Abraham - Will You Go - Part 1

The Holy Spirit tells you all about the Lord Jesus Christ. How wonderful he is. He gives you tokens of heavenly blessing. He shows you what God can do for you, the riches of his grace, the riches of his glory, the riches of his mercy. And then he says, "Will you go?" And you say, "I will go."

And now let's pray together as we open the word of God. Gracious Father in heaven, we give thanks for your word. It nourishes us, it encourages and enlightens us. And we're grateful that today we have the freedom to open the word of God and study. And now we pray, teach us by your Spirit. May we learn far more through the Holy Spirit's ministry than what any preacher might say to us. And help us to apply it and practice it. Meet our needs today and help us to accomplish your will. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Genesis 24 has 67 verses in it, and we today wonder why is such a long chapter devoted to such a simple subject: finding a bride for Isaac. Back in those days, of course, the families arranged for weddings. Today, two people fall in love and they get married and they live together. Back in those days, two people got married, they learned to love each other and they lived together. On the human level, this is really a beautiful story. How the father sends the servant out to get a bride for his son and how that this bride was willing to come. But there's much more here than just "Here Comes the Bride."

In this chapter, we see the providence of God fulfilling his promises and we see a spiritual lesson about Jesus Christ and the church. Now, there are some very practical lessons here. I might be speaking to some young men who are not yet married. You'll want to mark Genesis 24:23 in your Bible. If you're going to get married, you'd better ask that girl, "Whose daughter are you?" Are you a child of God? If you're not a child of God, I'm not going to marry you. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has light with darkness and so on. Whose daughter are you? That's one of the most important questions a young man can ask.

This is also a divine love story. It's a beautiful love story picturing Jesus Christ and the church. There are four chapters in this beautiful love story. Chapter one: the will of the father. That's Genesis 24:1-9. Chapter two: the witness of the servant. That's Genesis 24:10-49. Chapter three: the willingness of the bride. You find that in Genesis 24:50-60. And finally: the welcome of the son, Genesis 24:61-67.

I think we have in this chapter an illustration of the work of the Trinity. You have the will of the father in Genesis 24:1-9. God the Father wants a bride for his son. The church is the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a living union, a loving union, a lasting union. And you and I as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have the joy of being a part of his bride. And God the Father gives us to his son. What a marvelous, marvelous gift that we should be the gift of the father to the son, even as the son was the gift of the father to us. And then, of course, you have the witness of the servant in Genesis 24:10-49. That's the Holy Spirit of God. This servant is a beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit. You have the willingness of the bride in Genesis 24:50-60. Those who trust Jesus Christ as their Savior become his bride. And then the welcome of the son. This is where it all ends, Genesis 24:61-67, where Isaac meets his bride.

Let's start with the will of the father. Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. Sarah had died at the age of 127, so Abraham was 137, and Isaac was 40 when he got married, so apparently we have two or three years between chapter 23 and chapter 24. Now Abraham missed Sarah. We'll find in Genesis 25 that he did remarry, took a wife named Keturah and had six sons by her. But here is Isaac, and Isaac has to have a bride because Isaac must continue the Messianic line. If Isaac doesn't get married, there can't be a Jacob. And if there isn't a Jacob, there can't be an Israel. And if there isn't an Israel, there can't be a David. And if there isn't a David, there can't be a Savior to come through the family of David. So Abraham is now getting old and he realizes that he must get a bride for his son. By the way, God the Father, God the Father wants a bride for his son. God the Father loves his son so much he wants him to share in the bride that will one day share the glory of the Lord.

So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, probably this was Eliezer, you find him named in Genesis 15:2, who ruled over all that he had, "Please put your hand under my thigh and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell." Once again, whose daughter are you? Are you a Canaanite? Then we're not going to get married. "But you shall go to my country and to my kindred and take a wife for my son Isaac." I like that. My country, my kindred. That's a good piece of counsel.

This is the will of the father. He wants that his children should be yoked together with those who belong to the family. I have seen more heartache, more tears, more tragedy come from the unequal yoke than perhaps anything else in all of my ministry. Where some girl just determines she's going to get married or some fellow's determined he's going to get married, they don't follow the biblical pattern. They don't ask, "Whose daughter are you? Whose son are you?" Go off and get married and then they regret it. It's so tragic. And then people get married and say, "Well, if it doesn't work, we'll get a divorce." God doesn't say that in his Bible. God tells us that marriage is for keeps and God tells us that he wants us to get married the right way the first time. Whose daughter are you? Whose son are you?

Well, the servant said to Abraham, "Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land." That's 450 miles away. "Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?" That's a different story. And Abraham said to him, "Beware that you do not take my son back there." This is interesting. He will not permit his son to go back. That's always been a problem with the Jewish nation in the Bible; they always wanted to go back, go back to Egypt. "The Lord God of heaven who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred and who spoke to me and swore to me saying, 'To your descendants I give this land,' he will send his angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there."

It's important to see that Abraham is operating on the basis of faith. He believes God's promise, Genesis 12:7, "To your descendants I give this land." Abraham is operating on the basis of faith. He believed God's promise that there would be a descendant. Isaac was born. Now he believes God's promise that there will be descendants, that Isaac will get a wife and that wife will bear children. So Abraham believed God's word and he obeyed God's word and he prayed for God's direction, that God would give guidance to his servant. "And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath, only do not take my son back there." So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter. At least 18 times in this chapter you find the phrase "my master, my master, my master." The word "master" is used 22 times. My master. The servant is obedient to the master.

Now God the Father wants a bride for his son. From Ephesians 5, we know that the church is pictured as a bride. It's a loving, living union between Jesus Christ and the church. "Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it." Genesis 24:27 of Ephesians 5, "That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing." The church is pictured as the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, conversion is something like marriage. When two people get married, they don't say "I feel" or "I know," they say "I will." The emphasis here is on the will. "What if the woman is not willing to follow you?" Genesis 24:5, "Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow." When a person gets married, he says "I will." I will give my life. I will share my life with this person whom I love.

Remember, Christian love is not primarily a feeling. Yes, feelings are involved. We realize that. Christian love is primarily an act of the will. We will to treat people a certain way. I like to summarize it like this: Christian love means I treat you the way God treats me. That's Christian love. Christian love means by an act of the will I am going to do the very best for you, even if it means I have to sacrifice. Now the amazing thing is, the more you practice this, the more the feelings come along. The more you say, "I am going to do this because Jesus wants me to do it," the more the Holy Spirit of God fills your heart with that kind of love. The fruit of the spirit is love. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God who's been given to us. You know, you can know all about the Lord Jesus Christ, you can have emotional feelings about the Lord Jesus Christ, but until you say "I will," you're not going to be married to him. You're not going to be saved.

Now why does God the Father want a bride for the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, not because God needs anything. God is totally self-sufficient, he doesn't need anything. God didn't need creation. God didn't need the angels. God did not need man. But God in his grace made this loving plan. Getting a bride for his son is an expression of his love for his son and for us. God so loved the world. You see, you and I are not just simply recipients of God's gift to us. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Jesus Christ is God the Father's love gift to us. But we are the Father's love gift to Jesus Christ. Seven times in John 17, you find the Lord Jesus talking about "those whom thou hast given me." God the Father gave us to God the Son. We're a part of his love gift. The will of the father. The father wanted a bride for his son. I'm looking forward to that great heavenly wedding. I have participated in hundreds of weddings in one way or another, and I'm looking forward to that great wedding in glory when we see the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are four chapters in this beautiful love story. Chapter one: the will of the father. That's Genesis 24:1-9. Chapter two: the witness of the servant. That's Genesis 24:10-49. Chapter three: the willingness of the bride. You find that in Genesis 24:50-60. Secondly, the witness of the servant, Genesis 24:10-49 in Genesis 24. Now you know this story. He went off to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. He prays by the well and says, "Show kindness to my master and bring the right girl to me." Look at Genesis 24:14. "Let her be the one whom you have appointed." Notice that. Not just any girl, the one that God has chosen. Appointed for your servant Isaac. "And by this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."

Well, of course Rebekah shows up. She does exactly what he expects. He says, "Whose daughter are you?" and she says, "I belong to Nahor." And he knows that God has blessed his mission. Genesis 24:27, "Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his mercy and his truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren." All of this was the kindness and the mercy of God. Notice in Genesis 24:12, "Show kindness to my master." Genesis 24:14, "You have shown kindness to my master." Genesis 24:27, "His mercy and his truth toward my master." Kindness, mercy, truth. That's what brings about salvation.

Now we don't have to go into all these details and read all of these verses. Rebekah takes the servant home and provides for him. He tells his story and says to them, "Now you've got to make a decision." He gave to her some precious gifts and he thanked the Lord for what the Lord had done. Genesis 24:50, then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, "The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good." The witness of the servant.

Let's notice first of all the servant was sent by the Father for the sake of the Son. That's why the Holy Spirit is here in the world. The Holy Spirit is here in the world, sent by the Father to represent the Son. Jesus said, "He shall glorify me," John 16:14. The Spirit of God comes not to speak of himself. We don't even have this servant's name here in the chapter. We think it may have been Eliezer, we don't know. The servant does not speak of himself, he speaks of his master's son. The Holy Spirit has not come to this world to speak of himself or from himself, he speaks about the son. It's interesting to note in Genesis 24:22 and Genesis 24:53 that the servant gave to them tokens of Isaac's wealth. He says the Lord has blessed my master greatly. He has given him flocks and herds and silver and gold and he has given everything to his son. The Father loves the Son and has put all things into his hands. And so the servant gives tokens of the wealth of the son to show them the reality of his mission.

Now he has to have the consent of the bride. You see, the Holy Spirit does not come to this world to force people to be saved. God won't force you to be a part of his bride. God will not force you to become a part of the love gift to his son. I don't totally understand the responsibility of man and the sovereignty of God. This chapter teaches us. In Genesis 24:14, "Let her be the one whom you have appointed." God had chosen her, but she had to make a choice. God had appointed her long before anything was ever done. God had singled out Rebekah, but she had to make a choice. And the emphasis here is on her willingness.

Now we aren't saved by an act of our will alone. We're saved by an act of our will that has been brought in surrender to his will because he has worked in us. "It is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure," Philippians 2:13. I notice in Genesis 24:5, "Perhaps the woman will not be willing." Down in Genesis 24:8, "If the woman is not willing." Down in Genesis 24:58, they called Rebekah and said, "Will you go with this man?" and she said, "I will go." It was a matter of her willingness to respond.

Now what encouraged her? She heard the word. She heard everything the servant said about Isaac. She said Isaac must be a wonderful fellow. He's a rich man, he's a godly man, he must be a wonderful person. He's a rich man, I can see all of this wealth. He handed out, the servant handed out all kinds of gifts to the family. He won the consent of the bride and he brought the two of them together. It's beautiful how you find them leaving right away. They wanted her to stay for a while and he said, "No, we've got to be on our way." And so she took her maids and she went. And Isaac is out meditating in the field and the servant introduces Rebekah to Isaac. It's a beautiful picture.

This is the way you are saved. God the Holy Spirit sent by the Father comes and talks to you about the Son. Tells you how wonderful Jesus Christ is. Tells you that he died for you. I wonder if the servant told Rebekah about Isaac going up on the mountain and putting himself on the altar. I wonder if he said to her, "You know your husband-to-be is a living sacrifice. He loves his father and he is willing to obey the father." At any rate, the servant tells you, the Holy Spirit tells you all about the Lord Jesus Christ. How wonderful he is. He gives you tokens of heavenly blessing. He shows you what God can do for you, the riches of his grace, the riches of his glory, the riches of his mercy. And then he says, "Will you go?" And you say, "I will go." Have you said "I will" to the Holy Spirit's wooing? Have you said "I will receive Jesus Christ as my Savior"? Now I'm not saying that the human will brings about salvation. "We are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," John 1:13. All of it is of God, but God is so wonderful as he works in our hearts, he convicts us, he deals with us, and he wants us to say "Yes, I will."

Oh, I trust you've done that. The Holy Spirit of God is working in the world now because the Holy Spirit loves lost sinners. God the Father loved lost sinners. God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son. The Lord Jesus Christ loves lost sinners. He loves us so much he laid down his life. The Holy Spirit loves lost sinners. He's in this world now. He's been in this wicked world for almost 2,000 years. He's had to put up with a lot of grieving and resisting and sinning that people have sinned against him. He's written a book about the Lord Jesus and now he's calling a bride for the Lord Jesus. And he's saying to you today, "Will you go?" And I trust you have said, "Yes, I will go. I will go. I will be a part of his bride. I want to belong to this one who loves me so much, he died for me."