Thread: Did God Send Joseph to Egypt?

Yes


The brothers being evil, and God being good are not mutually exclusive. Both are true.

Originally Posted by victoryword

Did God Send Jospeh to Egypt? (Part One):

http://cvbibleteachingcenter.blogspo...pt-part-1.html

One thing about people speaking in the OT, during narratives, is that they are not necessarily speaking under the inspiration of God. Everything in narrative in the Bible is truly stated, but it's not necessarily true. That was Joseph's personal observation of the matter. Was he inspired by God to say that? We have no indication he was. It's like Job when he said "the Lord gives and the Lord takes away..." It's true He said that, it's truly stated, but it's not true. It was the devil that stole from him, not God.

Haven't most of us gone through rough patches where we wondered what on earth God was doing, only to see His wisdom in hindsight? Even if it was something that was seemingly meant to harm us. I think a Christian walking in faith can and will see every apparent setback as just another stepping stone into God's destiny for us. The key is "walking in faith." If you're walking in doubt, then the harmful things may indeed work toward your destruction. It's faith that turns around Satan's plans and turns them into God's gold. Just look at the cross. That was Satan's attempt to foil God's plan, but in reality it furthered and accomplished God's plan. Evil men did a wicked thing to Jesus, but in so doing, they fulfilled the "determinate counsel of God."

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

Acts 2:22-24

And as to the exact question posed by the OP: If we believe Joseph was a "type" of Jesus and that Egypt is a type of the world, we must acknowledge that God sent both Jesus into the world to be the savior of His people and that likewise, much earlier, God sent Joseph into "the world" to save His people.

Originally Posted by victoryword

Unless God's part is examined and explained then He will be made to look evil and untrustworthy. While I know that Calvinist have no problem with that, the rest of the world does.

It never fails to amuse me when man decides that God is lacking in some way.

He surely doesn't need me, or anyone else for that, to defend Him.

God never looks "evil" or 'untrustworthy".

Originally Posted by victoryword

I agree with much of what you said here Bookie, except are you one of those who actually believe that God used Satan and evil men to accomplish HIs plan or do you believe that God was able to overrule and accomplish His plan despite the working of Satan and evil men?

I'm not sure I'd word it either way. It's like a man who owns stand of timber and his jealous enemy wants to destroy him, so he cuts down all the beautiful trees, thinking he has thwarted his neighbor by destroying his major asset. But the reality is the man who owns the trees was just about to harvest the timber and sell it for a huge profit. Thus his enemy, though out to destroy him, really only succeeded in accomplishing the will of the tree farmer. If that makes sense.

In the verses I quoted, this is the key phrase: "which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain..."

It wasn't just that God turned their evil deed to good. No, instead, in crucifying the Lord they were actually fulfilling the "determinate counsel of God."

Originally Posted by victoryword

Unless God's part is examined and explained then He will be made to look evil and untrustworthy. While I know that Calvinist have no problem with that, the rest of the world does.

The Calvinist cares about God exercising all the power and doesn't care about what the result says about his character. It's a very simplistic way of relating to the concept of a God.