God is many things: a Father, provider, a best friend. But my favorite role of God? Author. Hear me out. As a writer, I respect God’s frequent and poignant use of foreshadow in his drafting of the 66-book-long story of his love for us. In drafting the Greatest Love Story Every Told (that of the salvation of his people through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus), God used the story of Joseph in the Old Testament (Genesis 37, 38-45-ish) to foreshadow the story of Jesus in the New Testament. And this matters because the story of Jesus, in essence, foreshadows the story of our lives. Foreshadowing is a literary device used to give an indication or hint of what is to come later in the story. And by diving into the pages of the Old Testament, we see a glimpse of what is to come in our own lives. I’ll explain.

Joseph was born one of the youngest of twelve brothers, and the favorite of his father Jacob. (Genesis 37:3). Joseph was hated by his jealous brothers, so much so, that they threw him into a pit and told their father that Joseph died. (Gen 37:4, 18-36). During Joseph’s “death,” he became an Egyptian slave, but then eventually came to serve the Captain of the Guard of Egypt. (Gen 39:1-6). Joseph had various (mis)adventures while in Egypt such as being promoted to the Captain’s righthand man, then being falsely accused of attempted rape by said Captain’s wife, and subsequent imprisonment, prescient dream interpretation for Pharaoh, and ultimately becoming second in command of Egypt. (Gen 41:37-42). In a long story made very short, Joseph’s brothers had to eventually beg him for food to survive, not even recognizing him as their brother. (Gen 42:1-8). Joseph ultimately revealed himself, was “resurrected,” and became the savior of his family, essentially providing them food and warding off their death due to the famine that was gripping the land. (Gen 42-46ish). Joseph’s resurrection saved his brothers once they realized who he really was.

In the same way, Jesus, his father’s favorite, was hated by his jealous brothers–think Sadducees and Pharisees, (Matthew 12:9-14, and honestly so much of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), and they plotted to and did ultimately kill Jesus. (Matt 26:57-27:55). Though now, Jesus’ resurrection is literal, not figurative, and Jesus defeats death and brings salvation for those who realize who He really is and believe in Him as the One who saved them. (I’m just gonna cite the whole New Testament here).

As storyteller, God is undefeated. Not only does the life of Joseph point to the life of Jesus, but the life of Jesus points to our lives as believers. When we believe in Jesus, we become new people. (2 Corinth 5:17). When we believe in Jesus, we are equipped with the power to live a free life, not one that is bound and chained to the people we used to be or the things we used to do. God starts with Joseph, but ends with our future. When we believe in Jesus, we are resurrected, like Joseph and like Jesus. We are made new. If we lied incessantly before coming to Jesus, we don’t have to do that anymore; we can be free from that through the power of Jesus. If we were addicted to any of the things that try to compete for our attention and affection (from the oft-overlooked things like shopping, emotional eating, watching too much tv–I’m talking to myself here, to the more often maligned things like sex, drugs, and alcohol), whatever has a hold on us and makes us feel like we can’t cope without it, we can be free of it through the power given to us by believing in Jesus.

And God knew this potential freedom from the beginning, penning His power to make us new creations in Him, first through the story of Joseph, and then through the life of Jesus. Like any great literary work, the Bible artfully tells the story, but what we get from it, is completely up to us. But may I humbly suggest that the stories of Joseph and Jesus point us back to God, and his power to heal and set free through his Son. Now, it is up to us to choose our own adventure.