Seeing Christ in the Life of Joseph: The Pattern of the Suffering Servant
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Hardship and suffering mark the Christian life. Following Christ in a fallen and cursed world is a difficult task. When a person comes to saving faith in Christ, they enter a life marked by both war and peace. One the one hand, a believer comes into an indescribable and wonderous relationship with God. In this relationship they find the unparalleled blessing of knowing God and receiving His inexhaustible love, peace and grace. On the other hand, they soon discover challenges and afflictions accompany the Christian walk.
Upon their regeneration, God transfers believers out of the domain of darkness and into His kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13), where they walk in the newness of life found in Jesus Christ.
We are indeed children of light (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5), but the problem is we currently live in a world of darkness. We don’t belong here. Like a fish out of water, believers often find themselves struggling in a world of turmoil because the life they strive to live for God does not fit the world’s mold (Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 1:18-21). How do we make sense of this? If we’re God’s children, why does He allow us to linger in a world which is hostile to Christ?
Admittedly there are multiple ways to approach this complex question. However, a crucial part of the answer lies within the pattern of life our Lord lived during His earthly ministry. If Jesus went through trials and suffering in this life, we can expect the same (1 Peter 4:12-13). The pattern of life Jesus lived is known as the life of the Suffering Servant. This term is commonly associated with the messianic prophecy found in Isaiah 53 which describes the Servant of God who suffers and bears the iniquity of God’s people, getting crushed on their behalf and then rising to glory.
No doubt there are various ways to divide the Suffering Servant lifestyle. We will partition it into four phases: Commission, Rejection, Affliction/Humiliation, Glorification. Isaiah may provide the most popular passage regarding this topic, however, the truth is there are numerous examples throughout the Old Testament which prophesied the Messiah as the Suffering Servant. The life of Joseph provides one example.
We will see how the life of Joseph, recorded in Genesis, foreshadowed the life Jesus would live based on the pattern of the Suffering Servant.
Phase 1: The Commission
Joseph: Commissioned by Israel
From the beginning of Joseph’s account, Scripture reveals Joseph had a special relationship with his father, Jacob. This favoritism caused tension between Joseph and his brothers, who were jealous of their bond (Genesis 37:1-4).
One day, when Joseph’s ten older brothers were out shepherding Jacob’s flock, Israel (Jacob) sent Joseph to check on his brothers and report back. In faithful obedience, Joseph set out to do just as his father asked. Here we can see a picture of the faithful son going forth to accomplish the will of his father.
The fact that Israel commissioned Joseph is important. Joseph was not acting out of his own authority, rather he was acting on behalf of his father. This means Joseph’s mission carried the full authority of his father — the head of the family. For someone to reject Joseph was also to reject Israel.
Jesus Christ: Commissioned by God the Father
Why did Jesus come into the world? Why did the Eternal Son step down from heaven and come to save a sinful people not worthy of His grace? The answer is because He was sent by the Father to accomplish the Father’s will. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus made it clear He did not come by His own will; He came to do the work the Father gave Him to do. Following are a few passages where Jesus speaks about being sent by the Father:
“He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (Matthew 10:40, emphasis added).
“But He said to them, ‘I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose’” (Luke 4:43 emphasis added).
“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish His work’” (John 4:34 emphasis added).
“I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me” (John 8:18 emphasis added).
Jesus, the eternal Son of God, came to earth because He was sent by Father to accomplish the eternal plan of redemption set forth by the triune Godhead before the foundations of the earth were laid (Ephesians 1:3-6).
Phase 2: Rejection
Joseph: Rejected by His Own Family
Joseph’s mission to check on his brothers seemed doomed from the start. In the very beginning, the reader is already alerted to the hostility Joseph’s brothers felt toward him. God had given Joseph two dreams, revealing that he would become a ruler even over his own household; but his brothers wanted nothing to do with it. Furthermore, they already hated Joseph for the favoritism Jacob showed toward him (Genesis 37:3-11).
Joseph has been sent by his father to check in on his brothers. From the reader’s standpoint, how could this possibly go well? Anyone who grew up with squabbling siblings knows the predictable outcome. It’s a simple equation; when you put siblings who don’t get along together in the same room, they fight. So, it’s no surprise to the reader when Joseph doesn’t receive a warm welcome from his brothers.
What we don’t expect is the extent of the older siblings’ hatred toward their own brother. When they saw Josepeh approaching, the older brothers devised a plan against Joseph saying, “Here comes this dreamer! Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!” (Genesis 37:19-20).
By God’s providence, Joseph’s life was spared because the oldest brother, Reuben, convinced the other brothers not to murder Joseph (Genesis 37:21-22). The other brothers’ rejection of Joseph was completed, however, when they sold him into slavery to a passing caravan of Ishmaelites (Genesis 37:25-28). Joseph was completely rejected by his own kin, the very people who should have embraced him and loved him.
Jesus Christ: The Stumbling Block
Like Joseph, Jesus was also rejected by His own people. In the beginning of John’s Gospel we read, “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). The Jews weren’t interested in a Messiah who came to save them from their sin; they were looking for a Messiah who would grant them immediate deliverance from their Roman oppressors and restore them to Israel’s golden age as experienced under David and Solomon. They didn’t want to be told about their own wickedness and need for salvation.
Jesus was an unexpected Messiah, and He kicked against a lot of the Jews’ messianic expectations. Jesus knew His own people would reject Him because the Old Testament prophesied it in various ways (such as through the life of Joseph [Luke 9:22]). The Jews expected the Messiah to arrive in the fullness of divine glory and splendor. They never expected Him to come in such lowly and meek manner.
During Jesus’ earthly ministry, the greatest expression of the Jews' rejection came when they cried out to Pontius Pilate to crucify Jesus (John 19:14-15). The Jews may have been the first to reject Jesus, but they are in no way the only ones who reject Him. Unbelievers throughout the world scoff at Christ because He is not the kind of savior people want. For this reason, God’s Word describes Jesus as a stumbling block (1 Peter 2:4-8).
Phase 3: Humiliation/Affliction
Joseph: The Slave
A pivotal moment came in Joseph’s life when his brothers sold him into slavery. His status completely changed. He went from an honored, beloved son to a common slave. This transition marked Joseph’s entry into the third phase of the Suffering Servant pattern: humiliation and affliction. As a slave, Joseph found himself in Egypt where he served one of Pharaoh’s officials, Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s bodyguards (Genesis 37:36).
Even as a humble slave, though, the Lord blessed Joseph with favor in Potiphar’s eyes. As a result, Potiphar appointed Joseph over his entire household (Genesis 39:1-6). Yet this favor did not last forever. Potiphar’s wife eventually tried to seduce Joseph. When Joseph resisted the temptation and remained faithful to God, Potiphar’s wife used her power to falsely accuse Joseph of attempted rape, for which Joseph was thrown into prison (Genesis 39:7-20).
Scripture does not tell us exactly how long Joseph was in prison, but we do know it was at least two years (Genesis 41:1). Either way, Joseph found himself cut off from his family, betrayed by his brothers, surrounded by a foreign culture, enslaved by a pagan ruler, falsely accused of rape, and confined to a miserable dungeon. However long this part of Joseph’s life truly was, it must have seemed like an eternity.
Jesus Christ: The Suffering Servant
No matter what a person has suffered and gone through in this life, nobody can say they’ve suffered like Jesus. We can’t fathom what it was like for the eternal Son to humiliate Himself by descending to earth as a lowly human being. We can’t imagine what it was like for Jesus, who was perfectly holy and righteous and who loved God perfectly, to walk the earth amongst such perverse and wicked people. Every day must have been utterly heartbreaking for Jesus to be surrounded by the sin and suffering of this fallen world.
Yet, the climax of His affliction and humiliation came at His crucifixion, when He offered Himself up to the Father as a sacrifice for our sin. At Calvary, all the guilt and shame of our sin was placed on the perfect and blameless Son of God. Yes, the crucifixion itself brought unimaginable suffering. But the ultimate suffering came from God Himself, when He poured out His eternal wrath on His beloved Son, crushing Him for the guilt and penalty of our transgressions (Isaiah 53:4-6).
Phase 4: Glorification
Joseph: From Slave to Ruler
Even though Joseph went through a period of extreme trial and suffering, God remained faithful through it all. The Lord did not abandon Joseph in his suffering, rather, He worked through it for the good of both Joseph and the world.
While in the dungeon, Joseph successfully interpreted the dreams of two of Pharaoh’s officials (Genesis 40). This eventually earned him an audience with Pharaoh, who had two dreams of his own which needed interpretation (Genesis 41:14-16). When Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, Pharaoh honored Joseph by making him the ruler over all Egypt, second only to himself (Genesis 41:38-46). By God’s providential hand, Joseph went from humiliation to glory.
Jesus Christ: The Risen King
After His humiliation on the cross, the most glorious event of human history occurred. Jesus was resurrected from the grave, defeating both sin and death. Passing out of humiliation to glory, Jesus ascended to the heavens to take His throne (Acts 1:9-11; Ephesians 1:20-23). And now, our glorified King offers the forgiveness of sin and eternal life to all who call on His name for salvation. We may not completely understand the suffering we face in this life, but we can walk with hope knowing that we follow our Lord’s footsteps through the Refiner’s fire into glory.
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