The Interpreter of Dreams

Over the years, through trials and challenges, betrayal and false accusations, the Eternal One was with this young man. As a testimony of the Eternal One, this young man became known as the interpreter of dreams. His name was Jospeh.  As you listen be blessed, empowered and transformed in Jesus name.

For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Also connect with us in discipleship, watch our videos, follow us on facebook or send us an email

Transcript

00:00 Intro music and voice over.

Welcome to jesus loves the world podcast. For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name! 

00:21 Speaker

In the days of old there was a young man who was one of 12 sons. He was favoured by his father above the others. This inequality within the household caused jealousy amongst his brothers. At the age of 17, this young man was given a dream by the Eternal One. This dream he shared with his brothers and father. 

Over the years, through trials and challenges, betrayal and false accusations, the Eternal one was with this young man. As a testimony of the Eternal One, this young man became known as the interpreter of dreams. His name was Jospeh. 

So let us go back in time. To the first recorded dream given to Joseph by the Eternal One.

Genesis 37:5-11 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.” And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.” So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind. 

The responses of both Joseph’s brothers and father reveals that they understood the dream.  That one day Joseph would have the power to be the ruler over them. However through their jealousy and hatred, Joseph’s brothers could not accept this dream given by the Eternal One. Sadly they could not accept that one day Joseph would rule over them. So they envied Joseph even more. 

Yet Joseph’s father Jacob kept the dream in his mind.

Time passed. 

Jospeh’s brothers plotted against him. They betrayed him and sold him into slavery. To cover up their betrayal, they smeared animal blood all over Joseph’s tunic. The same tunic that their father Jacob had given especially to Joseph. Upon seeing his son’s blood smeared tunic, Jacob their father was convinced that Joseph was dead. He went into severe mourning.

Meanwhile Joseph, being captive was taken down to Egypt. He was again sold, this time to the captain of the guard of the ruler of Egypt. The guard’s name was Potiphur.

Joseph, the interpreter of dreams, a witness of the Eternal One, was now a slave in a foreign land. Yet despite the circumstances, the Eternal One was with Joseph. 

As a witness of the Eternal one, Joseph served his master Potiphur. His master Potiphur, discerned and acknowledged that the Eternal One was with Joseph.

Time passed. 

Due to false accusations against him, Joseph was now put into prison. Let us read what happened next to the interpreter of dreams.

Genesis 39:21-23 But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.

It is interesting to note the keeper of the prison trusted Joseph, for the Eternal One was with Him. Again another person discerned the presence of the Eternal One was with Joseph. The presence of the Eternal One was not evident to the keeper of the prison by anything Joseph had done. Also it was certainly not by the circumstances that Joseph found himself in. For he was in prison. 

Nor was it even the gift of interpretation that the Eternal One had given Joseph, that revealed the presence of the Eternal One to the keeper of the jail. It was the Eternal One Himself who revealed this truth of His presence being with Joseph. 

Even in the place of criminals, the Eternal One was there. Again the Eternal One reveals Himself to others in a way they would understand. 

Then it came to pass that both the chief butler and chief baker of the Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, had offended Pharaoh. As a result they too were in prison. In one night both the chief butler and chief baker had a dream. So the next morning they were sad.

Joseph noticed their sadness, He asked, ‘Why do you look so sad today?’ They replied. ‘We each had a dream and there is no interpreter of it.’ Joseph again testifies of the Eternal One. This time in words. He states, ‘Do not interpretations belong to God. Tell them to me please.’ 

Both the chief butler and chief baker told Joseph their dream. The Eternal One gave Joseph the interpretation. So that they may know the one true God, the eternal, self-existing one.

Time passed.

After another 2 years of Joseph being in prison, Pharaoh the ruler of Egypt had a dream. His spirit was so troubled by the dream, he sent for all the magicians and wise me of Egypt. But there was no one who could interpret the dream.

Then it happened. The chief baker to the Pharaoh, who was no longer in prison, remembered a young Hebrew man who was the interpreter of dreams. He told Pharaoh. Joseph was sent for and presented to Pharaoh.

Let us pick up the story.

Genesis 41:15-16 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.” So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

Again Joseph testifies of the Eternal One. For He alone is the giver of the gift. He alone knows what will come to pass, for He alone is eternal.

Let us read Genesis 41:25. Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do:

Joseph had interpreted the dream of Pharaoh. Upon the interpretation Joseph also gave advice to Pharaoh. Pharaoh now testifies of the Eternal One. As he is the interpreter of dreams and the giver of such a gift. 

Genesis 41:37-41 So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”

Joseph was useful to Pharaoh. The Eternal One gave Joseph the gift of interpretation so that Pharaoh and the Egyptians may know the Eternal One. The one true God, who created the heavens and the earth and all things good. For He alone is worthy of worship. 

Everything that the Eternal One said would happen, came to pass. After years of plenty, there was a great famine in all the land. 10 of Joseph’s brothers travelled down to Egypt to purchase some grain. Not knowing that their brother Joseph was now governor over the land. 

Let us pick up the story, Genesis 42:6 Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth.

As was the custom the brothers bowed down to the governor of Egypt. The brothers did not recognise Joseph, nor did they know he was still alive. They bowed down before Joseph, just as the Eternal One said they would all those years ago.

Through a sequence of calamities and exchanges with the governor of Egypt, not knowing he was Joseph, the brothers finally turn their minds back to their past. When they had betrayed their brother Joseph and sold him into slavery. They spoke in their own language amongst themselves.

Let us listen in as recorded in Genesis 42:18-24 Then Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God: If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house; but you, go and carry grain for the famine of your houses. And bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so. Then they said to one another, “We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.” And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us.” But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. And he turned himself away from them and wept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

So Joseph’s brothers, except for Simeon returned to Canaan. Time passed. 

The famine in the land became even more severe. Again they were in need. They must go back to Egypt and purchase some more grain. Little did they know that they also must confront their past once again. 

So the brothers said to their father Jacob, if they are to go back to Egypt they must go with their youngest brother. As that is what Jospeh had commanded them to do  as governor of Egypt. So they went.

They entered the courts of the governor, still they did not know it was their brother Joseph. Again there is an exchange between them. yet again Joseph testifies and reveals the heart of the Eternal One.

Genesis 45:4-8 And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 50:18-20 Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

Again Jospeh the interpreter of dreams, testified of the Eternal One. That any gift the Eternal One gives is for the benefit of others.

The Eternal One was with Joseph in every circumstance of this life. In freedom and in slavery, in positions of oppression and in positions of power, in plenty and in famine, in betrayal and in the injustices of this world, the Eternal One is there. 

The Eternal One’s presence is not something that is earnt or deserved. He is not limited to our finite world of time. For He is eternal.

The Eternal One does not control circumstances nor does He interfere with the free will of humanity. Even when He knows the heart of humanity is of both good and evil. It is the Eternal One’s desire is to bring about good and to deliver us from evil and give salvation to all humanity. For that is His nature. 

19:40 Outro music and voice over. 

For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name!