WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:03.439 We study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:08.880 We're studying the book of Genesis, and we're calling our study of Genesis in the beginning. 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:11.119 That's the way the book opens, of course. 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:19.440 And here we find in this ancient literature some of the answers to some of the biggest questions people have asked for all time. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:20.879 Where did everything come from? 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:22.559 What does it mean to be a human person? 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:24.480 What's gone wrong with the world? 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:26.239 And is there a God? 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:28.960 And if so, what kind of God exists? 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:39.920 So I am so excited as we uh start to come to the close of this last little storyline here in Genesis chapter 24, which we started last week. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:46.479 We kind of had a little bit of a teaser there at the end of our study, but uh this is an amazing story. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:48.000 It's historical narrative. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:59.039 I'll remind you that uh Sarah and Abraham, Sarah has passed from the scene at the age of 127 years, the only woman whose age is given in the Bible. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:05.519 And uh Isaac would have been about 40 years of age as we open up chapter 24 here. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:11.680 We've already read the first 14 verses, so if you weren't with us last time, I want to encourage you to read that on your own. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:24.640 But generally speaking, just want you to, just overview-wise, Abraham has described to one of his servants, likely Eliezer from uh chapter 15, that uh he would like to find a bride for Isaac. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:35.439 And what he would like Eliezer to do is to travel all the way to Abraham's homeland, which is probably, you know, Mesopotamia, likely 400-mile journey here. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:41.680 And he would like him to go there with this important task, this important job of finding a wife for Isaac. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:46.480 Of course, his first question after receiving instructions from Abraham is, what if I can't find one? 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:49.359 Or what if the one I find doesn't want to come back with me? 00:01:49.439 --> 00:02:00.239 And then verse 7 and 8 of chapter 24 here in Genesis, Abraham responds by reassuring Eliezer that an angel of the Lord will go with him and will watch over him. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:07.760 And further, that if the woman is unwilling to return with him, that the servant will not suffer any sort of repercussions for that. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:11.439 So we resume the reading at verse 15. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:15.280 And uh I'll remind you this again is historical narrative. 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:20.319 It's intended to tell us a story, uh, and it does so masterfully. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:32.000 I mean, I'm just blown away by here's something describing, you know, 4,000 years ago, the story of Abraham, roughly 4,000 years ago, and it's so well told this story is. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:39.520 Um, it describes a noble mission, an arduous journey, a great adventure, and the intrigue of the unknown. 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:46.080 Um, we're given just enough detail that we can visualize each scene as it unfolds. 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:59.759 And then at the end of the chapter, it all climaxes in what reads like a slow-motion scene where two lovers seeing one another from a distance and they begin to run toward each other, embracing in each other's arms. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:07.360 The music swells, they embrace, he lifts her off the ground, they begin to twirl and spin, then fade to black, roll the credits. 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:10.240 I mean, it just reads like a movie. 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:12.000 Uh, and it's a lot of text today. 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:14.240 So here's what I'm really excited about to tell you. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:18.560 I have a one-point sermon today, and I'm really excited about that. 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:21.520 But uh, there will be other little things along the way, of course. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:26.240 I wouldn't want to leave you with just one point, but there'll be other little things along the way. 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:32.479 But there is one essential thing that needs that we need to walk away from this story with. 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:45.520 And uh so I want to encourage you to listen for the story behind the story and the greater love story that's behind this love story that people often will call the love story of Isaac and Rebecca. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:49.599 So let's pick up on the text uh in verse 15 after I say a prayer. 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:52.560 Lord, thank you for your word that it's living and active. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:04:15.039 Uh, thank you for these uh very real people whose real lives you by your grace invaded, uh, giving us the hope, Lord, the encouragement, the inspiration to trust you and believe that you will also invade our lives and bring redemption to us, we pray in Jesus' name. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:16.959 Amen and amen. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:22.800 So Abraham's servant uh gets there and he's got a little plan. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:34.480 And in verse 15, it came about that as his plan, which is spelled out just a little bit, it's gonna be reiterated a couple times, so I don't need to read it again, but he finished speaking in his prayer to God. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:43.920 And uh behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethel, Bethuel, the son of Milkah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder. 00:04:44.160 --> 00:05:02.879 So the narrator tells us, and we already get some insight behind the scenes here, it hasn't been made clear to Eliezer just yet, but the narrator is basically telling us that this uh this woman that's coming, this young woman that's coming along, Rebecca, is indeed from the family of Abraham, which was part of the mission. 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:11.199 He, Eliezer, was sent by Abraham to find somebody from the the broader family of Abraham for Isaac to marry. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:13.600 Well, the girl was very beautiful, we're told. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:16.720 A virgin, and no man had had relations with her. 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:20.800 And she went down to the spring and filled her jar and then came up. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:22.560 Back then they would dig a well. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:33.360 Oftentimes there would be, and I've visited some of these archaeological sites in Israel before, maybe you have as well, but you sometimes will go all the way down, spiraling down some staircases before you ever get to the water. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:42.399 And this young girl is there to get some water, and the servant ran up to meet her and said, Please let me drink a little water from your jar. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:57.519 And this was a part of his prayer to God that if that if he would say that to a young woman who comes along, and that she would not only give him a drink, but also offer to get uh water for his camels, then that that would be the one that the Lord would choose for Isaac. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:04.319 So he says, Um uh the servant ran up to meet her, verse 17, and please let me drink a little water from your jar. 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:06.720 And she said, Drink, my Lord. 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:10.800 And she quickly lowered her jar to her hand and gave him a drink. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:12.079 This is promising, isn't it? 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:13.920 This is this is leaning in the right direction. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:15.920 If you're Lieazar, you're really excited. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:23.279 So now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:25.519 You've got to remember, he's got 10 camels. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:28.959 They can each drink probably somewhere in the neighborhood. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:34.319 I looked it up online, you can do some research of your own, but probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 gallons of water. 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:36.319 I mean, that's a lot of water per camel. 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:49.680 These are like huge Hummer SUV type vehicles that he's he's brought along in this uh sort of travel train, the camel um convoy, if you will, all the way to this place. 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:58.879 And so she's offering now, and you she can see what he's got there in terms of camels, and she says, I'll draw for your camels also until they finish drinking, although they're still there full. 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:07.040 So she quickly emptied emptied her jar into the trough and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:07.519 Wow. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:12.879 I mean, if it's if they do drink 25 gallons of water, you realize that's 250 gallons of water. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:19.199 She was willing to go down his steps, get that, and keep coming back up and filling the trough up until each of those camels drank. 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:22.240 Well, meanwhile, the man was gazing at her in silence. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:24.879 He's probably just blown away, right? 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:28.079 To know whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not. 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:29.279 Now, sometimes we're like that. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:39.759 We pray, Lord, if you'll do this, and we ask for some kind of sign or some kind of somebody to speak to us, whatever, it happens, and we still find ourselves wondering, is that really you, the Lord? 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:41.759 You know, Lord, are you really speaking to us? 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:44.399 And it seems like he might have been there just like us. 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:53.839 Verse 22, it came about when the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels in gold. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:55.759 And he said, Whose daughter are you? 00:07:55.920 --> 00:07:59.839 Please tell me, is there room for us to lodge in your father's house? 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:07.040 And she said to him, I'm the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milkah, whom she bore to Nahor. 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:10.240 And Nahor, you'll remember, is Abraham's brother. 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:15.120 Again she said to him, We have plenty of both straw and feed and room to lodge in. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:19.199 And so the man bowed low and worshiped the Lord. 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:24.639 And again, it'll be he'll be referred to here, not by his name, because we're not actually told it's Eliezer. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:27.120 I'm just speculating that that might be the case. 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:33.919 But he he's seen over and over again, bowing low to the Lord and worshiping the Lord. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:50.240 This is quite an amazing character uh here in chapter 24, this servant of Abraham, uh, amazing in terms of his godliness, amazing in terms of his loyalty and his faithfulness to his master Abraham and to this mission he's been sent on. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:58.559 And it's just, it's just beautiful to see someone uh with such faithfulness uh uh on display here. 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:00.159 And so he bowed and worshiped the Lord. 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:07.360 Verse 27, he said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:12.399 As for me, the Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master's brothers. 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:16.639 So he's he's starting to connect the dots now that she's told him who she is. 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:19.440 The girl ran and told her mother's household about these things. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:24.320 Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban, and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:34.240 And it came about that 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. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:44.720 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 repaired the house and a place for your camels? 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:46.879 So the man entered the house. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:56.320 Then Laban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet, and uh the feet of the men who were with him. 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:03.200 But when food was set before him to eat, he said, I will not eat until I have told my business. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:07.519 And he said, Speak on, meaning meaning Laban said, Well, go on, tell it. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:08.559 What is your business? 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:12.240 And I appreciate this man, again, the servant's integrity here. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:17.120 Uh doesn't want to just take advantage of their hospitality without letting him know why he's actually there. 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:17.679 Okay. 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:32.399 And um, so he said, verse 34, I am Abraham's servant, and the Lord has greatly blessed my master, so that he has become rich, and he's given him flocks and herds and silver and gold and servants and maids and camels and donkeys. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:36.639 Now, Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master in her old age. 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:39.039 Remember, she was 90 when Isaac was born. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:49.840 And again, she's passed away at this time, but uh, but she was ninety, and so she uh bore a son to my master in her old age and has given him all that he has. 00:10:49.919 --> 00:11:02.080 And my master made me swear, saying, You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live, but you shall go to my father's house, to my relatives, and take a wife for my son. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:28.559 And so concerned Abraham was for the spiritual heritage that would be passed along, that it wouldn't be the kind of thing that, you know, as the Canaanites worshiped these other false gods that had led them to the kind of depravity whereby they were actually sacrificing their own children to these false gods that they had made up and they turned their back on Yahweh, uh, the real God who is really there. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:35.200 And so Abraham wants there to be some kind of spiritual continuity, spiritual purity. 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:40.480 And so he's going to go back to his family and find a wife for Isaac. 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:47.519 And so he is relaying this to Laban that Abraham sent him there with this in mind, okay? 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:48.799 To find a wife for his son. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:52.000 Verse 39, and I said to my master, Suppose the woman does not follow me. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:12:04.720 And he said to him, The Lord before whom I've walked will send his angel with you to make your journey successful, and you'll take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father's house, and then you'll be free from my oath when you come to my relatives. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:08.320 And if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:16.080 And so again, as I said, he's repeating essentially what we had learned in the first uh fourteen verses that we studied before. 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:16.799 Verse 42. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:24.639 So I came today to the spring, and I said, O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now thou wilt make my journey on which I go successful. 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:36.240 Behold, I'm standing by the spring, and may it be that the maiden who comes out to draw, and to whom I say, Please let me drink a little water from your jar, she will say to me, You drink, and I will draw for your camels also. 00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:40.320 Let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master's son. 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:43.279 And so here he is recounting to Laban. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:46.960 Um, this is the brother, of course, of Rebekah. 00:12:47.039 --> 00:13:00.639 But he's recounting this to him just as he had prayed it to the Lord earlier, and just as he even spoke it out loud in his uh prayer of thanksgiving in this chapter that we've already studied. 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:06.879 So this is this is a little bit of the same retelling, but look at the specificity and notice how important that is. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:09.519 The narrator doesn't want us to miss that. 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:14.080 Uh, and so he's we're we're essentially being told the same thing a couple of times. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:24.000 And she so she does this, and before I'd finish speaking my heart, behold, verse 45, Rebecca came out with her jar on her shoulder, went down to the spring and drew, and I said to her, please let me drink. 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:29.039 And she quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, Drink, and I will water your camels also. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:31.600 So I drank and she watered the camels also. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:32.639 Do you mind again? 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:35.440 Remember how many times she had to go up and down those steps. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:42.879 How industrious, how generous um this Rebecca is. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:47.279 You know, not to mention the fact that we've already been told she was beautiful too. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:14:05.919 And so he's just, you know, he's he just has to feel like his mission is is uh is right on track, and that uh that not only will uh he be pleased in in being faithful to Abraham, but that Isaac will be thrilled uh with uh Rebecca as his wife as well. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:09.360 And uh then I asked her and said, Whose daughter are you, verse 47? 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:17.279 And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milkah bore to him, and I put ring a ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:29.600 I bowed low and worshiped the Lord and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son. 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:30.799 Verse 49. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:38.879 So now if you are going to deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me, and if not, let me know that I may turn to the right hand or to the left. 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:45.519 Remember, he's just about to accept the hospitality, but he wants Laban to know exactly why he's there. 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:48.080 And uh he wants to be forthright in all of this. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:54.960 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The matter comes from the Lord, so we cannot speak to you, good or bad or good. 00:14:55.120 --> 00:15:02.080 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. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:08.720 And it came about when Abraham's servant heard their words, that he bowed himself to the ground before the Lord. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:11.200 And this is the third time he's done that. 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:17.759 If anything marks this man, it said he wants to honor God in what he's doing. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:19.120 This is so beautiful. 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:24.879 The servant brought out articles of silver and articles of gold and garments and gave them to Rebecca. 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:28.080 He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:35.120 Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night, and when they arose in the morning, he said, Send me away to my master. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:43.759 But her brother and her mother said, Let the girl stay with us for a few days, say ten, afterward she may go. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:49.519 And he said to them, Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:52.720 Send me away that I may go to my master. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:58.159 This is interesting because he's pushing back a little bit here, even though they've made this request, right? 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:01.200 And they said, We will call the girl and consult her wishes. 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:01.919 Verse 58. 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:06.960 Then they called Rebecca and they said to her, Will you go with this man? 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:10.559 And she said, I will go. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:11.360 Wow. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:12.960 Oh, that's just amazing. 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:26.240 Now, of course, in our day and time, everything is there's gonna be a lot of hurdles for us to jump culturally, from a religious standpoint, uh just you know, the traditions of marriage and all that sort of thing, lots of hurdles to jump. 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:29.039 But I think that's just fascinating that that's her response. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:37.840 Verse 59, thus they sent her away, her sister, uh, they sent away their sister Rebecca and her nurse with Abraham's servant and his men. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:45.039 And they blessed Rebecca, and they said to her, May you, our sister, become thousands of ten thousands. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:48.240 May your descendants possess the gate of those who hate them. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:17:02.639 So they're blessing her as she goes and telling her that they hope and pray that she'll have many, many children, many descendants, and that they'll be successful in all that they do, and that they'll actually uh sit in the gate of their enemies as well. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:08.160 Verse 61, Rebecca arose with her maids and they mounted the camels and followed the man. 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:11.200 So the servant took Rebecca and departed. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:13.680 And here you have this camel caravan. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:25.920 Um, ten, you know, again, just ten of these thousand-pound beasts, and they're gonna travel this entire, you know, 400-plus mile journey to get back to Isaac. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:30.400 Now, Isaac had come from going to Bir Lahi Roy, for he was living in the Negev. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:36.240 The Negev is another way of saying um it's like the southernmost part of Israel. 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:43.119 This is, if you were to visit there today, this would be the area that's mostly desert-like wilderness type land. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:45.839 Um, it's mountainous terrain. 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:48.480 Uh, and there are flash floods that happen sometimes. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:53.519 So there are these uh dry stream beds, wadi beds, W-A-D-I. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:18:07.039 But he's gone to the Negev, he's been living down there, and likely he's doing some kind of work for his his father and for all that they have there because they lots of cattle, lots of sheep, lots of flocks, everything, right? 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:08.240 Very industrious. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:18.559 Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward the evening, verse 63, and he lifted up his eyes, and he looked, and behold, camels were coming. 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:21.119 Off in the distance, you can see this, right? 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:23.839 And Rebecca lifted up her eyes. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:26.960 There she is, riding on the camel, right? 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:35.200 Rebecca lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel, and so they see each other from a distance. 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:40.559 And she said to the servant, Who is that man walking in the field to meet us? 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:44.240 And the servant said, He is my master. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:46.880 Then she took her veil and covered herself. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:47.759 I love that. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:49.920 That's just so beautiful in their customs. 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:53.200 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:19:02.559 And then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and he took Rebecca, and she became his wife, and he loved her. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:08.240 Thus Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:10.480 This is just an amazing story. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:14.319 So masterfully told, as I said, you really could. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:19.599 I hope you could, as I hope you could see some of these different scenes as we were going through it. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:27.440 So what would you, if you were, I wonder, what would you call this chapter, if you're, you know, our study of this chapter or a sermon on this chapter? 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:30.559 There were there have been lots of people who've thrown in different ideas. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:33.519 I've heard, you know, I've I've read a lot, of course, on this. 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:38.559 I'm always reading eight or nine commentaries and listening to sermons online and all that sort of thing. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:42.960 And um, I I always ask the question, what was the authorial intent? 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:49.440 You know, the the person that wrote this, the one that God inspired to preserve this record for us. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:52.400 And to the best of our ability, can we tell what that is? 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:55.359 You know, why is it in our Bibles, in other words? 00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:57.599 What does it reveal to us about God? 00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:10.079 What does it also uh tell us about ourselves, about our life with God, and uh and how this chapter ought to shape us in some part will be uh determined by how we look at it. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:13.200 Um is this about how to find a spouse? 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:23.440 Man, I sure hope not, because I don't, you know, I I I don't know very many people with 10 camels and who are willing to send somebody, some employee out there to go get it. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:27.680 But is it, or or is it about how to discover God's will? 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:37.279 Um you know, again, it it describes some things in the historical setting that it's describing, these real people's lives. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:49.359 And I think that's all uh very important, and we can certainly extrapolate some principles uh out of this chapter, but you gotta love the cultural distinctions uh that we read about here in the Bible. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:59.839 Um and I don't know, you know, if any of you here in the West anyway have ever imagined, you know, your your wedding or your marriage to somebody being arranged in this manner. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:02.880 Um, can you imagine being an Isaac? 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:05.519 You know, what if he lived in our day and time? 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:14.720 Uh your mom and your dad, no worse, your dad uh selects one of his employees and sends him out on a long trip to a country you've never been to. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:22.480 Tells him to pick out a spouse for you, someone you've never seen, never emailed with, never FaceTimed with, never WhatsApp with. 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:31.279 You won't know their name, you don't know what they look like, and you certainly don't know what they're gonna how they're gonna respond to you when they find out what you look like. 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:36.799 Um you don't know if they've got a bunch of really bad uh hygiene habits. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:44.640 Uh you don't know if they've got weird ticks, uh, if they have uh some kind of strange fetishes that they wrestle with. 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:45.599 You have no idea. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:48.160 It'd be a complete shot in the dark. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:56.960 Um there wasn't any kind of ancient version of eHarmony or Jewish Singles.com or something like that for you to be able to find your chosen one. 00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:59.599 Um but also think about if you're on Rebecca's side of this. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.160 Because it's not just a one-sided deal here. 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:09.039 Some dusty stranger rides into town and says he's been sent to your family by a long-lost relative. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:16.079 He wants you to leave your family and friends, man up on a 1,000-pound hairy camel and ride 450 miles across the desert. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:19.839 So you can become the wife of his master's son. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:20.400 Sure. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:31.519 He's making a lot of promises and tossing around a lot of cash and jewelry and gifts and things like that, but you're just not sure you want to bet your entire future on this particular stranger. 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:38.640 So, as with any 4,000-year-old storyline, it's bound to stir up a lot of questions, right? 00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:42.880 And I'm sure as I was reading, you probably had some yourself. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:47.759 Is there, you know, is there just one right person out there for you to marry? 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:49.680 Is that what the Bible teaches? 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:56.640 Or do you marry someone and become the right person for them? 00:22:58.000 --> 00:22:59.680 Um, what is marriage? 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:01.279 What does that mean? 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:03.839 Uh does God have a plan for our lives? 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:05.119 Is it this meticulous? 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:07.279 Is it this detailed like this? 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:17.359 Is God's will for our lives on a is it is it more on an individual level, or is it communal or familial, like this family type thing? 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:18.559 Or what's it like? 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:20.480 What is God's will like? 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:24.079 And how can we come to know God's will? 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:30.160 Um is it proper and right to fleece, fleece God kind of like this this uh servant did? 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:31.359 Lord, let this happen. 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:32.799 If this happens, I'll know it's you. 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:35.599 If this doesn't happen, I'll I'll move on. 00:23:35.839 --> 00:24:00.079 Um special circumstances do occur from time to time, but normatively, I have to say, I think we nowadays, with a lens of the New Testament and we look into our Old Testament through that lens, um, we are far better equipped to be able to uh discern God's will, God's ways, God's wisdom, because we have the completed canon of Scripture. 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:02.240 Remember, they didn't even have a Bible back then. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:12.000 So when we say, when we say we study through books of the Bible here at the village chapel, it's not just because we want to be religious, it's because we're hungry for God's wisdom. 00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:16.079 We want to know God's will as best we can. 00:24:16.559 --> 00:24:18.319 We want to discern it. 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:20.720 And we want to know what God thinks. 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:23.200 We want to know what his ways are. 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:30.000 Um, and to be able to walk in his wisdom and his will and his ways, that's why we study through books of the Bible. 00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:32.160 That's why we have God's word. 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:42.160 So in the end, what we find in the Bible is a God who is eager to reveal himself, has shown himself doing this over and over and over again. 00:24:42.400 --> 00:25:11.519 And with the canon, what we have is this beautiful library of 66 books written in three time trap languages that had original authorial intent, and it's all pointing to and finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who is this long-ago promised seed of Abraham through which God intends to bless every nation. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:14.480 So I'm gonna give you my one-point sermon. 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:19.279 It goes exactly like this, and then I'll talk a little bit about discerning the will of God. 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:22.160 I think there are some helpful things we can extrapolate out of this. 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:24.480 But here's my one-point sermon for today. 00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:34.319 God's plan throughout redemption history is personal, global, supernatural, and offered by grace. 00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:35.440 Ah, I love that. 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:40.720 That's just a, I mean, that's the kind of thing I just want to remind myself of over and over and over again. 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:57.440 See, we live in a world that thinks and acts apart from God, or as if God might exist whenever we need him, and we want to feel the warm fuzzies of a romanticized religion, uh, but we really don't want him meddling in our lives. 00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:03.200 Um, so we live in a world that lives effectively without God. 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:12.400 Um, and in Abraham's day and time, the same was the case with the Canaanite nations that surrounded him. 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:14.480 They had turned away from the God who's there. 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:27.039 They turned to gods of their own making that had eyes but could not see, little statues, little little statues with eyes that cannot see, mouths that cannot speak, ears cannot hear, feet and cannot move, cannot do anything. 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:50.000 And here we're reading about the God of the Bible who made everything out of nothing, who speaks to Abraham, who has spoken his word throughout the ages and has preserved it in a divine way, superintended this collection of scriptures for us to be able to know what God thinks and what God wants us to know. 00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:56.720 We live in a world, though, that thinks it's really all about the self. 00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:00.880 And it includes both religious and irreligious people. 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:02.000 I've got to make that point. 00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:12.799 I think we've got to drive this home, and you'll I hope you'll be able to see uh what I'm talking about, because I'm not just a negative Nancy or sort of a Debbie Downer here at all. 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:17.119 I'm just doing an honest assessment of the world that we live in. 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:37.839 The um philosophical landscape can be summed up using a couple of terms that have been used by the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor in his books Sources of the Self and also A Secular Age, and the British theologian Carl Truman in his book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:47.279 And in the opening of Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, there are a number of endorsements for Carl Truman's book, one of which is by Rosaria Butterfield. 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:56.559 And she uses these two terms that really do, I think, describe the landscape of the philosophical landscape of the world around us. 00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:01.839 Mimesis is that finding excellence by imitating something greater than yourself. 00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:08.240 Poiesis, finding authenticity by inventing yourself on your own terms. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:13.519 You see, there's two completely different ways of looking at reality. 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:23.920 And they really are philosophical in the sense that the one is all about um the self poisis. 00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:31.200 It's all about us creating our own selves, our own identities, our own realities. 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:41.359 And we've gotten sort of used to that because we have some technology that at least allows us to make some fake selves and some fake scenarios. 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:44.559 And and I'm not, I'm not, again, I'm not down on any of that. 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:52.799 So I'm just, when that begins to shape and influence what you think about the real reality that exists, then I think you're in for trouble. 00:28:52.880 --> 00:29:03.279 Or when it begins to replace real relationships and a real understanding of who you are, then I think we're in trouble as human beings. 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:09.039 And we're we're severing our tether from reality itself. 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:29.680 So these two terms, mimesis, really important, poiesis, really important, as we take stock of the world in which we live and ask ourselves, what kind of what kind of a view, worldview, am I going to nurture and embrace myself and if I have children or others that look up to me, what do I want to pass along to them? 00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:33.680 Abraham was very concerned about that all the way back 4,000 years ago. 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:39.039 We should be as concerned about the same thing here in our own day and time. 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:58.559 For those who believe in God and truly want to know what God's will is, what God's want, what God wants, and who are really not merely just using God to fit him into their agenda, to get God to serve their ambitions and their goals. 00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:04.400 Um, the God of the Bible has been really faithful to make certain we can know his will for us. 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:08.400 There are a few principles that I'll throw up on the screen for you. 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:12.079 I'll do this in pretty rapid fire because we don't have a lot of time. 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:14.720 But if we ask the question, how can we come to know the will of God? 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:19.839 At least it begins with becoming generally interested in living within God's will. 00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:35.680 All right, so God's will is not some salad bar you step up to that I'll just take and pick, choose what I like, and I'll leave the rest, or worse, I'll bring a few things to the salad bar and leave them there and eat on those and maybe leave them there for others and contaminate their salad as well. 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:37.200 No, no, no, no, no, no. 00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:38.240 That's not it at all. 00:30:38.400 --> 00:30:50.240 If we're really interested in God's will, if there really is a real God who is really there, occasionally we ought to find ourselves pulling on the end of the rope and God pulling back on the other end of the rope. 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:52.480 Otherwise, we're God. 00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:53.759 He's not God. 00:30:54.480 --> 00:31:01.279 Otherwise, if God just likes everything I like and doesn't like everything I don't like, again, I'm God. 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:04.880 He's not God, and I've deluded myself. 00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:11.599 Hearing God, Dallas Willard said, makes sense only in the framework of living in the will of God. 00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:26.000 So if we neglect God in one area of our life and are knowingly living in sin, we should not expect that we will be very good at being able to discern the will of God. 00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:35.039 You see, we've got to turn away from our sin and from our self-centeredness, our selfishness, which is what we're being trained up in this world. 00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:36.480 It's all about the self. 00:31:36.640 --> 00:31:39.839 And these are burdens that are far too great for any person to bear. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:42.160 I see the wreckage of it all the time. 00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:44.480 I see it in our in the world around me. 00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:48.319 I see it in our in our community, I see it in my own family too. 00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:59.200 The havoc that these burdens that are far too great for us to bear is wreaking in the lives of people I love and that you know and that you love as well. 00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:00.960 We just never were created for that. 00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:15.440 That's why we need to turn away from the thinking of the world and turn toward this God of the Bible who has revealed himself, his wisdom, his will, and his ways in his word. 00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:20.079 Secondly, pray and ask God for wisdom and guidance. 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:28.960 This is fairly obvious, but you know, part of my job is actually to state the obvious, and then next week state the obvious again, okay? 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:38.000 So I gotta, you know, I got a pretty easy job in that regard, although I've got to continually not only state the obvious, but live in it myself. 00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:50.160 And I'm living in a world where it's a bit of a, you know, like a salmon swimming upstream, you know, for myself, for others who want to trust God, who want to believe and hope in God. 00:32:50.319 --> 00:33:00.720 And Abraham has to send far and wide to find somebody that he can trust who will share that same kind of belief and trust and hope in Yahweh. 00:33:00.880 --> 00:33:01.920 And so he does that. 00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:04.559 So we need to pray, we need to ask God for wisdom. 00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:06.160 Uh Book of James is so good. 00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:18.160 James 1.5 says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:24.799 That is a command and a promise that you and I can actually move out on. 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:25.519 All right. 00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:37.119 If you need wisdom from God, if you have a sense of hunger to hear from God on something, uh, or just to hear from God in general, like point number one, right? 00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:39.279 Be in the Word. 00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:40.480 This is so important. 00:33:40.720 --> 00:33:43.119 And uh three, become a discerning listener. 00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:45.759 Make sure it is God's voice that you're hearing. 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:51.599 Learn to discern the difference between the voice of your ambitions and your anxieties. 00:33:51.759 --> 00:33:53.279 How can you tell the difference you say? 00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:56.160 That that sounds like that'd be pretty hard to tell. 00:33:56.720 --> 00:33:59.039 Well, it is it isn't always easy. 00:33:59.200 --> 00:34:00.559 Sometimes it is hard. 00:34:00.880 --> 00:34:13.840 My ambitions typically are motivated by me wanting to be in control and to be the one who's deciding when something's gonna happen or if something's gonna happen and how it's gonna happen and what, you know, all of that. 00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:16.639 Uh my ambitions start to reveal that. 00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:22.239 Um, uh a sort of struggle for control between me and God, for instance. 00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:33.440 And um, my anxieties, if if that's the voice of my anxieties that are speaking to me and not God's voice, uh, it's usually something that sounds a lot like fear. 00:34:33.679 --> 00:34:44.000 It's usually something that starts me off in a direction of creating my own narrative, my own reality, and it's usually a broken reality, and it's a burden too great for me to bear. 00:34:44.239 --> 00:34:51.920 Uh, I may want to live in a poetic world, but the reality is we live in a mimetic world. 00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:56.800 Um, I love the tenacity of God's truth. 00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:10.800 I love the resolution of God's reality, uh, and that we have a fixed point on the horizon to live in the security of what of a God who has taken care to make sure all of that happens. 00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:12.480 But become a discerning listener. 00:35:12.719 --> 00:35:17.039 Make sure it's God's voice that you're hearing when you're listening for God's voice. 00:35:17.119 --> 00:35:30.719 And there are really, and this four legs of a table, great little illustration if you want, but here's the way I would describe it: God's word, uh uh communing in prayer with God, um, godly counsel and circumstances. 00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:43.440 These are four guides that help us recognize God's voice, all right, and discern it as different, as it being different from the voice of our ambitions and our anxieties and just the culture flow. 00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:49.440 God's word, and by the way, Abraham didn't have this, but God was speaking to him, we're told over and over again. 00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:52.639 And again, it's why we study now through books of the Bible. 00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:57.679 We have this sure and certain word from God, but uh communing prayer. 00:35:57.760 --> 00:36:03.760 This is that kind of prayer we see exhibited in the life of Abraham and in the servant where they're communing with God. 00:36:03.840 --> 00:36:07.199 They're they're listening, they're watching, and they're they're constant. 00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:09.119 It's not just here, God, do this. 00:36:09.280 --> 00:36:11.599 You know, it's that kind of communal prayer. 00:36:11.760 --> 00:36:15.039 And some of us pray, we just bring our list of things to do to God. 00:36:15.119 --> 00:36:17.840 And listen, he's delighted when we come to him at all. 00:36:18.239 --> 00:36:28.159 Um, but we're missing out on an abundance of uh the relational aspect of our life with God if we aren't also listening to him in prayer. 00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:35.119 Uh, godly counsel, these are friends that love you enough to tell you uh what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear. 00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:41.039 You you can probably think of friends that you have that will tell you just what you want to hear. 00:36:41.519 --> 00:36:54.159 But can you think of any friends that love you enough to tell you what's right, what you need to hear, what might reveal something to you about yourself that's a little uncomfortable or awkward. 00:36:54.320 --> 00:36:57.519 Blessed is the person who has friends like that, right? 00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:04.400 Circumstances, uh the practicalities, the resources, the trajectories, the possible outcomes, all that sort of thing. 00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:06.480 We think about those things all the time, too. 00:37:06.639 --> 00:37:18.960 But I recommend you do these in that sort of uh order, too, because uh God's word is the most objective, and uh our understanding of the circumstances and interpretation of that can be the most subjective. 00:37:19.119 --> 00:37:22.079 Fourthly, be prepared to act on God's guidance and direction. 00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:32.719 Get busy, do what you already know is God's will, and as you're walking in obedience, you'll be able to hear more clearly what the Lord is saying. 00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:40.960 Oswald Chambers said it this way: God will never reveal more truth about himself till you obey what you know already. 00:37:41.519 --> 00:37:46.000 He's already told you something about his will for your life. 00:37:46.639 --> 00:37:52.239 And the Bible is full of specifics about God's will for our lives. 00:37:52.400 --> 00:38:03.760 We need to get busy doing those and not become so obsessed with what I'm supposed to do in this particular circumstantial thing that may or may not really be ultimately important in God's eyes. 00:38:03.840 --> 00:38:07.440 And we want to be able to see what God sees and the way he sees, right? 00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:10.400 Fifth, remain eager to bring glory to God. 00:38:10.559 --> 00:38:15.440 This servant kept falling on his face over and over again, worshiping God, giving God the glory. 00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:17.760 And that is as it should be. 00:38:17.920 --> 00:38:25.760 That's the ultimate will of God for all of our lives, that his glory would flow into and be reflected out of our lives. 00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:28.159 This is why we were created in the first place. 00:38:28.320 --> 00:38:31.760 I love Derek Kidner's uh commentary on Genesis. 00:38:31.840 --> 00:38:35.599 He says, success, which inflates the natural man, humbles the man of God. 00:38:35.760 --> 00:38:38.000 The servant's first thought is for the Lord. 00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:40.320 His second is for his employer. 00:38:40.480 --> 00:38:44.239 And his final one, with unaffected delight, was for himself. 00:38:44.400 --> 00:38:46.480 And you saw that in Genesis 24. 00:38:46.639 --> 00:39:04.639 This guy, again, I think this nameless servant in chapter 24, who might be Eleazar, I think he is an amazing display of somebody who's hungry to know the will of God and hungry to see the glory of God brought about in his own life. 00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:12.079 This is a great love story, that's true, but it points to the greater love story behind it all. 00:39:12.320 --> 00:39:12.719 J.I. 00:39:12.880 --> 00:39:23.519 Packer talks about, he says, to know that nothing happens in God's world apart from God's will may frighten the godless, but it stabilizes his saints. 00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:29.840 You see, God was working very hard to preserve that line through which Messiah will come. 00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:48.400 And um, we see as we go through our Old Testament, we see over and over and over again uh God just playing the role of shepherd and shepherding the details, providentially leading and guiding uh each person's life so that we ultimately get to and find the person and work of Jesus. 00:39:48.719 --> 00:39:58.480 Genesis 24 beautifully illustrates and foreshadows other aspects of the gospel story, God's plan of redemption put on offer for us. 00:39:58.639 --> 00:39:59.679 The parallels are simple. 00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:00.800 Let me put them up on the screen. 00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:08.239 Abraham, he was the father willing to offer his son as a sacrifice, and the father arranging a bride for his son. 00:40:08.400 --> 00:40:14.880 Isaac, the promised son, the willing sacrifice, now ready, eager, awaiting his bride. 00:40:15.199 --> 00:40:21.039 The servant, if it was Eliezer, interestingly, his name actually means one called alongside to help. 00:40:21.199 --> 00:40:24.159 And I love this because the Holy Spirit is the paraclete. 00:40:25.760 --> 00:40:26.800