“John is the gospel that looks beyond the physical things to the spiritual movements and heart that’s driving the program.
"Jesus says in John 7:7: [7] The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.
“Compare that with Genesis 37, because John 7:7 is sort of a hat tip back to where you have Joseph," explains Richard Jordan.
“There are seven great men of the faith listed in the Book of Genesis in Hebrews 11. Abel is an example of worship; he had the more excellent sacrifice. Enoch walked with God by faith. Noah had the witness. Abraham is a great picture of election; God choosing out. Isaac is the great illustration of sonship; here’s the son and the status. Jacob is the great illustration of service and the conflict in service. Joseph is the great picture of the heir of all things.
“In Joseph you see first the suffering and then the glory. When you look at Genesis, of those seven guys, Joseph gets more coverage than anybody else and the reason for that is that Joseph, in his life, is the most extensive type of Christ in the Bible.
“Arthur Pink has a book on Genesis and he’s got over 150 particulars he lists about Joseph being a type of Christ. Nobody else has that many things and almost everything you read in Genesis 37, 39, 40, 41, 42 demonstrates Joseph as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“This is one of the things about the Bible that is just so mind-boggling to me. When you read these passages back here there’s no rational explanation for how Moses could have written down, and it happened in the life of Joseph, thing after thing after thing after thing that really give a foreshadow of the life of somebody who isn’t going to be on the earth for another 1,500 years.
“You see, the one who was writing Genesis and controlling the life of Joseph had to have had an infallible knowledge of the future and know it.
“How is it that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John constructed their books on the pattern of the life of Joseph? Well, they didn’t consciously do that. I mean, that didn’t happen in John 7 so that John could say, ‘Okay, that’s Genesis 37.’ There are parallels to see.
“You remember Jesus said to them in John 5: [46] For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
“What you have in John 7 is this heavenly Joseph who’s going to suffer the slings and sarcasm of His brethren and the attack of His brethren--their bitter sarcastic instruction and tirade against Him.
Genesis 37:2: [2] These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
"By the way, Joseph has two names. In Genesis 41:45 Pharoah gave him a name a sentence long: [45] And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.
"The key to that is what it means. It means ‘the revealer of secrets.’ You remember how Joseph did that. He was somebody who could shed light on the subject. That’s exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ does. He’s the Light. John 1. He said, ‘I’m the light of the world.’
"He says in John 7:7, ‘I testify of the world. I shed light on the world and when I do it, it demonstrates the world’s evil.’
"The verse in Luke 11:13, and this verse floors me because listen to the way He says it:
"Look how He says that: 'If you being evil give good gifts.' You see, He just assumes that people were evil. He didn’t try to make the case. He just said, ‘Since we all know you’re evil and you can give a good gift, why would you think a good God wouldn’t give good gifts?’ I mean, it’s one of those little back-handed kind of whaps and that’s why people don’t like the Bible and the preaching of the Cross.
"That’s why people don’t really like the Lord because He’s light and it demonstrates the works of darkness. The name Joseph means to add, and that’s what the Lord Jesus Christ does. He’s the Second Adam who put back what man’s lost.
"Who feeds the flock? A shepherd. Jesus said, ‘I’m the good shepherd.’ He’s dwelling with his brethren '
"There’s that thing in John 7:7. He’s not saying he’s a tale-bearer. Joseph just spoke the truth; just what Christ was doing over there. Christ said, ‘If I hadn’t come and done what nobody else could do, living a perfect, sinless, righteous life of no mistakes, everybody would have had an excuse, but I took away their excuse.’
"Now, Israel loved Joseph more than all his children. He’s beloved of the father. You remember the verses on that: ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.’
"John 3 says He gave him the spirit above all of his brethren; loved him more than all of his children. Because he was the son of his old age. He’s the old man’s boy. You remember Micah 5 when it says He’s from old, from everlasting?"
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