3.072 Joseph Knew - Do You?

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

Let me see if I get this straight. Joseph saw Joseph and also Joseph? And then Joseph wrote about it?

I think I got that straight. Let's take a look at it. We are reading this week Genesis chapters 37 through 41, which is the story of Joseph sold into Egypt.

It's a story of betrayal. It's a story of trust and faith as we've talked about throughout this week. I wanted to shift gears here and provide a little bit of a testimony lift for me.

I don't seek often for logical testimony builders. I seek to feel the promptings of the Spirit in my life and have the Spirit testify to me of truthfulness. But there are some times in my life where logic helps that move along.

And this is one of those instances. Our reading today is going to come from the Book of Mormon as we shift gears and go over into 2 Nephi chapter 3. And inside of 2 Nephi chapter 3, it is right next to my favorite chapter, or at least one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi chapter 4.

But we get this nod to Joseph of Egypt here as Lehi talks to his son, Joseph. And he explains some things to him. And it's in this father-son conversation where Lehi's telling Joseph this thing that really I pause and go, "Now that, that one right there, that builds my testimony of the Book of Mormon." Let's take a look at it.

Our verse for today is 2 Nephi 3:5. And this is Lehi talking, and he says, "The Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel, not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be cut off. Nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord, that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the spirit of power unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light, yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom." Now you might hear that and go, "Well, that was kind of a long one with a lot of scripture talk going on inside of there." But let's break this down.

And by the way, you're going to want to read 2 Nephi chapter 3 if you're going to continue with the Joseph of Egypt story, because we get some incredible insight here that I pause and go, "Okay, how does this build my testimony?" One, Lehi is telling his son, Joseph, that Joseph of Egypt saw their day. Okay. That one's cool.

He's saying, "Hey, Joseph, he knew. Joseph of Egypt knew us." He saw our day here. And then as the chapter here continues on, he's going to say that Joseph also sees the latter days and he sees a seer raised up and he prophesies of the restoration of the church.

Now let's put a couple of things together here that maybe you haven't put together before. One, we've learned in Genesis that Joseph very early on in his story, he's a dreamer and he interprets those dreams. In other words, he sees revelation and interprets that revelation.

If he does so, so normally in his story in Genesis, then this piece right here that Joseph Smith seemingly just decides to write based on the critics of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith says, "Oh, by the way, I think I'm going to take this chapter and I'm going to write about a guy named Joseph who claims to be of the lineage of Joseph Smith." Joseph of Egypt. "And then I'm going to say that Joseph of Egypt also prophesied and said that he saw me named Joseph." Are you seeing the chaos here? This is one of those logical instances where you look and you go, "There is no way that an uneducated 14 boy would know the Bible so inside and out that he would create a lineage from the Bible that would break off of the Bible, come to a new land, and that that lineage would have the ability to have the covenants of the Lord introduced to them as the scripture says." My friends, I love this segment here on Joseph of Egypt.

It is totally consistent with the Joseph of Egypt that we read in the Old Testament. That is a testimony to me of Joseph Smith's ability to translate this as a true record from our Heavenly Father. This tells me that Heavenly Father is aware of our situations.

That he knows through prophets and can deliver through prophets his message from generation to generation. Even those that are seemingly lost or broken off or away. My friends, I testify that the Book of Mormon is not just sort of true.

The Book of Mormon has been translated by the gift and power of God for our use and understanding today. And it's these little nuggets here that help align my testimony with the logical piece of my brain as well. I hope I made sense inside of that one, because it's an exciting one for me.

That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.