Bible Study with Jairus

Deuteronomy 33: Moses’ Prophecies to the Twelve Tribes — Joseph: Righteous Fruit From Suffering

Welcome Back

Welcome back to Bible Study with Jairus. It has been a little while since we met last; the holiday season took us out of town for some good family time. But now we are back and returning to our normal schedule. We want to continue our daily Bible study series. We have been working through Deuteronomy, and we hope to finish out Deuteronomy 33. We are also hoping to spend more time on the story of Joseph.

I checked, there is so much in the story of Joseph. We have Jacob’s prophecy for Joseph, and also Moses’ blessing to Joseph. I may eventually get into the full details of Deuteronomy 33 verses 13 through 17 or 18 regarding how Moses blessed Joseph. But before that, I want to continue the thought we began last time. I believe it was the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The Life of Joseph and the Life of Benjamin

I mentioned last time that if you don’t have the life of Joseph within you — which represents the freedom in you through the gospel, through knowing the Word of God — then you cannot maintain the freedom outside of you in the land, which is represented by Benjamin. Why do I say that? Because Benjamin is the place where Jerusalem dwells. I talked about the experience of Benjamin; Benjamin is where Jerusalem dwells, where the temple dwells, where the presence of God dwells. In the land of Benjamin, you have the temple and the presence of God.

But when the Israelites fell into idol worship and forsook God, God forsook the temple. Of course God loves the temple. The temple is the presence of God. David wanted to build a temple for God. God told him, “Heaven is my sitting place, my seat, and the earth is my footstool. All of heaven and earth belongs to me. I am too big for your temple. But because you desire to build a temple for me, you deserve my presence. I am granting that wish to you, but not through you. You cannot build a temple for me because your hands have much blood on them, because you are man of war. I will raise someone from your loins, Solomon. He will become a prince of peace. He will build the temple for me and I will dwell among my people. You can come to the temple to worship me, and I will bless you with my presence and many other blessings.”

But eventually, the Israelites fell into idol worship and fell away from God and lost their freedom in the Word of God. In New Testament terms, from a Christian perspective, when you lose your freedom in the gospel, you become a slave of sin. You become a fallen, degraded, perverted, prodigal son. You fall away from the freedom in Christ Jesus, and then you can no longer maintain the outward presence and manifestation of God, which is the New Jerusalem, the temple of God.

So the experience of Joseph represents the freedom within, and the experience of Benjamin represents the freedom without.

The Illustration of Europe

I use the illustration of Europe. Europe was almost fully Christianized. Most of those countries were Christian countries. On the outside, they had the freedom to worship, the freedom to assemble, and the forms of Christian nations. But when the people of Europe lost the essence of the gospel as well as the freedom within through the gospel and the knowledge of the Word of God; eventually they could not maintain the outward appearance of worship, the freedom of worship, and the outward presence of God.

This is not something that only happened to Israel. God allowed Nebuchadnezzar and the Romans to destroy the temple. Of course, God treasured His temple, loved His tabernacle, and loved His presence among His people. In the book of Ezekiel, God showed Ezekiel a vision of His temple, and there were corrupted things within it. And then in that very vision, Ezekiel saw the glory and presence of God depart from the temple. When you cannot maintain the freedom of the gospel and the Word of God within you; when you no longer walk in the freedom that comes from following the law of God; God will not maintain a religious structure on the outside just to make you look good. God would rather abandon a religious institution where there is no longer any presence or movement of the Holy Spirit.

God would rather allow your outward religious freedom and freedom of worship to be destroyed, because you have already lost your freedom within. If you cannot maintain Jerusalem in your heart, the presence of God in your heart, you cannot keep Jerusalem on the outside. I am using figurative language here, an illustration. And I am not only drawing from European history, I am drawing from American history as well, especially the last fifty years.

America’s Fifty Years of Spiritual Decline

We all know the degradation of faith in America and how it has affected the political realm and the morality of society. I have heard people quote the founder Adams, that the Constitution was written on paper, and it was based on a moral people, and a moral people was based on religion. In other words, if we are going to keep the Constitution and live by the principles of the Bible that are built into it, we must have a moral people. When the morality of the American people falls below a certain standard, you can no longer truly follow the Constitution.

I have also heard from Christian scholars on the right that when Jefferson wrote his famous letter about the separation of church and state, he was writing to a Baptist church. He was saying that America would not allow a state-sponsored church, referring to the largest denomination at the time, the United Methodist Church. I want to be clear; I am not an American expert, so please look this up yourself. I am only using this as an illustration. Jefferson was saying the state should not set up a state Christian denomination or a state religion, as the European nations had done. The early settlers had fled persecution from the Catholic church and later from state churches. That is what Jefferson was addressing. But over time, that meaning was twisted to mean that the church cannot have any influence in society, politics, or public affairs.

We have seen the result. Starting in the 1940s and 1950s, with the removal of the Bible from schools and the banning of public prayer, there came a steady degradation of faith in America, a decrease in the Christian population as a proportion of society, and a decline in moral standards.

Religious Freedom Under Threat

Eventually America reached a point where the freedom of worship and religion came under real threat. A Christian couple who owned a cake shop could be sued and face prison simply for not cooperating in making a cake for a homosexual wedding. They were exercising their religious freedom and acting according to their conscience, but the law was twisted to frame it as discrimination. Christians found themselves unable to pray publicly at football games or in stadiums. You face genuine persecution and the danger of losing your religious freedom.

But because a significant portion of Americans are still Bible-believing Christians, not a majority necessarily, but a large number of patriots who believe the Word of God; they have fought back.  

Every wise Christian leader knows this is only a temporary window. If there is no revival to turn the tide of spiritual decline in America; if the morality of the nation is not truly changed, the political effort will not last.  Without a revival coming to America, you will still eventually lose ground. Because, as I said before, if you do not maintain the freedom within, through the knowledge of God and the gospel, you will lose your freedom without. That is certain. I am giving you the example of Europe, the example of America, and I could give more examples from China, Muslim countries, Venezuela, and other parts of the developing world.

Why Dictatorships Exist: William Penn’s Principle

Why do we have dictatorships in China and in so many Muslim countries? I am quoting William Penn’s famous words: if you don’t serve God, you will serve Pharaoh. You will serve a dictatorship. The very reason we have dictatorships in China and so many other countries is because the majority of the people there have not heard the gospel, do not know God, do not have the life of Jesus Christ, and do not have freedom within. That is why they cannot have freedom without. If you look at Christian countries, especially America; why do they have freedom? It is because they have the freedom within. God allows them the experiment of self-governance, because He trusts that, to a degree, they know the Word of God, they know His law, and they will choose good over evil. That is a sign of maturity. America, as part of the body of Christ, is one of the most mature expressions of the body of Christ in the world.

Not only in numbers, with around 67 to 70 percent of the population identifying as Christian in America, compared to only about 6 percent in China, but also in terms of that tradition of faith shaping a people capable of self-governance. Let us set aside the question of quality for a moment and just talk about quantity. If 50 to 70 percent of the population in Iran or any Muslim country were Christians, it would be very difficult for a dictatorship to remain. God would not allow it. The law God has set in the earth would not allow it. If 50 percent of the Chinese population were Christians, I do not believe the dictatorship could last. The very reason people live under darkness and dictatorship is that they do not have freedom in their hearts.

I am Chinese. I know this firsthand. A great many Chinese people have very dark hearts, no morality, no faith. I was once a non-believer myself. I grew up in China. I came to faith after coming to America. I experienced the transforming power of the gospel. I experienced transformation through learning and living in America. I am gaining freedom from my sin and my past. I am gaining freedom of worship outwardly. By coming to America, I not only received the freedom within through the gospel, but I also live in a free nation with religious freedom and freedom of worship, as if I am living in Jerusalem with the temple, and I can still go into the holy temple to worship God. That is two sides of one coin. One side is the experience of Joseph: freedom within. The other side is the experience of Benjamin: a dwelling place of God on earth, freedom of worship expressed outwardly.

But if you cannot maintain your experience of Joseph, the freedom within, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, eventually you will lose the outward manifestation of God’s presence, which is Jerusalem, the holy temple. Throughout the history of Israel, the holy temple was destroyed many times. God allowed it. Jesus Himself said, “Do not talk about this temple; the day is coming when it will be taken away, destroyed, without a single stone left upon another.” Why? Because God will not allow an outward religious appearance to exist without the substance of worship in spirit and in truth, with a repentant heart, a lowly heart, and a humble spirit. God would rather destroy the outward form. God would rather allow European countries to fall into the hands of Muslims. Why? Because they have already lost God in their hearts.

The Never-Changing Principle of God’s Dealings

So, you will be ruled by a dictator or by foreign people. This is the never-changing principle by which God has dealt with the Israelites. If they fall into sin and turn away from worship, God allows other nations to conquer them, chastise them, and bring them low. Then when they call on God in repentance, He saves them. Then they fall into sin again. It is a repeating cycle, and it is the same principle God uses to deal with every nation today.

If a European nation was once a Christian nation that loved God, God blessed them with the manifestation of His presence, with the temple, with freedom, with blessing. But once they lost their internal freedom, God would no longer maintain their freedom without. This is the same principle by which God is dealing with America today. It is the same principle by which He deals with China and Muslim countries. You must have freedom within your heart before you can receive freedom in the land where you live. If you do not maintain the freedom in your heart, you will lose the freedom of your land.

So in America today, we cannot only fight in the political realm. I commend and thank God for what He is doing through this administration and through many Christian leaders in this movement. It is definitely from God. If we cannot bring in revival during this window, we may fall back under a form of dictatorship, because we did not maintain the freedom within our hearts. We did not help American Christians to live free from sin and compromise. We did not transform the trend of spiritual degradation or raise the moral level of society. And it is only when that moral and spiritual foundation is solid that the political system the American founders established can truly function within a sphere of religious freedom, morality, and political liberty.

We Have a Window for Revival — But Not Much Time

We must use this window. We do not have unlimited time to bring revival to America. To do that, we have to help many Christians to live overcoming lives by actually overcoming their sins. So many Christians in America are still living in open sin. If we can deal with this, the church will experience tremendous spiritual growth and be given tremendous power. There are so many American Christians, including Christian leaders, living in open or hidden sin. If we can address this, then surely revival can come.

This is why I am so burdened to share about the experience of Joseph. How can you experience the life of Joseph? How can you experience God’s dealings through discipline and chastening, and then produce the fruit of righteousness? Hebrews 12 talks about why God the Father disciplines us. Just as an earthly father disciplines his children for their good, the heavenly Father disciplines us so that we can become partakers of His holiness. The Apostle Peter also says: do not be surprised if you experience suffering, because God will test your faith through difficulty so that your faith can become more precious than gold refined by fire. And you will be filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. The writer of Hebrews tells us that God disciplines us so that we can become partakers of His holiness.

The church in America is lacking holiness, and that lack of holiness causes us to lack power, not only the outward power gifts, but the inward authority to reign in life, to stand against the enemy, and to put Satan, scorpions, and snakes under our feet. The church lacks holiness and purity. That is why we lack power. And when the church lacks power, the city remains in darkness.

A Personal Testimony: Leaving the Land of Captivity

I shared about my experience in the local church movement in another broadcast. God used that movement to train me for thirteen years. Then God spoke to me to leave. I could not understand it. I did not know where I was going. Why would God ask me to leave a place where people loved me and where I felt safe? I was full of insecurity. But during that time I was reading about the experience of Jacob, and the Holy Spirit illuminated something I had never noticed before: God only spoke to Jacob and told him to leave the land of Padan Aram, the land where his uncle Laban lived, the land of idol worship, after Joseph was born.

If you read Genesis carefully, when Joseph was born, God spoke to Jacob: it is time to go. But why? Why not after Benjamin? Why not after Reuben or any of the other sons of Jacob? Because Joseph’s life represents a life of peace, a prince of peace through suffering. When you have the life of Joseph within you, you cannot stay in the land of captivity. Let me say that again. If the majority of people in China were Christians, they would not tolerate a dictatorship. If the majority of people in Muslim countries knew Jesus Christ, they would not tolerate the false religion of Islam. When Jacob had the life of Joseph. which represents righteousness through suffering, the fruit of peace through God’s chastening, the very thing Hebrews 12 describes, captivity was no longer appropriate for him.

Hebrews 12 is clear: when God disciplines you, it does not feel joyful but sorrowful. But those who endure this chastisement will produce the fruit of righteousness. During my own seasons of suffering, I always returned to this verse. I knew God was dealing with me so that I could produce that fruit within me. I also thought of Paul’s words in Romans: the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. When you have the peace of God, when you have become, through suffering, this prince of peace, when you experience the fruit of peace and righteousness that the life of Joseph produces, you will reign even in captivity. You will reign right there in Egypt.

Then God will not allow you to stay in captivity any longer, because you have achieved your internal freedom. He will surely give you freedom of worship and freedom in the land. The freedom in the heart leads to freedom in the land. When Jacob experienced the birth of Joseph, God said: no more. That season of captivity is finished. I used Laban and your two wives to humble you. Now you have matured enough to produce Joseph. Go back to the promised land where Jerusalem waits, where Benjamin waits, where the life of Benjamin is waiting for you.

In that moment, as I was wrestling with why God had led me to leave my denomination to begin studying in Pentecostal circles, people in my evangelical world did not understand and people I was close to rejected me. It was very painful, but I received the light from God through Jacob’s story. God only asked Jacob to leave the land of captivity when Joseph was born. And I understood: God was beginning to produce Joseph in me. He was training me through suffering so that, at a certain stage, I would have the fruit of righteousness through suffering.

The Life of Joseph: Suffering and Blessing

The life of Joseph is a life of both suffering and God’s blessing. Yes, God blessed him. Jacob loved him and gave him a coat of many colors. But his life was full of suffering. His brothers hated him, wanted to kill him, threw him into a pit, and then sold him to the Ishmaelites. The Ishmaelites were the very people who had taunted and laughed at Isaac, those born of the flesh, not of promise. And yet God mentioned in Isaiah 19 that even Ishmael was His tool. God uses everything, even the cruelty of enemies, to work for the good of those who love Him. Joseph loved God. God used the Ishmaelites to bring him to Egypt.

That was not a pleasant journey. Some accounts suggest Joseph was bound in chains, walking or being led by camel all the way from the promised land to the land of captivity, Egypt. I do not think the Ishmaelites were letting him ride comfortably on a camel. His hands were probably tied. What a picture. And yet God had given him dreams and visions of becoming a ruler of the world. He had to go through suffering to reach his destiny. He was brought to Egypt, put into the household of Potiphar, falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, thrown into prison, and the Word of the Lord tested him until God’s timing was fulfilled.

When we do not have freedom within our hearts, we eventually lose the freedom in our land. Joseph, in one sense, was not someone who had lost his internal freedom, and yet even he had to walk through the process of becoming. His brothers, on the other hand, had completely lost freedom in their hearts. They were full of hatred and jealousy. They wanted to kill Joseph. Sometimes we suffer not from our own direct sins, but from the consequences of others’ sins surrounding us. Even Joseph, who lived a righteous life, still had to learn to receive the fruit of righteousness through suffering.

Hebrews 12 even makes this point about Jesus: even the Son of God had to learn obedience through what He suffered and was made perfect through it. If Jesus walked that path, then certainly we need to walk it as well. Joseph’s suffering is directly tied to the revelation of Hebrews 12: through suffering, we become partakers of His holiness. Do not think Joseph was simply better than his brothers. We are all fallen human beings. We all need God’s suffering and discipline to carve His righteousness, His nature, and His fruit into our hearts. We have to allow this process.

I think Joseph may have struggled with pride at certain points, perhaps because of the special, partial treatment of his father. Maybe he was proud. I do not know all of Joseph’s sins. But God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Suffering can bring us into humility. I have experienced a great deal of suffering myself, and it has humbled me, though I am still proud. We are all proud. But through this process, Joseph received the fruit of righteousness.

Joseph Receives His Freedom: Salvation Comes to the House of Israel

As the book of Hebrews says, no discipline is joyful at the time but feels sorrowful. Yet those who have been trained by it will receive the fruit of righteousness. When God’s time was right, that fruit had fully ripened in Joseph. Joseph received freedom in his heart. He was not full of hatred. Even when Jacob died and his brothers feared that Joseph would finally take revenge, Joseph said: no. I will take care of you. You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many lives, to save you from famine, extinction, to preserve the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to preserve the line of Judah, through whom one day the seed of righteousness, Jesus Christ, would become the Savior of the world. That was God’s plan. Joseph had come to see it. He knew God had a bigger plan, and his heart was free from bitterness.

When Joseph received that freedom in his heart, salvation came to the whole house of Israel. His brothers were saved. Judah was saved. The genealogy through which Jesus Christ would one day be born was preserved. The mingling of divinity and humanity in the person of Jesus Christ was made possible. The seed of Abraham, which would bring blessing to all nations including the Gentiles, was protected. That is God’s plan. God saved the world through Joseph.

Joseph Reigning in Life Even in Captivity

Coming back to our main topic: Joseph represents the life of reigning in captivity. Yes, he was in captivity in Egypt. The Israelites were in Egypt. But because Joseph was there, living as a testimony to God, they had freedom without. When Joseph was alive, the Israelites were not treated as slaves. They were treated as honored guests. But when the freedom of the gospel, represented by the life of Joseph, was gone, when Joseph died and a new Pharaoh rose who did not know Joseph, then the Israelites lost their freedom and became slaves. The Israelites were not slaves the entire time they were in Egypt. They became slaves when Joseph was no longer recognized. The new king no longer knew the life, the testimony or the story of Joseph.

When you do not know Joseph or his story, or don’t follow the type of Christ that Joseph represents, you do not have freedom in the land. The Pharaoh, the dictator spirit, rises up, instigated by Satan, and persecutes the people of God. You lose your freedom in the land. So today, our fight in China, in Muslim countries, is a fight for the gospel. We fight especially for the Chinese elites. Some have received the gospel, but the majority of Chinese elites do not want the gospel. They want political and religious freedom, which they will never truly have without first having freedom within their hearts.

Prophetic Dreams: China, North Korea, and the Nations

But in a prophetic dream, God showed me something. God brought me into the future. I saw a great tent. Inside this tent were Chinese Communist Party officials and social elites. They were celebrating having received the life of Jesus Christ. It was like the scene when Matthew the tax collector received the Lord and threw a feast, inviting all his tax collector friends. I was led by the Holy Spirit to walk through this great tent and I saw the Chinese social elites, the Communist Party officials, celebrating receiving the life of Christ. The message God was showing me was clear: one day, many leaders, social elites, and political elites in China will receive the gospel. That will help transform Chinese society.

God is encouraging me to preach the gospel to Chinese social elites, which I have done over the past few years through a political movement. That movement encountered difficulties because many people still have hardened hearts toward the gospel. But God showed me clearly that through the gospel and transforming work of the gospel among Chinese social elites; there will eventually come political transformation in China, religious freedom, and a great revival. This has been shown to me clearly through multiple visions and dreams.

We also pray for Muslim countries, the 10-40 window. We pray the gospel can be preached and that revival will transform people’s hearts, which will then change the freedom in those lands. I also want to say something about what America did in Venezuela. If you remove a dictatorship, you also free people. Perhaps the revival will come to Venezuela. I hope so. I pray for it. God is working. It is not coincidence that God is removing dictatorships one by one.

This was also shown to me through another prophetic dream. I was taken into the future, to a North Korean embassy in America. In the dream, the embassy of North Korea in the United States stood right next to the embassy of South Korea.  North and South Korea were united. I met the Lord there. A North Korean military man came to the Lord and apologized: “Sorry, we were delayed.” I don’t know exactly what this means or when it will happen, whether there will be a political coup in North Korea. But God showed me He is working there. He showed me a revival is coming to North Korea. I pray for the suffering believers in North Korea. I pray for a massive revival and transformation in the hearts and minds of the North Korean people through the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We pray for all nations suffering under dictatorship to receive freedom in Jesus Christ, so they can receive freedom in their land. I pray for America, that revival will come, that hidden sins will be overcome, that purity and holiness will return to the church, and that Christians will receive even greater freedom in their hearts according to the full measure of the gospel they already know. Then we can see far greater political transformation and secure political and religious freedom in this land. We also need to pray for Europe, that revival will return among European people, that they will receive the freedom in their hearts again, and that they will regain the freedom of their land.

That is the experience of Joseph versus the experience of Benjamin. Benjamin represents the ability to maintain a religious structure, a structure of freedom of worship, Jerusalem and the temple. But you must couple that with the experience of Joseph: reigning in life through suffering, having the intrinsic, inward freedom of God through the gospel. You cannot maintain the freedom in the land if you lose the freedom in your heart.

A Foretaste of Moses’ Blessing: Enlarge Your Tent

I will come back to the prophetic blessing of Moses in detail next time, but I want to give you a foretaste now. Moses’ blessing to Joseph speaks of enlarging his territory. When you experience the life of Joseph, you experience the enlargement of your tent, the enlargement of your dwelling place, the enlargement of the temple within you. Like Jabez of old, who prayed: “Enlarge my territory and bless whatever my hand does” and God, Jehovah, heard his prayer. When we experience the life of Joseph, we experience the enlargement of our tent.

So, in Moses’ blessing, Joseph receives the blessing of the heavens, the sun, the moon, the earth and everything in it. And he becomes a tool to reach the nations, discipline the nations, and chastise the nations.

Basically, it is a prophetic picture of the church in Philadelphia receiving the iron rod to rule over the nations. That is the calling of America today. That is the calling of Christian nations in this hour. We have to enlarge our tent. We have to enlarge our dwelling place, our temple, the tabernacle of God among us. When you experience the life of Joseph, you experience the enlargement of the kingdom of God within you and through you, and you can access all the blessings of heaven, sun, moon, and earth. According to the book of Ephesians, God the Father has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing through Jesus Christ. But why do we not have the authority to rule over nations? Why can we not cast out demons? Because we do not yet have the full reality of the kingdom of God through the expansion of the tabernacle within us, through the life of God in Christ Jesus within us. We are not yet living in the full territory God has promised.

Israel actually has a much larger territory promised to it than it currently possesses, but it cannot rule over that territory because the life, maturity, and power of God’s people is not yet mature enough for God to entrust that authority to them. The life of Joseph is the expansion of the kingdom of God within you through the enlargement of the tent, through the enlargement of the dwelling place of God within you. You have the reality of the kingdom of God within you. Just as Jesus told His disciples: when I cast out demons by the power of the Spirit, the kingdom of God has come upon you. Do not say the kingdom is here or there.

The kingdom is within you. The kingdom of God will expand through you. You may not have yet fully experienced the life of Joseph because you are still living in sin. Whether open or hidden, because you have not yet overcome, God’s kingdom cannot fully expand on this earth through you. God is doing this through you, but He must first expand within you.

This is why I am burdened to help Christians mature in their life of faith, so that you can become Joseph in your spiritual experience. You become a conduit, a channel, a tool through which God expands His kingdom, saving people through you, helping churches through you, helping society through you, transforming this world through you. For God to transform the society of America, or whatever country you are in, He has to expand within you first. You become Joseph in your spiritual experience, and then you become Benjamin, a dwelling place of God, His presence radiating outward through your life.

A Call and a Closing Prayer

Next time I will spend more time in the detailed prophecies of Moses toward Joseph, comparing them with the prophecy of Jacob to Joseph, and will show how God revealed to me that America is called to be Joseph today, to be used as the iron rod, as Aaron’s rod, to rule over the nations if we cooperate with God.

I’ve enjoyed this time with you today. I hope you have received something. I want to say humbly that we do not have a large audience or a big platform. But I am sure we have the presence of the Holy Spirit, and that is what matters. If you have found this encouraging, whether you stumbled on this by chance or have been following along, I ask for your help:  share it, repost it, leave a comment. I also invite you to go to Google Maps, search for Jairus Bible Word Ministry, and leave us a review. That helps other people find these teachings. Most people, when they see a Chinese face, think: what can a Chinese person teach us about the Bible? But God has raised me up for this hour. I believe that. We have to break through that first layer of prejudice to get the Word of God out.

I will see you tomorrow, Lord willing. God bless you. I pray that you will have the life of freedom within, that you will overcome everything that is still holding you under the influence of the enemy’s power. Reach out and take it. I pray God gives you the strength to overcome sin through suffering, to gain the fruit of righteousness in your life, so that God can expand His kingdom in you and through you. And peace be with you. Amen.