# 336 Grace Wins

The Book of Genesis

Day 336

Ge 37:9 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, "Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me."  10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?"

This is a fascinating dream! Especially in light of Jacob’s interpretation! In the first dream we have sheaves (things of this earth, his brothers) bowing down to Joseph, in this second dream we have things in the heavens, (stars and moon) bowing down, and I think that is significant.

In this dream it is easy to see that the 11 stars represent Joseph’s brothers bowing down to him, and the sun and the moon represent Jacob and Rachael bowing down to him. Funny thing about this dream Rachel is long gone! She died during the birth of Benjamin! This dream never became a physical reality on earth like the first one did.

The first dream literally came to pass when Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy grain and they physically bowed down to him. (Ge 42:5 And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 6 Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth.)

This second dream was never fulfilled by Jacob, Rachel, or Joseph’s brothers on earth. Jacob, although summoned to Egypt by his son never physically bowed down to him, and of course, as we already mentioned, Rachel was already dead!

So what’s going on here with this second dream? Well, both dreams are prophecies and like so many prophecies in Scripture, an immediate physical reality is portrayed and a second more distant spiritual reality is also portrayed.

The more distant and heavenly spiritual reality portrayed in this second dream  is that Law, (and I might add pedigree) will bow to grace. Grace is superior to Law! Joseph personifies grace as a type of Christ, and Jesus brought this “grace is superior” message to earth. Time after time He demonstrated the superiority of grace over the Law, and His brothers (the offspring of Jacob, the Pharisees and religious rulers of the day) hated Him for it, but one day, they, and we, will bow our knee to Jesus, the personification of Grace!.

His disciples went on to preach the same message and likewise were hated for it. We would do well to never forget this lesson! In the end, the Law yields to grace, for it is by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast!