• 2024-11-01 | Chris McCann
  • Audio: Length: 24:10
  • Passages covered: Genesis 40:20-21-23, Revelation 11:7-8, Matthew 24:8, Mark 6:16-29, Romans 10:7, Romans 1:3-4, Revelation 1:18,5, Colossians 1:18, Matthew 3:16-17, Revelation 13:1-3.

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Genesis 40 Series, Part 42, Verses 20-23

Hello, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis. Tonight is study #42 in Genesis 40, and we are going to conclude our study of chapter 40 tonight. It says in Genesis 40:20-23:

And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand: But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.

In our last study we saw how the loosing of Satan ties in with the end of the church age and the death of the “two witnesses.” There are three major points to prove that: 

  1. In Revelation 20:7 we learned that Satan is loosed, and in verses 8 and 9 he is identified as Gog, and he came with Magog, his army, against the camp of the saints, or the beloved city.
  2. In Revelation 13 we learn he is the beast rising up out of the sea, and then a few verses later we read that he overcomes the camp of the saints. (The same incident as Revelation 20.)
  3. In Revelation 11:7 the “two witnesses” finished their testimony (the church age is ended), and the beast comes up out of the bottomless pit.

So we have three major tie-ins regarding the “camp of the saints” in Revelation 20 and Revelation 13; and the “two witnesses” in Revelation 11, and their end in all cases comes with the rising of Satan out of the bottomless pit.

Then after Satan killed the “two witnesses,” it said in Revelation 11:8:

And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt

This represents the churches at the end of the church age (1988). At that point Christ had departed out of the midst, and Satan took his seat in the temple as the man of sin, showing himself that he is God, and so forth.

We saw that the Greek word “pto'-mah” appears three times in the passage in Revelation 11, and the number “three” indicates the purpose of God, so there is a strong emphasis. It is the same word used in Matthew 24:8:

For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

If you look up “eagle,” it will direct you back to Satan in a figure of Nebuchadnezzar. I cannot remember the exact references but one of them is in Deuteronomy 28, and the other may be in Habakkuk. In both, an eagle typifies the assault of Satan and his forces (Gog and Magog) against the people of God. But the carcase in Matthew 24 is significant because that chapter deals with God’s end time judgment program that began at the house of God, the corporate church. The word “carcase” is the Greek word “pto'-mah,”

The fifth time we see that word is in Mark 6, and this is what really proves the spiritual meaning of the lifting up of the head of the baker by Pharaoh on the day of Pharaoh’s birthday. We read of the corpse of John the Baptist in Mark 6:16-29:

And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.

So there was a removal of his head, and Herodias, Herod’s wife, had John’s head, so there is no doubt that this word “corpse” is referring to a headless corpse.

And now we can apply this to Revelation 11. The “dead bodies” of the two witnesses are “headless.” So we can see the additional tie-in. Pharaoh beheaded the baker, and Herod beheaded John. And Satan beheaded the churches at the point of their killing. 

Another consistency as far as Genesis 40, Mark 6 and Matthew 14, is that it happened on Pharaoh’s birthday, and Herod’s birthday in Mark 6 and Matthew 14. There is a beheading on their birthdays.

Now we will try to understand that in relationship to Satan as he rises up in Revelation 11:7-8:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city…

The corpses of the two witnesses laid in the streets. The number “two” identifies with the law and the prophets, the Word of God, and the churches were the caretakers of the Word of God during the period of their representation of God’s kingdom on earth during the church age.

So there are all these similarities, but what is the tie-in with it being their birthdays? That is the question we want to try to answer. How does Satan’s loosing and his rising up out of the pit identify with the birthday? We are helped in understanding this by looking at the resurrection of Christ. We know that Christ died and went to the “bottomless pit,” and Satan was in the bottomless pit, which identifies with hell or death. We read in Romans 10:7:

Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

Remember the word “deep” is “ab'-us-sos,” or “bottomless pit.” Christ went to the dead. He went to the “deep,” or the “bottomless pit.” That is helpful because Jesus rose out of the deep. That is, He rose from the dead, and God tells us in Romans 1:3-4:

Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

These are big statements, and it is easy to miss a key point. But the key point is that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God, and then the closing statement says that this was “by the resurrection from the dead.” Jesus said in Revelation 1:18:

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

He had that key to the bottomless pit when He threw Satan into the pit. But Christ too was in the bottomless pit. He was in the deep, and He rose up out of death, or out of the pit, and He came to life, and He was declared at that point to be the Son of God, and this was at the foundation of the world. He was declared to be the Son of God through the fact that He arose from the dead. That is when He was called the Son of God. If you still do not get that point, let us look at Colossians 1:18:

And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Jesus was the firstborn from the dead. When you hear the language of “firstborn,” what do you think of? Maybe you have had children, so you would think of your firstborn. What does that mean to you? It means that he or she came out of the womb first, and we have talked in the past about how “hell” can typify the womb. Christ was declared the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead. Death and hell would be the womb He arose from, and that is the picture. If you have had a firstborn baby boy that came out of the womb, he is your son.

Concerning Jesus, He was the firstborn Son. There is God the Father and God the Son, and God the Father received Him as His son when He was firstborn from the dead. Hell and the grave are typified by a womb, and I can prove that from the Bible, but we do not have time to do this at this time. But Christ came out of the womb of hell, or the belly of hell. When Jonah was in the whale’s belly, it says in Jonah 2:2: “…out of the belly of hell cried I.” And that word “belly” is the word for “womb.” Jesus likened His experience of being three days and three nights in the heart of the earth to Jonah being three days and three nights in the whale’s belly. And “belly” is the word “womb,” and Jonah’s experience typified what Jesus did in dying and going to death, or to “hell.” That is what is in view.

And Christ coming out of death is like a new birth. He lives, the firstborn from the dead, the firstborn of the Father, and declared to be the Son of God. It was illustrated when John baptized Jesus in the river Jordan, and the river typified death and hell, and when Christ was baptized He came up out of the water, as it says in Matthew 3:16-17:

And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

There was a declaration of sonship as Christ demonstrated coming up out of death, or out of hell. That is what was portrayed. Jesus as the firstborn Son is also stated in Revelation 1:5:

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, andthe first begotten of the dead…

You see, this is WHY he was called the “Son of God.” It did not happen when He was born of the Virgin Mary. This happened before this world was created. It happened in eternity past, and He died and rose again, declared to the Son of God, the firstborn from the dead.

Christ came up out of the deep, or abyss, according to Romans 10:7, and that brought about the declaration of sonship. Now we can see the similarity with Satan as he was sent into the bottomless pit, or the condition of hell and death. If we go to Revelation 13, notice the language used in Revelation 13:1-3:

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

There is the reference. When the beast rises up and overcomes the camp of the saints, it was the time of judgment on the churches, the time of Great Tribulation. And Satan was victorious as he triumphed over the people that professed to be the people of God in the congregations for those 23 years. It was wicked glory but as far as Satan was concerned everything was going his way. (It is much like Haman who was promoted and lifted up by King Ahasuerus and his enemies, the Jews, were being beaten down.) It was a time of victory for Satan and his kingdom and it lasted for 23 years. And one of his heads had been wounded to death, and it was healed. 

By the way, Satan is said to have seven heads, and Revelation 17 gets into that subject, and the seven heads identify with different periods of Satan’s rule from the beginning to the end time of history. We do not have time to delve into that subject, but one of his heads identifies with the change in program concerning Satan’s rule. When Christ went to the cross Christ defeated him and he was bound, and it was as though he had died. It is a spiritual thing, as Satan is a spiritual creature, but it was equivalent to death. He was in “hell,” as it were. And then when he rose up out of the sea it was as though his deadly wound was healed. 

You see, God cannot use the language of “resurrection” for this evil creature. Satan never had real life, as he was under the wrath of God, and in the condition of hell and death in the bottomless pit. It is not as though he came to life. As I mentioned earlier, he had been going about as a roaring lion even while he was bound, and the Lord is using this language to teach spiritual truth concerning the triumphant nature of his rule during that period of time. It is as though Satan had renewed strength, power and authority, and so forth. And yet God stays away from the idea of him “coming to life” in the sense that Christ rose from the dead, but his deadly wound was healed when he came up out of the bottomless pit.

Therefore the point of Satan’s rising would be the spiritual figure of what we find with Pharaoh beheading the baker or Herod beheading John the Baptist on their birthdays. Satan upon his birthday rose up and killed the “two witnesses,” and their dead bodies, or corpses, (“pto'-ma,”) laid in the streets, as we saw with John’s headless corpse, or “pto'-mah.” At the point of him rising up out of the bottomless pit, it was as though Satan was reborn, although he never had life in that sense, and his deadly wound was healed. That is the teaching.

This is not easy to see, and that is why I suggested taking notes to remind yourself. Now let us go back to Genesis 40 and wrap up this study. It said in Genesis 40:21-23:

And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand: But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.

That statement sets us up for what will happen in Genesis 41 when Pharaoh also had a dream, and Pharaoh’s friend would eventually lead to the butler remembering Joseph, and it will lead to Joseph being brought out of prison in order to interpret Pharaoh’s dream.