Genesis 40 Series, Part 19, Verses 11-14
Hello, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Tonight is study #19 in Genesis 40, and we will read Genesis 40:11-14:
And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days: Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:
So the three branches are three days, and we have been discussing what the three days represent in the Bible. We saw it has much to do with Christ’s demonstration of the atonement when He went to the cross in 33 A. D. Beginning in the garden on Thursday evening, He began to experience the wrath of God, which was the first night, and then Friday and Saturday night were three nights. And then early Sunday, the third day, He arose.
But when Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” He had a deeper spiritual meaning in view regarding the temple (or house) He built consisting of the elect, or all those He would save. We will rise in the third day. We went to Hosea 6, and we will read that again. It says in Hosea 6:1-2:
Come, and let us return unto JEHOVAH: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up…
If you have been following along you will remember that in our last study we went to Luke 13:32:
Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.
Cures and healings identify with salvation, and He said He would do cures “today and tomorrow,” and then He would be perfected. And in Hosea 6:2 it said, “After two days will he revive us,” so that is in agreement with “today and tomorrow” when He would do cures. Cures has to do with salvation. Notice that it said in Hosea 6:1: “for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.” This is language of salvation. Again, after two days He will revive us, or after “today and tomorrow.” Then after those two days all those to be saved will have been saved. Can you see how that fits together?
After those two days, it goes on to say in Hosea 6:2:
… After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
Christ said, “…and I will raise him up at the last day.” The last day is “the third day.” The first two days are salvation, and the third day there will be this raising up, the perfection. Christ said in Luke 13:32: “I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.” That comes at the conclusion of Judgment Day as Christ raises us up on the literal last day of the prolonged judgment period.
Notice that it says in Hosea 6:2: “…in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Of course we will live for evermore in the new heaven and new earth. Then it goes on to say Hosea 6:3:
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know JEHOVAH: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
Once we understand that “today and tomorrow” is salvation, then it begins to “click” in our minds, or at least it did for me by God’s grace, and my eyes were opened. Again, I have to thank that caller who called the Open Forum and he was looking at something that did not sound right, and he pointed out a couple of things that got me thinking, “Yes, it all has to fit – it all has to harmonize.” And here in Hosea 6 we see what “today and tomorrow” identify with, and that is the “early” rain and the Latter Rain. There were two outpourings of the Holy Spirit. So “today” would fit with the church age when the Lord poured out the Holy Spirit to save the “firstfruits.” Then came the end of the church age in 1988, and then came a spiritual famine of a literal 2,300 days when virtually no one was being saved. Then in September 1994, came the Latter Rain, or “tomorrow,” the second day. Again, “today” was the early rain, and “tomorrow” was the Latter Rain when the Holy Spirit was poured out once again in the second part of the Great Tribulation, and the Lord Jesus was again “doing cures.”
So you see it all fits together, but then we have to answer another question that comes up when we go to Luke 12, which we read in our last study. It says in Luke 12:28:
If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
The clothing of the grass refers back to the lily in Luke 12:27:
Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
The clothing of the lily, or the grass, which identifies with men, is being likened to Christ, and the elect are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. And that took place in salvation over the church age within the churches and congregations, primarily. So it says in verse 28, “If then God so clothe the grass,” it is not just referring to grass, and I think it will help us to see this if we go to 1Peter 1:24:
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
So men are as grass. But those like the lily of the grass are arrayed with this glorious apparel that even Solomon was not clothed with, and it points to the elect and the spiritual covering of Christ’s righteousness as salvation was going on within the congregations. For instance, we know from Revelation 8 that God takes a spiritual definition of the “third part,” which in many other places points to the elect. And yet at the time of the end in Revelation 8, He applies the same designation to the corporate church. Likewise, when it says, “If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?”, the casting of the grass that is clothed into the oven is pointing to the judgment on the corporate church – those who merely professed to have the covering of Christ’s righteousness in salvation. They are cast into the oven “tomorrow,” and once we get that understanding, we can understand that “today” Christ did cures, and there was salvation during the church age; and tomorrow Christ did cures, a picture of salvation outside the churches during the Latter Rain. But that was also when the oven comes into view, which identifies with God’s judgment and wrath being poured out upon the churches and congregations of the world.
The word “oven” in the Old Testament is Strong’s #8574, and it is translated as “furnace” in Isaiah 31:8-9:
Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited. And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith JEHOVAH, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
His furnace, or oven, is in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem would be a type and figure of the corporate church. The Lord was a consuming fire, inflaming the city of the churches and congregations. They are on fire as the oven.
We can also read Ezekiel 15 to show God’s anger against Judah of old, another a type and figure of the New Testament churches, which can be likened to fire in Ezekiel 15:6-8:
Therefore thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am JEHOVAH, when I set my face against them. And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord JEHOVAH.
Here, the word “know” is used in an experiential way. Jerusalem is a furnace or an oven once God brings judgment: Again, Christ said, “I do cures to day and to morrow,” so there must be salvation taking place. In order to harmonize the scriptures, we have to find the answer. Being cast into an oven is certainly speaking of God’s judgment, and also it says in the parallel verse in Matthew 6:30:
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
You see, there is salvation today and tomorrow, and the third day He will be perfected – He will raise us up. After two days He will revive us, and in the same context of early and Latter Rain, pointing to salvation.
Let us turn to Exodus 19, and I think we will be able to understand much better what is going on in Exodus 19:10:
And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
Remember the great multitude spoken of in Revelation 7:9:
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Then it says in Revelation 7:13-14:
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
The great multitude washed their robes (clothes), the fine white linen that is the righteousness of saints. It was God’s salvation performed during the Great Tribulation, which occurred simultaneously with judgment beginning at the house of God, and during that time there was no salvation in the churches. The churches were an “oven,” experiencing the wrath of God, but outside the churches many were being saved; they were being sanctified; they were “washing their clothes.” That is what Exodus 19:10 is telling us: “And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes.” And then it goes on to say in Exodus 19:11:
And be ready against the third day…
Are you ready? Remember that Mr. Camping came out years ago with a book called, “Are you Ready?” The Bible says in Amos 4:12: “…prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.” How does one get ready? We read in Revelation 19:7-8:
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Where does one get the fine linen, the righteousness of saints? We have to have our clothes washed in the blood of Lamb. It is the blood of Christ that covers our sins, and it provides the spiritual clothing so that God does not see our sins.
Again, we are to be ready against the third day. The “third day” was May 21, 2011, the end of the Great Tribulation and the end of the Latter Rain. All that were to be revived had been revived: “After two days he will revive us…”
There are two groups of people referred to in Revelation 20:4-5:
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
“The rest of the dead” are the great multitude saved out of Great Tribulation: “After two days he will revive us…” We have all been revived, or resurrected, in our souls after “today and tomorrow,” the early rain and the Latter Rain. Both groups are now washed and are wearing the fine white linen, the righteous of saints.
Again, it says in Exodus 19:11:
And be ready against the third day: for the third day JEHOVAH will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.
The third day the Lord comes down. It is the second coming of Christ and Judgment Day, the final judgment of mankind in this world, and it comes on the third day, as it were. He will come down upon mount Sinai, representing the law, the Bible. It is the revelation of the righteous judgment of God coming forth from the scriptures, or “coming in the clouds,” as we read in Matthew 24. And the “clouds” represent the commandments of God in numerous scriptures. In Deuteronomy 33 we see a couple of incredible verses in Deuteronomy 33. It says in Deuteronomy 33:2:
And he said, JEHOVAH came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.
The Bible is “on fire” because it is bringing judgment upon the world. Then it goes on to say in Deuteronomy 33:3:
Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.
It is like when Mary sat at the feet of Jesus. It is quite unusual to see that ten thousands of saints are coming with Christ, who is JEHOVAH God, to carry out the final judgment as we sit down at His feet. Here we are in the prolonged Judgment Day period, and we are going to the Bible, and that is equivalent to sitting at the feet of Christ.
Let us finish reading Exodus 19:11. Again, it says in Exodus 19:11-13:
…for the third day JEHOVAH will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.
(The word “trumpet” is the word for “jubile.”) They shall come up to the mount, as it were. Jesus said He would raise us up in the last day, the “third day.” We are to be ready against the “third day.” And the jubile sounds long, as the jubile period started in 1994, and it sounds long for many years. And Jesus was born in a jubile year in 7 B. C. and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit during the entire church age which He initiated was the fulfilment of that jubile. The captives were being delivered in that jubile, of which Jesus was the very essence.
So what would be the fulfilment of the second jubile 40 jubiles later from the Jubile of Christ’s birth in 7 B. C.? It is perfection. He will raise us up, and “the third day I shall be perfected.” It is the perfection of the temple, or body of Christ, and of Christ Himself in His magnificent salvation program.
And we are in the third day. We have harmony with Exodus 19, Hosea 6, Luke 12, Luke 13, and John 2, and so forth. We now have much harmony with these scriptures.