Category: Promise

The Gospel for the City in 39:1-41:57

Joseph in Egypt (39:1-41:57)

These chapters highlight the presence of God and His providence in the life of Joseph. Despite the injustice and betrayal of his brothers, Joseph experiences fresh grace which takes him through the trials of captivity and brings blessing to him and others in the midst of his troubles.

The Lord gives grace to Joseph to flee the seductions of Potiphar’s wife; the Lord protects him while unjustly imprisoned, and eventually exalts him to the second highest position in Egypt.

While the covenant family remains in the land of promise, they suffer internal atrocities as with Onan, Tamar, and Judah. On the other hand, Joseph, though in exile from the land, brings blessing to the nations. The Lord uses him to preserve Egypt from the devastation of famine and ultimately to preserve God’s people from the devastation of famine.

The name of the LORD is advanced and honored among the nations, as Joseph experiences the presence of the Lord in his hardship and remains faithful to his God.

What Joseph experienced in his hardship through the presence of the Lord, anticipated the future gift of the Spirit through whom the promise of Jesus to His disciples is fulfilled, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Unlike Joseph, who was banished to Egypt against His will, many believers choose to live in the urban centers of the world, believing that the Lord who preserved, protected, and prospered Joseph in Egypt will do the same for them. As Egypt was an unlikely place to play a significant role in the history of redemption, so urban centers may also appear to be unlikely places for the advance of the gospel.  

Yet, God’s grace defies human expectations. Suburban church planting often depends upon the availability of open space, plentiful resources, economic stability, homogeneous populations, etc to insure successful church plants. The demographics of urban church planting present a scenario, much like Joseph’s experience in Egypt, which calls for an amazing display of God’s grace which alone overturns all human expectation.

The Gospel for the City in Genesis in 37:2-38:30

Family disunion in Canaan (37:2-38:30)

These chapters demonstrate the far reach of sin even among those chosen to bring blessing to the nations. The family disharmony that temporarily interrupts the advance of God’s purposes is eventually reversed by the gracious work of God.

Joseph is the son favored by his father yet envied by his brothers. In their jealousy, they revert to a vicious act of casting their brother into a pit, selling him into slavery, then telling their father that he was killed by an animal.

As we read this story, we wonder how those who have been graciously chosen of God to bring blessing to the nations can at the same time be so ungracious within their own family. We read these chapters with sadness, yet with faith in the covenant God who remains faithful. Our hearts ache in seeing the brokenness of the covenant family, yet we wait in faith knowing that the Lord is working even through the tragedies and the sin of His people.

The absence of grace in the brothers of Joseph reminds us that apart from grace there would be no chosen people to fulfill God’s purposes of bringing the blessing of Abraham to the nations.

The betrayal, rejection, and discarding of Joseph anticipate the suffering of Jesus who in His rejection offers deliverance to all of those who will believe in Him.

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, (Joh 1:11-12 ESV)

Unfortunately, the church in cities has often reflected a disharmony similar to the family of Jacob. Often divided along racial and economic lines, the urban church fails to reach the nations around it because it is captured by its own jealousies and, consequently, is unattractive to those who look in from the outside. When the covenant family fails to display the grace which it has received in the gospel it loses its power to be a blessing to the nations.

 Cities need churches that reflect the grace of the gospel, which displays for us and in us the most passionate love, the deepest mercy, the most magnificent grace, the most underserving forgiveness. These are the churches that will bring the blessing of Abraham, i.e. the gospel, to the nations whom God is bringing to the urban centers of the world.