Ep 61: The Indelible Joy of Scripture Insights into Joseph's Journey and Prophecies Fulfilled

"As we unravel Joseph's journey, have you ever thought about how his trials reflect the challenges we face in our own lives? Today we explore parallels between Joseph and Jesus... themes of atonement and redemption."

Embark on a transformative odyssey with Pastor Teddy—Fred David Kenney Jr.—as he narrates the monumental biblical saga of Joseph, from the vivid tapestry of his coat to his awe-inspiring rise in Egypt. Through the wealth of Genesis 37, we uncover the echoes of God's hand in Joseph's story, a tale punctuated by dreams, envy, and a dramatic descent into slavery that ultimately unfolds into a narrative of triumph. We promise that by the end of our time together, you'll witness the illumination of divine providence in the unlikeliest of places—a journey that mirrors our own paths through life's valleys and peaks.

This episode weaves a profound connection between Joseph's trials and the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ, drawing from the depths of scripture in Genesis 39, Ephesians, and Philippians. With Pastor Teddy at the helm, we delve into the embodiment of humility and obedience shared between these two figures, culminating in the fulfillment of ancient prophecies from Isaiah 53. Prepare to be enraptured by the themes of atonement, redemption, and the indelible joy that springs from understanding the complexities of these sacred texts. As we close, we pray you'll be left with a renewed sense of spiritual invigoration, eagerly awaiting the next episode's revelations.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Lord, you know.

Speaker 2: 0:01

You listen to the place award. The radio is the best. Jesus, you're the only. Thing.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Hello and welcome to plays on word radio, where we discuss, analyze, work and play on the word of God. Thank you for joining us on this excursion. Today let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenny Jr, the founder of plays on word theater, as he does a deep dive into the word of God.

Speaker 2: 1:19

Yes, sir, amen, amen. Thank you very much. Josh Taylor and Katie Kenny. Welcome to you all. Listening to plays on word radio. Yeah, we're going to dive in to the word, but before we do, we continue on with where we are located, which is the Genesis Joe play. I want to bring you up to speed, so we're going to play a clip from the most recent Genesis Joe play that we did and we're going to bring you up to speed. So you know right where we are located in the scripture, and for those of you that don't know, it starts in Genesis 37. And so here we go. Check it out the large of all that I see. Not a hand nor foot Moves in all the land without my word. I am equal to Pharaoh himself and I am Lord over all the land of Egypt.

Speaker 2: 2:36

Now, it hasn't always been like that, though. Back when I was 17, I lived off in the land of Canaan with my brothers. There were 12 of us, and their mothers and my father and four of my brothers got into something that they should not have been doing the sons of Bill and Zilpa and my father asked me about it. All I did was tell him the truth. They asked me. I mean, my father asked me. I just told my father what happened. When my brothers found out about it, they were furious with me. When the rest of my brothers found out, they wouldn't even say a kind word to me. Now, looking back at it, it was kind of obvious that my father loved me more than my other brothers. He made a richly ornamented robe that the foreman had the long sleeves. It's the kind of robe that the foreman's out in the field would wear, the men giving the orders and men in charge. And when my brothers saw this they hated me. Now, looking back at it, it probably wasn't the smartest thing for me to do.

Speaker 2: 3:59

But I had this dream and when I woke up I told my brothers. I said, guys, listen to this dream that I just had. I dreamt that we were out and we were binding our sheaves of grain and all of a sudden my sheave. It rose up and your sheaves all came and bowed down on the ground before mine. Whoa, they didn't like that too much, they said to me. They said you think you're going to rain over us, you think you are going to actually rule us. Then I had another dream and when I woke up, this time I even told my father. I said Listen to this dream that I had. I dreamt that the sun and the moon and eleven stars all came and bowed down on the ground before me, my father. He said to me what is this dream you had? Am I, your brothers and their mothers? We're going to come and bow down on the ground before you. He never forgot that, though. He never forgot that. He always kept that in mind.

Speaker 2: 5:15

So my brothers were shepherds and my brothers went to shepherd our flocks at a place called Shechem we live in Hebron, but a place called Shechem, so north and my father, who loved me very much, sent me to my brothers and I remember I was walking around and I finally got to Shechem and nobody's here. And this guy comes up to me. He basically comes out of nowhere and he says what are you doing wandering around this field? I said I'm looking for my brothers. They're supposed to be shepherding our flocks here. Ruben, simeon, levi, judah, dan, naftali, god, asher, issaacur, zebulun. They're supposed to be shepherding our flocks here. And the guy said I know who you're talking about. I heard one of them say let's go to Dothan, which is even farther north. So I thanked him and I headed up north.

Speaker 2: 6:14

What I did not know was that my brothers saw me before I saw them. They were shepherding the flocks, they were pastoring. You know what pastors do. Here comes that dreamer let's kill him. We can throw his body in one of these cisterns and say, like a wild animal or something, tore him to pieces. Let's kill him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams.

Speaker 2: 6:51

Now my brother, ruben, he was the oldest. He was in hot water with my father for a totally different reason I don't have time to go into with you tonight, but he wanted to rescue me and Ruben said whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, throw the boy and the cistern, but don't shed any blood. So I finally got up to them and I said hey guys, you know, papa he sent me to check to see how things are going and they grabbed me and they ripped off the richly ornamented robe that my father made for me and they took me and they threw me into the cistern. And I remember falling backwards, looking right at Judah, looking, our eyes connected, and I'm falling backwards and I'm boom, and I hit the ground in the cistern my brothers. They went to eat some food after that, as they were eating.

Speaker 2: 7:50

My brother Judah, said how is it gonna benefit us if we kill our brother? I mean, after all, he is our own flesh and blood. Let's sell him. Here come the Ishmaelites and Midianites, the traitors. Let's sell him. So I'm down in the cistern and all of a sudden a rope comes down and I grabbed the rope and I tied around me and they pulled me up and oh, oh, oh, remind me never to play you guys in poker. I thought you're serious, whoa, whoa. And they grabbed me and they took me and they and they, they, they balanced me and I was screaming at the top of my lungs. I'm like what are you doing? This? Don't do this, what are you doing? And they took me and they sold me for a handful of coins, for the price of a sleeve. I was screaming at the top of my lungs. I looked right at Judah, our eyes connected and they sold me to the Ishmaelites and Midian Ishmaelite and Midian were sons of my great-grandfather, abraham and they took me away.

Speaker 2: 9:12

Now, my brother Ruben, he wasn't there. I don't know where he was when this went down, but he wasn't there. And when Ruben came back, the first thing he did was look in the cistern. Where's the boy? Where's the? Where's the boy at? What am I gonna do now? And they took an innocent animal from the flock and they killed it. And as the blood poured out of that animal, they took the richly ornamented robe that my father had made for me and they dipped it in the blood and they went all the way back to my father. And when they got back to my father they said Father, is this your son, joseph? Examine it. And my father looked at it and he said what? This is my son's. He must have been torn to pieces by some kind of wild animal. And he mourned for me for a long time and they tried to comfort him and he would not be comforted. He said that he would go to his grave. He could not be comforted.

Speaker 2: 10:52

Meanwhile, I was brought down into Egypt. Now, keep in mind, I'm only 17 years old, I don't know the language, I don't know anyone here, I know nothing. And I was brought down to Egypt and I was sold again to a man who worked directly for Pharaoh. His name was Potiphar. And I remember thinking to myself when I was sold as a slave. I remember thinking my brothers, they're really taking this kind of far, but they're gonna cook it here. Yeah, they'll cook it. And the hours turned into days, and the days they turned into weeks, and the weeks they turned into years. And I'm a slave. I don't know the language, I don't know anything. But God, elohim, god, the God of my father, he was with me when I was a slave in Egypt. He had the man Potiphar put me in charge of something and everything that I touched was blessed and prospered by God. And I remember thinking to myself what is this man doing? What is this man doing? What is this man doing? What is this man doing? What are you doing? Had very little water in the kitchen for fresh spirals, hypocrisy, mannsell, or hostility, or wealthy people who are the ancestors of God? Then I look up to God, I begin to do these things to myself and I realize I don't like Jaja Jama between us. I know all these people.

Speaker 2: 12:54

I am back in Genesis 39, where we're going to pick up, and the story returns back to the story of Joseph and it's as if it rewinds because a lot of time has happened. In Genesis 38, judah he has three kids. He gets married, he has three kids, and then his three sons grow up, and his first two sons die. They're put to death by God and his youngest son was supposed to be given to the wife and he was not. And the wife named Tamar. She ends up disguising herself and Judah thinks she's a prostitute. So he sleeps with her, gets her pregnant. Then, when three months later pass, it's told to him that she's pregnant and he's all indignant and self-righteous and he says bring her out so she can be burned. And as she's being brought out, she has Judah's signet and cord from his staff with her, which was given as a pledge when he slept with her. And she says I'm pregnant by the man who owns these. See if you recognize them? Dun, dun, dun. And he's like oh man, she's more righteous than I was. I wouldn't give her to my son Shella, and he did not. He didn't sleep with her again, but she ended up having twins sons, perez and Zera. Then the story ends there. It doesn't end there, but it's put on hold.

Speaker 2: 14:22

So all that period of time it's debated by some scholars exactly how things unfolded, and we'll get to that later, when Jacob and everybody comes down into Egypt. I'll dive into the timeline a little bit, but it's 22 year period. Joseph is 17 years old and he's 39 when everybody comes down. So 22 years pass. All right, follow me on the math there. So now we're picking back up when he's 17 years old again, rewinding the tape for Joseph's life. And he's 17 years old again back at right after he's been sold, and picks up the story with him being sold into Egypt. So let's look at Genesis 39 now.

Speaker 2: 15:10

Verse one says Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh he was on Pharaoh's payroll, the captain of the guard in Egyptian had bought him from the Ishmaelites who brought him down there. And we mentioned this if you listened in the play. We mentioned this in the play that Ishmael and Midian the Ishmaelites and Midianites Joseph was sold to them. Was it a mix? One time they're called the Midianites, one time they're called the Ishmaelites, doesn't really matter. But the interesting thing is, if you look in Genesis 16, you get the story of Ishmael Now Joseph's great grandfather was Abraham and you get the story of Ishmael and the Ishmaelites come from Ishmael. So this is Kin, and Midian is also a son of Abraham by his second wife, ketura, if you go to Genesis 25. The Midianites also come from Abraham. So the Ishmaelites and Midianites, same blood of Abraham they buy Joseph and they take him down and sell him. What a mess.

Speaker 2: 16:16

The other thing that sticks out is that he goes down in the scripture. It talks about him going down to Egypt. Well, if you look at Joseph's life, he was thrown down into the pit. He goes down to Egypt, then, while he's in Egypt, he gets thrown down into the dungeon, and that is for me it's reminiscent of the story of Jonah, which will happen. Let's see. When is the story of Jonah going to happen? At least 800, 900, probably 1,000 years after this.

Speaker 2: 16:52

And the story of Jonah is fascinating. From chapter one, if you look at the story of Jonah, the Lord tells him that he needs to go to Nineveh and preach so that they could repent. He's like I'm out of here, man, I can't do that, I'm getting out of Dodge. So he goes down to Joppa and then from Joppa he goes down to the boat and then, while he's in the boat, he goes down into the boat to sleep while the storm is kicking. Then the men throw him overboard down into the water and then a fish snatches him up and takes him down into the belly of the fish down into the depths of the sea. Then in chapter two he raises his eyes towards the temple, towards God, finally, and that's when things turn around for him and it is a picture and type of life from death or resurrection, and he is once again brought back to the surface and Jesus Himself references the sign of Jonah.

Speaker 2: 17:55

And, speaking of Jesus, he himself came down from heaven. If you read Ephesians 4-9, listen to this. It says, in saying he ascended what does it mean? But that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth. He who descended is also the one who ascended far above the heavens that he might fill all things. Now, a lot of people look at this passage as Jesus when he descended into death and even the Apostles Creed talks about he descended into the grave, into some translation or some version, say into Hades or into hell. Now, jesus did not need to go to hell in any kind of way or to suffer because he said on the cross it is finished, it is finished, done, no more needed to be done. The work was done on the cross and the stamp and seal sign of approval was the resurrection from the dead.

Speaker 2: 18:55

But some people look at this passage in Ephesians 4-9, that he descended to the lower earthly regions. I don't really look at it that way. I look at it that from the starting position that he was in heaven in the first place, he said in John 17,. In the high priestly prayer, father, glorify me with the glory we had before the foundation of the world. What the glory I shared with you. What, wait, what? His starting position is totally different than ours, right? Therefore, he descended, and there's some artwork. I have a candle that has some old Christian or a first church, first century artwork on it that has the gospel. It talks about him who's in heaven, coming down, lived, died and then resurrected and then going back up. So that this whole boy I'm getting off the rails here, man, this whole him coming down.

Speaker 2: 19:48

Jesus came down, and not only in Ephesians. In Philippians, though, he was in the form of God. He did not count. Equality with God a thing to be? Wow, that's just heavy man, can you park on that for a second? He didn't count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Who? Who is equal with God? Who's equal to God? There is not one human being that's ever been equal with God, except for one. But he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. That is Philippians 2, verse 6 through 8. He came down to us. What else did he do? I have to park on this. This is extremely important. The scripture is about him. Listen to Isaiah 53.

Speaker 2: 20:40

700 years before Jesus was born, who has believed what he has heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, as one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him.

Speaker 2: 21:16

Stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and by his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Speaker 2: 21:43

He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, that's him on the cross. He died, definitely died, strictened for the transgression of my people, and they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence. He was innocent and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief.

Speaker 2: 22:24

When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. Oh, the resurrection here. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied for the joy set before him. He endured the cross.

Speaker 2: 22:46

Back to Isaiah, verse 11. But by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted. Righteous, that's me and you and he shall bear their iniquities. We have been set free. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death and was numbered with the transgressors, that we are the transgressors and he was numbered with us. Remember I said he made himself nothing right. He became like us Verse 12, let me finish. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53,. He came down to us, he became one of us so that he could identify and he would be able to indeed redeem us by taking our iniquity and our sin from us.

Speaker 2: 23:57

Are you guys following me on this? Hallelujah, the scripture is awesome. If it does not make you, if it doesn't make your heart leap a little bit what I just read, then you just need to pray and say Lord, please fill me with your spirit and show me, because the Holy spirit of God inspired this text, breathed this text, and he resonates with the text and the word of God that goes forth. It shall accomplish all that he sends it out to do. I know I can hear some amens happening right now across the internet. Right now I can feel it amen, well, amen, well, amen, amen, amen. Yo, oh, my goodness, that's all the time we got for today. We're gonna have to continue this. You know, I like I start preaching. It's over Until next Friday and we will continue this, believe me, lord willing. May the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Hallelujah.

Speaker 1: 25:21

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