Reflections that could change the way you read the Old Testament!

St Augustine once said: "It is not the OT that is abolished in Christ but the concealing veil so that it may be understood through Christ...The New Testament is hidden in the Old and the Old is made accessible by the New." I experienced a “discovery” of the NT hidden in the pages of Genesis.

In grace, God revealed to me many similarities between Joseph and Jesus. Truly, the Old Testament Joseph points to the New Testament Christ! Joseph is not the Christ but is a pointer to the King, a foreshadow of what was to come, and an OT John the Baptist!

Just a few examples:

1. Both Joseph and Jesus found favor with people who were outside their own ethnic/cultural identities. Joseph experienced this with an Egyptian captain of the guard (Genesis 39:3-4), with an Egyptian prison warden in (Genesis 39:21), and with the Egyptian Pharoah (Genesis 41:39-40). Similarly, Jesus found favor with a Samaritan woman and her community (John 4:39-42) and Magi from the east (Matthew 2:11-12).

2. Both Joseph and Jesus were greatly tested but instead remained loyal to their king. Joseph was invited by Potiphar’s wife to come to bed but he refused (Genesis 39:7-8). And Jesus was invited by the devil to bow down and worship him (Matthew 4:8-9) but Jesus refused stating “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (Matthew 4:10). As well, there is the commitment of Jesus to endure the cross and follow the Father’s will even while being “overwhelmed to the point of death” (Mark 14:34-36).

3. Both Joseph and Jesus were given authority – Joseph by the Pharaoh (Genesis 41:40-44) and Jesus by the Father (Matthew 28:18, 1 Corinthians 15:27-28).

4. Both Joseph and Jesus had people flock to them because they believed these men could help. Joseph had people come to buy grain from him during the famine (Genesis 41:57). Jesus had people come to be healed and set free (Mark 1:40, 3:7-8)

5. Both Joseph and Jesus had prophecies fulfilled. Joseph once spoke of his brothers bowing down before him (Genesis 37:9-10) and it came true (Genesis 42:6). And Jesus, well, there are too many to reflect here (Isaiah 9:7 & Luke 1:32-33, Isaiah 7:14 & Matthew 1:18).

6. Both Joseph and Jesus are depicted as being sent by God with a purpose of saving others. Joseph tells his brothers that is why God had orchestrated the events of his life as he did – to save lives (Genesis 45:5-8). And it was “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The following verse makes it abundantly clear: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17).

7. And in saving many both Joseph and Jesus bring those they save into service to their kings. Joseph asked of the people’s money, livestock, land, and bodies – their very lives (Genesis 47:25). Jesus commanded that all people should lose their lives for the sake of God (Luke 14:26-27).

8. And perhaps the most famous words of Joseph (“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” Genesis 50:20) have to find a parallel with Jesus’ rebuke of Peter. Peter would not have it that Jesus would die but Jesus made it clear to Peter, “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Mark 8:33).

That’s so sweet. The similarities have been there all along and I’ve just failed to see them.

Irenaeus once said, "If anyone reads the Scripture carefully it will find some word, some hidden treasure in the field, which is Christ."

I encourage you to go find those hidden treasures, to go find Christ, in the fields of the Old Testament!