- Now in chapter 22 and 23 of Genesis, so these chapters tell the story of Abraham's climactic meeting with God where he is prepared to
offer his son as a sacrifice, you know, that's where
we left off last time. And I said that that particular episode had three main types that
described important features of the Christian faith that were to come. Remember, we said types,
types are like previews. So in the Old Testament
there are all kinds of types, people, situations, so on and so forth, that somehow preview situations, people, so on and so forth in the future. So in Genesis there are several types that we recognize from
Abraham's meeting with God and his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. The first type is the
sacrifice of Christ itself, there's a type. I mean, Isaac's willingness
to be sacrificed to obey God's will, that is a
type for Jesus's willingness to do the Father's will
and be sacrificed himself. So there's a, you know, there's a preview of what was to come, and you have to be careful with types, you know, it's not an
exact cookie cutter thing right down to every little detail, but it's a, you know, it's an image that gives you an idea of what's to come. Another type is the
idea, it's not a person, it's a thought, it's a system, and that is the type
for vicarious atonement. Vicarious atonement is the
concept of an innocent person dying for another person, one person paying the
debt for someone else, that's what it means, vicarious for someone else, atonement, payment, okay. So Abraham offering Isaac, that situation, it previewed the idea
of vicarious atonement in the future, okay, and what was the vicarious atonement? Well, the ram was substituted for Isaac. Isaac was the one that
was gonna be sacrificed, and at the last minute he was saved and the animal was put in his place. Is it a perfect image of Christ? Well no, Christ is not an animal, right? But the idea of
substitution is there, okay. And then the third preview, if you wish, the third type, is the
idea of the relationship between faith and works, alright. These ideas have to be introduced
somewhere in the Bible, so they're introduced here
through the experience of Abraham and Isaac in what
God has asked them to do. So Abraham was considered
righteous, because he believed. Okay, we understand that. But his belief in God naturally led him to works of righteousness, including the sacrifice of his own son. So the natural outgrowth of
one's faith is good works. The type for that, we see
it early on in Genesis. Now, the Bible talks about it all the way through, doesn't it? And James, you know,
spells it out, you know. You show me your faith by what you say, I'll show you my faith
by what I do, you know, and faith without works is dead, you know, so in James, James is like
describing it in detail this idea of relationship
between faith and works, okay, so we can understand it. But in Genesis it's not
explained pedagogically, you understand, it's not
explained as an idea, it's simply demonstrated through Abraham. Now, we need to remember one thing. Abraham's offer of Isaac is not a type for what faith demands, it is a type for what faith is capable of. We've gotta be very careful
because somebody reads that and they say oh, wow, I have to, in order to be faithful I have to get to the point where I'm able to offer my own child to God. Well, I don't know about you, but I don't think I
could, I'm not there yet. There were times when my
children were teenagers where it would've been easy. [audience laughs] And I'm sure you can relate to that. But you know what I'm saying, I mean if I was honest with myself there's no time in all the
years I've been a Christian where I was at the point
where I could offer any one of my children, you know, if God had asked me to. And if that's what was
required of me to be saved, well I wouldn't be. So you have to be careful when
you're looking at this type. It's not what faith demands, it's what faith is capable of. It's a demonstration. If your faith was strong
enough, and God would know, you could do that if you had to. Thank goodness He doesn't ask us or demand that as a
demonstration of our faith. Okay, so just like the natural
outgrowth of an apple seed, you know, is an apple,
an apple tree rather, if you plant the seed and
there's no tree that grows then you can assume that the seed is dead because, well, there's no growth. In the same way, if one
says he's a believer, calls himself a Christian, but there are no good works, there's no righteousness in his life, then we can assume that the
seed, the faith, is dead, because it's supposed
to produce something. Something. Now, the idea is that it produces different things in different people, that's, sometimes we go wrong there too. Just because it produces
one thing in Ron over here doesn't mean it's going to
produce the same thing in Steve or someone else. But God is working in all
of us to produce the fruit, the bearing of fruit in each of our lives. So the chapters that we talked about end with the death of Sarah
eventually, her natural death, and then there's some
historical information about Abraham remarrying and having six more sons, actually, after the death of Sarah
with his subsequent wife. So with Sarah's death, it
becomes important to Abraham to establish Isaac in his own home and see the next generation begin. And so the next chapters
are going to tell the story of how Abraham organizes
Isaac, find a wife for Isaac, and also some more types that are fulfilled in the New Testament. So we go to chapter 24, and chapter 24 is a search for a bride. Search for a bride. Chapter 24, by the way, this
is a little factoid here, is the longest chapter in Genesis, the longest chapter in Genesis. And it tells the story
of Abraham's arrangement for a bride for his son Isaac, and now Isaac is 40
years old by this time. He still trusts his father's judgment in finding him a wife. This was an important choice,
because through this woman the seed of the promise was to continue into the next generation. Alright, so let's start
reading chapter 24. It says, Now Abraham was
old, advanced in age, and the Lord had blessed
Abraham in every way. Abraham said to his servant,
the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, "Please place your hand under my thigh, "and I will make you swear by the Lord, "the God of heaven and the God of earth, "that you shall not take a wife for my son "from the daughters of the
Canaanites, among whom I live, "but you will go to my
country and to my relatives, "and take a wife for my son Isaac." Interesting the hand under the thigh. Some commentators say under the genitals. This idea was in connection
with circumcision, that's the point, and it was related to God's oath represented by circumcision. It was the most solemn of oaths, the proximity of the hand towards the part of the
body that was circumcised, you know, there was a relationship there. It was a very solemn thing, because circumcision
represented the covenant between God and man, so if you were going to make an oath and placed your hand under the thigh, it was a very serious
thing that you were doing. And the promise is that the
servant, or the steward, would not take a wife from the pagans. You're going to promise me, under oath, that you will not do that. Even though, if you think about it, an alliance with a local chieftain would probably be profitable, and would be easier, and
provide some protection. But Abraham knew that his brother had children and grandchildren, and from these he wanted to
choose a wife for his son. So he doesn't send Isaac, interesting, he doesn't send Isaac
to go look for a wife. He sends the steward
to go look for a wife. Some reasons for that,
perhaps he didn't want him to leave the land of
Canaan as he, Abraham, Abraham left the land of Canaan, right, he went to Egypt, you know,
when there was a drought and, you know, he needed food
and all that kind of stuff, and he got himself in trouble. Every time he left he
got himself in trouble so he learned, you know,
okay, we're going to keep Isaac here in Canaan, the land of Canaan. Also probably didn't want Isaac to return through the country where he had been originally
marked for sacrifice, because if he was gonna go back
to where the relatives were he'd have to go by Mount Moriah, and he'd have to go, oh yeah, that was the place where I nearly died. So he didn't want to go back over that idea. And from a theological perspective, it wouldn't fit the
type, you know, the type. You know, Christ only died once, that thing only happened once, and so even in Isaac's life that thing only happened one time, there was no reminder of
it, no second image of it. Some of the reasons why. And perhaps, you know, perhaps he didn't want
Isaac to become too attached to the family of his future wife. Don't we see that happen a lot of, even nowadays, right,
a lot of times it's usually the guy who, if he's going to move, a lot of times the guy moves
closer to the girl's parents than the other way around, you know, so that phenomenon was there as well. So let's keep reading. It says, The servant said to him, "Suppose the woman is not willing
to follow me to this land, "should I take your son back to the land "from where you came?" Then Abraham said to him, "Beware that you do not
take my son back there! "The Lord, the God of heaven, "who took me from my father's house "and from the land of my
birth, and who spoke to me "and who swore to me, saying, "'To your descendants
I will give this land,' "he will send His angel before you, "and you will take a wife
for my son from there. "But if the woman is not
willing to follow you, "then you will be free from this my oath, "only do not take my son back there." So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter. And so a great caravan is formed, and travels to the
place where Nahor lives. Once arrived, the servant makes
an interesting prayer to God so let's read verses 10 to 14. It says, Then the steward took 10 camels from the camels of his master, set out with a variety of good things of his master's in his hand, and he arose and went to
Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. He made the camels kneel
down outside the city by the well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water. He said, "O Lord, the
God of my master Abraham, "please grant me success today "and show lovingkindness
to my master Abraham. "Behold, I am standing by the spring, "and the daughters of the men of the city "are coming out to draw water, "now may it be that the girl to whom I say "'Please let down your
jar so that I may drink,' "and who answers, 'Drink, and
I will water your camels also' "may she be the one
whom you have appointed "for your servant Isaac,
and by this I will know "that you have shown
lovingkindness to my master." So when he arrives, he makes
an interesting prayer to God. You know, he knew the custom of the young girls drawing water, and the usual courtesy of any of them offering him, a stranger,
a drink, if he asked. But what he was searching for
was a special kind of person, in a word, you know, a person
who would go the second mile, you know, a person that
had some character. And to give 10 thirsty
camels was a lot of work, and it was demeaning work as well, so his prayer was that God would send one who would do it without him asking. So this person had a lot of faith in God. Of course, this was not impossible, it was very specific, it
was within God's will. It also was used as a
way of finding God's will where no other indicator existed. You know, if there was another
way to find that person, do you believe in the
God of Abraham, you know, or some, but there was
no way to find this girl. And so he devises a way
and asks God to show, don't we do that sometimes? We're not sure, you know, it's
not a question of morality, you know, do I steal or do I not steal, that's an easy one. But, you know, do I move
to place A or place B, or do I take job, you know, number one, or job number, you know,
those type of decisions where we're not sure. I don't know about you
guys but I, you know, I say Lord, I'm going to pray about it, I'm going to make the best decision I can, and if that's the wrong decision then, you know, close the door. Let me know somehow that this is not the right thing for me. And so this was the kind
of prayer that he makes. Now we're not gonna read
everything here, it's too long, but in verses 15 to 27 in this section it tells how Rebekah was
first to get the water and offer to give water to the camels. The steward then finds out that she is directly related to Abraham, being Isaac's second cousin. He immediately worships the Lord for having so quickly answered his prayer, and answered it so perfectly, and he gives the girl expensive gifts. He inquires if he can
stay with her family, and she assures him that he can. And the thing that I'm thinking of just, you know, a little insight here is that God answered his prayer like [snaps fingers] right away. We're always ready to
have to wait and wait and wait and wait, but
it's not always like that. Sometimes God just answers
your prayer right away, and I think we shouldn't
be suspicious. [chuckles] Sometimes, like, okay, that was too easy. The answer came too quickly. But, you know, when we know
God answers the prayer, you know, like my mother used to say, just say thank you and move on. Just say thank you and move on. And so we get to verse
28, pick it up there, it says, Then the girl ran and told her mother's household about these things. Now Rebekah had a brother
whose name was Laban, and Laban ran outside to
the man at the spring. When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrists, and when he heard the words
of Rebekah his sister, saying, "This is what the man said to me," he went to the man, and behold, he was standing by the
camels at the spring. And he said, "Come in,
blessed of the Lord! "Why do you stand outside since
I have prepared the house, "and a place for the camels?" So the man entered the house. Then Laban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. One more verse here. But when food was set before him to eat, he said, "I will not eat until
I have told my business." And he said, "Speak on." So we see Rebekah announce the arrival of the servant to her family, and they, led by Laban, her brother, went to greet the servant, welcome him into their home. Now, the custom of the
time was first you eat, and then you discuss any business matters, and I don't think that's
changed a whole lot, even at a business luncheon, right? You eat, and then coffee comes, and then okay, let's get down to business. But the servant was very eager to find out if Rebekah would return with him, so he refused to eat until they
had concluded the business. Of course, in this day,
contracting marriages was like a business dealing, always lots of careful
negotiation and contracts between the families. Then in verses 34 to 49,
again too long to read, let me just summarize. In this long discourse
the servant recounts the life and the situation of Abraham, and his oath to come and find the bride for Isaac among his own people. He tells them of his prayer and the wonderful way
that God answered him through Rebekah's action. He's not afraid to confess
his faith, in other words, that he's a man of faith,
Abraham is a man of faith. He finishes by putting
the question to them about whether or not Rebekah
will accept the proposal and return with him to be Isaac's wife. Think about that for a second. Woah, [claps] sight unseen. Sight unseen. There's another type here, type. And that is the type for
the work of the Holy Spirit. The type for the work of the Holy Spirit going out and seeking the bride of Christ, which is the church. Let me show you. The man is sent out by the
father, on behalf of the son. Isn't the Holy Spirit
sent out by the Father on behalf of the Son? The Son is not present,
but the Holy Spirit is through the witness of the apostles, through the word, through
the call of the gospel. Well, Isaac wasn't present. He was represented by the good news being brought by the steward. The Holy Spirit declares
the wealth of the Father and the offer of becoming
the bride of the Son, with all the blessings that will entail. In other words, we're the bride of Christ, you know, people, but have we
seen Christ, have we seen Him? No, we've just heard about Him. We've read about Him,
we've heard about Him. Who has told us about Him? Well, the Holy Spirit has. How? Through the gospel, through
the witness of the church, and so on and so forth. So there's a parallel here, okay, there's a parallel with the
steward and the Holy Spirit. Also the offer that he
makes requires a decision, one that will have a lifelong
effect on the individual. Imagine, the steward says if you say yes, we're out of here, you know. And it's not like I have Facebook where I can be talking to
my mom every day, you know. If she leaves and goes to Canaan, there's a good chance she
may never see her parents, you know, ever again, because in those days people
didn't travel like that. So, in his birth and
relationship with Abraham and his bride, Isaac is used very much as a type for Christ, and the steward in this story very much a type of the Holy Spirit. So let's read another passage. It says, Then Laban and Bethuel replied, "The matter comes from the Lord, "so we cannot speak to you bad or good. "Here is Rebekah before
you, take her and go, "and let her be the wife
of your master's son, "as the Lord has spoken." When Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the
ground before the Lord. The servant brought out articles of silver and articles of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah, he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they arose in the morning, he said, "Send me away to my master." But her brother and her mother said, "Let the girl stay with
us a few days, say 10, "afterwards she may go." He said to them, "Do not delay me, "since the Lord has prospered my way. "Send me away that I may go to my master." And they said, "We will call the girl "and consult her wishes." Then they called Rebekah and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" And she said, "I will go." Thus they sent away their
sister Rebekah and her nurse with Abraham's servant and his men. They blessed Rebekah and said to her, "May you, our sister, become
thousands of ten thousands, "and may your descendants possess the gate "of those who hate them." Then Rebekah arose with her maids, and they mounted the camels
and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed. So here we see the family
responding to the idea that if this has been the Lord's will, then they're eager to do it. You know, if it's of
God, then I want to do it. Normally there would've
been preparations and delay, but the servant insists on, you know, departing immediately, and after Rebekah's positive response they make ready to go the next day. Again, we see the combination
of the type of the Holy Spirit and His work in the
forming and the bringing of the bride of Christ,
the church, to God, so let's take a look at this
type and how it works out. There is a need to make
an immediate decision. Well, what is it that we say when we're preaching the gospel? Today is the day of salvation, don't put off your decision
until tomorrow and the next day to become, you know, the bride of Christ. Well in the same way he's saying, no, no, we don't have 10 days, you
need to make the decision now. And then once the decision is made, there's no going back, a
new life is going to begin. As I said, Rebekah would
be far from her family and would not likely see them again. Same thing with us. We become Christians, a new life begins, and it's not a, we certainly don't want to cut off our families and our friends, but we know that as we
begin to follow Christ, we eventually begin to pull away from those people who
don't follow Him and have, especially those who are antagonistic towards religion or towards faith, it's very hard to maintain
that relationship, you know, as hard as we try. My wife and I, we tried very hard to maintain a good relationship with our respective families who themselves were, I
would say nominal believers. You know, it's not, they
weren't pagans, they were, but they were nominal believers and religion wasn't something
very important in their lives, you know, it didn't really
factor in to anything. Well, we're the ones
that had to really work at maintaining those relationships, because we had less and
less to talk about, okay. And so we see this happening here. And of course, her response
was enthusiastic and emphatic. She was ready, she was
willing to leave right away. This was God's leading for her life, and she was eager to do his will, so we get the feeling that Rebekah was a person of spiritual character. When we know that the gospel
is God's way of calling us, then we also should be
eager to follow that way. And so her family pronounces
a blessing on her, which reflects God's promise to Abraham, and she leaves with the servant. A few more verses here. It says, Now Isaac had come
from going to Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev. Isaac went out to meditate
in the field toward evening, and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming. Rebekah lifted up her eyes,
and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from the camel. She said to the servant, "Who is that man "walking in the field to meet us?" And the servant said, "He is my master." Then she took her veil
and covered herself. The servant told Isaac all
the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into
his mother Sarah's tent, and he took Rebekah,
and she became his wife, and he loved her, thus Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. So no mention is made of the journey back, only the meeting which could be, I mean, could be out of a movie, right? It could be out of a movie. You know, he's waiting, he's waiting, and then she appears, you know. And who's that guy? You know, well that's the guy, you know. And the Bible is very compact, you know. He takes her into his mother's tent, because that's where she'll stay before they prepare the
marriage and so on and so forth, and then he takes her as wife, and she comforts him and
he loves her, you know. So these people that I've talked about are types for Christ and the church, and their union foreshadows the union of Christ and the church at his return. So take, let's take a
look, see if I've got that. There we go. So Isaac and Rebekah are types
for Christ and the church. So for example, Isaac and Christ, okay, what are the similarities between, how is Isaac a type for Christ? Well, promised long before
his coming, long before, in other words, before Isaac was born Abraham and Sarah were told,
you're going to have a son, but, you know, he was
predicted to come long before. In the same way, Christ was
prophesied to come long before. He appeared at the appointed time. Jesus appeared at the specific time. Well in the same way in
Abraham and Sarah's life, he appeared at a very specific time. She was past childbearing age, he was past, you know,
being able to get somebody that was
an appointed time by God. He was conceived miraculously, right? Isaac, in the same way Jesus
was conceived miraculously. They're not equal, obviously
Isaac is a human birth, but a human birth done
in a supernatural way, whereas Jesus, of course, has
a divine source for his birth. He was assigned a name
before birth, right. Isaac, they knew what his name
was going to be before birth, same thing with Jesus. He was offered in sacrifice by his father, Isaac was offered as a
sacrifice by his father, and of course, Jesus was also. He was obedient unto death, Isaac, you didn't see Isaac fighting Abraham off. Jesus was obedient unto death. He was brought back from the dead. We talked about that, he was as good as dead
when he left with Abraham the first three days, and he came back. And he became the head of a great nation in the same way Christ is
the head of the church, and I didn't quote all
the scriptures there but I believe the scriptures
are in your notes. Alright, let's take a look at how Rebekah is a type for the church. Her marriage was planned long before. Through Rebekah, God's,
accomplishes his purpose, finding a wife for Isaac,
maintaining the seed, in the same way the church
completes God's purpose on earth. We carry the seed. What's the seed? Well it's the gospel, every
generation we sow the seed so that more Christians can be born. She shares the glory of the son. In other words, she's plucked from over here and made, Isaac, the carrier
of the promise of God, she's made his wife, and through her the seed will propagate. Well, in the same way, we
share the glory of the Son, because the Son is the head of the church and we share His glory. She learned of the son,
Isaac, through a messenger. Well, we also learned of
the Son through a messenger. For each of us it was different. Could've been our parents, a friend, a tract, something, right? She left all to go to be with the son. We leave everything to
go to be with Christ. She was accompanied to
the son by the servant, the servant brought her all
the way [claps] to Isaac. Well, the Holy Spirit brings
us all the way to Christ. And then the final one,
she lived with the son, she lived with Isaac, she married him, they remain married their whole life, in the same way that the
church is married to Christ, if you wish, for our entire life, not just for our life, but for eternity. So, you know, we're not
trying to force this here, it's just that God uses
situations and people to teach every generation
what is going to come, so that it isn't a huge surprise. It wasn't a huge surprise
that God's plan to save man included a system of what's
called vicarious atonement. Why is that not such a huge surprise? Well, for thousands of years the Jews used the sacrificial system, you know, vicarious atonement, in their religion. So to preach that Jesus, the lamb of God, died for the sins of men, this was not a concept
that was so wild and crazy, you know, that nobody could understand it. The Jews certainly could
understand the idea of substituting an
innocent for the sins of, you know, they, oh, we get it, we've been doing that for
a thousand years, you know. And now the fulfillment comes. Not a lamb, an animal,
but the lamb of God, and now oh, that's what
all of that meant, okay. So that's what these types
are for in the Bible, they simply prepare
generation after generation to get the full picture when it's finally fulfilled in the new. Alright, so a couple of
lessons from this thing. You know, just practical lessons for us, because we'll say, you know,
what do I get out of this, so what, I'm going home, you know, what am I, [claps] what do
I get out of all of this, other than just information? Well, one of the lessons,
be specific in your prayers. Even though the servant knew he was generally doing God's will, when he was unsure he was
specific in his prayer. He didn't test God, he simply
wanted a clear indication of what God's will was. So, if there are no instructions
from the word of God or if there are no good
precedents or experience to help form our decisions, we have a good example
here to encourage us to be specific in asking God to direct us. Dear God, I don't want to make a mistake and I really want to do
what you want me to do, but it isn't clear. Could you please clarify it for me? And then wait. Specific. And a lot of times people say,
I don't know what to pray, or, you know, what process
should I be going through while I'm praying? And usually my answer is, well the process should be
try to clarify your prayer, try to make it a little clearer, okay. Be a little more specific
as to what you want happen, and when you do, sometimes
you realize in doing that, oh my goodness, I don't think that God would want to even give me that thing. I want a whole lot more money, you know, a bigger cash flow, you know what I mean? Then you look back at your history and every time you had a lot of money you made a lot of mistakes, you know. So yeah, be clear, okay. Number two, character counts. Note that Abraham wanted
a wife for his son that was a believer, and
that was of his own family. And God provided this, and much more. She was eager to serve, she was fervent in her faith, she was eager to do God's will. She was brave, ready to leave her home, go to a foreign land, marry
a man she had never seen. You know, we all want our
children to marry well, right, isn't that a prayer,
every parent prays that, oh God, please, you know. But we need to teach them from a young age what it is that they are
looking for. [chuckles] You know, yeah, we fell in love. Why? Well he was a good dancer. Oh, really? [audience laughs] How about that? Or he had a big car, he had a car, it was just, you know. So I think young people lot of times don't know
what they're looking for. We need to help them formulate what it is that they're looking for, and I'm looking at the room and I think for all of us that's too late, you know what I mean, for good or for bad, because all our kids are all grown up, probably all of them
married and gone, you know. But it's okay, the grandkids are coming up and you know, it's okay to plant the seed of this is what you need to be
looking for in your friends, and in your buddies, this
is the kind of people you need to be looking for. Because I always told my kids, you know, you date who you hang around with, and you marry who you date. You know, you don't hang around with these kinda people over here and then out of the blue
marry somebody over there. You usually marry somebody who
you're hanging around with, so be careful. Anyways, I'm sure we
know that in this class. And then of course it's all about Jesus. From beginning to end,
the Bible is about Jesus. It was written to introduce us to Him, to help us know Him, to lead us to Him, to help us live within Him, and to remain faithful to Him. This is why I spend so
much time about the types, about the types, because
the Bible is about Christ. From beginning to end it's about Him, so I'm always trying to bring
the lesson or the material back to, where's the connection to Jesus? Well today we looked at
where's the connection to Jesus here in Genesis. Every book is about just Him, whether it's history or theology or type, the central theme of the Bible is Jesus, and when we have this understanding we can be sure that we've understood the primary lesson of the scriptures. So if you walk away and say, you know, we went to our Bible class
and we learned some stuff, you know, how do you know
that you have learned the most important thing
in this lesson today? Well, I think the answer
is you have learned the history and a bit of the society and what went on here, but most importantly you have learned how this material connects to Jesus. If we know that, we've
learned the important thing about this material. There's other stuff,
perhaps a Hebrew scholar could come along, or a
historian, or an archeologist could come and teach us
things that are fascinating, you know, kind of color around the edges. But the core of it is how
does this connect to Christ, and I think we've kind of covered that, so don't be discouraged,
we are learning the things we need to be learning in this class. Alright, that's it, thank you very much for your attention.