Genesis 40 Series, Part 33, Verses 18-19

Hello, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Today is study #33 in Genesis 40. We will read Genesis 40:18-19:

And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days: Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.

This is the interpretation of the baker’s dream. Remember that we discussed how this is Joseph bringing the Gospel, as it were, a picture of Christ bringing the Gospel to the world, and how the Word of God is a savour of “life unto life,” as it was for the butler who was restored; and a savour of “death unto death,” as it was for the baker.

We have been thinking about the chief of the bakers and how his job was baking bread, and we looked at Exodus 16 and Leviticus 24 to show how baking bread identifies with the Gospel, the Word of God and its doctrinal truths, the teachings of the Bible. Jesus is the “bread of life,” and that explain “baking” as we read about the shewbread in Leviticus 24. They baked 12 cakes for Aaron and his sons, the high priest and his sons, and God’s elect are typified as a “royal priesthood.” They ate the bread baked in the oven.

We understand the “bread” to be the Word and Christ Himself: “I am the bread of life.” Remember that Jesus said that we must “eat of His flesh,” and “drink of His blood.” These were all figures of speech for partaking of Christ. During the church age we had the Lord’s Table, which was a memorial or remembrance of His death, and we would partake of the wafer (bread). So the bread typifies Christ, and if one puts bread into the oven, what would that represent? It would represent the wrath of the God, and the furnace or fire of the oven is what bakes the bread. It made it very delicious and filling for Aaron and his sons to eat this shewbread. There were 12 cakes, or the “fulness of bread” for the spiritual tribes of Israel, the “royal priesthood,” or the elect of God. Do you see that beautiful picture of the bread being put into the oven?

So the Old Testament people of Israel were spiritually pointing to the people of God in the churches and congregations of the New Testament era. However, God faulted Israel in Leviticus 26:23-26:

And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

What is God saying here? He will break the staff of their bread, and ten women will bake that bread in an oven, and they will eat but not be satisfied. So there is an insufficiency with the bread, and the “ten women” are used here as a figure of the corporate churches. For instance, we see the figure of “seven women” mentioned in Isaiah 4:1:

And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

Bread is also in view here because it is referring to the Gospel, the teaching of the Bible, but they want their own bread and apparel while still being called by Christ’s name. Can you imagine this? What arrogance! What foolishness! It shows tremendously ugly pride and arrogance to want to be called Christians…and we could say that they have at least that much sense, but when Christ brings His own “bread,” they reject it. Again, when we pray the Lord’s Prayer to “give us this day our daily bread,” we are asking for bread from heaven in the spiritual sense. Just like God sent the physical manna to Isreal in the wilderness, He is able to send spiritual bread, the true doctrines of the Bible. But these “seven women” did not want that. “We want our own bread.” And, indeed, the churches want their own bread. They want tongues, falling over backwards, dreams and visions, and so forth. Or they want to bow down to saints like Mary, or they want their own bread of an “instant pudding gospel” where they can demand salvation with a snap of their fingers.

So they want their own teachings. They want their own apparel. What is apparel? In the Bible, it is what “covers our nakedness,” or “covers our sins.” The clothing that God gives to His elect is the righteousness of Christ. The “fine white linen” is the bridal gown of the bride of Christ, and it also happens to be “the righteousness of saints.” The white linen points to Christ’s righteousness: “…by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” That is the covering the Bible speaks of, but they did not want that because they would have had to wait on God for salvation. They wanted their own apparel and their own bread. It all fits together.

Again, it said, “And in that day seven women,” and that day would have been when judgment began at the house of God. The churches became apostate. They are one hundred percent corrupt, and that is why God ended the church age, and He commanded His people to come out of the world’s congregations. No true elect child of God should be in a church. Would you go to a synagogue if you are an elect child of God? Of course not! Why? Once God rent the veil of the temple in twain, He ended His relationship with Israel. They are no longer His people. So too you ought not go to a church because God has ended His relationship with all churches. They are no more the people of God than the Jews in the synagogues. God is now dealing with His people as individuals, one on one. We do not go to synagogues, churches, mosques, or any religious institution. 

So the “seven women” identify with the seven churches of Revelation 2 and Revelation 3, but in Leviticus 26 it speaks of “ten women.” (However, the number “seven” is mentioned where the Lord said He would punish them seven times for their sins.) But the number “10” points to “completeness,” and God is speaking to Israel and Judah, but He is really speaking in turn to the churches. I am not making this up. God had warned Israel that if they were unfaithful He would turn them into a byword and a proverb. Israel continued to be unfaithful, and God turned them into a proverb, which is why when we read of Israel, we have to look at it as a parable. A proverb is a parable. So who do they represent? In the book of Acts the Lord speaks of Israel in the wilderness, and He called them “the church in the wilderness,” so they obviously represent the churches. 

So “ten women” represents the completeness of all churches, and He speaks of breaking the staff of their bread: “And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.” What does it mean not to be satisfied? We could go to a number of verses in the Psalms, like Psalm 107:9:

For he satisfieth the longing soul…

Or we can go to Psalm 90:14:

O satisfy us early with thy mercy…

This kind of satisfaction identifies with salvation. It says in Psalm 105:40 that He “satisfied them with the bread of heaven.” That manna was a figure of Christ. Christ is the true bread of heaven, and through salvation He provides satisfaction for the longing soul for mercy and grace through the love of God that saves His people. 

Let us go to Psalm 91 to a verse that says this very well. It says in Psalm 91:16:

With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

This “long life” would be eternal life in salvation. Therefore, since satisfaction in the spiritual sense points to salvation, and God broke the staff of their bread in every church – no matter what the denomination – at the time of the end of the church age. That means the end of the Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Lutheran Church, the Episcopal Church, and the end of the independent churches and house churches. God is finished with them all, and God broke the staff of bread when the Spirit departed from the midst of the congregations. They still had Bibles, and so they still preach and teach, and they are giving their own “bread” to the congregations that cannot satisfy because there is no mercy. There is no filling the longing soul through salvation. It is unsatisfying bread. There must be the Spirit of Christ to work in the “day,” the proper time period of salvation when He could do the work that ye believe. Without the Spirit blessing the Word, there can be no faith delivered: “For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” But that cannot happen without the Spirit, and that is the time we are living in now. 

We are living in the time when the church age is over. God did His great work of saving outside of the churches and congregations during the Latter Rain period, the (about) 17 years that led up to May 21, 2011. Then the Latter Rain concluded, and there was no more bread from heaven, and there could be no more satisfaction (in salvation) for any human being inside or outside of the churches in the Day of Judgment.

Again, we are permitted to continue to go to God for our “daily bread,” if you remember what it said in the parable in Luke 11 about the man who comes to his friend for bread at midnight but the door is shut. He asked for three loaves (bread), and the number “three” points to the purpose of God for delivering truth to His people. He gave the man bread: “…because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.” The one coming was a “friend” already, and he had the Spirit of Christ. You cannot come to God without having the spirit within and expect a positive answer because the only answer you will get is found in Luke 13:25:

When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:

We are going to stop here. Lord willing, we will discuss the baker and bread further when we get together for our next Bible study.