Prophetic Prospective Daily Devotional

Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

Our devotional for today is taken from the third chapter of the second book of the “Torah”, the “Law” to the Jewish people. Of course, it is the second book of the Old Testament to us who are Christians. However, before we look at this third chapter a quick review of Exodus 1 and 2.

Exodus 1 and 2 are the record of the “children of Israel” that came into the land of Egypt, the Egyptian bondage and the birth and early life of the “deliverer” of the Jewish people out of the “bondage”, Moses.

Exodus 1:1-6 is the record of the members of Jacob’s family, the ones who came with their father into Egypt. Verses 7 to 22 give the account of the bondage and the Pharaoh’s charge to cast the boy babies into the river and save the girl babies, verse 22.

Exodus 2 is the birth and protection of the baby boy Moses and then a brief account of the first two-thirds of his life. This is the transition to the third chapter of the very important book of Exodus and all that the narrative reveals about how the Lord would raise up a “man” to deliver the Jews out of the Egyptian bondage and send them toward the “promised land”.

Now we come to the devotional reading for today. I hope that you find time to read the first two chapters of Exodus to get the background of everything else we will discuss about this book. May I suggest that as we travel through the prophetic chapters and passages of the Bible you will be able to read the supplemental passages also.

Exodus 3 is the record of the Lord calling Moses to be the “deliverer” of his own people, the Jews. Verse 2 tells us that “the angel of the Lord”, a phrase that introduces a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, appears to Moses in a ”flame of fire, out of a bush”, a “burning bush”.

Jesus told Moses that he was on “holy ground”, to take off his shoes. Jesus then presented Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the “God of his father”. This introduction to Moses was to assure him that He was the God that could do all things, even deliver the Jews out of the bondage.

The Lord told Moses that he would lead his people out of the Egyptian bondage into freedom and into “a land flowing with milk and honey”, verse 8. We will see that two of the twelve spies sent into the “promised land” would return with a report that indeed the land was a land of “milk and honey”. We will have more on that event, later.

The events covered in these chapters played a key role in the return of the Jewish people to their land, a land that the Lord had promised the Jews, not only at this time in history, but in the future and into “eternity future” as well.

This account and what it records about the Jews is so significant to the end time prophecies in God’s Word that pertain to the Jews, the land and God’s relationship to His “chosen people”. This account gives us the evidence that God did, and will, bring the Jews from wherever they may be back into the land He has given them for an eternal possession.

God makes promises and then follows through in the fulfillment of those promises. That is a great assurance to each of us as it pertains to our future with God and Jesus, starting with the Rapture, the next event on God’s calendar of future events. The Rapture could happen today, remember, so keep looking up.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me to live in light of the truth that the Rapture could happen today.

But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good.

In the key verse for our daily devotional we see that Joseph explains how the Lord used what his brothers meant to be “evil” had been turned into good, not only for his brothers but for the people of Egypt as well. This is the same principle found in Romans 8:28.

Our reading in Genesis 50 is the end of the life of Joseph after he had been allowed by the Pharaoh to return to the land of Israel and to bury his father in the Machpelah Cave in Hebron, the burial site of Abraham and Isaac and their wives, Genesis 50:13.

The burial follows Jacob “blessing” his sons and foretelling the history that would follow all of his sons, a history as recorded in Genesis 49. There is a special blessing given to two of the sons Judah, verses 8-12, and Joseph, verses 22-26.

Notice the blessing given to Judah, and the prophetic significance of this son of Jacob, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Judah is told that the “sceptre”, the “royal authority”, shall not depart from him until “Shiloh” come, verse 10. Shiloh is a term for Messiah Jesus Christ but also may be used to mean, “until He that is the one to be the saviour of the Jewish people has come.

It would be through the tribe of Judah that Jesus Christ would come to the earth. Genesis 49 concludes with the death of Jacob but not the end of the plan of God that would play out in the family of Jacob.

Now back in Genesis 50 we see that indeed the sons of Jacob did fulfill the desire of Jacob to have his body taken to Israel to be buried. It is after his death and burial that his sons get very fearful that now Joseph would turn on them in retaliation for how they had treated him.

That was not the way of Joseph and in fact then he made the statement to his brothers, which is our key verse for today, verse 20. Joseph’s statement about God’s plan for his brothers, found in our key verse, was followed by Joseph again providing for his brothers, verse 21.

It was not long after that, that Joseph would also die, but before that he would also get his brothers promise that they would take his bones into the “promise land” to be buried, verses 22 to 26.

It is interesting to note that both Jacob and Joseph wanted to be buried in Israel, the land that God has given to the Jews. It is in concert with the “blessings” that Jacob gave to his sons, the prophetic events of the last days for Israel.

God has a plan for the Jews and it will be carried out as we can witness even today. Again, the Lord is setting the foundation for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled, in our day. This also sets the stage for the Rapture to take place at any moment, maybe even today. Keep looking up.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for the Jewish people, who are evidence that Bible Prophecy is, and will be fulfilled. That reality must help me to be ready for these events to be fulfilled, help me to live expecting your return. 

And said unto me, Behold I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people: and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

In the record of Jacob and his sons in the land of Egypt we see that when they came into this foreign land they were blessed. In fact they were exalted through Jacob’s son Joseph, who actually received the directive from Pharaoh for this to happen.

This is the narrative recorded in Genesis 47, where we also see that Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for the Pharaoh, verse 20. This was not to make the Pharaoh the mean landowner, but instead to save the people of Egypt. God continued to bless Jacob’s son.

Verses 27 to 31 deal with the last days of Jacob, as he nears death. This makes the transition into Genesis 48 and our devotional reading for today. Jacob wants to make sure that he will be carried back to Israel, the “promised land”, to be buried.

Jacob wants to be buried at the site where his Grandfather and Father, Abraham and Isaac, had been buried. The burial site is the one purchased by Abraham in Hebron, the Machpelah Cave, Genesis 23:16-20. This is the burial site of the Patriarchs. It is the second most sacred piece of real estate in all of creation to the Jewish people today.

Jacob made Joseph swear that the brothers would take him at his death to the land of Israel to be buried. The land was promised to Abraham, Isaac and in verse 4, our key verse, a re-confirmation of that promise to Jacob. This is the reason Jacob wanted to be buried in the land of Israel.

There is one other part of the record of Jacob’s family in Egypt I want you to notice and keep in your memory for later details as we continue our journey through the prophetic passages of God’s Word.

In verses 5 to 22 we see how Jacob blessed his two grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph that had been born in the land of Egypt. These two boys would take the place of their father in the tribes of Israel and also play a role later in history that plays into God’s prophetic scenario.

We will give more of the details in a later devotional reading, but let me just mention that half of the tribe of Manasseh would be given the Golan Heights when Joshua would lead the children of Israel into the “promised land” after the exodus from Egypt.

The tribe of Ephraim would be the tribe of Jeroboam, the leader of the rebellious ten tribes that separated from the two tribes at the breaking up of the twelve tribes as recorded in I Kings 11. These boys would play a major role in very important events in Bible prophecy.

This record in our devotional reading for today is setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled in the future, a future that is getting closer and closer. We are living in the last days. Keep looking, Jesus is coming and it could be today.


PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for the reality that you are coming and it could be very soon now. My prayer is that of John, the writer of the book of Revelation, “even so come Lord Jesus”. 

And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him.

In Genesis 46 we have the account of the first departure of the Jewish people out of the “promised land” into the land of Egypt. The previous chapters in Genesis had laid the groundwork for this chapter.

Jacob was compelled by a famine in Canaan to lead his family of some seventy people, verse 27, into Egypt. In fact, the Lord spoke to Jacob in a dream and through a vision to assure the father of the twelve sons of Israel that He would not only be with him and his family, but while he was in Egypt He would make of Jacob a “great nation”, verse 3.

Verse 6, our key verse in this devotional, records the departure of Jacob and his family on their trip to Egypt. We know that Jacob had 70 members of his family that went into Egypt and later, when we look at Exodus 12:37, we’ll see that the family grew to over two million.

God’s promise to Jacob in verse 3, that He would make Jacob a great nation would be fulfilled. All that Joseph had gone through and how he protected his brothers would stand as a confirmation that the Lord would not only make Jacob a great nation but also preserve them for the plan He has for the Jewish people, especially in the last days.

As we continue our journey through the prophetic passages of God’s word you will notice that there will have been three “departures” of the Jewish people from the “promise land” and there will be three “returns”. Two of those “returns’ have been completed, we are living in the time of the third.

Genesis 46 is a “benchmark” in the timeline from Creation to “eternity future”, Genesis 1 through Revelation 21-22. God had promised Jacob when He changed his name to “Israel”, Genesis 32, that He would “fight for him” and all of his family and descendants through out “history”.

These facts, revealed in Genesis 46, are key to God’s prophetic plan for the end times and His plan for eternity future. The modern-day state of Israel is a product of the fulfillment of Bible Prophecy and evidence that we are drawing very close to the Rapture of the Church.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for preserving Jacob’s family, the Jewish people, and giving us evidence of your faithfulness. Help us to be faithful to you in these the end of days, as we await your soon coming.

And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

As we come to our devotional reading today we will look at eight different chapters in Genesis. Remember, I am not going to look in detail at each of the chapters but only those passages that have a prophetic significance.

The reading for today is Genesis 45, which is basically the end to the story of Jacob’s son Joseph and how Joseph played a key role in the life of his father and his eleven brothers. I’ll have more details on Genesis 45 in a moment.

In Genesis 38 there is a parenthesis in the narrative of Joseph with an account of the “shame of Jacob”. Genesis 39 gets us back on track with the story of Joseph and this son of Jacob being brought into Egypt.

Joseph is selected by the Pharaoh of Egypt to serve him. However, the wife of the Pharaoh tries to tempt Joseph, which was rejected by Jacob’s son, verse 8. In Genesis 41, after following the narrative through Genesis 40, the Pharaoh sets Joseph over all of Egypt, verse 41.

As you read Genesis 42, 43 and 44 you see how the Lord was working in the life of Joseph, and how he would actually be used of the Lord to protect his brothers from death and continue the line of Jacob to the ultimate end of the line which is the Jewish people of today.

Notice several verses in chapter 45. Joseph said that God sent him before his brothers to “preserve life”, verses 5 and 7. Verse 8 tells how Joseph had been sent into Egypt, by God’s design, not by the mistreatment of his brothers. God had a plan for Jacob’s family that He was directing.

God has a plan for all of us who know Him as Lord and Saviour. We must study to determine what that plan might be, and then move forward as He directs. The Lord’s plan for the end times is found in the prophetic passages of scripture.

These are passages that we can study everyday to determine where we are in His timeline. My study seems to indicate that we are ever so close to the Rapture, when He will call us to be with Him forever more. In fact, it could happen today.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for your prophetic passages that alert each of us to your plan for the future and how close we are to the next event, the Rapture. Help me to be ready for the Rapture, in my daily living. 

And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.

In Genesis 37 there is a continuation of the history of Jacob and an introduction to his son Joseph. However, before we look at the entire reading for today please notice again our key verse, verse 1. Remember, Genesis 36 detailed for us the Lord sending Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, into Mount Seir with his family to live.

As the Lord made that move He also told Jacob that he and his twelve sons would dwell in Canaan, the focus of the “land of promise”, Genesis 37:1. This decision by the Lord sets the stage for the Abrahamic Covenant to be fulfilled through the “son of promise,” Jacob.

This chapter also introduces to the reader the son of Jacob, Joseph. Joseph was a favorite son of Jacob, “Israel”, verse 3, the name that the Lord had given Jacob, Genesis 32. Jacob so favored Joseph that he gave him a “coat of many colors”, also verse 3.

The brothers of Joseph started to hate their brother, because of the “coat” but also for the dreams that he would have about the family situation, verses 5-9. The second of the dreams was the one that really bothered the brothers. Joseph dreamed about the sun, moon and eleven stars, verse 9.

Joseph told his brothers that his dream indicated there would be obeisance to him from his Dad, the “sun”, his Mother, the “moon”, and the eleven brothers, the eleven “stars”. This angered not only the brothers but their father also, verse 10.

Additional reading of our devotional chapter will lay out the rest of this particular story referring to Joseph and his brothers. The eleven would strip Joseph of his coat of many colors, throw him in a pit and eventually sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver and then they would have Joseph taken into Egypt.

We’ll stop the story of Joseph right here, but I suggest that you do read all of Genesis 37. There are many thoughts that I have about this chapter, the first being that God gave Jacob the land promised in the covenant.

The rest of the story of Joseph, revealed in the following chapters, will give more detail of the life of this very interesting man, used of God to save his family, the Jewish people of today.

It’s also interesting that the dream Joseph had about the sun, moon and eleven stars has a connection to the passage in Revelation 12:1-2, which is referring to the Jewish people in the last days. The passage in Revelation is “apocalyptic”, God using a symbol to communicate an absolute truth. This symbol in Revelation is interpreted by this passage in Genesis.

Again we see that God’s Word is written to inform each of us about the future. Our devotional today helps us to also see that the history of God’s people gives us a base upon which to understand God’s prophetic scenario for the end of times.

The evidence is strong that these last days are quickly approaching. We must live in light of this information as we await the shout from Jesus to have us join Him in the heavens at the Rapture of the Church. It could happen today.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for the record of the past that helps each of us to understand the future. Help me to live eagerly awaiting the shout from Jesus to join Him in heaven. 

Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir: Esau is Edom.

Genesis 36, our selected passage for today’s devotional reading, is the record of the generations of Esau, and the separation of the twin bothers, Esau and Jacob. Genesis 37:1 reveals to the reader that God was setting in motion His plan for the sons of Jacob, the Jewish people, into the future.

God told Jacob that he was to dwell in “the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan”, which is the “promised” land, the land of Israel. God told Esau that he was to leave this “land of promise” and go to a place called, Mount Seir, more on that in a moment.

You may remember that Jacob had been out of the land, traveling into Haran, modern-day Turkey, and there married and had eleven of his twelve sons. Jacob traveled back home and on the way, God changed his name from Jacob to “Israel”, Genesis 32.

When Jacob returned to the land of his father, Isaac, the land of Israel, he became very prosperous. It was so much so that he and his brother Esau, who also had prospered, could not dwell together in the land, verse 7.

As you will notice, God will send Esau and his family to a place called “Mount Seir”, verse 8. Mount Seir is the area in the lower third of modern-day Jordan. After Esau and his family arrived at Petra, the capital city of Mount Seir, the Lord changed the name of this real estate to “Edom” after Esau.

This record of God beginning His plan for the twin brothers is the basis for our understanding of the statement made by God to Rebekah, the mother of the twins, Genesis 25:23, that these two boys would become “two nations”.

As we know, Jacob had twelve sons who became the “twelve tribes” of Israel. These “tribes” became the nation of Israel, the modern-day Jewish State. Esau, as the text tells us, would also become a “nation”.

Notice verse 12, where we read that the “grandson” of Esau was “Amalek”. This young man would grow up and become the “father” of the Amalekites”, who God would later say He would have “war with Amalek from generation to generation”, Exodus 17:16.

Space will not allow for a complete study of the descendants of Esau (see my audio and/or video study, “Esau and the Palestinians”), but this type of a study would reveal that the Palestinians of today can be traced back to Esau.

Therefore, we see that God’s prophecy to Rebekah of two “nations” in her womb has been fulfilled. The fulfillment of this prophecy sets the stage for additional prophecies to be fulfilled, Ezekiel 35 and Obadiah for example.

The stage is set for the prophetic events recorded in these books to be fulfilled. But before they come to pass, the Lord will call us up to be with Him in the heavens at the Rapture, which could happen today.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for the record of the people and the events in history past that set the stage for the prophetic events that will happen in what seems to be the near future. Help me to live, looking for you to call us to be with you in the heavens.