We must envision a kingdom that outlasts us.
We all know the first words of Genesis: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Far fewer of us can recall the last words of Genesis: “They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt” (50:26, ESV throughout). The first sentence is cosmic in scope; the last, anticlimactic at best. But what if the future of the church has as much to do with the bone box as with the Big Bang?
Today, many Christians refer to Joseph as a model. Some focus on Joseph’s victimhood, trafficked into slavery by his own brothers. Others point to his struggle against temptation, fleeing from the unwanted advances of Potiphar’s wife. Still others focus on his rise to leadership in Egypt, demonstrating how influence can be exerted with integrity. But perhaps the most crucial example we can take from Joseph is not from his life but from his skeleton.
Genesis ends with Joseph’s brothers seeking his forgiveness—a plea that can be viewed as manipulative and self-serving. Nonetheless, Joseph extends mercy, and through him, the line of Israel is delivered from famine.
What’s striking, though, is not what Joseph gives to his brothers but rather what he asks of them: “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. … And you shall carry up my bones from here” (Gen. 50:24–25).
When the Book of Hebrews speaks of Joseph in its description of faith, the only thing it mentions is the bones: “By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones” (11:22). Why?
This odd request reveals Joseph’s …
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