What trouble our imaginations can make for us. The Pharoah who ruled Egypt many years after Joseph imagined that the Hebrews, who had become very numerous, could join with an enemy and attack Egypt where they were living. As a result he brought great suffering to the Hebrews, making them work as slaves harder and harder, and then killing the baby boys.

In the time of Noah, God sees "that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart (is) only evil all the day". Things are invented in the heart, imagining what we might do and imagining what others might do and these imaginings become forceful to action and if the imagining is evil then the action which follows it will be evil. Do not believe imagination; it is fiction not fact.

There is a confusion which has arisen in the church since its inception which is to do with the words that Jesus says: "and I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church" Matthew 16:18 KJV

Young is the only translator as far as I know who uses the words: "thou art a rock" instead of 'thou art Peter.' acknowledging that Peter should be translated for its meaning not the name. But the better translation of Peter is 'pebble,' or 'stone'. Peter is a part of the great rock who is Jesus.

There is only one foundation that Jesus will build his church upon, and that is himself. Peter is a part of the great rock which is Jesus, and the words Peter prophesies, for Jesus says they were revealed to him not by flesh and blood but by God who is in the heavens, are the foundation of our faith and obedience: Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God" for "the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophesy." (Revelation 19:10 YLT - my capital letter added to Spirit)

We would do well to put in parentheses after the word "Peter" the word: (a pebble) and after the words "upon this rock" the words: (upon this prophetic words you have spoken), so that the whole sentence would read: "And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter (a pebble) and upon this rock (the prophetic words you have spoken) I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." KJV

"Bow to God, for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophesy" The Spirit of prophesy is God-breathed words (2 Tim 3:16). Peter speaks God-breathed words,

As we do also when we give the testimony of Jesus from the words of the Bible, not adding to it nor taking away, for all the Scriptures speak of him.

"Thou are the Christ, the son of the living God"

There is a confusion which has arisen in the church from its inception which is a misunderstanding of the words that Jesus speaks: "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church". (Matthew 16:18). We do well to put in parenthesis after "Peter" the word: (pebble) and after the words "this rock" the words: (of your prophesy)

The Scripture would then read as: You are Peter (pebble) and upon this rock (of your prophesy) I will build my church.

In Young's translation he translates the word Peter as 'rock' but the name 'Peter' should rightly be translated as 'pebble', a part of the great rock which is Jesus himself.

The rock that Jesus will build his church upon is himself, the only foundation on which the church can stand, and that foundation is the confession of faith, the prophesy that Peter has just made, as revealed to him by God, of who Jesus is: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God"; for "The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophesy". (Revelation 19:10)

We who hold the testimony of Jesus are to love God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, to love one another as ourselves, and to obey his commands, "if you love me, you will obey my commands". This is the church that Jesus builds and "the gates of Hades will not prevail against it"

Jesus says to Satan when tested after 40 days of fasting to turn the stones into bread, that human beings "do not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." God's word is more important in our living than our eating is. Our bodies may die but our soul will live. Yet God uses the word 'alone', we do not live by bread alone but we do live by bread also.

God provides bread for Jacob and all his family and all that he has, in the land of Goshen, the best of the land in Egypt, for Joseph speaks for God and by Him, God gives the invitation to come to Egypt.

God provides bread for the four thousand men and women and children in the wilderness who have come to listen to Jesus.

Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things - that God knows you need - will be given to you.

"and live doth the spirit of Jacob their father"

The years of mourning for his son Joseph, refusing to be comforted because Jacob believed him to be dead, end with the good news he hears, which must have been scarcely believable, so astonishing is it. The Bible says, 'doth live the spirit of Jacob.'

So too with us, when our hearts are open to hear and to believe the good, indeed the astonishing, news of all that God is, and has done for us, our spirits live - this is the second birth, for God grants life at our birth and His Spirit is given to all who believe, that we are given eternal life , that is the life that is the life of God.

Then we must be transformed so that our old life falls away and we now live in the kingdom of our God, set apart and holy unto Him, changing from glory unto glory leaving the old where we were lost in mourning and darkness and loss of hope, though we did not know it, and rise to the light of Jesus.

I will arise and go now, go to my Father for He has the words of eternal life; He is the provider, the defender, the one who is worthy above all things to be followed and worshipped.

I am moved by wonder at the goodness of Jesus who, having heard the terrible news that his cousin and the one who had gone ahead of Him to prepare His way, had been killed in prison, and having left in order to be on his own "withdrew thence in a boat to a desolate place by himself " sees the great multitude which has come after him and is "moved with compassion"

So great is his love! It is so central to His being to put aside all his own needs and emotions in order to consider others first, to be moved by love and care for others more than his desire, his great need, to mourn John in a quiet place on his own.

He pours out his soul unto death in just such a way, for the joy set before him, of overcoming the accuser, the destroyer, the thief and the murderer who is that spiritual being, Satan, eternally opposed to God and God's authority. This is what love does: it is always looking outwards, pouring out His life towards another, wanting their good, their healing, their wholeness, their restoration, that they might have life and have it to the full. Praise God!

God speaks to people in diverse ways. It is evidence that He is God, that He is a living God and not one made by the hands of people out of stone or wood which cannot speak or move. God is the only God. He has created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. God desires to be with his people whom he has created for his own pleasure because God is love and love desires to have others to love, to be with, to have deep friendship with, to be known and trusted and loved in return but "men made strange and none the longed for Christ would know".

In Chapter 41, Pharoah dreams two dreams in one night. None of the wise men of the kingdom can explain what his dream means but Pharoah's butler remembers two years after he was released from prison that a young man, a Hebrew, had interpreted the dream that he and the Pharoah's baker had dreamed and his interpretation was true as events came about just as he had said in the explanation of the dreams they had.

As with prophesy, a true speaking is known in the coming true of what has been spoken.

Notice the accuracy in the Pharoah's telling of his dreams, for in each repetition he tells with the same words what he dreamed and how visually vivid the dream was. As with Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, centuries later, the dream is very disturbing and will give the Pharoah no rest till he has understood what it means.

It was known by the Hebrews and the Egyptians that these vivid and clear dreams have meaning and some interpretations are readily known by those who hear the dream spoken of as Joseph's brothers knew that the dream that Joseph had and told his brothers of in which 11 sheaves of corn bowed down to Joseph's sheaf meant that they would bow down to Joseph which they hated as he was the youngest brother apart from Benjamin and still a youth when he told them this dream he had had.

God is also Lord of the history of mankind. While He does not intervene in the lives of people unless asked in prayer and relationship to do so, He is steering humanity towards His future with his intention always being to show rulers and kings that He is the only Lord and their response must be to recognise this and bow down to him in humility. Psalm 2 Philippians 2 among many places show this.

Evil opposes God and will continually put thoughts into the minds of the human beings and bring about, through willing susceptible minds, through those who are not on guard nor aware of such thinking being evil, destruction and murder and lies and violence and disorder of every kind among human beings.

We will not listen to God nor are we naturally people of peace and thus wars and violence between peoples break out to the great deep sorrowing grief of God who is God of peace and love and rightful order. He knows that only obedience to His teaching and His will overcomes such evil and He reaches out continually but people stop up their ears and will not listen nor obey.

See how easily a lie works! Potipher's wife, having been rejected by Joseph and being left with his garment when he fled from her, easily tells a lie with a story supported by the evidence of the garment. Joseph, she says, had come in to lie with her and when she called out with a loud voice, "he leaveth his garment and fleeth."

What reason would Potipher have to doubt her words? And could he have given Joseph a fair trial without doubting her?

Only if it was the way of the Egyptians to hold that a person was always innocent until proven guilty, no matter how close the relationship is which is involved.

We do well to hold a presumption of innocence in our minds when someone is accused and at the very least, hear the other person's account.

There is something shocking about the way the brothers of Joseph, having cast him into a pit, sit down and eat bread. The everyday-ness of it all is in such contrast to the violence they intend against their brother. No guilt or consideration of Joseph in the pit, just carrying on as if nothing has happened, as if they have not done anything wrong. Such is the way of hate. It blocks the heart and mind from any other thought and blocks any conscience.

In fact, only Reuben has a different heart and thought: Judah still intends to kill Joseph, "What gain when we slay our brother and conceal his blood?" but the Ishmaelite traders approaching on their way to Egypt gives him the notion to make money from getting rid of Joseph by selling him and thus gain from getting rid of him. Selling Joseph is a transaction just as betraying Jesus was a transaction for Judas. They have lost the ability to think of the one they hate as a person at all. Jesus says you cannot serve God and Mammon, the god representing money.

How careful we must be regarding the condition of our heart!

Our heart is fed by our emotions which can rule us or our emotions can be put to right purpose by good thought, self control and choice. Good thought requires good input. What we read, hear, see, are taught, matters.

Jesus says, "But I say to you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:28) and in another place " Brood of vipers! how are ye able to speak good things - being evil? for out of the abundance of the heart, doth the mouth speak" and "if thine eye be evil, all thy body shall be dark; if, therefore, the light that is in thee is darkness - the darkness how great!"

Though Young's Literal Translation is difficult at times to read and to understand, there are many times when I am so grateful for it and the understanding it gives to me.

Consider these words which Jacob spoke to all who were with him "and we rise and go up to Bethel and I make there an altar to God, who is answering in the day of my distress and is with me in the way that I have gone".

The verb 'is answering' is a continuing action of God, and 'is with me', though Jacob is referring to the past, is to say that God is ever present with him in that past and to the present day also.

The lists of names of the generations of families, sons of sons of sons, that we find in the Bible are awesome: this record keeping is such an evidence to me of true history, of fact recorded and written down and how important are the names of people to be recorded for ever in this way.

God records names, our individual identity which is so important to Him. Each one of us is precious in HIs sight.

In chapter 35 he gives a new name to Jacob, meaning supplanter or deceiver or grabber, the name 'Israel', the one who strives with God, and he can leave his past, when he was the one who grabbed and took by cunning, conniving and opportunism, and live differently in the future. In wrestling with God, he recognised that his life is in God's hands and he does not need to grab from people in order to achieve what he longs for, because God blesses freely those who put their trust in Him. We do not need to make our own way in life by force or cunning, but listen to God and do as He instructs.