It's day 19 of Heart Dive 365. I'm your Bible study friend, Kanoi. Welcome to the Heart Dive podcast. That is so good. Well, today we are hearing a couple of the more memorable narratives in the Bible where Abraham sacrifices his son Isaac on the altar.
I know for some it's a very disturbing story, but we are going to get through it together. And that will be followed by Sarah's burial and then Isaac and Rebecca's marriage. And make sure to keep an eye out for Jesus within today's readings. There's a hair in my microphone. All right, so before we get into it, if you could please help us out, partner with us by simply hitting the like button.
That helps us out to be able to continue to spread this message all across the world. And I want to celebrate something today. One million views of people getting into the Word of God. I think that is worth celebrating, worth saying hallelujah, worth saying glory to God, because there's all kinds of stuff on YouTube today.
We got all of these amazing content creators out there, but I think that this is an incredible milestone. to be able to see that before our very eyes, that we are a part of a growing community of people who just love Jesus and who love His Word. And so I just wanted to be able to mention that today, because it really touched my heart this morning when I woke up and saw that. I was like, wow, Lord, look at you.
Also wanted to remind you that tomorrow is the Sabbath day for me. I take my Sabbath rest. I do not film on Saturdays.
And I'm going to know who doesn't listen to the announcements in the beginning of the video. If you ask me, why is there no video on Saturday? I'm just joking.
I don't mind answering those questions. And speaking of answering questions, if you've been wanting to serve in some sort of way, but you just feel like maybe there's no place for you, I'm telling you, there's a place for you. If you've been around for a while and you kind of know the ropes, I would love it if you all could help me out. and treat this space as your home in welcoming people who are new here, just saying, hey, we're so glad you're here. If they've got questions that you know the answer to, I would be so grateful if you could help answer those questions.
Because unfortunately, now with 75,000 subscribers, I don't always have the chance to go in and answer everyone's questions as much as I want to. I do try to read every single comment. But again, I don't have the time anymore to be able to respond to every single person.
And it grieves my heart that I can't do that. But I do want you to know that I see you. But please don't stop the conversation because every single comment, especially those of you who have been giving such amazing commentary lately, it helps people out.
It gives people new understanding. So I definitely encourage that healthy conversation. No pettiness is allowed here.
I'm going to be deleting petty comments or anybody who's hateful or mean. You don't got to go, but the comment does. Just be kind, be loving. That's what we're here for. We're here to shine Jesus.
So let's go ahead and prepare our hearts. Let's pray and get into the word. Our Heavenly Father, we love you. You are so good to us and we just can't help but radiate your joy.
And so I just pray that as we come here in this space today with our sisters and brothers, knowing that we're all on the same boat, that we don't need to try to sink it, that we are here going in the same direction, that we want to love you, that we want the world to know you and love you. Help us to do that today, to learn more today as we read your word, how to do it. I pray that you will reveal yourself to us, Holy Spirit, in such a way that it is unmistakable that you are alive and well, that you are moving in our lives still today, same God.
And I thank you, Lord, that you are using each one of us as a vessel to be able to declare your gospel, the good news throughout the world. And so I pray that each one of us will do our part. You know exactly what it is and what we're supposed to be doing.
And so I pray, Lord, that you will start to nudge people a little bit more, that you'll knock on their door. And I pray that we will be obedient to the call. Help us to be faithful, Lord, in the things that you are asking us to do.
We also ask that you will help us to have a pure heart, clean hands today. So forgive us of any sins. that we may have committed. Help us to turn away from old lifestyles or old habits, Lord.
And we repent of our old ways and we turn toward you, Lord. We want to live a life that is set apart and holy. And so I just pray that as we gather here in this fellowship, that you help us to strengthen one another, to be able to pull people in away from the old way and into this new life that is abundant with you. We thank you for that and just give you all of the space to have your way today. We love you so much.
We thank you for this time in Jesus name. Amen. So we start off here in chapter 22 after these things.
So this is again, a transition statement. So now we're moving into a new direction. Then God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, now let's stop here on this word tested. What does this mean?
Well, whenever God tests us, it's generally him trying to reveal a character trait within us, or he is trying to see where we will stand, where our faith will stand in certain circumstances. So, in this case, we will see God revealing the faith of Abraham. And Abraham said, here I am.
This is the way we all really should answer the Lord when he calls us. He said, take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. Now, we know that Abraham actually has another son, Ishmael, and we will find out later that he actually has several other sons.
Why is God calling him the only son? Well, the reason why is because he is the only son. uniquely born son, and again, later referred to as the only son or the only begotten son in Hebrews.
And so, this gives us a picture of God the Father also offering His only begotten son as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. And the name Moriah means where the Lord provides or where the Lord appears. This will later be Jerusalem and where the temple is built and ultimately where Jesus ends up dying. So Abraham rose early.
So he was diligent about this. He immediately went. He was not wasting any time. In the morning, saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son, Isaac.
And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. So he's doing the work here. And remember, he's like 100 years old. On the third day, significant once again, as Jesus actually did three years of ministry on the earth.
And of course. being resurrected on the third day as well. Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey and I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. So here he is full of faith. He knows that he is going to return with Isaac.
We don't know how he knows. We don't know what he's thinking in this time, whether or not he thinks that maybe God is going to resurrect Isaac after he presents him as the sacrifice. Maybe he just believes that somehow, some way that he's not going to go through with it.
I honestly don't know, but clearly his faith very strong here that he will come back. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son, just the same way that Jesus was given the cross on his back. And he took in his hand, the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father.
And he said, here I am, my son. He said, behold, the fire and the wood, but Where's the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they went, both of them together. Now, a little bit of context here.
Human sacrifice was actually something that was practiced in pagan culture, not permissible by God, but it was something that went on around them. And so clearly, anybody seeing this happening, if anybody did have a clue that it might be taking place, probably wasn't looked at as anything abnormal, at least by those who are pagan. And at this point, I'm thinking that Isaac probably knows what is going on.
I mean, he's about 30 years old is what most scholars say. We'll continue in verse 9. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood, just the same way that Jesus was also bound. Now, again, Isaac being 30 years old could have easily escaped his 100-year-old father.
He could have run away and said, what are you doing? But he went willingly, just the same way that Jesus went willingly to the cross. And we don't hear a lot about Isaac's faith, but I think it is necessary for us to point it out that he had such a faith to put himself on that altar as well.
Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son because burnt offerings would actually have to be killed before they were put on the altar to be burned. They weren't burned alive. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham.
And he said, here I am. He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. Now notice that he's saying from me. So that means the sacrifice that was being made to God, this appearance is God.
And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, behind him was a ram. Okay, wait. what about the lamb? I thought Abraham said he was going to be providing a lamb. Well, we'll see the lamb provided as a sacrifice, but not until much later through Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice.
So here is this ram caught in a thicket by his horns, and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So here God provided a substitute sacrifice for the one who was put there. And we are the ones who really should have been put on the cross and endured the judgment or the wrath of God, because all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
All of us deserve that. Yet Jesus willingly went to take that upon himself. He was the substitute for us.
So Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord will provide. As it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided. So here we see a picture of Jehovah Jireh. our provider.
So heart check, how does the Lord will provide relate to you personally? Do you truly believe he will provide for all of your needs? Now, remember that this is on the third day.
So this could also be a picture of Jesus'resurrection on the third day, Isaac being released from the altar. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, by myself, I have sworn declares the Lord. because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies. Now, the gate, remember, was a place of significance.
Anybody who controlled the gate of a city controlled the city itself. And in your offspring, This meaning Isaac, but we could also see Jesus in that. Shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.
So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba. Now after these things it was told to Abraham, Behold, Milcah also has born children to your brother Nahor. Uz, his firstborn, Buz, his brother, Kemuel, the father of Aram, Kised, Hazo, Pildash, Jildaf, and Bethuel.
Bethuel fathered Rebekah. Now this whole genealogy right here, right after this story, which feels like it comes out of nowhere, is to point us to Rebekah's birth because she is the bride of Isaac, just the same way that after Jesus's death and resurrection, we became his bride. We became the church. These eight milka bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. Moreover, his concubine, here's the first mention of a concubine, which what is a concubine?
This would have been kind of the lesser. of the wives. She would not receive, and neither would her children, any of the inheritance, and she would be subject to the first wife. And just because there is polygamy here does not mean that God condones it. He will actually speak against it later on.
That does not mean that he has changed his mind about it. It just means that he has been merciful this entire time, and now he is going to intervene on society and cultural norms. So, his concubine was named Rumah, or Teba. Gaham, Tehash, and Maacah.
So in the end, we see Abraham's unwavering faith, whether he simply trusted in God's promise that the blessing would have to come through Isaac and therefore Isaac would live, or he simply feared God enough to just follow every command regardless of his ability to understand. He didn't even hesitate. So heart check, are you able to surrender to God's will even when it doesn't make sense? Chapter 23. Sarah lived 127 years. By the way, this is the only woman in the Bible whose age is revealed, which goes to show that she is highly regarded by God to have said this in the Bible.
These were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died at Kiriath Arba, that is Hebron. Hebron actually means fellowship. This is the best place to die.
In fellowship, especially for us as believers, being in fellowship with Christ, best place to die because we know exactly where we're going. in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. And this just goes to show the human emotion, the human side of Abraham, the father of faith, still has very clear emotions, loves his wife so much. And so he takes that time to mourn.
And I feel like this is God's way of saying it's okay. It is healing for you to be able to mourn. And I actually put a link of an article about the human makeup of tears.
And With every kind of tear, there's actually a different biological makeup of the tears. And if you look at the one in the article that is the tear of grief, you can actually see what looks like crosses within them. And I'm not saying that that is something that God has done, but for me, it serves as a beautiful picture and reminder that God sees every single tear, that Jesus knows He saw them when He was on that cross.
And He knew that when He got to heaven— that he was going to be there to wipe away every single tear that we have ever cried. And I will hold on to that for the days that I do start to shed tears or my heart is grieved. And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites, I am a sojourner and a foreigner among you. So he's here in the land of Canaan, which God has rightfully given to him, but he doesn't own it yet. The Canaanites are still there.
Here the Hittites are there. And so he is saying, I'm a foreigner. I'm a sojourner. He's putting himself in this place of humility to allow for the bargaining process to take place. Give me property among you for a burying place that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
Why would Abraham want to bury Sarah out of sight? Well, knowing and understanding his immense love for her really helps us to understand this a little bit better. With Sarah's purpose now lived out, Abraham takes the proper time to mourn like we were talking about.
But he also knows that this time of sojourning isn't yet finished for him. He's still got work to do. And if he stays stuck in that place of grief and mourning, holding on to all of that sadness, he knows that he's going to be rendered ineffective.
So while he gives Sarah the proper respect and the proper burial, he knows that he has to move forward. So heart check, is there something in your life that you need to put out of sight in order to move forward? And it doesn't mean that we disrespect or even forget about the person or forget about whatever it is. It just means that we put it in its proper place so that we can now continue the work of the Lord.
The Hittites answered Abraham, hear us, my Lord. And this was a Term of respect, you are a prince of God among us. Bury the dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.
But Abraham rose and bowed down to the Hittites, the people of the land, and he said to them, If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns. It is at the end of his field. For the full price, let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place. He does not want to bury Sarah in this land.
He wants to be able to go to this place, this cave of Machpelah, and he is willing to pay the high price for it. Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of a city. No, my Lord, hear me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it.
In the sight of the sons of my people, I give it to you. So three times he tells Abraham, I'm going to give this land to you. Now, I don't know that he was really actually going to give it to him. Apparently, this is part of the Middle Eastern bargaining process back in this day, where they will say, oh, no, I'm going to give it to you.
And they will keep pressing until the receiving party insists, oh, no, I cannot take it from you for free. I'm willing to pay for it. And then that's when the bargaining process. starts, they begin with a really high price, and then they will whittle it down to a fair price in the end.
But look what happens with Abraham. Bury your dead. Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.
And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, but if you will hear me, I give you the price of the field, accept it from me that I may bury my dead there. So Abraham is willing to pay the high price, which wasn't typical in this type of bargaining. Ephron answered Abraham, my Lord, listen to me, a piece of land worth 400 shekels of silver. What is that between you and me?
Bury your dead. And Abraham listened to Ephron and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, 400 shekels of silver. And this land was probably not worth 400 shekels, but Abraham's paying for it anyway, according to the weights current among the merchants. So the field of Ephron in Machpelah.
which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field throughout its whole area was made over to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites before all who went in at the gate of his city. Now, apparently land back in the day, the more trees that it had on it, the more value that it actually had. And the person who bought it, of course, would now have to maintain whatever trees were in that land.
And after this, Abraham buried Sarah, his wife in the cave of the field of Mechpelah. east of Mamre, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.
And this will become known as the tomb of the patriarchs, because here we will see Isaac and Ishmael burying Abraham here. Isaac and Rebekah will also be buried here, and so will Leah and Jacob. And I think that this is so significant that we see that Abraham was able to finally possess even the tiniest piece of the land, because this fulfills the promise that God spoke to him. Even though he's not taking over the entire land, he is getting part of it. Chapter 24. Now, Abraham was old, so he's probably like 140 years old by this time, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.
And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had. Now, this is an unnamed servant, but remember we talked about Eliezer in chapter 15, who was like the manager of all of the things of Abraham. So, this could be him.
A lot of scholars believe it is. But why is he unnamed in this story? Well, again, if you look at this story and you see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, this servant we see as a picture of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit never names himself. So that could be one reason why, but if you just want to look at this at face value, you can just do that as well.
You don't have to look for the heartbeat of God in the story. So he tells his servant, put your hand under my thigh that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites. among whom I dwell, but will go to my country and to my kindred and take a wife for my son Isaac.
Now, putting the hand under the thigh, scholars believe that this was a way to have the full attention of a person. Because if you think about it, you stick your hand under a person's thigh, it's a little bit uncomfortable. It's probably not going to make you start wandering in thought and thinking about anything else but what that person is telling you. And then Clark made mention that this was because it was the location from which the covenant mark was made. I'm not sure exactly why, but this is the way they did it.
And there have been some mentions in the past that A- Abraham was perhaps racist because he doesn't want his daughter to be married off to a Canaanite. It has nothing to do with race. It's everything about theology and the fact that the Canaanites worship false gods, and he did not want his son marrying anybody who was going to be worshiping anything other or anyone other than the one and only true God.
Verse 5, the servant said to him, perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came? Abraham said to him, See to it 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 kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, to your offspring I will give this land. He will send his angel before you, and you shall 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 oath of mine. only you must not take my son back there. So Abraham does not want to force the hand of any woman to come back and marry his son Isaac just the way that God is not ever going to force himself upon us.
He is the perfect gentleman. That is what the Holy Spirit is referred to at times. And so he will never make us love him. It is always going to be a choice in whether or not we want to take part in that relationship or that holy marriage.
Verse nine, so the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his master, and swore to him concerning this matter. Then the servant took 10 of his master's Rolls Royces, not Rolls Royces, camels, and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia. This means Aram of the two rivers, and it is located in northern Syria, to the city of Nahor, otherwise known as Ur.
And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of the water at the time of evening. the time when women would go out to draw water, because of course it's hot during the day in the desert. And so they would come and gather the water because this was some hard work, especially in this narrative where we will see her watering 10 camels. And he said, O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. Behold, I'm standing by the spring of water and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.
Let the young woman to whom I shall say, please. Let down your jar that I may drink. And who shall say, drink, and I will water your camels. Let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.
Now, there are several examples in the Bible of people asking God for a sign or confirmation of some sort, and God will come through for them. But I always wonder if this is the way that we should be approaching God or not. Will it not lead us to this place of...
Maybe ignoring what God is trying to show us just because it's against what we want to happen. Or maybe we will then try to force something to happen when it isn't happening on its own. I don't know.
What are your thoughts on this? Let's do a heart check. Have you ever demanded a sign from God?
Do you feel that we have the right to do so? And my son and I were actually just talking about this because we are considering another school for him for high school. And he goes in to take the test. And we were discussing.
And he's like, well, if I don't pass the test, then it was God's will. And I said, yeah, I guess so. But then I said, but if you do pass the test, we don't know still if it is God's will and we still need to seek him.
We still need to pray and we cannot just take circumstances as a sign from God. We still need to seek him in all things. Now, before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebecca, who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder.
And the young woman was very attractive in appearance. a maiden whom no man had known. So a maiden meaning she was at the age of marrying, and she was pure or a virgin.
And by the way, her name means ensnaring beauty, which again, the beautiful nature of a woman, it's rarely mentioned in the Bible. There's really only a few women that are spoken of as beautiful in this way. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.
Then the servant ran to meet her and said, please give me a little water to drink from your jar. And she said, drink, my Lord. And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. Now, when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, I'll draw water for your camels also.
Now, again, this was not a typical social duty of a woman to water the camels of a stranger, but this was God's way of giving that sign to the servant until they have finished drinking. So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels. So again, This would have taken about 10 hours, because if you think about the fact that one camel drinks about 20 gallons of water, for her to just gather 20 gallons for one camel, that would have taken about an hour.
The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not. So, he is sitting there staring at her, not in a creepy way, but he is staring at her But he's definitely looking at her and watching her just to determine if she truly does have that servant heart, if she is walking the talk. Now, when the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half a shekel and two bracelets for her arms, weighing 10 gold shekels and said, Please tell me whose daughter you are.
Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night? So he wants to be able to go and ask the father for her hand in marriage. She said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor. She added, we have plenty of both straw and fodder and room to spend the night. And the man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord and said, blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master.
Now his servant was so overwhelmed by the grace of God that he bowed down and he worshiped God. Not only that, he publicly declared a blessing and praised God. And this checked my heart because it made me wonder, how often do I do this? You know, how often do I publicly praise God?
So heart check, is it hard for you to publicly praise God when He shows up and shows out? As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master's kinsmen. Then the young woman ran and told her mother's household about these things.
So she must have been super excited. I mean, because in this day, I mean, women are just longing to be married. This is their whole purpose, to get married, to have children.
And so she's like, this is my time. Rebecca had a brother whose name was Laban. Now, we will hear about Laban, who later on deals with Jacob whenever he comes to marry Rachel. And he kind of doesn't treat Jacob the best. But as of right now, he is a nice, humble.
servant. Laban ran toward the man to the spring. And as soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister's arms and heard the words of Rebecca, his sister, thus the man spoke to me. He went to the man and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. And he said, come in, oh, blessed of the Lord.
So clearly they loved the Lord as well. They know who are his servants. Why do you stand outside?
For I've prepared the house and a place for the camels. So the man came to the house and unharnessed the camels and gave straw and fodder to the camels, and there was water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. Then food was set before him to eat.
But he said, I will not eat until I have said what I have to say. And he said, speak on. Now at this point, I couldn't help but ask where in the world is Rebecca's father, her father, Bethuel?
I don't know if he was old in age and maybe didn't deal with these family dealings at this point, which is why Laban, the brother, would have been doing so. So he said, I am Abraham's servant. The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great.
He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys. And Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master when she was old, and to him he has given all that he has. My master made me swear, saying, You shall not take a wife from my son.
from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell. But you shall go to my father's house and to my clan and take a wife for my son. I said to my master, perhaps the woman will not follow me. But he said to me, the Lord before whom I have walked will send his angel with you and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father's house.
Then you will be free from my oath when you come to my clan. And if they will not give her to you, you will be free from my oath. I came today to the spring and I said, O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now you were prospering the way that I go, behold, I am standing by the spring of water. Let the virgin who comes out to draw water to whom I shall say, please give me a little water from your jar to drink.
And who will say to me, drink, and I will draw for your camels also. Let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master's son. So here we hear him retelling the entire story.
And this would have been something that was so precious. whenever the Hebrews would read the word of God aloud. This was such a precious story for their own faith. Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebecca came out with her water jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. I said to her, please let me drink.
And she quickly let down her jar from her shoulder and said, drink, and I will give your camels drink also. Then I asked her, whose daughter are you? And she said, the daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, who milk a boar to him. So I put a ring on her nose and the bracelets on her arms.
Then I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord. And I blessed the Lord, the God of my master, Abraham, who had led me by the right way to take the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son. Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me.
And if not, tell me that I may return to the right hand or to the left. So here now he is asking formal permission. Then Laban and Bethuel answered, oh, there's Bethuel, there's daddy, and said, The thing has come from the Lord. We cannot speak to you bad or good. Behold, Rebecca is before you.
Take her and go and let her be the wife of your master's son, as the Lord has spoken. Now, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord. And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold and of garments and gave them to Rebecca.
He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments. So, in a sense, he is paying the dowry. There would have been a sort of payment that would have been made whenever the engagement process began, a payment to the family for the wife. And he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there.
When they arose in the morning, he said, Send me away to my master. And her brother and her mother said, Let the young woman remain with us a little while, at least ten days. After that she may go.
But 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, Let us call the young woman and ask her.
So they are giving her a chance, which tells me that They really loved their daughter. They really loved their sister because typically women didn't have that much of a say in whether or not they were going to go with their new husband or go to their new husband. And they called Rebecca and said to her, will you go with this man? And she said, I will go. These words are huge in the faith of Rebecca.
So they sent away Rebecca, their sister and her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. And they blessed Rebecca. And they said to her, this would have been a prayer over her. Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, meaning innumerable, and may your offspring possess the gait of those who hate him. Then Rebekah and her young women arose and rode on camels and followed the man.
Thus the servant took Rebekah and went his way. Now Isaac had returned from Beer-le-Hi-Roy and was dwelling in the Negev. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward the evening.
And he lifted up his eyes and he saw, and behold, there were camels coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes. And when she saw Isaac, she dismounted the camel and said to the servant, who's that man walking in the field to meet us? And the servant said, it's my master. So she took her veil and she covered herself.
And this would have been the appropriate behavior of a woman coming to meet her husband-to-be. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah, his mother, and took Rebecca. And she became his wife and he loved her.
So, Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. And I just love this story so much because it shows us that God has a heart for those who are getting married. He wants us to have that kind of love that is so precious, the way that Isaac and Rebecca had here. We talk a lot about agape love and unconditional love of God, but it's rare that we will talk about eros, this kind of compassionate love in a good light.
But I think that this is a beautiful depiction of that. And it shouldn't be something that is overlooked. And this whole narrative shows us the providence of God, the caring nature of our father and the way that he will walk with us through our lives and he will take care of us. And he will give us that provision and that care that we need in our coming and in our going.
And he does this as he accomplishes his purposes in us and through us. So let's take a look at some of our deep dive questions. Why do you think Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac? Does the account of Abraham and Isaac strengthen your faith in God's promise, or does it raise doubts? How do Abraham's character traits of integrity, fairness, and respect inspire you?
How do you feel about determining God's will by saying, if this happens, then it must be God? And do you recognize God's providence in your life? So Heavenly Father, Jehovah Jireh, our loving provider, thank you so much for meeting our every need.
You know what is necessary and vital to sustain our lives, and you know what is best in order to build our faith and prepare us for eternity. Sometimes it looks a lot different than what we think we need, and sometimes you ask things of us that we can't begin to make sense of. But help us, Lord, to trust you and to have unwavering faith like Abraham. I pray that this will not be an opportunity for the enemy to then come whisper lies into our ears and make us think that you're calling us.
Silence His voice, Lord, and may Your voice be the one that always rises above all others. May our ears always be tuned into Your frequency. And I thank You, Jesus, for being the ultimate sacrifice, the one who didn't waver when the Father called You to go to the altar. Thank You for being so willing.
We can't even fathom the pain that You went through, all the while knowing that You would take our place. It was our rightful judgment. May we never water that down.
May we always understand the gravity of your sacrifice and what it means for us personally. Thank you, Lord, for your eternal promise to us, that because we know you, Jesus, we have the gift of eternal life. And I pray that we will stay close to you all the days of our lives so that we will never doubt our security in that. Where people may be questioning your ways, Lord, I pray that you will never doubt our security.
for an increase in faith today. Thank you for seeing every single tear that is shed. I pray that we will never overlook that need for proper mourning and healing, but I also pray that we won't stay stuck in that place. We know that while it hurts to lose someone we love so dearly, we put our hope in the greater day that we will be able to see them again. Until then, help us to continue moving forward, not forgetting about them, but allowing their memory to be a wind that gives us lift off the ground.
I pray that we will all grow in our integrity and desire to be fair and respectful in every negotiation or even business dealings that we may encounter in our lives. I pray that if we have the means that we will be a generous people who trust that when we are, you will repay us in full, even if it is in heaven. As we all continue on our own journeys, I pray that we will always seek your best for our lives.
Help us to know when you are trying to show us something, Lord. I pray that we will be those who sit by the watering well, knowing that it is here where we will be refreshed and where our lives will be sustained and where we can also be a refreshing to others. May we be hospitable and hardworking as Rebecca was, while continuing to display a humble servant's heart as we wait for you, our bridegroom, to take us home. Thank you for loving us.
We love you so much. We pray these things in Jesus'name. Amen. Heaven and salvation is a divine gift.
that is given to us by grace. None of us deserve it. In fact, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death and every single one of us have fallen short.
And then we desperately need someone to pay that price. And Jesus did it. He didn't do it because we are righteous on our own merit. He did it because he loves us and he wants to spend eternity with us.
But it won't happen if we don't receive him before we leave this earth as Lord and Savior. Hell is a very real thing and there is no second chance after we take our last breath here. So I want to be able to give someone the opportunity today who is saying, I'm ready. I've never given my life to Christ. I don't know where I'm going to end up after I die, but I don't want to live another day without knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt where I am going to end up.
I see now that this is real and I want to believe. So if that is you, we're going to say a prayer. And I'm going to put the words on the screen so that you can say them audibly with your mouth because the Bible says that when you believe and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and that he died and rose again, then you will be saved.
So we're going to say this prayer together. Believe it in your heart, speak it with your mouth, and know that this is indeed the day of your salvation. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus. Jesus, thank you for dying for me.
I believe that you came, you died, and you rose again. I confess my sins to you today, and I turn from them, and I now live my life for you. I know that I am forgiven of all my sins, so I receive you now as Lord and Savior, and I belong to you, Jesus. I pray these things in Jesus'name.
Amen.