This is a series of sermons on the coat of many colors – Free Power point is available through E-Mail retssi@bellsouth.net
Several Illustrations, points, and the main idea for this series of sermons dealing with the coat of many colors was from James May’s sermon, “A Coat Of Many Colors.” Also Several Illustrations and points came from John Hamby’s sermon, “Remodeling - Dealing with an Imperfect Family,” and many other sources were used to help compile this series!
A Coat of Many Colors #2 Black (May Take Two Weeks To Teach This One)
Genesis 37:1-3 (KJV) 1 And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. 3 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 colours.
More than anything else, I want you to remember that Jacob loved Joseph.
Jacob had big dreams for Joseph. His hopes and concerns for his son I believe was manifested in this special coat that he made.
Even though that coat became the focal point of hatred that Joseph’s brothers had for him, that coat I believe still presented a message to Joseph.
What, is so significant about a coat of many colors?
A coat of many colors carries a special meaning.
It was more than just a gift to show a love that a father has for his son. It was more than just an ordinary coat.
Last week we saw the color Amber which represented God’s Presence and Glory in the life of Joseph.
Today I want us to look at the color Black!
What was Jacob trying to tell his son with that color?
For most of us, when we think of the color black, we associate it with mostly the negative side of life.
Black has always been a symbol of death, disease, famine and sorrow. The only time in the Bible where the color black is spoken of in a positive manner is when there is a mention of black hair, meaning healthy hair.
Last week we learned that Israel, by giving Joseph this coat, was trying to tell his son that He could enjoy the presence and glory of God.
Now tonight with the color BLACK we will find are two theories of thought that we should look at.
1. First of all that there would be days of darkness that he would have to face.
I believe that those dark days started right after he was given the coat.
You see Joseph came from a highly dysfunctional family. Today, we might it call it a “blended” family (the 12 brothers were born of 4 different mothers), and the brothers always seemed to be fighting.
About the only thing that united his brothers was their hatred of him.
And because his brothers hated him,
• Joseph ended up thrown into a pit,
• sold into slavery,
• and ultimately accused of a crime he didn’t commit and then he was thrown into prison.
Talk about depression and sorrow in your life.
Joseph’s brothers had actually planned to kill him, but their greed overcame their hatred long enough for them say: Genesis 37:26-27 (KJV) 26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. Then they soaked Joseph’s cherished coat in goat’s blood and brought it back to their father and watched callously as their father cried out in anguish, tore his garments and mourned for days.
With brothers like that, Joseph didn’t need enemies.
John 3:19 (KJV) 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Psalm 143:3 (KJV) 3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.
Isaiah 5:20 (KJV) 20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
So – in Genesis 39 - we find Joseph now in Egypt. Egypt had already become a great nation before Joseph had been born. They’d already built their famous pyramids, the sphinx, and the temple at Luxor. In those days – as now – Egypt was a tourist paradise
But (of course) Joseph wasn’t there as a tourist.
He was there as a slave.
He had been ripped from his home and his friends
Dragged across the desert to a land that he’d never known
And surrounded by a strange people who spoke in a language he couldn’t understand.
Even if he could have gotten away from his slave owner, he probably couldn’t have found his way home!
At 17, he’d lost everything that he’d loved and considered important.
And now he lives at the whim of his master.
He’s the lowest form of life in the nation of Egypt.
He has nothing… he owns nothing… he IS nothing.
Just like all the other slaves of that day he has no rights, no status, no value.
BUT, Joseph did have one thing that other slaves in Egypt didn’t.
He had a God who cared for him.
Now ordinarily, most folks who’d go through problems like Joseph’s would doubt God was there… or that He even cared.
And so – in case if YOU had any doubts about that in Joseph’s life, God wanted to reassure you, So He put in the story one phrase that shows up again and again and again.
You know what that phrase was? “The LORD was with Joseph” and He Bless Joseph!
You see it in Gen 35: vss. 2, 3, 5, 21, and 23.
Genesis 39:5 (KJV) 5 And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.
Later, when he was thrown into Prison… God does it again!
Genesis 39:21-23 (KJV) 21 But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. 23 The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.
Now granted – Joseph was STILL a slave. And later he was JUST a prisoner.
But even in those low and despised positions, Joseph became someone that others depended upon. God being with him made Joseph’s life have value and purpose.
Joseph’s life is a case study in the faithfulness of God’s promises, because God has made us the same promise: “I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5).
If you want to be distressed - look within. If you want to be defeated - look back.
If you want to be distracted - look around.
If you want to be dismayed - look ahead.
If you want to be delivered - look up!"
Instead of feeling defeated, seeing distractions, hearing destruction, and talking dismally, TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND LEAN NOT TO YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING.
Isaiah 58:10 (KJV) 10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
Isaiah 60:2 (KJV) 2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
Micah 7:8 (KJV) 8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
Too Blessed To be Depressed
Too Saved To be Enslaved
2. The second thought, had to do with the future of the Famine in the land that was still to come into his life.
Turn to Revelation 6:5-6 (KJV) 5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
The black horse and the rider with balances signifies some things.
Black is used to depict famine in Jeremiah 4:28.
And also the Black Horse here in this passage signifies famine!
The Rider signifies the conserver of food
The Balances indicate the scarcity of food. They depict trade and commerce and economic issues. The economy will definitely be affected.
A measure of wheat will be for a penny. What does this mean?
A measure of wheat was equal to two pints of food which was sufficient for the daily needs of one person. If barley is purchased, they will be able to buy about 6 pints of food.
Ordinarily a person could purchase eight to twelve measures of wheat with a denarius and much more barely which was cheaper than wheat.
A penny was the Greek denarius which was the equivalent of one day's wage. In the Tribulation, a man will have to work all day just to feed himself with wheat. This does not include the needs of his family.
Now let us go back to Genesis 41 and Look at Joseph one more time.
We’ve seen in our study of Joseph that his character, faithfulness and integrity are central features in how God shapes and chisels on us.
Our Father is out to make us like His Son, men and women whose hearts and character closely resemble Christ’s!
His second objective engages your usefulness to Him.
We observed God growing him in affliction -- there was loneliness, separation -- servitude, false accusation, then finally, prison.
Someone said Joseph makes a great illustration of Murphy’s Law: “If anything can go wrong it will!!”
Beyond all the rotten circumstances and the raunchy people, Joseph sat in God’s waiting room, forgotten and unknown in a prison, for upwards of 12 or 13 years.
Suddenly, without warning, in chapter 41, he is elevated. Overnight, he has power, position and prestige placed in his hands.
Joseph’s been through the fire of: adversity, abuse, affliction, accusation; he stood strong during the tests of temptation and of waiting. Now comes another test: this time with the headiness of power and prosperity.
His character has shone through every test!
For a good reason too: over and over the text has said, God was with him; God never left him, and He never stopped working in his life while he was in the pits.
And God won’t be far from Joseph’s heart and mind now that he’s in the palace.
He responded well during the hard times -- He trusted God and He put his trust in God’s character. The pattern will continue. Now he is brought out at the right psychological moment because nobody else can interpret the dream of Pharaoh.
Not only does he interpret it, but in his enthusiasm and because he is a man of ability, he suggests what Pharaoh should do. God is leading him in all of this, of course.
There is to be a worldwide famine, a famine so severe that even Egypt will be affected. However through Joseph, God has warned that there will be seven good years and seven bad years.
Pharaoh is listening and hang on to every word of what is going to happen for the next fourteen years. As Pharaoh listens to Joseph, what he says makes sense!
Our nation could use a man like this, also.
Now, who could take over better than Joseph? Pharaoh recognized that he was a man of ability.
Now don't you see how God had been training him in the home of Potiphar?
We may wonder why in the world God ever let him go into that home in the first place. Now we realize that he had received quite a bit of training in the home of Potiphar where he had charge of everything the man owned.
Now he is going to have charge of everything in the land of Egypt.
This is a tremendous transition in his life. He went all the way from the back of the jail to the throne next to that of Pharaoh.
Look now at Genesis 41:42 (KJV) 42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
By the way, that ring had a signet on it. When that was put down in wax, it was just the same as Pharaoh's signature. Pharaoh is making Joseph his agent. He has the right to use the king's signature.
Genesis 41:43-44 (KJV) 43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. 44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.
After these thirteen years in Egypt, Joseph finds himself in a position which would correspond, I believe, to prime minister.
He was second only to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. Have you ever wondered why Pharaoh was so willing to accept him?
Primarily, of course, the answer is that God was with him. All the way along we have been seeing that.
The hand of God, by His providence, was leading this man. Joseph says himself that the brothers meant it for evil but that God meant it for good. It is wonderful to know that.
The dramatic incidents in the life of Joseph are beginning to unfold. The pattern of God in using Joseph to preserve the race during the famine and the removal of Jacob and his sons to Egypt begins to emerge in clear detail.
When Joseph was back in that dungeon, he couldn't see all of this. But he believed God. He is a man, who, because of his faith, was always enthusiastic and optimistic.
Frankly, I wish my faith would get down far enough into shoe leather so that regardless of what happened, and regardless of what the circumstances are, I could be optimistic.I tell you, it doesn't take much rain or many dark clouds to make me less optimistic than I should be. I'm sure that is true of many of us today.
Joseph is in a unique position. I think you could almost guess what is going to happen. The famine is over all the earth, and all the earth is coming to Egypt to get grain. Guess who's coming to dinner!
The famine forces Jacob to send his ten sons to Egypt to buy food. Why only ten? Why didn't he send Benjamin? It would have killed him to have lost Benjamin.
Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize Joseph. Why not?
Well, there are several reasons.
First of all, they thought he was dead; so they were not looking for him at all. They never expected to see him again, but he did expect to see them.
Then, we must remember that many years had gone by. He was seventeen when they sold him, and now he is thirty-seven years old, plus however many years the famine has been going on.
Let's say it was one year; so they hadn't seen him in twenty-one years. He's almost forty and he is dressed like an Egyptian, speaks and acts like an Egyptian.
Joseph has been watching for them. He knew they would have to come. There had been delegations there from all over the inhabited earth of that day.
The famine was worldwide. So he watches, and lo and behold, here come the ten men.
They all bow down before him. They got right down on their faces before Joseph. You wonder how he felt.
By the way, here is the literal fulfillment of the dreams of Joseph. Do you remember how he had dreamed as a boy that all the sheaves bowed down to his sheaf?
Here it is taking place -- all his older brothers are down on their faces before him.
Could it be that Israel, by giving Joseph this coat, was trying to tell his son that not only could Joseph enjoy the presence and glory of God, but that unless Joseph were to stay true to God, there would also be many days of “blackness” or was it predicting the days of famine and his future in ruling. Even ruling over his family!
