The Fulfilling of Passover, Pt. 7

Ronald Weinland

May 7, 2022

We’re going to continue in the series entitled, The Fulfilling of Passover, with this being Part 7.

Again, I am so in awe about this process. We’re kind of doing it in a reverse fashion in the sense of looking at the fact that we understand we all need Passover in our life. Christ came to fulfill it but it’s still being fulfilled. Because that’s the whole purpose of why he went through what he did, is so that we can have that in our life. We keep it year by year, the Passover. We need the Passover in our life, this process of being able to be forgiven.

The things that we focused on concerning the inheritance and sacrifice, these are major themes that God has developed through time, through scripture, and that He’s revealed more and more through time. To me, they’re awesomely exciting, especially when you come to understand how much God has planned, prepared, designed, whatever you want to say here as far as a process, in His plan for His family and through all time as far as mankind is concerned, for 7,100 years, that it becomes mind-boggling. How could you describe all this?

That’s why we’re zeroing in on some of these things, to understand that God’s not just dealing with things as they happen, like we used to think. Because we tended to think that way because we were young in spirit, we were growing and developing, whether it be individually when we first come into the Church or as a Church because of having to have truth restored to us through a period of Philadelphia, and then what happened in Laodicea, and then again now, what’s happened in PKG.

It's an awesome process to see how God has worked in our lives, and to be in awe of that, to be in awe of God. The more we understand these things the more at peace you can be because your life is in God’s hands. There is incredible comfort in that, there really is, peace, rest. And why would we want anything else?

To understand the great power of Almighty God, and especially with His people and His concern for His people, and that His focus has always been on His people. His focus has not been about the world, as a whole. Their time is coming. There are different things He’s worked with through time, governments, people in power, out of power, various things that God is molding as far as the world is concerned. But over all it’s about the Church or those called, as happened in the first four thousand years.

So, in Part 6 we ended in the story of Joseph being put in prison after Potiphar’s wife had falsely accused him of trying to lie with her. And once in prison what an incredible thing that God gave him, incredible favor at that time, awesome favor to where the head over that prison put him in charge to deal with various situations. Basically, whatever Joseph said, that’s the way it was to be, and to not do so was not a good thing, obviously. So, he was put over the affairs of all others in the prison.

We’re going to read the last two verses of that account and then continue on with the story.

Genesis 39:22—So the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; and whatever they did there, it was his doing. In other words, it was his decision to do what needed to be done.

The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under his authority, because the Eternal was with him, with Joseph. And whatever he did, the Eternal made it prosper, made it successful. Incredible!

I think of people’s lives in the Church. So often if we don’t grasp that on whatever plane, whatever we’re living in life that God is there, and He uses situations to mold and fashion us, to help us, to give us favor at different times. Sometimes to let us go through things so we can learn what we need to learn, where there needs to be correction in our life that we can only learn by experience, by experiencing a situation.

Then just like I’ve always said, one of the greatest teaching things I’ve ever had throughout the ministry has been what not to do, that doesn’t go along with what God says this is the way to live, and especially within the ministry. So, different things are there to teach us.

So again, what an incredible thing to understand these things were by design. Everything was by design. Joseph, what happened to him, how he was taken on down into Egypt, accident? Or did God work out meticulously so every phase of the event, brought various people into the picture when it came time to fulfill it, but they were there.

And the timeliness of it, it wasn’t a spur of the moment thing because God had incredible things to use the example of Egypt all about, of coming out of Egypt eventually. But He also, there’s much to learn about going into Egypt, because God designed that as well. And so, this He designed. His going into prison He designed. The dreams of the two prisoners there He had designed. He didn’t just decide that after Joseph was in prison.

These aren’t last minute, “Oh, I think I’m going to do this,” you know, like we do when something happens in a moment. God plans ahead in ways that we can’t even begin to grasp, but we can strive to appreciate, and come to know the power of Almighty God.

I think of how it was predetermined long ago that Israel (Israel!), and if we understand all that, Jacob on a physical plane, but Israel and what that means, should be in Egypt. What an incredible thing to understand. Egypt. God made mankind to dwell in Egypt, to dwell in bondage from the moment we’re born; it begins because of our human nature, because of our selfishness. God made us that way. He made a people go into bondage, go into Egypt, slavery.

All those things we’re to learn from, that God designed it all. Incredible. To understand it could be no other way as far as we’re concerned. We couldn’t become a part of the God Family except we’re made exactly like this to experience the mind that did what it did, that turned against God, that first rebelled against God, the first apostasy, the first being of sin, if you will. To know that this is how we had to be made. We have to experience this; we have to live this so we can come to loathe it and hate it.

The longer I’ve been in the Church, the longer I’ve been in this body with God’s spirit the more I hate my human nature. It’s despicable! We are so selfish by nature! That’s the kind of mind we have to develop so that we hate it, we loathe it.

You want to keep part of that and take it into God’s Kingdom? You don’t! If you understand what we’re like as selfish human beings you come to loathe it and hate it. Now, the only thing that we sometimes become good at is finding, seeing it in others. And we judge others, “Look at what they’re doing. They shouldn’t do it that way. They should do it this way,” because of why? “Because I know the best way. I know the better way.”

You think, no, that’s when you need to look into a gigantic mirror, and it needs to be a 360° mirror so that any way you turn you have to see yourself. That’s the way it needs to be spiritually because we tend to excuse or excuse away what we do or how we think. And yet it’s just sick, it really is, human nature.

What we are blessed with is to have God’s spirit to see it and to fight against it and to change it, to gradually, slowly but surely, begin to be transformed so that we see things through a different sight, seeing on a spiritual plane.

Genesis 40:1—Now, it came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended the lord, the ruler of Egypt. Don’t know what they did, doesn’t say. It just said they messed up. Then Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler, and the chief baker, so he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. And the captain of the guard put them under the charge of Joseph, and he took care of them. And they were in custody for a while.

Then the butler and the baker of the ruler of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream, both of them. So, was this a last-minute thing? Did this just happen that all of a sudden these are the two who went into prison? Or did God have an incredible planned out thing He was going to make sure came to pass exactly the way He planned it long ago? That’s what we have to come to understand, and to see those things. These are not last-minute situations.

I remember sitting in a class (and I’ve said this many of times, but it’s a good example), in Ambassador College, and different ones were going around talking about Adam and Eve and if they hadn’t sinned and if they’d done things a little bit differently, and when does sin begin, and all these different kinds of things. Later on, just some of that didn’t make sense. Why go through this scenario of things? It’s like, as soon as they sin the attitude was God hitting Himself on the forehead and saying, “Now what am I going to do? Look what they have done. They sinned, My creation!”

No, the answer is that God made us exactly that way to be in Egypt, to sin, for that purpose. That’s what human nature, selfishness, produces, it produces sin. It’s part of God’s plan. God doesn’t make us sin, He just made us this way and we have choices to make. Then finally when we’re called and He shows us what we’re like and shows us what we should be doing, shows us our nature and begins to reveal Himself, then we have choices to make. That’s what it’s all about, making choices.

Then the butler and the baker of the ruler of Egypt who were confined to the prison, had a dream, both of them, each man’s dream in one night, and each man’s dream with it’s own interpretation. Now, Joseph came into them in the morning and looked at them and saw that they were sad. So he asked Pharaoh’s officers, who were with him in the custody of the lord’s house saying, Why do you look so sad today? So, they said to him, We each have had a dream and there is no one to interpret.

So whatever it was had to be so powerful in their minds and their thinking and what they saw that it shook them up mightily because they didn’t know what it was all about.

So Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God? It’s amazing here, he’s being molded and fashioned, he’s having opportunities to see various things, to be tried in various things to see what he’s going to do. He’s been passing tests, but he’s been going through them because it’s developing something in him that if he didn’t go through them it wouldn’t be developed like it needs to be for the job that God has planned for him, for whatever it is in His Family, which is going to be great!

So Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God? Describe them to me. Then the chief butler told the dream to Joseph and said to him, Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. Then Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, so I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. Then Joseph said to him, This is the interpretation.

Now, this is something we’ve candidly have to come to understand and learn through a process of time within in the Church, how God works, leads, guides, and directs us. Often there is this concept in the world that, as an example with prophets or various things, of things they have to see or in vision. God worked in different ways in different times with them.

But the primary thing that God has always done – communicates directly within the mind. This is something we’re to learn through time and it’s something we should be very convicted of concerning our calling. When God first began to draw us and began to give us truth, and our ability to see it, and our ability to understand how it fits within a frame or a plan, that’s something that God has go give on a spiritual plane. You can’t figure that out.

Not only that, but you can’t even continue to hold on to it if you make the choices to turn from God. Because everyone who has been a part of God’s Church who has gone, the tens of thousands who are out there scattered all over the place right now, they’ve lost it. All they have is a type of thing that they’ve held on to on a very physical plane, become exceedingly protestant in their thinking. They can’t help that because they’re dealing with something on a physical plane.

Things about the Sabbath or Holy Days that they had knowledge of, knowing Christmas and Easter are wrong and making choices in those things that are clear in their mind. But to see God’s plan in it, to see God’s spirit in it anymore, to understand what’s being done? They don’t have those things anymore. They’re gone. They’re asleep. Well, they can’t help it now. Many were given opportunities to deal with it, to address it early on. Choices, choices, choices.

The only reason any of us who came through this who were a part of that, the only reason it happened is because God drew us out of it. Just like the first calling you received, He had to pluck us out of it, “like a firebrand in the fire,” He had to take us out of the fire. If He hadn’t done that we would be out there lost without understanding, without an ability to see anymore what’s taking place in the world and what God’s doing.

Now, there are some who are still holding on to physical things, again, that Europe is going to do. Because of what? Because of what they heard from Herbert Armstrong. Does that mean they’re in God’s Church, they have God’s spirit? No. They have certain things they’ve held on to. They keep the Passover at the right time, the Days of Unleavened Bread at the right time; they still have some of those things, obviously.

Because a person does that out there or even in PKG does not mean they’re in the Church of God. It’s by your own relationship with your God in PKG, where God is working, that we have that ability, and that’s a reality.

So then Joseph said to him, This is the interpretation. How did he know? God gave it to him. He had the kind of confidence to know that God was giving it to him. He knew! How can you know? Just as much as what I’ve said over and over and over again, the first time I heard about the Sabbath, Passover, the Holy Days, the migrations of the people, the physical nation of Israel, that we were Manasseh. I saw it; I believed it. How could I do that? Of my own knowledge, my own intellect? Not at all. Because it’s not about intellect, it’s about God communicating it to your mind.

He just gives it to you and all of a sudden it’s like you see something physically for the first time. You look at something you’ve never seen before and you’re in awe of something, a spectacular scene, whatever it might be? Much more with God and God’s spirit.

Now, within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand according to the former matter when you were his butler. Now remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me, to make mention of me to Pharoah, and get me out of this house. “So, you’ve been blessed. God has given you the ability to know something here; please remember this.” …for indeed, I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews: and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into prison.

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good… Because they weren’t real keen on sharing these at the beginning because of what happened. He wasn’t, and that’s why he waited, because of what he saw and what he felt. …saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, I also, in my dream, and there were three white baskets on my head: and in the uppermost basket there was of kinds of baked good for Pharaoh; and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head. So Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation.

I mean, isn’t that amazing? You have something like this and God’s going to tell what it means. Because there is no other way to know what this means. What can that mean? Baskets on the head, what the birds did? Why was the first one good? What made it good?

So Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation. The three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you. What an incredible thing to have to tell someone this is what this is saying, and this is what’s going to happen to you in three days.

Now, it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and the chief baker among the servants. In other words, not took it off, in this case, but it’s a matter of placing them up in front again. This is where they are, to take a look at them amongst all the servants here. So, he’s making a point.

Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again. Made it know to everyone. Everyone is gathered there. And he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph but forgot him.

So again here, when it talks about when “he lifted up the head of the chief butler and the chief baker among the servants,” it’s not about their literal heads. Maybe I said that here a moment ago, about the head, but when it says, “lift up your head again,” it doesn’t mean taking it off. In this case here it’s about, again, a position being shown in front of everybody, to lift you up before them. But what’s going to happen is not what is going to happen to the butler. In this case here, you’re going to be hung on a tree.

Verse 21—Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again…and he placed the cup of Pharaoh’s hand…and hanged the chief baker.

Genesis 41:1—Then it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river. So, now Joseph has been in prison for all that time. Two had the dreams, he passed them along, these others went back out there, two more years go by nothing happens.

Suddenly, there came up out of the river seven cows. So, this is Pharaoh’s dream now. …fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. Then behold, seven other cows came after them out of the river, looking horrible, of only skin and bones; and they stood by the other cows on the bank of the river. And the horrible looking cows of only skin and bones devoured the seven fine looking and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.

He slept and dreamed a second time; and, suddenly, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good. Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads. So Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it was a dream.

Now, it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled. So again, this type of dream is so real to them, as it was to the baker and the butler, that what happened here was very unsettling for him. He hadn’t had anything experienced like this in the past. Here he was having one. Because it was so powerful in his thinking, in his mind, of what he’d gone through, what he’d seen.

Now it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all of the wise men. So, when you don’t know something here and you feel that there are others out there that have various kinds of training and so forth (and their beliefs in thinking that they had), it’s like he’s wanting someone to tell him what this is all about because it was so troubling to him. Then Pharaoh told them his dreams; but no one could interpret them for Pharaoh.

Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying, Now I am reminded of my failure. For when Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, we each had a dream in one night, both he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream.

Now, there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard, so we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us, each man he interpreted according to his own dream. Then it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. I was restored to my office, and you hanged him, so again here, speaking of the baker.

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon: and he shaved, changing his clothes, and came to Pharaoh. So, to come before Pharaoh he was to be cleaned up like this, went through the process, and brought before him in his presence.

Then 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 again here, what an incredible thing that took place. Not last-minute things – things that God had already planned out long ago, to do it exactly this way. To have two that were going to find disfavor, be thrown into prison with Joseph, because it was God’s purpose that Joseph be in prison for a time. All this mapped out.

If you’ve ever seen huge drawings of something that’s diagrammed out, especially when it comes to buildings, and the greater they are the bigger they are, the more meticulous the things are, every specification in it. It’s awesome!

But to think about God? There’s a lot of work that goes into that kind of thing, details that have to be there so it can be done the right way. God does all this, has done these things in ways that are difficult for our minds to grasp.

He said, 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 me. Good lesson to learn. Awesome lesson to learn. Something to keep so deeply in mind that no matter what happens to us in life, we being in God’s Church, never, never, never, never take anything to yourself. For the moment you do you’re going to suffer for it. God will see to it. Truly! Because these things are not minor. When God calls us, opens up our minds, and we begin to take something to ourselves?

I think of the past and different ones who were so enamored with things that they were doing and things that they believed that they knew and understood. Sometimes we even have that within God’s Church today, where some think that they understand or know certain things that aren’t yet known. Be so careful of that kind of thinking. Be so very careful. Because I have seen so many people go by the wayside because of that. Because it’s not understanding how God works; it’s taking things to oneself that is not a smart thing to do.

I think of individuals who have wanted to give various sermons and sermonettes, or even after they have they have taken in the glory of it. Because there is a respect or a glory that God gives for what He does, but it’s God, it comes from God. Whatever God gives us, if anyone takes that to themselves, they’re going to suffer for it, they really are. I’ve seen this over and over and over again in God’s Church, where people get lifted up by how important they are. Don’t ever fall into that trap. Please understand, it is a giant trap. Because once it closes very few ever escape. That’s my experience within the Church.

So Joseph answered Pharaoh, It is not in me. But God will give Pharaoh an answer with completeness. Then Pharaoh told Joseph…

He was willing to make a stand on what he believed. We have to do this in God’s Church! This is how we are to live, to take a stand regardless of what anybody else thinks. Not to go out preaching it and sometimes doing things we shouldn’t be doing because it’s like somebody asks a little question or even if they don’t, we want to give them, “Well, this is what we do in the Church!” or “What is this baked in?”

You’re in a restaurant with a whole bunch of people and it’s “What is this? What? Is this…? What is it you use? Is it Crisco? Is it lard? Is it…? Does any of this come from pork?” And get all like this is a great religious thing and this is what we’re all about. No, it isn’t.

That’s why I hate when I see people in a restaurant and they’re all holding hands and they’re all praying. It’s just like, “Oh, please don’t do that kind of thing. Don’t you know what you’re doing even on a physical plane in the world?” But people don’t. Because it’s about self. It’s about lifting themselves up that they’re important and religious.

There are things that we make mistakes in sometimes in God’s Church, and these are some of them. Over and over and over again these things have happened. So, we have to be very careful that we don’t push what we think others need in their life. God will take care of it.

It’s like right now. I’m going through a bit of a dilemma because it’s like I told God this morning, “I don’t know. What am I supposed to do? I don’t have anyone that can tell me what I’m supposed to do; this is all Yours.” What am I supposed to do with the book? I’ve tried to get a publicist – thought we had a real good one. They haven’t come back. I wonder why. I’m pretty sure I know why. Because they got on the internet, and they don’t have to read very far. It’s like, “This guy is a nutcase. 2012 and prison…?” So, something has to happen that God’s going to have to do.

So if a door isn’t open really wide I’m not going to go through it because I’m not going to push something that’s not supposed to be pushed. The funds we have, I honestly don’t know what to do with them because we’re not doing like Herbert Armstrong did. He had a commission to get things out, to get The Plain Truth out, to get magazines out, to get TV out, to get radio out and do it in a very powerful way and use every dime to do it. We don’t have that.

That’s not what our job is. We’re not working in the same way because God’s working in the end-time in a different manner than what He was working in Philadelphia. He’s working something different. I know what much of that is but there are things I don’t know. So, what do we do; what do I do? It’s a little worse than the Red Sea, as far as I’m concerned.

But I’m not worrying about it because this is the work of God and at some point God will make it clear. It may be for a short blurb of time. It doesn’t have to be for a long time that certain things go out. Maybe it’s not meant to, maybe it’s just for the Church. I think it’s for more than that, but I don’t know for what.

So, when it’s its proper time if we’re to do something you know what, God’s going to do it. It’s going to be His work. That’s what He makes it very clear. It’s His work. That’s where you rest and have peace. Because if you push something and do it your way it’s very same thing as here. Taking something to oneself is not a smart thing.

So anyway, God will give Pharoah an answer with completeness. Then Pharoah told Joseph, Behold, in my dream I stood on the bank of the river… So then Pharaoh told of the healthy and the sick cow in the first dream, and the second of the stalks of grain and what happened there. So, he went through that, and we’re not going back through that again.

Verse 25—Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dreams of Pharaoh are one. God has shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do, what He, God, is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good heads are seven years, as the dreams are one. God had to put that in his mind to know exactly what it was all about because there is no other way to know something like that.

Now, the seven cows of only skin and bones, and horrible looking, which came up after them then, are seven years. And the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are seven years of famine. This thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh, God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. Indeed, seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt. Please, again, understand this is all mapped out by God long before. Because you know what? Israel, Jacob has to come down into Egypt. The family has to be in Egypt. It’s part of God’s plan.

But after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. And the famine will deplete the land. So, the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. And the dream was repeated twice to Pharaoh because the thing is established by God and God will shortly bring it to pass. Now, therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt.

That wasn’t from him. This is the same thing as the interpretation of the dream. This is something he’s given and telling Pharaoh that’s from God. Let Pharaoh do this and let him appoint officers over the land to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty. And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of the Pharaoh. And let them keep food in the cities.

Verse 36—Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land may not perish during the famine.

So, the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh. He was moved by it. Why? Because of God. Because of what God was doing in communicating to his mind as well. God is the one who communicated to the guard, the one who was over the prison, to put him in charge, to put Joseph in charge. It’s God who put it in the mind of the other to find, to have a liking to, a favor to what he was saying here. God has that power.

He has power to change individuals, to change their thinking toward someone, to communicate to them so that they will change their approach to someone in God’s Church. I’ve seen that happen. Sometimes we can go through a lot and sometimes things can spin around on a dime if God so chooses to mold and fashion and teach someone something unique by that experience. Because God doesn’t work with us all the same ways.

So, the advice was good in the eyes of Pharoah, and in the eyes of all his servants. Then Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find such as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God? So, he was moved to say this. Not that he understood it, but he saw something unique here. He didn’t believe in the God of the Hebrews. But the God that Joseph was talking about, and because this was revealed, he was willing to look at this because there was something here that he didn’t receive any other way. In other words, “one who can know from God?”

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, In as much as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. He already had his mind made up because it was in his mind so that’s why he said what he did. 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.

Now, that’s just mind-boggling—it really is—that God brought all this to pass.

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, Look, I have set you over the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring of his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck, which had to do with authority and rule in Pharaoh’s house under Pharaoh. Then he had him ride in the second chariot. So, there were two that were kind of known throughout the land. It’s kind of like Air Force Two. (I’m sorry.)

So, here is the second chariot he’s going to have, and people are going to know it when he’s coming around, because this is a known chariot. And they cried out before him, Bow the knee. I mean, mind-boggling, dumbfounding. How can you describe such a thing?

See, that’s why I know I don’t have to worry about the book or what to do about it or what’s going to happen here at the end-time. And if all of you don’t grasp and comprehend how close we can be to things happening at any moment, any time, please be on guard. Be alert. Because it’s so easy to let down and take our eyes off focus in what we should be doing and how we should be doing it. Strive to be stirred up in spirit, meaning we’re drawing closer to God, seeking His help.

I mean, of all times! Thunders are absolutely deafening. They really are. So incredibly powerful out there. I think of one—I just have to share this with you—when I was listening to some of the news in Europe. We just don’t get anything like it over here, we really don’t. I generally listen to about four of the different ones that are over there, France 24, BBC, Al Jazeera—you got to know where they’re coming from, what their thinking is—Deutsche [Welle (DW)] (I can’t think of the name of that now). Anyway, there are several different ones out there, but each has a different perspective of something that they show.

But one of them was talking about Germany and the fact that Germany turned around on a dime to do something that was unthinkable, to send the kind of armor, weapons, tanks that they’re sending into Ukraine. That the person making the comment, he said, I can’t remember if he said “a week ago,” or “a few days ago,” he said, basically, “This was unthinkable, that Germany would do such a thing.” And now they’re doing it.

I mean, something that Europeans would have thought was never ever, ever going to happen, that Germany would do such a thing to help Ukraine, and now they’re doing it. I’ll tell you what, I don’t know if you’ve seen pictures of some of those tanks, they make ours look pretty sick. They have always been known, always in war after war, going way, way back in time, way back, of being very innovative in war and war machines, selling weapons, establishing weapons that are new and different and powerful for war. They have that reputation.

I looked at some of those things and thought, man, this is so real for today because some of the things running around out there coming over from Russia and even China, it’s nothing compared to what they have. It really isn’t.

But anyway, the point being is the attitude and the minds of the German people—well not just Germany but Germany is going to be a pusher on this before it’s over with. Of all those different nations around there, it’s changing and it’s like it’s being revved up right now, fast forward. Things are happening in an accelerated pace. And candidly, to me in so many ways, that’s encouraging because it means it’s coming faster, it’s happening faster, things are coming to our doorstep more quickly.

Verse 44—Pharaoh also said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. In other words, your permission, whatever you say, that’s what goes. And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-paaneah; in the Egyptian tongue meaning “a savior of the world.” …and he gave him a wife, Asenath, the daughter of Poti-pherah. Now, he was a priest. They have the terms they use showing their power within. Just like the term Pharoah and ruler. And so here is like, Potiphar, his was in a certain area of service within, under Pharaoh, the priests had a certain area of service. They were the ones at the top in the sense of a kind of priesthood for the Egyptians and for Pharaoh.

So, this is a big thing, the priest of On, which was, basically, “The priest of the sun god Ra,” and he was the big cheese. So, it’s his daughter. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

Now, this country is here because of that. The blessings that were given to Manasseh are because of that relationship, because of that marriage. Ephraim: Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, all the way around. You go down around to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand. Incredible! All Ephraim because of this. Two sons that are going to be born out of this marriage. Dumbfounding.

Incredible the patience and the time of God to fulfill promises, to make certain countries great. “The greatest company of nations the world had ever seen,” to a point in time, and then one more to rise up from it, which was Manasseh. God gave this country, the incredible wealth that’s here. Staggering.

People who talk about God, some of that came through in the sense of this God and what came through this big church, spread out into all these different groups that split up over time. And yet the honor about God, “In God We Trust,” and certain things started out with certain ideals and ideas in the beginning on a physical plane but haven’t remained true to it to the point we are where we are today. Where things are so upside down, so messed up on a physical plane in thinking and where people are. It makes you sick inside, it really does.

And surely, not wanting to hear God in the first place. The last seventy years has proven that. Because when God comes along and starts saying there is no Easter, there is no Christmas, who wants to hear that? That’s when the truth begins to come out. This is what this nation is really like. It’s the way Israel has always been.

They don’t choose God. They don’t want God. They want to have certain things, that the names that they can use and certain things that they can hold onto to feel good about themselves as long as they can do it their way. That’s just human nature, isn’t it? They can’t help it because it’s just human nature. But it’s a sick human nature and it’s a very sick thing that’s been done toward God and toward His Son. So much more that could be said about some of that, but needless to say we’re toward the end of it now.

So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. Joseph was thirty years old. Incredible. I think of the disciples oftentimes, when Christ began to work with the disciples, those who became apostles after certain training that was given, and then God’s spirit on the day of Pentecost and how these young people were used in the way that they were, that God prepared certain things in their minds, to be able to step into a position to serve in a very powerful way. Something that God had designed and gave them the power and ability to do for a purpose. Awesome!

So, nothing is a matter of age with God’s people. We all have a purpose and God is the one who places us where we are. If we yield ourselves to that process what’s beyond is beyond our imagination and comprehension.

Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

Hence the importance of understanding some of the things he experienced at a very young age too. Being in prison for a few years kind of helped. So he had a better mind about himself, saw certain things that God gave to him while he was there, was encouraged by those things. When he came out, even more encouraged. Then when Pharaoh, and God gave him what He gave to Pharaoh, and then Pharaoh doing what he did, incredible things being molded and fashioned in his mind that were unique to him.

We’re all unique in what God is developing in us, and we’re not all the same. But we’re all part of a family in God’s design. Incredible to understand those things.

So Joseph went from the presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land of Egypt. Now, in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth abundantly, so he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt and laid up the food in the cities. He laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them. Joseph gathered large quantities of grain, as the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting; for it was immeasurable. Too much of a job.

Then to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, which is the term meaning “making forgetful,” for God had made me forget all my trouble in all my father’s house. What he had gone through and why he was in Egypt. The name of the second he called Ephraim, which means “fruitfulness,” for God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

So, names have incredible meaning that God has given throughout time and how things are used the way they are. Awesome!

Then the seven years of plenty which were in the land of Egypt ended. And the seven years of famine began to come as Joseph had said. The famine was in all the lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph, and whatever he says to you, do.

The famine was over all the face of the earth. In other words, all that entire region surrounding. Not only in Egypt but also surrounding it. And Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians; and the famine became severe in the land of Egypt. So all the countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the lands.

Genesis 42:1—Now, when Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, Why do you look at one another? It’s like, “What are you doing here?” They need to do something. “Do something!” And he said, Indeed, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt: go down there and buy for us so that we may live and not die.

So, Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. Again, all going back to another dream and God planning all this out long, long before. No last-minute things being planned here. Everything about Israel, everything that God was going to do with them as a nation, in the exact timing of even how long they would be down there and the time they would come out, everything exact.

But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, Unless some calamity come upon him. So, he being the youngest in this case, and the baby of the family, he didn’t want anything to happen to him. He had already lost his son Joseph, so to him he didn’t want to lose Benjamin. The others were quite a bit older.

So, the sons of Israel went to buy among those who had gone there, in other words, others who were going there as well. So, people were going into Egypt. For famine was in the land of Canaan. Now, Joseph was governor over the land, and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. So, they didn’t just get it free, they had to actually pay for it.

Then Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. I mean, that just about sends chills up and down your spine. It really does. To think that here was a dream, what he told his family and how much his brothers hated him because of the dreams. Joseph, a young whippersnapper, you know, kind of reveling in that at that time. That’s why he had to go through some humbling. He went through a humbling when he was tossed into a hole, given to some people, traders, to take down into Egypt, and then began to receive some recognition and was lifted up and had to be put back down again. Had to go back into prison or go into prison. All these things of being raised up and humbled. We go through these things in our lives. We go through different times but it’s all a process whereby we can learn. It truly is. Incredible.

Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke roughly, in other words, hard or harsh to them, if you will. Kind of abruptly and very distrusting. Not nice and kind at all. Then he said to them, Where do you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.

Then Joseph remembered the dreams. Incredible and how this just floods into him as he’s going through this. Because it wasn’t something that he was thinking about, but now here they are, they bowed down to him, and now they have to answer to him. All that he remembered as a young man floods into his mind. Incredibly emotional for him.

And he said to them, You are spies. Because he remembered very well how they treated him, too. You have come to see the nakedness of the land, in other words, the weaknesses within the land. And they answered him, No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. We are all one man’s sons. We are honest and your servants are not spies. Well, he kind of knew that they weren’t so honest.

But he said to them, No, but you have come down to see the nakedness of the land. They answered, Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.

Can you imagine? You can’t even imagine something like this. God orchestrating all this to bring this to this point in time so that thousands, millions, and billions in times can read a story like this and be moved by it, to understand the power of Almighty God to bring something like this to the forefront.

But Joseph said to them, It is as I have said to you, You are spies. They’ve got to be feeling mighty uneasy at this point, being accused of being spies in the land, wanting food, knowing that their father is back there, and Benjamin is back there, and they don’t know what’s going to happen to them because of this. Because to be called a spy is not a small thing. You can be executed very quickly.

So it goes on to say in verse 15—So in this you shall be tested. In other words, he’s getting ready to tell them now, “This is what I’m going to give to you.” By the life of Pharaoh you shall not leave this place unless your younger brother comes here. So, he’s telling them unless he comes down here, you’re not leaving. So, that’s how he starts.

Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, then you will be kept in prison so that your words may be tested, see whether you’re true or not. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies.

So he put them all together in prison three days. Then Joseph said to them on the third day, Do this and live; for I fear God. So, he’s saying something to them, that he’s changing part of this now at this point. He’s saying, If you are honest, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house. But you go and carry grain for the famine of your houses. Then bring your youngest brother to me so your words can 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. So, this still plagued them to this day, what they’d done. And having a basic belief in God—to what degree we don’t know—but having that basic belief there, feeling that God was now intervening here to teach them something, to correct them, to punish them for what they had done, that was what was in their mind. Therefore, this distress has come upon us.

Then 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. He’s speaking Egyptian and so an interpreter. I mean, I can’t even begin to imagine a situation like that, being in that environment at that time.

So he turned himself away from them and wept. So, he had to leave, depart, excuse himself. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them, and he took Simeon from them, and bound him before their eyes.

Then Joseph gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. Thus he did for them. So again, what was being worked out here, again, things that God was involved in, that God put into his mind for a purpose and for a reason, of things that were going to be worked out.

There is a matter of our looking to God and seeking help and guidance and direction in our life, and there are things that God directs us in, to help us in. And sometimes, oftentimes we don’t even know it. But you have to be careful in all that too because sometimes we can take that farther and begin to think that what we say and what we do is all from God. I’ve run into that over and over again in time. That’s not a healthy thing either. So, we have to be very careful to understand the possibilities in our life.

There are certain things we can experience and do experience and wonder, like it says in scripture, at times some kept certain things in their mind. Well, that’s what we do. To keep certain things in mind that this could well have been of God, and certain things are working out and God blesses us and helps us and just thank God anyway no matter what happens, that things that happen in our life that there are certain situations where God can give us a mind, a wisdom, if you will, when we’re striving to live and do what is right, to speak right things, to do right things. But again, be cautious in that, that you don’t take it to yourself.

So, they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there. But as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment he saw his money. Because that’s what Joseph had said to do. “Give them the grain and put their money back in the sacks.” They didn’t know this.

And there it was in the opening of his sack. So, he said to his brothers, My money has been restored and there it is in my sack. Then their hearts failed them, and they were afraid, saying to one another, What is this that God has done to us or brought upon us? So they were very afraid at this point because they knew this could very well mean the death of Simeon, the death of themselves if an army comes after them or whatever.

Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, and told him all that had happened to them, saying, The man who is ruler of the land spoke roughly (harsh), hard to us, and took us for spies of the country. But we said to him, We are honest, and we are not spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the younger is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.

Then the man, the ruler of the country, said to us, By this I will know that you are honest; leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine, of your households, and be gone. Then bring your youngest brother to me so I shall know that you are not spies but that you are honest. I will grant your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.

Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly each man’s bundle of money was in his sack. So, they’re telling all this story to their father. So when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. Then Jacob their father said to them, You have brought me to grief, over my losses, is basically what he’s saying. Kind of some awkward translations of this. Joseph is no more, Simeon is not here, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things have been brought against me. Basically looking at his sons in this.

Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands and I will bring him back to you. But he said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he is alone is left. In other words, he is the youngest, he is still here. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave. In other words, I’ll die in great sorrow from this point forward.

So again here, an incredible story. It goes on. We’re going to continue on with it for a while. But there again, things to be reminded of as we go through it.

All of these things on a very physical plane are to teach us the importance, again, of the need of our Passover. Because all this relates to what God is developing and what God is preparing here about Egypt, about being put into Egypt, some of the things we just talked about toward the beginning, and of coming out of Egypt, as we know the story well of what takes place later. All the things that God worked with in the very first Passover that was ever observed. Because Passover had not been observed before this. There wasn’t any meaning until they were in Egypt and God began to bring them out and began to reveal things to them.

That’s why I sometimes so marvel at a progressive revelation of things, to understand how God has worked, especially within the first 4,000 years, and they didn’t have a whole lot. And yet enough to know concerning how you live and how you respond to things that God does give to you is how we’re judged. And these individuals, different ones who were worked with are going to have incredible function within the God Family. That’s what they were molded for.

That’s why God worked with them individually in that period of time of the first 4,000 years because they are, in a sense, of the foundation of what God is building. And yet I look at what we have been given in God’s Church at the end of it and all the understanding and knowledge. We’re the recipients of all that because of all who have gone before us and suffered to this point in time, and yet we still struggle, and we go through things.

There are so many lessons brethren, too many to mention in the series like this. And if we can grasp that God desires to lead every one of us out of Egypt, and that we continue to yield to Him.

I couldn’t help but think as I was going through the end of this and some things that have happened over the last few weeks, how that we are a family, and we should be far above what this family did. Because we can look at things that they did, what they did to Joseph, the brothers, and all the calamity that was there, all the dysfunction that was there, and it’s easy for us to look at physical things like we did concerning Esau, as an example. He didn’t grasp what was before him and the attitude he had toward God. But it was an attitude and God knew it. There is much written about it then with incredible lessons for us to learn from, that we not treat lightly what God has given to us.

And I think of the vastness of the Church. It’s so hard sometimes to even grasp that it could be that way, that the vast majority of the past 2,000 years have done that toward God. We have been given the spirit of God, which is far more serious than anything that Esau did. Because he was just a very carnal individual. That’s easy to understand, but it’s harder sometimes to understand what God’s own people, who have the impregnation of His holy spirit will do. That can become very, very sick.

And so, we have growth that we have to make. Nothing is owed to any one of us. And yet I hear of things that come at me that are happening within the Church at different times. It never stops. It may get less but it never stops. Things of an incredible danger of where people stand in some cases, and not grasping what’s being said in the sermons this year, in the entirety of this year, warnings.

We are at a time where we are being judged more than any other time since our calling because this is toward the end now and this is where some of the major things come at us to determine where we are and what’s going to be given to us.

It’s like that thing that comes to you, and you have to make a choice right then and there. You can’t make it later. Where are you? Where do you stand? Because by now we should all be standing in a certain place before God in our thinking, in our attitude toward God and what God has placed before us. All those things because of what we’re going through and what we’re getting ready to go through are going to be brought to the forefront. They truly are.

I think of a reality, wishing that we could all grasp that we are the Family of God. It still troubles me, and it really troubles me when I hear of individuals who speak in certain terms toward one another, about one another, and we’ve just taken the Passover. And how can I say it? This is not a time for those kinds of things. This is a time for embracing what God has given to us, a family, and to stop the judging.

If we’re not at a point where we don’t love one another, and if we can’t get past petty ideas and bad feelings toward each other, are we a part of the Body? Because, you see, Passover says no. What I covered in Passover says we’re not unless we repent. This is a time for repentance, following Passover and coming up to this point in time, truly a time to be examining ourselves to see where we are spiritually and cry out to God for help – every one of us.

And if there are any ministers out there who are not sound and right toward me as an apostle, toward one another in God’s Church… Because, you see, some things come around in time because oftentimes we don’t keep our mouth shut or we don’t know what we’re saying sometimes that others might pick up on and feel a responsibility in passing along.

Or sometimes things can be said directly to me. I know where you’re coming from. And if your attitude and your spirit isn’t right, I know where you’re coming from. Don’t agree with me, you’re going to have to address that, not me.

So, please understand that within this Body we’re not pure yet, we are not clean. I think of what Christ said on the night of Passover, saying, basically, “But you’re not all clean.” And we’re not all clean. God’s Church has never been at a point where it’s been all clean. But please understand that when Christ returns the Church that has God’s spirit dwelling in them will be clean, and those who aren’t will not be a part nor will they live into that period of time.

That’s a serious thing and my desire is that every one of us be able to come through all this, to understand where we are in time, that things are thundering down around us, and it’s deafening. It’s almost too much to take in. But we’ve seen nothing yet.

And I think, of all times there should be an incredible sacrificing love toward one another. And yet sometimes we can’t get beyond these judgments we have, of whatever it might be, that perhaps I’m wrong or I’m too harsh or I’m this or I’m that or I’m not listening. That isn’t even the question anyone should be asking if you have wisdom.

So, we should all love one another. I have a desire that everyone come through all this, but I know that everyone will not. That’s a hard thing to carry.

So, it’s a continuing plea because I think some of this started at the Feast of Tabernacles this last year, a plea to be right with God, to watch ourselves and our thinking, where we are, where do we stand, how do we think toward one another. Do we have some petty grievances or petty judgments and jealousies or envying toward one another? Do we treat one another within the Body properly? Do we respect the structure of God’s ministry throughout that structure? Because I know it’s not all there and I cringe when I see it’s not there. It hurts when I see it’s not there. Why? Because I want to see everyone come through all this.

And do we grasp that God wants that for us? If I want that as a physical human being, how much more does God Almighty and His Son Joshua want to see us all come through this and to use everything, tool at our means to fight this fight, to come through this in what’s in front of us?

So, learn from these examples, of the power of Almighty God to bring things to pass in the manner that He does. Because He’s placed before us in our time some of the most awesome things. They are! The greatest things that God has ever done. To send His Son back with 144,000, if that doesn’t make your hair stand up, I don’t know what will. To understand the reality of that, that’s almost upon us, and this is our part?

Look at what they lived in, very physical things. We live in very physical things at the end of an age, in the greatest of riches of the earth, of technology, and we have the greatest of wealth spiritually that’s ever been given to God’s people. Awesome, awesome, awesome. We don’t grasp the depth of the greatness of what God has placed before us, but we should strive to with all of our being, brethren.

So, I don’t know how to stress this other than a plea that I’m to give to God’s Church. Because some of these things continue on. And where they come up, I will deal with them. Because we’re not playing games right now. We don’t have time on our side. The two who did what they did up north that I’ve mentioned over and over again, when I brought them into a meeting one night and I told them “Now is the time for your choice. You don’t have time.” and they got mad at me because I came across then as being too hard and too rough up on them. Tough cookie! It’s a reality, it was the truth, and it was from God. They didn’t receive it and they’re gone, and they’ll not come back in this age, period, exclamation mark! Sad.

We have everything before us, brethren. And if I don’t take care of it and deal with it because it’s something that doesn’t fully come out, there is one who will. Well, there are two, but He’s given it to His Son to deal with, and His Son will deal with it.

There are things that have been happening in recent time that I know that’s what’s going on. That’s, as it were, a difficult thing to come under. Because it’s better to have to happen within the Church, in the structure, to be able to have ears to hear and to make changes then. But if we won’t God will take care of it.

Sacrifice. Isn’t that what Passover is all about? “Love one another as I have loved you,” Christ said, and he did it by giving his life. I’m sorry, but I have such a hard time with this because I think of what he went through for us, to grasp that, and then we have people who have petty problems and jealousies and envying and ways that they look at one another and judge one another. This should not be at all in the Body of Christ.

We are to be pure and purified and cleansed right now in a level and in a plane that we have never experienced in 2,000 years because of where we are and because of what God is getting ready to do. I hope we can hear that message.

1. Chapter 1