Week 9, Day 1
Bible Hyperlinks
Congratulations on making it through the readings on Joseph. For the final week we will shift our focus to Jesus. This week’s devotions all help us to see how the life of Joseph was a powerful foreshadowing to the life of Jesus. May your faith be strengthened!
Hey guys! We serve in kids’ ministry, and Brad contacted us in July to ask us to write a devotional showing some of the connections between the Old and New Testament. Now, if any of you have been at Heritage this year or last year, Brad showed an AMAZING infographic slide that shows 340,000 cross-references between the Old and New Testaments. Similar to internet hyperlinks, the Bible is full of connections between the two.
If we were to hit on all of them, at 1 per second (which is an impossibility) it would take 5,667 minutes, or 95 hours, or 4 days. The Bible is a LIFETIME of study, let alone the WIDE variety of commentary.
In the Old Testament there are people, stories, and events that can be seen as foreshadowing Jesus. Some of the more well known ones are Adam, Passover, and David, but one that may not be as well known is the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob.
You may be wondering, “how is the story of Joseph like Jesus?” Let us share with you a chart showing the similarities:
If we were to hit on all of them, at 1 per second (which is an impossibility) it would take 5,667 minutes, or 95 hours, or 4 days. The Bible is a LIFETIME of study, let alone the WIDE variety of commentary.
In the Old Testament there are people, stories, and events that can be seen as foreshadowing Jesus. Some of the more well known ones are Adam, Passover, and David, but one that may not be as well known is the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob.
You may be wondering, “how is the story of Joseph like Jesus?” Let us share with you a chart showing the similarities:
| Joseph was hated by his brothers (37:4, 5, 8) because of: i) Jacob's special love for him; ii) his words | Jesus was hated by His brothers (John 15:25; Luke 19:14) because: i) Jesus claimed God His Father (John 5:18); ii) His Words (John 7:7; 8:40 |
| Joseph's brothers plotted to kill Joseph (37:18-20) | The Jews also plotted to kill Christ. (Matthew 12:14; 26:4) |
| Joseph was stripped of his coat (37:23) | Jesus was stripped of His coat, covered with a scarlet robe (Matthew. 27: 28) |
| Joseph was sold into Egypt at the proposal of Judah (37:26-27) | Jesus was betrayed and handed over to the Jews by Judas (Matthew 27:3) |
| Joseph attempted no defense (39:19) | Jesus gave no defense at His trials (Isaiah 53:7) |
| The cupbearer and the baker of the King were with him in prison. One would be spared, the other would not. (40:1-3) | Jesus was crucified with two thieves - one was spared, the other was not. (Mark 15:28) |
| Joseph was cast into prison, though he was innocent (39:20) | Jesus is sentenced to death though Pilate found no fault in Him (John 19:4, 6) |
This is just one comparison chart, but there are MANY others, and we should absolutely expect an intricate web of connections coming from a book that is Divinely inspired.
Let’s shift focus to a personal level, though. In our own lives, every morning and evening, we read the Bible and pray together. Why do we do this? Because life this side of heaven is chaotic, unstable, and unpredictable, but Christ is the calm in the midst of life’s storms. We want to center our focus on where our help comes from and remind ourselves He loves us and those around us.
We want to remind ourselves He has a GOOD calling and a GOOD purpose for each and every human life without exception (John 3:16, John 12:32), and we’re going to start and end our day focusing on the One Who cares for us, reminding ourselves to share His love with those around us.
With a book that was written over the course of 1,500-1,600 years with endless commentary, it’s easy to feel lost and intimidated and to give up when first reading the Bible, and TRUST me, we have ALL felt that. As the joke goes, “if the Bible in a year is a ‘speed run’, LEVITICUS is the RUN KILLER!”
So this small devotional is only meant to take the intimidation factor down a notch and give you a little something to spark your interest and encourage YOU to take that spark and turn it into your OWN ROARING FIRE.
Let’s shift focus to a personal level, though. In our own lives, every morning and evening, we read the Bible and pray together. Why do we do this? Because life this side of heaven is chaotic, unstable, and unpredictable, but Christ is the calm in the midst of life’s storms. We want to center our focus on where our help comes from and remind ourselves He loves us and those around us.
We want to remind ourselves He has a GOOD calling and a GOOD purpose for each and every human life without exception (John 3:16, John 12:32), and we’re going to start and end our day focusing on the One Who cares for us, reminding ourselves to share His love with those around us.
With a book that was written over the course of 1,500-1,600 years with endless commentary, it’s easy to feel lost and intimidated and to give up when first reading the Bible, and TRUST me, we have ALL felt that. As the joke goes, “if the Bible in a year is a ‘speed run’, LEVITICUS is the RUN KILLER!”
So this small devotional is only meant to take the intimidation factor down a notch and give you a little something to spark your interest and encourage YOU to take that spark and turn it into your OWN ROARING FIRE.
Reflection Questions
• What are some connections to Jesus you have seen in the Bible?
• Once this study is over, how can you include reading the Bible into your daily schedule?
• Once this study is over, how can you include reading the Bible into your daily schedule?
Andrew & Ashley have been part of Heritage for many years. They are both incredibly artistic and recently became the first couple to actually get married during one of our Sunday morning church services. Andrew has an unquenchable thirst for studying the Bible and church history and Ashley is passionate about worship. They use those gifts to serve in Kids ministry, small groups, and Andrew also gets called on to teach on Sunday mornings.
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