CHAPTER 24

A WIFE FOR ISAAC

Now we have seen in Chapter 24 here that Abraham sent his servant back to his own country in the land of Haran where he comes from in Mesopotamia in order that he might get a bride for Isaac.  

Now I think as we come today to Verse 32 that we ought to make this statement that here is a marvelous picture of the relationship of Christ and the Church; which, by the way, one of the figures of speech that’s used is that the Church is to become someday the Bride of Christ.  And this is the way the Church is being won today…the Father and the Son have sent the Holy Spirit into the world.  And the Spirit of God, like this servant, has come to talk about Another—to take the things of Christ, show them unto us.  Now this servant has gone to get a bride for Isaac.  The Spirit of God is in the world to call out a bride for Christ.  Now notice the marvelous, dramatic effect that we have here.  This is a wonderful and exciting story!  Now I’m reading Verse 32.

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 errand. And he said, Speak on.  (Genesis 24:32-33)

Now this servant of Abraham said, “Before I can eat, I want to tell you my mission.”  The Holy Spirit’s come into the world to tell about Another and that’s primary business as far as God is concerned.  Now I know that there’s other business that’s very important; the business of our government and, of course, the news is great business today.  And the great corporations, the great automobile companies, the airplane companies; all this is important; great business.  If you want to really know why God is continuing to deal with this world, very frankly, He’s not continuing to deal with it because of General Motors or because of the government in Washington, either republican or democrat; makes no difference.  That’s not primary in heaven.  And the stock market in Wall Street is of no great concern in heaven.  The thing that’s primary as far as God is concerned is to get the gospel out.  The Spirit of God says, “Here, put this first.”  And this servant wouldn’t eat.  And now they tell him to speak on.

And he said, I am Abraham’s servant.  (Verse 24:34)

You notice his name is not given.  The Lord Jesus said, “When the Holy Spirit comes, He’ll not speak of Himself, but He’ll take the things of Mine and show them unto you.”  (See John 16:13-15.)  And, by the way, what is the name of the Holy Spirit?  He has no name.  He doesn’t come to speak of Himself; He’s come to speak of Christ, of Another.  Now this servant is a servant of Abraham.  Now notice Verse 35.

And the Lord hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses.

He tells about the father’s house.  And that is something the Spirit of God would have you know when He comes.  He’ll convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.  Those are the three things that he talks to the lost world about, and that the judgment is upon a sinful earth and upon mankind as men are lost today because they’re sinners.  I hear the things said today:  Men are lost because they reject Christ.  They’re not lost because they reject Christ; they’re lost because they’re sinners and whether they heard about him or not, they’re lost sinners.  That’s our condition today.  That’s the condition of man.  And the Holy Spirit’s come to let us know that there is a Savior that has borne our judgment, and He’s been made over to us righteousness.  We have a standing in heaven.  He’s come to speak of Another.  

And now will you notice, the Lord hath blessed my master greatly…and he has all these things.  How wonderful!  My [Heavenly] Father is rich today in cattle and goods.  Cattle on a thousand hills are His.  How great our Father is!  

Verse 36:  

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.

The Lord Jesus, He’s the inheritor.  We are joint heirs with him today.  He’s come now to tell this family, “I’m after a bride for my master’s son, and he’s going to inherit all things.”  Now will you notice?

And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell:  (Genesis 24:37)

Friends, He’s calling out sinners, but they’re sinners that “are born again; not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, of the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever.” (I Peter 1:23)  That’s the ones He’s calling out.  Yes, sinners, but they’ve been made children of God, and “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation…”  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  He’s not taking Canaanites.  They have to be transformed.  Now will you notice….

But thou shalt go unto my father’s house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son.  And I said unto my master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me.  And he said unto me, The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father’s house:   Then shalt thou be clear from this my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath.

And I came this day unto the well, and said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go:  Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink; And she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman whom the Lord hath appointed out for my master’s son.

And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew water: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee.   And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also.  And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, the daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands.

And I 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 unto 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.  (Genesis 24:38-49)

Now Laban is the spokesman for this family.  Will you listen to him.

Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the Lord: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.  Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master’s son’s wife, as the Lord hath spoken.  (Genesis 24:50-51)

They said, “As far as we’re concerned, this is of the LORD’ and you go ahead and take her.”  But now notice.

And it came to pass, that, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he worshipped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth.  And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.  (Genesis 24:51-53)

Now this is the way the Spirit of God does.  We have earnest of the Spirit when we come to Christ and, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.  We have access.  We have joy.  We have a hope, and we have the Holy Spirit.  These are the wonderful things that have been made over to the believer today.  Now we’re told here 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 the least ten; after that she shall go.  (Genesis 24:54-55)

And the very next morning, this servant said, “I want to be on my way.”  I’ll tell you this is big business for him.  And the brethren said, “Why?  What’s your hurry?  Give us at least 10 days to tell her goodbye, but after all we better talk this over with her.”

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 enquire at her mouth.  (Genesis 24:56-57)

Now we’ve come to this very important part of this that I think is quite wonderful.  I’m reading Verse 58 now.  Don’t miss this!

And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.

Let’s go back and look at this picture again.  It’s an oriental scene couched way back yonder in the beginning of time at the dawn of humanity in a way.  And yet man has been on this earth I’m confident thousands of years at this time, but as far as we’re concerned it’s 4,000 years ago.  And here is this family that they’re entertaining a guest, a stranger, and they’re entertaining him royally.  They fed his camels, taken care of the servants; they set meat before him; a real feast.  And he wanted to state his business.  He did.  And he told his strange business; he’d come to get a bride for his master’s son Isaac.  And I can see this servant there as he brings out these gifts that he’s giving to the family; gold and silver and trinkets.  Abraham, you must remember, was a very rich man.  

Then, he begins to tell about Damascus and, as he does, I see in that circle—that family circle around that fire, crouching in the background, a very beautiful girl, standing just beyond the others with those deep brown eyes.  She’s listening, and you can tell she’s listening.  And as she listens, why she hears the servant tell about Abraham.  He tells about how Isaac was born; tells about his miraculous birth.  Tells about his life and then tells about the day that his father took him yonder on the top of Mount Moriah to offer him as a sacrifice and how God spared him and would not take his life and gave him back alive to the father.  And now how the Father has sent him, a servant, to get a bride; that they don’t want to get one back there among the Canaanites.  They’ll get one that must be of like mind.  One that has the same capacity for the Living God; must be born again, you see, of the Word of God.  And in looking for a bride, she’s listening all that time.  And the transaction goes on.  

Now they turn to her.  No one’s paid much attention to her up to this point.  But now all eyes turn to Rebekah.  They said, “Rebekah, what about it?  Will you go with this man?”  And she doesn’t hedge or fudge or beat around the bush or hesitate.  She says, “I will go.”  May I say to you, have you ever noticed the men that the Lord Jesus called when He was here on earth?  They left their nets and followed him.  Oh, I know they went back a couple of times, but there came a day when they broke loose from those nets; they never went back to them.  They followed Him.  They went with Him.  

He today is still calling—the Holy Spirit, the one that’s taken again the servant’s place.  You see the Father and the Spirit sent the Son into the world to die for the world.  And now the Son said when He went back, He’d send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.  And He’s come now into the world.  And He’s calling out a bride, and He’s saying, “Will you go?  Here is the one who died for you.  He’ll save you.  You have to be redeemed first.  You have to come as a sinner to him; take your rightful position and accept Him as Savior, and when you do, you’ll be born again.  You’ll become a child of God, put into the church that’s going to be presented to Him someday as a bride.  And now you’re to be interested in Him.”  The question is, will you go?  Will you accept the invitation?  Will you trust Christ as your Savior?  Now you don’t beat around the bush about this.  You either do or you don’t do.  I never shall forget that I was speaking in a certain place by East; the fact of the matter of it was in Texas, and I presented Christ, and I said, “Will you accept Him?”  And I wasn’t really through preaching.  I never shall forget.  There sat a young man, I could tell he was interested.  He just got right up right there and then and walked down.  It had a tremendous effect upon the audience.  He didn’t have to be wishy-washy.  There wasn’t anything uncertain about him.  My, I love a clean-cut decision like that.  That’s the way He wants you, Friends.  That’s the way He’ll accept you, and the only way that he will accept you.  

Now will you notice this…that doesn’t end the story.  They start out now, and they’re going back to the Promised Land.  And on the way back, will you notice Verse 59.  

And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant, and his men.  And they blessed Rebekah, 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.  (Genesis 24:59-60)

That’s been fulfilled, Friends…already.  We’re not talking now about unfulfilled prophecy.  This is fulfilled.

And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.  (Genesis 24:61)

Now will you notice they had a long trip back.  We’re not told anything about that trip, but it’s not easy riding a camel.  I rode one from the little village there outside of Cairo down to the pyramid, and, Friends, that’s as far as I want to ride on a camel.  They call them the ship of the desert.  Well, it is as rough as any trip I’ve ever had in a boat.  It was rough, and they’re not easy to ride.  

Imagine riding on those camels across the desert.  I can see that they’ve had a hard day across that hot desert and have at evening they stop at an oasis, and the camp fire’s built, and they have their evening meal, and they’re sitting there before time to go to bed and have their sleep, and I hear Rebekah say to this servant, “Tell me about Isaac again.”  And the servant says, “Well, what do you want me to tell you?”  “Tell me about the way he was born.  Tell me about the way that his father offered him on the altar.  Tell me the old, old story of Jesus and His love.”  And the servant says, “Well, I told that to you last night.”  She said, “I know, but tell it again.  Tell it again.”  And he tells it again.  Never grows old.  And so that night she has that sweet sleep, dreaming of the time when she’ll meet this one.  And then the next day, they start out on the journey again, and the desert isn’t quite as hot, and the camel isn’t quite as rough, but it’s a long ways, and so they continue.  

And finally, they come in sight of the land of promise.  They enter it, and now they come down to Lahairoi, and we read in Verse 62.

And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahairoi; for he dwelt in the south country.  (Way down in the pleasant country, you see, down at Hebron and Beersheba.)  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.  (Genesis 24:62-63)

Now we’re given a view of the coming of Christ that we do not have.  So many are saying today, “Won’t it be wonderful when the Lord comes and we’ll be caught up with Him.”  Well, there’s another view, and that’s to be with Him when he comes.  And most of the church has already gone through the doorway of death, and they’ll be coming with Him when He comes, and that the bodies might be raised and the spirit and the body joined together.  

Now we read here that when he went out, they lifted up their eyes and they saw the camels were coming—those are alive are to be caught up with the dead; be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.  And so those that have gone before in death, they’re going to see Him when he rises from the right hand of the Father and then when He starts out to call His Church and to meet His Church yonder in the air.  This is the picture, and what a glorious picture it is!

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.  (Genesis 24:64-65)

And we’ll have to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, but He’s been made over to us Righteousness.  He was delivered for our offenses, and He was raised for our justification.  That is, that we might have a righteousness that would enable us to stand before God.  And so He wants to know who he is, “whom having not seen, we love.”  And I wonder today when He does come, are we going to know Him.  Oh, I know there’s a song, “I shall know Him, I shall know Him by the prints of the nails in His hands.”  And I think that’s going to be the way that we’re going to know Him when He comes.  This is the union of these two.  What a glorious, beautiful, wonderful picture this is before us.

Now we read in Verse 66.

And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done.

The Holy Spirit will deliver us at the Day of Redemption.  We’ve been sealed unto the Day of Redemption.  Believe me, this servant was going to get the bride to Isaac.

And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife… (Now notice) and he loved her: (The Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her.) …and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.  (Genesis 24:67)

And this reveals to you that Christ gains a great deal in our salvation.  Oh, He wants us!  He longs for us!  Oh, that you and I today might be faithful to Him, My Beloved!