All this time, Israel had thought his favorite son was dead.Īfter serving a stint in Potiphar’s household and an Egyptian jail, Joseph was brought in front of Pharaoh to interpret his dreams. Because of the 10 brothers’ jealousy towards Joseph (due to Israel’s favoritism toward him), they had sold him into slavery and told their father a wild animal had killed him. Jacob/Israel kept the youngest son, Benjamin (Joseph’s brother by the same mother), with him as he was afraid something might happen to him like what had happened (supposedly) to Joseph approximately 20 years earlier. Jacob (whose name was later changed to Israel by God) had learned that Egypt still had grain and sent 10 of his sons to buy some of it. The story begins in Genesis 42 when the drought and famine had just begun (probably about a year into it). Although the brothers didn’t have a conversion experience regarding Jesus, I believe at the end of their ‘moment’ they recognized that the God of their father, Jacob, had intervened in their affairs and their lives would never be the same. In Genesis 42-45, we see a come-to-Jesus moment in the lives of Judah and his nine brothers (Jacob’s sons) while they were living in the land of Canaan during the time of the great seven-year drought/famine. These open-air revival meetings by the likes of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield, and John Wesley were often called “come-to-Jesus meetings.” They told their audience to turn away from the devil by coming to Jesus and thus save their souls from going to Hell. The phrase evidently originates from 19th-century revivalism (the Great Awakening), in which preachers and evangelists gave sermons regarding a personal conversion to Christianity. In the spiritual, Christian sense, a come-to-Jesus moment or meeting can refer to the time when someone first places their faith in Jesus as the Son of God and believes that He died for their sins. Here is an example of this term: “When my son was born, I had a come-to-Jesus moment when I realized that my life was about to change forever.” It just denotes the importance of the moment or meeting. Just because ‘Jesus’ is part of the phrase does not mean it has any faith-based belief in Jesus. The expression has become a metaphor for a transformative moment or meeting – like a wake-up call, seeing the light, or an attitude adjustment. It is often used when describing the moment when someone understands that they are on the wrong path in life and must change direction or priorities. The phrase is usually used in a secular context and refers to a difficult moment, event, or realization that often precipitates a major change in character or behavior. A “come-to-Jesus moment or meeting” can have two different connotations one is used in a figurative/secular sense, and one is used in a spiritual or faith-based (Christianity) way.
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