Joseph's Coffin | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 20, 1872

Joseph's Coffin.

“And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him; for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.” Ex. 13 : 19.

That coffin was no more relic nor memorial of the dead. It was a confession of faith; of Israel's faith, of Joseph's faith, of Moses' faith. It embalmed a creed, and a creed of no common kind, of no earthly origin—the creed of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob—the creed of the church from the beginning. That coffin proclaimed to Egypt, to Israel, to the world, the one old patriarchal faith, life through death, the redemption of the body, the resurrection of the just. It was one of the most singular and expressive testimonies ever given to the hope of the church. It contained not so much a dead body as a living hope. It spoke in Joseph's name, and in Israel's, and said, We believe not in death, but in life; not in corruption, but in incorruption; not in the grave, but in deliverance from the grave; not in the triumph of the last enemy, but in his destruction; not in Egypt, but in Canaan; not in Pharaoh's palace, but in the mansions of a nobler king; not in the tent and pilgrimage, but in the city that hath foundations; not in this present evil world, but in the world to come, the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

By that coffin, then, Joseph being dead, yet spake. He spoke to Israel; he speaks to us; yet he speaks not of death, but of life; yea, it is death that is made to proclaim life. It is the wrappings of mortality that are made the witnesses and pledges of resurrection, and of the inheritance which is incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.

It protested that death was not an eternal sleep, that corruption is not the law and doom of creaturehood, and that mortality was not forever; but it pointed also to another death, another bier, another tomb, out of which life was to arise. It not only said, “I believe in the resurrection of the dead,” but I believe in Him who is to die, and be buried, and rise again—the seed of the woman, the son of Abraham.

It is with this better and diviner life that we have to do. Connection with this is everything to us. Connection with Joseph, either in life or death, could do nothing for Israel or for us; but connection with the Son of God, with his cross, his blood, his death, his tomb, can do everything. His death is life to us; his grave is resurrection. As many as touched him in his life—even the hem of his garments—were made whole; and as many as come in contact with his death and bier are quickened into newness of life.

But he is in Heaven, and we are on earth. How can we touch him now? Foolish question! The point of contact, and the way of contact, are the same as ever; and our belief in the Father's testimony concerning his death and resurrection is that which establishes the connection between us. And what have corporeal distances to do with the belief of a divine record, either in hindering or helping faith.

And the life of which we become possessed in believing this true record concerning Him who died for us, is a life of greater magnitude and fullness than that which our first father lost for us. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” It is a life unlike that of which the flesh of our natural birth makes us partakers. It is a life beyond Egypt, beyond the desert, beyond the earthly Canaan, a life which is hid with Christ in God.

It is a life which is consummated in resurrection; not fully tasted till this corruptible has put on incorruption, and death been swallowed up in victory. It is a life connected with an inheritance and a kingdom; a life connected in all its glorious issues with the return of Him who is our life, of him who is the first and the last, who liveth and was dead, and is alive evermore; for when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we appear with him in glory.—Christian Treasury.