Mon.’s Devo - From Death to Life

Read: Genesis 42:18-43:34; Matthew 13:47-14:12; Psalm 18:16-36; Proverbs 4:7-10
Joseph brought his brothers out of prison after three years just as Jesus was brought out of Sheol after three days. Three days which was a short time in comparison to the time they had caused Joseph to be in prison. Finally, Joseph kept Simeon who was the next oldest as a guarantee they would return. (Rueben, the oldest wasn’t as guilty since he had begged them not to harm Joseph.)
We are to fellowship in the sufferings of Jesus, but we will never go through anything as hard as what he went through. We will never carry the sin of the whole world on us or the bitter hatred of Satan through his people. Their three days in jail was a token of what Joseph had endured those thirteen years.
The other brothers returned to their father and told him what had happened. They also found that their money had been returned to them in their sacks. (It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.) This put the fear of God in their hearts.
When they ran out of grain, they convinced their father to let them take Benjamin with them. He finally agreed and gave them money and gifts to give the manager, Joseph.
When they arrived in Egypt, Joseph questioned them again. He was overwhelmed when he saw Benjamin, but he composed himself and invited them to his house to eat. He made sure their donkeys were taken care of and fed and then sat them with the first born in the seat of honor and Benjamin beside him just like the Hebrews sat at home. This astonished the brothers. Also, Benjamin was given five times as much as his brothers.
In this story, the brothers stand for the Jews who crucified Jesus, Benjamin stands for the Jews who were not at the crucifixion but
will one day receive the grace of Jesus when their eyes are opened. He was fed five times as much because five is the number of grace and grace is the way we are saved.
In Matthew, Jesus explained that God throws out his grace upon the earth and gathers in many. Some are good and some are bad but he will do the separating in the end. That is not out job. He also told a short parable about the owner of the house who brings out of his storage both new things and old. God has so many new things he wants to do on the earth, but he also wants us to keep the old treasures.
Many could not receive the “new” Jesus because they knew Jesus as a boy. This caused them to have unbelief and kept Jesus from being able to operate in miracles and power there.
Herod had heard stories of Jesus and all her was doing and was haunted with the thought that maybe John the Baptist had risen from the dead. Herod had imprisoned John for rebuking him for marrying his brother’s wife, Herodias. While in prison, Herodias had devised a plan to trick her husband into killing John. The plan had worked and John had been beheaded.
John had completed his mission of preparing the way for Jesus to walk on. He got his promotion early.
Lord, help us to do what we were called to do on the earth because nothing else matters.