This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to
seeing Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see
what’s happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his Gospel.

Let’s jump in.

The end of Genesis gets us
ready for the beginning of Exodus.

God told Abraham
back in chapter 15 that

his descendants would be
strangers in a foreign land for 400 years.

Now that time is coming.

It’s no wonder, then, that when God
appeared to Jacob on his way to Egypt,

God told him not to be afraid to go.

And the reason he didn’t
need to be afraid was that

God would bring them back
out of Egypt.

This is the promise repeated constantly
throughout these last chapters of Genesis.

Jacob makes Joseph promise him to
bury his body back in Canaan as a testament

to the fact that his
descendants won’t stay in Egypt.

Before dying, however, Jacob extends
a long series of blessings to his 12 sons.

This is the high point of all
the blessings and curses

pronounced through the fall, Cain,
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Now God’s promise is passing from one
individual, Jacob, to a whole nation - Israel.

But above all the blessings given, history
recounted, and promises made in these

closing chapters, one truth
stands out above all the rest.

After all his brothers did,
Joseph is not even mad.

He actually forgives them because he
knows something true about how God works.

Here is what he says: “You intended
to harm me, but God intended it for good”.

You intended harm.
God intended good.

This is the theme all
throughout Genesis.

God takes the sinfulness, deceit, trickery,
lust, depravity, and selfishness of humans,

and makes good out of them.

From Adam and Eve’s fall, to Jacob tricking
Isaac, to Judah sleeping with his daughter-in-law,

God has been bringing
good out of evil the whole way.

And he does it to accomplish a
purpose - the saving of many lives.

How can we not see the Gospel in this?

People sought to harm Jesus by imprisoning
him, forcing him through an illegitimate trial,

whipping him though he was
innocent, and murdering him on a cross.

They intended harm.
God intended good.

Through harming Jesus in
this way, God has accomplished

his ultimate purpose -
the saving of many lives.

Jesus is the promised seed of Adam
and Eve that crushes the head of the serpent.

Jesus is the descendant of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob who blesses all nations.

Jesus is the one who will bring us out of
this current Egypt we are in and take us to

the promised land of his presence forever.

I pray that the Holy Spirit would open your
eyes to see the God who keeps his promises

even through the evil
intentions of human hearts.

And that you see Jesus all throughout
Genesis as the promise keeper who takes

every evil intention and
brings about God’s ultimate good.