JOSEPH’S DREAMS

[Gen 37:3-11 KJV] 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. 4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. 5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 8 And his brethren said to him, Will you indeed reign over us? or shall you indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. 9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that you hast dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to you to the earth? 11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

After these things, Joseph was sent to look for his brethren in the field. When they saw him, they conspired to kill him. “Here comes that dreamer. Let’s kill him and cast him into some pit and say some animal has killed him. And we will see what will become of his dreams”.

The eleven stars represented his eleven brothers. The sun and moon, his father and mother. It is very important to note, that the supposition that the dreams meant Joseph would rule over his family, was not from Joseph, nor was it in his dreams. It was a false supposition. Here is an example of another false supposition, “And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed ) the son of Joseph…”. And another, “Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?”. Joseph, Mary’s husband, was not Jesus’ father. Joseph’s dreams made a distinction between his star and his brother’s stars, a difference between his sheaf and his brother’s sheafs. If you consider that Joseph, cast in a pit by his jealous brothers, became a figure of the resurrection…a figure of Christ…it becomes clear that the star that was bowed to, was not the star Joseph was as a son of Jacob. That star figuratively died in the pit, extinguished by his brothers who hated him. The star that his household would bow to was Christ. The sheaf that his household, to include father and mother would bow, to was Joseph’s word. His testimony was superior to the family vision of father to son blessing and inheriting real estate. Joseph was clearly a figure of Christ. In that he had a change of family identity, consider that later in Egypt, Joseph had two sons by his wife, the daughter of an Egyptian high priest. The first he named Manasseh (which means forgetting)… “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”. The second son he called Ephraim (which means fruitful)… “And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction”. Clearly, the fulfillment of Joseph’s dreams involved a change of family identity, a change effected in the resurrection. A change that was figurative in Joseph, but in Christ, factual. Jesus said to the house of Jacob, “…My Father, of whom you say that He is your God…”. And again He said to all who believe, when about to be raised and glorified, “Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God”. Jesus is telling us, that our father is no longer traced back to Adam. But by faith, we may have a new Father. His father. This truth was also worked out in the account of Joseph. For in blessing Joseph from his death bead, Jacob comprehended Joseph’s dreams (remember that it says, though angry with Joseph’s dream, Jacob “observed the saying”. It took Jacob a life time, but in the end, he acknowledged the God of Abraham and Isaac, to somehow be the father of Joseph:

“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:)[Even] by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my 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 brethren”.

In the New Testament , particularly in the book of Revelation, the stars, sun and moon of Joseph’s dreams are prophetically used again to signify Christ and the churches, and THE CHURCH which is his body. (For there is a difference).

In Abraham, many spiritual truths are given to us. One, is that Abraham was considered righteous because he believed God. The token of circumcision was given after, as a sign of the righteousness of faith…not a means to it. Another was given when Abraham and Sarah, through a lapse of faith and patience, used an accepted custom of the day, and Abraham produced a son by Sarah’s Egyptian slave, Hagar, who according to custom, was considered to be Sarah’s son and Abraham’s heir. But when the son of promise, the son of Sarah’s womb came along, a tremendous problem had been created. The Lord had not created it. Abraham and Sarah did. But the Lord was left to resolve it as equitably as possible. The son of bondage could not be heir with the son of promise. He could not even dwell in the same household. He was put out, but provided for. Isaac was the heir.

In the book of revelation, the seven lamp stands and the seven stars of them are drawn from Joseph’s dreams. But why seven, and not twelve? Even in the tabernacle of Moses, around which the tribes of Jacob camped, there was a lamp stand of seven lamps. Why not twelve? The answer lies in the spiritual truth, that a son of a slave can not be heir with a son of promise (and of faith).

I want to be absolutely clear, that these truths are SPIRITUAL. They have no real application to any specific nation or people…even the ones in whom the examples were worked out. Anyone, anywhere, regardless of family history and nationality can be an heir of Christ by faith. Jacob and sons are no more the Israel of God , than Joseph was Christ. Tremendous truths and examples were worked out in them, but we must understand who the examples were about. They were about Christ, who is the heir of all things. He will warmly receive the aboriginal bushman who comes to him, as much as he will the repentant Hebrew. Jesus will make absolutely no difference between one person or the other. None at all.

That being said, it is important to note that after the Lord said to Jacob, your name will no longer be Jacob (deceiver) but Israel (prince with God), alternately in the scripture, the names Jacob and Israel were used. In Jacob’s loins was one who would be born of a woman, who would become the heir of all things. Also in his loins were all his natural offspring to come. In the case of the stars, we see two houses prophetically depicted. One, the house of Jacob. The other , the house of Israel. Jacob had two wives, Rachel and Leah. Each wife came with a slave. Zilpah and Bilhah. All of the sons of Jacob were born to these women. Remember the SPIRITUAL truth, a son of promise and faith, can not be heir with a son of bondage.

The house of Jacob (the deceiver):

[Gen 37:2 KJV] 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.

The house of Israel (prince and heir with God):

[Rth 4:11-13 KJV] 11 And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem: 12 And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman. 13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bare a son.

So, in the camp of Israel about the tabernacle, there are seven stars associated with Rachel and Leah. There are four stars associated with Bilhah and Zilpah. The lamp stand depicts this truth. It consists of seven bowls, seven flames, seven “stars”. It was in the South, against the camp of Gad. Gad was a son of a slave woman and means “troop, assembly”. In the North, the other three sons of bond women, Dan, Asher and Naphtali. So, the house of Jacob (deception) consists of the four sons of bondage and has no representation in the lamp. Among the camp of Gad are two sons of free women. Reuben and Simeon. Their names mean “hear and see”. Everything one may correctly “see and hear” when assembled together, involved learning to eliminate the house of bondage. It will not involve Gad (the assembly). It will not involve Dan (judgment). It will not involve Asher (dainty breads ((Gen. 49)). It will not involve Naphtali ( good sounding words ((Gen. 49)).

Those four sons of bondage have a different arrangement in the book of Revelation. It is composed of them who do not mind spiritual things, but carnal. The picture is created by knowing that it is based upon the stars of Joseph’s dreams, which were twelve. A third of twelve is four.

[Rev 8:12 KJV] 12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

[Rev 12:4 KJV] 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

That portion of what Joseph saw that pertains to bondage, became cast down from the heavenly message, which is Christ. It became consumed with earthly things. Paul warned of it, calling it “another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel”. But it is not another. There is no other. It is the house of the deceiver and if made into a picture of four fallen stars and the one that they fell with, might be signified like this:

Now, of the lamp stand of Revelation, there are seven stars, seven lamps, depicting the house of Israel, the prince and heir. Simple math counts a total of eleven stars. Where is the twelfth? In the case of the tabernacle, Joseph’s star ( a figure of the resurrection) is not present. He was the one Jacob said was separate from his brethren and blessed. His two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, were given places in the camp, but were never stars of Joseph’s dreams. Joseph’s star would not be figuratively reunited with the camp, until the resurrection. For in Revelation 1,2 &3, stands one “like unto the Son of man” in the midst of the lamp stand, and in whose right hand are the stars (messengers) of the lamp stands.

The entire of Joseph’s dreams are fulfilled in Christ and in a people. If the resurrection, the bright and morning star is in you by faith, all that Joseph saw, is fulfilled in you. All things come down to Christ, whose body, whose church, whose assembly, is Spiritual. Not carnal. In fact, his body is not defined by anything less than The Spirit of God and of His Father. Anything that names the name of Jesus, and has not the Spirit of Christ, is the house of the deceiver. It is Antichrist, or, “another” Christ.

The book of Revelation concludes with the unveiling of a people who have no need of light of sun, moon or even candles. The Lord God almighty and the Lamb are their light. Thus is fulfilled Joseph’s dreams, Jacobs final understanding of them, and Jesus’ words, “I go to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. When this is true in me, all other sheaves bow. All other forms of family history and progeny fall.

I conclude with the declaration that the false and deceptive church will fail. It has been put from the heavenly message. The heavenly and true will be unveiled and revealed . It has never departed it’s origins. They that are with the Lamb, having followed Him in resurrection, are called and chosen and faithful. Sun, moon, stars, lamps, all such things will no longer give their light. Only Christ within. The whole creation groans and travails as in labor together, even until this time, awaiting and expecting the manifestation of the Sons of God.

Isaiah cried of these things (Knowing who the Israel of God is):

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at [thy] side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. Who [are] these [that] fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that [men] may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and [that] their kings [may be] brought. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, [those] nations shall be utterly wasted. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through [thee], I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD [am] thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also [shall be] all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.

God bless and keep his people. Christ IN YOU, the hope of glory…The resurrection and the rebirth, Christ, is the star of Joseph’s dreams. Our gathering together, spoken of by Isaiah is not and has not been geographic. It is in the Spirit, and our gathering together is to HIM.

“TO HIM THAT OVERCOMES WILL I GIVE THE BRIGHT AND THE MORNING STAR”