“And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the ear-ring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands.” ―Gen. 24:4747And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands. (Genesis 24:47).
I PROPOSE a few meditations on some of the more prominent brides of Scripture, beginning with Rebekah, as seen in Gen. 24. There is a charm indescribable in every line of this history. At the very outset the call of Rebekah is associated with “blessing” ―the blessing of God which was with Abraham. Twice in this narrative is special mention made of it. In verse 1 it is said, “And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.” In verse 35, “And the Lord hath blessed my master greatly.” The gold and the silver, and the other precious things which the servant had brought, are mentioned, but the blessing was the chief thing. How far the thoughts of Rebekah may have t raveled into what was included in her association with Isaac as heir of the promises we may not know; but we do know something of the way which has been opened up to our own thoughts; how they can travel into the deep things of God Himself, and of His beloved Son, and of ourselves, who are eternally associated with Him.
We do wrong to Rebekah―shall I say to the truth ―when we associate her call merely with the riches.
She was made willing in the day of a power which brought her soul within view, for itself, of the blessing which rested on Isaac. She saw that the Lord had blessed him, and she foresaw herself as blessed with him―joint-possessor with him of whatever the Lord had made him. Faith comes by hearing; and as the ear listened to the story of her call, the heart fed; not indeed on the riches, but on Isaac. And there was nothing to obstruct, but everything to set her at rest, in her heart being occupied with Isaac―Abraham himself, his mind, Isaac, Eliezer, all intelligible, and all for her. This was what gave confidence to Rebekah. And this it is which gives such confidence to us, that all is made intelligible as to God and our salvation in the Word. There is much indeed in these days in the teachings of men that is mystical and unreal. “For years,” writes a friend, “God Himself, His own eternal love in relation to Christ, His love in giving Him to die for us who are sinners, the Holy Ghost speaking through the Word to us, and our being called on simply to believe; these were things which, in the instructions I received, were wholly left out. But now the triune God has been revealed to me, and the unsearchable riches of Christ have all become mine―made known to me through the Word, a blessed reality.”
What Eliezer did was to unveil the mind of his master concerning Isaac. In the Gospel the veil is drawn aside, and with open face we look at God as He really is, manifested for us in Christ, who is our salvation. There we see that it was God Himself who gave. Christ for us; that it was Christ on the cross who, in dying for us, so satisfied the righteousness of God, that the love which He hath divinely toward us may be gratified.
The effect on the mind of Rebekah was knowledge, also love; a love which at once occupied itself with Isaac. Thus has it ever been with us who believe. We, as Rebekah, have simply believed; and, as a result, our affections are found instantly around Christ.
It was thus that Isaac at once became the true hope of this daughter of faith. She had indeed a home without traveling any desert. She had, in her father’s house, her own prospects of earthly possessions; but she could leave all, as Abraham had done. She could forget, as it were, her own people and her father’s house; and all for one whom through this one visit of Eliezer she had come to know. Such is the power of a person! What else is it that makes us willing to leave all that is here? Is it heaven merely as a place? No, indeed! Crowns, palms, dignities? All, no, not these! It is Christ Himself. What a word is that, “Present with the Lord!” as we sing―
“That blessed interview, how sweet!
To fall transported at His feet;
Raised in His arms, to see His face
Through the full beamings of His grace!”
“Present with the Lord” is blessed indeed for a true child of God, but dreadful for a mere professor! For on dying a man has no Christ, no Person to desire or to enjoy in heaven, what has he? Alas, what forfeits in the day of death will such professors suffer! Their idea of heaven, it may be, is rest, knowledge, exemption from sorrow. The heaven of their natural mind is one perhaps of mere sentiment, of melody, of ease or pleasure; but apart from the knowledge of and love for the Lord Himself there is no heaven.
Now, just as the report through Eliezer won the heart of this daughter of Laban for Isaac, so the Word, through the Spirit, wins our hearts for Christ, who died for us, and who brings us into God. Oh, what a chain it all is! reaching from God to Christ, from Christ to the sinner, and from the sinner again to God; and thus on and on with Him, forever and ever!
I have said that Isaac was blessed with Abraham; as it is written, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Heb. 2:1818For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. (Hebrews 2:18)). Abraham had asked for an “heir” before he possessed the inheritance. Beautiful example of faith! So sure was he of the one, that he asks for the other.
Rebekah, so to speak, was the gift of Abraham to Isaac; for it was Abraham, and not Isaac, who had laid the plan of her being separated to a joint possession with him who was heir of the promises. For this, in lowliness of faith, she is to cross the wilderness. Abraham had crossed the same before her; she could tread, as it were, in his steps―that is, in his footsteps of faith. We talk of the wilderness being untrodden, and surely in a sense it is. It was so to Abraham; none had ever trodden it as he. It was not so, in such absolute sense, to Rebekah. The one had left the land of the house of Bethuel before the other; and his footmarks, so to speak, were left to be followed by the calm, meditative eye of Rebekah. Truly, the desert is drear enough, too little frequented by heavenly travelers. But let us not forget Him who trod it for us as none other ever did. Let us consider Him, lest we be wearied and faint in our minds and let us remember too that cloud of witnesses of whom we sing―
“Loved ones in Jesus have passed on before:
Resting in glory, they weary are no more.”
How I delight in those lines by Toplady―
“Happy the souls released from fear,
And safely landed there;
Some of their number once I knew,
And traveled with them here.”
The just in all ages have lived by faith. It was by faith, through the testimony of Eliezer, that Rebekah got to know the blessing upon Abraham. God had carried His own report to Abraham; He appeared to him as “the God of glory.” Abraham believed God. But now his servant is the messenger. Abraham said, “I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac” (Gen. 24:44But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. (Genesis 24:4)).
You will observe it is not, as with us, of “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3)) that Abraham speaks, but “the God of heaven, and the God of the earth.” There was deep meaning in this. Abraham’s own special hope was of a city, “the city,” all the Word is, which hath foundations, a heavenly city. tie also looked to possess the earth―yea, the very land on which he trod. His seed, in connection with both, would be innumerable—the one part (the heavenly) as the stars of heaven; the other (the earthly) as the sands of the sea. Isaac and Rebekah are spoken of in relation to both. Isaac looked for a city, even a heavenly; and the blessing in our chapter pronounced on Rebekah, on her departure for Isaac, was, “Be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.” It was in this name, the name of the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, so divinely associated with all manner of future blessing, that Eliezer was made to swear. There was to be a deep certainty about it; no peradventure, no perchance. The whole founded upon promise, and upon oath. Thus is it with all the purposes of God. God does nothing without a purpose. Every drop of dew has its own appointed grasslet or leaflet on which to fall; every star its own orbit in which to shine; each zephyr or storm its own assigned mission for life or for death. We who are His children are called according to a purpose. That purpose, how great! Angels are called to be angels to serve. Saints are called to be children of God, sons, heirs! We are all pre-known by the divine mind. “Predestinated,” Paul says, “unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Eph. 1:55Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (Ephesians 1:5)). And again, “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:44According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (Ephesians 1:4)). Such is but the first link in that wondrous chain which binds the Church to God; that of which, as to its actual existence, the Lord said to Peter, “Thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church” (Matt. 16:1818And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)). Foreknown in the past, unchangeably safe for the future! Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, and therefore not dependent on what we are! The particular frames or feelings in Rebekah had no place, and were as nothing as a ground for her having been called to be the bride of Isaac. No; it was the purpose first, not in her mind, but in Abraham’s. This is the Gospel. It is not the Gospel to tell men that “God is standing by, looking upon the large field of His intelligent creatures, waiting till they shall manifest some good disposition, or make some good move towards Him.” No, this is not the Gospel! The Gospel tells us that God comes to meet every necessity in man who is ill-disposed to acknowledge Him at all. “I AM FOUND,” He says, “OF THEM THAT SOUGHT ME NOT” (Rom. 10:2020But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. (Romans 10:20)). It was not, then, that Rebekah was first of all prepared, or improved, or made meet for her position, and then called. No, she did not work for Isaac. It was the calling first. Thus also with us. In Rom. 820For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, (Romans 8:20) we read, “Whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” “Am I in this?” is often the question with sincere and anxious minds; when the question the rather ought to be, “Have I believed the Gospel?” It is not believing in predestination, but believing the Gospel, which saves. Both are blessed, as seen in the Word. Predestination is said to carry terror to some minds. Their conversion, it may be, has not been plain and evident; and doubts and fears have thrown them back from the Gospel to election. But did the call of Rebekah convey any terror to her mind, because it was founded on election? Certainly not. Her mind was first occupied with the report. Did she believe it? On believing it she saw how it linked her in with the foreknowledge and purpose of Abraham. I am not first to take the place of the elect. I am told to take the place of a sinner. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)). Taking the place of a sinner, seeing God’s love towards me as a sinner, believing in Jesus, who, as a manifestation of that love, died for the sinner, I am not only saved, but led on to see all that I have been to God, and yet shall be through all eternity. But Rebekah might have said, “Why me? Why was I the object of such love?” Ah, no, there is no terror, but a sweet delight, in our souls as we sing―
“Jesus sought me, when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;”
or better still, as we have it in that sweet divine word, “I am found of them that sought Me not” (Rom. 10: 20).
Mark, then, the vast landmarks―glorious boundaries shall I say―of our position as seen from the eternal years. “Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate [but for what?] to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified” (Rom. 8:3030Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)). In His own eternal thought all settled, and all in Christ. He is the great repository of all the purposes, and thoughts, and love, and, grace of God towards us. As none need fear as to the place which this daughter of faith had in her joint-heirship with Isaac, so none need fear the place the Church has in Christ. It was safe before all worlds. It never was in danger. Can anything alter it? The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But “all the goods of his master were in his hands.” Mark well that words, “ALL THE GOODS,” including the “silver,” and the “gold,” and the “raiment,” and the “precious things.” Imagine ten camels’ loads! mere samples; or, shall I say, “the mere earnest.” Grand evangelist! He would use all for his master to gain a wife for his son Isaac. Ah yes; all conceivable riches are in the hands of the blessed Spirit, to be used by Him for us! All heaven! and glory! yea, God Himself! revealed in and through His Son. How precious! All a gift through Him to us! Oh, there is nothing so hard for us to understand as grace! We deserve nothing, and in our enmity to God expected nothing. It would have grieved this faithful servant if any claim had been put in on the ground of personal right. It pleased him, when all was understood as the simple gift of his master. It was Abraham who was seen in all. It is God, beloved, who is seen in all the riches of His grace and love, laid open to us for our possession by the Spirit. To be filled with these, with God, with Christ, through the truth, is to be filled with the Spirit. Abraham was satisfied with Isaac, would give all to him, and to Rebekah along with him. God is satisfied with His Son, is satisfied with what He has done, and would give all to Him, and to us along with Him.
Did I say all was in the hands of the Spirit? Blessedly in ours also. Some speak of the Gospel messenger as being “only or merely an evangelist.”
What! when his office is to place at the sinner’s feet all those infinite riches of God’s grace and glory in Christ Jesus! Oh, did I as an evangelist know all the rooms, all the vast innumerable storehouses of the unsearchable riches of Christ, I could put them all down at the sinner’s feet for an immediate acceptance; he is entitled through faith to not heaven only, but God Himself! And God delights in our knowing this. One atom of such true knowledge in the mind of a sinner is more to God than all He ever saw in highest angel. Not for the angels was His kiss of love; the best robe; the ring which, like the love, had no beginning and no ending; that fatted calf; that music and dancing; that special assemblage of His friends. No; there is joy “over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, who need no repentance” (Luke 15:77I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. (Luke 15:7)).
Blessed is the work of a pastor whose place is inside with the ninety and nine, feeding the sheep, feeding the lambs; blessed too the work of the teacher, who takes up some one great truth, or line of truth, and unfolds it to the saved; and indispensable also the work of the ruler. But all these are with the ninety and nine who are saved. The evangelist goes out to the world. He stands between the world and all the riches of grace. He is not sent to some limited few, but to every creature under the whole heavens, placing all the unsearchable riches before the open doorway of the sinner’s heart. And it is not a scant Gospel which he is to preach. No! he is the best preacher who knows God best; who best preaches Christ; who speaks as if he had come from God and from heaven where God is, as Eliezer had spoken from Abraham and from Canaan, where Abraham was. But telling of Canaan would not have done if Isaac had been left out. Preaching heaven merely will not do. It must be CHRIST, God’s beloved Son, whom He has given to take the judgment against sin; so that the sinner, the moment he understands and believes, is no longer lost, but saved, no longer an enemy, but a friend of God―yea, a child, a son. Behold what manner of love, that we should be called the sons of God! God Himself must be preached. The Gospel or the good news of God is not “only this or that;” it is all we can tell of God, all we can tell of Christ; this is its true scope, and burden. It is immense―infinite! But “who is sufficient for these things?” Do we not pray―
“Ah, Lord! enlarge our scanty thought,
To know the wonders Thou hast wrought;
Unloose our stammering tongue, to tell,
Thy love, immense, unsearchable.”
We have here the where as well as the what to preach: “I, being in the way.” How beautiful! In what way? It was God’s way. He was in the way where the object of his desire was! he was doing the exact will of him who had sent him. It is not working merely, or speaking merely, but it is doing these according to the will of God; not the work only, but the way, the place, “being in the way,” the way of God’s presence, in the secret of His mind. Ah, what a waste of all his toil and trouble if this faithful servant had gone any other way! Someone else must have gone for Rebekah; for the purposes of God must stand. Hence if any worker miss his way, step aside from the presence of God, God must work without him. Every branch in the tree of service that beareth not fruit He taketh away―away from that use. Many own Christ as Saviour who deny Him as Lord. They do not look to Him as Master; they act according to their mere liking, their own will. How happy if we can say as did Elijah, “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand” (2 Kings 3:1414And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. (2 Kings 3:14)). That was his place, standing in the presence of God, the place of power; of nearness to God; of communion. And how happy to be always in the knowledge of His will! My soul is often subdued and instructed by the remembrance of those words of the excellent Lady Powerscourt: “Alas! I have always seemed to live according to my own will, unless indeed the Lord has made His will my own. When young, like Peter, we gird ourselves, and walk where we will. We are long before we learn to stretch forth our hands (so expressive of leaving ourselves to another), and let Him gird us and carry us wherever He would.”
Where did Eliezer go? He stood where at evening “the daughters of the men of the city came out to draw water.” They were coming for supplies. See how he prays! mingles communion with service, saying, “O Lord God of my master Abraham”! Truly blessed is this habitude. Sweet attendant upon labor is this fellowship with God. He asks for a sign: “Behold, I stand here by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: and let it come to pass, that the damsel [little did she know I] to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that Thou hast appointed for Thy servant Isaac.” The Lord gave this sign. See, now she stands before him! He says, “Give me to drink.” She answers, “And I will draw water for thy camels also!” The man wondered, and held his peace. What could he say? What do, but wonder, worship, and adore? as he did. He attributes all to God. He worships Him, adores Him. How all this applies we understand. We ask for souls―souls with signs, and souls are given us, blessed be His name! We ask, as he, “Whose daughter art thou?” As we might say, “Who are you? from what ways of ignorance or sin are you come?” In answer to such questions, how often, like Eliezer, have we too looked upon the seeking ones, only to worship our God and adore! “I have been praying,” might he have said, “and here is the result; the very one I needed.” Thus his prayer had connection with God, God with Rebekah. We in communion have connection with God, God with the sinner. In preaching, have we not felt the resources of God, so to speak, in our hands. And when there, we can present them; there is evident connection between God and us. God connects Himself through us with the sinner. Thus if all the lamps in this scene had no connection with the supply, there would be no light; so if our own souls are not with God, we feel we have no power, we expect no blessing. When our souls are in grace, and we have hold on the fullness of God in, preaching, and see that fullness flowing into the souls of others, how easy, how precious, to attribute all to God! Saying, these are Thy ways, blessed Spirit! “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name be the glory” (Psa. 115:11Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. (Psalm 115:1)).
Now he puts upon her his treasures, first-fruits, as I may say. “He took a golden ear-ring [or, as the margin reads, a jewel for the forehead] of half a shekel weight.” It was to be worn where Isaac could see it; like the names in the New Jerusalem, to be written on our foreheads. “And two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold.” With what costliness was she adorned! These treasures she wore through all her journey; first-fruits of that abundance of wealth she was soon to enjoy in her own home. They were not given her that she may settle down in the wilderness, but to quicken her in her way out of it, telling her what was yet beyond. They were immediate possessions, read and known of all; just as the jailer in Acts i6, no sooner was he saved than he had the first-fruit, even the Spirit, all evident, as if on his forehead or his hands. The fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness” (Gal. 5:2222But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (Galatians 5:22)), etc. Mark, it is the “fruit” (singular); works of the flesh, but fruit of the Spirit. They are all one―stand or fall together―love, joy, peace. The jailer had all these at once; that which gave one gave all. A few hours before he had thrust the apostles into the inner prison, made fast their feet in the stocks! Now he washes their stripes. Here is gentleness. At midnight he was miserable, afraid; but now he is in peace and at rest; and all was evident. Precious fruit, a first-fruit of the inheritance, “incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away!” (1 Peter 1:44To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:4)).
To the question, “Whose daughter art thou?” she could tell she was the daughter of Bethuel, of the very house described by Abraham. And are we not the very class described by God, to whom the message of His grace is sent―sinners, subjects of His love? Yes, sinner is our name; and it is a work of God in us when we can answer to our name. “And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother’s house all these things.” Not the words only, but how she came by the jewel; and bracelets, and the gold; just as the jailer could tell how he came by his peace, and his love, and his joy. Laban had seen the jewel and bracelets upon his sister’s hands, and had said to him who had given them, “Come in, thou blessed of the Lord.” Hence now the camels are ungirded, and they rest awhile. Eliezer had water to wash his feet, and the men’s feet that were with him. The men, like David’s men, whom Abigail cared for from her love to David, were all valued in virtue of him who was the “blessed of the Lord.” Moreover meat was set before him to eat. But, no; he said, “I will not eat, till I have told my errand.” We count nothing done till we have accomplished our object. The Lord had meat to eat that others knew nothing of. That meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him. That will was the salvation of the poor lost one of Samaria. The Spirit of God will never rest until the work given Him to do is done. Oh, that He may work now! For what a moment is the present, when through the truth, peace, life, heaven, glory, all may come through believing in Jesus!
It is just here that there is such special mention of blessing. “The Lord hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and He hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses. And Sarah my master’s wife bare a son to my master when she was old [life out of death]: and unto him hath he given all that he hath.” What wealth! What riches Elsewhere we find his trained servants fit for war with the kings in the vale of Siddim were three hundred. It is not the mere absence of all these that can make a pilgrim; nor can their possession of necessity prevent from being one. A man may be without food and yet a lover of the world; he may be a prince and yet a pilgrim. No; it is having a higher thing than the world can give which begets in us the spirit of true strangership on earth. All these were as nothing to Abraham compared with the God of glory and the heavenly city; the sight of such a God, such a city, made all else appear dim. It was the sight of Christ’s riches, yea, of Christ Himself, which at the first so weaned us from all present perishable things.
For there was more than the riches with Rebekah. There was Isaac himself, his person, his place in the divine ways. Did Rebekah know as Abigail knew? Abigail knew that David was the Lord’s anointed, the “beloved of the Lord;” she knew him as one who would possess the kingdom, and whose glory would be great. It was David himself, the Lord’s anointed one, whom Abigail, as a child of faith, knew and loved. Was there nothing answering to this in Rebekah? Was her heart occupied with Isaac as one blessed of God? Did she understand him as son and heir in his own house? Did she know him as type of the very rank and blessedness of the Son of God Himself? Did she understand any dispensational secret shown by Him who had set her apart as the “mother of thousands of millions?” Perhaps not. But we know as to ourselves in connection with Him of whom Isaac was a type;― “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them to us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God.” (1 Cor. 2:1010But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10)). That we should be one with Christ, or that we should share with Him His inheritance, or that we should reign with Him, be as He is, and forever with Him, exalted to a height far above all principalities, are “deep things” indeed.
As has been said by another, there are no enjoyments like those of the heart. This daughter of faith, do we not seem to see her? She needs no reasoning to persuade her to give her heart to Isaac! The report had done its work. Believing the report, her heart was no more her own. It had already gone! Isaac had taken it. Nor did she need to be told of any two, ways of believing the report; she knew but one; but that even did not engage her mind. Just as in looking up at the stars we are not occupied with our eyes, but are unconscious, it may be, that we have any eyes. No; Rebekah’s faith was where her heart was. It was occupied with Isaac. He who had described Isaac to her, did not describe faith; it was Isaac he described. In spirit Rebekah was already joined to Isaac; he was now her heart’s rest, and she saw herself heir together with him of all that was. his.
Oh matchless Saviour! divine Suitor! This is how He comes in the glass of His word, and presents Himself at the door of our poor hearts. Dying love, personal glories, millennial kingdom, resurrection glories, golden city, eternal glories, all crowd into the picture. All at once, as told us by the Spirit in the Word they are ours; all at once do they engage the mind and win the heart for Christ. Ah, no indeed, it is not describing faith, it is describing CHRIST, that draws forth the heart; it is not seeing faith, it is seeing CHRIST, that gives peace. I once had been a whole day preaching, and had forgotten to take food; the moment, late in the evening, I saw bread, I was hungry. Thus it is with the sinner. All his life long he may fail to know―yea, fail to think of―a Saviour, but show him Jesus, the matchless Saviour, and all at once he sees and knows he needs Him.
How one loves to trace out the principles, if we cannot indeed understand the whole moral contained in this story of Rebekah. The fact is, there was a full manifestation of Isaac, and there must be a full manifestation of Christ―a full Christ; Christ dead for us, Christ risen―with sin, death, hell, all left behind. Ourselves as Christ, dead and risen with Him; sin, death, and hell, all gone in His death. Ourselves one with Him, to be like Him, to sit on His throne with Him. But who can manifest Christ, and leave God unnoticed? Yet many preach a kind of Christ with no true notice of God. God is love. Mark that word love. But not love for the sinner? Yes, love for the sinner; in and through Christ He has shown it. This is a deep well; whosoever drinks of it lives―is saved.
Did the father love the prodigal more ere he left home than whilst lost? Were our own child lost, it would call out the deep yearnings of love in a way quite unknown before. Love is eternal in God. Love and God are one; God is love. Love was before the cross. The cross was the manifestation, not the cause of it. God’s love is a righteous love; it cannot allow sin. “Who then can be saved?” With man it is impossible; but with God all things are possible. God gave His Son to bear our sins; He, in love to Him and to us, came into our sin-state, took our place, died to make atonement for us―to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Oh! to know this is to know God, and to know God is to know and to have salvation.
Did you ever notice that word in Mark 9:2222And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. (Mark 9:22): “If Thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” Jesus answered, the “if thou canst” is not with Me, but with you. It is not if I can but if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Therefore it is not, Can I have compassion, but, Canst thou believe. God has had compassion. Christ dying for us is God having compassion, at the same time punishing our sin, vindicating Himself. Imagine the son in the far country sending home the cry, “Father, if thou canst have compassion!” Ah, no, no, he had compassion, he had never changed. To know that was what assured the prodigal of a welcome on his return. Does the anxious sinner understand? There was no labored effort on the part of Rebekah to understand. She heard, she believed. We hear, we believe, we are saved! “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)).
Observe another truth here. The Spirit of God strives with groaning against all the hindrances of the flesh. Blessed are such groans when they tell us that we have the Spirit—that we are the children of God. The Spirit cannot rest where any hindrances are allowed. Our full rest awaits us only when He will have brought us into the eternal enjoyment of all that for which He leads and guides us in the wilderness. The house of Laban was to Rebekah what the flesh with all its hindrances is to us. “Let her abide with us a few days,” they say. “Send me away that I may go to my master,” is the urgent demand of Eliezer. Alas! circumstances within and without hinder us. Our affections turn off to the creature. We, through the Spirit, would be wholly Christ’s; but all these are against us. But he who had come for Rebekah will not rest. The Holy Ghost will never rest without completing His full errand; He will not retrace the wilderness without us. And we who have the Spirit have the earnest, and cannot stay behind. “I will go,” said Rebekah. Why Her heart had already gone. Her affections were with Isaac. No words could express what the bride in the song felt when she said, “I am sick of love.”
The going to Isaac was just the needful relief to her heart. As in Psalm 63, when God is possessed, all else is “a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.” Before Christ is known, the world is good enough. We drink of its so-called pleasures; we plunge into its poor ways; but all these now are as a dry and thirsty land. This is all the difference between one who has Christ, and one who has Him not. If no Christ, you will try to satisfy yourself with the world’s ways and with the world’s pleasures. But to the new nature these ways are corrupt. The raven can feed on death; the dove will not so much as touch it. If our souls were always abiding in Christ, we should never want anything else. Sin, and our fleshly nature, would be silenced by His voice, all displaced as to their energy in us. The sweet monotony of that name―Jesus, Jesus, Jesus―ever sounding in our ears, would leave us deaf to all other sounds. Rebekah remain satisfied in her old home when her heart was with Isaac? Impossible. The bride at rest without her beloved? Impossible.
“Hence Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon camels, and followed the man.” Their journey lay from the land of the Euphrates to the land of Canaan. An old writer has said, “Nothing more crooked or uneasy than the back of a camel.” Yes; truly this journey of ours through the world is jolting enough. We have to tread weary ways before we get to the rest which remaineth; yea, rough places ere we reach our promised home. But though in the wilderness, we have that “other Comforter.” He helps our infirmities by putting us in communion with Jesus. He gives us in the midst of all weariness to realize His love. He reveals to us the Son and the Father; He abides with us all the way; He is the earnest of our inheritance; He is God’s seal that we are His. “In whom, on believing, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:1313In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, (Ephesians 1:13)). He teaches us; He brings all to our remembrance; He leads us, shows us our sonship. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:1414For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14)). He shows us that we are joint-heirs with Him who is Son over His own house. The result is, the inheritance is brought near to us―heaven and not earth is seen to be our home.
But what of Isaac? He had been all this while simply passive―waiting the result; like our coming Lord, who all these centuries has been in the presence of the Father waiting the result. When the divine Eliezer, the Spirit who is the great soul-gatherer, has done His present work, Christ will come. This now is where our divine tale deepens in interest; for the “day breaks, and the shadows flee away.” Isaac has come; he is free, at sweetest leisure simply meditating. It was not in his home that he first met her, nor was it in that which she had left. Their place of meeting was in the quiet field, and in the quiet hour of even―suited to the scene. Isaac had come from the well Lahai-roi, that is, “the presence of Him that liveth and seeth.” He came alone, as if he would have undisturbed joy in meeting with her who he knew had left all for him. He came at evening time, near the world’s night; but to her it was as a morning of joy. She had a veil, and had covered herself―self-hidden in the presence of Christ. And now see! she alights from the camel. You understand: there is no more desert-ruggedness now! No more dangerous steps and weary ways now! The time of her rest and joy has come; the longed-for moment has come. What a meeting! what a taking to each other! For Isaac now “took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.” How suggestive is all this! For it is the world’s evening now, but our “night is far spent, and the day is at hand” ― “for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom. 13:1111And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. (Romans 13:11)). And what reality it gives to our hopes when we know that He who was once a Saviour for us here will come again to us―as He said, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:33And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3)). What a home-taking will that be! He will then be seen not, in His own Home, or down here in the wilderness where we now are, but in these lower heavens as the Morning Star, to herald the departure of this the long night of our separation and death. The Morning Star is that peaceful luminary which always precedes the rising of the sun; its scene is just above the horizon, but below the higher heavens. Thus, in like manner, the Lord when He comes will descend from heaven to the air, and we who are alive and remain, together with those who sleep in Jesus, will be caught up to meet Him in the air. Thence He will take us to the Father’s house, thence again to reign over His kingdom. We shall be forever with the Lord. And then we too shall alight from all our care, from all suffering, and from sin; and from ourselves, as having within us this present evil root of sin, and this evil heart of unbelief. We shall alight from the last grief, the last pain, and the last sorrow.
Thus lovely, beautiful is the light which shines upon the story of this daughter of faith. It is the same which shines upon us now, all through our own path below, until we see Him as He is.