“It’s just an Illusion”
By
District Elder M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
Genesis 37: 1 - 5, 12 – 18, 23 – 28, 31 – 36
According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary On-Line an illusion is: the action of deceiving, the state or fact of being intellectually deceived or misled: an instance of deception, a misleading image presented to the vision: something that deceives or misleads intellectually, perception of something objectively existing in such a way as to cause misinterpretation of its actual nature: a pattern capable of reversible perspective: In other words an Illusion is a Mind Game
OPENING:- Here in the 37th chapter of Genesis we are introduced to a young man by the name of Joseph. Joseph is one of the great-grandsons of Abraham, the 11th son of Jacob, and the first-born son of Jacob’s wife Rachel.
There is something unique here about this young man named Joseph and that is from the 37th chapter through the rest of the book of Genesis, which contains 50 chapters, is the story of his life. As a matter of fact more is written about Joseph than the creation or any other person in the book of Genesis.
One of the reasons this is I believe is because the life of Joseph was a good and honorable one. The Bible says in Phil 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things”.
I believe that God wants us to see how possible it is to live a sanctified, honorable and morally clean life in the midst of confusion and sin. Joseph’s life was not doubt a very sheltered and pampered life. The morals that he held onto and his determination to be separate from sin is considerably seen throughout different scenes in his history.
Another reason I believe there is so much written about Joseph is because of his Christ likeness. Understand that no place in scripture is Joseph represented as a type of Christ, however, there is no-one in scripture that is more like Christ in his person and experiences than Joseph. I know someone will say what about Joshua and even-though Joshua is a type of Christ his person and experiences are not like that of Joseph.
Some scholars say there are about 30 parallels between Jesus and Joseph. Here are just a few of the similarities between Jesus and Joseph.
Joseph - Jesus
His birth was miraculous because his mother was barren and it took an intervention from God. - Jesus’ birth is miraculous because it was a virgin birth, an intervention from God
Joseph was loved by his father. - Jesus was loved by His Father who declared “This is my beloved son”
Joseph had a coat of many colors which set him apart. - Jesus was set apart in that he was separate from sinners.
Joseph announced that his brethren would bow down to him - At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow
Joseph’s father sent him to seek his brethren - Jesus came to his brethren – He came first to the lost house of Israel.
Joseph was hated without cause - Jesus was hated without cause
Joseph was sold for 20 pieces of silver - Jesus was sold for 30 pieces of silver
Joseph became a servant - Jesus became a servant
Joseph was blessing to others- Jesus is a blessing to everyone
Joseph was a provider of bread - Jesus is the bread of life
Joseph was numbered with the transgressors in the dungeon - Jesus was numbered with the transgressors at Calvary
Joseph was tempted by the world, the flesh, and the devil and he resisted and became the right hand man of Pharaoh. - Jesus was tempted by the world, the flesh, the devil and he resisted and won the victory and is sitting on the right hand of God.
Just to name a few.
We must first understand that the sons of Jacob, the older 10 were some very rowdy and violent men. They were liars, murders, fornicators, deceivers, and their reputation in the community was one that was to be feared. Joseph’s reputation was much different. Joseph was the favored son because he was the first- born son of the wife that Jacob loved and worked 14 years for Rachel. No doubt Rachel kept Joseph close to her side on a apron string and treated him much like Jacob’s mother, Rebecca treated him. She probably taught him to be very respectful of women, to have good manners, to always be honest and never do anything that would bring reproach upon himself or the family. She instilled values in Joseph that were lacking in the other sons of Jacob. Benjamin, Joseph younger brother was just a little baby at this time so he was unable to have any reputation.
Well we find here in the 37 chapter of Genesis that Joseph is 17 years old and he is with his brothers feeding the flocks and Joseph being yet so very innocent saw the evilness of his brothers. He saw how they manipulated, bullied, and lied to the people no doubt and Joseph new this type of action was evil and he told his father what his brothers were doing. The Bible says that he brought unto his father their evil report. Therefore, his brothers hated him because he was the favored son and he also told their father what they had done, so in their eyes he was a tattletale – nobody like a tattletale.
Jacob didn’t help the problem because he loved Joseph more than the rest of the boys, he failed to see that the dysfunction that had plagued him in his youth and ruined the relationship between him and his brother was doing them same to his sons. He stated that he loved Joseph more then the rest because he was the son of his old age. Now many times we preachers say see because Jacob had Joseph when he was old that he loved him so and that is true, but Benjamin was younger than Joseph, some scholars say as many as 15 years younger so Benjamin would have been the son of his old age; therefore, there must also be another meaning behind this statement and that is that it is also a prophetic statement. Because the sons of Jacob where such that had a reputation, except Joseph and later Benjamin in his later years in life, his old age, it would be this son Joseph that would bring him honor in his old age; therefore he made the statement prophetically the son of my old age.
Not only did Jacob love Joseph more than the other boys, but he gave Joseph a coat of many colors and this coat of many colors was a mark of special significance. It placed a special honor on Joseph over all the rest of the boys, it set him apart and everytime his brothers saw that coat it made them realize that dad loves him more than he loves us; therefore they hated Joseph for that.
Some say this coat had many colors and some say that is was a coat that had sleeves, regardless the actual makeup of the coat it was a mark of distinction and honor. It prophetically spoke the scripture Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Psalms 37:37.
Then on top of that Joseph was a dreamer. He had a dream and he told his brothers the dream that he had and his brothers hated him because in his dream he told them that they would bow down and pay honor to him. By him being young then they were they felt that there was no way that they would ever bow down to him, so they hated him.
See that is why you can’t tell everyone your dreams because you have people called dream killers sitting right in the church that will hate you simply because of the dream you have. Just like Joseph had dream killers right in his house there are dream killers right in the church. So his brothers hated him because WATCH THIS:- he had favor, he had honor, and he had a dream.
Let me go a little farther in this message.
When we come to the 12th verse the Bible says that his brethren went to feed the flock in Shechem. Now Shechem from Hebron is about 80 miles away. Now you must catch the spiritual impact about this and that is how far they were away from their father. The farther you get away from God the deeper in sin you go. I know you heard the saying that sin will take you farther then you ever wanted to go and keep you longer than you ever wanted to stay.
VS#13 – Israel (Jacob) said to his son that he loved Joseph Do not thy brethren feed [the flock] in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. Now Joseph was 17 years old and he is sent to find his brothers that have gone far from their father. Understand that they didn’t have plans, trains, or automobiles in this time so this trip was a dangerous journey for Joseph.
Nevertheless, Joseph comes to Shechem to find his brothers and he is not able to find them a man ask Joseph what is he looking for because he sees him just wondering and Joseph says I am looking for my brothers that are feeding my fathers sheep, the man says I heard them say they were going to Dothan. Understand that Dothan was about another 20 miles farther away. The spiritual impact is see just how far they had gotten away from their father now about 100 miles. So Joseph heads out for Dothan.
VS#18 – The Bible says “And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him”. They recognized him because they were able to see the coat that separated him from a distance. That’s what the Holy Ghost does for us it sets us apart.
Reuben said let’s cast him in the pit with the intention of coming back and releasing him from the pit. So the Bible says they took hold of Joseph and stript him of his coat of many colors and cast him in the pit. They intended for him to die there in the pit, but God had a palace waiting just for him. While he was in the pit they ate and a group of Ishmeelites came passing by on their way to Egypt to sell spices and Judah whose name means praise came up with a plan to sell their brother to the Ishmeelites. Talk about misguided praise. So they sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites because they said this way we will never see him again and his dream will never be able to come true and no-one will be able to say that we killed our brother.
For some reason Reuben was not around when all of this took place and he came back to pull Joseph out of the pit but found that he was not there. He came to his brothers asking what happened to Joseph. His brothers said Joseph had been taken care of and they conspired a plan to deceive their father about what happened to Joseph.
Now let’s get to the meat of this message.
VS#31 – The Bible says “And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood”.
VS#32 – says “And they sent the coat of [many] colours, and they brought [it] to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it [be] thy son’s coat or no’. They knew he would recognize the coat because he gave it to him.
VS#33 –says “And he knew it, and said, [It is] my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces’.
See Jacob perceived that his son was dead because he saw a bloody coat.
VS#34 – we see the reaction of Jacob for the Bible says “And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days”.
Because Jacob saw the bloody coat he thought his son was dead and he began to lament over the death of his son. For 21 long years Jacob lived with the thought that his son was dead – WHY- because he was living by sight and not by faith. He saw a bloody coat and he perceived that Joseph was dead. His sons had deceived him and caused him to believe something was a certain way even though it wasn’t what it seemed to be. In other words it was just an Illusion.
That is what the devil has done to many people today he has showed you a bloody coat and just because you saw a coat covered in blood you thought that thing that you loved is dead, but I want to tell you that it’s just an illusion.
The Bible says we walk by faith and not by sight. That thing, that bloody coat that has been showed you is just an illusion because my faith says everything is going to be alright.
The doctor may have held up an X-Ray that said you have a terminal illness and you only have so long to live, but it is a bloody coat and therefore it’s just an illusion.
The bank may have held your credit report and said you need to file bankruptcy instead of thinking of buying a house, it is a bloody coat and therefore it’s just an illusion.
WATCH THIS:- Just because they presented Jacob with a bloody coat and Jacob felt his son was dead because he couldn’t see him God was working things out that Joseph wasn’t even aware of.
You may be looking at a bloody coat right now and with your natural eye it seems as though your situation is dead, but I dare you to step out on faith like the 3 Hebrew boys and say even though it seems like all hope is gone I’m going to hold to God’s unchanging hand. Someone may say why you holding on can’t you see the bloody coat all hope is gone. But IT”S JUST AN ILLUSION.
The Bible says that the husband is the first partaker. Well while I was working on this message I looked at something in my life and I thought because of what I saw that my situation was hopeless, I felt that my situation was lost and dead, but I remembered that I walk by faith and not by sight, that it was just a bloody coat. I said Lord I’m standing on your word, I’m going to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Because this thing that I’m looking at right now is just an illusion. It is something that has been presented to me to be a misleading image to the vision you have given me in my life. I know that you are bigger than this and I know that you are able to do exceeding abundantly above all I can ask or think.
This thing that I hold in my hand is a bloody coat, but it’s just an illusion because I know my dream, my vision, my hope is still alive. How do you know that preacher, because God’s not dead He’s still alive. I might not be able to see Him, but I can feel Him in my hands, I can feel Him in my feet, I can feel Him all over me. That other stuff is just an Illusion.
In Closing:- My mind goes to Jesus when He was baptized, the Bible says the heavens opened the Holy Ghost descended like a dove and a voice from heaven said “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased” that established his identity, then it says that he was lead into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Now Jesus had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, the devil came to Him and said “If thou be the son of God change these stones into bread”. So many times we say the first thing that the devil did was to mention food because he knew that Jesus was hungry, but the first thing the devil did was to attack His identity. If thou be the son of God. This is how the devil attacks us even today he tries to get us to doubt who and whose we are.
He said If thou be the son of God change these stones into bread. I like Jesus’ response He said it is written man shall not live by bread alone. This is what I want you to see Jesus said it is written, which lets me know that because it is written it has already been taken care of.
So when the devil tries to give you that bloody coat that said you have a terminal illness just go to Isaiah 53:5 and the Bible says by His stripes we are healed; therefore because it is written it is already done; therefore this thing, this bloody coat is just an ILLUSION.
When the devil tries to make you feel that you are a looser and that there is no hope for you – Remember – the Bible says in Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. See it’s already written that you are more than a conqueror so that stuff that the devil is trying to put in your head that bloody coat that he is trying to show you is just an ILLUSION.
District Elder M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
