The Twelve Gates Of The Holy City

Chapter Eighteen

(The Eleventh Gate of The City, Joseph)

 

Both Joseph and Benjamin are a type of the first fruits company or people in this end time. People who are overcomers in the church. People who have been sent ahead of their brothers to preserve life here on this earth. Both Joseph and Benjamin are beautiful pictures of this end time group of overcomers who comprise and make up the City of God and all the nations of the earth will walk in the light of this City.

If you walk through the Joseph Gate, you will be a preserver of life for your family. You also will receive a double portion, because Joseph was the father to Ephraim and Manesseh, who both ended up on the breastplate. If you make it through the tenth gate, you will produce a double portion from this Christ nature in you.

Joseph is a preserver of life to his family and Benjamin is the son of the right hand. This speaks of Rev. 3:21,

"He that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame and sit down with my Father on His throne."

4. I Sam. 1:4-8 says,

"Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb. And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.

Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?" Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?"

There is a reason why Peninnah has all the children. On purpose, God has made us barren. There is a reason why. Up to this point, the local assemblies that are proclaiming this message have been barren in comparison to the rest of the churches. God has been in it, because until He can produce in us the vessel that will produce what He wants, we will just produce another Ishmael like all the rest of them are doing. But we cannot allow this to condemn anyone, and also can not allow this to be an excuse for us not to reproduce. God wants Rachel to bring forth Joseph and Benjamin.

Gen. 30:1 says,

"When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became envious of her sister."

This is the wrong attitude to have and someone will say, "Well, the church across town has all the people and all the money and all the facilities. They envy their sister church. You must not do this. You must realize that a sovereign God has kept you barren until you are ready to produce what He is looking for.

"And she said unto Jacob, `Give me children or I will die.'"

Now, when you get to this point of desperation, when you get to this place in God, you are ready to start producing something. In verse 22 it says, "and then God remembered Rachel." Do you know when God remembered Rachel? When it was due season. God deliberately waited until He was able to change Jacob's nature before He opened Rachel's womb. He wanted that which was produced in her to be of Him.

God will withhold your reproduction until that which is produced in you is of Him and when this happens, you will give birth to the preserver of your family.

Then it says,

"God listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, `God has taken away my disgrace.' She named him Joseph, and said, `May the Lord add to me another son.'"

When you start to produce what God wants you to produce, you will start prophesying. Your ministry will become prophetic.

The name Joseph means, `let him add or let him continue to do a thing'. There are two ways that Joseph can be taught. First, as a type of that people who have been sent ahead of the rest of the church (Gideon's 300) for the purpose of preserving life and feeding their brethren. Or that Joseph is a type and shadow of those who are overcomers in the church, pioneering and pressing into a realm and a walk before anyone else. In this harvest it speaks of those who are first fruits who mature early.

The other way of teaching Joseph is as a type and shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus was a savior of the Church, Joseph was a savior of His family.

Rachel prophesied, "God's going to add to me another son." That other son, Benjamin, was to be a full brother to Joseph. This speaks of those people who will come to the full measure of the stature of Christ. Not a half brother, not a half message, not a half truth, not 60 fold but 100 fold. Not Pentecost, but Tabernacles. A full brother to Joseph.

In the story of Joseph you will find that Benjamin is a key, because without Benjamin the other brothers would not have been fed. Joseph was rejected before he was accepted. He was envied before he was honored. He was stripped before he was clothed. He was cast down before he was exalted. He was a slave before he became a master. He was imprisoned before he ruled. He was forgotten before he became well known.

What about you? Are you willing to go through all that God has designed for you in order to be a savior to your family?

Gen. 50:20 says,

"As for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive as thy are this day."

The purpose of Joseph's life and ministry was to save much people alive. In the circumstances he had to go through, he could have blamed the devil. He could have blamed his father. He could have blamed himself. However, Joseph knew that it was God who had everything set up in order that he, Joseph, might become the preserver of lives.

There were three strippings of Joseph. He was stripped of his coat of many colors, his clothing was stripped away by Potiphar's wife and then the prison clothes were stripped away and he was led to the throne. A 30-60-100 fold stripping. All of this speaks of "A first fruits company, the elect of God."

There are some principals in the life of Joseph that we should take a look at. The First Principal is that Joseph was favored by the Father.

Someone says, "But God doesn't have favorites." Yes He does. For whom He choose, He did predestinate to be formed into the image of His Son. Not everybody is going to be in this class. You will find no reason why Joseph got the coat of many colors other than the choice of the father. The seven colors in the coat indicate the seven spirits of God. It was a priestly coat. It was a coat for a ruler.

Joseph was the eleventh son and he started out in confusion. When you are a dreamer, the first thing the dream will do is confuse you. When you tell your half brothers your dream, they will seek to do away with you. The coat was a mark of distinction, or royalty, of birthright. He was a dreamer, he had a vision of the throne. In light of present day truth, he would see beyond Spirit filled people of this day and see the Feast of Tabernacles. He would see that there are those who will rule and reign with Christ in this age. He understands that it is possible to be like Christ. He would proclaim a message that there is going to be a people who will rise and put the enemy under their feet. He would see that as the world systems fall apart, we will be the only salt in the earth left that will be here to preserve it.

There are many descriptive terms for Joseph and Benjamin's ministry. They are called a Joseph company. Sometimes a Benjamin company. Sometimes they are called 100 fold. Sometimes they are called the Judah company. Sometimes a manchild company. Sometimes a first fruits company and sometimes the elect of God.

It is obvious that Joseph's half brothers did not like the vision that Joseph told them. In fact they hated him and persecuted him. In Genesis chapters 37-50 we read the story of Joseph and I want to give you an outline of each chapter and comment as I go.

In Genesis 37 we see how he was treated by his half brothers. They hated him, envied him, persecuted him, they conspired against him. They wanted to kill him, strip him and throw him in a pit and finally sell him. This is where many people see him as a type and shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Basically, what this chapter portrays is a gross misunderstanding of Joseph by his half brothers. If you have the courage to speak forth today what the Lord is saying to you in your prayer time, you will be ostracized; you will be maligned, you will by slandered, you will be talked about, you will be hated, you will be envied, you will be persecuted, but mostly, you will be misunderstood.

The first thing to be leveled against you is this: that you are being exclusive and that you think you are better than anyone else. The questions they ask is, "Why can't you be like everyone else?" and, "Who do you think you are?" There is a lesson to be learned in all this: don't tell your dreams to a half brother.

In chapter 39, Joseph is given a measure of authority in Potiphar's house. You can see the hand of God on Joseph's life. In this chapter he refuses to lay with Potiphar's wife and He is falsely accused and put into prison. In chapter 40, he interprets the dreams of the Baker and Butler. Even though Joseph is in a prison house, he has learned like Asher to be contented in any circumstance.

In chapter 41 things begin to turn around, because the Pharaoh has a dream. It is called to Pharaoh's attention that there was someone in his prison that had all the answers. God is raising up a ministry that has all the answers. Jesus said in John 14:26, "When He, the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all truth." Joseph did not hesitate for a minute to tell Pharaoh the answer to this dream. What the world is looking for right now, is the answer and no one has the answers, except those who are part of the Joseph company.

You say: "Well, where are they now?" In a prison house. They are a king and keeper of all the prisoners and they are waiting for the word from the one who is the ruler to send to the prison house and call for them to come. When this happens they will give the answer before all. When Joseph came out of prison, he came out to reign. Here in Chapter 41, he is exalted to second place in the kingdom.

In chapter 42, he proves his brethren. But he deals mainly with Benjamin.

In Chapter 44 he deals mainly with Joseph's and Benjamin's silver cup.

In chapter 45, he reveals himself and God's purpose to his brethren.

In chapter 46, he reveals himself to Jacob.

In chapter 47, Joseph places and nourishes the family. He also subdues all the land unto Pharaoh.

The very ministers in your local area that think you are a false prophet and an heretic, are the very people God had on His heart when He started dealing with you to be sent ahead in order to preserve them in time of trouble.

The day will come when the very people that have come against you and have thrown you in a pit, (if you are a part of this Joseph company), will come to you. They won't be able to recognize you, but you will know who they are. They will come to you for corn, and you will be the only one who can feed them.

God is strategically placing local churches all over this great country of ours, as a hub of a wheel and these local churches are going to be the glory of God in their local area. In a time of spiritual famine, God is going to bring people from all denominations into these Joseph churches. The day will come when there is no corn: (Absolutely no Word at all in the harlot system.)

Do you know how Babylon fell? They diverted the flow of the river. The rivers of the harlot system are drying up and all of those who have ministries of life are blocking up the river flowing into the harlot church. There are churches in your area that are in deep trouble. There are even Spirit filled churches who do not know what to say. Their pastors do not know what to do because their system is no longer working. The river is drying up and it is only a matter of time until the city of Babylon (the lie that they have believe in) is going to fall. When this happens, you no longer will be considered a heretic and they will flock to you for counseling .

What did God say on the wall in Daniel? "You have been weighed in the balance and are found wanting."

Gen. 37:3 says,

"Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children. Because he was the son of his old age."

Joseph is a son for the last days. He was born at the end of Israel's life. Just as he was a son of Israel's old age, even so God is raising up a people for these last days. In the first days of this age, there is coming a Joseph ministry.

Verse 4 says: "And he gave him a coat of many colors." This coat spoke of royalty, for a ruler or priest. Right now there is a Joseph people all over the world and the coat of many colors is on them. The coat of many colors speaks of the seven spirits of God which are around the throne, and the fifth chapter says they are going to be sent into all the earth.

Verse 4 also says,

"And when his brothers saw that Jacob loved him more that all his half brothers. They hated him and did not speak peaceably to him."

To add to this, he told his half brothers about a dream he had in which they bowed down and worshipped him. Needless to say they hated him all the more. They called him the dreamer. They said the day will never come when we will bow down to you. As if this wasn't enough, he had another dream.

In verse 9-10 it says,

"Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?"

In this dream not only did his brothers bow down, but his mother and his father also. This even enraged his father when Joseph told him. The things of God can only be understood by those who have an ear to hear.

Verse 23 says,

"So when Joseph come to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the richly ornamented robe of many colors, and they took him and threw him into a cistern. Now the cistern was empty and had no water in it."

When you find yourself in a pit there is only one way to look! UP!!

In Gen. 37:31 it says,

"And they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood."

So you want to wear the king's robe of many colors in the Kingdom of God? It's been dipped in the blood of the scape goat. Can you bear the reproach? Can you bear the humiliation? Do you want to be misunderstood? If you are an evangelist, do you want to trust God to meet your needs or will you suck the breast of the harlot? There are a lot of churches that will pay you good if you will preach what they want. It is sad to say, but there are very few churches in this land where you can preach the truth. The truth will tear down strongholds of false doctrine.

It was prophesied of Benjamin that he would raven (tear up) as a wolf. The word raven means to tear up. Tearing up people in their thinking, is exactly what we are doing. Those who are going to be the son of the right hand will be found tearing up religious traditions of false teaching. Jesus went through the temple and cleansed it and chased out the money changers. He did not announce he was coming, and he did not apologize. God is producing a ministry in this area that is going to tear this area apart.

People are going to be crying out: "Tell us the truth."

Gen 39:1,

"Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian,who was one of Pharaoh's officials (the captain of the guard),brought him from the Ismaelites, who had taken him there. And theLord was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house ofhis Egyptian master."

He was prosperous! You cannot stop a dreamer. From the time it took to take him from Canaan to Egypt, he was prosperous.

In Verse 10 it says,

"And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, (Please come and hold me a revival), he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her."

Chapter 41:9-13 says,

"Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, "Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream.

And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged."

Notice that Joseph prophesied and it came to pass exactly as prophesied. God has a ministry in the earth and you can lock them up with your wagging tongues in a small church, you can entice them, you can try to buy them and do to them anything you want, but everything they say is going to happen, and there is nothing you can do about it.

God through the kings dream restored one man and humbled another. No man has this kind of authority, however, Joseph did, because he was God's mouthpiece. Elijah walked into Ahab's court and said, "It's not going to rain in this land until I say so." and then he walked out. Ahab called for his doctor of divinity and asked him, "Who was that nut?" And he said, "Ah, you know those old prophets!"

"They come in off the desert every once in a while." But a year later, when it had not rained, Ahab said,

"WHERE IS THAT MAN OF GOD?"

God is raising up prophetic ministry that will speak a creative word and will speak a brand new kingdom into existence. It will arise and control the affairs and destinies, not only of men, but of nations. He called Jeremiah and said, "I have ordained you to be a prophet to the nations. You can tear them down and pull them up." History is nothing more than His story as dictated through the mouth of God's prophets. Every age that has ever come into being was spoken into existence. We are sitting around waiting for this Kingdom to come and God is saying, "Get up from where you are sitting and start speaking it into existence."

Joseph controlled the affairs of an entire nation, and if you will also, the entire earth.

Gen. 41:33-40 says,

"And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food.

This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine."

The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. So Pharaoh asked them, "Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?" Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you."

 

Can you hear Jesus saying to a ministry, "According to your word shall all my people be ruled and only in respect to the throne will I be greater than you?" In John 14:12 Jesus says:

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."

And Rev 3:21 says,

"To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit on my throne, just as I overcome and sat down with my Father on His throne."

What happens in your town will be dictated entirely by what is declared by the Joseph ministries in your town. What happens in your town should be entirely dictated by the word of the Lord spoken through His prophets. The mouth of a Joseph ministry. If you don't like the sin and corruption going on in your city, prophesy against it. Most people are afraid to speak the message of the Kingdom of God, because their half brothers will raise up and say:

"Who do you think you are?" "Who gave you the authority to speak and prophesy like that?"

However, if you do speak God's message, you will reply to them that your Father gave you the right the day he gave you a coat of many colors.

Gen. 41:41-46 says,

"And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt.And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt."

Joseph told them how to plant, how to harvest, and he told them how to store it up. God, even today, is sending out a ministry to all who will receive them, saying this is what you plant, this is how you plant it, this is how you harvest it, and this is how you store it up. From all over your area people are going to come to those ministries that are preaching to Word and are walking in it.

They will request that you come and teach the Word of God and tell them how to declare the Word of God and how to walk in it and how to harvest the souls and how to preserve them and teach them to reproduce. They will do this because they do not know how to produce. They have fished all night and caught nothing, because they were fishing in darkness.

Joseph is getting ready to go through the land and show churches how to do everything according to God's plan. How to get people saved. Teach them why it is necessary to baptize them in water. How to get people filled with the Holy Spirit. The men in most churches don't even know how to be a good father. Children don't know how to behave.

His ministry is an Elijah ministry as well, because he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. And the hearts of the children to the fathers. Family relationships. Gen. 49:22 says of Joseph,

"Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches will climb over a wall. With bitterness, archers attacked him, they shot at him with hostility."

The word `archer' represents ministries in scriptures. Other ministries have taken aim at Joseph and they shot at him with anger and wagged their tongues. But do you see what is going to happen?

Verse 24-25 says,

"But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the mighty God on Jacob, because of the shepherd, the Rock of Israel, because of your Father's God who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings from the heavens above, blessing of the deep that lies below, blessing of the breast and womb."

When Joseph shoots, the other ministries don't like him. A Joseph ministry has a word that will pierce your heart. There is a tremendous anointing behind the words of Joseph that will draw you to Jesus. It has been my experience in the ministry that whenever this Joseph ministry is flowing through me, I never miss.

Verse 26 goes on to say,

"Your Father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, and the beauty of the age old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince of his brothers."

 Are you willing to be separated from your brothers, in order that the Lord may use you to preserve them? Or are you even interested in the welfare of those who disagree with you?

Deut:33:13-17 says,

"And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.

His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh."

Joseph was blessed with a double portion, Ephraim and Manesseh. Ephraim means doubly fruitful and Manesseh means causing forgetfulness. They were the seventh and eighth stones on the breastplate.

Can you see that Joseph is a ministry that is sent ahead to preserve life for the whole family? Are you now beginning to understand what Gideon's 300 are all about and what first fruits are about?