Genesis 41:17-32
Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, “In my dream, behold, I stood on the brink of the river: and behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, fat and sleek. They fed in the marsh grass, and behold, seven other cattle came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for ugliness. The thin and ugly cattle ate up the first seven fat cattle, and when they had eaten them up, it couldn’t be known that they had eaten them, but they were still ugly, as at the beginning. So I awoke. I saw in my dream, and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, full and good: and behold, seven heads of grain, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”
Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh. The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is one. The seven thin and ugly cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine. That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh. What God is about to do he has shown to Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. There will arise after them seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous. The dream was doubled to Pharaoh, because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.
For those of you who have read or heard this part of history before, it may not be very surprising to you that Pharaoh was willing to take this warning seriously, but if you think about it carefully, we can see that Pharaoh must have had some faith. It is true that the dreams were disturbing to Pharaoh but that doesn’t explain why he decided to believe that Joseph was right about them.
God’s message that He brought through Joseph was actually a severe warning that required a complete alteration of the Pharaoh’s belief about the future. Notice that there were to be seven good years, but the seven to follow would cause the good ones to be completely forgotten. This was a bad message and there wasn’t any way to sugar coat it. Once again, Joseph didn’t try to change the message or make it sound good, he just communicated what God wanted him to say.
Pharaoh could have laughed at Joseph and considered him to be a doomsayer. That’s what many people would probably do today. Do you realize that this is exactly what people are doing?
God has given us a message called the Bible. In it, it says that God is about to judge all of mankind for their sin against Him and each other. He has put this message into the minds of many people who are speaking it every day just like I am here, yet some are unwilling to accept it. They would rather hear a beautiful lie than to deal with the truth that the judgment of God is coming to the world very soon.
God is going to come and display His great anger against mankind for their rebellion. Jesus Himself will actually kill many people. That’s what the Bible really says. Now, I could sugar coat it, or I could warn you. This is God’s message to you and there is hope if you will trust that Jesus will save you from it. This “thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass,” so now is the time for everyone to turn to the truth before it is too late.