Genesis 40 Series, Part 17, Verses 10-13

Hello, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Tonight is study #17 in Genesis 40, and we will read Genesis 40:10-13:

And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days: Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.

The vine had three branches, and verse 12 reveals the interpretation which belongs to God regarding the three branches being three days. Again, it is God’s prerogative to define His own terms. It is His Word from His kingdom.

The problems facing people who come to the Bible and take it literally are just insurmountable. They will get nowhere. Just as Christ spoke parables, He gave interpretation, and God is interpreting the dream here. By the way, this also means that whenever we are reading things in the Bible like there being three branches, I think we have to consider the candlestick that had three branches on one side and three branches on the other side. I am not sure how to relate that to what is being said here, but we have to take it in to consideration. Could it have something to do with that? That is how we learn as we allow God to define various words, just as Jesus explained parables. And when we compare Scripture with Scripture, we can often see the biblical definition, and our biblical vocabulary increases.

In this case we want to look at “three days.” We want to see what the Bible has to say about “three days.” You may not be aware that the Bible has a lot to say about “three days.” It is even mentioned in Exodus. We will look at some scriptures where I think we will find some answers to a couple of verses that have perplexed us in the past as we have tried to understand them. It so happens that two or three months ago a caller phoned in to EBible Fellowship’s Open Forum program and brought up some things that were very helpful to our understanding. Lord willing, we will get to those verses in our next study.

Again, we are looking at the “three days,” and there is a lot of information that relates to “three days” that will tie to some other Scriptures in the New Testament. At this time we are going to start and go slowly as we build an understanding of what is being said in those other verses.

Let us begin by going to Exodus 10:21-23:

And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

This was one of God’s plagues upon Egypt when the Israelites was captive and bondmen and bondwomen in service to Pharaoh. One of the plagues was when God sent “thick darkness” for three days, so we would think that “three days” identify with judgment because all the plagues were judgments upon Pharaoh and Egypt, as Pharaoh is a type of Satan and Egypt is a type of the world. There are three days of wrath, which is what the darkness would represent.

One thing we can relate this to is our present Judgment Day period, or it can relate to when judgment began at the house of God when God took away the light of the Gospel from the churches, and there was spiritual darkness in all the churches and congregations. Interestingly, the way “darkness” works out spiritually is through darkness of understanding, as we see in Ephesians 4:17-18:

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

So God came to judge the corporate church entity. Previously Christ had been in the midst of the congregations as the Light of the “candlestick,” which gave the churches light. He is the essence of light. Then when God began judgment at the house of God, the Spirit of Christ departed out, and the light went out, leaving the churches in darkness. This is represented in Revelation 8 where the Lord speaks of judgment on the “third part,” and the “third part” is a reference to the corporate church. We read in Revelation 8:12:

And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

Some might say, “Well, if it is only the third part, then two-thirds is still light,” but that is not the case. The “third part” is the designation of God for the entire corporate church body of all the denominations in the world. So it is complete darkness. Later on, we read in Matthew 24:29:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven…

You see, it does not say “third part” like it does in Revelation 8:12, but that is how God made it possible for us to distinguish who, or what, is the object of His wrath. The “third part” meant the churches were the object of His wrath, but the sun, moon, and stars being darkened represent the light of the Gospel as it applies to all the world. So first the judgment began at the house of God, the churches, and the “third part” was darkened.

And if you wanted to use the figure of “two-thirds,” it identifies with mankind, which identifies with the nations. God sent the Latter Rain to all the nations, and the light of the Gospel was shining in the world outside the churches for a period of about 17 years. But immediately after the Tribulation, the Latter Rain concluded and the Great Tribulation was complete, and then the sun is darkened, and there was darkness in all the world, spiritually speaking.

Remember that from Ephesians 4 we know that darkening has to do with having the understanding darkened. Once God departed out, then His wisdom, knowledge and light departed, and the natural men who had become the overwhelming majority in the congregations remained when God eventually called His people out. The wise (the elect) had been serving as a buffer to the madness and evil of the majority, but once we were called out there was no one to say to the pastor, “What about this verse? What about that verse?” The rulers in the churches were not being confronted with truth, and the tares that remained were not bothered by the lack of truth in their doctrines. The elect would have been more vocal in asking for clarity and truth, but now that they were gone, there was “thick darkness” in understanding. 

That is how things like the “tongues movement” spread among hundreds of millions of professed Christians, and that is “another gospel” that is in violation of the command not to add to the scriptures that we find in Revelation 22:18-19. Things like “falling over backwards,” and being “slain in the Spirit” are not signs that they have the Spirit of God, but it is actually a sign that they are under judgment. Who could have imagined that people would think that “falling over backwards,” or “holy laughter,” is of God? It is so obvious that it is a mockery, and it is the activity of Satan to mock the true Gospel, the true Word of God. Their blindness just goes on and on, and women were starting to take over the pastor roles in the pulpit even though the Bible says, “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man…” Anything goes, including worshipping the sun, moon, and stars, and even homosexual bishops. In fact, to be a bishop, elder, or pastor, you had to have certain qualifications. And the Bible teaches that marriage is to be between one man and one woman, and there was not to be divorce, but now the marriage institution has been trodden underfoot. You know as well as I that this is all part of the “darkness.” Once the Light of God departed out, the judgment of God, as typified by “three days,” was upon them. So the “three days” can represent God’s judgment on the churches and congregations.

Then on May 21, 2011, the judgment transitioned to the whole world, and all of a sudden more and more nations and their governments began to rule in favor of men marrying men, and so forth. It was seen as a good thing, and it was considered part of their freedom and just another form of “love.” But “love” is defined in the Bible as keeping God’s commandments, so any activity that does not keep His commandments is not “love.” It is sexual immorality, and it is disobedient to the commandments of God. There is no actual marriage between two men, or between two women, in God’s sight. The marriage institution was established back in the Garden of Eden when God made Eve from Adam’s rib, and He joined them together: “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” The marriage relationship was a spiritual picture of Christ as the Bridegroom and His elect as the “bride of Christ.” We are cast in the figure of the female, and Christ is the figure of the man. So when you have “two males” that are joined together, it violates the whole picture of what God has established. 

Even when a man marries a second or third time due to divorce, it is adultery, but the spiritual picture of a man and woman is still maintained, but when the two are of the same sex, it is a violation. Or when a woman marries a woman, it is like an elect marrying an elect, and that too does not paint the proper spiritual picture. These unbiblical marriages are legal in most of the world, but they have no legal standing in God’s sight. It is just like when the government says it is legal to divorce and marry another, but in the eyes of God you are still married to the one the world recognizes as someone you divorced. God’s law is the supreme and superior law, and He does not change because mankind loses sight of the good and start calling good “evil,” and evil “good.” Men change things in order to rectify their problems and to cover their sinfulness, but they are kidding themselves because it is still sin, and nothing has changed in God’s sight. It is pure wickedness.

So the “darkness” has overtaken the world. We can see it since May 21, 2011, with the transgender issues. There is the confusion of a man thinking he is a woman, and a woman thinking she is a man, as well as the confusion it is causing to society. We wonder how this can be because typically very low numbers of people had these kinds of issues, but now it is has gotten to the point that governments are so determined to make new laws regarding these things; they are even trying to change the grammar because some people want to be called “they,” or other pronouns. The understanding has been darkened since May 21, 2011. The light of the Gospel went out. Christ is the essence of light, and He has departed from the world, spiritually. 

Remember that verse in Exodus about there being thick darkness in Egypt, but the children of Isarel had light in their dwellings? So the light of Christ is still indwelling the great multitude of elect left on the earth, but the darkness has impacted the understanding of the secular world. So the governments have developed their secular doctrines, just as the churches once developed biblical doctrines, but when judgment began at the house of God the biblical doctrines disappeared, and they went way off course. They went crazy in their spiritual blindness due to the fact that their understanding had been darkened to the true teachings of the Bible. The world does not concern itself directly with the Bible, but its doctrines were basically the moral code that was written upon the hearts of every human being. But how can anyone explain that throughout most of history men did not marry men, and women did not marry women? But now, all of a sudden, they do, and it is happening now in the time of the judgment on the world. The world is the object of the wrath of God, just like the church before them, so we can learn from that judgment on the churches – there is a loss of understanding. It is not only a loss of understanding, but now the killing of babies is a good and moral thing, and they even dare to think they hold the “moral high ground.” That is how much the moral law that was implanted in the hearts of men has been darkened. It is darkness that can be felt, and yet we see it happening because God has brought spiritual judgment on the world since May 21, 2011.

This will probably be a series of studies to really get into the whole issue of “three days,” and I hope you will be able to join us for all these studies because I think we will get an answer to Hosea 6:2:

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

We will look at some New Testament scriptures regarding “today, tomorrow, and the third day,” and by God’s grace we will find some harmony.