Jesus in Genesis: Joseph as a Type

Romans 5:14 states that Adam is a type of Him who was to come.  The Greek word for type is tupos, which means an example to be imitated, a design, an ensample, or a person or thing that prefigures a future Messianic person or thing.  

When the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to types in Scripture, it becomes increasingly difficult to dismiss them as mere coincidences.  Types form an amazingly consistent pattern that could only have been devised by One who has divine knowledge of the course of history from the beginning of time to the end of the ages: our Lord.

In Genesis, Joseph is a type that beautifully shadows the second coming of Christ.  Below are just a few of many similarities that have been plucked from the Old Testament account of the life of Joseph.  

Some have already been fulfilled at Christ's first coming, while others still remain as our blessed hope, the imminent return of our Lord.

• Joseph is sent by his father to find out how his brothers (and their flock) are doing (Genesis 37:14) 
• He is rejected by his brothers, stripped of his robe, and cast into a pit (Genesis 37:23-24)
• He is sent to a far country (Genesis 37:28) 
• At the age of 30, he is exalted to the throne by Pharaoh, clothed in fine linen, and rules over all the land of Egypt (Genesis 41:40-43)
• He obtains a Gentile bride named Asenath (Genesis 41:45)
• He saves his people during the famine (Genesis 41:56-57)
• He shows grace to his brothers (Genesis 44:17)
• He is made known to his brothers the second time he appears before them (Genesis 45:1)
• He delivers his family from tribulation to settle into the land of Goshen (Genesis 45:10)