24 Genesis 24 and Long Passage tonight.
I'm not going to read the entire thing, but I do at least want to
read parts of it. And most of it.
I think it's it's one of those things that I think often we we
lose sight of some of these stories.
This might be a story that you haven't heard before.
This is not necessarily one that's always told in Sunday
school. If you're going through a Old
Testament survey or something like that, then certainly it
would be part of that. But not always will we read this
story when you're going through a Sunday school class or
something like that. So it's a little bit different,
but so many lessons, so many things that we can pull out of
this story. But I want to begin there.
In Genesis chapter 24 and verse #1 Bible says, 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,
For adventure, the woman will not be willing to follow me unto
this land must thy 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 swear to him concerning that matter.
And the servant took 10 camels of the camels of his master, and
departed, and for all the goods of his master were in his hand.
And he arose and went to Mesopotamia under the city of
Nahor, and he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a
well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that
woman go out to draw water. And he said, Oh Lord God of my
master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and
show kindness unto my master Abraham.
Behold, I stand here by the well of water, and the daughters of
the men of the city come out to draw water.
And let it come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let
down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink.
And she shall say, drink. And I will give thy camels drink
also. Let the same she that thou has
appointed for thy servant Isaac, and thereby shall I know that
thou has showed kindness unto my master.
And it came to pass before he had done speaking, the behold
Rebecca came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milka, the
wife of Nahor Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her
shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to
look upon a virgin, neither had any man known her.
She went down to the well and filled her pitcher, and came up.
And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee,
drink a little water of thy pitcher.
And she said, Drink, my Lord. And she hasted and let down her
pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.
And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw
water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.
And she hasted and emptied her pitcher into the through, and
ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his
camels, and the man wondering how her held his peace, to wit,
whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.
And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that
the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight and two
bracelets for her hands of 10 shekels weight of gold, and
said, Whose daughter art thou? Tell me, I pray thee, is there
room in thy father's house for us to lodge in?
And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethewell, the son
of Milka, which she bare unto Nahor.
She said, moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender
enough, and room to lodge in. And the man bowed down his head,
and worshipped the Lord. And he said, Blessed be the Lord
God of my Master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my
Master of his mercy and his truth.
I being in the way, the Lord led me to the House of my Master's
brethren. And the damsel ran, and told
them of her mother's house, these things.
And Rebecca had a brother, and his name was Laban.
And Laban ran out unto the man unto the well.
And it came to pass, when he saw the earrings and bracelets upon
his sister's hands. And when he heard the words of
Rebecca, his sister saying, Thus spake the man unto me, that he
came unto the man. And behold, he stood by the
camels at the well. And he said, Come in, thou
blessed of the Lord, wherefore standest thou without?
For I have prepared the house and room for the camels.
The man came into the house and he under girded his camels, and
gave straw and provender for the camels in water to wash his feet
and the men's feet that were with him.
There was set meat before him to eat, but he said, I will not eat
until I have told my errand. And he said, speak on.
And he said, I am Abraham's servant, the Lord hath blessed
my master greatly and he's become great, and he has given
him flocks and herds and silver and gold and men, servants and
maidservants and camels and asks, and Sarah, my master's
wife, bare a son to my master when she was old.
And unto him has he given all that he has.
And then he goes on from verse 37 to about verse 48.
He tells, tells him the story of exactly what happened.
And I read it. He didn't lie about anything.
He gave all the details in there.
Verse 48. He said, And I bowed my head,
bowed down my head, and worshipped the Lord, and blessed
the Lord God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the
right way to take my master's brother's daughter into his son.
And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my Master, tell
me, and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to
the left. Then Laban and Bethewell
answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the Lord.
We cannot speak unto thee, bad or good.
Behold, Rebecca is before thee. Take her and go, and let her be
thy master's son's wife, as the Lord hath spoken.
And it came to pass that when Abraham's servant heard these
words, he worshipped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth.
The servant brought forth jewels of silver and jewels of gold and
raiment, and gave them to Rebecca.
He gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.
And they did eat and drink, and 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 at the least 10 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. They said, We will call the
damsel, and inquire at her mouth.
And they called Rebecca, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with
this man? And she said, I will go.
And they sent away Rebecca their sister, and her nurse, and
Abraham's servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebecca and
said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of
thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of
those which hate them. And Rebecca rose and her
damsels, and they rode upon the camels and followed the man.
And the servant took Rebecca and went his way.
Now this story is so full of of types or pictures and lessons
that we we could probably spend 3 or 4 weeks on this pulling
things out of this passage honestly.
And I'm going to give you the synopsis, kind of the shortened
version of this, but this might be a good one to take some notes
on and, and just write some verses down, write some things
down and go back and study these things out for yourself.
I'm going to try to get through this tonight.
I think we will. But Genesis chapter 24, verse #1
there it tells us that Abraham was old, tells us that the Lord
had blessed him in every way. Now, Sarah, and, and if you read
back in chapter 23, the entire chapter pretty much talks about
this. Sarah had died, Abraham's wife,
Isaac's mother had died. And so he sends this chief
servant. Abraham had buried Sarah in
Hebron, which is where he lived in.
He sent his chief servant in the household to the home of his
relatives. Now remember that Abraham had
left that area or of the Chaldees, and he had traveled to
this land that God had promised that he was going to go.
And so he sends his servant back there, and he makes him promise
that he will not take Isaac back there with him.
God brought us out of this place.
I don't want Isaac going back. We got relatives there.
We got things that are familiar to him there.
And if you take him back, he may want to stay.
God brought us out of that place.
We don't want I don't want you taking Isaac back there at all.
Promise me that you will not take Isaac back.
And so Abraham instructed not to get Isaac a bride from the
Canaanites. That's where they lived, was in
the land of Canaan. And he wasn't to take Isaac back
to his homeland. But if the woman choose chose to
refuse to come with the servant, then he would be free of of all
of his duties and and released from that duty to find a wife
for his master's son. So Abraham sends his eldest
servant who ruled over his house, and we're not told what
his name is at all in this entire passage.
Now, if you go back to Genesis chapter 15 and verse #2 the
Bible says, and Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me,
seeing I go childless? And the steward of my house is
this Eliezer of Damascus. So we assume, and, and that's
all we can do is assume that this servant was Eliezer of
Damascus. But he's unnamed, and he remains
unnamed in this entire passage of Genesis 24.
But this servant packs 10 camels, and he has gifts and all
of these other different things that he brings with him.
And he sets out for the town where Abraham's brother lives in
Nahor. And that was the journey from
Hebron to Nahor was about 500 to 550 miles.
That's a long way as as they travel.
And of course they've got camels, they've got other
servants with this servant. And we can, we read that kind of
near the end of the, of the passage there.
But it would have taken them probably at least a month to get
from where Abraham lived to where his family was at and
where he was supposed to look for a wife for Isaac.
And when he arrived at the well outside of the town, he asked
the Lord to reveal to him the bride that he had chosen for
Isaac. And as people come together,
though, you know, to water their, their, their, their
people and their animals and everything else.
And I think it's very interesting that it's the women
that did all the hard labor. They were the ones that went
down into the well and came back out with the water.
And when you, when the Bible says that they went down into
the well, most of the time these wells were very, you know, we
think of a well and it's just just big enough to, you know,
wind a bucket down and hits the water and you wind the bucket
back up. Wells back in those days were
the lifeblood of a, of a civilization really.
And so these wells were very, very big.
Sometimes, I don't know if I could say as big as this entire
auditorium, but at least half the size of this auditorium.
And there would have been steps that wound down into the bottom
where the well was at. And there would have kind of
been a little flat landing at the bottom.
And they would have the bucket and they would have come back up
maybe 2 buckets, but they would have dipped those buckets and
they would have come back up and then they would have taken them
to where they needed to be. And in this case, the the
servant, if she gave him a drink and offered to feed to water her
his camels as well, then she would be the one that the Lord
had selected for Isaac. And I think it's so interesting
that the Bible says before he had even finished telling the
Lord what his parameters were. Here comes Rebecca.
She comes walking up to the to the well and and she goes down
into the well and she comes back up.
And I can imagine that this servant is probably thinking,
which one am I going to ask, right?
Because if I ask and she offers to feed my camels, to water my
camels and it's the wrong one, then how do I know that I got
the right one? And so he watches Rebecca come
and watches her go down into the well and sees her come back out
with a bucket of water. And he says, you got some water
in the pitcher there. Would you mind giving me a
little bit of that water? And she said, not at all.
Here, take some of this water. In fact, let me give some water
to your camels as well. You can imagine what that must
have felt like for this servant. This is exactly what I said.
If she offered to water my camels at the same time, then,
then this is the one. Is she the one?
He still didn't know at that point.
He still had to go back and talk to the family.
But the Bible says in Genesis chapter 24 verse #16 and the
damsel was very fair to look upon a virgin.
Neither had any man known her. And she went down to the well
and filled her picture and came up.
I, I got, I asked AI go to the next picture for me, if you
will. I asked AI to find a picture
next one of what what she might have looked like and she's the
one on the left. But this is this is what
somebody in the Middle East at that time, a very beautiful
woman probably would have looked like.
And the Bible makes it very plain that that not only was
Rebecca very beautiful, but Sarah was very beautiful.
And you always wonder, I always wonder what is what does that
look like? What is what is very beautiful
mean, you know, and at least this is what AI said it looks
like. I don't know if she did look
like that or not, but at least gives you a little bit of a
picture there. And the servant confirmed that
she was from the family of Nahor.
She was actually Nahor's granddaughter.
So it would have been a great, great niece of Abraham, but he
gave her gifts. He asked her to spend the night
with the family. And of course, when they arrive
at the family home, the servants told the story and formally
asked Rebecca for or ask Rebecca, ask for Rebecca on
behalf of Isaac. Now, I think this is an
interesting thing. Rebecca would have known this.
But here is Abraham's servant walking up to this well with 10
camels. If you know anything about
camels, they can drink a lot of water.
I looked it up and believe it or not, a camel can drink up to 50
gallons of water in 3 minutes times 10 camels.
They have been traveling and they finally made it to this
well. I think those camels were
probably pretty thirsty. I can't imagine how many times
she went down in the well and came back up and went down in
the well and came back up and down and back up and down and
back up. And she just kept filling this
through. And the camels just kept
drinking and drinking and drinking until finally they were
they were watered. And you can imagine what must
have been going through this servant's mind.
That's dedication. This is God really answering
this request. This is God really coming
through for me. But I'll tell you what, this
story is just full. It's a full portrait of Christ
and his church. I'm going to show you some
pictures, some types here. All the initiative we find was
with Abraham. Abraham is a picture of God the
father in this story. His great desire was a bride for
his son. I don't have time honestly to,
to pull out every single picture in this story, but I hope you'll
catch some of these things as we go through it.
Turn over to Ephesians. Keep your finger there in
Genesis 24, we're coming back. But Ephesians chapter 5,
Ephesians chapter 5, see the God the Father, his great desire was
a bride for his son. Abraham as the father has had a
great desire for a bride for his son.
And Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25, the Bible says, this
Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church,
and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it
with the washing of water by the Word, that he might present it
to himself. A glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be
holy and without blemish. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 7.
The Bible says, Then said, I lo, I come in the volume of this
book, it is written of me to do thy will, O God.
It was the Father's will to find a bride.
So Abraham is a picture of God the Father.
But then we find the servant unnamed.
As we already mentioned, he was sent forth into the world to
seek the bride that was needed for Abraham's son.
He represents the Holy Spirit, and frequently in the Bible an
unnamed man represents and is used as a type of the Holy
Spirit. But it's his delight to draw
attention to the Son rather than to himself.
Certainly the type fits here. In God's purposes, the execution
of the divine will in the world is entrusted to the Holy Spirit.
It was the Holy Spirit that came at Pentecost to begin the great
work of seeking out a bride for Christ, for his seeking out for
Christ his, his blood bought bride, which is the church.
And in Genesis 24, the servant. And you read throughout this
entire passage, when we read a lot of it, the servant always
acted in accordance with the will of Abraham and with Isaac's
interests in mind. The servant didn't leave to go
talk about himself. In fact, he only mentioned
himself a couple times. His job was to magnify the
Father and the Son. We see the coming of the of the
Spirit of God into the world with a great mission to win and
to woo the heart here and a heart there into heaven's
beloved. His job is to point people to
Jesus Christ. His great work is to make much
of the Son and to tell of the Father in His wondrous ways.
His great task is to seek out those who will become the bride
of Jesus Christ. There was no aimless wandering
by this servant. He went straight to Nahor.
He went straight to that. Well, this is a well planned
expedition. This servant knew exactly what
he was all about. And what may seem like a chance
meeting was God perfectly orchestrating the events so that
the servant could meet the bride to be and introduce her to
Isaac. And that's exactly what the Holy
Spirit does in the world today. Oh, Jesus Christ had to leave
this world. He had to go away.
He's not here in this world anymore.
But he sent the Holy Spirit on behalf of God the Father and God
the Son to point people to the Son.
He takes advantage of life's ordinary circumstances, and he
uses those things to draw them to Christ.
He never forces somebody to accept Christ.
He never violates a person's will.
He never overwhelms. Then ordinary things happen.
A visit here, a chance meeting there, an unexpected
conversation, a book passed on by a friend, whatever it happens
to be. But all the time the Holy Spirit
of God is at work and finally the gospel is presented and an
hour of decision comes. It's exactly what we find in the
story here. Rebecca had to make a decision.
Oh, the servant presented her with all the facts, told her
everything that he could tell her about the Son.
He tried to do everything he can to make the Son look attractive
to Rebecca. But Rebecca had a decision.
Wilt thou go with this man? No coercion, just facts and then
extended invitation. It was the servants way with
Rebecca and it's the Holy Spirit's way with the soul.
But then we come to Isaac. He's one of the characters in
this story, although he's mostly in the shadows.
But Isaac in the story is a representation of Jesus Christ,
God the Son. Remember from the command to
offer his only son as a sacrifice.
Isaac was as good as dead to Abraham.
But then three days later, in fact, if let's go back and look
at this, in Genesis chapter 22, Abraham received Isaac back from
the dead when the Lord provided a substitute sacrifice.
Genesis chapter 22 and verse #4 Then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.
And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass,
and I, and the lad will go Yonder and worship, and come
again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the
burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son.
He took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they both went.
They went, both of them together, and you know the
story. He laid Isaac out in that altar,
and he raised his hand to sacrifice his son, And the Angel
of the Lord stopped him. And Isaac, the Bible says in
verse #13 Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold,
behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns.
And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a
burnt offering in the stead of his son.
Now turn over to Hebrews Chapter 11.
This is the chapter on faith. And of course it would not be
complete without Abraham in there because of all the faith
that he exercised and the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and,
and in God's plan for his life. But I think it's very
interesting here that Abraham travels and three days later he
comes and finds this mountain and he leaves his servants there
and he goes up and obviously then he was willing to sacrifice
his son. Could you imagine the difficulty
that Abraham faced knowing that his son was not going to come
back down the mountain with him? Then God obviously sent a ram
that was caught in a thicket and that ram died in his place.
But Hebrews Chapter 11 and verse 17, the Bible says by faith
Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had
received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom
it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called accounting,
that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from
whence also he received him in a figure.
And it's interesting that that at this point Isaac disappears
from the story. No more do we hear about Isaac
for a little while after Genesis 22.
Genesis 23 moves on and it's all about Sarah.
Abraham returns home with the servants in he buries his
beloved wife, and that's when he sent his servant to the land of
his family to find a bride for Isaac.
Isaac is not in this story, other than the fact that he's
mentioned that I need you to find a bride for my son.
Isaac is not here when this story is taking place, and
that's where we find this part of the story that we've already
talked about. This bride is supernaturally
identified to the servant. She has given gifts by him, and
she has to decide if she's going to leave her familiar life.
She makes the decision to leave and to go with the servant to
marry a husband that she's never met.
Could you imagine what that must have been like?
Sure, I'll go with you. You got a picture of him?
No. No pictures.
Just everything that I can tell you about my master and
everything that I can tell you about my master's son.
You're going to love him. Oh, you're going to really like
Isaac. Just come with me.
I promise you, you're going to like him.
And on faith, she believed that servant, she followed, she met
Isaac, she makes that decision to leave and go with the
servant. And that's when Isaac is
reintroduced into the story on a day and at an hour it was
previously unknown to the bride, they finally meet face to face
near Beer Lahey Roy. And they're married.
Now we go to the end of Chapter 24.
The Bible says this in verse #61.
And Rebecca rose in her damsels, and they rode upon the camels
and followed the man. And the servant took Rebecca and
went his way. And Isaac came from the way of
the well, Lahey Roy, for he dwelt in the South country.
And Isaac went out to meditate in the field that even tied.
And he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and behold the camels were
coming. And Rebecca 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 Rebecca.
She became his wife, and he loved her.
And Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
Beer Laheyroy means well of the living One who sees me.
After God the Father had received his Son back from the
dead, Jesus ascended into heaven and disappeared from the earth.
He sent an unnamed servant, who we've already identified as the
Holy Spirit, into the earth in search of a bride for his Son.
And that brings us then to the bride, Rebecca.
Rebecca is a type and a picture of the Church.
The Father is looking for those who will be part of that bride.
We might, we, we, we have to make a decision.
We must make a decision to leave our familiar life, to embark on
a spiritual journey that we have no idea how long it's going to
last with the Holy Spirit as our guide.
To go marry a husband that we've never seen but that we
absolutely believe exists. And at a day and an hour when we
don't know yet, our groom, our King, our Redeemer is going to
come to meet us. First Thessalonians chapter 4
and verse #16 Therefore the Lord Himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the Archangel, and
with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall
rise first. Then we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air, And so shall we ever be with the
Lord. Wherefore comfort one another
with these words. The Holy Spirit who has sealed
us will usher us into the presence of the true well of
living water. And one of these days we're
going to meet him face to face. I've never seen Jesus before.
I don't know exactly what he's like other than everything that
I can read about him in the Bible.
And the Holy Spirit is there to be my teacher and my guide to
tell me what I need to know about Jesus Christ the Son.
And one of these days that a day and an hour that no man knows,
I'm going to see him face to face.
What a picture, What a picture. We'll all be part of that
marriage supper of the Lamb. And what a day that's going to
be. Turn over to John chapter 15.
What wonderful pictures we find here in this passage of God the
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and the Church, the
Bride to be, all of them shadows of things that were to come in
the New Testament. All of these things were
fulfilled in Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit.
John chapter 15 and verse 26. The Bible says this, But when
the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the
Father, he shall testify of me. John chapter 16, verse #7
Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you
that I go away. Jesus is talking to His
disciples. For if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you.
But if I depart, I will send Him unto you.
And when He has come, He will reprove the world of sin and of
righteousness, and of judgement of sin, because they believe not
in Me, of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see
me no more of judgement, because the Prince of this world is
judge. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but you cannot bear them.
Now how be it? When He the Spirit of truth is
come, He will guide you into all truth.
For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall
hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come.
Boy, what a picture, what a picture we find here in this
passage. But I believe there's some other
lessons that we can learn from this story, and I want to take a
few minutes to share those things with you this evening.
First of all, I want to share with you some lessons from the
servant as as a type, as a picture of the Holy Spirit.
I think we can easily say that, but I also think that this
servant can represent us as well in verse 27 of our story here in
Genesis chapter 24. In fact, go back over there, we
have a few other passages to look at, but we are going to
keep coming back to Genesis 24 because there's so much here.
Genesis chapter 24 and verse #27 and he said, blessed be the Lord
God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute, my
master of his mercy and his truth.
And here's the here's the key here.
I being in the way, the Lord led me to the House of my master's
brethren. See, the servant's job was to go
where he had never been, to find a woman that he had never met,
to be a bride for a man whom she had never seen.
God knew exactly where Isaac was and where Rebecca would be.
And God LED Abraham's servant at the right time, to the right
place, to the right person for Abraham's son Isaac.
The servant didn't know where he was going to go, but he knew the
one who knew the directions. Every step to the city of Nahor,
I think, was with the with the reliance and the confidence that
God was going to show him the way.
God has a perfect plan and God has a perfect will for every
single person's life. And when we, as we talked about
this morning, are willing to put our will under God's will, and
when we're willing to surrender our life to him and willing to
do whatever it is that he wants us to do, he will lead us to
exactly what he wants us to do and exactly who he wants us to
be. And I'll tell you this when
you're off doing your own thing, God can't lead you in the in
that right way. I being in the way the Lord led
me. The Bible says in the same way
that God LED Abraham's servant, he wants to lead us.
How did God and why did God leave this servant to Rebecca?
Well, I'll tell you, there's a few characteristics of this
servant that we can find here that will help us as well.
And the first thing is this number 1.
He prayed. He prayed Genesis chapter 24 and
verse #12 And he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray
thee, send me good speed this day and show kindness unto my
master Abraham. The first thing he did when he
arrived in Nahor was to pray. I'm sure he probably prayed
along the way. God, I don't know what I'm
doing. I don't know how I'm going to
find this woman. The only way that I can find
this woman for my master's son, the only way that I can find a
bride for the son is if you show me who she is.
I'll talk to her. I'll tell her everything that I,
that there is to know about the son.
I'll, I'll, I'll give her everything that that she needs
to know, but you've got to lead me to her.
Boy, isn't that the way that we should be approaching our
witnessing opportunities? God, I'll, I'll be a bold
witness for you. Just lead me to somebody.
Lead me to some soul today. Teach me, Lord, just what to
say. I'll, I'll share the message of
the gospel. I'm in the way and I being in
the way the Lord led me. If God knows that you have no
intention of ever sharing the message of the gospel because
you have all the excuses about how you're too shy or how you
don't have time or how you just don't know the answers that
people might ask you questions about, or whatever it happens to
be. God's not going to lead you to
somebody because you're not being in the way that God wants
you to be in. But the first thing he did is he
got down on his knees and he prayed.
He asked God, God, you have to do this work.
You have to lead me to that right person.
Turn over to James chapter 4. See, that's exactly what God's
waiting for us to do. When God gives you something to
do, when God makes it clear what he what, what, what direction He
wants you to go, the first thing that He expects you to do is to
pray. James chapter 4 and verse #2 He
says this. You lust and have not.
You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain.
You fight and war, yet you have not because you ask not.
You wonder why God doesn't help you when you need help with
sharing the message of the gospel, Have you asked Him?
You wonder why God hasn't given you wisdom.
Have you asked Him boy, many times?
That's all it takes. You have not because you ask not
God's standing there with it, right?
It's like with your kids, you have a, you have a piece of
candy in your hand and you're just waiting for your kids to
ask, but they never ask, so you don't ever give it to them,
right? That's exactly what God is
saying. It's here, I've got it, it's
already at my disposal. Just come ask me for it.
It's yours. I'll give it to you, right?
You have not because you ask not Matthew chapter 6.
In fact, turn over to Matthew chapter 6.
You have not because you ask not, James tells us.
Matthew chapter 6 gives us a little bit more about how we go
about that process. Matthew chapter 6 and verse
number six. Of course, this is the Sermon on
the Mount. Jesus speaking, he says, But
thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet, when thou has
shut thy door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret, and
thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
It's exactly what we see happening with this servant.
He prayed, he prayed. God knows what's best for us.
Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 9. A man's heart deviseth his way,
but the Lord directeth his steps.
God directs us when we pray. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse #5
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not into thy own
understanding. Verse number six, In all thy
ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Lord sees tomorrow like we see yesterday.
You can go back in your mind's eye and see everything that
happened yesterday, and God can do the same thing with tomorrow.
Why wouldn't you go talk to him and ask Him about what's there?
God, you know what's coming my way.
What do I need? Direct me, lead me, guide me,
help me. That's what this servant did.
He prayed, and I'll say this number two, He waited back in
Genesis chapter 24, not only did he pray, but he waited.
He made his camels. The Bible says in verse #11 to
kneel down without the city outside the city by a well of
water at the time of the evening when the time that women go out
to draw water. Verse 13, Behold, I stand here
by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city
come out to draw water. This servant waited on God.
He didn't go canvas the area. He didn't put up a most wanted
sign. He didn't check the City Hall
for a list of all the single women.
He was just standing outside the well.
He was waiting on God. He had prayed, he had asked for
God's help and then he waited on God.
He, God wants us to wait on him. In fact, turn over to Psalm 25
boy, so many verses. Same thing with the with the
with the first point. We could have read so many
verses on prayer, but there's so many verses about waiting on the
Lord and many of them we find here in Psalms.
But in Psalm 25 and verse #5 the Bible says, Lead me in thy truth
and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation on Thee do I
wait all the day. Chapter 27, Psalm 27 and verse
14. Wait on the Lord, be of good
courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart.
Wait, I say on the Lord. Psalm 37 verse #7 The first part
of that verse, Psalm 37, seven says, rest in the Lord and wait
patiently for Him. Psalm 40 verse one, I waited
patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my
cry. Psalm 62 and verse #5 My soul
wait Thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him.
Sometimes God delays, but God always has a purpose in those
delays. Wait on Him, Wait on him.
Not only did Abraham's servant pray, not only did he wait, but
he also worked. Just because he had prayed and
was waiting on God doesn't mean he did nothing.
He did what he knew to do. He went to Nahor, He asked for a
drink for the camels. He was waiting on God.
But he was not just sitting there hoping that someone would
come along and say, Hey, does your master happen to have a son
that needs a wife? Right.
He didn't just, he didn't just sit there and do absolutely
nothing. He did what he could with what
he had. When you don't know exactly what
God wants you to do, do what you do know God wants you to do.
Somebody said it this way. When I can't, God can.
But when I can and don't, God won't.
When I can't, God can, But when I can and don't, God won't.
There's some things that we don't know.
There are a lot of things that we do know go so winning, love
the brethren give, read the Bible, go to church, a whole
host of other things that we can do.
The servant would have missed God's leading if he would have
prayed and waited but didn't make any effort.
Rebecca would have come, gone down into the well, came back
out with her water and continued right back to where she came
from if he had just said, God, you didn't, You didn't do
anything. I prayed and I waited on you and
you didn't bring this woman right to my feet.
Oh, he had to do some work. He had to get out there and do
what he knew how to do. And we say, you know, God, I
need money, but we're not willing to get out there and
work. We say, God, I want to serve you
full time with my life, but you're not even serving God now.
How do you think you're going to serve God full time if you can't
even serve him now? It's not like a switch is going
to happen. All the sudden one day you're
just going to go out and serve the Lord God.
I, I want your power, but you don't fast or even pray.
How do you expect to have these things?
Yes, we pray, Yes, we wait on God, but you've got to get out
there and do some work for it. Work and pray, pray and work.
That's what my pastor used to say.
I heard an old, an old black preacher.
It was a little, it was a tape that was so grainy you couldn't
hardly even hear it. Work and pray.
Pray and work where prayer won't get it.
Work well. If work won't get it, prayer
well. And if neither prayer nor work
get it, you can forget it because you don't need it
anyway. That's what he said, and I think
it's a great way to put it. When the servant got in the way
the Bible says the Lord let him get in the way of soul winning
and let God lead you to a soul. You wonder why you don't lead
anybody to Christ. You're not telling enough
people. You tell enough people
somebody's going to come to know Christ.
Get in the way, the Lord will lead you.
Get in the way of serving and let God lead you to a place of
service. Get in the way of reading and
let God lead you to a scripture. Get in the way of praying and
let God lead you to an answer. You get busy doing what you know
God wants you to do, and God will lead you in the things that
maybe right now you don't. Not only did this servant pray,
not only did he wait, he worked. And also I want you to go back
to Genesis 24 and see this. Excuse me?
He worshipped the servant, praise God, even before he
received a commitment from Rebecca, verse 26.
And the man bowed down his head and worshipped the Lord, And he
said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not
left destitute my Master of his mercy and his truth.
I being in the way, the Lord led me to the House of my master's
brethren. We should praise God even when
we have to wait for an answer. When, when we don't praise God,
it can hinder God from doing a greater work.
We should, we should praise God even if we don't like or
understand the answer because God always knows what's best for
us. And sometimes God's answer to us
is no. And that's hard to hear.
And we say, well, God didn't answer my prayer.
No, God answered your prayer. He just didn't say yes.
No is an answer. And sometimes no is what we need
to hear. We do it with our kids.
We don't give our kids everything they asked for
because it wouldn't be good for them.
They're always asking for a piece of candy and asking for
this snack and asking for that snack, and it's not always good
for them. Asking for money for this and
money for that. And sometimes we say no because
it's not good for them. I want to give good things to my
kids, but everything they asked for is not always going to be a
yes because it's not always good for them.
And sometimes God does that with us.
If God said yes to everything we asked Him for, we'd end up in a
whole lot of trouble in our lives because we ask for things
that are not good for us. Sometimes.
Sometimes God answers no. And it's hard to hear.
And we get, we get upset about it and we say, well, God didn't
answer my request. No, He did.
He answered it in the best way for you may not have been the
answer you wanted, may not have been the answer you liked, but
it's the answer that we need. And we should praise God even if
we don't like it or understand it.
We have to understand, much like this servant did, that it was
not about him. It was not about the servant.
It was about his master. And his master son took humility
on that part of the servant, but he knew that he was representing
Abraham and his son. He wasn't there representing
himself. And so we find the lessons from
the servant, but I also want to switch here and move over to
some lessons from the bride to be Rebecca.
Oh, the servant had to do his part if the servant had to.
Hadn't done his part. There would be no second-half of
the story. There would be no Rebecca.
There would be no bride for Isaac.
There would be no happy day when they finally meet.
There would be no continuation of the line of Abraham through
Isaac. Rebecca was just living her life
for herself. And I can't say that she never
thought about meeting someone who would eventually become her
husband because it seems that all girls have that thought at
some point throughout their lives.
I wonder who my husband's going to be.
I wonder what he's going to look like.
I wonder when he's going to come.
By the way, there's some great lessons to be learned about
courtship in this passage, too, And we don't have time to
discuss those. But it certainly would be a
great passage to study out, especially if you're kind of in
that, that stage in your life when you're going to be looking
for your life's mate. But she wasn't seeking a
husband. She was just living her life.
And the servant came looking for her on behalf of the Son.
The servant came, the Bible says in verse #22 of Genesis 24
bearing gifts came to pass as the camels had done drinking,
that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight
2 bracelets for her, hands of 10 shekels, weight of gold.
And you know whose eyes bugged out and got big when he saw him?
Her brother Laban. Whoa, what is that in your ears?
And what is that on your wrist? Where did you get those from?
Hey, come on in. All right, But that's not what
Rebecca's mindset was. Rebecca never mentions anything
about these gifts. Her thoughts were not on the
gifts. They were precious treasures,
but they were just things that didn't mean all that much to
her. She was thinking about the sun.
These were very precious, but they were just a small sample of
the vast riches that Abraham had.
In fact, turn over to Romans Chapter 11.
Boy, what a picture we find here.
Abraham, as we said already, is a picture of God the Father, and
He sends these gifts here and there, but boy, he's got so much
at His disposal. Romans Chapter 11 and verse #33
the Bible says, oh, the depth of the rich is both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His
judgments and His ways past finding out Ephesians chapter 1
and verse #7 in whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of His grace.
Rebecca received these gifts, but she lost interest in those
gifts pretty soon. Her thoughts were not on the
gifts. Her thoughts were on the groom.
What a lesson. We don't come to God for what we
can get out of Him. We come to God for who He is to
us. That's why we come to Him.
It's those who come to God for what they can get out of Him are
going to find pretty soon that it all falls apart.
You're not there to get something from God.
And certainly as a child of the King, He's going to take care of
us. I've been young and now I am
old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed
begging bread? God is going to take care of His
own, but we don't love Him because of what He does for us.
We love Him because of who He is to us.
You know, you shouldn't be trying to get close to Him for
what you can get out of him. You should try to get close to
Him so you can learn more of who He is and have that better
relationship with Him. But what we find here is that
Rebecca had to make a choice. The servant's job was to
convince the bride to be of the attractiveness of his master's
son. That was the servant's job.
She was presented with all the facts and a very important
question was posed to Rebecca. We find that at the end of verse
#58 this beautiful young lady with so much potential to carry
on the family of promise had a choice to make.
And in verse #58 they said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man?
Wilt thou go with this man? And here is a picture of
salvation. Rebecca makes her choice and she
said, I will go. What a wonderful picture of
salvation. All that belong to her past life
becomes a fading memory. Her thoughts are now only on her
future because she knew that when the traveling days were
done, there was someone that would be waiting for her arrival
at his home where he was. There she would be also.
John chapter 14 and verse #2 In my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you, I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there he may be
also. You know a lot of the other
versions of the Bible that say in my father's house are many
rooms. I don't want a room, I want a
mansion. She had never seen him, but she
believed on him. In fact, John chapter 20, you
can turn over to John chapter 20.
See, Isaac had been preparing for his bride for a long time.
Isaac didn't know exactly who it was going to be either.
Obviously, God knows, Jesus knows who's going to accept him
and who's going to reject him. But Isaac had been preparing a
place for this bride, and all the way up until she came in, he
was preparing that place for her.
John chapter 20, verse #28 And Thomas answered, and said unto
him, My Lord and my God Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because
thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.
Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believed.
First Peter chapter 1 and verse 8.
Whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him not
yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory. We see Rebecca leaving.
This unnamed servant had done his work well.
He drew her to the groom. She had the gifts from the
servant as well, to remind her of the one who was waiting for
her. But what a picture of
repentance. She had to leave her life as she
knew it. She had to turn her back on
everything that she thought was comfortable for her.
Everything that was familiar to her, everything that was that,
that, that, that, that brought out a sense of her own being.
And in order to accept that new life that was being offered by
someone that she had never seen and never met, but who promised
her a wonderful life, she had to turn her back on all of those
things and go in a completely different direction to receive
Isaac as her husband. What a wonderful picture of
repentance. And there we see Rebecca
leaving, but also we see Rebecca learning.
Turn over to John chapter 14. See this unknown servant, as we
already mentioned, is a type of the Holy Spirit.
He was now her comforter and her guide.
It was not left up to her to find her way back to Isaac into
his master's house. It was the responsibility of the
servant to bring her safely home.
John chapter 14 and verse 26 says this.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will
send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring all
things to your remember whatsoever I have said unto you.
She must have had 1000 questions.
Could you imagine how that servant's ear must have been
talked off the whole way home? What's his?
What's he like? What does he look like?
What does he like to do? What are the things that he
enjoys? How much, how much land does he
have? Where does he like to spend his
time? What does he do for this?
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Every.
Tell me everything I can know about the sun.
I can't wait to see him. I can't wait to meet this man.
But tell me everything that I need to know about him.
You were delighted telling her more and more about the one that
she had set out to me. Can you imagine how exciting the
servant must have been to share all of those things with
Rebecca? And he had.
He had accomplished his mission. He had gone to find a bride for
his master son, and he was coming back with a bride for his
master son. I don't think it was anything at
all for him to answer every single one of those questions
that Rebecca had for him. He was, He was excited to teach
her everything that she needed to know.
He was on his way back to the Father with a bride for his Son.
Imagine how he must have wanted to tell her everything and teach
her everything there was to know.
Her job was only to sit and listen and ask all the questions
she wanted to ask about the Son. And I'm sure he would tell her
of Isaac's miraculous birth and how he was the Father's well
beloved and the only begotten Son.
He would no doubt tell her how Isaac had become obedient unto
death and how he had come back, as it were, from the dead.
And now He was taking her back to the sun.
So we see Rebecca's leaving. Rebecca's learning.
But I want you to see this number 3, Rebecca's longing turn
over to Galatians. Chapter 4.
I can only imagine that all the talk of her future groom made
her more and more excited the more she dwelt on just who this
man was. The closer they got to where
they were going to finally meet the Sun, the more she must have
been looking forward to meeting him.
Time was passing and Rebecca's thoughts dwelt less and less on
her old life. More and more, she found herself
focusing on the new life that she had chosen and on the joy
that was set before her boy. There's so much picture in that.
Oh, there's so much. There's so much of a
representation of the Christian life for us.
We're getting closer and closer to meeting the Son.
We're getting closer and closer to becoming the bride of Christ.
And we're going to be at the marriage supper of the Lamb and
we're going to sit there and everything that we know about
Jesus Christ and everything that we've read and everything that
the Holy Spirit has guided us into, we're going to see him.
We're going to be with him. And the closer we get to the
coming of Jesus Christ, how do you not get excited about it?
How do you now let the old life get in the rear view mirror?
How do you not get less and less interested in who you used to
be? How do you not get more and more
excited about seeing Jesus Christ?
Because one day we're going to Galatians chapter 4 and verse 9.
But now after that you have known God, or rather are known
of God, How turn you again to the weak and beggarly elements
where until you desire again to be in bondage, you've been set
free from that old life. Why do you want to go back
there? There's no excitement there.
I don't want to go back to the world.
There's nothing in the world for me.
I'm looking straight ahead, not looking behind.
I don't want to go back to who I used to be.
I'm looking forward to meeting the Son.
Isaac was the center of her thoughts.
Second Corinthians chapter 10 and verse #5 says casting down
imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ.
And He is everything to us when He is everything that we think
about. Sure is hard to put other things
in that place. The more the servant told her of
the Father's well beloved, the more increasingly real he became
to her. Oh, when they were sitting there
at the well that day and the servant was just kind of talking
to her about this man that was somewhere in a distant land that
he wanted her to meet and that he wanted her to marry.
I'm sure it was just an idea at that point.
But the more they travelled and the more they talked and the
more this servant gave her a description of just exactly who
this son was and the closer they got to where they were finally
going to meet, I can just imagine that she was getting
more and more excited about that.
And he became more and more real to her.
This is actually happening. This is this is actually going
to take place. There is going to be a marriage
and I'm going to be the bride. The more she learned of him, the
more she longed for him, and although she had never seen him,
love for him took root in her heart.
And so then we find lastly Rebecca looking.
It was a long journey as I mentioned, some 500 miles, days
and days of traveling, some of the route weary, no doubt waking
up, getting on the camel, traveling, going to sleep,
waking up, getting on the camel, traveling and just doing that
day after day after day after day.
And I'm sure sometimes it got weary and sometimes she thought,
are we ever going to get there? Am I ever going to see him?
Is there ever going to be a day when I finally meet this, this
groom that they keep telling me about?
As the journey reached his close, the servant began
preparing her for this long for meeting that would soon come.
And I can imagine that he would say he'll be coming for you
soon. Could be any day now.
I don't know exactly where Isaac is at this moment, but I can
promise you this, it won't be long before we get to meet him.
The time of watching and waiting will be over soon, and I'm sure
that Rebecca was looking forward to presenting herself in the
best way possible for the day that she would meet Isaac.
She'd pay more attention to herself so that she'd be ready
when Isaac came and not be ashamed at his coming.
And then one day Isaac came. In Genesis chapter 24, Isaac
went out, verse 63 to meditate in the field at the even tie.
And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold the camels were
coming. And Rebecca 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? I don't know exactly how Rebecca
said that, but the way that she said it makes it sound like who
in the world is that? Who is that guy?
And he said, It's my master's son.
That's the one that's going to be your husband.
She got off of that camo and she got herself prepared to meet
him. Oh, could you imagine what that
day is going to be like? All that he had prepared for her
was finally hers. Everything that Isaac had been
preparing for his entire life up to this moment finally came.
Isaac and Rebecca met and they were married.
And the Bible says at the end of that passage in verse 67 that he
loved her, she became his wife, and he loved her.
And Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
He took her, they made her his wife, and he loved her.
And a new chapter in the story of redemption had begun.
And do you realize that God orchestrating all of these
things, put all these things together?
And it was through Isaac and Rebecca that God made a great
nation out of Abraham. Jacob came along and became
Israel. And then the rest of the story
in the Bible be fine because Isaac and Rebecca came together
in God's plan. But oh, what a picture.
What a picture. Such powerful truths from God's
Word. There's so many more lessons
that we could pull from this passage.
Boy, it'd be great for you to just just go back maybe tomorrow
in your devotions and read through that chapter again and
pull out all of those things that'll come out of that
passage. But we have to choose a place to
stop. And this is it.
We touched on a lot of things this evening and I hope it's
been a help to you tonight. Let's pray.
Father, again, we thank you so much for your goodness to us and
thank you for an opportunity that we've had to look into this
passage. What a what a rich, rich passage
of Scripture, one that great story.
But if we're just reading through and skimming over the
passages, we might miss so many of these things.
God, I pray that you help us be students of the Word, but you'd
help us to be looking forward to the coming of our groom.
Ray should help us to be looking forward to the coming of Jesus
Christ. And as the bride of Christ, may
you help us to be pure the way that Rebecca was pure.
May you help us to be spotless. May you help us to be ready for
the day that he comes. God, may you help us to serve
you and to live for you with all of our hearts.
Thank you again for all you do for us in Jesus name, Amen.
If you'd stand at your seats with your heads bowed and your
eyes closed, a lot of things that we talked about tonight and
maybe something God spoke to your heart about.
I want to give you an opportunity.