Well we come this week to Genesis
chapter 24, the gospel in an allegory. An allegory is a story
that is true, it's not a fable, it's a true story, it's totally
true, but nevertheless it carries a great weight of divine wisdom
and teaching for us. God had called Abraham out of
Ur of the Chaldees, in that area which was to become Babylon,
an area of Iraq as it is today. And he had obeyed the call of
God in Genesis 12 to come out, because as Hebrews 11 tells us,
from what God had told him, he was seeking a heavenly city. He was seeking the kingdom of
God. the heavenly city, the city which
has foundations, whose builder and maker is God, a city which
is not of this world. My kingdom is not of this world,
said Christ. Abraham came out seeking that
city because of what God had told him. God had spoken, God
speaks, God speaks now to call people out of darkness into his
marvellous light. He believed what God had told
him concerning the promised seed. You know, right from Adam, the
seed was promised, the seed that would be the way, the only way
to the tree of life. The lamb of God, the sacrificed
lamb of God, pictured in all those real animal lambs of God,
who shed their blood as a type, as a picture, as a blueprint
of that which Christ would come and do. He believed in the promised
seed who would come, and God had told him that it would be
from him, from his descendants, that that promised seed, the
seed of the woman, the seed, capital S, which is Christ, would
come to redeem the elect of God, the multitude which no man can
number, from the curse of the law. In Galatians 3 verse 8,
the New Testament sheds such explicit light on that which
is implicit in so much of the Old Testament. These are they
which speak of Christ, and in the New Testament we read, and
the Scripture, Galatians 3 verse 8, and the Scripture, foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen, Gentiles, through faith. He would
justify them like he justified everybody that he justified,
through faith, the faith of Jesus Christ. And they would have faith
in what Christ had done. That he would justify the heathen
through faith. Listen to this. He preached before
the Gospel unto Abraham. What God told Abraham was the
Gospel. But the Gospel didn't come till
Christ came, did it? I hear some saying. No, of course. The Gospel of God is from the
beginning. He preached before. You know,
we saw the Gospel, didn't we? In Genesis chapter 3, we saw
the Gospel so clearly. In Genesis chapter 4, we saw
the Gospel so clearly. Here, he preached the Gospel
before unto Abraham, saying, In thee in that which comes from
you shall all nations be blessed." Blessed? What's blessing? When
God says there is blessing, it is the blessing of salvation.
It is the blessing of forgiveness from sins, of redemption from
the curse of the law, the blessing of qualification for the eternal
life of God in the kingdom of God. And Isaac too understood
and knew this. Abraham had taught him, like
the holy line, right the way down from Abel, had taught their
offspring all the way down, Seth and Enos and Enoch and Noah and
Shem, and right the way down, they'd learned the gospel way,
the truth of God, and Isaac knew it too. These This little company
around Abraham in Canaan, the land to which God told him to
go, they represented the little flock. Christ said, my little
flock, fear not my little flock, don't be afraid. They represented
Christ's little flock in an unbelieving world. These were the ones, then,
who were the heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, living
in an alien world, living in wilderness separation from this
world, without the mark of the beast of this world, the kingdoms
of that area, the Ur of the Chaldees, and the Canaanites with their
idolatry all around them. They all had the mark of the
beast, the mark of Satan, the culture of Satan in them. But
these were living in wilderness separation, and their God was
feeding them with divine truth. They were living in Canaan, but
their hearts were set on eternity. Believers now live in this world. We're in the world, but not of
the world. Believers are not of the world.
They have a mindset which is different to that of the world,
for the mindset is that which is taught of God, taught by the
Word of God, applied by the Spirit of God in the conscience. Now,
we saw how The promise of God to Abraham and Sarah was fulfilled
in Isaac being born. And Isaac had gone and God had
told him, as we were looking at last week, to sacrifice Isaac,
thinking that this would be the one by whom redemption would
be accomplished, perhaps. But they came down because God
had provided himself a sacrifice, a ram in the bush, picturing
Christ, the substitute, in the stead of Isaac, come in his place. And now some more years have
gone on. Maybe Isaac was 30 years old then when Abraham took him
to sacrifice him, and he received him back as it were in a figure
from the dead. He didn't plunge the knife in,
but he was willing to, and he was ready to, and he almost did,
but God said, stop, there's a ram in the bush, look for that. And
it was sacrificed in the stead, in the place of Isaac, and they'd
come back down the mountain rejoicing and gone back to Beersheba, and
Sarah died. Years passed and Sarah died.
She was an old woman. She must have been, what must
she have been, 130, something like that, by the time we get
to this stage. And Abraham is old. It says at
the start of our chapter 24 that he was well stricken in years. But he was rich, he was rich,
he was comparatively comfortable, he wasn't part of the Canaanite
culture around him, but at least he got on with them. They sold
him somewhere to bury Sarah, and although he owned none of
the land on which he stood, yet God had said to your descendants,
will I give it? He's old but rich, and Isaac
is probably now about 40 years old. How is the promise of God
to be fulfilled? What am I talking about? The
promise of God. Hebrews 11, 18, God had said to Abraham, in Isaac
shall thy seed be called. Not in Ishmael, in your only
Isaac shall thy seed be called, shall the gospel be fulfilled,
shall the Christ come, shall the descendants of Abraham by
faith be manifest. Only then shall, in Isaac, shall
the promise be fulfilled. So how is it going to be fulfilled? How is it going to be fulfilled?
He's 40 years old, and there's no descendants at the moment,
and God's promised there's going to be a multitude, a great multitude.
You can't number them any more than you can number the stars
of the heavens, or the sand on the seashore. You won't be able
to number them, but at that moment Abraham could easily number them.
He didn't need the fingers of one hand to number them. How
is it going to be fulfilled? Answer, Isaac must have a wife. But where from? Where from? From
the Canaanites? Around about them? No, no. Although
Abraham lived peaceably with them, he knew that they were
idolaters. He knew that they were fundamentally
wicked in heart. He knew that they were not the
stock from which one to be the wife of Isaac should come. Now
what we have here is an allegory of gospel salvation, an allegory,
a story, a true story that pictures how it is that God saves his
people, his sinful people, for all have sinned, all of them
have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. None is righteous
in his own self. But how does he save those sinners
from their sins? and take them to eternal glory,
qualified, for nothing that defiles shall enter in. And yet he says
all of these will go into his kingdom. They must be undefiled
to go in there. How is he to do it? Through the
gospel. Now, the allegory is imperfect, of course, because
the characters are sinful human beings. Abraham was a sinner. Isaac was a sinner. Eliezer the
servant was a sinner. Rebecca was a sinner. The family
were sinners. But the lesson is here, clear
and instructive to us. So what is the allegory in summary? You can read those 67 verses
for yourself at your leisure. But Abraham wants a wife for
Isaac, but not from Canaan, not from the Canaanites, the heathen
Canaanites round about. And he thinks that his relatives
back in Mesopotamia back towards Ur of the Chaldees, whether it
was Haran or actually in Ur, I don't know, but it was in that
direction that his relatives from which he came back there
are more likely material from which a bride for Isaac would
be found. So he sends Eliezer. It doesn't
name him in this chapter, but we know from elsewhere that Eliezer
was the senior steward of Abraham's household, and he was his most
trusted servant. All things that were Abraham's
were managed by this Eliezer. And he trusts God throughout. to guide him to the right one. Eliezer makes the promise to
Abraham, yes I'll go back there and I will find a wife for Isaac. But he trusts God throughout.
You know we live in an age where the trust of God People who trust
God are regarded as, as we say, several bricks shy of a load.
You're not in your right mind if you do such a thing. To believe
such myths and nonsense is the mark of somebody who we want
to keep away from our children because you might corrupt them
with these stupid myths and such like. That's the attitude, that's
the philosophy of the world in which we live. But here, then,
Eliezer trusted God. Lord God, all things are in your
hands. Every footstep I take is governed
by you. I know that all things work together
for good to those who love God, who are the called according
to your purpose. I know you will guide me. I have no idea where
I'm going, finally. I have no idea who I will find,
but I know that you know, and you will guide me. The one in
whose hand is the heart of the king, surely, The one who knows
when every sparrow falls to the ground, that one, that God, surely
He will guide this man Eliezer to the wife for Isaac, to the
right one. And he goes and he finds Rebekah
at the well when he comes to that place. And she is Abraham's
brother's granddaughter. So yes, it's of his kindred.
And she willingly returns. You know, there's all the narrative
about him relating how he said, Lord, if this is the one, I'll
say this, and she will say, yes, I'll give you a drink, but I'll
give drink to your camels also. And I'll say this, and she did
all the way through. And she willingly returns, as
we read in the final part of the chapter. She returns and
is married to Isaac. Christ said, these Scriptures
are they which speak of me. They speak of Christ. They speak
of the accomplishment of salvation. They speak of the triumph of
God's kingdom. These are the themes. Believers,
if you believe Christ today, in this dreadful, hopeless world
that we're living in, which seems to get worse day by day, a world
in which the only hope is a variety of vaccines of various sorts.
This is what everybody is looking to as their Redeemer and Savior,
to save them from this imprisonment that we're all living in at the
moment. Child of God, how much more do we have? The triumph
of God's kingdom is ours. All things are ours. You shall
reign with Christ, says the Gospel. The Gospel concerns the population
of God's kingdom with justified sinners. That's what it's about.
And in this allegory, Abraham represents God the Father. And
Isaac represents Christ, the well-beloved Son. And Eliezer,
the servant, represents the preachers of the Gospel, or even witnesses. Every believer, preacher or not,
can be a witness for Christ. Rebekah represents all true believers. Let's look at Abraham's will.
He said, I want the first verses. Abraham, verse 2, said to his
eldest servant, that ruled over all that he had. He said, this
is a mark of the promise, I really mean it, I swear, hand on heart,
I swear. Put your hand under my thigh,
I'll make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven. Don't go back
on it for God's listening and God is watching. You shall not
take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites among
whom I dwell. He's the heir Isaac is the heir
of all that Abraham possessed. In him, in the line that comes
from him, shall the promise to Abraham by God be fulfilled.
He shall have a wife so that that promise of God should be
fulfilled. God's will is that Christ his
Son should have a bride and inherit all things. All that is God's.
The kingdom is made over to God. Read 1 Corinthians 15, I think
it is, isn't it? Yes. The kingdom becomes God. Christ is all, and it's all God's. John 3.35, the Father loveth
the Son. and hath given all things into
his hand. As Abraham loved Isaac and gave
all that he had to Isaac, the Father, God the Father, loved
Christ the Son, who is God, and has given all things into his
hand. In him all things consist. He
has all the preeminence. In Romans 8, verses 16 and 17,
we're told that believers, we who believe, are children of
God, and therefore if we're children of God, we're heirs of God. Those who will inherit all that
God has, and joint heirs with Christ. If Christ is the heir
of everything that is God, so are all the people, his believing
people, his elect multitude that are in him. God has chosen in
sovereign grace, by that I mean entirely of His own choice, of
God's own volition. In sovereign grace He's chosen
a people from every tribe and tongue and kindred, from every
kindred of humanity, to be the bride of His well-beloved Son. You know what it says about husbands
and wives? It says, they too shall become
one flesh, united in that way. Those who are Christ's are the
bride of Christ, and we are united with Him. He has taken legal
responsibility, willingly, for everything that we owe to the
justice of God, because we're His bride. And as His bride,
He has stood surety for us in everything concerning the law
and righteousness. His bride is a people who are
predestinated, says the scripture, to be conformed to the image
of His Son, to be made like Him. made like him. There's no doubt
as to the certainty of Christ having a bride. You know, you
hear Arminian doctrine, and there's huge doubt about whether there
will be a bride, because nobody knows from the start whether
anybody would believe, because it's all down to the power of
a preacher to persuade somebody to exercise their will to trust
Christ. And if that preacher isn't good
enough, then Christ is going to be left with a pretty poverty-stricken
bride. a pretty poverty-stricken church
for a bride. But no, in the purposes of God
and the Word of God, there is no doubt as to the certainty
of Christ having a bride. It isn't dependent on the fickle
will of the bride, of the people, not of him that wills, nor of
him that runs, but of God who shows mercy. It's not of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of the will
of God. It's only of the will of God. John 6, 39, Jesus said
this to the Jews. He said, this is the Father's
will. The will of the Father is what
matters. This is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, of all the
people which he gave me before the beginning of time, I should
lose nothing, every single one of them. will be saved and will
be taken to glory. I should lose nothing but should
raise it up again at the last day, every one of them raised
up at the last day. Though this world seems utterly
lost in sin and unbelief, God has chosen a people before time
began. That is the bride of Christ.
As we read in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9, where Paul says
to believers, calling them us, he says, he has saved us and
called us. God has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. That's when it was fixed. Before
the beginning of time, before the creation, before Eden, before
the fall, there God's purpose and grace was given to his people,
in Christ, before the world began. That was his purpose, that they
should be the eternal bride of his Son. And in time, when the
fullness of the time was come, Galatians 4 verse 4, When the
fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those who are under
the law, that we might receive the adoption, whereby, the adoption
of sons, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Sinners crying, Abba,
Father, to the God of all grace. And the Son came when the fullness
of the time had come, and paid redemption's price for them alone. And it is accomplished So the
only thing that is needed for the bride is chosen, the bride
is preordained, the bride is determined, the bride is saved
by the blood of the Lamb, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, salvation is accomplished, we just need to find those that
make up that bride. So here's Eliezer's commission,
Eliezer's commission to go and to find the bride for Isaac.
He's the steward of all Abraham's estate and he's commissioned
to find a suitable wife for Isaac. There will be a woman, chosen
of God, to whom God will guide you, and He will make that woman
willing. Psalm 110 verse 3, He makes His
people willing. If we go with a message of gospel
grace, how do we know they're going to believe? Answer, God
makes His people willing in the day of His power. He will make
her willing to come back with you. This effectively is what
Abraham said to Eliezer, go to an alien environment and culture
on an impossible mission. knowing that only God will order
things according to his eternal purpose and grace. Look at verse
7, the Lord God of heaven, this is what Abraham says to Eliezer,
the Lord God of heaven which took me from my father's house
and from the land of my kindred and which spake unto me and that
swear unto me saying unto thy seed will I give this land, he
shall send his angel, his messenger, before thee, and thou shalt take
a wife unto my son from thence.' The God of all grace will guide
you where he wants you to go, that you might bring back the
woman he has chosen to be the wife of my son, in whom the seed
shall be fulfilled, the promise of the seed shall be fulfilled.
What more confidence is needed The God who said, let there be
light and there was light and God saw the light and it was
good. That God who in the beginning made light shine out of darkness
and has shined in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The one who
is overall sovereign If He go with you, who can stop you? Who
can divert you? Who can thwart your ways? A kingdom
came to destroy Judah in the days of Hezekiah, a mighty Assyrian
empire, such a manifestation of the kingdom of Satan. And
they came with all the power of this world to destroy, but
the God of heaven made them hear a rumour, and that mighty empire
went away, and the empire was destroyed subsequently. In due
course it just petered away to nothing, and Sennacherib the
fearsome emperor was killed by his own sons a few days later.
God is on the throne of all things. All God's people are commissioned
to be witnesses of his grace. As Eleazar was commissioned to
go and find a wife, all God's people are commissioned to be
witnesses, and especially those that God raises up amongst them
to be his preachers, to proclaim, to declare. Preaching is not
trying to twist people's arms with gimmicks. Preaching is declaring
the truth of God. It's not trying to make the logic
of God more acceptable to what man will think is okay. It's
to go and declare the truth which God has given. He says to preachers,
preachers today as down all the ages, he says go into hostile
territory. Why do I say hostile territory?
Because this world around us is hostile territory, the world
of unbelievers. Do you know what it says in Ecclesiastes
3 verse 11 about the people in the world? The world is set in
their hearts and they by themselves can't find out the things of
God. They can't find out the work of God. The world is set
in their hearts. The love of the world. Why do
you think John the Apostle says to the people of God, believers,
he says, my children, love not the world nor the things of the
world. There are things that we need for life, but God gives
us what we need. We need to learn to be content
therewith. He gives us what we need, but
love not the world. The world all around us has the
world set in its heart, and this message that we're to go with
is a message that they will not naturally embrace, for they cannot.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they're foolishness to him, neither can he know them. Why?
Because they are spiritually discerned. Without spiritual
discernment, which is the gift of faith, Faith is that gift
by which you discern spiritual things you cannot see. Except
a man be born again, said Jesus to Nicodemus, you cannot see
the... Don't talk to me about the kingdom of God. Except you
be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. So we're
to go to such people, on the command of God, go into all the
world and preach the Gospel, and call them to come to your
Master's Son for eternal life. Call them to come to the marriage
supper of the Lamb, confident in only this, that God has a
chosen bride There's no doubt about it. There is a people of
God out there. The only reason that we're still
here now is that God still has people in darkness whom he will
call to his marvelous light. He will call by faithful preaching. No other way. That is the way
that God has ordained. That is the way that he has specified.
God, in Christ, has qualified his elect to be his sons' bride
for eternity, and has committed the truth of that, the word of
reconciliation, as 2 Corinthians 5.19 puts it, he's committed
that word to those he's commissioned to preach it, to declare it.
For, 1 Corinthians 1 verse 21, it is by the foolishness of preaching,
that which the world regards as foolishness, that it pleased
God to save those who believe. A man is sent to preach, and
he preaches, and the Holy Spirit opens the ears of some. Now Eliezer
fears rejection. Look in verse 5, he says, Peradventure
the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land.
Must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou
camest? This foreign land that he's going to is an alien culture
like the world all around us when we preach the gospel or
witness to the truth of Christ. She, this woman, is going to
be very attached to her family and I'm going to go and ask her
to come to a stranger she's never met on the promise that this
is the will of God, that she could come. It's a very big ask,
as they say. It's not like the sales representative
trying to sell the latest Apple wizardry, Apple products, to
a world that can't wait to get their hands on it, you know?
There's hard-selling jobs and there's others that are fairly
easy, and that would be one that's fairly easy, because there's
such pent-up demand for those things. No, it's not like that.
it's go and declare the glories of God and of heaven and the
hope of glory to a people which is naturally in darkness and
spiritual blindness. Go and call those who love sin
and the world to a heavenly banquet in righteousness, is what the
preacher is sent to do. When we preach We need to remember
that we're not pleading with the natural man in his natural
state, for that is futile. It's like this. It's like asking
pigs who love pig swill and to wallow in mud to come and get
dressed up and dine on haute cuisine, the finest of posh restaurant
food. They wouldn't appreciate it.
We are declaring God's message and trusting Him by His Spirit
to give life. As I've already said, He makes
His people willing in the day of His power. He makes His people,
who naturally will not believe, to see light in the face of Jesus
Christ, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God there. He
draws them with cords of love. He draws them with an irresistible
call. a call that cannot be resisted,
that call of the Spirit of God, like Pilgrim coming out of Vanity
Fair, when all around said, you must be mad, but he couldn't
resist the call. When Paul and Barnabas preached
And what they preached was Christ, they preached that Jesus is the
Christ, the promised Christ of the Old Testament to fulfil the
salvation that God had promised by Him. When Paul and Barnabas
preached Christ to the heathen Gentiles in Antioch of Pisidia,
it says in Acts 13 verse 48, as they preached, these Gentiles,
Gentiles, as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. God
had his people there. God had a bride for Christ there
amongst those Gentiles. And Paul and Barnabas proclaimed
the truth, and the Holy Spirit caused those that were ordained
to eternal life to be unable to resist the call to come to
him, and they came gladly. And so in like way, Eleazar went
confident in God. Look in verse 39 of this chapter. Verse 39, But thou shalt go to my father's
house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son. And I said unto my master, this
is Eliezer telling Rebecca and the family about the mission
he was on and what he'd been told. And verse 39, I said unto
my master, peradventure, perhaps the woman will not follow me.
And he said unto me, the Lord before whom I walk will send
his angel with thee and prosper thy way. And thou shalt take
a wife for my son of my kindred and of my father's house. And
that then shalt thou be clear of this my oath, when thou comest
to my kindred. And if they give not thee one,
thou shalt be clear of my oath. So it was all based on what Abraham
had said, based on the promise of God. And so we go. Preaching
to whoever will listen and trusting God to use it either. You know,
preaching has a dual purpose. It is a message of life unto
life. but a message of death unto death.
God uses it either to call out his people, those ordained to
eternal life, to the salvation that he has accomplished in Christ,
or to condemn. For whoever believeth not on
the Son is condemned already, said Jesus. God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. but whoever
believes not is condemned already. Why? Because he has not believed
on the only begotten Son of God. This is the call that goes out,
the gospel call, life unto life and death unto death. And so
again, we see in that verse five, Eliezer's suggestion, what if
she won't come? Should I take Isaac down there? And maybe in that way it'll be
easier for her to see what she's coming to and we'll propose the marriage to someone
she can see in her territory. Isn't that going to make it easier
for her? And we could say that that is
like saying this, that we need to dumb down the gospel to one
that the world will accept, to one that the world will find
easier to believe. If the world won't come to Christ,
let's take Christ down to the world. And Abraham says in verse
six, no, absolutely not. We don't go back there. We don't
go back to the house of bondage, not as if Abraham was a slave
there to human beings, but he was a slave to sin and didn't
see the gospel there. We don't go back there. God had
brought him out with a saving purpose. Why would he send them
back there? Why would it be in the purpose
of God to go back to the place from which he called them out
in order to fulfil his promise? Abraham and Isaac had learned,
like Moses 450 or so years later, that the reproach of Christ is
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Maybe we could get
more people joining our church if we tried to fit our message
more to that which the world would be comfortable with. You
know, I've had people that I used to be very close to say to me,
well, your message was all right, but oh, you know, you really
shouldn't have put that bit in. Do you know something? You're
just putting people off. If you put in that message of election,
If you put in that doctrine of particular redemption, that Christ
died only for the people the Father gave to him before. If
you put that message in, honestly, you're just going to turn so
many people away. No wonder you have only a handful. No wonder,
Noah, there's only eight of you in that ark. No wonder. you haven't
made your message amenable to the world around. No, says Abraham,
absolutely not. Do not do that. Isaac will not
go back down there. The woman God has for Isaac will
hear, and that's our confidence as we preach. Out there today,
perhaps, or when this message is listened to, or this video
recording is watched, there will be somebody who until now has
been in the darkness of this world, and they will hear, and
they will be made willing to believe, and to leave the world
behind, and to come, and to trust Christ, and to rest in Him. And
so we trust as we preach. We don't look at results as a
mark of our success. we look at this, did we proclaim
the message that the Father gave us to proclaim? And so verse
8, as Abraham does not hold Eliezer responsible, if the woman will
not willingly follow thee, then you shall be clear of this my
oath, only bring not my, don't take Isaac down there, that's
not the way to get the woman to follow you. And God says this
to his preachers, if they won't follow, that's not your fault.
If you faithfully declared, if they won't follow, you're not
accountable for whether there are converts or not. As Paul
later said, Paul sowed the seed of the gospel, the message, Apollos
watered, provided more explanation, but it was God who gave the increase. So, finally, I'll close with
this. Rebecca's willingness, all of them, Rebecca's family,
all of them, Laban, and what was the father's name? Oh, I
can't remember now, never mind. Bethuel, Bethuel. Nahor's son. Nahor was the brother of Abraham.
They saw clearly the hand of God, didn't they? Well, this
is the situation, and they said, well, we can see. It's verse
50. Laban and Bethuel answered and
said, the thing proceedeth from the Lord. And if it comes from
the Lord, we can't say anything good or bad about it. for it
is the Lord's determined will. If it's His will, we can't stop
it. We'll achieve no benefit by trying to stop it. We'll bring
only problems to ourselves if we try to stop it. No, they saw
clearly the hand of God in it all. What could be better than
being in God's will? Look at verse 55. They said,
the brother Laban and her mother, Rebekah's mother, said, let Rebekah
abide with us a few days, you know, just so that we make the
most of the little time we have left with her. And he said, Eliezer
said, don't slow us down, don't hinder us. The Lord has prospered
this. This is all the Lord's doing.
You know, I need to be sent away that I may go to my master Isaac. And they said, well, we'll call
for her and see what she says. We'll inquire at her mouth. And
they called Rebecca and said unto her, are you willing to
go? Meaning, are you willing to go now, right away? And she
said, yes, because it's the call of God. If you hear the call
of God's grace, you must come in a few days when you've been
and done this thing or that. No, no, no, no, no. What's the
message of Scripture? Today is the day of salvation. If you hear the call of God's
grace, come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. Come now. Come now. Come. Oh, everyone that is thirsty,
are you thirsty now? Well, come now. Come now. Come to the waters. Buy without
money and without price. And so she comes, and they make
their journey. And verse 64, Rebecca lifted
up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel.
For she had said, remember, this isn't This isn't moral teaching
on the rightness of arranged marriages for our adult children,
anybody. Don't think that. That's not
what it's teaching. It's an allegory about salvation.
It's happened. It was the truth in their culture,
and that's fine. It isn't teaching us how we should
get one another to marry in the case of our children. But she'd
never seen him. She's coming to him, but she'd
never seen him. She said unto the servant, what man is this
that's walking in the field to meet us? And the servant had
said, it is my master. It's Isaac, my master. Therefore,
this is the one I'm to marry. She took a veil and covered herself.
And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. And
Isaac brought her. You know, the account Eliezer
gave was the account of how God had called Rebecca out of her
culture to come and be the wife of Isaac that the promise of
God concerning salvation might be fulfilled. And he brought
her to his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became
his wife, and he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after
his mother's death. Rebekah became Isaac's wife. Christ, the promised seed, has
a bride. He has a multitude of children
by faith. The Lamb's wife, the Lamb's wife
is the people of God, the church of God, the redeemed of the Lord. In Revelation chapter 19, Revelation
chapter 19, if I just look this up, hold on, bear with me. Revelation chapter 19. It's funny, I normally put markers
in my Bible but I didn't do it this time for this one. Revelation
chapter 19 and verse 7. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife. That which was pictured in Genesis
24 is a reality in Revelation 19. He looked, and there were
much people in heaven. And then, let us be glad and
rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb
is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white.
For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. That's righteousness
that Christ has imputed, imparted to them. And he saith to me,
Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. At that marriage supper of the
Lamb, at the end of all things, will you be there? Will you be
part of that bride of Christ, married to him, arrayed in white? You say, how can I be there?
The answer of Scripture is this, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Amen.