GENESIS - CHAPTER
40
A Bible Study - Commentary by Jim
Melough
Copyright
2000 James Melough
40:1.
“And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of
Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt.”
Joseph’s experience
in Egypt continues to be the symbolic revelation of the experience of the Lord Jesus
Christ during this present age.
“And it came to pass
after these things.” After what
things? After his imprisonment on the
false charge of his master’s wife, that imprisonment portraying the Lord’s death
at the hand of the Gentiles, His death at the hand of the Jews having been typically
shown in his being cast into the pit by his brethren.
The butler represents
the believing remnant of Israel, as foreknown by God, and believers in general, also
as foreknown by God. He is mentioned
first, and Israel is described as God’s firstborn.
His dream centers around a vine, and in Scripture a vine is the symbol of
Israel, Ps 80:8 “Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt,” where the reference is
clearly to Israel. He was restored to his high office, as Israel, represented by the
believing remnant, will be restored to her place of supremacy in the Millennium.
All believers will also be restored to an even better position than that
forfeited by Adam.
The baker, on the
other hand, represents the unbelieving mass of the nation, and unbelievers in
general. Like the butler, he also had
fallen from the king’s favor, but instead of being restored he was executed.
All unbelievers will be banished to the eternal torment of the lake of fire.
40:2.
“And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the
butlers, and against the chief of the bakers.”
In Pharaoh’s anger
against the butler and the baker we find the symbolic declaration of the fact that
all men have offended God, as it is written, “All have sinned, and come short of
the glory of God” (Ro 3:23).
Here it is said that
“Pharaoh was wroth,” but in verse one it is said that they had offended
their lord “the king of Egypt.”
The language would almost seem to imply that there were two separate kings,
though we know, of course, that the descriptions apply to the same person.
Since Egypt is invariably used in Scripture as a type of the world in its
independence of God, the king of Egypt represents Satan, since he is the “prince of
this world” (Jn 14:430). And while the
Pharaohs in general are types of Satan, this Pharaoh is the exception, for everything
points clearly to his being a type of God the Father. He is well disposed towards Joseph, he promotes him, and invests
him with the power to rule Egypt, as the Father will invest Christ with the power to
rule the world in the Millennium.
This symbolic portrait
of two world rulers, teaches truth relative to the human race.
Men are under the dominion of Satan, the prince of this world, and he is
“angry” with them simply because he delights in inflicting pain and suffering
even upon his most loyal subjects. But
men are also under the higher dominion of God, and He too is angry with them, but it
is a righteous anger that chastises with a view to producing repentance that will
enable Him to pardon their sin and bestow His gift of eternal life.
40:3.
“And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the
prison, the place where Joseph was bound.”
Their imprisoned
condition is a picture of the condition of man in his natural state, for he too, is
imprisoned spiritually. His life is
restricted to earthly experience, limited to the few brief years of time, and during
those years he is the prisoner of his own lusts, and of Satan.
But he is imprisoned also with regard to God, for in rejecting Christ, he cuts
himself off from fellowship with God, and from all free men, and only believers are
truly free.
In chapter thirty-nine
the prison warden is called “the keeper of the prison,” but here he is called
“the captain of the guard.” As
keeper of the prison he represents not
only the individual spiritual believer, but also the spiritual minority among the
carnal majority in the Church, see notes on chapter thirty-nine.
Here, however, as captain of the guard, he represents something else, for
neither the spiritual believer nor the spiritual minority in the Church has any
control over the unsaved. Inasmuch as he
is well disposed towards Joseph, whom he appoints to attend these two prisoners, it
may be that in the present context he is a type of the Holy Spirit.
We have to remember that in the context of this present chapter, Joseph’s
experience in the prison is a type not only of the earthly life of the Lord Jesus
Christ, but also a type of His experience during this present age.
He, too, was “imprisoned” by the limitations of the humanity He had
willingly assumed, and He, too, as He served humanity during His earthly life, was
subject to the control of the Holy Spirit. And
during this present age He permits His ministry through the Holy Spirit to be subject
to the control of the individual believer’s will.
40:4.
“And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them:
and they continued a season in ward.”
It is emphasized that
the captain of the guard appointed Joseph to “serve them,” reminding us that the
type was fulfilled when Christ, under the Holy Spirit’s control, served both Jew
and Gentile here on earth, declaring, “The Son of man came not to be ministered
unto (served), but to minister (serve), and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mt
20:28).
40:5.
“And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night,
each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of
the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison.”
It is clear that God
today communicates with men only through His Word, but in former times He
communicated also through dreams. It is
emphasized that the dream which revealed to each man his future, came in the night
(men may dream also in the daytime). The
darkness of night speaks of a corresponding spiritual state: man in his natural state
is in spiritual darkness. The darkness
reminds us also that just as it is the absence of the sun that makes literal
darkness, so is it the absence of Christ that causes this world’s spiritual
darkness. The God Who spoke in dreams in
the darkness of night to the butler and baker is the same God Who speaks today to Jew
and Gentile while they are spiritually “asleep” (unaware of their spiritual
state), in the midst of this world’s darkness, seeking to warn them and turn them
to Christ.
It is emphasized that
each man dreamed his own dream. The
butler’s future wasn’t revealed in the dream of the baker, nor was the baker’s
future revealed in the dream of the butler. Salvation
is an individual matter where each man himself must deal with God.
One is not held accountable for another’s sins, nor can one man believe for
another.
As the future of the
two men was revealed in the darkness of night, so is the future of all men revealed
here and now in the spiritual darkness of this world’s night.
There was one great
difference, however, between those two prisoners and the spiritual prisoners they
represent. They could do nothing to
change the futures foretold in the dreams, but their spiritual counterparts do have a
choice.
Lest the Calvinist
seize upon this as support for his erroneous view that some men are predestinated to
be saved, and others lost, we would point out first of all that such a view is
completely contrary to the whole teaching of Scripture, and secondly, in regard to
the butler and the baker, there is nothing to justify the belief that the baker
received anything but the just punishment his crime deserved.
Those who assume otherwise do what the Calvinist has always done: they fail to
distinguish between God’s foreknowledge and His right to predestinate, with the
result that they reduce Him to the level of a tyrant who foreknows only because he
has already predestinated. They can’t
see that His omniscience enables Him to foreknow, while His omnipotence enables Him
to predestinate that believers will be in heaven, and unbelievers in hell, and yet
leave man free to chose his own eternal dwelling place.
The God of the Calvinist has already made the choice.
The Gospel, however, presents the sinner, not only with a choice, but with a
God great enough to be able to leave him to make that choice.
40:6.
“And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and,
behold, they were sad.”
Their sadness was due
to the fact that they were unable to interpret their dreams.
It is significant that the one who represents Christ, the Light of the World,
should come unto them in “the morning.” Darkness
and light can’t exist together, for light dispels darkness.
Where Christ is there is light.
“They were sad,”
and with good cause. They were in prison
for offenses against “their lord the king of Egypt,” and uncertain as to what
punishment they would suffer. The man
they represent must also be sad, for they represent the man who has become aware of
his spiritual state, aware that he is in a spiritual prison because of his offenses
against God, and uncertain as to what the punishment will be.
40:7.
“And he asked Pharaoh’s officers that were with him in the ward of his
lord’s house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly today?”
It is significant that
they are described as “Pharaoh’s officers,” and not as officers of the king of
Egypt, as in verse one. As we have noted
already, the king of Egypt represents Satan, but Pharaoh, in this section of
Joseph’s history, represents God the Father. However
much men may have sinned against Him, God doesn’t leave them to the mercy of “the
king of Egypt” Satan. If they will but
repent of their sin, and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, God will forgive,
and restore them to a higher position than Adam in his unfallen state ever knew.
40:8.
“And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no
interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto
them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.”
Their need was to have
an interpreter. In Job 33:23-24, Elihu
also declares the need of an interpreter, “God’s voice may be heard if there is
for the hearer ... an interpreter ... to show to man what is right ... how to be
upright and in right standing with God. Then God is gracious to him, and says, Deliver him from going down
into the pit of destruction, I have found a ransom....” (Amplified Old Testament
version). The Lord Jesus Christ, of
course, is the great Interpreter, presenting Himself as the Way, the Truth and the
Life. Joseph, as interpreter, continues
to represent Christ.
40:9.
“And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my
dream, behold, a vine was before me.”
The vine is not only a
symbol of Israel, it is also a symbol of Christ, “I am the true vine” (Jn 15:1).
The truth being symbolically revealed in the butler’s dream is that Christ
the true vine is set before sinners, and their eternal state is governed by what they
do with that “Vine.”
40:10.
“And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and
her blossoms shot forth, and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes.”
In Jn 15:5 the Lord
declared not only that He was the true vine, He declared also that believers were the
branches, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.”
The branches, then, in the vine of the butler’s dream represent believers,
those who are in Christ, and there being three of them announces that believers stand
on resurrection ground: they have been raised out of spiritual death into spiritual
life. But in that the grapes hung from
those branches we read in symbol that believers abiding in Him are those to whom the
Lord has graciously given the privilege of presenting the Gospel to perishing men and
women.
In Jn 10:10 the Lord
declared, “I am come that they (believers) might have life, and that they might
have it more abundantly.” The
burgeoning branches in the vine of the butler’s dream were the symbol of that more
abundant life. The order in nature is
first the bud, then the blossom, and afterwards the fruit.
The simultaneous appearance of all three tells us that the life they represent
is not natural, but supernatural, it is spiritual, it is Divine, it is the eternal
life found only in Christ.
40:11.
“And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them
into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.”
The one thing
essential for salvation is announced in those two words “I took.”
Salvation is a gift offered by God to all men, but it becomes the possession
only of those who accept that gift. Everyone
in heaven will confess “I took the gift of life so graciously offered me by God,”
and everyone in hell will confess with bitter remorse, “I refused to take.”
Those crushed grapes
represent the blood of Christ, and in the butler’s giving that cup to Pharaoh we
are being shown what sinners must give to God if they would stand accepted in His
presence. Pharaoh’s acceptance of that
cup signified also his acceptance of the one who offered it.
God will also accept every sinner who presents Him with the blood of Christ.
That cup of life and
blessing is available to sinners only because Christ willingly accepted a cup of
wrath, judgment and death so terrible that the very contemplation of it led Him to
pray, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my
will, but thine be done.... And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his
sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Lk
22:42-44).
A few things should be
noted in connection with this vine. The
butler had no part in producing it, nor had he any part in causing it to produce the
buds, blossoms, and fruit. His part was
to take what God had provided, and in this we are being taught that it is God Who has
provided all that is necessary for man’s salvation, man’s only part being to take
what God has provided.
Wine is the Scriptural
symbol of joy, and in Pharaoh’s taking the cup presented by the butler we are being
shown the joy that is brought to the heart of God when a sinner comes to Him with no
other plea than the simple faith to believe that, “The blood of Jesus Christ His
Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7).
40:12.
“And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three
branches are three days.”
Here we have another
demonstration of the truth that a Scriptural symbol isn’t necessarily restricted to
one application. From the Gospel of John
we have seen that branches represent believers, and in the Old Testament branches are
also used as symbols of Christ, e.g., Jer 23:5
“I will raise unto David a righteous Branch”; Zec 3:8 “I will bring forth My
servant the BRANCH,” and Zec 6:12 “Behold the Man whose name is the BRANCH.”
Here, however, God has chosen to use three branches to represent three days,
and the number of those days points to resurrection.
The prison represents the place of death, but in three days the butler would
be taken out of it and restored to his former position.
He is clearly a type of a believer foreknown by God, for the believer
experiences more than resurrection out of spiritual death: he is assured of
participating also in the resurrection of life, when at the Lord’s coming to the
air, the body also will be taken out of this earthly “prison” either by
resurrection or translation.
40:13.
“Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee
unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the
former manner when thou wast his butler.”
These glad tidings to
the butler are but a faint echo of the glad tidings announced to every sinner through
the Gospel. Faith in Jesus Christ brings
to the believer the assurance that he will participate in the resurrection of life,
that he will be restored to a better position than that from which Adam fell, and
that for all eternity he will bring joy to the heart of God.
40:14.
“But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray
thee unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh and bring me out of this house.”
The first thing the
butler was asked to do was to think on Joseph, or remember him, and surely recalls
the Lord’s similar request on the night of His betrayal when He instituted the
remembrance feast, “This do in remembrance of Me” (Lk 22:19).
But the butler forgot. That was
bad enough, but how much worse it would have been had he done what many Christians do
- deliberately refuse to remember. Do
Christians deliberately refuse to remember? Yes,
often! I refuse to remember when I
absent myself from the Lord’s table for any reason other than one that I am certain
would be acceptable to God. There are
many ways in which I may deliberately refuse. I
may accept employment that I know will make attendance at the Lord’s table
impossible. I may choose to vacation
where I know there will be no place to meet with believers to eat the Lord’s
supper. The ways are legion.
The second request was
“and show kindness ... unto me.” The
Lord has made a similar request of us, “Be ye kind one to another” (Eph 4:32),
and in fulfilling that command we are showing kindness to Him, for He Himself has
said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye
have done it unto Me” (Mt 25:40).
But again the butler forgot. Do we?
The third request was,
“And make mention of me unto Pharaoh.” Since
we have seen that Pharaoh, in the context of this section, represents God the Father,
this request translates into the spiritual truth that we should “make mention” of
Christ to the Father. How?
Every time we pray. Worship, in
fact, is nothing less than the presentation to the Father of our appreciation of
Christ. And even in presenting our
requests to God we are instructed, “In everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Php 4:6).
And again the butler forgot. Do we?
The fourth request
was, “And bring me out of this house.” The house was the prison, the place where
Joseph was bound. In
our study of Ge 39:22 we noted that the prison seems to represent the small
area of his life which the carnal believer permits to remain under the Holy
Spirit’s control, while in its application to the Church, it may represent that
part made up of the small spiritual minority as distinguished from the carnal
majority. It seems then, that this
request translates into the Lord’s desire that His ministry through the Holy Spirit
be freed from restriction, both in the life of the individual believer, and also in
the Church. God can’t bless us fully
until we are yielded completely to His control.
As Joseph desired to be freed from the restriction of the prison, so does
Christ desire to be free from the restrictions imposed by our refusal to submit our
lives completely to His control.
And again the
butler forgot.
It is significant that
there were four things requested of the butler. Four is the number of testing, and in all four areas he failed the
test. As we have seen, the literal
requests made by Joseph translate into spiritual requests made by Christ.
We would do well to stop and judge our own performance while there is time to
make amends. It will be too late at the Bema.
40:15.
“For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also
have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.”
We have already
considered the circumstances surrounding his having been “stolen away out of the
land of the Hebrews,” and noted that it represents Christ’s turning away from
Israel to the Gentiles after being rejected by the former.
His being “stolen” (taken away against his will) reminds us that the
Lord’s departure from Israel was also against His will.
It was only with the greatest reluctance that He turned away from them; it was
only after “They had bound Him, and led Him away to Pontius Pilate” (Mt 27:2),
only after they cried, “Let Him be crucified” (Mt 27:22).
But even their having crucified Him didn’t cause Him to abandon them and
turn to the Gentiles, for after His resurrection, the assurance given Israel through
Peter was, “And now, brethren, I wot (know) that through ignorance ye did it, as
did also your rulers” Ac 3:17. It was
their rejection of the Gospel expressed in their killing of Stephen that sealed their
doom, and caused Him to finally turn to the Gentiles and offer them the riches which
Israel despised and rejected.
Joseph’s treatment
at the hand of the Egyptians, however, was no different from his treatment at the
hand of his brethren, nor has Christ’s experience among the Gentiles been any
different from what it was among the Jews. As
Joseph was cast into the pit (the place of death) by his brethren, so was he cast
into the dungeon (the place of death) by the Egyptians.
As Christ was hated and rejected by the Jews, so is He also hated and rejected
by the Gentiles.
There was no reason
for Joseph’s brethren to cast him into the pit, nor was there any reason, save a
false accusation, for the Egyptians to cast him into the dungeon.
But Joseph’s experience simply adumbrates that of Christ.
Neither Jew nor Gentile has had any cause to hate Him of Whom it is written,
“They hated Me without a cause” (Jn 15:25).
40:16.
“When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto
Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head.”
We have seen the
butler and the baker to be representative of the believing remnant in Israel, and of
the unbelieving mass of the nation respectively, and also of believers and
unbelievers in general. The crucial
difference between the believer and the unbeliever is portrayed in what each man
said. The butler said, “I took,” but
the baker said, “I had.” The
believer, recognizing that he has nothing, “takes” (accepts) God’s gift of
eternal life, but the unbeliever, failing to recognize that he too has nothing, says
“I have.” It may be that he thinks
he has some righteousness, something which added to the work of Christ, makes him
worthy of salvation. The man who would
have salvation must be willing to acknowledge that he has nothing to commend him to
God, and that he is completely unworthy of God’s mercy.
There was a three also
in the baker’s dream: he had three baskets which represent three days, verse 18.
For him, however, “resurrection” from the dungeon was very different from
that of the butler - he was lifted up out of the dungeon to be executed. As there is a resurrection of life for the believer, so is there a
resurrection of damnation for the unbeliever, Jn 5:28-29, “Marvel not at this: for
the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and
shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they
that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”
(As to the good that fits men for the resurrection of life, we read in Jn 6:29
“This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent.”
The only thing that fits a man for heaven is faith in Christ: the only thing
that will keep a man out of heaven, and take him into hell, is lack of faith).
Everything connected
with the baker speaks of the unbeliever’s dependence on his own works.
The baskets were man-made, and they were white, the color of righteousness,
but in this case, of self-righteousness. Some
translations give “full of holes” rather than “white.
If this is correct, the lesson, then, would be that the man whose hope of
heaven is based on good works, will discover, too late, that as the contents of such
baskets fall out and are lost, so will he find himself standing before God with an
“empty basket” (nothing to offer).
“On my head.”
This speaks of knowledge that is simply intellectual.
Hell is full of people who had an intellectual knowledge of Christ, but who
never knew Him as their Savior.
40:17.
“And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for
Pharaoh, and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.”
The bakemeats, things
prepared by the baker himself, speak of good works.
That uppermost white basket therefore, represents the good works which the
self-righteous unbeliever hopes to offer God. There
was “all manner of bakemeats.” The
ingenuity of man can produce an infinite variety of works that he hopes God will
accept, but acceptance with God isn’t based on good works.
The baker had wasted his time preparing those bakemeats, for none of them ever
reached Pharaoh. The man whose hope of
heaven is resting on his good works will also discover, too late, that he has wasted
his time. The man who has no other hope
than this will discover when he stands before God that all he has is an empty basket.
The bakemeats had been
eaten by the birds. With the exception
of the few “clean” birds like the dove and the pigeon, birds in Scripture are
symbolic of evil. In the parable of the
sower, for example, the fowls that devoured the seed that had fallen by the wayside
are described by the Lord as “the wicked one” (Mt 13:19).
The truth we may learn from the fact that the bakemeats were eaten by the
birds is that Satan is the one who deludes men into believing the lie that God will
accept good works. His lie leaves them
to face God in their sins, and with nothing to offer but an “empty basket.”
But we may learn
something from the other baskets. Since
they were literally closer to the person of the baker than was that uppermost basket,
they represent things that were of more concern than what the third basket
represents. That third basket represents
the unbeliever’s preparation for eternity, and its being separated from his body by
the other two, declares the truth that with the unbeliever the things of this world
are of more importance. The things of
eternity are of little importance to him.
The contents of those
other baskets aren’t disclosed, but it isn’t difficult to know what their
contents portray. They represent jobs,
family, the quest for money or fame, the pursuit of pleasure, and all the other
things that have first claim on man’s attention. The baker had much upon his head, the three baskets represent all
the activities of life. But to what
profit? He lost his head. The man who has nothing more than what those three baskets
represent will lose something of even greater value - his soul.
The essential element
in the butler’s offering was the blood of the grapes, for it represents the blood
of Christ. The offering of the baker was
like that of Cain, there was nothing in it that represented Christ’s blood, and
“Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb 9:22).
40:18.
“And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three
baskets are three days.”
40:19.
“Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and
shall hang thee on a tree, and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.”
As has been noted
already, those three baskets point to the resurrection of damnation, and the fact
that he was first beheaded, and afterwards hung on a tree, points to the fact that
the unbeliever dies twice: once physically when his body goes to the grave, and his
soul to hell; and then again following his judgment at the great white throne, when
he will be cast, body, soul, and spirit into the eternal torment of the lake of fire,
as it is written “... and they were judged every man according to their works.
And death (the body) and hell (the soul) were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire”
(Re 20:13-15).
The significance of
his being hung on a tree after being beheaded is revealed in Ga 3:13, “Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree.” Such
is the condition of all who die without Christ.
And the tragedy is that they make themselves a curse by refusing to believe
that, “Christ hath redeemed us (believers) from the curse of the law, being made a
curse for us” (Ga 3:13).
The birds continue to
represent Satan and the evil spirits which serve him.
Their eating his flesh declares the truth that it is Satan who accomplishes
the destruction of all who heed his lies.
40:20.
“And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he
made a feast unto his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of
the chief baker among his servants “
This great feast which
brought joy to the butler, and corresponding grief to the baker, may foreshadow
Christ’s judgment of the nations at the end of the Tribulation, when
unbelievers will be banished bodily into hell, and the believers will enter
into the enjoyment of the millennial kingdom. This,
however, doesn’t exclude the fact that it points also to the eternal feast of joy
in the new heavens and new earth following the judgment of the great white throne.
40:21.
“And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again, and he gave
the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.”
Can there be any doubt
that after his prison experience, the butler would value his restored state far more
highly than he had ever done before? This declares the truth that faith in Christ does more than
restore the believer to the state forfeited by Adam’s disobedience: it lifts him
into an infinitely higher one from which he can never fall.
“And he gave the cup
into Pharaoh’s hand.” The cup of
salvation which the guilty sinner accepts as God’s free gift, becomes a cup of
worship which the grateful saint can present to God in return, and thereby delight
His heart.
40:22.
“But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them.”
Having already
discussed the spiritual significance of the baker’s execution, it is unnecessary to
repeat it here.
“As Joseph had
interpreted.” Each man’s future,
foreknown by God, was revealed by Joseph. The
future of every man is foreknown by God, and revealed by the written Word, which
itself is the revelation of Him Who is the living Word.
God’s foreknowledge, however, must not be confused with predestination.
Man has a free will, both before and after conversion, and within the limits
of God’s permissive will, he has freedom of choice.
What the individual will do during his earthly life is foreknown by God, but
not predestinated. What has been
predestinated are the consequences that must result from the use of that free will.
God has predestinated that the man who chooses to accept Christ as Savior will
be in heaven eternally, and the man who chooses to reject Christ will be in the lake
of fire eternally. He has not, however,
predestinated that choice.
As the futures of the
butler and the baker were foretold by Joseph, so is the future of every man foretold
by the Word of God. He who trusts Christ
will be in heaven eternally, and he who does not will be in the lake of fire
eternally.
Regarding those who
die without ever having heard the Gospel, the explanation is not that a capricious
God has predestinated them to be lost, and others saved, but rather that according to
His foreknowledge He knew that even if they had heard the Gospel they would not have
believed, and in His sovereignty has chosen that they should not hear it.
In His sovereignty He has also chosen that some should hear the Gospel, even
though He knows that they will reject it. This
exercise of His sovereignty according to His foreknowledge, however, is not
predestination. The Calvinist’s error
is that he thinks it is.
40:23.
“Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.”
To condemn the butler
is to condemn ourselves. He carelessly
forgot one who had merely interpreted a dream. We
all too often fail to remember the One Who has died to make possible our deliverance
from the present “dungeon” of spiritual death, and a future eternal “dungeon”
- the lake of fire.
In closing our study
of this chapter we might note also that it presents us with a beautiful picture of
Calvary. The dungeon, the place of
death, represents Calvary. Joseph is a
type of Christ; the butler, a type of the repentant malefactor; and the baker, a type
of his unrepentant companion. From the
dungeon Joseph went out to rule Egypt; one malefactor went out to life; the other, to
death. From Calvary Christ has gone to
sit glory-crowned beside the Father until that soon-coming day when He will come
forth to rule the world; one malefactor went out to eternal life; the other, to
eternal death.
[Genesis 41]
