Abraham - Will You Go - Part 2

He did what he was told, he did it trustingly, he prayed about it, he gave the glory to God, he bowed and worshipped God, and at the end he was able to give a good account. That's all that really counts, you know. A hundred years from now it's not going to count, not going to be worth very much what our neighbors thought of us, or what the boss said about us; it's going to count a great deal whether or not Jesus can say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

And now let's bow to pray. Gracious Father, we always need the work of the Holy Spirit, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, or else the Word of God does not come alive to us as it should. And so help us today, fill with your Spirit. Beyond the sacred page we seek Thee, Lord; our spirits pant for Thee, Thou living Word. Nurture us and challenge us and convict us and cleanse us as we open your Word, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

We are focusing on four chapters in Genesis 24. It's a love story; we could call it "Here Comes the Bride." 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. 

Chapter one: The Will of the Father, Genesis 24:1-9. Abraham wants a bride for his son. We have a picture here of our Father in heaven who 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. The will of the Father.

Secondly, we have the witness of the servant in Genesis 24:10-49. We don't even know this servant's name; it possibly was Eliezer, who was the chief steward in Abraham's house. The servant was sent to get the bride, sent by the father for the son. The Holy Spirit of God is pictured here, I believe. The purpose of the servant's ministry was to get the bride for the son; and the servant went out, and he was guided, and he met Rebekah, and he showed Rebekah some of the wealth of Isaac, and he presented to her the decision: would she go and marry Isaac? 

The Holy Spirit of God is doing that today. The Holy Spirit of God is in the world today, and what is He doing? He's getting a bride for the Son. That's the beautiful work of the Holy Spirit of God. He's not here to talk about Himself or to glorify Himself. You don't find this servant anywhere in Genesis 24 talking about himself or bringing glory to himself. It's all his master, his master. The phrase "my master" is used 18 times in Genesis 24. Just think: God the Father sent His Son, and God the Son and God the Father have sent the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit of God is at work in the world today in the midst of all of these convulsions and confusion, in the midst of violence and strife and hunger, in the midst of all of the problems of life, a love story is going on. And God the Father is getting a bride for His Son through the work of the Holy Spirit of God.

Now we come to Genesis 24:50, and the servant has now presented his whole case. He believes that Rebekah is the one that God has chosen, so he presents his case to her family. 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. Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the Lord has spoken.'" And it came to pass, when Abraham's servant heard their words, that he worshipped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth. By the way, you'll find him doing that quite often in this chapter; he gives God the glory. "Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, jewelry of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. And he and the men who were with him ate and drank and stayed all night. Then they arose in the morning, and he said, 'Send me away to my master.'" 

But her brother and her mother said, "Let the young woman stay with us a few days, at least ten; after that she may go." And he said to them, "Do not hinder me, since the Lord has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master." So they said, "We will call the young woman and ask her personally." Then they called Rebekah and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" And she said, "I will go." So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her: "Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands; and may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them." 

Well, here we have now the willingness of the bride. It's an interesting thing in this chapter; you see God at work, and yet God is so working that He does not destroy the responsibility of the people who are making decisions. It's sad when Bible students go to one of two extremes. Some go so extreme on sovereignty that they destroy human responsibility. There are others who are so strong on responsibility that they destroy sovereignty. They tell sinners that they're doing God a favor by being saved. Now this Book, the Bible, balances both divine sovereignty and human responsibility. I can't explain them, and nobody can. One of our professors at seminary used to say, "Try to explain this and you'll lose your mind; explain it away and you'll lose your soul." 

The Word of God makes it very clear that God has His plan. Look at Genesis 24:14. The servant is now praying: "Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, 'Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink'—let her be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master." Now Genesis 24:14 makes it very clear that God had a specific woman appointed to be the wife of Isaac. Now her family said the same thing in Genesis 24:50: "The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the Lord has spoken." So everybody recognized the fact that God was in control of this situation. 

However, God did not force Rebekah to go with the servant. You see the word "will" comes in here. She said, "I will go." By the way, this is how you were saved. Genesis 24:58: "Will you go with this man?" That's what the Holy Spirit said to you. The Holy Spirit revealed the riches of Jesus Christ in the Word, revealed all that He had done for you, how He loved you and died for you, and then the Holy Spirit said, "Will you go with this man?" and you said, "I will go." By the way, this is the way people are married today; you have to say "I will," "I do." There's a choice made, there is a decision. The willingness of the bride. 

Now as I read this passage, I say to myself, "I was so unlike Rebekah the night the Lord saved me." She was a beautiful woman; there was nothing beautiful about me. When God looked at me He saw sin and corruption and disobedience and all of the ugliness that comes with sin and corruption and disobedience. I was outside the family; Rebekah was inside the family. She was a relative. She was a servant; my, she gave the servant water, and she gave water to the camels. And by the way, if you've ever watched camels drink, that takes a lot of water. Camels are the sponges of the animal world. And here was this girl working diligently; she was beautiful, she was inside the family. That wasn't my condition when I was saved. I was outside the family, I was outside of the family of God, there was no beauty in me that God should desire me. I was a servant of sin.

It does us good every once in a while to remember what we were before the Lord saved us. Now don't dwell on it too long, because the devil can use that to discourage you. I was reading in Titus 3:3 what I was like before I was saved: "For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another." But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. You see, this is the kindness of God. This is what happened with Rebekah. Rebekah experienced the kindness of God. Genesis 24:14: "And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master." Well, I was not like Rebekah nor were you, and yet God came to save us. 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. Now how did she make the right decision? Well, to begin with, she heard the witness about the Son. I wonder if she didn't ask some questions; we aren't told, but I wonder if she didn't say, "Tell me more about Isaac, tell me more." Whom having not seen you love; we read that in 1 Peter 1:8. Here she is falling in love with a man she's never seen, never met, but everything she hears about him is wonderful. She heard the witness of the servant, she saw the wealth of Isaac, she believed the word. How did she know this wasn't some kind of a trick? She believed the word of the servant and she said, "I will go." That's an amazing statement. "I will go." 

In fact, the servant had asked Abraham about that even before the servant left home. Genesis 24:5: "Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me." And then down in Genesis 24:8, Abraham says, "If the woman is not willing to follow you..." Let me make it very clear: whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. Jesus said, "You will not come to Me." All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me—that's sovereignty. And him who comes to Me I'll in no wise cast out—that's responsibility. Now don't argue this; they're both taught in the Word of God. And we can't see where they join, we don't have to; they join at the heart and the throne of Almighty God. 

Well, she made the right decision, and she had already been chosen. Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Now they wanted her to wait; that's always been the devil's chief argument. Wait. Take a few more days. They said, "Let her stay here ten more days." We'll have a feast, we'll call in the neighbors and have a good time. You haven't even seen this man, or oh, it's such a long journey—and it was, some, oh, four or five hundred miles from her home to Isaac's home. And they could have used all kinds of excuses to keep her there, but she said, "No, I will go."

Why have you been postponing trusting the Lord Jesus Christ? What more can you know about Him? What more can you know about yourself? What more can God do to bring you to Himself? Oh, thank God for those who say, "I will go. I will trust Christ as my Savior." The willingness of the bride. No one will be in heaven against his own will. God always works in our hearts and minds to bring us to the point where we are willing to do His will. God is not going to destroy your responsibility; God's going to hold you accountable. Oh, I trust that right now you will say, "I will go." 

Now what did this lead to? Well, it led finally to the welcome of the Son. Genesis 24:61-67: "Then Rebekah and her maids arose, and they rode on the camels and followed the man." The Holy Spirit always leads you to Jesus Christ. "So the servant took Rebekah and departed. Now Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi." That's the well of the one who lives and sees me. Beer Lahai Roi. And you'll recall that this was connected with Hagar, Genesis 16:14. Well, Isaac is out by the well, and what's he doing? He's meditating. Genesis 24:63: "And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming." And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, and she said to the servant, "Who is this man walking in the field to meet us?" 

Here she is meeting her husband, doesn't even know him. Well, I suppose this must have been a time of great excitement for her, because the servant said, "It is my master." Then she took a veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. I'd like to pause on that verse, but I won't, just a reminder that one of these days we're going to give an accounting of what we have done. I know the servant here is a picture of the Holy Spirit of God, but he's also a picture of what I need to be as a servant of God, perhaps what you need to be as a servant of God. He did what he was told, he did it trustingly, he prayed about it, he gave the glory to God, he bowed and worshipped God, and at the end he was able to give a good account. That's all that really counts, you know. A hundred years from now it's not going to count, not going to be worth very much what our neighbors thought of us, or what the boss said about us; it's going to count a great deal whether or not Jesus can say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." 

Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. He was forty years old when he got married. This means that between chapter 23 and 24, some two or three years elapsed, because Isaac was forty years old when he got married, and he would have been thirty-seven years old when Sarah died. So we have some time elapsing there. The welcome of the Son.

Well, Isaac is a beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's one of those Old Testament types of the Lord Jesus; His miraculous birth—Abraham and Sarah had this son at a time when they were too old to have any children. His miraculous birth. His persecution by Ishmael speaks of our Lord's persecution and suffering when He was on earth. Then chapter 22: His surrender to die on the altar, His willingness to die, to obey His Father. 

And then we pointed out in chapter 22 that Abraham returned to the young men who were waiting, but there's no mention of Isaac returning. It's interesting: Isaac comes from the altar in chapter 22 to the marriage altar in Genesis 24. He claims his bride at evening. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to return one of these days; He's going to claim His bride. It's going to be evening, things are going to be dark. This world is getting darker and darker as we hear the news reports and we read the newspapers and the news magazines; sometimes our hearts get heavy. And then as we get older and we see all of the wickedness that's going on, and in our own bodies we feel we're getting older, we can tell we're not as young as we used to be, and we wonder, where is it all going to end? I'll tell you where it's going to end. It's going to end with the Bridegroom coming out to welcome His bride. 

I'm looking forward to that day; the older I get, the more I look forward to it. That today Jesus Christ may come and claim His bride. It would be a wonderful day because if you belong to Him, then you can lift up your eyes and you'll see Him, and we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. But if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, that will not be a day of marriage, it'll be a day of funeral. It'll not be a day of great celebration, it'll be a day of great condemnation. And so all I'm asking today from you who do not know Jesus as your Savior, all I'm asking is this: will you go with this man? Will you like Rebekah say, "Yes, I will"? Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. I trust that you will receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, and then you can look forward to the welcome of the Son, because you are a part of His loving bride.