Hope Held Overcomes

So Pharaoh said to Joseph,

“Since God has informed you of all this,

there is no one so discerning

and wise as you are.

You shall be over my house,

and according to your command

all my people shall do homage;

only in the throne I will be greater than you.”

Genesis 41:39–40

The truth of the Word of God and His omniscience and omnipotence never ceases to amaze. As that young man who was thrown into a pit by his brothers and then sold as a slave into a foreign land, would Joseph have ever thought that he would be hearing these words of Pharaoh addressed to him?

In 1 Corinthians 2:9 we read that, “Eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” Even more so, could Joseph have ever imagined the fact that God was using the story of his life to foreshadow the truth of the coming Messiah?

The Pharaoh of Egypt hands all rule over to Joseph. In Matthew 28:18 Jesus says, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Ephesians 1:20–23 tells us that Jesus Christ has been set far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and all things and all peoples are in subjection under him. Pharoah told Joseph that it would be only in the throne that he would be greater.

In John 14:28, Jesus is speaking to eleven of the disciples (Judas Iscariot has gone out from them), and He tells them, “If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” Many have taken this verse and used it to diminish the deity of Jesus Christ. Let me take this opportunity to explain:

We read in Philippians 2:6–7 that although Jesus existed in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God a thing to hold on to. He willingly emptied Himself and took on the likeness of man. Now in this likeness of man, Jesus has positioned Himself under the authority of the throne of God. So while Jesus was on this earth, the Father was greater than Him in position. This never diminshed the deity of Christ.

He was and is and always will be God.

Jesus is the One of the Trinity that we were able to see and touch. He is the One who walked among us. His walking among us never diminished His dominion over us. “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9).

Joseph walked among the people in a way that Pharoah could not, yet this never diminished his authority over the people. Just as Pharaoh placed Joseph over all of Egypt, so has God placed Jesus over all the earth.

Jesus was with God and is God; He was and is “faithful as a Son over His house, whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end” (Hebrews 3:6). Joseph held firm his hope in God no matter what life threw his way, and great was his reward.

Oh, precious one, we cannot even fathom what God has planned for us.

In Jeremiah 29:11 we read, “For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

Jesus tells us in Revelation 3:21, “He who overcomes, I will grant him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”

The question is, my dear friend, will you be one who overcomes?

Oh Father,

Your Word tells me that I have a hope: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil” (Hebrews 6:19); this hope is Jesus Christ. In Christ I have a future, and in Christ I have hope. In Christ I can hold on to my confidence because my confidence is Him and my confidence is Your Word, which never fails. Oh Father, that I would not be one who allows the circumstances of life to cause me to shrink back to destruction, but that I would endure all things and persevere through all trials because You are faithful and You are worthy. Oh Father, help me to overcome.

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.