Genesis-133 – Encountering Time

Genesis 41:46–57

 

“Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout the whole land of Egypt. During the seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he laid up the grain from the fields around it. Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure. Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but throughout the land of Egypt there was food. When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.” When the famine was over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.” Amen.

 

The True Climax of Joseph's Story

As you have heard while reading the main text today, it is the moment when seven years of famine follow seven years of plenty. The Bible records that the famine was very severe worldwide. However, if we read the Bible focusing on the character of Joseph, the story of Joseph at the end of Genesis could, in fact, end here.

 

This is because Joseph has finally passed through all his hardships and is now the Prime Minister. There is no higher office for him to attain. Until a coup d'état overthrows Pharaoh, he is the second in command of the nation. A man who was a prisoner ascended to that position overnight, making him clearly a successful person, and it seems like the climax of the story.

 

Yet, what we read was Chapter 41. Genesis still has a whopping nine more chapters remaining, and all of it is the story of Joseph. At this point, we should consider this: When we usually read the Bible or share our testimonies, it's common to say, "I had such a hard time, but God blessed me, and now I live like this." However, from a biblical perspective, your testimony has not yet finished, nor have you told the whole story. The true climax of Joseph's story is not at this moment but comes later.

 

Joseph's Confession: A Life with God as the Subject

Today, the scene where Joseph names his sons appears. One is Manasseh, and the other is Ephraim. The name 'Manasseh' originates from the word "to forget" or "to abandon," and the name means "God has made me forget." That is, Joseph himself did not forget, but it means that God caused him to forget those things. The subject of this action is God. 'Ephraim' means "to be fruitful" or "to bear fruit," and this also carries the meaning that God made him fruitful. Here too, the subject is God.

 

Through these names, we can see how clearly Joseph's perspective on his life has changed. The Joseph we have seen until now was initially a very self-centered person. In our terms, he was immature, and indeed he was.

 

However, after enduring the hardship, he speaks now. At this moment when he has achieved everything—finally becoming Prime Minister and with all problems seemingly solved—he confesses, "God guided me and was with me." What do you think, everyone? Isn't that "Amen"? It would be the same for you. Looking back at your life, don't you confess, "I've had many ups and downs, and I suffered in this foreign country after immigrating to America, but now I see it was all God's grace"?

 

If so, there is no great difference between you and Joseph. So, why is Joseph's confession still insufficient, and why is this not the climax? Often in the Bible, the parts we tend to overlook give us very important keys, and this story is precisely one of them.

 

The Way to Cover the Past: Success and the "Fertilizer Narrative"

Joseph's current position is this: "I want to forget everything, and God has finally allowed me to forget those things. How? Because I have finally become the Prime Minister, so-called, and I have succeeded." I call this the way to cover the past with success. Since things are going well now, he interprets all past events centered around this success. "All those past things were given to me by God to prepare me for who I am today." So, I call this the method of covering the past with success, or the "fertilizer narrative." That is, his past served as the fertilizer that made him who he is today. It means that God gave him much suffering and difficulty, but ultimately gave it to him so he could succeed today. You may sense that I am slightly twisting the expression.

 

When I say "succeed" instead of "greatly blessed," you are probably thinking, "Ah, the pastor has some reservations." That is indeed the case. We can tell what kind of mindset Joseph truly harbored by looking at his actions during the seven years of plenty. Imagine you are Joseph, the eleventh son of a household, who somehow got sold. How hard would you have tried to go home for fourteen years? And you might have held onto the dream of going home. But when he was at the point of giving up everything, or when things were too difficult, he finally became Prime Minister and succeeded. What would you do? There is a four-character idiom for this: geumuihwanhyang (錦衣還鄕, returning home in silk robes), which means returning to one's hometown in glory after achieving success. For seven years, he traveled all over Egypt, but his home was only about a ten-day journey away.

 

As we saw in the Exodus story, the path to Canaan was actually only about ten days, but it took forty years. But now Joseph's home is only a ten-day journey away. Did he go or not? He did not go. Where was Joseph's heart? Joseph did not think, as we might, "Ah, suffering is over, happiness begins! I should forget the past and live diligently." Instead, he genuinely wanted to abandon the past. This is because he considered his past a failure. He was not accepted there. But now, in Egypt, he was accepted everywhere. Potiphar, the jailer, and even Pharaoh accepted him. What a complete difference. In his home, he dreamed and only received scorn, but when he came to Egypt, he interpreted dreams and became Prime Minister. Everyone praises him.

 

Without listing everything, Joseph was hated there, ostracized by his brothers, and nearly killed. In his mind, his past life was a life he absolutely did not want to return to. To him, the past was truly something he wanted to forget, something too shameful and dreadful to even think about. It was a past he wished would never repeat. It wasn't just a past he had passed through, making him think, "Now that everything is resolved and I'm Prime Minister, I should go greet my father." It's a different story now. In some ways, he felt he had been in tremendous failure, and now he had succeeded, and he was building a family in this land. Through his second son's name ('Ephraim'), he says, "God has made me fruitful in this land of my suffering," the place where he suffered hardship. He means God allowed him to bear fruit. It is not Canaan.

 

In Egypt, he had no desire whatsoever to return to Canaan. Although his loving parents were alive, and his cherished brother Benjamin—from whom he was separated in childhood—was there, he had no urge to go back. This means he wanted to erase that time and was completely satisfied with the present. Perhaps we primarily exhibit such behavior too. We try to just cover up the past and live diligently in the present, saying, "God allowed me to pass through those events and gave me blessings now, so let's be satisfied with this." You and I might be satisfied to some extent, but when it comes to God's touch and work in the life of an individual, such satisfaction seems to be absent. God gives Joseph an event, almost like a problem to solve, once again. To put it more clearly, Joseph does not want to face his past.

 

The Courage to Face the Past: Dreams Come True and Reality

He talks about the past, but he doesn't want to face it again. You could say he lacks the courage to face it. He doesn't want to return to his failure. Have you ever had such an experience? Are you successfully fulfilling the dreams you brought to America? Has your life flowed the way you wanted? Have you ever done everything you wanted? Have your plans for life ever gone exactly as planned? We either rationalize this as a common difficulty that everyone experiences, or we simply refuse to even think about the same mistakes and events we made in the past. We are unable to face that past. Joseph did not want to see his brothers, or even his parents. Yet, in Egypt, all his dreams were actually fulfilled on a much grander scale. How did he dream?

 

Ten sheaves of grain bowed down to his sheaf. But what happened now? When he drives out in his chariot, all the Egyptian people he meets along the way bow down. Beyond just bowing, countless people completely prostrate themselves whenever he walks or rides his chariot. What is the difference between receiving bows from ten people and receiving bows from hundreds of thousands? It must have been an incredible sight. Since Pharaoh commanded it, such things would have happened everywhere, and he would have experienced it. There was a time when he wore a richly ornamented coat, but that was just an expensive garment his father liked and bought him. But now, he wears fine linen, which signifies the highest official. It is a robe of authority. He might have had the approval of his father Jacob, but now Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, gives him his signet ring.

 

He was placed in a position where all the king's authority was transferred and delegated to him. He became royal family. He married the priest's daughter and belonged to a family in whom the king and all the people had an interest. Think about it. If there had been newspapers then, the daily exclusive would have been the story of Joseph. A nameless man, previously a prisoner whom no one knew—in modern terms, a nobody—suddenly had his name recorded as the Prime Minister. This happened in just one day. This was certainly front-page news. Regardless of how ancient the times were or how powerful the king was, this was completely unexpected. How many people must have been upset, and how many Egyptian officials must have cursed him? An unimaginable event took place. Therefore, he occupied the front page of the newspaper.

 

"Joseph, a prisoner confined to Potiphar's house, suddenly becomes Prime Minister!" Wouldn't thousands of reporters have flocked to the scene? It is an unimaginable event. Every move he made would have been an issue. Furthermore, he married the daughter of the priest in On, which means 'On' was the city that worshiped Ra (the Sun God), the most powerful god of Egypt. Marrying the priest's daughter was also a huge issue. We are so fond of Joseph that we see all of this as success, but in reality, there are many things to question. Nevertheless, Joseph was clearly successful.

 

The Confrontation God Desires

But as he was basking in success or living that life, God brought back his past. Pharaoh says, "Well, are you worried because you don't have enough grain and are looking for food? Don't come to me. Go to Joseph. And do whatever he tells you." It is quite strange for a king to act this way at the best possible moment to show favor to his people and elevate his own name. The very fact that this happened indicates that Joseph's position transcended our imagination. He was suddenly placed in the position of a savior who had to rescue many nations and people. Everyone would probably praise Joseph.

 

But the real reason why the story unfolds this way comes in the very next chapter. Whom does he meet? He meets his brothers in Chapter 42. What did he say before? He said he had forgotten. The most astonishing change in Joseph's view of his life was that God guided and upheld his life, and the conclusion was that "He made me forget." He said God made him forget, but what happened now? God brought his brothers before him. According to Joseph's worldview, who guided his brothers? God did. This is how he came to understand the event, but his complete understanding of his brothers and his revealing of himself do not occur until Chapter 45, not 42. This means Joseph was a "man who held grudges." He didn't let them off easy. He continued to give them a hard time.

 

They bow down when they meet the Prime Minister, but they do not recognize Joseph at all. Of course, they were separated when he was 17, so they might not recognize him, or perhaps he had a very imposing physique, or there could be other reasons. Joseph naturally recognized them, and as he watched them bow, he says this for the first time in his life in Egypt: "They did not recognize Joseph, but Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them." When they bowed, he finally remembered the dream. Earlier, he said God made him forget everything that happened in his father's house, but when his brothers appeared, what does he say? He finally says the dream he had is now remembered.

 

Do Not Cover Up with Success

If all these events happened by God's guidance, then what Joseph was thinking was clearly a misunderstanding of God's guidance. Who is right? God is right, of course. Therefore, Joseph must have been misunderstanding something. Clearly, Joseph wanted to forget everything, and the reason he wanted to forget was that he did not want to face the pain, and he wanted to cover it up with his success. God did not want us to confront our past in that way.

 

In our minds, we think, "Ah, let this pass, let time go by, and I'll forget it, and sometimes when things are hard, I want to understand it as God using those difficult things to create the person I am today." But in Joseph's life, God does not allow that.

 

While there are reasons we will explore further, what we are dealing with today is this: God does not use your past and the things you experienced as a mere foundation for what you are enjoying today. He does not use it to say, "Use all that to live well as a rich person today; live well and eat well today." Instead, He brings out that time and makes you face it. The people he did not want to meet, the things he did not want to confront, were brought right to him.

 

Do not think of this only as a problem with people. The moment you thought was a failure, the things that made you feel so ashamed and embarrassed that you wanted to run away, and the moment in your life when you thought, "Ah, this is the day my life is truly ruined," the times when you were so frustrated because things didn't go your way, and your past that is still festering in a corner of your heart because of those events—we try to shove all of that into a corner somehow. And we try to succeed now. Why? Because we want to compensate for it. Don't we feel that only by succeeding today can we justify the pain, the failure, and all the bad things in our past? So, we desperately want to say, "Those things happened, but look, I am a successful person today." Joseph felt the same way. God is saying, "Your current success and everything going well is not the answer."

 

We think that is the answer, and all our testimonies are filled with it. We all want to tell the story that "I had difficult and hard times in the past, but I believed in the Lord and worked hard, and today I am this person, not the person I was in the past." That is why when we talk about old times, we often talk about who was worse off. There is a competitive mentality in us about who suffered the most severe hardship.

 

But God does not want us to resolve the past we abandoned in that way. Regarding failure, pain, injustice, scars, and those times we wish to forget, the Lord says—to give you the conclusion first—"I redeemed that time too." It is not something simply covered up, passed by, or fading from memory, but He says, "I redeemed even that time." To make you new does not mean cutting out, forgetting, and abandoning your past, but that He redeemed even your past and made it new. You have gained eyes to see your entire life again, and you can reflect anew on what it means for your life to be in the hands of God.

 

The Danger of Covering Failure with Success

God certainly wants to tell you that the events of your past were not a curse, sin, or failure. I thought it was a failure, and I thought that sickness was the greatest hardship. There were many moments beyond my control that sometimes made me feel ashamed and startled, moments I never wanted to think about or return to, but God says to you, "No. I do not want you to throw that out of your body; I want you to give even that to me. I died for that, I sent Jesus for that, and I redeemed even that time." We must realize how big a difference this makes.

 

If we accept that God simply allows us to cover our failure with success, what will you do if you fail again in the future? Although there might be a chance to succeed again in the end, what if your life ends in failure? What if you are ruined in the end? No one wants this, but what if you lived well, but in the end—whether due to sickness, business, financial problems, or children's issues—it ultimately ended as a failure in your eyes? What will you do if you thought it would turn into something good, but it doesn't? If you have been explaining God's work as covering failure with success, how will you explain that event?

 

Paul's End and the Meaning of Salvation

Surely, that wouldn't happen, would it? I know a man who went through such a thing very well. I don't know his last name, but I know his first name: Paul. In the end, he was beheaded while preaching the Gospel (though this belongs to legend). They say his head rolled seven times. If you go to Rome, there are sites, such as churches built where his head supposedly rolled seven times. Although that is a legend, he was certainly martyred.

 

Now, did he live well and prosper until the end before being martyred? No. He was stripped and went hungry. Literally, he was cold, stripped, and hungry. The technical term is homeless; in our language, a beggar. His life ended that way. Did he fail? Was his life meaningless? If we think of Christianity and the believer's life as covering failure with success, isn't Paul the most unfortunate person? But we know very well that this is not the case.

 

This is because God did not look at our past to turn failure into success, correct frustration, or eliminate pain. Rather, because pain is bound to shake you, and because you have anxiety and cannot know "how I should live from now on," causing you to worry and be distressed—and the heart that fell into fear and despair—the Lord rescued that very heart.

 

Therefore, no matter where you are, no matter what your situation—whether in a high place or a low place, a place where you are constantly distressed, struggling, and hurting because of it, or even if you are healthy and living a healthier life than others—no matter the circumstance, God allows you to worship, as we praised today. And in the context of Joseph's story, it means knowing that your life is under God's blessing right where you are.

 

The Fruit of a Redeemed Life

The core issue Joseph should have cried out about is this: I am in God's hands. Can I cover the past because I succeeded? If you say that, many of the most highly respected missionaries—who deserve that respect—ended their lives in difficult and seemingly failed circumstances. Even a famous person like Hudson Taylor's end was different from what we consider success. Those we call the Father of Missions, like William Carey, did many great things in India, but did not taste what we consider success. So, was their life a failure? No.

 

The reason the Lord rescued them was that even when everyone disliked, opposed, mocked, and scorned them, the fact that God approved of them, the Lord was with them, and the Gospel of Christ kept them fervent was what sufficiently rescued them from all frustration, despair, pain, and the pit. That Gospel is the Gospel known to you, the Jesus you believe in, and the Christ you confess. It is not different at all.

 

The Ceramic Made of Clay

Everyone, we make ceramics, don't we? Many people like elaborate ceramics, and there are many wonderful ones. When you look at Joseon white porcelain or Goryeo celadon, you sometimes marvel, "How did they create that color, and how did they make such white porcelain?" When I was a student, I felt no emotion when I saw them on a field trip, but when I saw a piece of white and celadon porcelain placed in Boston, USA, I suddenly became a patriot and felt tears well up, perhaps because I saw it in a foreign country. I thought, "Wow, one such piece of pottery has made it all the way to this big land of America," and I felt my people were great.

 

But everyone, you all know what ceramics are made of, don't you? They are made of clay. It's the dirt that people walk on. They don't just use the dirt as it is; they first filter it through a sieve to make the clay, and then they start to knead it. As it is kneaded, it takes shape, and patterns are carved into it. Then it is dried. At that point, if I were the ceramic, I would think, "I am complete." Before that, they carved shapes with knives, added other kinds of earth for patterns or colors, and made it very beautiful. Then they dried it. Then the ceramic, which might want to say, "Ah, I am finally a finished ceramic. Lord, just call me. I will live according to your will," is immediately put into extreme heat.

 

The first time it is put in is for a bisque firing, which is only about 600 degrees Celsius. It is put in there. It's maddening. A crisis erupts. When we first go through this 'bisque firing' after believing in Jesus, everyone feels like their life is over. "I never knew the Lord would be like this. How could God give me such difficulties?" Everyone has the same reaction. We don't understand why the Lord is doing this.

 

The Desire to Erase the Past

After it comes out, it is then coated with glaze. Once the glaze is applied and it shines brightly, what do we think? "It's finally over! This is it!" We want to forget all the past because of this success, believing we endured those difficult moments to become this beautiful ceramic. But we cannot deny it. It is still the same clay. That clay went through all of that, and that clay endured that pain. And didn't that clay become the ceramic?

 

Then, for the second time, it goes back into intense heat. This time, it goes into temperatures over 1,200 degrees. That's when the ceramic is completed. Everyone, if that ceramic could speak, would it deny the moments when it was clay? Could it just say, "I am not clay. I am a vessel"? Can the ceramic stand without forgetting and cutting off the clay? It is an impossible concept. Yet, we try to think of our lives in that way.

 

How is covering your failure with success any different? Is the failing me not me? Is the broken me not me? We offer various rational excuses and justifications, but is the me that was shaken by them not me? But if you just cover it up, does all that filth disappear without a smell? It is bound to rot.

 

Everyone, please do not forget. You and I are absolutely not ceramics other than clay, but ceramics made of clay. Joseph clearly made a mistake in this regard. But when he named his sons, he truly did not know that God would use those same names to complete His history. This is what differentiates God from Joseph, and it is the amazing point that reveals what God's touch on our lives is like. The fruit Joseph envisioned, 'Ephraim,' was not the real one.

 

Joseph's Final Realization of Salvation

What he had imagined was the success-fruit in the land of Egypt, but God rather allowed him to confront his past, forgive them there, bring about their salvation within them, and save those who were bound to die through Joseph, who had tasted death first. That was the essence of this story. The real Ephraim was not Joseph's fruit but was realized within his brothers, within Israel, within the Exodus, within David, and within Jesus.

 

Everyone, that is why he speaks differently than before. He spoke as if thanking God for making him forget everything, and he never even visited his home. But do you know what he said when he died?

 

"Joseph said to his brothers, 'I am about to die, but God will surely come to your aid and take you up from this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then you must promise me on oath that you will carry my bones up from this place.'"

 

Isn't that a wonderful story? Isn't that an amazing story? He received salvation through Joseph. They were all about to die. They were about to die of hunger. But Joseph is telling them, "But now I know. I have finally met my past, and I understand why God does these things." Joseph finally confesses.

 

He thought the past was something to be discarded, forgotten, or covered, but instead, God accepted even his past within the Lord, and redeemed it, confirming that his life was not a scar but was under the loving hand of God, and that this was fulfilling God's holy and eternal will. Would there not be times in your life when you feel your life is insignificant, a failure, or frustrating? And you may be working hard to overcome it, or sometimes you may be spending this time simply by forgetting it.

 

The Redeemed Past, The Time He Established

Conversely, you might think, "I succeeded anyway." But even that was not the whole story. Instead, we realize that Christ came to redeem even the times when I was arrogant. In that moment I considered so miserable and failed, that shameful and embarrassing moment, the moment I thought was a failure and wanted to cover up, thinking, 'There was such a time in my life, I must get rid of it forever'—even in that moment, the Lord accepted me as I was and saved me.

 

So, what can we do? That time was also a time that God redeemed, and for me, it was not a moment of failure, but a moment of salvation. It was not a moment of frustration, but a time when God was with me, and it was not a time when everything collapsed, but a time when God established me. Your past is not failure and collapse.

 

The moment we recognize God's touch, the pain I am experiencing now is not simple pain. The collapse I am experiencing, even the failure I am experiencing, is not that failure. It is a failure where I met God, a time when I met God, a time of God's salvation.

 

Far More Abundantly Than We Ask or Think

Everyone, that is why Joseph made a confession even more astonishing than what he first declared. He simply named his sons Manasseh and Ephraim, saying, 'Now I live, I succeeded anyway,' but God said, "No. I redeemed all your life, I accepted all of you, and I love all your life. And I want you to know that life, to enjoy the joy of living in that life, and to rejoice in that life." This story of Him giving us better things is absolutely certain according to Paul's confession.

 

Paul says this in Ephesians 3

 

"I pray that all God's people will come to understand Christ's great love. I pray that you will truly understand how wide and deep and high his love is. Who can measure the love of Christ? But I pray that you will experience that love and be filled with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God."

 

The final verse is very important, as you know:

 

"God can do anything—you know! He can do much, much more than anything you can ask or even imagine."

 

Joseph confessed Manasseh and Ephraim according to his own thoughts. Yes, there was a commendable aspect. But God showed how his life, through Manasseh and Ephraim, would accomplish God's history. Everyone, the time is at hand. Even the scars and pain you carry, on the day you meet the Lord, we will realize what glory they accomplished. So, everyone, now enjoy that amazing truth.

 

Conclusion: Fill Yourself with the Precious Jesus

Furthermore, even if you think, "Ah, that's right. My past and my entire life were beautiful," I will not stop you. But please remember one thing. The reason the Lord is completing your beautiful life is not, as we think, to display it in a museum.

 

For a vessel to be worthy, it must be used. Rice must be placed in it, water must be placed in it, and wine must be placed in it. These things must be drunk and used by everyone. That is what makes the vessel beautiful. The joy of realizing and rejoicing that "I have been saved, this is God's grace"—do not stand on that display stand. Be caught in the hand of God, who is still calling you to be eaten and poured out to others. And if possible, no, I urge you with all my strength: You must fill your beautiful vessel with the precious Jesus.

 

Prayer

Lord, we have moments of failure. We remember the times in our lives when things did not go our way. We thought things would work out, but they didn't, and we may have been bound by that, or sometimes we were able to cover it up. There were moments of disappointment, moments we wanted to forget. And so, even today, we too often see ourselves not truly free from the past. We are people who live in the 'good old days.'

 

Lord, just as Joseph met his brothers again, please allow us to also meet those precious times, the times when you made my life most beautiful, the times that God redeemed. Not my moment of failure, but the time the Lord saved me; not my time of ruin, but the time I came to know Your grace. So, let my entire life be seen differently, let my future life be different, and let the path I must walk until the day I meet the Lord be different. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.