Genesis 41:25-32

"And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: what God is about to do he hath declared unto Pharaoh. The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. And the seven lean and kine that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind; they shall be seven years of famine. That is the thing I spake unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he hath showed unto Pharaoh. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: and there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land; and the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine which followeth; for it shall be very grievous. And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh, it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass."

Only God could have given the proper interpretation of this remarkable dream. Here, as in the case of the dreams of the butler and the baker, the revelation of what the numbers meant was the key to it. The sevens were not daughters, or provinces, as the wise men believed, but they were years. Also, the application of the dream was not to Pharaoh but to Egypt. That was important.

"The dream is one ..." This repeated statement not only provided the clue to Joseph's interpretation here, but it also has a much wider application in understanding the seven very similar sections of the Book of Revelation, the seven judgment scenes there, not being seven judgments at all, but seven presentations of the one and only final judgment.

"Will shortly come to pass ..." Here also is a most significant revelation. This statement definitely did not pertain to any notion that fourteen years of history would pass very quickly, but that the beginning of this series of events prophesied would be immediately. In the Book of Revelation also, the same principle holds true. Revelation speaks of many, many things which shall "shortly come to pass," not meaning in any sense that all of the events there foretold would take place within a few years, or even in a few centuries, but that the entire cosmic panorama of God's winding up and finishing the probation of Adam's race would begin at once.

"What God is about to do he hath showed unto Pharaoh ..." Joseph's thinking was always theocentric, and here he stressed the mercy of God in giving Pharaoh such an important alert and warning.