Tehillah Generation Chapel
Daily Manna | Tuesday, August 14, 2018 | Topic: Conscience 97
Scripture: And when they saw Joseph afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him. Genesis 37:18
Note: Both Joseph and Jesus were stripped of their coats at the point of death. Joseph was stripped of his iconic coat of many colours moments before he was thrown into the waterless and foodless pit, while his brothers sat down to eat the food that he had laboured to bring along with him. Both Joseph and Jesus had willingly walked into their assignments without coercion or the need for motivation. They were both self motivated in their desire to fulfill their fathers’ assignments.
While awaiting his fate in the pit, the enforced nakedness of Joseph, without food and water, cast a forlorn figure of a man who was not different from any death row victim. Joseph was as expected, confronted with anxiety with all the unpredictable emotional outbursts running through his body as a result of a rise in blood pressure, the increased uncertainties that could cause dryness in his mouth. Any young man carrying the weight of such thoughts as early death would witness a revulsion in his body and a disturbance of his electrolyte balance. It was cruel emotional torture on display.
Yet, what Joseph didn’t know was that the experience that he went through on behalf of his brothers would be replicated in the trial and torture of Jesus Christ prior to his excruciating death on the cross of Calvary. Jesus was stripped of His garments before going to the cross. The cross and the pit both symbolised death. They were staging areas for eventually passing on. The stripping of Jesus of His garments (John 19:23) meant that He had to face the public humiliation of death on the cross naked, with His mum, Mary, and the rest of the public all present to watch Him die a humiliating death.
Just as Joseph’s brothers were feasting merrily while he languished in the pit, the soldiers who crucified Jesus were gleefully parting His garments into four parts, each one taking a piece. As regards His seamless robe, the soldiers decided to gamble over it, at a time that Jesus was going through an unbearable suffering on the cross on behalf of humanity. Both Jesus and Joseph didn’t need to go through all the suffering they went through. Willingness in obedience to the Father’s assignment put them in the situation they found themselves.
Food for thought: The demands on obedience to God’s assignments are fraught with inescapable dangers, but God is faithful.
Declaration: Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Heb 13:5
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
