen. 49:23-24) And after the blessing comes, you'll experience trials, holding onto what God has give to you, through your faith in Him.

When Jacob found himself in the midst of one of the deepest trials of his entire life, the natural situation looked gloomy, but God was still on the throne. The story focuses on the prophetic covenant promises passed down through the ages, as it was given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, prophesies before Israel dies, he reiterates God's blessings to his own 12 sons, prophesying the things which shall befall the sons in the last days.

Jacob speaks to us concerning what God sees with regard to our own strengthes, weaknesses and ultimately prophesying not just the destiny of the nation of Israel, but of the "Israel of God," and of their children's children in the "latter days." This isn't "replacement theology." For God's word says that "He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and circumcision is of the heart." Apostle Paul says "the true circumcision" are those who have turned their hearts to Messiah, and received salvation through faith in His name. We that have believed on Jesus, have the sign of which represents our faith. 1) We worship God in Spirit. 2) We glory in Christ Jesus 3) We put no confidence in the flesh. (Phil. 3:3) God has a holy seed," even a remnant that will be brought through the fire.

FROM THENCE IS THE SHEPHERD THE STONE OF ISRAEL (EBHEN YISRAEL)
SEEING GOD FACE TO FACE

"....The arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob, from thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel."

In this verse, we see another witness to the Messiah's statement "I and my Father are one, (John 10:30) for Israel has but one Rock. The Rock of Israel, said: Beside me there is no Saviour. (Isaiah 43:11) So who is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel, if Israel has but "one Rock?" And beside Him, there is no Saviour?" He anointed the prophets to prophesy of Messiah, who was to come.

The psalmist wrote: "Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my Rock; be not silent to me: lest if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down to the pit." (Psalm 28:1) And again: "From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I." (Psalm 61:2) The greatest blessing by far is to "know Him whom to know aright, is life eternal." (John 17:3,I Jn. 5:20)

...Following his resurrection, Messiah appeared to His disciples, telling them to "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in "haShem" (the Name) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matt. 28:19) Without deviating from their assigned mission, those apostles obeyed the voice of their Lord, and baptized their converts "Into the name of Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ." The 3000 children of Israel on the Day of Pentecost, were baptized in the name of Yeshua haMashiach, for the remission of their sins. (Acts 2:38) The Samaritans were baptized into haShem-"The Name" of the name of Lord Jesus. (Acts 8:16) The Gentiles were baptized by the apostles "in the name singular "of the Lord." And the Ephesians were baptized in Acts 19:5, "in the name of the Lord Jesus."

Jacob received such a revelation Bethel, when he laid his head on a rock for a pillow, and saw a ladder that reached from earth to heaven. That ladder on which he beheld the angels of the Lord ascending and descending, typified Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant. (Genesis 28:12) In the New Testament, Paul taught that at the time of the Exodus, Israel drank from the Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. (1 Cor. 10:4)

Jacob received revelation from God at Penial, (Gen. 32:30) as he wrestled with God in the form of an angel, or what we sometimes call "the theophany," because the manifestation of God's presence was God in the form of the angel of the Lord. (Gen. 16:7-13, Exod. 3:2-6,Judg. 6:11-24) How do we know it was this? Jacob says: "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." In Genesis 35:9-10, "God appeared to Jacob "again," when he came out of Padan-aram and blessed him, stating: "Your name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and He called his name Israel." God first appeared to him at Shechem, when he commanded him to go to Bethel. God reappears here, confirming the Abrahamic Covenant.

"I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply, a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee, will I give the land."

There are believers whose loved ones and have not yet accepted Messiah as their Saviour. In Matthew 19:9, believers in Yeshua ha Mashiach/Christ Jesus have this promise: And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. Are you a daughter of Sarah, as I Peter 3:6, exhorts Christian women to be? Are you a son of Abraham? Then God has a place for you where you can be a joint heir with Christ! An inheritance in this life and in the life to come. The Lord promised "greater works than these shall ye do." Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. (John 14:12)

Jacob's encounter with the living God, involved his own personal sanctification. Sanctification is part of God's preparation for receiving the fulfillment of prophecies given to us. Jacob would raise a son named Joseph who also would have a destiny in God.

A son that would be torn from him while he was still very young, and the spiritual survival of that young man would depend to a great extent, upon those truthes his father taught him about God, and his own holy and his own personal relationship with the Almighty. In exile, as always, "the arms of Joseph's hands would be strengthened by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob." (Gen 49:24)

God needs those, in these last days, whose faith will be a kind of firstfruits, that heralds a harvest. Joseph's father Jacob had known God, but God wanted to to be known in a deeper way, than Jacob could ever fathom at that time. How often is "good" the enemy of best? The scriptures teach us that the "kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." (Matthew 11:12)But too often, ones attitude toward spiritual things can become complacent!

Jacob had a hunger for God. His son Joseph pursued the Lord, but the whole family doesn't possess the same heart, as we will see. What sort of things can make us complacent, or our family members so that as individuals we shut down and turn off? Preoccupation with the cares of life. (Luke 8:14,Luke 21:34) Or even family issues, such as those with which Jacob was involved with Esau, concerning his inheritance. In such situations, people can feel slighted, but God gives us "an inheritance that fades not away."

A "birthright" which causes us to keep this miriad of disappointments in the proper perspective. We believe that we know God's will for us, but trials come our way, and it can appear that things crumble, and dreams turn to dust.

What we see in Joseph's father Jacob's life was that God never ceased working to bring Jacob to the place God wanted him to be. God's word says: "This is the will of God concerning you, even your sanctification." (1 Thess. 4:3) What does "sanctification" mean? It means to be "set apart," for the purposes of God. These two essential things--a) "A revelation of God, and b) personal sanctification unto the purposes of God; are crucial to the anointing of God upon our lives.

A KINGDOM NOT OF THIS WORLD:

At Bethel, Jacob made camp. Selecting a stone for a pillow, he laid down to sleep. As he slept, he dreamed a dream, in which he saw a ladder that reached from earth to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. In this place, the Lord stood, and reiterated the promise:

"I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon you lie, I will give to you and to your descendants." (Gen. 28:13)

In awe, Jacob replied: "This is the House of God, and the Gate of Heaven," referring to that place where one receives direct revelation from God. As believers when we trust in the Lord and believe on the name, of the only begotten son of God, our Messiah, Jesus Christ, we stand at the gate of heaven, knocking on heaven's door. The entering in, comes first and foremost through our understanding of who God is. For scripture states that we must believe "That He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)

The prophet Isaiah in the nineth chapter, describes Messiah in this way:

The term "Everlasting or Eternal Father, has previously been a familiar name and attribute of God in the Old Testament. As a human father is seen as the progenitor or life-source of his own descendants, many references to the fatherhood of God, portray Him as Creator. (Gen. 17:5, Romans 4:11) This places emphasis not only upon relationship, but on origin. Moses taught Israel: "Is He not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?" (Deut. 32:6) The Prophet Malachi cried: "Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us?" (Mal. 2:10) The Prophet Isaiah prophesies that "Everlasting Father," will be, one of the titles by which Messiah will be known. Not only is the fullness of the Godhead in Messiah in bodily form, but in John 17:21-23 the Lord prayed that this oneness would be in us! That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. We must be "sanctified through truth." To be sanctified means to be "set apart." Truth will do this in our lives, when it becomes more important to us than anything else in our lives. This is what it means to be an "Israelite in whom is no guile." We'll have an open heaven and the miracles will flow!

At Penial, where Jacob had fled from his angry brother Esau, who felt he'd been robbed of his birthright, Jacob wrestled with God. Not only was his name changed to Israel, (Prevailer, or Prince with God) when in that lonely place, estranged from his family members, but desperately holding onto God, he became a changed man.

With the new revelation of God which he'd received, no longer did Jacob, whose name meant "Deceiver" win "by hook or by crook," for now he'd seen God "face to face," and his life was preserved. For the rest of his life, he halted upon his thigh, for this was part of the blessing God blessed him with, at the place called Peniel. It was a place God crippled that dependance of Jacob on his flesh. For the rest of his life, "he halted upon his thigh," as a memorial of an encounter of the close kind with Almighty God, in the form of an angel.(Genesis 32:30)

AS STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND
(We Can Each Have An Open Heaven...)

God promises in the last days, to pour out of His Spirit on all flesh, saying:

Your young men will see visions and your old men dream dreams. (Joel 2:23-32)

This was quoted by the Jewish Apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost, as this prophecy was fulfilled. (Acts 2:17)

It will come to pass in the last days,' God says, 'that I will pour out a portion of my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. 18 Indeed, upon my servants and my handmaids I will pour out a portion of my spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will work wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below: blood, fire, and a cloud of smoke. 20 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and splendid day of the Lord, 21 and it shall be that everyone shall be saved who calls on the name of the Lord.'

Jesus Christ identifies Himself in scripture, as the "Door of the Sheephold," by which men enter in, and this was Peters sermon to 3000 Jews who had come to Jerusalem to "celebrate the feast." Christ is the portal, by which we become citizens of the "heavenly kingdom." (John 10:9) Jesus defines "an open heaven," in a message to an Israelite named Nathaniel; not as a locale, but a heart attitude, in which one is pure in heart, and "without guile". This type of heart is sure to raise up a highway for our God, and to do the greater works that the Lord promised we will do. Becoming sanctified through faith, can only come by believing in Christ Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. On the day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter stood and in answer to the query of a crowd of 3000 who asked "What must we do to be saved?" He replied:

Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)

Why did the apostles baptize their converts in the name of Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ, when Yeshua/Jesus himself said: Go ye into all the world, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? First observe that He told them to baptize into the "name" singular, not into 3 separate titles. The apostles, being Jewish, understood who Messiah was, as "The promised Holy One of Israel." The early church or EKKLESIA of "called out ones," was basically a synagoge, of Messianic believers, who were considered a sect of Judaism. These believers knew that "in Him (Messiah) dwells all the fulness of the Godhead in bodily form. (Col. 2:9) The truth is made clear enough in Romans 6:3: "Or do you not know that as many of us as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." Another obvious statement, is "He that has the Son has the father."

ON BEING HEIR OF THE WORLD

With this, I will go on, to the life of Joseph, and truthes concerning "The Joseph Anointing." Joseph's life is a continuation of the prophecies given to his fathers. God promised Abraham he would be "heir of the world," and there was a measure of fulfillment of this seen in Joseph's life.

In Genesis 29:1, we are told, that Jacob continued his journey to the "land of the people of the east," to the place where his uncle Laban (his mother's brother) lived.

As Jacob journeyed to the land of the east, it was here, that he met Rachel, as she tended her father's sheep, and helped her water the sheep. He introduced himself as her father's brother, Rebekah's son, and he wept.

In the process of time Jacob served his father-in-law Laban for 7 years, believing he was working for his bride Rachel, and his father in law, Laban, deceiving him that he might marry off the elder daughter Leah, as custom dictated that the elder daughter be married first. Those years spent with Laban, had to have had an impact on Jacob. God can use our relatives, or a working relationship to do that. Laban was obviously a very clever individual, who robbed Jacob and his family of their inheritance. Later we see how he operates, with regard to his son-in-laws wages. Jacob began to discern that his father-in-laws attitude was not as it was before. (Gen. 31:2) (Gen. 30-31:7) It appears that God uses this relationship to give Jacob an eyeful and an earful, as if to say: Jacob, there's a higher relationship with Me, that I long for you to enjoy.

After working for 7 additional years, now totaling 14 years, Jacob married his beloved Rachel. (Gen. 29:6) Joseph, the son of Jacob was the oldest son born to Jacob and Rachel, shortly before Jacob entreated his father in law to allow them to leave Padan-aram, where he'd lived and worked for his father-in-law. (Genesis 30:25)

INHERITING THE (BLESSINGS) & PROMISES OF GOD THROUGH FAITH
(He That Ascends Must First Descend)

One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all." (Ephesians 4:5) But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith: When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all in all." (Eph. 4:5-9)

The revelation given Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that God is ONE, forms the prophetic and scriptural basis of the seed inheriting the promises of God, through faith. Is it just apples and oranges, as some say? No it's not. One's belief and understanding of the Godhead will determine not only your relationship with the Lord and theology you embrace, but your calling and mission in life.

The greatest blessing of all, is seen symbolically in the fact that the Levites received no inheritance in the land, but God was their portion forever. In the New Testament, God desires to be possessed by His own. He said:

"I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing. And I will welcome you and be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters. (2 Cor. 6:18)

Joseph was taught this doctrine for 17 years, before his betrayal, by his brothers. Prior to being placed first into a pit, by his brethren, and later into the prison dungeon, was exalted, because He held to his monotheistic concept of God, and maintained his integrity before God, refusing to compromise.

THE GNOSTIC COMPARTMENTALIZAION OF THE GODHEAD

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord. (Mark 12:29)

Joseph abiding in strength, because his faith was in the Rock of Israel, who strengthened the arms of his hands, is a type of our Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ, who warred against the devil, when he came to the Lord in the wilderness temptation, and Yeshua victoriously overcame him. Joseph's trial was a wilderness of temptations, but he overcame by faith. This is the victory that overcomes, even our faith. (1 John 5:4)

Our Saviour did not faulter in faith, but was obedient even to death on the cross.(Phil. 2:8) Messiah who believed and taught the SHEMA, as the basis of true religion. When asked which was the greatest commandment, Jesus quoted from the Shema, and said: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." (Mark 12:29)

In this, we see Yeshua/Jesus reiterating or preaching in agreement with His numerous other statements on the oneness of the Godhead, such as "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father." (John 14:9)

Israel, as a people, did not "compartmentalize" life into secular and private. Israel as a covenant people had no private life. Their entire lives belonged only to God. In His people's daily lives, work, or recreation was all under the jurisdiction of the one God who was the King of the Universe. Neither did the people of Israel living in covenant with God "compartmentalize" the Godhead. Israel doesn't do this now. God to the Israeli mind is purely monotheistic--God is one and foundational to the Jewish faith is SHEMA, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” as written in Deut 6:4-9.

When Messiah came, died for the sins of mankind, raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, and poured forth the Holy Spirit, the newly formed church was of Jewish origins. They had no "New Testament" as we know it today. They had the writings of the Hebrew prophets, and preached from these, and from the revelation given by God, concerning haMashiach/Messiah.

With the passing of time, the gospel went forth to the Gentiles, exactly as the scriptures prophesied that it would. The apostles write of battling false teachings, false prophets, philosophies such as those of Greece, with the so-called" educated minds, of the Greek philosophers, pagan religions, etc. Gradually, those believers in Christ who were Jewish, came under greater and greater persecution, so that the new world order at that time might gain control over the masses of spiritually hungry people.

JOSEPH GIVES FORTH REVELATION & WISDOM FROM THE SILO OF GOD'S WORD

`The revelation knowledge which comes to the end-time Joseph Generation, by the Spirit of the Lord, is part of the blessings promised in Jacob/Israel's prophecy of Genesis 49:25-26. These will give out of this profuse abundance, as God wills:

• Blessings from heaven above-The heavens shall not withold the promised rain, sun, or necessary winds.
• Blessings of the deep that coucheth beneath-This involves waters stored within the earth, in subterranean depthes.
• Blessings of the breast and of the womb-Abundant offspring
• Blessings of your father
• Blessings of the progenitors to the border of the everlasting hills

Messiah was crucified, died, was buried, and descended into the lowest hell, where he preached to the those held in Sheol, that He might lead captivity captive, and ascend on high, and give gifts unto men. The scripture found in Eph. 4:5-9, tells us that "There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism." This speaks of God as the SHEMA speaks of Him, saying:

"Hear O Israel," the Lord our God is one Lord." (Deut. 6:4)

"There is one Lord--One God and Father of us all, and that Messiah, Jesus Christ descended and then ascended that He might fill "all in all."

Ephesians 4:4 teaches us: There is one Spirit. Why is it that people see the Holy Spirit as Spirit, but fail to perceive the Father, as the "One Spirit," spoken of in Eph. 4:4? Tradition makes the Holy Spirit a spirit, and seems to make the Father a second Spirit, but biblically this is not so. For Eph. 4:4, tells us "there is one Spirit."

Tradition confuses the issue of Jesus Christ as "the Son of Man, obedient to HIs Heavenly Father, saying: "The Father is greater than i," and concludes he is some sort of "lesser God." Yet traditional church creeds state that according to this "3 persons" of the Godhead equasion, are all 3 co-equal, and co-eternal. They fail to identify Him, in His glorified, ascendedstate, as He Himself does in Rev. 1:8, saying: "I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, says the Lord, which is and which was, and which is to come, "THE ALMIGHTY." One doesn't get any more powerful than Almighty. This is not "lesser God" talk. It's the incarnation, which Messiah refused to identify as fractured or fragmented, but as ONE GOD, who began as Saviour in Genesis 3, at the fall of mankind into sin, finishing His work of salvation when He "prepares Himself a body," in the person of Messiah, and the redemption price is paid and accepted by the Most High.

In dividing the Godhead, into three separate distinct persons, many in their tradition confuse the truth of the Godhead. Yeshua said: "He that has seen me, has seen the father." And again: "I and My Father are one." (John 14:9, John 10:30) However, according to some theories, "the Heavenly Father," would have to be a separate and distinct spirit, or person of the Godhead. This makes two persons of the Godhead who are both spirits. But the New testament refutes this, in Ephesians 4:4, stating: "There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. Did you know that scripture identifies who the one Spirit is? "Now the Lord (Yeshua Jesus and his ministration of grace is being contrasted to the ministration of law) is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. " (2 Cor. 3:17)

In Mark 16:20, after Messiah ascended and was received up into the clouds before the disciples faces, they went out everywhere preaching, with the Lord Yeshua/Jesus working with them. He Himself sending them forth, as the Spirit of Jesus is seen forbidding them to go into Bithynia in Acts 16:7.

It is apparent that New Testament writers speak of God and His Son Jesus Christ, to show forth Messiah as Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. But they never use the word "trinity," which is a term never contained in scripture; and a term coined by Tertullian, in the third century. Athagenagoras was first to use the word "triad," in reference to God, his Word and His Wisdom. This paved the way for the compartmentalization of the Godhead.

In visions of the glorified Christ, and throne of God, the "Spirit" is not mentioned as a separate, distinct, "third person," of the Godhead. Though we know that God is Spirit, (John 4:24) and He is holy, and it is God who indwelt haMashiach/Christ in the incarnation. (Lev. 11:44, Daniel 7:13, Acts 7:55, Rev. 5:1,6,7, Rev. 21:22, 22:1) From the writings of the New Testament apostles, we understand that the fulness of the Godhead emmanates from Messiah's glorious face. (Col. 2:9-10, Rev. 21:21-23) Some have believed the Hebrew word Elohim, to denote a plurality of persons is seen in the Old Testament, however what this defines is a plural of God's majesty, as seen in the many names and titles of the ONE TRUE GOD, not a plurality of persons within the Godhead itself. Elohim is like saying: "He is King of King!" And Lord of Lords!

ONE THRONE & THE LAMB SITS ON IT IN WHOM ALL FULNESS DWELLS

And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (Rev 21:22) 23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light (Gk "the LAMP" thereof.

From the Old Testament, we see one God whose Spirit fills the heaven and the earth, who stretched the heavens abroad alone. In the New Testament, there is no reference to a "third person of the Godhead" in the salutations of the epistles of Paul, but he does greet the church in his epistles, from God our Father, (The Eternal Spirit of God) and His Son Jesus Christ. God incarnated Himself in flesh, and Christ's shed blood paid the ransom price for the sins of the entire world. These biblical salutations at the beginning of Paul's writings teach us things about the Godhead. God in Christ, as the God-man of the incarnation, was crucified, arose, ascended, and reigns as our King Eternal, our Rock of Ages, the Almighty God. This is not to be defined as "duality," because Messiah was both God and man. The author of the Epistles does not need to mention the nature as the Holy Spirit, for it is understood that God as Heavenbly Father, is a Spirit, and He is Holy. 2 Cor 5: 16 emphatically states: Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Rev. 1 depicts Christ not as the 33 year old Messiah as He appeared when He was crucified and raised from the dead and ascended, but as the Ancient of Days. He is dressed as our Great High Priest, but clearly identifies Himself as "THE ALMIGHTY!"

• Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and His Son Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ (Romans 1:7)
  (Undeserved kindness to you from God Father of us and of Lord Jesus Christ.
• Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:3)
  (Undeserved kindness to you and peace from God Father of us and of Lord Jesus Christ.)
• Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Phil. 1:2)
  (Greek text reads: "Undeserved kindness to you and peace, from God Father of us and of Lord Jesus Christ.")
• Unto the Church of the Thessalonians in God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thess. 1:2)
  (Greek text reads:"Undeserved kindness to you and peace from God Father and Lord Jesus Christ.")

The truth of God's Word concerning the incarnation, and the atoning sacrifice of Yeshua haMashiach, will always be central in God's plan and purpose for mankind. We understand that God is One, from Deut. 6:4, and Jesus Christ's words, which state that one's belief in the Godhead as ONE, a concept portrayed in the Shema heads the commandments of God, in both Old Testament and New Testaments. (Deut. 6:4, Mark 12:29)

But a salutation from the supposed third person of the Godhead is conspicuously absent. Paul speaks some in these salutations of His calling, but speaks regarding this of God the Father, and Christ Jesus or Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 1:3, Eph. 1:2, Phil. 1:2, Gal. 1:1, Col. 1:2,II Thess. 1:2, I Tim. I:I,)

Messiah's own statements concerning the oneness of the Godhead, reiterate the monotheistic belief of both Old and New Testaments of the bible. He said: I and My Father are One. Jesus Christ Himself is called "revealer," in Matt. 11:27.

All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knows the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him."

In John 14, we have some scriptures which speak of the identity of the Comforter, which many term as the "third person" of the Godhead." However, upon closer exaination, we see that Jesus claims to be the one who will not leave us cofortless, but He himself will "come to us." (John 14:18) Jesus said: "He, (the Spirit of Truth" dwells with you, but shall be in you. (John 14:17) Jesus further identifies the coming One, as "I will not leave you comfortless, but I will come to you. (John 14:18)

Jesus, who lived as the God-man on earth, fully human, yet fully divine, said: The Father is greater than I, in John 14:28, but this speaks of Him as human, as the sin-bearer, the Lamb of God. Scripture defines this way in which Jesus Christ's Father was greater...It was "for the sufferings of death," that He was made a little lower than the angels. (Hebrews 2:7-9) In Rev. 1:8, He refers to Himself as "The Almighty." In what way does the term ALMIGHTY denote that there is anyone greater? It doesn't of course! Yet for centuries, the ignorant or unlearned ahve wrestled these statments, to their own destruction. For the Great Harlot who has enthroned herself, Judgment Day is coming. You do not want to see the Lord face to face, if you've shunned to declare the great mystery of godliness as God has revealed and entrusted it to you. Am I worried about being disfellowshipped by the First Church of Constantine? Not in the slightest. Better a white stone (of acquittal in the face of the heresy hunters) than a white cane religion, as I see it. (Rev. 2:17) After "this Way" called heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers! My testimony of Messiah, is that He's the ONLY wise God. He is My Great God and Saviour. The I Am of the Old Testament, who when He uttered this name when they came to arrest Him in the garden, the power of God knocked them to the ground.

In the messages to the 7 Churches of Asia, we are exhorted to hear what the Spirit says to the Churches. (Rev 2-3) Yet the speaker identifies Himself by the titles of Messiah, such as: "He that hath the 7 Spirits of God," He that has the sharp sword with two edges, he Son of God who has His eyes like a flame of fire, the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God, (Rev. 3:14, Rev 2:18, Rev. 5:6, Rev. 2;12)

Let the Joseph Generation, arise with the courage and integrity of Joseph> May we say with Elijah: If the Lord be God, then follow Him! Now the Lord (Yeshua/Jesus) is "that Spirit," and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty! (2 Corinthians 3:17) Which member of the pagan-contrived trinity is referred to as "the Lord?" Jesus said: "He that has seen Me has seen the Father. (Matt. 11:27, John 10:30) God is still the Holy One of Israel... Those who would "divide Christ," are rebuked, when Paul the Apostle poses the very question "Is Christ divided?" The answer is an emphatic "No!" Messiah is not third person of the Godhead, simply because "God prepared Himself a body." (Psalm 40:6, Heb. 10:5) God is one!

The Prophet Isaiah uses the term "Holy One" for God Himself, no less than 30 times. "The Holy One," is an Old Testament title of God, seen in Habakkuk 3:3.

"God came from Teman, and the from Mount Paran." SELAH!

We also see this in Hosea 11:9.

For I am God and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee.

In the New Testament, when Jesus our Messiah, confronted the demonic kingdom, one of the evil spirits exposed something that the powers of darkness do understand, and that is who Messiah is. When in the synagogue, Messiah encountered a demon possessed man with an unclean spirit, the evil spirit cried out with a loud voice, saying:

"Let us alone! What have we to do with thee, Jesus Son of Nazareth? Are you come to destroy us? I know you who you are, the Holy One of God." (Luke 4:34) Jesus answered: Hold your peace and come out of him! And all marveled at the authority with which the Saviour commanded demons to come out." The evil spirit called Jesus: "The Holy One," and Apostle Paul, speaking by the power of the Holy One, confirms that God is ONE, when he states "Thou believest God is ONE? "Even the demons believe and tremble." (James 2:19) This clearly shows us that Messianic believers of the early church, had a "oneness belief," which did not compartmentalize the Godhead.

IS THE TERM PERSONA/PERSONS IN THE ORIGINAL BIBLICAL TEXT?

The compartmentalization of the Godhead of the Christian faith, was clearly and simply Gnosticism, that lured the early church away from the teaching of the leaders as seen in Acts 2:38-39 on the Day of Pentecost. These were Jewish leaders whose faith was rooted in hundreds of Messianic prophecies throughout the Old Testament scriptures. This Jewish concept is embodied in the SHEMA of Deut. 6:4. The newly divised error which crept in sought to define the Godhead as three separate, distinct, persons, as seen in the polytheistic "trinities of the pagan nations. It occurred after the original apostles of the lamb were all deceased, at a later in history, when Gnosticism infiltrated the church, as "the grievious wolves not sparing the flock." Apostle Paul warned vehemently of this, calling this invasion and falsification of truth, "science, falsely so-called." Through water baptism in Yeshua/Jesus Christ's name alone, (not just three titles) the truth of who the Godhead is, would be preached again and again with the baptism of each and every convert of Christ. God manifested Himself in various ways in the Old Testament, in the Theophany as the Angel of the Lord, in the Burning Bush, in the Pillar of Loud and Fire. But when God incarnated Himself in Messiah, this was as we say: The FINAL WORD!..."God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world." (Hebrews 1:1,2)

In contrast to Christianity's Hebraic roots, and revelation of God based upon prophetic revelation, the Greeks coined a term in relation to the gentile Greek theatre, which identifed one actor playing out many parts in a play, as "PERSONA."

This concept of the persona or "mask" for the face, is utilized in preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, in describing the fact that "In Him (MESSIAH) dwells all the fulness of the Godhead in bodily form. (COl. 2:9) Jesus said: "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father!" The term employed by New Testament writers, however, is the Greek word, PROSOPON, which is translated "person," or "persons," in Matt. 22:16, Mark 12:24, Luke 20:21, 2 Cor. 1:11, 2 Cor. 2:10, Gal. 2:6, Jude 16, but the meaning is better understood as "appearance." The term is found in Greek dictionaries as the term "appearance," from PROS="towards" and OP="an eye."

Who, being in the "form of God," thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The Greek word for ‘form’ is ‘morphe’. (Phil 2:6-8 KJV)
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created through Him and for Him.…(Colossians 1:15)

"In Greek theater, masks were attached to small hand held sticks, which the actor would hold up to his face. As he changed the character of the play, to begin acting out a new part, he held up a new mask. This term "persons" conveys the concept of roles, not persons."

Like many English words, 'persona' comes from the Latin: "person, n. [L. persona, primarily a mask used by actors, hence, a character, a person, from personare, to sound through - per, through, and sonare, to sound.]" (Webster's International). The Latin 'persona' is directly equivalent with the Greek 'prosopon', as Boethius, as a sympathetic sixth century observer of Christianity, noted:

"For the word "person" seems to be borrowed from a different source, namely from the masks (personae) which in comedies and tragedies used to represent the people concerned...The Greeks, too, call these masks 'prosopa' from the fact that they are placed over the face and conceal the countenance in front of the eyes: (from being put up against the face). But since, as we have said, it was by the masks they put on that actors respresented the individual concerned in a tragedy or comedy - Hecuba or Medea or Simo or Chremes, - so also of all other men who could be clearly recognized by their appearance the Latins used the name 'persona', the Greeks 'prosopa'." (Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, Contra Eutychen, III).

God said to Moses:

"You cannot see My face ['prosopon' LXX]; for no man shall see Me, and live.'" (Exodus 33:20). Yet God has made a way for people who have deeply longed for relationship with Him on a deeper level, to see God and live: "So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." (Genesis 32:30). There is a face of God which no man can see and live. Yet there are those who have seen God and lived. Does the Bible contradict itself? That cannot be! Some, like Daniel, have seen similitudes and visions in the night, but others are plainly stated to have encountered the LORD Himself, face to face:

"So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle." (Exodus 33:11); "Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant Moses?" (Numbers 12:7-8); "But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face ['prosopon kata prosopon' LXX]..." (Deuteronomy 34:10). Thus, there is a face of God which no man can see and live. Yet prophets and patriarchs have seen God and lived. Jacob saw God face to face, in the form of an angel: "So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: "For I have seen God face to face [prosopon pros prosopon LXX], and my life is preserved.'" (Genesis 32:30)

"He took his brother by the heel in the womb, And in his strength he struggled with God. Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; He wept, and sought favor from Him. He found Him in Bethel, And there He spoke to us - That is, the LORD God of hosts. The LORD is His memorable name." (Hosea 12:3-5). "The LORD bless you and keep you, The LORD make His face ['prosopon' LXX] shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance ['prosopon' LXX] upon you, And give you peace." (Numbers 6:24-26). "Restore us, O God; Cause Your face ['prosopon' LXX] to shine, And we shall be saved!... Restore us, O God of hosts; Cause Your face ['prosopon' LXX] to shine, And we shall be saved!... Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; Cause Your face ['prosopon' LXX] to shine, And we shall be saved!" (Psalm 80:3-19).

The concept of portraying roles, with masks is familiar to Asians where the custom prevails in their theatre, using masks of this sort.

The Romans utilized persona to describe the actors mask. The Septuigent translators of the Hebrew bible, translating the bible into Greek, substituted the term PROSOPON, as the "sounding mask" through which God spoke, or signifying "out of the mouth of the Lord."

New Testament Greek Lexicon:

Strong's Number: 4383 pro/swpon
Original Word/Word Origin
pro/swpon from (4314) and ops (the visage, from (3700)
Transliterated Word Phonetic Spelling:
Prosopon or pros'-o-pon

Definition:
• a) The face, the front of the human head
• b)Countenance, look, the face so far forth as it is the organ of sight, and by it various movements and changes)
• c) The index of the inward thoughts and feelings the appearance one presents by his wealth or property, his rank or low condition outward circumstances, external condition used in expressions which denote to regard the person in one's judgment and treatment of men the outward appearance of inanimate things

  Translated Words:

  KJV (78) - countenance, 3; face, 55; misc, 5; not tr, 1; person, 7; presence, 7; NAS (73) - ahead, 2; appearance, 5; before, 2; coming, 1; face, 37; faces, 5; openly, 1; outwardly, 1; partial, 3; partiality, 1; people, 1; person, 1; persons, 1; presence, 11; sight, 1;

  Often Latin translators at times preferred to translate the word as PERSONA. King James translators also in an effort to be creative, would take a single term and translate it invarious ways. With the passing of time, Latin words meanings have been obscured.

  YOU SHALL CALL HIS NAME YESHUA/ JESUS:

  4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the "Spirit of his Son" into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:4-6
  19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. (Phil 1:19) 10 Then Yeshua/Jesus said unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: 11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. 12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. 13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony. 14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: 15 For "I" will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. (Luke 21:10-15) 5 And he (Saul of Tarsus) said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, "I am Jesus" whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
  6 And he (Saul) trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. (Acts 9:5-6)

  Does all this have bearing on the Joseph Generation, prophesied by the Patriarch Israel in Genesis 49? Yes, for ones revelation of God is foundational, according to Jesus Christ's statement:

  "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." (Mark 12:29)

  As He was teaching on a particular day, one of His hearers asked Messiah: "Which commandment is the first of all?" Yeshua/Jesus answered, "The first is, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that He is one, and there is no other but He and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any question.

  We see this concept of God is ONE," summed up in Hebrews 1:1-2, where God, "who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in times past in the prophets, but has in these last days spoken unto us in His Son." This is what the incarnation was all about. The one true and living God robed Himself in flesh. The angel told Mary: You shall call his name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins. (Matt. 1:21)

  It was prophesied that a virgin would conceive, and bear a son. This happened exactly as God said. He was born in Bethlehem of Judea, as the prophet Micah spoke, in Micah 5:2. (Matt. 2:1) He is Immanuel: God with us. (Isaiah 7:14, Matt. 1:23) Now, after paying the redemption price for all mankind, He has ascended into heaven, some 2000 years ago, where he ever-lives to make intercession for the saints.

  Again, Yeshua/Jesus poured forth His Holy Spirit, (Acts 2:33) that people might know Him intimately, and walk in His ways. John the Baptist prophesied that Messiah would baptize believers in the Holy Spirit. (John 1:33)

  Some have known God in incredible closeness and power. Apostle Paul was caught up to the third heaven, where God revealed to him, things he was not at liberty to disclose. (2 Corinthians 12:2) Do you long to know God to a greater degree than you have up to this time? God has spoken to us in these last days in His Son. (Heb. 1:1-2) The revelation God gives of Himself through the blood of the precious Lamb of God is by far the greatest understanding there is. His Spirit calls you to "Come and dine." Yeshua Himself said: Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no part of me. Sound strange? It's about appropriating oneness with God, through the blood shed as a propitiation for sins. He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit. (1 Cor. 6:17) We are bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh. (Eph. 5:32)

  In His prayer in John 17:21-23, the Lord prayed that we might walk in Him and know God with the intimacy Messiah Himself knew God, and do the greater works He said we would do, when He returned to heaven:

  "That they all might be as thou Father in Me and I in thee. That they might be in us, that the world might believe that you sent me. And the glory which you have given Me, I have given to them, that they may be as we are. I in them, and Thou in Me, that the world may know that you did send Me, and that you d them, even as you d Me."

  WORSHIPPING GOD IN SPIRIT & IN TRUTH

  You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! (James 2:19)

  "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." (John 4:23) Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. (Leviticus 17:11) In Messiah, the Lamb of God, God prepared Himself a body, that that blood would be the propitiation for the sins of the world. (Heb. 9:22) Messiah is the ONLY True God.

  1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, [be] honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 1:18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; 1:19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: 1:20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. (I Timothy 1:17)

  This is the True God, and eternal life. (I John 5:20) God is ONE.

  CHRIST IS MADE UNTO US THE WISDOM OF GOD
  (Providing For Others In Time of Spiritual Famine)

  Teach what is seen in scripture, and do not deviate from it. God is ONE! Jesus said in Matt. 28:19, to baptize in the name (singular) of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." By revelation, the apostles, both Jewish and Gentile, baptized "in the name of Jesus Christ," for the bible says that in Messiah dwells "all the fulness of the Godhead in bodily form, and we are complete in Him." (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:46-48, Acts 19:5)

  Jesus Christ, being Jewish, taught the Jewish nation to whom He came, from the standpoint of the Messianic prophecies which they'd heard for hundreds and thousands of years, from the mouthes of their Hebrew prophets. It was an abomination to think of the Godhead as more than one person. The God of the Old Testament who is Israel's "Rock," is the One Lord of Israel. (Psalm 18:2,42:9) He is the same Rock of Ages He has always been. He is not another person, or second Rock in the New Testament. The Great King of the Old Testament, is not one person of the Godhead, and Jesus Christ a second King. That is a ludicrous assertion, isn't it? God is ONE!

  Messiah had always been a manifestation of God Himself come in human form, as the Lamb of God, the sin-bearer which takes away the sins of the world. As King of Kings, He shall rule as the "Son of David," who destined to sit on the throne and rule forever. When Messiah made such "oneness statements" as "I and My Father are one. He that has seen Me has seen the Father," the Jews accused Him of "making Himself equal with God." Not lesser mind you, but having equality, with God.

  This simply oneness belief is not a polytheistic Gentile or gnostic thought such as these possess, which divides the Godhead into compartments. That same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, dwells in His church. My bible says of Messiah, "Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2 Cor. 3:17) The passage is speaking of the difference between the administrations of law through Moses and of grace which came by Jesus Christ. He's the same glorified saviour who appeared to Paul on the Damascus Road, and whom Saul of Tarsus recognized as Lord, in the SHEKINAH, though how could he be? And the Lord said: "I am Jesus!" (Acts 9:5) Jesus recited the SHEMA, when asked which was the first and greatest commandment. God is one! And speaking about "face to face" encounters with God...and the topic of spiritual inheritance:

  Rev 21:21) And the twelve gates [were] twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city [was] pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
  

  Rev 21:22) And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
  

  Rev 21:23) And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [is] the light (Gk.="LAMP") thereof.
  

  Rev. 21:21-23, shows that the fulness of the Godhead emanates from the face of Jesus Christ. The next time you look at a street lamp, or that lamp in your living room, remember this about Jesus Christ: He is the image of the invisible God. (Col. 1:15) The express image of God's person. Believers have "this treasure" in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God andnot of us.(2 Cor. 4:7)

  UNTIL THE TIME THAT HIS WORD CAME
  (The word of the Lord tried him...Psalm 105:19)

  "Whose feet they hurt with fetters. He was laid in iron. Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him..." (Psalm 105:19)

  Those we love can disappoint or even betray us out of envy, but how we respond to our sufferings deterines the blessing we shall derive from our trials. We read: Jacob "loved Joseph," more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age, and he made a richly ornamented robe, (KJV) a coat of many colours, for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him, more than any of them, they hated him, and could not speak any kind word to him. (Gen. 37:3-4)

  Jacob dwelled in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan, with the children born to him. Joseph was born 6 years before he left his Laban's household. Of his childen, he had a special love for Joseph, and made him a coat of many colours. The Hebrew word for coat of many colours, here, is kethoneth passim, indicating a garment made up of differently coloured stripes of cloth. From then on, Joseph's brothers hated him, and could not speak peacably to him. The Hebrew text indicates not so much that they quarreled, but they did not offer the customary blessing of "SHALOM LECHA! Peace be with thee," when they saw him approaching.

  When he was 17, Joseph was sent by his father, to assist the sons of Bilhah, and Zilpah, his father's concubines, in Shechem. (Gen. 37:2) Joseph said:

  "I have dreamed a dream, and we were binding sheaves in the field. and my sheaf arose and stood upright, and your sheaves stood around and bowed down."

  They did not want to see that coat there. How come "he" has that? They wanted to throw him and the coat out. He wears it here. He wears it there. How irritating. He never takes it off. He sleeps in it. One young street person told me he had to sleep with his shoes on at the men's mission, or the guys would steal his shoes. You just have to keep going on in faith. The patriarchs believed this, journeying as strangers in a strange land. But the psalmist said of God:

  You brought us out into a wealthy place. (Psalm 66:12)

  Even when it seems there is no rest, Jesus Christ is our resting place. He told us to take his yoke on us, and to learn of him, for He is meek and lowly of heart, and we will find rest for our souls. (Matt. 11:29)

  I see a vision of a young man. He returned home to find his clothes on the doorstep. This is what was in store for Joseph in a round-about way, as he joined his brothers one day in the field. It's a painful experience to feel rejected by your own brethren. In a vision I see another "Joseph." He grew up in the church, where he enjoyed great popularity. He was sent out to assist his brethren in another state in a church planting effort. He was very excited about this. But as the weeks wore on, so many things seemed to go wrong. When he got there to the new post, his biggest trial began. The people to whom he was sent didn't seem to like him. Sometimes he felt like he wasn't so fond of all of them, either. The house didn't sell immediately, so there was the additional strain on his marriage of a financial burden. Other trials erupted. He felt alone, forsaken, cut off from fellowship. At the hospital, as his wife gives birth in an emergency sitution, it's an entire day, until anyone from church contacts him, and he is shaken. This young pastor, who had been a champion at the large home church, had yet to learn to stand in times of feeling totally alone. Here real growth would take place, as he learned in a greater measure to lean upon the Lord.

  He asked the advice of some experienced Christians, thinking they'd give him some piece of real "cutting edge revelation." They did--they both said exactly the same thing: You're planting a church? Then Satan is going to attack you so hard. Better just lock yourself up and pray.

  I knew a Christian family with several children. The church prayed for many years that single mom would get married, and one day she did. The youngest brother cried, when the wedding service was over, and he had to change clothes and they had to take the tux back to the store, because he'd never had a coat that was really nice. Many years later when the older brother got married, he said to the younger brother, who was to be in the wedding party: I'm going to BUY you a tux, so you'll have it forever. The mantle God gives is forever. Nobody can take it away from you, for no man is able to pluck you out of God's hand.

  God gives me another vision, and I see a youth pastor. He has had a situation that has been so frustrating to him. At the youth retreat, some of the youth seemed totally unresponsive. One particular youth at the retreat, was a real problem. After they'd returned home, he felt annoyed as he spoke with the boys mother. But he said to himself: "I will give up a days pay, and I will pray." He prays and within three monthes there is a dramatic change in a family in his church, which takes place in a very unusual way. Without the youth pastor giving another rebuke to this young man, he suddenly disappears from the youth group. He is removed from the family, by the juvenile authorities, never to be returned. That family goes on with God, as they wanted so much to be able to do, as they were doing, but they were weary of fighting the shame, and violence. Just as this situation was hidden from the youth leader, Joseph's plight or the total answer for the solving of it, was hidden from Jacob who watched for the family. There are the hidden things, which God sees, like he saw the tumult growing in Jacob's family toward Joseph. By Him actions are weighed. The youth leader was frustrated, because he felt responsible. The parents, both intercessors, and prophetically gifted, with a zeal for evangelism, were ashamed, because they felt they should be able to straighten this kid out. But the truth is, this young man's salvation could only come from God. The various individuals God used, were various components, which were important. There is liberty in seeing that at times we can take on such a burden, that we ourselves feel "totally responsible." Ultimately, God alone is saviour. Trust in the Lord. The brothers of Joseph, who hated him the more, said: Oh, so you think you are going to reign over us?

  And Joseph dreamed another dream, telling it to his father and brothers. "The sun, moon and 11 stars bowed down to me." (Gen. 47:9) When they saw him coming, they said: "Here comes that dreamer..." They felt he was "exalting himself." He seemed to signify that he was the firstborn, and he was not. How could Joseph receive the blessing of the firstborn portion? Ultimately, even Joseph's own father seemed annoyed, responding: "Shall I and your mother and brothers indeed come and bow ourselves to the earth before thee?" (Gen. 37:11)

  One day, Jacob said to Joseph: "Don't your brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Go, I pray you, see whether it be well with your brethren, and with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, to Shechem, some 60 miles away. (Gen. 37:14) A certain man found him wandering in the fields looking for the brothers, and said: "They left here," so Joseph walked another 8 miles, till he found them in Dothan. As the brothers saw Joseph afar off, they said: Here comes that dreamer. (Heb="BAAL HACHALOMOTH, "Master of dreams") And they devised a plan to slay him.

  Their first thought was to slay him, but after Reuben intervened, saying: "Let's not kill him. Shed no innocent blood, but cast him into this pit i the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him." The scriptures tell us that Reuben hoped to deliver Joseph out of their hands, and to return him to his father again. (Gen. 37:21-22) As he approached, they grabbed him, and tore the "milti-coloured coat off of him, casting him into the empty pit.

  The brothers deliberated over their meal, how to rid themselves of Joseph, and lifting up their eyes, they beheld a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices and balm and myrrh, which they were transporting to Egypt. Judah said, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and hide his blood? Let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not harm him. After all, he is our brother--our own flesh. And his brethren were content with this." It was decided that they would "sell the teenager to the Ishmaeites, for 20 pieces of silver.

  THE WORD OF THE LORD TRIED HIM

  "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations." (I Peter 1:7) "...Who are kept by the power of God through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last days..." (I Peter 1:5)

  There is a significant period of time which occurs between believing and receiving the fulfillment to a prophetic word or vision. The things which happen in the natural realm, during this phase of testing, are a paradox for they seem incongruous as far as the promise is concerned. In this does the trying of our faith become so crucial. We must continue to walk in the word of the Lord. Joseph's brothers set out to show Joseph whom would bow to whom.

  They dipped their brother's beautiful coat in the blood of a goat kid, returning with it, to their father, to say: "This is what we found. We don't know if it is your son Joseph's or not." And Jacob recognized the coat, and said: It is my son's coat; an evil beast has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces."

  The Ishmaelites, or Midianites hastened on to Egypt with their load of spices, and newly acquired slave. Here they exchanges Joseph, for 20 pieces of silver, to a man named Potiphar. Potiphar was the official over the palace guard, and captain of the guard, in whose service he remained for ten years. The Hebrew phrase denoting the type of employment Potiphar was engaged in is saris, translated "officer." The term "sar hattabbachim," signify Potiphar was the "Chief of the butchers." An apt term, in a land where to offend the king, meant "Off with his head!"

  THE SPIRITUAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE OF FALSE ALLEGATIONS

  "And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Potiphar made Joseph "overseer," of all his house." (Gen. 39:2-6)

  The term for "overseer," here, is hiphkid, from pakad," meaning "to visit, to take care of, to superindend." The scriptures tell us that:

  "All Potiphar had was in his hand, and he didn't know what he had, except the bread he ate. Joseph was a goodly person and well-favoured." (Gen. 39:6)

  And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and said: Lie with me." But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, My master has committed all that he has into my hand. There is none greater in this house than I. Neither has he kept back anything from me but you, how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And it came to pass, that day after day, that he hearkened not to her to lie by her, nor to be with her.

  And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and none of the men were in the house. And she caught him by his garment saying: "Lie with me," and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got out. (Gen. 39:6-14)

  And it came to pass that when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had gone, she called to the men of the house, and spoke to them saying:

  See he has brought in a Hebrew unto us to mock us. He came in to lie with me, and I screamed, and he fled, leaving his mantle in my hand. And she laid the mantle by her, until Potiphar came home.

  When Potiphar arrived, she said:

  And note the way in which the manipulative adultrous wife of Potiphar first tries to influence the household staff against her own husband, who hired the Hebrew servant named Joseph, with her remarks suggestive of the judgment of Potiphar. Perhaps a bit anti-semitic. Then she turns these remarks to Potiphar in behalf of herself, saying:

  "The Hebrew did this..."

  "The Hebrew servant you brought to us, came in to mock me, and I screamed, and he fled. When Joseph's master, heard the words of his wife, his wrath was kindled." (Gen. 39:19)

  Potiphar took Joseph and put him in the prison, where the kings prisoners were bound. This word for "prison" is BEITH SOHAR, and literally means "the round house."

  But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favour with the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed all into Josephs hand, all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was in Joseph's hand, because the Lord was with him, and that which he did the Lord made it to prosper." It was an act of faith, for Joseph to flee from the presence of Potiphars wife. He was a man of holiness and godly integrity, who knew that he stood in the presence of God.

  God has end-time sons and daughters, those in the temple, who "stand by night," but because they are believers in Messiah, who do the works of Yeshua haMashiach/Jesus Christ, the presence of God within their own heart and life, is the SHEKINAH light and glory about them.

  The scriptures call the sinful worldly system "the Harlot." In your life, you will see the miriad of ways in which it is seductive, appealing to you as a holy person, as a godly person in Messiah, to compromise what the word of God says is true. Remember Joseph, as an example. Most of all, remember the life of Messiah, himself, who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. (Gen. 39:21-23)

  The fact that God blesses is an invitation to evil men and women that feel they can manipulate, control or in otherwise exploit things for their own benefit, and Satan is not called DIABOLOS ("to throw through-to riddle with doubts") for nothing. The motive may be jealousy, or feeling envy at what they feel they themselves cannot have. There may be the desire to see the one who is blessed, have to suffer, "as they themselves do." Yet the wicked, fail to perceive that part of their problem comes from their own lack of integrity, or obedience toward God.

  We live in times in which "allegations of every description are being leveled at people, no matter how godly they may be.

  In America, false allegations remain on an individuals police record, even if there is an investigation and the person is proven innocent. If you are a person God has blessed, you may find allegations of a vicious nature leveled at you. If you walk in the authority of the Spirit of the Lord, be a person of prayer. Pray also for those who would envy your prosperity, or make you the object of their scorn. These may be false friends, relatives, or strangers. In some countries, allegations may come from the authorities, suspicious of your motives for even being there.

  There's a psychology to this sort of allegation. It demoralizes and brings deep discouragement or depression. Scandals of various sorts, from financial discrepancies, to moral failures erupt continuously, in various cities across the globe. Fighting for your innocence in court is time consuming and a waste of resources. Do not allow gossip-mongers to erode away the faith of your house of worship. In your home, teach your children:

  "How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head, than ran down the beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore." (Psalm 133:1)

  It is tempting to think: "Because I am a righteous man, or woman, I will never suffer from such problems. Look at the life of Joseph. From the life of Joseph, we see that personal integrity before God, is by far the greatest measure of protection you can have. But it is no guarantee that we will not suffer for righteousness sake. For the sake of our belief in one true and living God.

  THE BLESSING & PROSPERITY OF GOD

  Jesus Christ, the Messiah Himself was "delivered up because of envy. The bible says of envy...

  Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous, but who is able to stand before envy? (Prov. 27:4)

  There are several Hebrew terms for "trials," and each speaks of fire, because it's related to the custom of refining gold, is a smelters pot. bachan, means "To be tried, proved and tested." massah, means "A trial, proving, testing. In the New Testament, the Greek words, dokime, and peira, speak of the trying of our faith, that it might come forth as gold when that is purified and separated from the impurities or dross.

  God's word teaches us that "If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him." (2 Tim. 2:12) Romans 5:21, teaches us that we must reign through righteousness. The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians, who assumed that they were on the cutting edge, "Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God that you did reign, that we also might reign with you!" (1 Cor. 4:8) So it is that as individuals, it is possible to possess spiritual knowledge, but to lack keen spiritual sight. I was invited to a church once that was training others of various churches, and God gave me a prophetic word which said that there was an unnatural "spirit of conformity." Where people quench the spirit out of fear or intimidation, this is seen. God wanted to pour out tremendous revelation on the place, that the corporate anointing might be copious. But there was a hindering principality spirit. What accomodates this type of thing? I believe one thing is "comparing themselves with themselves," as scripture warns not to do.

  JOSEPH IN THE MELTING POT

  As Joseph sits in prison, the butler and baker, also offended the king, and are sent to prison. The term mashkeh, translated as "butler," is "cup-bearer." opheh properly means "baker." As kitchen staff, they may have been accused of displeasing the king in the preparation of his meal, or of attempted assassination. Whatever the case, they are now found to be state-criminals, detained in the same facility as Joseph, where Joseph continued a season in the ward. Then the two men both dream a dream, and as the dreams were not understood, or did not seem good, they were very sad. (Gen. 40:6)

  God gives to Joseph the interpretation of the dreams, and he relates the truth, as God has shown it to him, to each of the men, and the prophecies come to pass in a remarkable way, exactly as they were interpreted.

  Soon the Egyptian Pharaoh himself is given a dream, and Joseph is released and called to the palace to interpret the kings dream.

  The king sent and loosed him, even the ruler of the people and let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of his substance: to bind his princes at his pleasure, and teach his senators wisdom." (Psalm 105:20) But who may abide the day of His coming, and who shall stand, when He appeareth? for He is like a refiners fire, and like fullers soap. And He shall sit as a refiner, and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi,and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. (Malachi 3:2-3)

  What a culture shock there is in an exile experience. Joseph's initial estrangment from the family, and slavery was tragic in itself. Now he finds himself unjustly imprisoned, with racial slurs being made toward his ethnicity, which amounts to slander of his faith, and allegations of ual assault toward a high officials wife.

  When a culture experiences a transformation because their borders are altered due to religious persecution, or war, and an individual is forced to move from one culture to another, as Joseph's captivity forced him to do. There is an immediate "immersion experience," in store for the DIASPORA, in which the new language is learned, one takes on the clothing of the culture, the learning of behaviour modification, so as not to be offensive to the foreign culture.

  My own ancestors endured such hardships many times. Some of my ancestors came under persecution in Germany. In France, in the 1600's, others of the family fled over the German border, living and working till the German Palatinates came under religious persecution, at which time they fled up or down the Rhine River, in small boats, to neighboring countries, where refugees without relatives in a city, lived in tent communities, or were driven off, sometimes aboard rat infested, prison ships to prison in another location. Or working in the new country, till passage could be earned for immigrating to America. The trip up the Rhine alone took 6 weeks, and the small scows had to slip unseen and unheard, past the campfires of enemy troops, in spite of crying children and babies, or individuals including elderly family members who may be ill. Yet God has been faithful to us throughout the generations.

  In ancient times, captives were deported to a place unfamiliar to them, where they underwent a complete cultural modification, enforced by their captors. In modern times, cultural modification is done for various reason. It's utilized for business purposes, by sales people traveling between countries, such as the learning of the Japanese culture, or some other facet of the sales business, to assist them in their public relations.

  Following the Sept 11, 2001 tragedy, our nation became more aware of the Islamic culture. The government, from a military standpoint, studied such strategic elements of warfare, as illegal immigrants, or falsified immigration documents, to ascertain, to what extent there had been penetration, by advancing foreign forces. On a local level, we became more aware however, of more subtle, changes.

  When we found it necessary to stay in a motel on the Olympic Penninsula, not long ago, we were amazed to see the walls covered with Islamic paintings. We were struck by the fact that this was a new style of motif in this region, than we'd seen before.

  Having occasion to stay twice in the same place, in two different rooms, the art was exactly the same. As an artist, I am facinated with and enjoy art, but these colorful painting, depicting warring Islamic horses and riders, seemed somehow "out of place." As if all your life, you lived in Mexico and Arizona, with art filled with cactus,and sombreros on motel walls, and suddenly you find the walls adorned with artwork depicting Islamic mosques.

  In the Pacific Northwest, tourists have come to expect motifs such as pine boughs and pinecones, especially when we take a trip to the mountains. Perhaps Islamics are living in these mountainous regions of the United States, as this is the topography of their homeland. Having been raised in a missions-minded home, around ethnic people and indiginous art, and I am comfortable with artwork of various forms as long as demonic spirits signifying their fortified strongholds, are not the subject of the piece. There seemed to be fear or intimidation depicted in the forsemen of this artwork, as one might see cruel-faced temple dogs of jade guarding gates in China.

  I found myself wondering how many Islamics live in the region? Did an Islamic person own the building? Did he expect a high population of Islamics to visit his establishment? Or did he simply feel that with the Sept. 11, 2001 situation, that Islamic art would be of interest to his tourist trade?

  THE CULTURAL IMMERSION EXPERIENCE

  We see this cultural "immersion experience" utilized by the Babylonians to turn Jewish captives into Babylonians, who also loved the arts, and their artwork now identifies the various places they invaded, or conquered. Intercessory prayer newsletters tell us that these cultural motifs are identifying characteristics which help one understand something about "spiritual warfare."

  Daniel and the 3 Hebrew children, Shadrach, Mescach and Abednego, chose not to be assimilated, but remained stedfast in their Jewish faith. Moses underwent 40 years of training as "the son of Pharaoh's daughter in Egypt, and was learned in all of the manners of the Egyptians.

  After Constantine merged the pagan beliefs of sun-worship with Christianity, this too became a cultural immersion experience that has extended it's pagan influence on believers in Messiah, to contemporary times. The first followers of Yeshua haMashiach, were largely Jewish followers of Messiah. As anti-semitism was aimed more and more at Jewish leaders and meeting places, such as Saul of Tarsus enforced in Acts 9, depleted the church of those with a pure understanding of the Judaic roots of this heritage.

  Did the Council at Nicea in 325 A.D. have any Jewish leaders at all? Probably not.

  As Gnosticism crept in, beliefs differed dramatically in such essentials as praise and worship. Gnosticism, with it's denial of "matter," caused worship to take on more of a silent, or mental form, and all Messianic Jewish dancing as worship, was excluded!

  One of the deep senses of sadness believers feel, is that we know from God's word, that within a human family, we cannot ever share the joy of knowing Messiah as one with a birth family is opposition, to those who do not believe in Messiah as Saviour and Lord, though we care deeply for these birth families we were born into.

  It was God who allowed the separation to come in Joseph's life. When we are born again, it's God's word which causes a separating work of God within us, which separates us unto Him, and places our allegiance with Him.

  THE END TIME JOSEPH & THE RULERS OF THIS PRESENT AGE

  "Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that are come to nought. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory; Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory." (1 Cor. 2:8)

  From the writings of Daniel the Prophet, we learn that when a demonic territorial spirit, which Ephesians 6 refers to as "world rulers," supplants the territorial spirit of another region, there is often a complete "takeover." Daniel prayed for 21 days, and received no answer. When the angel of God came, he told Daniel, "I am come for thy words.

  Daniel was given revelation by the angel, concerning the demonic resistence of "The Prince of Persia," which delayed angelic intervention. The angel gave the Prophet Daniel revelation concerning "the latter days." (Dan. 10:12-13) The angel said: "After I am gone forth, lo, the "Prince of Grecia" shall come." (Daniel 10:20) This was exactly what transpired in human history. The world government of the Medo-Persians was supplanted and Alexander the Great, took the known world, subjecting it to the rule of the Grecian world government.

  Nothing is more crucial, than God's intervention in the world system, in which we live. It was important that He worked through Joseph in the Old Testament, setting him as a leader in the land of Egypt. It is critical now. Throughout scripture, we see many politically influencial people ministered to by God's word, used to assist God's people, or converted to Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ said: You will be brought before kings and rulers for My names sake. (Luke 21:12) New Testament believers in the early church came from every strata of society, from business or sales people, and tradesmen, educators, correctional institutions officers, kings and judges courts in the land.

  As culture immersion projects in colleges, universities and public elementary schools feature such religions as Islam, across America, what we should observe as Christians is that religious groups such as Islamics, and others will continue to utilize America's "constitutional rights" in the propagation of their faith.

  As early as autumn of 1999, God began to speak prophetically to various intercessors and prophetic people across America, concerning Islam at the Gates of America. Cindy Jacobs, of Generals of Intercession published a prophetic word. I asked a Messianic Jewish friend, who visits her mother in Europe fairly often, about this, and was told that in Berlin, high school s walk about in burbas, because they "think it's cool." Pastors in Philadelphia were interested to learn that 10,000 Muslim missionaries were being sent to their city. Simultaneously, a London paper ran a full page ad, by the Islamic community, commanding the British nation to convert to Islam, or their blood would be on their own heads. A publican from Vatican City, printed a report stating that the Italian pope favored the Italian Communists and Islam.

  ...More recently, 4,200 freshmen and transfer students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were scheduled to discuss a book about the Qur'an that university officials assigned over the summer.

  We have pondered the fact that the U.S. military is fighting for freedom on Iraqi soil, and here at home, the nations public school children, and universities are receiving a "cultural immersion experience." What remains to be seen in the end, is who will prove to be the vanquished and who will be the conquerors? Is this "cultural immersion" thing the proverbial "Trojan Horse," or what?

  Consider the various ethnicities which make up the American populace. Yet, public school children, are not taking on Ukrainian Pentecostal names, and being water baptized.

  THE ENDTIME JOSEPH & THE JOB MARKET

  • Joseph's wisdom and guidance, from God, came partly from visions and revelations he personally received, or others received, and God gave him the interpretation. As an Israelite, Joseph also had been taught by his father Jacob/Israel, the vision God imparted to Abraham,Isaac and Jacob, for this was a progressive purpose of God. Joseph's own family did not receive these same prophetic words,nor agree with them, when he shared them, but misinterpreted the prophetic words, sometimes partially out of jealousy.

    "The vision is yet for an appointed time." It would speak in the "end." (Habakkuk 2)

  • God will continue to use Christians in political positions, whether all believers agree or not. Joseph is a type of Christ here, of whom it was prophesied: "The government shall be upon His shoulder..." (Isaiah 9:6) Jesus Christ is ruling in the heavenlies now. In these last days, God looks for men and women of integrity to rule through, that they might "Be fruitful, multiply, and replentish the earth" with the holy seed. Not a bad resume for an individual who's spent a portion of their life in prison. success story.

    Joseph's job experience is multi-faceted, and his resume would read something like this:

    CAREER EXPERIENCE:

    PERSONAL INFORMATION:
    • Name: Joseph (Gen. 35:26)
    • Gender: Male (Gen. 35:26)
    • Birthplace: Padan-Aram (Gen. 35:26)
    • Ethnicity: Hebrew
    • Married to Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On(Gen. 41:45)
    • 2 Children: Ephraim & Manasseh (Gen. 41:45, 50, 52)
    • Criminal history-Unfounded charge
    Job experience includes, but is not limited to:
    FEEDING & CARE OF LIVESTOCK
    • Care of Jacob's flocks & Herds (Shechem) (Gen. 37:12)
    • Assistant (Dothan) (Gen.37:17)
    • Served: Spice exportation business of Ishmaelite origin. (Gen. 37:28) (Their company did not deal in spices alone, but also other facets of the import/export business.
      Potiphars House:
      • Potiphars house, Capt. of the Royal Guard.
        Domestic Engineer, Superintendant of Household Staff (Gen. 37)
        
      • Promoted to: Chief Steward Potiphars House (Gen. 37)
      • Oversaw all facets of household duties (Gen. 39:4-6)
      EGYPTIAN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION OFFICER

      Outstanding achievments included:
      

      • Outstanding performance review-Prison Warden-Egypt (Gen.39:23)
      • Asst. to Chief prison guard (Gen. 39:22)
      • Consultant-Anxious,& depressed inmates, including row inmates. (Gen. 39)
      • Oversight of prisoners (Gen. 39:22-23)
      • Interpretor: Prisoners dreams.(Gen. 40:1-23)
      • Prophet to the Prison House (Gen. 40:5-23)
      • Recruited to serve as advisor to Pharaoh (Gen. 41:15-36)
      GOVERNOR OF EGYPT/MIZRA'IM
      • Prophet-Advisor to Pharaoh, King of Egypt (Gen. 41:25)
      • Interpretor: Pharaoh's dreams and visions
      • Oversight of grain conservation program-7 yrs Gen. 41:48)
      • Land developer
      • Supervisor of Aid to Dependant Families Health & Welfare Bureau-Egypt (Gen. 47:12)
      • Responsible for the infrastructure necessary for grain stores. (Gen. 41)
      • Disaster preparedness specialist-FEMA
      • Loan Officer (Gen. 47:14)
      • Real Estate Investor (7 yrs Gen. 47:20)
      • In charge of Egyptian emergency feeding program (7 yrs Gen. 41:56)
      • Financial Oversight of Egypt for 7 years
      • Special public relations officer (Gen. 43)

      The job market is of course, strategic, to the end-time work of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Disagreement often comes as people judge that those in these positions are there for their own glory, and could not possibly be placed in these positions "by God's own will."

      God prepared Joseph for the task. Pharaoh was the supervisor that gave Joseph the job. Joseph was given incredible "power to get wealth," as Abraham was, that it might be a testimony of God's name and power to those who do not yet know the Lord. The end-time Joseph's of this world, are demonstrating the fact that God is indeed at work, in the workplace.

      Chapter 47 1) Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen. 2) And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh. 3) And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers. 4) They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. 5) And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: 6) The land of Egypt is 1before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.

      (Gen 13:9, Gen 20:15) 7) And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8) And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou? 9) And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. 10) And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. 11) And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12) And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to their families. 13) And there was no bread in all the land; for the 1famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. (Gen 41:30, Psa 105:16) 14) And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. 15) And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth. 16) And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. 17) And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year. 18) When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands: 19) Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate. 20) And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's. 21) And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof. 22) Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands. 23) Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. 24) And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. 25) And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. 26) And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's. 27) And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly. 28) And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.

      • The Apostle Paul both knew his rights under Roman law, and stood his ground, when his civil liberties were violated through evil spirits seeking to rid their cities of the influence of the gospel. (Acts 22:25-26)

        In his preaching, he desired that all might be saved, for God is no "respecter of persons." As Christians come under greater persecution, and the religious monuments, containing verses of scripture, are commanded taken down, in courts in our own country of America, whose laws were bible based, doors are opening for the propagation and religious liberty of other religions, such as we read of in the following article:

        BRENTWOOD, CA (ANS) -- As children return to school this week, following the Christmas break, 7th graders in a growing number of public schools, who are not permitted to wear a cross or speak the name of Jesus, will be required to attend an intensive three week course on Islam; a course in which students are mandated to learn the tenets of Islam, study the important figures of the faith, wear a robe, adopt a Muslim name and stage their own Jihad.

        When, following the Sept 11, 2001 Trade Tower tragedy, some 500 Islamics in California were arrested, and placed in jail, they brought a law suit against those whom they felt were responsible.

      • When Paul preached on Mars Hill, (Gk=Areopagus) to those of the Areopagus Court, where the supreme court judges assembled in this city. Certain men believed, and clave to him. (Acts 17:22) Among these were Dionysius the Areopagite, a member of the Areopagus Court in Athens, who became a convert of Christianity. How he was connected with the court is uncertain, but probably as one of the judges. (Barnes Notes)

        As a married couple, we have done volunteer work in our community in various capacities with the civic association of our city. Meetings have been held for many years, at the church next door to our house, on a monthly basis. Alana serving as secretary/ treasurer for 18 monthes. We also know the family of the mayor of our city, and when his mother was ill, prayed in her home for her, for her healing.

      • Paul liked witnessing to military personel, and his work brought him into contact with many, such as in Acts 23:31.
      • Sergius Paulus, a Roman proconsel of Cyprus, bec ame a Christian convert when he observed a sign and a wonder done by the hands of Paul. Elymus the Sorcer was struck with blindness, by the word of the Lord, by the anointing of God's Spirit in Paul. (Acts 13:7-8)

      • When the Ethiopian eunuch received the gospel message, through the preaching of the evangelist Philip, the gospel went into the very palace of Queen Candace of Ethiopia. (Acts 8:27)

      • Claudius Lysias was in a key position to help spare the Apostle Paul from an angry mob, in Acts 23:26.

      • Lydia was a businesswoman from Thyatira, who was converted to Christ. The Lord opened her heart under the preaching of the Apostle Paul. (Acts 16:14,15,40)

      • Paul preached in prison, and won a member of the staff and his entire household to the Lord. The man was a prison guard. Win jailers and prison guards and God will place a witness of the gospel where it is crucially needed, to convert the criminals of our land, from crime to Christ. (Acts 16:27-32)

      • Tyrannus may have been a Greek rhetorician, or Jewish rabbai, with whom Apostle Paul found favor, and who opened his school for Paul to teach God's word. (Acts 19:9)
      • The prophetic ministry of John the Baptist reached right into the ruling house of Tiberius Caesar, under whom Pontius Pilate was governor, and whose brother Philip was tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitus and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene. (Luke 3:1)

      • Chuza, those wife Joanna became a follower of Christ in Luke 8:3, was the manager of Herod's household. She had quite a testimony for her husband to share at work, for she ws healed by the Master's touch.

      • Gamaliel was a well-known Jewish religious leader, a previous teacher of Apostle Paul. At the hearing before the Sanhedrin of Peter and the apostles, Gamaliel persuaded the Sanhedrin to release the apostles, saying "if their activity is of human origin, it will come to nought." (Acts 5:33, Acts 22:3)

      • In the New Testament, there were numerous Christian converts who voluntarily opened their homes to serve as house churches. This financial assistance, was a tremendous help. (Acts 18:2,18, 26, Rom. 16:3, Col. 4:15)

      • We must pray for leaders and all in authority, because those in these positions, are assaulted by territorial spirits and other controling spirits.
      • Laws were enacted in Joseph's day, and because of his position under Pharaoh Joseph administrated over the nations financial resources. We should pray that God raises up Christians to assist the church with kingdom finances, for the spread of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

      • The favor Joseph possessed in Egypt, was the means by which God caused other Israelites to come into that country, where their monotheistic faith could be observed by the polytheistic Egyptians.

      • Joseph brought money into Pharaoh's house. The financial wisdom God gave to him, saved the nation from national calamity. Without this intervention from God, the nation of Egypt would have lot many of it's citizens. This shows the love and compassion of God. (Gen. 47:14)

      • Paul shares his personal testimony with King Agrippa and Bernice. (Acts 25-26)

      • Joseph's family were blessed with property, or substance, that sustained them in the land of Egypt, and accomodated them in there position as the people of God.

      • The Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph that he allowed Joseph to come in and to go out, without restraint, and to take his entourage of relatives with him. (Gen. 50:6)
      • The arts is another arena, in which many Christians are engaged in business, particularly when employed on the Old Testament tabernacle, as fiber artists, metal craftsmen, stone masons and such.

      THE JOSEPH COMPANY & GOD'S PROVIDENCE

      It was because of God's providence that Joseph found himself "separate fromhis brethren." God had appointed "richness and fatness," for his life, and the lives of others, and this was how God determined that it would come. Joseph was not a man who wallowed in "self pity," and dejection because of his "lot in life." He immediately sets to work, using the gifts God has given him, and is a blessing in his work situation. In prison, God wastes no time employing Joseph, and others quickly notice his amazing qualifications. The head cup-bearer and head baker, had committed crimes against the king of Egypt,and were also imprisoned in the state-prison. As they awwaited the outcomeof their individual cases, each had a dream. Joseph reminded them that "interpretations belong to God."

      As Joseph finds himself suddenly separated from the family he'd known and loved, he knew of a certainty that he was not alone. He still had "the God of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." When family members let us down, God abides faithful. Meditating on the situation presenting itself, at 17, Joseph was in training for "prison ministry, but didn't know it.

      Even in the pit, he was being prepared by God, for the leadership of Egypt, though he was unaware of the future that lay before him. Joseph in observing how his brothers had treated him, knew this was sinful behaviour, and unworthy of men of God. The brothers may have seemed to themselves in that moment in which they betrayed him. They seemed to be the majority, but they were wrong. Have you ever heard a person who is wrong, but who enjoys "the majority rule," say: "You don't suppose that all these are wrong and you are right do you?"

      Godly character stands out in your work situation, like a light in the darkness. Even if the whole world is in opposition toward you, they sit up and take notice of godly integrity. Joseph stands upon the truth of God's word, and holding those prophecies God gave his forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for these men had taught their families well. God would not fail him now. The anointing on Joseph's life, was a faith that worked by love." He loved and honoured his family and God. Even when he was unjustly imprisoned, Jacob yielded to the Spirit of the Lord, praying, interpreting dreams, sharing prophecies. His faith in God was consistent.

      Do you realize that testing is part of God's training of us? That Messiah Himself was driven into the wilderness to be tested? A testing which was multi-faceted, and over which Jesus was victorious. But we're told that "Satan left him for a season." Satan attacked the master "through His closest relationships," i.e. the disciple Peter, who said: Be it far from you Lord, you won't die, when in actuality the cross was God's purpose for the Messiah, who came to die for the sins of the world.

      Jesus was tested by religious leaders who openly stated they did not believe He was from God, and to whom He replied: Believe me for the works sake." Last of all, Jesus deepest grief, was when the Heavenly Father from whom He'd never known separation, forsook him as He hung on the cross as the sin-bearer of the whole world.

      We must be aware that ties of testing are periodic throughout our lives. God still loves us, and is teaching us in the midst of these. And we must be aware of the danger of being presumptuous, following a time of testing. (Matt. 4:1-10)

      From the time Joseph arrived and began to serve as servant in Potiphars house, he began to gain favour with the man. Quickly he gained responsibility over the entire household. In the New Testament, Jesus said: Whoever can be trusted with the mammon of this world, can also be trusted with greater riches, but those that can't be trusted with lesser things won't be given greater responsibilities." (Luke 16:11)

      At this time during which Joseph administrated over Potiphar's household, as his "trusted servant," he was slandered by Potiphar's wife, who tried to seduce him, and when he rejected her advances, and fled, she lied and had him unjustly imprisoned. But God did not forget him there. The jailor, observing the excellent spirit in Joseph, gave him additional responsibilities. God having allowed Joseph to be tested, began to change his bless him mightily. Because he had interpreted dreams for Pharaoh's servants in prison, he was entitled on to interpret Pharaoh's dreams. He prophesied of a coming famine which would last 7 years, and was believed and allowed to prepare for these disastrous years.

      TAKEN FROM PRISON & FROM JUDGMENT

      He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of My people was he stricken." (Isaiah 53:8)

      When Pharaoh saw that Joseph was endowed with unusual wisdom and understanding, he knew this was from God. Daniel had been careful to "give God the glory." Pharaoh put him in charge of all Egypt. The scriptures tell us that Pharaoh brought Joseph "hastily" out of the prison. Joseph was now able to shave for the first time in who knows how long, and to change his clothing. And he came in unto Pharaoh. The Pharaoh needed answers now! (Gen. 41:14-15) "Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh's presence and traveled throughout Egypt." - (Genesis 41:46)

      And Pharaoh said: I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it. And I have heard say of thee, that you can understand a dream to interpret it." And Joseph said: "It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer in peace." And Pharaoh said: "In my dream, behold, I stood on the bank of a river. And behold there came up out of the river, 7 kine, (cattle) fat-fleshed, and well-favoured; such as I never saw, in all the land of Egypt for badness. A nd they fed in the meadow. And behold, 7 other kine came up after them, and very ill favoured, and lean-fleshed kine, which ate up the first 7 kine. And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them. but they were still ill favored as at the beginning. So I awoke.

      And I saw in my dream and behold, 7 ears came upon one stalk, full and good. And behold 7 ears withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind came after them. And the thin ears devoured the 7 good ears. And I told this to the magicians, but there was none that could declare it to me." " (Genesis 41:17-25)

      And Joseph said:

      The dream of Pharaoh is one. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. Therefore look for a man that is discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him apoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the 7 plenteous years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And that food shall be for store, to the land, against the 7 years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt, that it not perish, through the famine."

      And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants. And he said: Can we find such a one in whom the Spirit of God is? And Pharoah said to Joseph: Forasmuch as God has showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou. And thou shall be over my house, and according to thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain on his neck; and he made him ride in the second chariot which he had, and they cried before him: Bow the knee, and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt."

      Did you know that God speaks to those of different nations, to those with different religious beliefs than ours, who are many times ignorant of His word? He speaks in dreams and visions. or in parables. This does not mean that they have bible salvation yet, as we see those of various nations receive in Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:46-48, Acts 19:5) But at times, the Lord will give them a sign, as He gave the centurian named Cornelius, (Acts 10:1-33) in or as he gave the Ethiopian eunuch, when Philip discerned the will of the Lord and approached his chariot, just as he read the book of Isaiah. (Acts 8:29)

      Joseph knew more of what was happening in Egypt at this time economically, than Jay Greenspan knows of economics in America. He knew this because the Spirit of the Lord revealed it to him. He knew what Egypt ought to do, in light of the coming crisis. Although Joseph received revelation from God, he could not save the nation without the help of others, who were appointed as administrative assistants. When the famine spread throughout the land, Joseph, dealt wisely preparing for thee lean years, by building huge graineries across the land of Egypt.

      Meanwhile, food began to grow scarce where Jacob's family lived, and Jacob learned that there was a plenteous supply of food in the land of Egypt. So he sent his sons, who were Joseph's brothers, to Egypt to buy grain.

      There is a blessing to be received, in prophetic words which are also corrective, as these are to the 12 sons of Jacob. The revelation that God gives to His children, goes far beyond that which our fathers knew. When I say this, I refer to the fact that God has a calling for each of us that is specialized. In this sense, it is unlike that of any other individual, or family member. The famine ultimately forced Jacob's whole family to Egypt, but they did not go because of circumstances alone. For Jacob sought the Lord, and God gave him a word. Do you know that circumstances are not sufficient as "guidance?" We God's word on a given situation!

      God spoke to Israel in visions, saying: "I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation. (Genesis 46:2-3)

      Circumstances can certainly be an indicator that it may be time for a change. I've been meditating lately on the fact that the bible tells of a city under seige, and in that city was a poor wise man, and that poor wise man delivered that city, by wisdom. Sometimes people use excuses not to see deliverance happen in their lives and the lives of those they love, rather than to see miraculous change. They say: I cannot see a miracle, because I am old...I am poor. But I am telling you by the word of the Lord that our bibles tell us a poor wise man delivered a city! "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and delivered him, and saved him out of all his troubles." (Psalm 34:6) Sometimes we do a thing because we've prayed and sought the Lord, and a certain course of action seems the right move to make.

      "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive be delivered? But thus says the Lord...Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be deivered: for I will contend with him that contends with thee and I will save thy children. " (Isaiah 49:24-25)

      Do you hear what God is saying here? He is saying that yes, sometimes Satan feels that he has a legal ground on which to hold one of our loves ones. But God is a miracle working God, and He wants you and I to be co-workers together with Him through Christ Jesus, to see the captives set free. Joseph's brothers needed deliverance as much as he did. And God was working from both ends.

      JOSEPH BUYS UP REAL ESTATE IN EGYPT

      And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them; so the land became Pharaoh's." (Gen. 47:20)

      • Joseph received prophetic warning cocerning the coming famine. He shared this with Pharaoh, with whom God gave him favor. He was given position and influence in the land of Egypt, for Pharaoh made him prime minister or governor over the land of Egypt.
      • Joseph presents some of his family members to Pharaoh and Pharaoh makes them rulers of his cattle herds. (Gen. 47:6)

        When Joseph's brothers came to Egypt to buy food, he introduced them to Pharaoh. When Pharaoh saw them, he enquired as to their occuation. They replied:

        We are shepherds, both we and also our fathers. To sojourne in the land are we come, for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks. for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan. Now therefore we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. And Pharaoh spoke to Jpseph saying: Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee. The land of Egypt is before thee, in the best of the land, make thy father and brethren to dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.(Gen. 47:4-6)

        The phrase "Men of activity," is ANSHEY CHAYIL, meaning "stout or robust men."

        The term "rulers over my cattle," is MIKNEH, signifying not only cattle, but possessions and property of any kind, but the word is usually reserved for cattle. This is a new attitude for an Egyptian, such as Pharaoh, since "every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians.

      • It was recommended by Joseph to Pharaoh, that one fifth of all the produce in Egypt be gathered during the plentiful years, preceeding the 7 year famine. And let them gather up all food, and corn, under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. (Gen. 46:34-35)
      • As famine prevails, the Egyptians deliver all of their ready cash reserves to Joseph. (Gen 47:13-15)

        Joseph sold corn to the Egyptian people which brought money into the royal treasury. Besides the fifth part of the produce from the 7 bountiful years, which was paid like a tax by the people, Joseph had bought additional corn with Pharaoh's money.

      • The Egyptians bring Joseph their cattle. (Gen. 47:16-17)

        The people had no grain with which to feed the cattle, but the Egyptian government had grain in silos that could be used for this purpose, having stored the grain during the 7 years of plenty, which preceeded the 7 years of famine.

      • In the next year of the famine, the Egyptians sold themselves and their land into the hand of Joseph, saying: "Buy us and our land for bread." (Gen. 47:19) (Gen. 47:18-21)
      • Joseph did not buy the land of the priests at this time, as this was a grant to them from Pharaoh, established by Egyptian law. The land of Egypt was divided into 3 parts: a) One portion belonged to the priests, with which they obtained sacrifices and managed their religius affairs. b) The second part was the kings to support his court and faily. c) The remainder of the land of Egypt was private property belonging to the people of Egypt. (Gen. 47:Gen. 47:22)

      WOE TO THEM THAT ARE FULL

      It is frequently God that creates periods of famine in our lives, be it a famine for the word of God, for just some kindness and compassion, or for literal food. Joseph's family needed more than physical food, if the problems in this family were to be healed. They needed a "revelation from God." For what do you hunger and thirst? First and foremost, before all else, we must seek the Lord for Himself! For a revelation of His abiding presence. Joseph's family didn't just have wishful thinking, but they arose and moved in the direction God sent them. For in moving forward by faith, their prophetic destiny was being worked out, as yours and mine will also be, as we wholely follow the Lord.

      In the bible, Jesus warns: "Woe to them that are full..." In many ways, Joseph's early foundation, prior to being sold into slavery by his brothers, came from his father Jacob's own knowledge of God, a heritage which the Israelite people would later receive at Sinai, after the Israelites had been "fruitful, and multiplied" in the land to the place that the Hyksos dynasty of the Egyptians felt they posed a threat to the Egyptian nation. (Exodus 2, Exodus 19:6) Did you hear God saying that He longed for the whole nation to be a kingdom of priests, in this Old Testament verse? Some of God's people at his time, appear to have entered into a deeper or closer relationship with God than others.

      In Moses, we see the heart of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was God's own longing for fellowship with Moses, and the fulfillment of his prophetic destiny, that the man Moses, was so vitally affected by the faith of his fathers? Of course! Moses cried to God: "Show me your glory!" Some people are satisfied with the status quo. They don't seem to miss the glory, which many have never seen anyway. But Moses longed for that revelation seen in the SHEKINAH moment with God. (Exodus 33:18) Joshua, commanded the sun and moon to stand still. Without a revelation of God, and an excellent relationship with Him, a man does not do this. This is not "status quo" relationship with God, in which people do not do any more than they have to, and still call themselves "the children of God." This is fervent relationship with God, even as Jesus Christ said in the message to the Church of laodicea, in Rev. 3:15 "I wish that you were hot or cold."

      For the most part, the nation rejected this "face to face" relationship with God, stating they feared the Lord, and would rather have Moses do the talking with God, at that time. Which he did. Jacobs foundation came from the revelation Jacob was given at Bethel, (House of God) where he saw prophetically the city of the Living God, in a vision and the angels of the Lord ascending on the Son of Man."(Genesis 28:19)

      The revelation which Jacob received at Penial, in which he said: "I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved..." Perhaps you have not considered that this was essentially what God wanted for them at Sinai, and spoke to them of, gathering the nation that they might be to him a "kingdom of priests..." God wanted to know them not just corporately, but one on one, in an intimate close relationship in which as individuals, they would hear and obey God's voice.

      Joseph was destined to be a ruler in Egypt, whose influence would shake a polytheistic pagan nation, for the ONE True and Living God, till another Pharaoh would arise who "knew not Joseph." And the destiny of a nation would begin to take shape, as God called a holy people out of teaching them as a nation that salvation came through "the blood." Teaching the sons and daughters yet unborn, that those animal sacrifices pointed symbolically to Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." (John 1:29)

      This was to be an individual revelation, and not just a corporate or national revelation, that the Israelites would possess, for when the Israelites as a nation later left Egypt, they were told to sacrifice "a lamb for a house," and to put the blood on the lintels of the door, that the death angel would pass over their homes. This they did, just as God commanded, and when the angel passed over, it was only the homes of the Egyptians from which the sounds of wailing and mourning for their firstborn came.

      God tells us in the scriptures, that it is He that humbles us, and causes us to hunger, and feeds us with manna that we knew not, nor our fathers knew that He might cause us to know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.(Deuteronomy 8:3)

      Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And he increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than his enemies. (Psalm 105:23-24)

      Arriving in the land of Egypt, approximately two years after the famine had begun, the family of Jabob was directed to the second most powerful political leader in the entire country, Zaphnathpaaneah, (Zaf-nath-pay-knee-ah) whose Egyptian name literally means: "The God speaks and the One who bears the Name lives." (Genesis 41:40-43 & 45). He was their long lost brother Joseph, whom their father, Israel, thought was .

      They purchased grain from Joseph himself, whom they failed to recognize, for he'd matured in the years of his absence. He purposely did not tell them who he was during the first two visits. But when at long last, he did reveal himself to his brothers, he told them to go return to Canaan and bring their families and their father back with them to Egypt. He explained that although they had betrayed and sold him into slavery, God in His divine providence meant it for good. He could look back on his life and see that God had been lovingly caring for his needs, and those of his family, all along.

      Joseph brothers returned to Canaan and brought their families and their father Jacob to Egypt. Jacob met Pharaoh, and Joseph provided a place for them to live near him in Egypt. Israel (Jacob) After Israel died in Egypt, Joseph had his father Israel's body prepared for burial, commanding the Egyptians to embalm him—--So the Physicians embalmed Israel—and forty days were fulfilled to him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed, and the Egyptians mourned threescore and ten days. Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying:

      "My father made me swear, saying: "Lo, I die, in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shall thou bury me. Now therefore, let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. And the Pharaoh said: Go up, and bury your father according as he made you swear. ." (Genesis 50:5-6)

      His sons carried him into the land and buried him in the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought for a possession of a burying place of Ephron the Hittite before Mamre. And Joseph returned to Egypt...he and his brethren, and all that went with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was , they said: What if Joseph should bear a grudge against us and pay us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him? "

      JOSEPH AFTER THE FATHERS HEART

      The brothers of Joseph feared that when their father was dead, Joseph would retaliate, but he assured them that he really did believe God was working providencially and that he would not harm them, in any way.

      "And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was , they said: Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us for all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger to Joseph saying: Thy father did command before he died, saying: "So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive I pray thee,now the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin for they did unto thee evil: and now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spoke unto him." And his brethren also went and fell down before his face, and they said: Behold we be thy servants. And Joseph said: "Fear not, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you thought to do me evil, but God meant it for good."

      The brothers called themselves "The servants of God, your brethren." Perhaps your own experience has been that you have felt wounded or betrayed by one who calls themselves "God's servant, or "your brother." But by the eyes of his spirit, Joseph saw beyond the tragedy, to the greater good. This was not a light thing, and scripture impacts us with the depth of the grief Joseph experienced at the hands of these men. Many times, believers note that their children are not all the same. They grieve over the fact that one seems to do very well, and has a heart after God, while another does poorly. Jacob's children were the same way. He struggled with this. But he was a very prophetic individual. He knew God's voice, and was not afraid to speak prophetically those things God showed him. In fact, even these rather negative sounding prophecies are called "blessings."

      THE END TIME JOSEPH AS THE MANIFESTED SON

      As the father of 12 sons, as Jacob/Israel was, he did not mince words when he prophesied to Joseph and his brothers, calling them exactly what he beheld by the Spirit of the Lord, that the sons of God might know what shall befall them in the last days.

      God in his word glosses over nothing of the character of these men, but tells it like it is. As those destined to receive the Joseph Anointing, in the end times, it will be important to have discernment, such as Jacob exhibits, in the lives of the sons.

      If you wanted to hire some of these sons to join the staff at your church, rest assured, that some of them will have a "criminal history," if your organization is the type that does a background check, with the local police department, or state patrol office.

      God "giveth more grace," and that's good, because we all need it. Joseph, as delighted as he was to be reunited with his brothers, was also wise, putting them to the test. (Gen. 44:1-2) Joseph is a type of Christ, whose ministry extended beyond the Jews...Messiah said: "I must needs go through Samaria," and He ministered to the Syro-Phoenician woman, etc. that the end time Joseph's Company's ministry will be prominently known of among the lost, as Joseph's was in Egypt. There will be favour shown the church because of the manifestation of spiritual sifts as "signs and wonders," done by the leading of God. These will occur in a sphere in which the unsaved will be able to observe "the wonderful works of God." Much of this will occur, because the wisdom of the unsaved will prove insufficient, and they will cry for answers, to such problems as terrorism and other end-time troubles, predicted in scripture in Luke 21. Many will come to know God's saving grace. Whole cities will know of these things. There will be many miracles of provision. But in the courseof time, a king will arise who knows not Joseph, and then at that time, persecution against the Christian community will escalate dramatically.

      There is none righteous, no not one. God laid upon Christ, the iniquity of us ALL! Be hearkening to Israel your father, ye sons of Jacob. He exhorts: Gather yourselves together. And there is even now a gathering together, like birds of a feather flock together. Some to doubtful disputations. Not all of it is in the proper spirit. But much of it shows great promise. The word of the Lord concerning the sons of God shall come to pass.

      There are the sons of Judah, as if they're in a holding tank. The church needs to go forth and deliver these captives, by speaking the truth which sets men free, and by using the spiritual gifts. Be knowing and understanding that where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. (Romans 6:1)

      In Genesis 49:1, we read that "Jacob "adopted" the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh." The prophecies the Patriarch Israel (Jacob) gives in this portion of scripture, following the happy ending to the tragic story of the trial which Joseph endured, are to Joseph and his brethren. Observe these prophetic words go beyond these men presently, in Jacob's day, stretching down to the last days, so "he that has an ear can hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Jacob prophesied to show what would befall his sons in "the last days..." The Prophet Hosea, tells us that in Jacob, "there God spoke with us!" (Hosea 12:3-4)

      • (Meaning "Behold a son!" Gen. 29:32) The Patriarch Jacob points out the instability of Reuben, telling him that although he is the firstborn, he will not excel." The phrase is literally: "Effervescent like water, you shall have no preferece." (Alluding to the excitement of Reuben's unbrideled , which boils over into incest, and consequent loss of the priviledges of the firstborn, and rank belonging to the firstborn. (Gen. 35:22) Reuben personifies first of all, the person who does not weigh the consequences of his actions. He stood in the position of the firstborn, to receive a double portion by way of inheritance. Firstborn often have a greater responsibility, helping with younger children. Reuben's sin cost him this double portion. He consequently has serious loses.

        He typifies the unstable, double-minded person, who lives in ual sin, shocking to even the sinners. This does not mean that people cannot repent and lead godly lives, they and their children. This is the will of God, sanctification. (Gen. 49:3) He's like a son who falls into sin with his stepmother.

        The end time Reubens are losing their inheritances,their stock market shares are being whittle down, and are involved in group therapy for ual addictions.

        The father (Jacob) should have obeyed the Genesis principle, in which God states "The two shall be one flesh," and not have had more than one wife. He was cleverly manipulated as to his marriage decisions, by a relative named Laban. One moral of the story is evil communications corrupts good manners. People often feel a sense of obligation toward sinful relatives. My advice is watch out! Do not allow ungodly relatives to make an infiltration into your godly family. Seek God's wisdom, with regard to associating with family members who do not know the Lord. Yes, they should have opportunity to hear the gospel. Make sure they understand what they must do to be saved. (Acts 2:38) But when they reject Christ, the biblical admonition is "Shake their dust off your shoes." (Luke 9:5)

        Teach your children God's principles as laid down in the bible, God's word, before such terrible consequences develope. But if they do, fall on God's mercy and grace, and trust Him for deliverance. The fact that God stayed with Reuben, and with Jacob, and worked with the family, in spite of the family problems, does not mean that God's desire for personal holiness in a life is in any way diminished. Holiness and obedience to God's word, is always His highest and best plan and purpose. "Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord."

        In the Exodus period, the tribe of Reuben was given priority, (Exodus 6:14) but Reubenites Dathan and Abiram led a brief rebellion against Moses. (Num. 16) The tribe asked for and received rich pastureland east of Jordan for an inheritance. (Num. 32:33-38, Josh. 13:15-23)

      • SIMEON ("One who hears") and
      • LEVI'S ("Joined") prophecy notes the fact that Simeon and Levi are "brethren." All of the 12 sons were brethren, but these two hung out together, and had a significant impact on one anothers behaviour. What sort of an impact? They are "instruments of cruelty." (Gen. 49:5) As parents, we need to watch our children, that they not be allowed to form partnerships of this sort, preying on younger siblings. You see this so often, such as in public places where people park, and leave young children in the care of older ones. Even after church services, don't allow yourself to fall into a pattern of fellowshipping, and allowing children to run about unsupervised. Be aware of where your children are, and what they are doing.

        Jacob curses their anger and wrath, saying he will "divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel ." (Gen. 49:7) The meaning of this phrase is this: Jacob had 12 sons. These two are instruments of cruelty and they hang out together, plotting schemes. The Patriarch prophecies that they will be divided and scattered. It's like when your children get into mischief and you say to them: I am separating the two of you. You go to this corner and you go there. Becuse they need to be corrected. By themselves, they don't get into trouble, but together, they are terrible.

        The dividing and scattering Jacob prophesied, was for the purpose of weakening the ous alliance between Simeon and Levi, since they'd joined forces to commit a crime. This was fulfilled at the conquest of Canaan, and on the second numbering under Moses, Simeon was the weakest of all the tribes. (Num. 24:14) In Moses blessing, it was entirely passed over. (Deut. 33) The tribe of Simeon received no separate assignment of territory as an inheritance, but a handful of cities within the confines of Judah. (Josh. 19:1-9)

        If you have sons in trouble with the juvenile authorities, in jail, or in prison, or just causing problems, don't give up hope. But do give them the words God gives you to speak, and don't mince words and don't waste words.

        This typifies those who will have great power with God, but you parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, will have to pray them through. Right now, God is weaking their alliances with the wicked as men and women pray for their souls, they are losing it, going to prison, filing bankrupcy as God weakens their dependance of mammon rather than Himself, getting divorced, etc. When they come through God's fire, they'll be God's apostles, prophets, evangelists, psalmists. Because Jacob's prophecy says: "Let me show you what shall befall you in the latter days..."

        Levi conspired with Simeon to the inhabitants of Sheche, in revenge of the of their sister Dinah. (Gen. 34:25-29) Levi also received no separate inheritance in the land. The scattering of Levi in Israel, became a blessing for the other tribes, in Levi's election to the priesthood. The curse of Levi being scattered in Israel, was changed to a blessing to the other tribes, in the priesthood. Was there any cruelty among the priests? Sometimes... Aaron was considered the father of the branch of the Levitical priesthood, that served at the altar. They were the teachers of God's word. In the Old Testament, they had the Urim and Thummin, held the keys to the realm of prophetic worship, etc.

        The seriousness of sin in the Levites is noted in second of Aaron's four sons, Abihu, together with Nadab, the firstborn of Aaron, who offered unauthorized fire at the altar of the Lord, and was struck as a the judgment from, for daring to approach God's altar with "strange fire." (Exodus 6:23, Num. 3:1-4) This means they failed to burn the incense on coals taken from the altar of sacrifice. (Lev. 10:1-5) But for the most part, they were godly men. It's a serious warning to spiritual leaders today, not to be like these men."

        Though Jacob's prophecy pronounced a curse on their crime, it did not deprive them of their share in the promised inheritance. They were put in the background because of their sins, but not excluded from the call of Israel, and did not lose the blessing of Abraham. The wrath of man, works not the righteousness of God." (James 1:20)

      • JUDAH,(Meaning "Praise," Gen.37:26,27, 43:3-10,44:16-34) the fourth son, is praised as a lion's whelp, still immature, but ripening to maturity. In his immaturity, Judah's heart, was why totally get rid of Joseph, if we can make a few bucks. This prophecy of Jacob took a measure to faith, just to give, I'm telling you!

        He had shown a certain strength of character, when he proposed to "sell Joseph," rather than kill him. Furthermore, he offered himself as a pledge for Benjamin, pleading with Joseph on his behalf. (Gen. 44:16)

        Jacob prophesies of Judah, what he receives by the Spirit of the Lord: His descendants shall be rulers... "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh come, and unto him, shall the gathering of the people be." (Gen. 49:10) " Already you can see the kingly authority of God in operation in his life. The sceptre that shall not depart from Judah, speaks of the tribal staff, an emblem of authority.

        "Nor a law-giver from between his feet," alludes to Messiah, first of all, the fact that He will always have a godly posterity, and there shall be faith in the earth when He returns... The staff, which was was rested between the feet, lying upon ones shoulder. In the phrase, till Shiloh comes, we see the Messianic title of Messiah, which speaks of Him as our rest. (Gen. 49:9)

        In Joshua 18:1, after the land of Canaan had been conquered, by the defeat of the Canaanites in the north and south, and the land had been distributed, Judah and the double tribe of Joseph received their inheritance by lot, with the congregation assembled together at Shiloh. Judah did not acquire command over the tribes, till after Shiloh ceased to be the hub for the tribes.

      • ZEBULON (Whose name means "Exalt or honour") shall dwell at the haven of the sea, towards the coast of ships, his side toward Zidon. (Gen. 49:13) The blessing of the sixth son, focuses upon the interpretation of the name Zebulon, which means "Dwelling." Not only a haven, but they've been given abundance to share with others.

        They were given a large land portion of southern Galilee, and territories allotted under Joshua, are mentioned in Josh. 9:10-16. It lay between the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean. The phrase "Coast of ships," speaks of where the ships were unloaded. Zidon is an ancient term for Phoenicia. An important trade route passed through Zebulon's rich and fertile land, made that way by the stable rainfall pattern. Eventually, the territory was devastated by the Assyrians in 722 b.c. and the land became part of the Assyrian Empire.

      • ISSACHAR, whose name means "Hired Worker," (Gen. 30:14-18) is a strong (bony) ass crouching between two burdens. He saw rest was good, and the land pleasant. Their tribal allotment lay between Jezreel and the Jordan Valleys. (Josh. 19:17-23, 17:10-11) The battle in which Saul and Jonathan were slain, took place here.

        In the time of David, Issachar was respected for their military skill. Their leaders are described as "Men with understandingof the times, who knew what Israel ought to do. (1 Chron. 12:32)

        Jabob's prophecy states: "He bowed his shoulder to to bear and became servant unto tribute." Tribute means you pay bribes or taxes, or you don't reside there. This person appreciates the good life, of both pleasure and comfort.

        The reference to this burden-bearer being bony, shows how well suited he is for this task. We see here also a devotion to labour and the burden of agriculture. The correction appears to be that like an idle beast, these would rather submit to the yoke, and be forced to do the work of a slave than to risk their possessions and peace or rest in a struggle for liberty.

        Issachar must guard against any tendency to become lethargic and self satisfied. In the time of the Judges, Issachar acquired reknown, for heroic bravery in connection with Zebulon. (Judges 5:14, 15, 18) (Gen. 49:14) Bravery must continue to be the characteristic of Issachar, and not ease at the cost of liberty in the lives of these individuals or tribe, if they are to procure the blessing promised them, which is that they will be a robust powerful race of men, receiving a pleasant inheritance which will afford them rest. This rest will come through the baptism in the Holy Spirit. For Isaiah prophesied: This is the rest, wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest." (Isaiah 28:12)

        In the Old Testament, many nations paid tribute money to foreign invaders. East European immigrants have said the Mafia from countries there have followed them clear to America attempting to extort money from them.

      • "DAN (meaning "He has vindicated") shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path that bites the horses heels so that the rider falls backward." In a family, Dan is like the child who doesn't like for things not be be right. The other children may chide him for tattling, but he wants intervention, because he craves divine order.

        In Dan we see the cry for justice for his people. His allotment in Israel, was a territory which lay along the Mediterranean Coast, bounded by Ephraim, Judah and Benjamin. (Josh. 19:40-48) During the era of the Judges, most of this tribe left their homeland, migrating north, where they settled at the headwatersof the Jordan, isolated from the other tribes. They conquered Laish, renaming it Dan. (Judges 18)

        Ezekiel prophesies that Dan will have a portion along Israel's northern frontier, in the Messianic Age, confirming Jacob's prophecy that Dan will provide justice for his people. In many ways, they personify the prophetic apostolic and ministries. In the natural, they will take up positions in the land, such as judges, law enforcement, attorneys, etc.

        In the "biting" of the horses heels so the rider falls backward, we see an attack upon enemy vehicles, supplies and munitions. Without a vehicle to deploy against you, the enemy has to flee on foot, making the battle confrontational on ground level. Dan doesn't leave these means of the adversaries around to be reused on himself. (Gen. 49:16)

      • GAD, (whose name means "a press presses him, but he presses the heel) it is said, "a troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome in the end." (Gen. 49) God will be pressed on all sides, by warring hosts. He must be fortified for the days ahead, so he'll have the necessary equipment to overcome with, for it is prophesied that he shall overcome, withstanding and pressing their heel. When I think of Gad, I am reminded of Texas and Oklahoma. The Gadites were cattle ranchers, who asked for rich pasturelands east of the Jordan on which their cattle might graze, as their inheritance. (Num. 32:1-5) These lands extended from the southern shore of the sea of Galilee, to the northern tip of the Sea. (Josh. 12:1-6, 13:8-13) The Gadites were brave warriors, able to handle a spear. (1 Chron. 12:8) After the eighth century b.c, the Syrians occuppied much of the Gadite territory east of Jordan. This land was retaken, by Jereboan II, but later over-run by the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pileser III in 732 bc, and the people deported. (I Chron 5:26) The territory God gives, He gives to man as an inheritance, and it must be guarded, or it will become the spoils of war.

        In Daniel, the Prophet speaks prophetically along these lines, saying: Some of understanding shall fall, to purge them, and to make them white, even to the time of the end." (Daniel 11:34) This should provide encouragement to those whose children as Gad, do not appear to be overcoming." Don't give up hope!

      • Out of Asher, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. The Hebrew term "dainties" here is MAADAN, meaning "delightful" (Gen. 49:20) The fat out of Asher shall be his own bread. This indicates the rich environment in which Asher grows, as Asher's inheritance is in the lowlands of Carmel on the Mediterranean, as far as the territory of Tyre. "Get yourself busy Asher, dispensing this bread of yours. This reminds me of the sermons and bible teachings that are loaded with scripture and revelation, because the teacher has cared to take the necessary time to prepare.

      • NAPHTALI(meaning "Wrestler" Gen. 30:7-8) is a hind let loose. The hind or gazelle is a simile of a warrior, who is skillful and swift in his movements. The tribe settled in eastern and central Galilee. It's territory encompassed the upper Jordan and a portion of the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. Judges 1:33, indicates they lived among the Canaanites. Barak, who led the troops together with Deborah, was from Naphtali. They were vulnerable to attack from Syria, and the first to be invaded by Assyria in 2 Kings 15:29. (I Kings 15:20)

        Isaiah prophesied Naphtali, and neighboring Zebulon will be a blessing to others. The beginning fulfillment of this occurred as Messiah, the Lord Jesus preached on the very shores of Naphtali.(Matt. 4:13-16) There is more to come in these last days...

        The phrase "a hind let loose," shows freedom of movement, and here we see liberty to move about. Naphtali obtained a great victory under Barak, over Jabin, king of Canaan. (Judges4-5, 2 Sam. 2:18) Spiritually, he symbolizes the believer who walks on the wings of the wind, spiritually speaking, with hinds feet in high places. He gives good words, and is a blessing. This phrase "Good words," speaks of both beautiful sayings and songs. Here we see anointed preachers, prophets as well as poets, and psalmists. Prophetically, not just "smoothe words," but genuine prophetic words, that God can use to produce change in a life. The fruit of the spirit of gentleness and kindness is going to be manifested in this life, and a developing apostolic, prophetic, and teaching gift. (Gen. 49:21)

      • BENJAMIN (meaning "Son of my right hand" Gen. 35:16-20) shall ravin as a wolf. In the morning, he shall divide the prey, and in the evening he shall divide the spoil. (Gen. 49:27) Benjamin may be small but he's mighty. You don't have to feel a sense of insignificance. In God, you shall do valiently! The sight of the brothers of Joseph, caused him to ask them to leave the room, and to turn his head and cry. There they were after all those years, bowing down before his feet, just as Almighty God had promised in his vision. But they no longer mocked. Just having to go to Egypt to beg for food, had humbled them, even before they'd been aware that he was Joseph.

        But Jacob also prophesied of Joseph, even Joseph in the " latter days...showing us that there will be a mighty company of Josephs who will overcome.

        "JOSEPH is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him. But his bow abode in strength. And the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob. (From thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel. (Deut. 32:4,18) (Jacob who rested on the Rock in Bethel, never forgot The Rock of Ages would ever be our resting place. He would be strengthened...By the God of thy father, who shall help thee. And by the Almighty who shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, and of the deep that lies under, blessings of the breast and of the womb. The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessing of thy progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brothers." (Genesis 49:22-26)

        God's heart overflows with love and compassion for Joseph and what he will endure, but great fruitfulness will come of his sufferings. His arms of his hands will be strengthened by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob. "

      Shortly before Joseph died, he told the Israelites that one day they would migrate to Canaan, and asked that they take his bones with them, which they did. It was prophesied of Messiah, that God would not suffer His holy one to see corruption, or that "not a bone of Him would be broken." Jesus raised from the , and ascended into heaven, where He is seated at the right hand of God, and from which position He will judge the living and the .

      Centuries later, in Exodus 1:7-11, we read --

      "And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. 8) Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. 9) And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: 10) Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.

      JOSEPH AS A TYPE OF CHRIST & THE ANOINTING END TIME SONS OF GOD:

      (Blessings, blessings and more blessings)

      Joseph is a type of haMasiach/Jesus Christ, in numerous ways. As we live our lives through the power He has given us, we will experience an incredible revelation of the abiding presenceof the Resurrected Christ, if we will take up our cross and follow Him. Only if we suffer with Him, will we reign through Him:

      Joseph VS Jesus

      • Genesis 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph...

      • Matthew 3:17 "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 37:4 His brethren envied and hated him.

        "Haters of them that are good..."

      • John 15:25 They hated me without a cause. Marvel not that the world hate you. (Matt. 10:22, Matt. 24:9, Mk. 13:13, Jn. 15:18 Mark 15:10 it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 37:8 His brothers said to him, "Are you indeed to reign over us?... So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.

      • Luke 19:14 We do not want this man to rule over us.
      • John 1:11 He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Joseph was wonderful in counsel. (Gen. 44:1-2, 45:1-3)

      • Jesus Christ is called by Isaiah in Isaiah 9:6, Wonderful Counsellor." -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Joseph was the "revealer of secrets." (Gen. 40:18)

      • Jesus Christ reveals truth, as the "Spirit of truth." Now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Cor. 3:17) The "secret things belong to God." (Job 15:8, Dan. 2:28) And thus are the secrets of the heart made manifest;and so falling down on his face, he will worship God and acknowledge that God is in you of a truth. (1 Cor. 14:25) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 37:18 Joseph brothers saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him.

      • Matthew 27:1 the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his .
      • Luke 22:1-2 Now the Feast of Unleavened drew nigh,which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how to that they might kill him; for they feared the people. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 37:23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his garment.

      • Matthew 27:28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 37:28 sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.

      • Matthew 26:15 They paid him thirty pieces of silver. "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another." (Matt. 24:10) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 39:4 Joseph found favor in Pharoah's sight ...he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had.

      • John 3:35 The Father hath highly exalted Him (Jesus) Believers are seated with Christ in heavenly places. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 40:2-3 Pharaoh was angry with his two officers ... and he put them ... in the prison where Joseph was confined.

      • Luke 23:32 Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to with him. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 40:13 Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office (to one, a message of life).

      • Luke 23:43 He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise." -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 40:15 I have done nothing that they should have put me in prison."

      • Hebrews 4:15 one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 41:46 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh.

      • Luke 3:23 Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work. God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (FULL SON-SHIP, HUIOTHESIA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 41:55 Pharaoh said ... "Go to Joseph; and do what he commands you."

      • John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 45:1 Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

      • Acts 7:9-13 And the Patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions,and gave him favour and wisdom in the sightof Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt, and all his house. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction; and our fathers found no sustenence. But when Jacb heard there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And at the second time, Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known to Pharaoh.
      • Luke 24:31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 45:7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.

      • 1 John 4:9 God sent his only Son into the world so we might live our lives through him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • The years of plenty were followed by years of famine, though Joseph was still on the throne. (Gen.41:30)

      • Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
      • In the last days, perilous times shall come, including years of famine, though Christ is still on his throne. "Behold the days come says the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. There (Amos 8:11, 2 Tim. 3:1, Luke 21) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 45:12 And now your eyes ... see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you.

      • Luke 24:39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 45:18 Take your father and your households and come to me.

      • Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you that are weary ... and I will give you rest. "Bear ye one anothers burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." (Gal. 6:2) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      • Genesis 45:26-28 26 And they told him, "Joseph is still alive! ... Israel said, "Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I must go and see him before I die."

      • Luke 24:5 Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.
      • Gen. 50:16-21 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying: So shall you say to Joseph, Forgive I pray thee now, the trespasses of your brothers, and their sin; for they did unto you evil; ans now, we pray thee forgive the trespass of your servants of the God of your father.
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