Turn with me, if you will, to
Genesis chapter 24. Genesis 24, we'll begin reading
in verse 1. And Abraham was old and well-stricken
in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham
said unto his eldest servant of his house that ruled over
all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh,
and I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and
the God of earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of
the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell. But thou
shalt go unto my country and to my kindred, and take a wife
unto my son Isaac.' And the servant said unto him, 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?
And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son
thither again. 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 before
thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. And
if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt
be clear from this my oath, only bring not my son thither again.
And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his
master, and swore to him concerning that matter. And the servant
took 10 camels of the camels of his master and departed, for
all the goods of his master were in his hand. And he arose and
went into Mesopotamia unto the city of Nahor." We're going to
stop reading there. We're not going to, for time's
sake, read the entire chapter, but Lord willing, we're going
to look at some of the verses here. But I wanted to read these
to reintroduce you to this chapter, a story that I'm sure you're
familiar with, which is the account we have of Abraham's servant
being sent to fetch a bride for his son Isaac. Now, you know
You know that this is more than a historical account in the life
of Abraham about the marriage of his son, Isaac, to Rebecca.
This is a picture. It's a picture. It's a figure
of a much greater union and marriage that is of Christ and his church. And I trust the Lord will enable
me to bring this out to you tonight from this text. And to do so,
I've divided the message. First, I want to briefly consider
two ways in which Abraham is a type of God, the father and
two ways in which Isaac is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then, uh, we're going to look at how Rebecca ends up with Isaac. So that's, that's what we're
going to do this evening. So beginning with Abraham. The
first thing I want us to see is that this marriage was put
into motion by Abraham. This marriage was put into motion
by Abraham. Look again in verses 2 and 4.
And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house that ruled
over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh,
and I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven,
the God of earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of
the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, but thou
shalt go unto my country and to my kindred and take a wife
unto my son Isaac. He told his servant, you go down
to the land where I am from and you take a wife unto my son. He arranged the marriage to take
place, if you will. He arranged for the marriage
to take place. And God the Father has arranged
a marriage for his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul,
writing to the Ephesians, was instructing them on how a marriage
ought to be. And after giving them instruction,
he wrote this. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Abraham initiated
the marriage. But the union between Christ
and the church was much more than just set into motion by
the father. All the particulars were set
forth by him. It's an arranged marriage by
the father. It's an arranged marriage. You know, when I think about
arranged marriages in history or in some societies today, one
of the things that comes to mind is it's utilitarian. A marriage
is utilitarian. Wealthy parents want to marry
their children to other wealthy parents. or somebody that has
title they want to arrange so that their children marry somebody
else with title. It's mutually beneficial. That's
the point of the arranged marriage. It's practical, a win-win. But in this arranged marriage,
God's people, we didn't bring anything to the table. We didn't
bring anything to the table. In fact, all we brought was a
debt and a burden that we could never repay, that our husband,
Christ, agreed to pay and satisfy in the everlasting covenant. And in earthly utilitarian arranged
marriages, it's typically associated, or at least stereotyped, with
the absence of love. It's at least at the initial
union. But that's not so with this heavenly
arrangement. The word of God teaches, yea,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness, have I drawn thee. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, not given so he could love, given
because he so loved his people, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life. And what could we say about
the love of Christ for his bride? That was such an appropriate
special. That was such a beautiful song,
good words. Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. And we love the Lord Jesus Christ
too, don't we? But we love him because he first
loved us. So Abraham put this marriage
into motion And secondly, Abraham chose where the bride would come
from. He chose where the bride would come from. You go to my
kindred and take a wife unto my son, not the Canaanites, not
of the Egyptians. You go to my kindred. Abraham
chose. God the father chose. God the
Father elected a people in Christ before the foundation of the
world to make up the sum of the bride. To make up the sum of
the bride for the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1 verses 3
and 4, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. But he didn't elect
a people tied to just one kindred, did he? No, he elected a people
out of every nation, kindred, tongue, a great multitude. And you know this, but I'm going
to say it again, God's election was not motivated or called into
action because of anything that he saw and those that he chose. You know, Abraham, had you asked
him, he probably could have listed some characteristics he thought
Isaac's wife would have coming from his kindred. What's the
saying, birds of a feather flock together? And children take some
of the characteristics of their parents, sometimes. So maybe
Abraham could have potentially listed some of the reasons why
he wanted someone to come from his kindred. But the scriptures
are very clear that God was not motivated by anything or anyone
outside of himself. To teach that God looked into
the future and saw something and therefore elected someone
is in opposition to what the Bible teaches. We are told it
was according to the good pleasure of His will. Romans 9 verse 11
is talking about Jacob and Esau. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated." So Abraham represents the father
And Isaac represents the Lord Jesus Christ. And in our text,
we are reminded of two things about Isaac by Abraham's servant. Let's look at that in verses
34 through 36. We're going to look here again
later, but here's Abraham's servant, and
he's in the house. He's in Rebecca's house with
her kindred, and let's read what he says about Isaac. And he said,
I am Abraham's servant, and the Lord hath blessed my master greatly,
and he has become great. And he hath given him flocks,
and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants,
and camels, and asses. And Sarah, my master's wife,
bare a son to my master when she was old. Bare a son to my
master when she was old. Isaac's birth was a miracle and
a fulfillment of a promise. Isaac's birth was a miracle and
a fulfillment of a promise. According to the flesh, it was
not possible for Sarah to have a son. Yet God in power performed
what he had said and gave Abraham a son through Sarah. Truly, this
was amazing. It was an amazing event. And
this servant certainly knew so, because if not, why would he
mention that Sarah was old? I mean, that, you know, it's
kind of an odd. And Sarah had a son when Isaac
was old, or so she had Isaac when she was old. He had never
seen or heard anything like this. And without controversy, Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The eternal son of God, the creator
of all things, was made flesh. A miraculous union and birth. And his coming was the fulfillment
of a promise. Right? The seed of the woman
shall bruise the serpent's head. In thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel, God with us. So Isaac's birth was a miracle. It was a fulfillment of a promise.
And secondly, here in verse 35 and verse 36 and Sarah my master's
wife bear a son to my master when she was old and unto him
hath he given all that he hath Isaac was heir to everything
Isaac was heir to everything And God has appointed Christ
heir of all things. Appointed Christ heir of all
things. You know, all things are his by creation. We're told
that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God.
He, he created all things and the word was made flesh, but
not only are all things his by creation, all things are his
by appointment, by decree. All power and authority is given
unto him, and he is all and in all. The father loveth the son,
and hath given all things into his hands." That's what we read.
Now, Abraham is going to see his son get married. Abraham's
going to see his son get married. And Isaac is going to have his
bride. Isaac's going to have his bride.
And Rebecca is going to enjoy the blessings and benefits of
being Isaac's wife. That's how this story ends. Let's
actually, let's go and turn there and read beginning in verse 63. And Isaac went out to meditate
in the field at the eventide. And he lifted up his eyes and
saw, and behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up
her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For
she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh
in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It
is my master. Therefore she took a veil and
covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all
things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into 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." So that's how this story ends. Isaac's
going to have Rebekah. Rebekah's going to get to enjoy
all the blessings of being married to Isaac. But in order for that
to happen, for that to take place, there's a couple things in the
middle here from when Abraham sent out his servant until this
happens. So I want to point out four things that were necessary
for Rebekah to be united with Isaac. Four things in our text. First, a messenger is going to
have to be sent to Rebekah. for this union to happen, a messenger
is going to have to be sent to Rebecca. Abraham sent out his
servant to go and take a wife for Isaac. What a charge. What a responsibility. An honor,
but a great burden. A great burden. And you know,
I find it interesting that the servant is not named in our text. Everybody else in this account
is named, but the servant isn't named. And if your Bible is like
mine, when you read here in verse number two, it says, and Abraham
said unto his eldest servant, and I have a margin there that
points us back to chapter 15, where Abraham says that Eliezer
was the steward of his house. So this, in all likelihood, was
Eliezer. But the servant's name is not
mentioned. Why is the servant's name not mentioned? Does this
not point us to the fact that it's not about the servant? Abraham
used the servant. It could have been another. It
could have been another. The power and the ability is
not with him. It's with God. So he's nameless. Nevertheless, the servant is
used. The servant is used because it's
the servant who establishes communication with Rebecca. He's the means
of communication. For whosoever, listen to that,
y'all know this, y'all know this verse, but for whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever have you ever called
upon the name of the Lord? I've used this scripture in prayer
before Lord you said whosoever You've said whosoever shall call
I'm calling help help me Lord to call save me Have you ever
called? It says whosoever Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed? Rebecca's
got to hear of Isaac. You've got to hear of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And how shall they believe on
him in whom they have not heard? And how should they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? This servant is nobody, but he's
somebody because of who sent him. The servant is not named and
it's comforting to me because I want to preach the gospel to
you and I have tried to prepare, but I'm thankful that it's not
about my ability and who knows what God might do. Now, the servant,
he had some concerns. He had some concerns. Look at
this in verse number five. He says, And the servant said
unto him, Peradventure, the woman will not be willing to follow
me into this land. That's that's reasonable. That's
a reasonable concern, isn't it? He's thinking, I'm going to go
into a foreign land and I'm going to talk to some strangers and
I'm going to find a woman and tell her about Isaac and get
her to leave everything she knows, everyone she knows, leave it
all behind and follow me back here. Yes. Yes. That is what you are to
do. Okay, but say that she's not
willing to come with me. What if she's not willing to
come? Must I needs bring thy son again
into the land from whence thou camest? No. No, you're not gonna
do that. You're not gonna do that. Abraham
said, beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. That
sounds like a difficult task. It's not a difficult task, it's
impossible. It's impossible. With men, it's impossible. It
takes the power of God. It takes the power of God. But
see, false preachers and teachers, they think they're going to somehow
trick people into trusting Christ. Maybe if we just take the fence
out of the gospel, we could fill this place up. It would be packed. And you can fill up a building,
but God uses his gospel and his word to save his people. And
James will read, of his own will, whose will, God's will, begot
he us with the word of truth, with the word of truth, that
we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Had Abraham stopped talking there
in verse 6, where he said, Abraham said unto him, beware that thou
bring not my son thither again. The servant wouldn't have had
good reason to believe his trip was going to be successful. He
wouldn't have had reason to believe the trip would be a success.
But Abraham doesn't stop there. Let's read verses 7 and 8, which
brings us to my second point. 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 while I give this land he he shall send his angel before
thee and that and thou shalt take a wife. This is a matter
of certainty. This is a matter of certainty
because her heart is going to be prepared. her heart is going
to be prepared. The message is not going to be
received otherwise. We recognize that. We recognize
that especially for the unconverted. I know that if you are saved
tonight, that at some point you have asked the Lord to open the
heart of one of your loved ones. I know you have. If you're one of the Lord's,
at some point you've asked the Lord to open the heart of one
of your loved ones, and we ask the Lord to save our children.
We ask the Lord to our friends, our loved ones, and we recognize
that if he doesn't prepare the heart, Lord, don't let it fall
on that stony ground, or the thorns take it. Let it land on that good ground
that you've prepared. But it's also the case for those
of us who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, isn't it? We need our hearts to be prepared
every time we come to hear the word. The words of that hymn
that we sing are so true. Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
hear my humble cry, while on others thou art calling, do not
pass me by. So, first of all, she's going
to have a messenger sent to her. Her heart is going to be prepared.
And thirdly, she's going to hear about Isaac. She's going to hear
about Isaac. So we don't have time to look
at the circumstances around this servant and Rebecca's meeting.
But you know that it wasn't an accident. It wasn't an accident. This all occurred according to
God's good providence. And we'll pick up reading here
once again when the servant is in Rebecca's house with her family.
Look at that in verse 32. The servant had gone out to town,
to the well where the women were coming to get water, and he met
Rebecca there, and he's now followed her. They're back at her house,
and Laban actually comes out to get him. And the man came
into the house, and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and
provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the
men's feet that were with him. And there was set meat before
him to eat. But he said, I will not eat until
I have told mine Aaron." He was determined. This messenger of
God, he was not going to get distracted by anything else.
He had one mission, preach the gospel. preach the gospel. He's not interested in anything
else. They're setting up a feast. He's like, I'm not eating until
I've told you my errand. Listen to what I have to say.
And they tell him, speak on. And he said, I am Abraham's servant. And the Lord hath blessed my
master greatly, and he has become great. And he hath given him
flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and
maidservants, and camels, and asses. And Sarah, my master's
wife, bare a son to my master when she was old, and unto him
hath he given all that he hath. And my master made me swear,
saying, Thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters
of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell, but thou shalt go unto
my father's house and to my kindred and take a wife unto my son. She heard about Abraham, Isaac,
and the marriage that would take place. That's a picture of the
gospel, isn't it? That's a picture of the gospel. There's only one gospel. There's only one gospel, the
gospel of Christ. the gospel of Christ, the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
2. You know, that servant was talking
about the riches of Abraham. He might have gotten most of
it, maybe not all of it, but the riches of Christ, the riches
of this gospel. We don't even touch the surface
of it, do we? So Colossians chapter 2. beginning in verse eight. Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. There is a lot of nonsense in
the world today. There's a lot of nonsense. There's
a lot of nonsense in so-called Christian religion, traditions,
philosophy, deceit. God loves everyone. You just
have to choose him. Well, to be saved, you're going
to need to join this church. Don't let anyone spoil you. These things are not after Christ. The gospel teaches us Christ
Christ, look at this versus nine and ten. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him. and ye are complete in him."
Any message that teaches anything short of believers being complete
in Christ is not the gospel. A message that requires you to
keep some conditions, to do something, to earn, is not the gospel of
Christ. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ teaches us that everything that God requires, Christ has
provided for His bride, and if you are in Him, then you are
complete in Him. We won't look at the next couple
of verses in great detail, but a few comments about being complete
in them. Look at what we're told here.
Some of the Jewish teachers were telling them here in Colossae,
well, you need to be circumcised to be perfect. Some today might
say, well, you need to keep this law to be perfect. or to be accepted. Look at what Paul tells them
in verse 11, "...and whom also you are circumcised with the
circumcision made without hands, and putting off the body of sins
and the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." You are circumcised. "...not that fleshly circumcision
which availeth nothing, the circumcision of the heart, not made with hands,
but by the Spirit of God." by which that stony heart was removed,
you did keep the law in Christ. You kept the law of God perfectly
in Christ. Read on, verse 12. Buried with
him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from
the dead. You're complete in him because
his life is your life. When he was put to death, you
were put to death. When he was buried, you were
buried. When he arose, you arose. He arose victorious, didn't he?
Victory over sin, death, hell, and you are complete in him. You arose victorious over sin,
death, and hell. What about sin? Verse number
13. And you, being dead in your sins,
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Completing him. Forgiveness of sins, they're
put away. And what about the law? Verse
number 14, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing
it to the cross. Complete in Him. Alright, back to our text in
closing. So we saw that a messenger had
to be sent to Rebecca. Her heart had to be prepared.
She had to hear about Isaac. And finally, she's going to have
to go to Isaac. She's going to have to go to
Isaac. Look at verses 54 through 59. See, her family had already agreed
that the servant could take Rebecca. Earlier in this chapter, they
had said, you can take her. You can take Rebecca. But then
they were kind of stalling. They were stalling. They wanted
her to stay a little bit longer. Why don't you stay a little bit
longer? I want the two of y'all to stay a little bit. Let's begin reading in verse
54. And they did eat and drink, he
and the men that were with him, and tarried all night. And they
rose up in the morning, and he said, send me away unto my master. And her brother and her mother
said, let the damsel abide with us a few days, at least ten,
after that she shall go. And he said unto them, hinder
me not. seeing the Lord hath prospered
my way, send me away that I may go to my master.' And they said,
We will call the damsel and inquire at her mouth. And they called
Rebekah and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go." Now,
things were looking pretty good that she was Isaac's bride. Things
were looking pretty good. She was kin to Abraham. Her family
had agreed for her to go. She was interested. She had showed
an interest, but she was going to have to go to Isaac. She was
going to have to go. May God give us the desire to
flee to Christ. No one can believe for you. May God give us the desire to
flee to Christ.