Acts 7:1-51 / 11-13 – “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food.12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family.”
There were four hundred years of silence in which the Lord did not speak to Israel. They had become rebellious and hard hearted. They would not listen to God and they did not obey Him. So God stopped speaking to them. Although many died early and some lived long lives, the average lifespan at the time of Jesus was about fifty-five years. That means that although Israel were certainly the receivers and protectors of the words of God to man, there were about seven generations of Israel that did not have a prophet of God speaking a message from God to them. It was a very sad time in the history of Israel. Israel had a famine from the blessing of hearing from God. The last word of God in the Old Testament is Malachi 4:5-6 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” It spoke of a coming Elijah-like prophet that would come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord (The Great Tribulation). God was silent to Israel for four hundred year and then John the Baptist came on the scene. Jesus said of John the Baptist (who the last Old Testament Prophet) “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.” He meant that of all the heroes of Israel, John the Baptist was the greatest one of all. John was the “greatest” because he had the high privilege of preparing the way for the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah to Israel and the world. So the last word from Malachi was predicting the coming of the prophet to prepare the world for Jesus and John the Baptist was the fulfillment of the prophecy.
The Lord uniquely positioned Joseph to be type of savior for Abrahams’s descendants. Joseph was a type of the coming Savior Jesus. God used Joseph to bring God’s provision for life to the Jews. God the Father used Jesus to bring eternal life for all who would come to Him. Joseph came for the physical famine, Jesus came to end the spiritual famine. Stephen states that by their best efforts their ancestors could not find food. This was just as we cannot find spiritual sustenance to restore our spiritual lives except through the God provided Savior to the Jew and to all the world, Jesus Christ.
We see that the first time that Jacob’s sons came to get food from Egypt they did not recognize the one whom God provided to save them as their very own brother. They also did not recognize Jesus as their Savior when Jesus first came to the world. It was at the second visit that Joseph was revealed to them who He was. It was then that the brothers, who had carried the heavy burden of having sold Joseph, received full forgiveness and blessings. The Jews also did not recognize Jesus as their Messiah at His first coming. But it will be just before His second coming that they will realize that they had rejected their Messiah. They will repent and as Joseph forgave his brothers and welcomed them back with open arms, so will Jesus forgive Israel and welcome his family with open arms.
Family, we can be grateful that Jesus gives us second chances. In fact, at any time in our lives before our natural death, Jesus extends His love and will to us that we might receive full forgiveness and the full benefits of being a child of God. I had many opportunities to come to Jesus before I did and, when I finally did respond to His call, I found Him waiting with open arms to receive me. So have we all who love Jesus had the same experience. If anyone does not know with absolute certainty that when they die they will go to Heaven, it is never, before natural death, too late. And for those who are called by His name, remember that Christ died for all the sins we will ever do. Jesus died because God loves us (John 3:16). Let’s walk in God’s forgiveness and share with others that God’s forgiveness is for all who will receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord. Praise our good and loving God! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.