PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

When I was young, my mother used to tell us Bible stories. She spent a long time on the story of Joseph. Oh, how I sympathized with this excellent one when I heard that he was cast into a pit and sold into slavery! Although I loved Joseph and realized that he was someone special, I did not know why he was so excellent. I knew only that Joseph was very good and that I wanted to be like him. Even after I had ministered the Word for years, I still did not know the reason for Joseph's excellence. But now I can boldly give you the reason Joseph was excellent: it was because he was the reigning aspect of the mature life.... Thus, Joseph was the cream of a matured life.

What we see in Joseph, of course, is simply a shadow. In reality and in actuality, the reigning aspect typified by Joseph is Christ constituted into our being. We all are Jacobs, but we have the constitution of Christ within us. On the day we were regenerated, Christ was constituted into us. Eventually this Christ becomes our constitution. That part of our being that is constituted with Christ is neither our flesh nor our mind; rather, it is our spirit. Second Timothy 4:22 says that Christ is with our spirit. This means that Christ is constituted into the depths of our being. The Christ-constituted aspect of our regenerated being is fully represented, portrayed, and typified by Joseph. Because Joseph represents the reigning aspect of a victorious and mature life, his life is recorded in the Bible in such an excellent way.

I. LIVING AS A SHEAF OF LIFE

The first three chapters regarding the reigning part of a matured life are chapters thirty-seven, thirty-eight, and thirty-nine. As a child, I used to dislike these chapters because they were filled with hatred, plotting, and betrayals. Chapter thirty-eight is a record of Judah's incest, and in chapter thirty-nine we see darkness and the indulgence in lust. Have you ever loved these chapters? After I was saved and began to love the Bible, I did not spend much time on these chapters. Having become familiar with the story found in them, I did not care to read these chapters again. When in 1955 I conducted a study on the book of Genesis, I skipped over them. But during the twenty-three years since that study was conducted, I have received more light. After I came to this country, I saw the value, the preciousness, of Joseph's dreams, which are the controlling view of these chapters. If you have not seen the vision of Joseph's dreams, you will be able to know no more than the story contained in these chapters. You will not be able to know the depths of the significance of this story. Joseph's dreams controlled and directed his life. Joseph conducted himself in such an excellent way as the reigning aspect of a mature life under the direction of this controlling vision.

Chapter thirty-seven begins by telling us how Jacob loved his dear son Joseph, and how Joseph reported the evils of his brothers to his father. Then we are told about Joseph's dreams (37:5-10). In these days the Lord has shown us that Joseph's dreams reveal the actual situation of God's people in His eyes. God's people are all sheaves of life. A sheaf is a bundle of wheat full of life and life supply. The sheaves contain life grains which are good for life supply. Do not say, "I don't like the Israelites, because they are so evil." Remember the case of the Gentile prophet Balaam who was bribed to pronounce a curse upon Israel. At that time, Israel actually was evil. Nevertheless, Balaam, under the control of God, said that God had not beheld iniquity in Jacob nor perverseness in Israel (Num. 23:21). On the contrary, in God's eyes all His chosen people are sheaves of life, full of life supply. Furthermore, God's people are like stars shining in the sky.

After telling us of these two dreams, the record of the book of Genesis reveals that Joseph's brothers plotted to kill him and that he was sold into slavery in Egypt. In chapter thirty-eight we see the incestuous sin of Judah, and in chapter thirty-nine, the darkest temptation and most unjust treatment of Joseph. According to the sequence of events in these chapters, we see that Joseph's excellent behavior was under the direction of his dreams. In his first dream he saw that he was one of the sheaves; and he was not a sheaf falling down, but a sheaf rising up. I believe that from the time of that dream Joseph realized where God had put him and what God wanted him to be. He no doubt understood that God wanted him to be such a sheaf. He was not to be driftwood full of death, but a sheaf standing up full of life. If you had had such a dream, would you not be influenced, if not controlled, by it? Would this dream not govern your behavior and direct your conduct? Certainly it would. I believe that Joseph's dream of the sheaf directed his behavior.

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