Lesson 15 Christ the Chief Cup-Bearer for the Church
Questions 1 and 2
Greetings friend! Today, my hope is that The Church will rediscover The Power of The Cross before going into the world and preaching it to "every creature." The message we teach in Sunday school and preach from the pulpits changes hearts, forgives sins, raises the dead, gives life and puts God's Spirit in whomever believes. The gospel is the only message we have for the church, hidden in the passages of the Old Testament but revealed in Jesus Christ.
In Genesis 37, 39, and 40, we can read about a young man named Joseph, who was betrayed and sold into slavery by his brothers. While working as a slave, Joseph suffered another betrayal, this time by his master's wife, who falsely accused Joseph of raping her. Joseph was innocent of the crime but imprisoned nonetheless. While in prison, Joseph met two prisoners - the Pharaoh's baker and the Pharaoh's cup-bearer.
According to Genesis 40, the Pharaoh's chief cup-bearer and the chief baker offended their royal master and were thrown into prison.
"Pharaoh became angry with these two officials, and he put them in the prison where Joseph was, in the palace of the captain of the guard" (Genesis 40:2-3).
"While they were in prison, Pharaoh's cup-bearer and baker each had a dream one night, and each dream had its own meaning." Genesis 40:5 (NLT)
"So the chief cup-bearer told Joseph his dream first. "In my dream," he said, "I saw a grapevine in front of me. 10 The vine had three branches that began to bud and blossom, and soon it produced clusters of ripe grapes. 11 I was holding Pharaoh's wine cup in my hand, so I took a cluster of grapes and squeezed the juice into the cup. Then I placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand." Genesis 40:9-11 (NLT)
Question 1: What did the chief cup-bearer see in front of him?
Question 2: How many branches did the grapevine have?