Joseph—the Reigning Aspect of a Mature Believer

Joseph—the Reigning Aspect of a Mature Believer is composed of messages taken from Witness Lee’s Life-study of Genesis, a detailed study of the book of Genesis that emphasizes the experience of Christ as life for the fulfillment of the eternal purpose of God to have a corporate expression and representation of Himself in humanity (Genesis 1:26). In the last fourteen chapters of Genesis the biographies of Jacob and Joseph are blended, indicating that according to spiritual experience, Jacob and Joseph should be considered one person. These chapters indicate that after Jacob had become Israel, a transformed person mature in the spiritual life, he expressed God in God’s image and, through Joseph, reigned for God in God’s dominion. Joseph represents the constitution of Christ in Jacob’s mature nature. According to the record of Joseph’s life, Joseph is a portrait of Christ as the One who is altogether perfect, having no defects. As such, Joseph represents the reigning aspect of a mature believer. As portrayed in Genesis 37—50, Joseph’s life reveals the secret of a believer’s reigning in the divine life and the way of this reigning life (Romans 5:17), that is, to behave according to God’s divine view concerning the nature, position, function, and goal of His people on earth and to live under the rulership of the Holy Spirit, the restriction and limitation of the divine life in the reality of God’s kingdom. Joseph lived a calm life, a sober life, a discerning life, and a self-denying life in his love for his brothers. His living under God’s restriction, a portrait of the human living of Christ, manifested the maturity and perfection of the divine life and brought in God’s kingdom.