“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.”— Genesis 37:3, 4.
In Joseph we see a very striking type of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was the beloved one of the father, but that very fact caused his brethren to look upon him with envy and hatred. Yet he was destined to become the saviour of the world.
Joseph’s dreams were divine revelations, and they told of the glory that was yet to be his. But as he made these things known they but added to the jealousy with which his brethren regarded him. Yet in due season all came to recognize him as their deliverer from death.
So our blessed Lord came into this scene, owned by God as His beloved Son, and appointed by Him to be heir of all things. He was despised and rejected by His own, but is now the Saviour of all who believe. Eventually the very nation that rejected Him as their King will own Him as their long-waited-for Messiah, and will “mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son.”
“O Love divine, what hast Thou done?
The Incarnate God hath died for me!
The Father’s well-beloved Son
Bore all my sins upon the tree!
The Son of God for me hath died
My Lord, my Love, is crucified.
Behold Him, all ye passers-by!
The bleeding Prince of life end peace!
Come, sinners, see your Saviour die,
And say, was ever grief like His?
Come, feel with me His blood applied,
My Lord, my Love, is crucified.
Then let us sit beneath His cross,
And gladly catch the healing stream;
All things for Him account but loss,
And give up all our hearts to Him.
Of nothing think or speak beside:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified.”
—Charles Wesley.