Page 31 - Christ in You - The Hope of Glory

Genesis 45:13
Now you must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt, and all that you have seen;
and you must hurry and bring my father down here."

Genesis 46:29
And Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel;
as soon as he appeared before him, he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long
time.

As you are sojourning in this land of Egypt (the world) are your thoughts continuously
turning toward your Father in heaven? Do you yearn to be in His presence, partaking of His
fellowship? Is this desire revealed in the time you spend in prayer and the study of His
word? Or are you captivated by all the pleasures and pursuits of this world, with its allure
to the sensual nature of man? Do you stand apart from your brothers in your devotion to
your father? Do you turn away from sin as Joseph turned away from Potipher’s wife who
sought to seduce him, or are you as Reuben who failed to curb his fleshly lust and had
sexual relations with his father’s concubine? The choices we make now in this life will
determine whether we will attain to the preeminence of the firstborn from the dead.
The firstborn always received a double portion from their father when the inheritance
was given to the sons.

Deuteronomy 21:17
But he shall acknowledge the first-born... by giving him a double portion of all that
he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; to him belongs the right of the
first-born.

As we have seen, being granted the right of the firstborn is a spiritual parable. This
right is not granted according to natural order, but according to worthiness, and love for the
Father. Thus Jacob received the double portion instead of Esau, and Joseph received the
double portion instead of Reuben.

Genesis 48:21-22
Then Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am about to die..., and I give you one portion
more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword
and my bow."

Genesis 49:22-26
Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring..., from the God of your father
who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The
blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors up to the
utmost bound of the everlasting hills; May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the
crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers.

In the resurrection from the dead there will be those who are distinguished among
their brothers. Their blessings will surpass the blessings of all others. The blessings of their
Father in heaven will be on the head of those who attain to the number of the firstborn.