Presentation 39

Presentation 39

Have you ever paid attention to the number of adverts in the lonely hearts pages of the newspaper or followed some of the TV programmes, where family or friends try to choose ‘Mr Right’ for a young woman or ‘Mrs Right’ for a young man. The criteria they employ in choosing varies from person to person; good looks, attractive personality, shared interests, good sense of humour, professional person, must have own car etc. Why is the criterion we employ so important? The passage before us addresses this issue.

Introduction

Presentation 39

Abraham was aware that the remarkable promises of blessing made to him by God could only come to fruition if his son Isaac married and had children. But who would Isaac marry? Not a Canaanite, they would have no sympathy with his son’s spiritual identity and destiny. Isaac’s wife would need to be spiritually compatible. The same principle is taught in the N.T. Christians contemplating marriage are told not to be ‘unequally yoked with unbelievers’. 2 Cor.6.14...

An Unfinished Task

Presentation 39

Young Christians, who are romantically involved with non-Christians often think, “I’ll win them over” but it’s a bit like taking the hand of someone drowning in quicksand and saying, “I will easily pull them out”.

Spiritual momentum, like natural momentum, means that it is easier to pull down than to pull up. This is why we should be praying for our Christian young people long before any romantic attachments develop. Many Christians have shipwrecked their lives by jumping into marriage without any reference to God and his will for their future.

An Unfinished Task

Presentation 39

Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac from among his God-fearing relatives but under no account was Isaac allowed to leave the land of promise. Why? It would appear that Isaac did not possess the strength of character and resolve of his father. Had he met and married a wife in another land, he might have been persuaded to stay there for a few months. Months could turn into a few years and before he knew it the rest of his life. God’s promises of blessing were tied to the land of promise and for that reason it was imperative that Isaac stay in the land.

An Unfinished Task

Presentation 39

Abraham’s servant Eliezer, to whom the task of finding a wife was entrusted, is described in these verses as a man of faith. Every step of Eliezer’s journey is bathed in prayer. He knew the importance of finding the right wife for Isaac and so he prayed. He asked for clear and simple guidance, and he believed that God would guide him. Often in our struggles with guidance we persuade ourselves that God reveals his will grudgingly to us and that whatever it might be it could not possibly be enjoyable ,fulfilling or satisfying.

A Prayerful Journey

Presentation 39

Captain Stephen Anderson, a former Church of Scotland evangelist, recounts the time, when the job of ski instructor in Avimore was advertised. Stephen loved skiing and went to discuss the post with his minister. He said, “Of course this job can’t be for me it would be too enjoyable”. His minister smiled and replied, “Stephen why do you think that God wouldn’t want you to have something that you would find enjoyable?”

We must not equate God’s will for our lives with drudgery! The reason some Christians are reluctant to seek God’s guidance for the future, including whom they should marry is that they don’t believe God wants the best for them.

A Prayerful Journey

Presentation 39

When Eliezer arrived at his journey’s end, he asked God for a sign that would help point out the right bride for Isaac, “Cause her not only to give me a drink of water but to offer to water my camels from the well” v14.

We are talking 10 camels at 20 gallons a camel that is a considerable effort to exert on behalf of a stranger. Not the kind of thing that falls into the category of co-incidence! Of course a great deal of care needs to be taken both in asking God for signs and in reading God’s guidance into life’s circumstances – particularly in regard to life shaping decisions, like marriage.

A Prayerful Journey

Presentation 39

A professing Christian man planned to leave his wife for a younger more attractive woman whom he’d met at work. The reason he gave for his decision was that it was clearly God’s will, otherwise God would not have brought this woman into his workplace!

Quite often the issue is not one of guidance but of obedience to what God has made plain in his Word.

A Prayerful Journey

Presentation 39

Now Eliezer did not try to make God’s guidance fit into a decision that he had already made. Rather he placed the matter in God’s hands and God answered. After Rebekah had watered his camels he asked what family she belonged to. He could hardly contain his joy to discover that she was a relative of Abraham.

She belonged to a family, who were aware of God’s call to Abraham and of the promises made to him!

A Prayerful Journey

Presentation 39

Now that a bride for Isaac had been identified there were still obstacles in the way. But if God was in this, then these obstacles would be cleared.

First, Eliezer wanted to dispense with the normal protracted period of celebration, when over a period of days, weeks or months the family got used to the idea of separation. Eliezer knew the danger of delays in the work of God. Weeks turn into months and months into years.

A Searching Question

Presentation 39

Decisions of great moment in the work of God are again and again put off until tomorrow. Would this family find it hard to let go of Rebekah? Later in Genesis, when Laban and his family resurface to provide hospitality to Jacob, Isaac and Rebekah’s son, they plot to keep him with them indefinitely! Eliezer not only sought an immediate response to the marriage proposal but an immediate departure date. And so we come to the second obstacle, as the family agree to leave the decision to Rebekah.

A Searching Question

Presentation 39

Rebekah was aware that she would be leaving the security of her own family home, travelling to a land and people with which she was unfamiliar and marrying a man she did not know. And the searching question is put to the prospective bride, “Will you go with this man?” Make no mistake this was a faith decision. Rebekah didn’t hesitate she agreed to leave the family home and journey into the unknown.

She seemed to know that she belonged to another.

A Searching Question

Presentation 39

Throughout church history this narrative has been applied in a particular way. In many respects the life of Isaac foreshadows that of Christ. e.g. his near sacrifice on Mt. Moriah foreshadowed the sacrifice of Christ on the same spot some 2000 years later. Eliezer’s task to find a bride for Isaac foreshadows the role of the Holy Spirit wooing men and women to come with him to become the bride of Christ.

And a very similar question is posed by him, “Will you go with this man?” It is a faith question. It means being prepared to put to one side the things we hold dear. It means journeying into the unknown.

A Searching Question

Presentation 39

And just as Eliezer must have sought to prepare Rebekah on their homeward journey for her face to face encounter with her betrothed so too it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to fills out our understanding of who Christ is. He prepares us to spend all eternity with him. Jn. 16.12-15“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”

A Searching Question

Presentation 39

In most great love stories there is an element of tragedy and disappointment: Caesar and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet and Paris and Helen. The abduction of Helen started a war between Greece and Troy. In an attempt to prevent needless bloodshed, Paris challenged Menelaus, Helen’s husband, to combat.

Paris soon becomes aware that he is no match for the warrior king. He refuses to finish the fight and crawls back to his brother for protection. We are left asking, what kind of love is this? His professed love for Helen is displaced by self-love and self preservation.

A Searching Question

Presentation 39

In contrast, the love of Jesus outstrips all human loves. He loved us unto death! His love does not disappoint! It held him on the cross. It caused him to bear the punishment of our sin.

A Searching Question

Since that is the measure of his love the Holy Spirit asks, ‘Will you go with this man?” This is a relationship that transcends human marriage. It is an invitation to a hazardous and costly journey. It requires faith and commitment. That said it is not really a journey into the unknown for the Holy Spirit makes the Lord Jesus known to us!

Presentation 39

Notice where Isaac was, when Eliezer returned with Rebekah. He was meditating in his tent - praying for his bride’s safe arrival? When we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, we not only come to one, who has died for us but to one who ever lives to make intercession for us. Jesus’ high priestly prayer in Gethsemane, which is recorded in John 17, demonstrates his commitment to bring his people safely home.

He is at prayer until his bride, the church, arrives safely home! Dwell on that thought!

Conclusion

Presentation 39