We cry to you, O God, from the place of dragons! (Psalm 44:19) Command deliverances for your people.
My mouth shall speak wisdom and the meditation of my heart shall give understanding. In the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. And the people said Amen!
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We continue this afternoon with the saga of the family of the patriarch of Israel, the man named Jacob.
Now, I know many of you know the story I’m about to share with you, yet it must be retold so that all righteousness may be fulfilled. And we cannot be presumptuous of the cognitive resonance of everyone with this story.
Even if you know the story you will still learn a thing of two because of the manner of approach I’m employing. So here’s the story.
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The man Jacob became the husband of two wives and two concubines by circumstantial history. And he didn’t just marry two wives he married two sisters!
This came to be because he had a most unscrupulous and disreputable father-in-law, the type you can’t do business with over a handshake. Even if you sign a contract as long and as detailed as Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, the man would still find a way to cheat you. That’s the kind of man he was! He had a very unhealthy relationship with pecuniary accruals. Loved money! He would sell his daughters for money. Well, he actually did!
He snookered Jacob by substituting his bride in the honeymoon suite. And that was after collecting a dowry of seven years salary from the poor young man. Just imagine how much that is. If you’re on a salary of N300,000 a month, to marry Laban’s daughter you’ll have had to pay N25.2m! That’s about $156,000!
For Jacob to marry the wife he wanted in the first place, he was surcharged another seven years salary. In total therefore, you would have paid over N50m (about $300,000) as a young executive to marry his two daughters! Haba!
The methods employed by Laban is the equivalence of a surgeon cutting you open and telling your relatives he will not proceed with the surgery unless they paid him double! And so a young man with monogamous intention ended up a polygamist.
Now you can’t understand sibling rivalry until you see two sisters competing for the affection of one man. The fierce competition between the two daughters of Laban, Leah and Rachel, of course spilled over into procreation. So fierce was the competition that Rachael, the less fertile of the two sisters threatened to commit suicide if Jacob didn’t give her sons!
The competition mounted the plains of absurdity when both sisters donated their maidservants to become surrogate mothers. In fact, at a stage one wife leased out Jacob for the night in exchange for mandrakes from the other sister. The man became a gigolo in his own marriage! Mandrakes look like cocoyam. They were believed to aid fertility in those days but in fact they cause delirium and hallucinations. They were like cocaine! A high dosage can actually send the user into a coma but they didn’t know! We know through science.
And so Jacob became quadra-connubial. He now had four wives. By the time the women were through with him he ended up with twelve children! Had his original plan played out he would have had only two children.
Now, among his children there was one in particular who was outstanding by all measurements. He took the intelligence of his father. Understandably, his father loved him more than all the others. (He could see himself in the young lad). The guy was precocious. And he had drive, had initiative; was extremely self-assured and confident. And he demonstrated management capability very early on. As if all these were not too much already, the guy inherited the good looks of his mother. She was a knockout! The thing about this family was that just like the Alder family, they had a history of marrying very beautiful women! Joe, or Joseph as the young man is popularly known, obviously had good genes.
But Joe had an annoying trait: ethical scruples. When the brothers fobbed accounts of the family business, Joe reported their crookedness to their father. (His brothers were cooking the books, cutting deals). As you can imagine his brothers didn’t like him much.
Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever met certain types of guys, may be in the university, you know, the type who score 95% and begin to cry they didn’t do well? Meanwhile, you scored 40% and you’re throwing a party! Such guys tend to come off cocky. The more annoying thing is that they speak of tomorrow with the certainty of yesterday, calling those things which be not as if they were. They’re the guys who’ll tell you they’re going to establish their law firm in a multi-storey building and occupy ten floors, with departments in litigation, international affairs, energy, infrastructure, M&A; with dedicated departments for Africa, Asia, North America, Canada, Oceania and Europe. And they’re still in the first year in the university when they’re saying this! The reason you get annoyed is because you know they’re going to achieve their goals. Well, this Joseph was such a guy. If he was a nerd, at least his brothers would have some social advantage over him. But he was a yuppie – you know son of a very rich and indulgent father who bought him limited edition designer clothes. One photochromic jacket particularly stood out. It was called “a coat of many colours”. It could change colours on exposure to radiant energy. The guy was a show off!
And then Joe began to have dreams. Come on! You and I know dreams create problems. The moment you begin to have dreams your trouble starts. It doesn’t matter what type of dream it is – the dream of getting out of Ajegunle, the dream of becoming successful, the dream of becoming a President; the dream of owning a Ferrari, starting a business, becoming an MD… As soon as you begin to have dreams you become a target. There’s something about dreams that brings out the degenerate passion of fallen man. And that’s because dreams set people apart.
Now, nobody knows how a dream really works but we do know God uses the medium. We sometimes have dreams when God wants to get a point across, or give direction, or point us to purpose or destiny. Sometimes he gives us warnings through dreams. Sometimes he takes us into another dimension. And sometimes he sends answers to our questions by dream. A dream is a virtual interactive application of the timeless dimension.
Young man Joseph had a dream, in fact two dreams. One of those dreams was so misinterpreted it literarily cost Joseph his life. His brothers passed a death sentence on him.
The blood of a goat was deceitfully presented to Jacob their father as forensic evidence of the death of his son. Meanwhile, the poor lad was sold into slavery into the African continent, never to be heard from again, or so everyone thought. He was dead to everyone. His brothers didn’t know it but the blood of that innocent kid goat became atonement for the life of Joseph, just like the blood of the innocent Lamb of God would become atonement for us. And so his life was preserved by blood sacrifice.
Centuries down the line, we are still misinterpreting that particular dream, even as we speak. The first set of mis-interpreters were his family, but I get ahead of myself. Let me narrate the dreams.
In dream number one, Joe and his brothers were out in the field gathering bundles of wheat. Suddenly, Joe’s bundle stood straight and his brothers’ bundles circled round it and bowed down to it. The import of gathering of bundles of wheat would become apparent during the global food crisis about 14 years later. Joe’s brothers went to Egypt to buy wheat from Joseph, bowing down to him. It took 14 years for the dream to come true, just like it took 14 years for his father’s dream to marry a beautiful woman to come true, just like it took 14 years for Pharaoh’s dream of economic reformation to come true. Dreams take time! That’s lesson number one.
Lesson number two: Sometimes God uses particular numbers as themes in our lives. For Joseph the number was 7. In Biblical numerology, seven is the number of perfection. His father was perfected in two tranches of 7 years in his quest for a wife; Joseph was perfected in two tranches of 7 years in his quest for actualisation. His glorification was also based on two tranches of 7 years – the 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine of Pharaoh’s dream. The number 7 became the interconnecting factor between his past as represented by the trials of his father, his present as represented by his brothers selling him into Egypt, and his future as represented by the dreams of Pharaoh. Now you see another dimension to the scripture, teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. What is the number cycle of your life?
Lesson number three: Dreams demand perfection. No dream comes to pass without trial. Trials refine our character, giving us the ability to handle the fulfillment of our dreams. A lack of perfection is why music stars die young. They can’t handle fame. Many booze themselves to death, or become drug addicts. If you’re passing through trials right now, just remember that trials have a number. You didn’t hear me: I said, trials have a number. It has a termination point. It is God’s way of making sure you don’t deform and destroy your life. And that’s because your dreams are going to come to pass. Trial is proof of God’s answered prayer. God wants to make sure that your dreams don’t destroy you!
As you know, Joseph foolishly told his brothers the dream and they condemned him for implying he would become the Don in the family.
Then Joseph had another dream, only this time things had scaled up. The first dream was terrestrial. The second dream was celestial. In this second dream, the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed down to Joseph. Even his father rebuked him for this as if one can manufacture a dream. “What’s with all this dreaming? Am I and your mother and your brothers all supposed to bow down to you?” (Genesis 37:10 MSG)
You know the rest of the story. Through a convoluted destiny path he eventually becomes Prime Minister in Egypt.
Now I have four questions for you:
One: Did these dreams come to pass or not? Yes.
Two: Did Joseph’s brothers bow down to him? Yes!
Three: Did Joseph’s mother ever bow down to Joseph? No! In fact his mother had been dead for years.
Four: Did his father ever bow down to him? No!
Therefore, it is not correct to interpret the second dream to mean that his father, mother and brothers would bow down to him since his father and mother never did and his mother never could. She was dead! Only his brothers bowed. They were the bundles of wheat and eleven stars. The question then is, who is the Sun, and who is the Moon in the second dream?
To know the interpretation, we must note the salient fact about these dreams: the first dream was terrestrial but the second dream was celestial. Since the brothers were represented in both the terrestrial and celestial dreams, it means they translated into spiritual quantities in the second dream. From bundles of wheat needing earthly sustenance they became stars. Therefore, Israel exists in two realms and two dimensions. There is terrestrial Israel, there is celestial Israel; there is natural Israel, there is spiritual Israel. Natural Israel is the nation of Israel. Spiritual Israel is the Church. The Bible calls us the “commonwealth of Israel.”
The pillars of natural Israel are the children of Jacob. The pillars of spiritual Israel are the twelve apostles. There is a correlation in the numbering of the children of Jacob and the numbering of the apostles.
There were originally twelve sons of Jacob just as there were originally twelve apostles. One son of Jacob was sent away to Egypt reducing the number to eleven. Judas was arithmetically eliminated from the list of apostles having gone down to spiritual Egypt bringing the number down to eleven. He was replaced by Matthias, but despite this, another apostle named Paul was raised, bringing the number to thirteen in total, though the apostles are officially numbered twelve. In the same vein, Joseph was split into two by his father in order for him to receive a double portion of the blessing. And so numerically the children of Jacob became thirteen though officially they were twelve. Joseph became Manasseh and Ephraim. The terrestrial Israel is thus a reflection of celestial Israel. The celestial dream was pointing to the future – to us, the Church.
Joseph was a typology of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as the coat of Joseph was presented as evidence of his death, so did the Roman soldiers gamble for the robe of Jesus as evidence of his death.
Just as the brethren of Joseph didn’t believe his dreams so did the brethren of Jesus not believe his word.
Just as the brothers of Joseph as representatives of the tribes of Israel rejected Joseph, so did the tribes of Israel reject Jesus.
Just as Joseph was substituted by an innocent kid goat, so did Jesus become the innocent Lamb of God.
Just as earthly Israel bowed down to Joseph, so will they bow to Jesus and acknowledge him as Lord.
Just as Joseph saved the natural Israel from annihilation, so will Jesus save natural Israel from annihilation by the Antichrist.
Just as Joseph was sacrificed by his brothers, so was Jesus sacrificed, for as Caiaphas prophesied, one man needs die for the sins of the nation.
Just as the sacrifice of a goat by Joseph’s brothers points to the Old Testament, so did the sacrifice of Jesus point to the New Testament.
Just as Joseph went down to Egypt to preserve destiny, so did our Lord Jesus Christ go down to Egypt to preserve destiny, for as it is written, out of Egypt have I called my son!
Joseph was a perfect typology of our Lord and Saviour.
But we haven’t resolved who the Sun is, and who the Moon is. In the celestial realm, who are these?
Ancient Egyptians worshipped the sun god, Ra. He was the most important god in Egyptian religious order and was regarded as the creator. This god was believed to rule all parts of the created world – the sky, the earth and the underworld.
They also worshipped the moon god, Khonsu. The name means “traveller”. It reflects the fact that the moon travels across the night sky. Khonsu was often depicted as a mummy with the symbol of childhood. Indeed, he was regarded as the child of two other gods, Amun and Mut. It was believed that he was instrumental in the creation of new life, just like Jesus.
And so, the sun god, Ra was a contender for the title of “Lord of the Universe” with Jehovah, while the moon god, Khonsu was a contender for Sonship with Jesus.
Just as Jesus was a child of two gods – Mary and Joseph (Ye are gods, the Bible says), Khonsu was a child of two gods, Amun and Mut.
Ra impersonated God the Father, Khonsu impersonated God the Son. Khonsu is therefore a type of the antichrist.
Yet, Ra and Khonsu must bend the knee, just as in the dream of Joseph. For at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
But these gods did not bow willingly. 400 years after this dream, an epic battle of supremacy emerged between Yahweh on the one hand, and Ra and Khonsu on the other hand. The issue was, who was Governor of the Nations. Let my people go! Jehovah demanded. But Ra said NO! And Khonsu said NO! And so God manifested signs and wonders across three realms of creation – in the land, in the sea and in the air, to prove that he is the Lord of creation. But he didn’t stop there. He told Moses in Exodus 12:12, “I will pass through the land of Egypt (this night), and will smite all the first born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord”. God executed judgment against Ra, Khonsu and the pantheon of Egyptian gods. God threw out Ra and khonsu from Egypt. In 2 Samuel 7: 22 – 24, the Bible says and I read from MSG translation:
“There is none like you, no God but you, nothing to compare to what we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people, like Israel, a nation unique in the earth, whom God set out to redeem for himself (and became famous for it), performing great and fearful acts, throwing out nations and their gods left and right as you saved your people from Egypt?”
Bottom line, God exiled Ra and Khonsu! Threw them out of Egypt. And Egypt went down! If we must tackle the problems of our nation spiritually, we must exile the gods behind the carnage. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness. Today, as the Church of Jesus Christ, we are going to exile some gods!
Jesus as the first born from the dead smote Pharaoh’s first born. The boy stood in a representative capacity for Khonsu, a type of the Antichrist, the son of the Devil. It is the shadow of the annihilation of the Antichrist at the coming Battle of Armageddon.
Joseph’s second dream is pointing to the future in much the same way that the visions of Daniel pointed to the future. It’ is pointing to the end of time.
The bone of contention in Egypt is encapsulated in Ephesians 1:20 – 23 (MSG): “God raised him (Christ) from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule.” Therefore, the bone of contention in Egypt was governmentalism!
The dreams of Joseph are in two dimensions and two geographical realms: the terrestrial and the celestial, the natural and the supernatural. The Church has authority in two realms and two dimensions. It is for this reason that whatsoever we bind on Earth is bound in Heaven. We have authority in Heaven and we have authority on Earth.
Our salvation is a two-dimensional reality. That is because Heaven received the blood of the sacrifice of Jesus when he presented it, and the Earth received it as oblation as it seeped into the ground at Calvary.
And if the blood of Abel can cry from the ground, then the blood of Jesus is also crying from the ground, just as it cries from Heaven. Bloods speak! Bloods cry! And there are many voices out there as Apostle Paul told us because there are many bloods and sacrifices out there.
Sacrifices might have been made against you and blood spilled against your fortune and your life but when a blood from the earth cries out for vengeance against you, the blood of Jesus will cry out for mercy. When a blood from the earth cries for your vilification, the blood of Jesus will cry for your glorification. When a blood from the earth cries out for your excoriation, the blood of Jesus will cry out for restoration. When a blood from the earth cries for your condemnation, the blood of Jesus will cry for your vindication. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus; and there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.
The blood of Jesus speaks in two dimensions and two realms. It is why we can cry from the Earth to our God in the celestial dimension: Our Father, which art in Heaven. Hallowed be thy name! Thy Kingdom come! Thy will be done on earth.
We must adopt the posture of sacerdotalism and stand as mediators between Heaven and Earth. Our voice goes to Heaven, our knees touch the ground. It is only after we adopt this posture, praying the will of the Father down to Earth, then and only then we can go to the next line of our Lord’s prayer, Give us this day our daily bread. We must seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all other things will be added unto us.
We have the power to bring God’s kingdom to bear on Earth. When we seek to bring God’s Kingdom to bear on Earth, then we step into the realm of governmentalism.
Stand up and lift your voice to Heaven. It’s our sacerdotal posture. I want you to bring Heaven down to Earth, bring Heaven down into your circumstances, into our nation, into our health, into our children’s lives…
You are great!
You do miracles so great.
There is no one else like you! (Choir)
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Delivered at This Present House (The Dome), Lekki Phase 1, Lagos
Sunday, July 14, 2013
© Leke Alder | talk2me@lekealder.com