The chapter for today is the longest chapter
in the book of Genesis, the chapter of
67 verses, as you already know, I'm sure.
And I would like to vary the methodology
just a little bit this morning.
And when we come to the message, I
want to read through most of the chapter
and just make some comments and conclude with
one or two more important lessons.
So for the scripture reading, I would like
to turn to verse 34 and read through
verse 49 for our scripture reading.
This is the testimony of the servant, and
it is a testimony to Abraham and to
Isaac in the context.
And I think it's an important feature of
the message that follows.
And so we'll just use this as the
scripture reading for today.
So let's turn to Genesis chapter 24 and
verse 34, where the servant, the unnamed servant
begins to give his testimony concerning Abraham and
Isaac to Rebecca and the members of her
family.
So he said, I am Abraham's servant, and
the Lord has greatly blessed my master so
that he has become rich.
And he has given him flocks and herds
and silver and gold and servants and maids
and camels and donkeys.
Now, Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son
to my master in her old age, and
he has given him all that he has.
And my master made me swear saying, you
shall not take a wife for my son
from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose
land I live, but you shall go to
my father's house and to my relatives and
take a wife for my son.
And I said to my master, suppose the
woman does not follow me.
And he said to me, the Lord before
whom I have walked will send his angel
with you to make your journey successful.
And you will take a wife for my
son from my relatives and from my father's
house.
Then you will be free from my oath
when you come to my relatives.
And if they do not give her to
you, you will be free from my oath.
So I came today to the spring and
said, O Lord, the God of my master
Abraham, if now thou wilt make my journey
on which I go successful.
Behold, I am standing by the spring, and
may it be that the maiden who comes
out to draw and to whom I say,
please let me drink a little water from
your jar.
And she will say to me, you drink
and I will draw for your camels also.
Let her be the woman whom the Lord
has appointed for my master's son.
Before I had finished, finished speaking in my
heart, behold, Rebecca came out with her jar
on her shoulder and went down to the
spring and drew.
And I said to her, please let me
drink.
And she quickly lowered her jar from her
shoulder and said, drink and I will water
your camels also.
So I drank and she watered the camels
also.
Then I asked her and said, whose daughter
are you?
And she said, the daughter of Bethuel, Nahaw's
son, whom milk abhorred to him.
And I put the ring on her nose
and the bracelets on her wrists.
And I bowed low and worshiped the Lord
and blessed the Lord, the God of my
master Abraham, who has guided me in the
right way to take the daughter of my
master's kinsman for his son.
So now if you are going to deal
kindly and truly with my master, tell me.
And if not, let me know that I
may turn to the right hand or to
the left.
May the Lord bless this reading from his
word.
Genesis chapter 24 is a bride for Isaac.
It is the longest chapter in the book
of Genesis and it tells perhaps the greatest
love story in the Bible that is among
mere humans.
So engaging is Genesis chapter 24 that it
has thrilled and charmed readers for ages.
It's a story of true love.
Someone has said it takes two to make
a marriage, a single daughter and an anxious
mother.
In this case, it is a single son
and an anxious father.
But it is true love and true love
is very important.
Did you hear the heartwarming story of the
boy who was born on the east side
of New York of poverty stricken immigrant parents?
He grew up, married a neighborhood girl.
They began to have a family.
He struggled for some years but all of
a sudden everything changed.
He became very wealthy.
He owned steel mills, oil refineries and some
railroads and he had a home in Miami,
a villa on the Riviera and an estate
in Rome.
But he never forgot his true love and
so every year he went back to Lower
East Side just to visit his wife and
children.
I also heard of a very ardent golfer.
Golfers are strange.
And this one was on the putting green
and a woman came running up the fairway
in her wedding gown, with her wedding gown
flying in the breeze.
And she blurted out to him, how could
you do this to me?
And he said, listen, I told you only
if it rained.
You know this, this twenty-fourth chapter coming
to the book of Genesis.
This twenty-fourth chapter is known as the
great love story of the Bible but really
the greatest message of Genesis chapter twenty-four
lies elsewhere for at its heart it is
the supreme importance of doing the will of
God that Moses stresses in his telling of
the story.
This is a true marriage made in heaven
and it is significant for the contributions that
it makes in several areas.
It is an example of a person seeking
and finding the will of God, for example.
And I think it reminds us of Proverbs
chapter three verses five and six.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him and he
will make your paths straight.
That's one of the greatest lessons that emerges
from the story of Genesis twenty-four.
Another thing that it teaches that is important
and could be the subject of at least
one, perhaps more messages, is that it teaches
that the chief ingredient in the ideal marriage
is godliness.
You can see that the thing that dominated
Abraham and the thing that dominated the servant
was the will of God in the light
of the promises that have been given to
Abraham.
And so Abraham and the servant and Isaac.
And I think we can even gather from
the tone of the narrative that this was
true of Rebekah.
That the thing that meant more to them
than anything else was the will of God.
And even Laban, who later on does not
appear in the greatest of light in the
book of Genesis, is one who is willing
to acknowledge after the story is told him
that the matter comes from the Lord.
Godliness in marriage.
That really is the chief ingredient in an
ideal marriage.
And a marriage that does not have at
its foundation godliness will have a much rougher
time of success.
I think, however, that probably the lesson that
is most familiar to us who have read
the book of Genesis very much is the
illustration that this story affords of the father's
obtaining of a bride for his son through
the Spirit in the present age.
For the story of how Abraham used the
unnamed servant, and remember the Holy Spirit, is
not really the name of the third person
of the Trinity.
It is a title.
But the story of how Abraham uses the
unnamed servant to obtain a bride for his
son Isaac has down through the centuries reminded
the Christian church of how the first person
of the Trinity, our Heavenly Father, has used
the Holy Spirit to obtain a bride for
the second person of the Trinity, the Lord
Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter
11 that he has espoused the church of
Jesus Christ to the Lord Jesus, that he
might present us to him as a pure
virgin.
And then James standing up in the Jerusalem
council said that the thing that God is
doing in the present age is visiting the
Gentiles to take out of them a people
for his name.
So here is a beautiful illustration in the
form of a love story of the father's
obtaining of a bride, the bride of Christ,
the church, for his son, the Lord Jesus,
through the Spirit.
Let me remind you of the scene.
Abraham has been in the land now for
a number of years.
He's 140 years of age now, and so
this is about 65 years after he made
his way into the land of Canaan.
But turning back in your mind to Genesis
chapter 11, you'll remember that he left part
of his family that had come from the
Ur of the Chaldees in the city of
Nahor, or the city of Haran.
Thereafter, Terah had died.
He came into the land, but there was
a little family that had been left there,
and through the years the relatives had been
growing there.
There was a passage that I skipped.
Someone came up to me and asked me
why did I skip it.
It's the passage in Genesis chapter 22, verse
20 through 24, and I'm going to read
it right now because it is important for
understanding Genesis chapter 24.
Now it came about after these things, that
is, after the offering up of Isaac, that
it was told Abraham, saying, Behold Milcah.
Notice it was told Abraham, so news had
reached him of his own family in Haran,
the city of Nahor.
It was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah also
has born children to your brother Nahor, who
did not come into the land with them.
Now, I confess I've always had to smile
a little bit at the names of these
brothers, Uz and Buz.
That just does not, they must be nicknames.
Uz is firstborn and Buz is brother.
And Kimuel, the father of Aram, and Kesseth,
and Hazo, and Pildesh, and Jidlap, and Bethuel.
And Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.
These eight, Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
So you can see that news had already
come to Abraham that there was a part
of his family that had come with him
from Ur of the Chaldees, who had some
understanding of Yahweh, the God of Abraham.
And so when we read in Genesis 24
that he sent the servant off to obtain
a wife from members of his own relatives,
it's not surprising that he should go to
the city of Nahor, to Haran, and there
look for a bride for Isaac.
For many years it transpired and there were
now a number of births and possibly some
eligible maidens for a bride for Isaac.
Abraham is now 140 years of age and
Isaac is about 40.
Evidently Isaac had never heard that little ditty,
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
marry your girl before it's too late.
Do not reflect, do not delay, or someone
else will snatch her away.
He did not seem concerned and he's a
man about 40 years of age and furthermore,
God has, remember, promised that it is through
Isaac that the seed of Abraham should be
called.
So it's not surprising then that Abraham, now
old and advanced in years, 140 years of
age, should be concerned about the seed that
God had promised.
We read now, and I'm going to just
read through the section, skipping the one that
I've read for the Scripture reading, and make
a few comments as we go along, saving
the last few minutes of the hour for
stressing the example that we have here of
Abraham obtaining a wife for his son Isaac
as an illustration of what God is doing
today.
Verse 1, Now Abraham was old, advanced in
age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in
every way.
This reference to Abraham's age reminds us, of
course, that all of our time on this
earth is really an interval to prepare us
for our interment.
It was time for the program of God
to make progress, Abraham felt, and so there
should be some movement to the obtaining of
the seed by which the promised great seed
should come.
He was old, advanced in age, and so
Abraham said to his servant, who incidentally is
unnamed throughout this whole chapter, it is possible
that he is the Eliezer mentioned in Genesis
chapter 15 and verse 2, and probably so,
but nevertheless his name is not mentioned and
that cannot help but be of some significance.
It is in order that this chapter may
be the kind of illustration that it is
of the spiritual work of providing a bride
for the Lord Jesus Christ.
So Abraham calls his servant and says to
him, he had charge of all that he
owned, please place your hand under my thigh,
and I will make you swear by the
Lord, notice the term, I will make you
swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and
the God of earth, that you shall not
take a wife for my son from the
daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,
but you shall go to my country and
to my relatives and take a wife for
my son Isaac.
Now this oath is a rather interesting kind
of oath.
He wants to put his hand under his
thigh, under his loins, and while there has
been a great deal of discussion over this
kind of oath, and I'm not sure that
anyone knows precisely the kind that it was,
it seemed to have been related to the
generative organs of Abraham.
In other words, he made this oath in
the light of the promise of God that
he would have a seed from his own
body through whom all the families of the
earth would be blessed.
And so he makes this oath with reference
to the coming seed.
And I think it's fair to say that
it is also an expression of faith.
It's an expression of faith that God is
going to, from his own loins, bring forth
a seed, and this would have to be
through Isaac now, a seed through whom ultimately
the whole of the earth would be blessed.
The early church fathers regarded this as an
expression of faith on Abraham's part in the
coming Redeemer, and I think that that is
the thing that we should see in it
as well.
Now he says that the wife of Isaac
should be not of the daughters of the
Canaanites, and this is another theme that is
common throughout the whole of the Bible.
Marriages are marriages made in heaven, of course,
but on earth they should be marriages between
those who are in the common faith.
And Abraham is very much interested in having
Isaac marry someone who has the same faith
that Isaac has.
And so he's to go not to the
daughters of the Canaanites, he's not to allow
Isaac to have such a bride, but rather
he's to find a bride from his own
country, from his own relatives, in order that
there may be a marriage truly in the
Lord.
And this idea, through the Bible, is picked
up in the New Testament, and the apostle
Paul makes statements in 1 Corinthians chapter 7
to the effect that when two people marry
and one is a believer, that marriage should
only be in the Lord.
How important that is.
So many marriages are shipwrecked when they begin,
when someone who is a Christian marries a
non-Christian.
Because the principles by which we act and
move and carry on our affairs are principles
that are ultimately related to the truth of
God.
And if we do not have those fundamental
presuppositions together, then there cannot help but ultimately
be conflict in the marriage.
Conflicts arise even among believers, but how much
more when the basic principles are not the
same.
So right here in the first book of
the Bible, we have this biblical principle, marriage
is to be in the Lord.
And a marriage in the Lord is the
marriage that has the greatest hope of success.
And we read on, beginning with the fifth
verse.
And the servant said to him, suppose the
woman will not be willing to follow me
to this land.
Should I take your son back to the
land from where you came?
Then Abraham said to him, beware lest you
take my son back there.
The Lord, the God of heaven, who took
me from my father's home and from the
land of my birth and who spoke to
me and who swore to me saying to
your descendants, I will give this land.
He will send his angel before you and
you will take a wife for my son
from there.
But if the woman is not willing to
follow you, then you will be free from
my oath.
Only do not take my son back there.
So the son placed his hand under the
thigh of Abraham, his master, and swore to
him concerning the matter.
Now Abraham, it might seem, is being a
little strict.
What's wrong in Isaac traveling back to Haran?
Well Abraham evidently thought that if Isaac went
back to Haran, the chances are rather strong
that it would be difficult for him to
come back in the land.
And so consequently, he would not go back
and he would not permit Isaac to go
back because God had called him out of
the world of the Gentiles and now being
in the land, it was there that he
wanted to stay.
There's a great principle here too and it's
an evidence of the fact that Abraham understood
the weakness of the flesh.
The Christian called out of the world should
not go back into the world.
And so Isaac is not to go there.
The servant is to obtain the bride for
him.
Now he's to go to his relatives and
I say Abraham is not casting around in
the dark because he knows that information about
how the family had been growing in Haran.
It was reported to Abraham and so he
had information about the fact that there were
members of the family there and they also
knew about the God Yahweh who had brought
them out of Ur of the Chaldees.
So that is the servant and the oath.
Now with verse 10 through verse 14, we
look at the sign.
Verse 10, Then the servant took ten camels
from the camels of his master and set
out with a variety of good things of
his master's in his hand and he arose
and went to Mesopotamia to the city of
Nahor, which was Haran.
Now the journey is skipped.
That is, no details are given of the
trip from the north down into the land.
So evidently that is not important.
We pick up the reading again in verse
11, And he made the camels kneel down
outside the city by the well of water
at evening time, the time when women go
out to draw water.
And he said, O Lord, that is, O
Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please
grant me success today and show loving kindness
to my master Abraham.
Now that is important, the word loving kindness.
Notice the prayer is addressed to Yahweh, the
covenant keeping God.
Furthermore, secondly, he says show loving kindness.
That is the Hebrew word hesed.
Now hesed is the word that speaks of
covenant loving kindness.
It has often been translated loyal love.
But it is loving kindness by the God
of the covenant.
It's faithfulness to the covenant promises.
And so the servant is praying that God
will remember his covenant promises and that he
will be faithful to them because he had
said, In thee shall all the families of
the earth be blessed in Abraham's seed.
So it's the servant reminding the Lord of
the word that he has spoken and asking
him now to fulfill his own word.
This is not a general loving kindness.
This is a special covenant loving kindness, faithfulness
to the specific promises that Abraham had been
given.
Behold, I am standing by the spring and
the daughters of the men of the city
are coming out to draw water.
And he wants this little sign to be
the means by which he will be able
to identify the young maiden.
Now may it be that the girl to
whom I say, please let down your jar
so that I may drink and who answers
drink and I will water your camels also.
May she be the one whom thou hast
appointed for thy servant Isaac and by this
I shall know that thou hast shown covenant
faithfulness to my master.
Now we are inclined perhaps being city dwellers
or at least I am inclined being a
city dweller almost all of my life to
not understand exactly the sign that the servant
has requested should be the identifying mark.
But Rebecca was a child of the desert
country and she knew as much about camels
as a Texas farm girl knows about horses.
Isn't it strange that women like horses so
much better than men?
I've never quite understood that, which of course
means I'm a man.
But anyway, but anyway camels are noted for
the quantities of water that they can drink.
A camel can easily put away 20 gallons
of water.
So to water 10 camels is 200 gallons.
That is quite a few steps from the
well and would mean at least an hour's
work, solid work.
In those days the women worked.
And they came out at a specific time
in order to handle the water duties.
And so this was quite a sign.
So when he said let me drink and
she added let me water your camels seeing
10 of them there, she was really offering
herself for about an hour's hard work.
So it was a sign that was not
simply an incidental kind of thing and one
that would not ordinarily be fulfilled by accident
or incidentally.
So, well one other thing before we move
on to the next section.
Will you notice what the servant says in
verse 14?
May she be the one whom thou hast
appointed for thy servant Isaac.
There is no free will here.
It's the one whom thou hast appointed.
One of the marks of Christian growth and
discernment and comprehension is the awareness that all
things that happen are by divine appointment.
Man thinks he has a free will.
True.
There are certain things that you can choose.
I did get up this morning, believe it
or not.
I got up and I did choose to
wear this particular tie.
It was possible for me to wear another
tie and so of my own free agency
I made this decision.
I know of course I didn't make it
a free will ultimately but I don't remember
any particular compulsion.
Wear that dark blue tie with those stripes
in it.
So that was my decision.
I can do other things.
I can choose to eat a certain thing.
For breakfast this morning I chose off of
a menu certain things.
Well it so happens it's the same thing
I choose every Sunday morning but nevertheless it
was my choice.
Now we do have the sense of having
the power to make certain decisions but when
we talk about biblical free will we're talking
about something else.
We're talking about the decision in spiritual matters
and the decisions in spiritual matters while we
may think that we make them they are
things that are made for us ultimately by
God.
The scriptures make that plain.
Even our new birth is said to be
not of bloods, not of the will of
the flesh, not of the will of man
but of God.
It is not of him that willeth the
apostle Paul says nor of him that runneth
but of God that showeth mercy.
Now I know there are many of you
in the audience that say Dr. Johnson you
have told us that a hundred times or
a hundred and three times.
Well I'm going to tell it a few
more if the Lord enables me to stand
up behind this platform behind this pulpit a
few more times because there are still some
of us that do not seem to grasp
the fact that in spiritual things we do
not have ultimate free will.
The salvation that we have is a salvation
that is traceable entirely to God's initiative.
Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth, James says.
So it is the divine will that is
responsible for our salvation.
Now when we learn these wonderful truths then
our spiritual life takes on a new dimension
and God begins to be glorified in our
life because we see the blessings that are
ours are the result of the divine working
and not any kind of cooperation in which
he does his part and I do my
part.
And thus I have reason for thinking that
I have some basis by which I may
receive some praise from God for making a
particular decision for him.
The whole tone of a man's life changes
when he comes to understand the doctrines of
the sovereign grace of God.
You can tell it.
If you'll look at a Christian you'll find
the whole level of his spiritual life has
become a different level when he understands these
great doctrines.
And some of you are sitting in the
audience I know and you're saying yes, yes,
yes, but some of you I'm still a
little perplexed about you as Paul was about
the Galatians because the tone of the belief
in the sovereign grace of God is not
there yet at least ostensibly.
I am not the Holy Spirit I cannot
of course know what really goes on down
within but I do know this when a
man comes to understand the sovereign grace of
God his life does change and there is
an appreciation for divine things and the salvation
God has given us that is deep and
great and it is motivating.
And I would love to know that in
Believers Chapel in the years that God keeps
this assembly as a testimony for the Lord
Jesus Christ that that should be the tone
of the ministry of the Word of God
here.
So he's looking for the one whom thou
hast appointed and he repeats that again in
verse 44.
And she will say to me you drink
and I will draw for your camels also
let her be the woman whom the Lord
has appointed for my master's son.
Hochachta is the Hebrew expression that is used
there and that's what it means it means
determined appointed for Isaac.
So he knows that God has someone already
picked out it's God who makes the choices
you see.
Now let's read about the servant and Rebecca
verses 15 through 27 and it came about
before he had finished speaking.
He was speaking in his heart later on
he says before he had finished speaking.
Now doesn't that remind you of the passage
in Isaiah chapter 6 65 in verse 24
where the prophet says giving the words of
God it will also come to pass that
before they call I will answer and while
they are still speaking I will hear.
And it came about before he had finished
speaking that behold Rebecca who was born to
Bethuel the son of Milcah the wife of
Abraham's brother Nahor came out with her jar
on her shoulder and the girl was very
beautiful.
Now he was looking for someone of his
relatives and he was looking for someone no
doubt who had some spiritual maturity but this
is a plus.
This is a plus she was also very
beautiful and this is the servant who sees
her beauty.
Now Isaac when he falls in love with
Rebecca she looks if she looks like as
an ugly duckling of course love changes a
person's eyes and mind.
There are some of you in the audience
no doubt who are saying you haven't found
that person yet how will anyone ever be
interested in me because I'm not as attractive
as so many that I know.
Well isn't it wonderful that God does move
the hearts of some men and they will
come in and take one look at a
young lady who may think like that and
he will say she's the spitting image of
Miss America.
You cannot explain something like that but it
happens.
So that's a plus she's beautiful.
Now let me read on that that got
my mind thinking about other things beauty.
The girl was very beautiful a virgin and
no man had had relations with her and
she went down to the spring and filled
her jar and came up.
Then the servant ran to meet her and
said please let me drink a little water
from your jar and she said drink my
lord.
Isn't that a nice way to speak to
a man.
That's that's the first step in this whole
process drink my lord.
Now you can see she's in the tradition
of Sarah who called Abraham Lord.
The servant must have said ah the right
spirit and she quickly lowered her jar to
her hand and gave him a drink.
Now when she had finished giving him a
drink she said I will drink I will
draw also for your camels until they have
finished drinking.
Quite a bit of labor.
So she quickly emptied her jar into the
trough and ran back to the well to
draw and she drew for all his camels.
Meanwhile the man was gazing at her in
silence and that's an interesting expression in the
Hebrew text because it means something like she
he was looking steadfastly at her keeping silent
because you see he still does not know
that she's the right one.
He doesn't even know at this point that
she's from the right family and he watches
her go through all of the motions that
he has just mentioned in his prayer but
he still doesn't know that she's related to
Abraham and Isaac.
And so he's watching very carefully in silence
observing everything that's happening just waiting no doubt
to ask the question whose daughter are you?
Now if she replies I'm the daughter of
Pildash the son of so and so of
Mesopotamia well that means the whole thing is
falling to the ground and he'll have to
start all over again.
So he's watching very very closely.
Verse 21 meanwhile the man was gazing at
her in silence to know whether the Lord
had made his journey successful or not.
Then it came about when the camels had
finished drinking that the man took a gold
ring weighing a half shekel and two bracelets
for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold
and said and this is the question whose
daughter are you?
Please tell me is there room for us
to lodge in your father's house?
He's pretty confident.
And she said to him I'm the daughter
of Bethuel and I can just see him
now.
I know Bethuel.
Daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah whom
she bore to Nahor.
Again she said to him we have plenty
of both straw and feed and room to
lodge in.
The daughter of Bethuel.
She really was his first cousin Isaac's first
cousin or as we say more accurately over
in the southeast I guess second cousin they
would say perhaps in the southwest I don't
know second cousin but really first cousin once
removed.
That's what she was.
That was her relationship to Isaac.
First cousin once removed.
The granddaughter of Terah or the great-granddaughter
is over against Isaac the granddaughter.
So there is the relationship necessary.
Now the servant he recognizes that God has
answered his prayer.
Then the man bowed low and worshipped the
Lord and said blessed be the Lord Yahweh
the God of my master Abraham who has
not forsaken his loving kindness his covenant faithfulness
and his truth toward my master as for
me the Lord has guided me in the
way to the house of my master's brother.
Many men when God has blessed them become
proud and arrogant.
But in the case of the servant there
is the true attitude success humbles this man
of God and he realizes that he has
been a tool in the hand of God
to accomplish the great purposes of God.
That's enough to make any man humble to
realize that God should perhaps have used him
in the ministry of the Word of God.
There can be nothing greater nothing more God
glorifying and really nothing more man humbling than
to realize that you have been a servant
an instrument an agent in the accomplishment of
the purposes of God.
How great a privilege it is to stand
behind a pulpit like this and proclaim the
Word of God.
Nothing is greater.
As Mr. Spurgeon has said if God has
called you a missionary do not stoop to
be a king.
That's true.
So the servant has been used to accomplish
the purpose of God.
Now in verse 28 through 33 we have
the servant and Laban and I'll read this
quickly for time's sake.
Then the girl ran and told her mother's
household about these things.
Evidently her father was either ill or incapacitated
in some way because Laban seems to have
at least equal responsibility in the affairs of
the home and Laban was Rebecca's brother.
She told her mother's household about these things.
Now Rebecca had a brother whose name was
Laban and Laban ran outside to the man
at the spring and it came about that
when he saw the ring and the bracelets
on his sister's wrists that's rather interesting because
that shows that Laban's hospitality is not altogether
altruistic because you see he looks and he
sees the ring the bracelets and he recognizes
that whoever this is he is a man
of wealth and if he already knows he's
Abraham he knows he's the rich uncle from
down in Palestine and so naturally he would
like some help himself and so in verse
31 he says come in blessed of the
Lord why do you stand outside since I've
prepared the house and a place for the
camels.
So the man entered the house then Laban
unloaded the camels and he gave straw and
feed to the camels and water to wash
his feet and the feet of the men
who were with him.
Now in verse 34 through verse 39 we
have already read these verses and I'm going
to take the liberty of saying nothing about
them because they really are repetitious for the
most part of what has preceded except to
point out that this is the testimony of
the servant which the servant gives in answer
to the question about telling his business and
so he begins by pointing out how God
has richly blessed Abraham and Isaac and a
matter as a matter of fact has given
everything that he has into the hand of
Isaac.
Isaac is the heir of Abraham and furthermore
he is the son of Sarah in her
old age and I've been taken I've been
made to swear on oath that he shall
not have a wife from the daughters of
the Canaanites but from his own father's house.
I think it's rather interesting I don't know
how important this is but I think it
does have some importance and thus I say
to you young people there are a number
of young people who've often contracted marriage without
any regard whatsoever to the financial responsibility of
the person whom you're marrying.
Now love is of course more significant I
think than financial responsibility perhaps but it is
important to know the financial responsibility of the
person that you're marrying.
It's not necessary to obtain a Dunn and
Bradstreet report before you say yes but nevertheless
it is interesting is it not that when
the servant gives his testimony concerning Abraham and
Isaac he begins by giving a kind of
financial report because he's making a proposal and
he's letting Rebecca and the family know that
Isaac is a financially responsible person.
He's not saying and we not we don't
conclude from this that a person has to
be as wealthy as Abraham or Isaac in
order to contract a marriage.
Most of us would would not have been
able to marry but nevertheless it is important
and here that's what we have.
Now when you turn to verse fifty and
I want to read the next section in
which we have the servant and Rebecca's departure.
Verse fifty we read then Laban and Bethuel
answered and said the matter comes from the
Lord.
Even they confess that there is such a
thing as irresistible grace.
They see that God has so worked that
this is something that he has done.
And while they do not stand on the
same spiritual ground evidently as an Abraham or
an Isaac they're able to see the working
of God.
This matter has come from the Lord so
we cannot speak to you good or bad.
Behold Rebecca is before you take her and
go and let her be the wife of
your master's son as the Lord has spoken.
And it came about when Abraham's servant heard
their words that he bowed himself to the
ground before the Lord and the servant brought
out articles of silver and articles of gold
and garments and gave them to Rebecca.
And here is some common grace thrown in
to in the latter part of verse fifty
three and he also gave precious things to
her brother and to her mother.
There are blessings that pertain to those who
are unbelievers because they're associated with believers.
That is true.
Then he and the men who were with
him ate and drank and spent the night
when they arose in the morning.
He the servant said send me away to
my master.
But her brother and her mother said let
the girl stay with us a few days
say ten and afterward she may go.
And he said to them do not delay
me since the Lord has prospered my way
send me away that I may go to
my master.
That's the characteristic of the world.
They want to keep the saints of God
in the world.
They are willing to praise the person who
has made a decision for the Lord and
make some nice comments concerning them but they
don't want you to leave them.
They want you to stay.
And of course if you stay then you
come under the influence of the world and
often the decision becomes a lost opportunity.
The servant wants quick swift action and separation.
And they said we will call the girl
and consult her wishes.
Then they called Rebecca and said to her
will you go with this man.
She said I will go.
That's free agency.
She thought of course she was making that
decision of herself but the Lord had already
appointed her for Isaac.
Free agency.
Yes.
Free will.
No.
Thus they sent away their sister Rebecca and
her nurse with Abraham's servant and his men
and they blessed Rebecca and said to her
may you our sister become thousands of ten
thousands and may your descendants possess the gate
of those who hate them.
Then Rebecca arose with her maids and they
mounted the camels and noticed and followed the
man.
So the servant took Rebecca and departed.
And then in the last few verses we
read of the revival of the arrival at
Isaac's place.
Now Isaac had come from going to Bir
Lahairoi for he was living in the Negev
and Isaac went out to meditate.
There is an evidence of some spirituality in
this man Isaac although not the statue of
Abraham's.
Isaac went out to meditate in the field
toward the evening and he lifted up his
eyes and looked and behold camels were coming.
You see this is ultimately a picture of
the church as it anticipates reaching heaven and
the presence of the Lord.
And there are some indications of the coming
of the Lord that are available through the
New Testament epistles.
There have been books written entitled behold the
camels are coming.
Speaking of the signs the trends in the
Christian church that antedate the coming of the
Lord.
And Rebecca lifted up her eyes and when
she saw Isaac she dismounted from the camel.
She said to the servant who is that
man walking in the field to meet us
and the servant said he's my master.
And she took her veil and covered herself
and the servant told Isaac all the things
that he had done.
Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's
tent and he took Rebecca and she became
his wife and he loved her.
What a fitting conclusion to a great chapter.
And he loved her.
Cannot help but think of Jeremiah chapter 31
in which God says I have loved you
with an everlasting love.
He loved her.
Thus Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
Let me say just a few words if
you don't mind this morning.
This is a beautiful example of the finding
of God's will in the life and the
words from Proverbs chapter 3 are significant.
Leaning not unto our own understanding but trusting
in the Lord is really the secret to
the obtaining of the will of God for
our lives.
And we have the promise that he will
guide us in the way.
Godliness is the chief ingredient of an ideal
marriage.
The will of God is the concern of
Abraham.
Isaac.
It seems not only the servant but Rebecca
as well and even Laban and the family
accede to the promise of the will of
God.
The thing has come from the Lord.
But the most remarkable thing about this chapter
to me has always been what a beautiful
and remarkable typical event it is.
Picturing the triune God's activity of building the
church in the present age.
For that is what God is doing.
Building a bride for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Abraham of course represents the father.
The first person of the Trinity who plans.
Who arranges the marriage of his son.
And he arranges it and plans it in
all eternity.
He appoints all who are to belong to
that bride in ages past.
God knows every single member of the church,
the body of Christ.
And then there is Isaac who is the
son.
And Isaac is preparing a place for his
bride awaiting the union that will take place
when Rebecca comes to him.
What a wonderful analogy there is between Isaac
and the Lord Jesus too.
Isaac was promised before he actually was born.
The Lord Jesus was promised before he was
born.
Isaac appeared at the appointed time.
The Lord Jesus appeared at the appointed time.
The fullness of time.
Isaac was conceived miraculously as God worked in
the dead bodies of Abraham and Sarah and
Isaac was born.
The Lord Jesus was conceived of a virgin.
Isaac was offered up by the father.
He was obedient to death.
He was brought back from the dead typically.
And isn't it interesting too that when Rebecca
finally meets Isaac, he has already gone through
these experiences.
He is in a sense a person who
has been dead and resurrected.
And that of course is the kind of
person in whom we believe today.
One whom the father has put to death.
Thou hast brought me into the dust of
death.
But one who has come forth from the
grave in resurrection.
Isaac unseen by her goes out to meet
her at the end of the journey.
And so we never know but having seen
our Lord Jesus Christ look forward to the
trumpets sounding and our meeting him in the
air and so shall we ever be with
the Lord.
Rebecca illustrates the church.
The chaste bride who prepares to meet the
bridegroom.
The one of whom Paul speaks when he
says I have betrothed you to the Lord
Jesus as a pure virgin and also beautiful.
A marriage that is pre-planned by God
in eternity past.
Chosen in him before the foundation of the
world.
Love before we actually see him.
And returning his love before we have seen
him.
Whom we love not having seen.
So we do love him.
We are on the way to meeting him.
And we are guided along the way by
the unnamed servant, the Holy Spirit.
And just as Rebecca made her way to
meet Isaac so we today, all of us
who are in the body of Christ are
on the way to meeting our great Isaac
to whom we shall be married forever.
And then loved forever by the Son of
God.
I wish I had time to turn to
John chapter 17 and point out some of
the analogies that exist there.
The servant of course is one who is
unnamed.
Holy Spirit that's not the name of the
third person of the Trinity that's a title
as I've said.
So the unnamed servant throughout illustrates for us
the work of the Holy Spirit in calling
out the elected appointed church.
How does he do it?
Well he told Rebecca's family who the son
was.
He also told how he had been honored
by the father.
He spoke about his riches.
In other words it is the work of
the Holy Spirit to take the things of
Christ and show them unto those that are
potentially part of the bride.
That's why we preach the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why in all of the ministry there
should always be predominant the note of the
riches of our crucified Savior.
That's why Paul said I determine not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified.
That is the message that extols the glories
of the Father and the Son and that's
the message by which the unnamed servant calls
the appointed ones into the fellowship of the
true believing church.
And then of course Rebecca's I will go
represents the decision from the divine initiative ultimately
by which she enters into relationship with the
servant with the son and with the father.
What a wonderful story it is of true
love.
It is possible that you are sitting in
this audience and you do not know anything
about membership in the body of Christ that
comes when we have responded to the good
news concerning our greater Isaac the Lord Jesus.
When you have come to know your own
sin and your own need and you have
sensed that you're on the way to perishing
and by the grace of God having been
enlightened by the Holy Spirit brought to the
knowledge of your sin you've been given the
gift of repentance and faith and you've turned
and said I thank the Lord for the
gift of the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation
forgiveness justification all of the other blessings through
him I turn from my trust in my
good works and I trust only in the
good work that he's performed.
May God move in your heart so that
by the grace of God you turn from
all other trusts in anything human to hang
forever upon the saving work of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
May God help you by his grace to
respond.
Will you go?
Will you go with the church of Jesus
Christ on the way to meet our great
bridegroom in the heavens?
Come with us.
Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's so simple.
What a terrible thing to sit here in
this audience and hear the gospel of the
Lord Jesus and not respond.
Come to him.
Shall we stand for the benediction?
We are grateful to the Lord for this
wonderful love story and it does remind us
of the everlasting love with which thou hast
loved us.
How thankful we are that in the ages
past it was appointed that we should come
and believe and oh God we do pray
that if there are some in this audience
who have not yet responded, give them no
rest nor peace until they come.
Joining us as we make our journey led
by the unnamed servant, the Holy Spirit, to
the presence of our great God and Savior
Jesus Christ.
May grace, mercy and peace go with us
for his sake.
Amen.