The Lord Has Spoken

Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; Whose branches run over the wall: The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the Shepherd, the stone of Israel). Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; And by the Almighty, who shall bless thee, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: The blessings of thy father, have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.” (Genesis 49:22-26)
The above is Jacob’s blessing to Joseph. Each of his twelve sons received a blessing before Jacob went to his rest, but interestingly when Jacob called his sons, he said; “…Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days…”. So the blessings contained a clue as to the ongoing future of each of the tribes of Israel – even unto the last days.
In Deuteronomy 33, we can also read of the blessings Moses gave to the children of Israel, this was before his death in the land of Moab. The blessings bestowed upon the peoples of Joseph were, once again, most abundant. In particular we read; “…His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horn of unicorns: With them he shall he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh…”
Joseph was separated from his brothers when they sold him because they were jealous of his dreams and the favour shown upon him by his father – and no doubt the Spirit of the Lord had been upon him, which is why he was really set apart from his brothers already, with an inner knowing that something special was to befall him, and Jacob probably sensed this too – after all, he himself had been chosen of the Lord.
We know well the story of Joseph in Egypt, and how he rose up to become Pharaoh’s right hand man. And when his brother’s came to Egypt to buy food at a time of great famine, and were eventually reunited with their ‘lost’ sibling, Joseph realised that the whole situation had been a part of God’s plan to save His people from the famine, and to provide a (temporary) dwelling place where they could be nurtured and helped to grow – and multiply. And whilst they dwelt there, the Lord blessed the hind – for their sake.
Almighty God had ‘arranged’ for the children of Israel to dwell in Egypt – for a set time. He knew that as time passed, a new Pharaoh would come to power – who knew not of Joseph – and who would take advantage of the Israelites, and treat them with contempt. And when that time came, He raised up a man whom He could use to bring His people out.
Here in Great Britain I am very pleased to say that we have just been released from a similar situation. We have officially exited from the European Union – that modern day version of Babylon. Like the children of Israel we have come forth, and the hand of God was very much involved with the whole event. It may be that we had to dwell in this unholy set up for a while, as the lesser of two evils, for at the time of our joining we had been experiencing strikes and electricity cuts and great unrest, as union power in the hands of Marxist/socialists from the Soviet Union- sought to bring our country down. But that same evil flowed into the already corrupt EU when the Berlin wall came down, even though they said that Marxism was dead. It wasn’t – by that time it had already infiltrated into the Western world – and still threatens us all.
Like Joseph – and as Joseph’s descendants – we were sold down the river when we became a part of the ‘Common Market’. But as with our ancestors in Biblical times, it was all part of God’s plan. In Micah 4 v to we read “…and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.” And so, when given the chance – at the allotted time, we answered the call of the Almighty to; ‘ …Come out of her, My people…” And when we did answer that call, in a referendum in 2016, like the children of Israel, our dear desire to leave was met with contempt. But like Moses and Aaron God raised up men who He used to help in our deliverance. Nigel Farage, almost killed in a plane crash a few years ago, said that after that accident he felt fearless in his endeavour to work towards our leaving the EU, and then there is Alexander Boris Johnson, our Prime minister, who during the referendum campaign likened the challenge to a ‘David and Goliath’ situation, and who in the lead up to the December 2019 election – which he won with a large majority, meaning he could finally get done all that was necessary for us to leave – was pictured in our national newspapers leading a magnificent Bull…! (…His glory is like the firstling of his bullock; and his horns are like the horns of unicorns…). And just in case there was any doubt about the Lord having a hand in it all, did you know about the comet Borisov which was spotted in the heavens back in August 2019? Astronomers believe that it is a second visitor from out side of our galaxy. It headed into our solar system from the direction of the constellation Gemini, and swung around our sun during early December, just days before our General Election, before heading off back to the outer solar system. And Borisov (the name of the person who discovered it) mean’s belonging to Boris, or Boris’! And despite the sins of His people, the Lord most surely heard the many, many prayers of countless Christian folk asking for deliverance.
“God, by the mighty power of His own right arm, took Israel out of Egypt; and by His own glorious presence guided, protected, and led them through forty years of wandering in the wilderness. But it is written, “With many of them God was not well pleased.” Still He withdrew neither his protection nor His manifest presence from them as a nation. Today it might also be written, ‘With the greater portion of Joseph-Israel God is not well pleased, and yet they are manifestly the people, nationally speaking, whom He has blessed, and to whom He has remembered the word of His oath So Says J.H. Allen in his book `Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright’.
The Lord God has a plan for His people. The blessings given to Joseph and his descendants are like fruit that are born on his vine. Much has come to pass, but they include the last days – in which we now dwell. It is the same with all of the people of Israel, and we know that ultimately, when the kingdom of God – the New Jerusalem – is established on this earth, and His Glory made manifest for all to behold Israel will be very much an established part of that kingdom.