Letter to the Congregations: 8th March 2025

Our Dear Brethren,

“Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more” (Genesis 37:5). Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son from his favorite wife. He treated Joseph special making him a tunic of many colors, and not hiding his favoritism from his other sons. The envy that his brothers had drove the sons of Israel to want to kill their brother. Thankfully one of his brothers, Reuben, was wise enough to know better than to kill the boy. Instead Joseph was stripped of his colorful tunic, thrown into a pit, and later sold to a group of Midianite traders heading for Egypt.

Jacob thought he had lost his favorite son. His other sons had told him he was dead, devoured by a wild beast, and only his bloodied tunic was left. The rest of Jacob’s sons grew older, had their own children, and carried on with life thinking they would never see their little brother again. They figured their troubles with him were over. In the meantime Joseph was sold by the traveling band of traders into slavery in Egypt and began his slow rise to high position in Egypt.

Looking back we can see how God coordinated Joseph’s strategic position in Egypt so His people could be saved from a severe drought in the land. And Joseph’s dreams about his brothers bowing down before him would come true. “And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 45:7-8).

If we think about it, God also coordinated the entire story so the lessons of salvation could be learned by us. We can see God’s saving power over the enemies of His people. We can see the necessity of a Savior to break us free from the bondage of sin. And now, just as Israel was spared from death and set free from their captors, we have the hope of the time when death will no longer reign over us.

Lewis VanAusdle

Pastor, United Church of God

NYC, NJ, CT, Malawi, Zimbabwe