Genesis 24 Isaac and Rebekah

One of the things that I enjoy when I get together with family is talking about life experiences, things of our past.

Many, many years ago we had a huge family gathering on my side of the family down the shore and my mom and dad came and all my brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, and we let dad and mom speak about what life was like when they were young.

It's a special moment, it's things that we enjoy talking about.

Probably one of the questions that's fun to answer when people say, so how did you and Sandy meet?

And usually that is a fun conversation because we were both believers at the time and we could see

God's hand in action through the whole event. I thought I was going on a ski trip.

It turned out that it was an Office of Christian Fellowship retreat and the speaker was

John Bishop. It was one of the most amazing, life -changing times for me as he ministered.

But on that trip, this was from the Naval Academy, which was all men at the time, there were about 12 young ladies that came on the trip and we know of seven weddings that came out of that trip.

Ours was one. I actually ran into Sandy, literally, on the ski slope, knocked her down, and that's how we met.

So, we probably could go around the room on how did you meet and those are good stories and they're fun stories.

Genesis 24, how does Isaac meet Rebecca? And that's what we're going to look at.

We're going to see God's hand throughout this entire chapter. Carol, you were there last night when

I told the group I'm going to be teaching 67 verses in one day and nobody believed

I could do it. We will see. We will see. Jeff, would you open us in a word of prayer?

Yes. Father God, thank you for this study. We do pray for John that you give him the strength and the mental ability to handle 67 verses in one sermon,

Lord. We also pray that you would use this sermon for young people to find their

Rebecca, Lord God, their Isaac. So, God, we pray that we would see marriages formed in this church amongst the young people and even old people as well,

Lord, that you would just do this wonderful thing because your word says, he who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the

Lord. Amen. Amen. So, in this chapter, we're going to see things like a parental involvement even before the concept of the wedding is going to take place.

We're going to see the hand of God and his sovereignty. Then we're going to see how godly women are actually prepared by God, blessed by God.

And we're going to see family involvement on the woman's side. But yet, we're going to see that the woman is honored because her response matters.

We're going to see how Rebecca does respond and how Isaac and Rebecca come together.

What an amazing outline for a family heritage. So, Rick, I'm going to ask you to read verses 1 through 93.

No, that's not right. 1 through 9. 1 through 9, please.

Thank you. And while we're doing that, I'm going to ask Jeff if you would get

Jeremiah 29 .11. You probably don't even need to look it up. But go ahead. 1 through 9.

Now Abraham was old, 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,

Put your hand under my thigh, that I may make you swear by the Lord, the

God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife from 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 from my son

Isaac. 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 an angel before you, and you shall take a wife from 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 the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

We start out with a picture of Abraham. He, as it says here, is now well advanced in years.

Jeff, last week you took us to the stage of life where Sarah has now gone home, and Abraham is now the father to Isaac.

We could presume that Isaac, by this time, if we were in chapter 22, it's debatable whether in chapter 22

Isaac was a teenager or a 20 -something. He's described as a lad.

Let's, for argumentation's sake, say he was about 20. Time has passed.

Sarah has passed, and now more time has passed. So Isaac is definitely of the age where finding a wife would be the next, perhaps, stage in his life.

And it says Abraham is old and advanced in years, so for him to take personal action, probably, it describes to me that this isn't something physically

Abraham's going to do. But he has a servant who is apparently well -trusted.

He has in charge of all that he had. So this would be a highly trusted servant.

In my mind, I'm thinking of how Joseph, down in Egypt, had eventually gained the trust of Pharaoh and was given charge.

So it's not unusual for there to be a servant -master relationship like this. But this servant, as we go into the chapter, appears to be a

Yahweh worshiper. And we'll see that as that plays out. And so Abraham approaches the servant, and his concern is going to be that Isaac does not settle for less than what

God would want him to have as a wife. He wants to make sure that he doesn't take a

Canaanite that appears to be one bridge too far. They're going to live in the land of Canaan, but not to be married into the land of Canaan, where there could be compromise.

There could be the reintroduction of idolatry. But it's interesting that he is given insight that the best place he could find a wife suitable for his son was going to be back in the land of Earth.

Now that's where they left, and they were all idolaters. But in God's providence, he encourages the servant to leave this land and go to that land and find a wife.

The danger of finding the wrong wife, we know from a lot of experience in scripture like Solomon, the wrong wife can lead the heart astray.

Jeremiah 29 .11 clearly says that God is going to have a direction for us to go.

Jeff? For I know the plans I have for you, declares the

Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Now that could be taken in a lot of ways.

He's talking about the nation of Israel, but it's definitely applicable as a parent is considering their child.

And parents praying that the right godly spouse, whether it's a woman for their son or whether it's a man for their daughter, having the right godly spouse is really a submission to the sovereignty of God that God knows, he already knows who the right person would be.

And that doesn't mean that we're going to go down that path. Picking the wrong spouse can be disastrous.

We're told to watch over our heart because allowing ourselves to be in the influence of peoples that we shouldn't could be encouraging us to take part in the practices of those people.

But I find interesting in this passage, not only is Abraham speaking very specifically to the servant, go to the land and find the spouse.

Do not let my son take a wife from the Canaanites. And don't let my son go back and live there because God has placed us here.

This is God's plan that they would be where they are. And he wants this to be maintained.

But I find it also interesting, the interchange that the servant has with Abraham actually introduces another very important point.

Even at this point in time in history, there is respect for the woman having some say in who she's going to marry.

He says, what happens if the woman may not be willing to come?

What do I do then? And basically Abraham says, then your oath is taken care of, it's done.

So even now there is respect for God, for his plan. There is definitely respect for the woman and her say in this.

But there is definitely a realization that the parents, the parental involvement in their children, in finding the right spouse.

And I think we can extend that to grandparents' involvement in praying for their grandchildren, who is the right spouse to be done.

And so what we have as we move into verse 10, we're going to have the servant heading off and being obedient.

So Barb, I'm going to ask you to read 10 through 14, please. And Psalm 121,

Carol, I'll ask you to have that ready. 10 to 14. Then the servant took ten of the master's cabins and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master.

He set out for Aram -Naharim and made his way to the town of Nahor.

He had camels kneeled down near the well beside the town. It was toward evening, the time the women would come out to draw water.

Then he prayed, O Lord God, my master Abraham, give me success today and show kindness to my master

Abraham. See, I am standing beside the spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.

May it be that when I say to a girl, please let down your jar, that I may have a drink.

She says, drink, and I'll water your camels too. Let her be the one you have chosen for your servant

Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master. I love this situation of, first of all, the servant has received marching orders from Abraham, and there's no indication of a delay.

The word then could be a period of time, it could be an immediate transition, but the servant having heard and having given marching orders by Abraham, he takes ten of the camels and departs and brings all kinds of gifts and heads off.

Mesopotamia, or he's heading off to the Father's homeland, and he's on his way.

So the servant is going to be obedient in taking action. It's the Father's will, but he's taking action.

And then what he does as he gets to the well, he has the camels and yelled out, this is okay, this is normal, they're going to need a drink.

But what he does now is he prays, and he seeks God, and he knows in his heart, he knows that success to do what he needs to do, which is to find this woman should it be so.

Success is going to rely on calling on God. And so he says,

O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master

Abraham. Going to the place of direction, a place where God would have the servant go, was first of all of importance.

We have a relative, and I'm not going to go into that. She's having a hard time finding a husband.

She purports to be a believer. But she's trying to find a husband in a bar.

What could go wrong? A lot can go wrong.

There are ways to find a believer that perhaps are more conducive to God's hand of lead.

And perhaps a bar is one of them. Now I know that there are christianmatch .com

websites. They're awesome. Being in prayer and seeking. But in this particular case, the master, instead of taking a shortcut where there might be some women closer to home, and finding an attractive woman who is willing to come and to be betrothed to Isaac, the journey from Canaan to Ur is an arduous one.

They could go directly across the desert, which they don't, or they could go up and back down.

It is a multi -day journey. And he takes the effort to go where he's supposed to go.

And once he gets there, and he has the camels kneeling down for some water, he prays,

Oh Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show love to my master

Abraham. He's going to take the journey, he is going to pray, and now he is going to express trust in God because he's where God has ordained that he should go, that God has already prepared a place.

Now, it's interesting because he gets very specific in this prayer. Behold, I'm standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.

Okay, this is what's going on, but now he gets very specific. Let the woman to whom

I shall say, please lay your jar down that I may drink. And who will say, drink, and I will water your camels.

This is very specific. So we have a stranger coming into the land, and he is already specifically saying we're here, and the women are coming and going.

Lord, I trust that you're going to encourage me to approach the right woman, the right lady, the right young woman.

And I'm going to ask her, please lay down your jar so that I may drink.

But this woman is not only going to say sure, but she's going to take it one step further, and she's going to say, let me take care of your camels as well.

There is faith, and there is trust, and there is expectation that God is going to give what must be.

Did I get Psalm 121? Yeah. Yeah, please. I look up to the mountains.

I look up to the mountains where he may have an inert.

He will not let you stumble. The one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.

The Lord himself watches over you. The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.

That's probably enough. Okay. The servant is doing what needs to be done.

He is recognizing that God's will is going to be preferred amongst anything else that he could even put together in his own mind, perhaps a shortcut, but he is going to rely on the fact that God's will is preferred.

And when you understand that God's will is preferred, the picture that he says is take action, be in prayer, and trust, and those must take the center stage as God is preparing you to take care of what you need.

So it's not only Abraham praying and being involved, but now it's the servant taking action, praying, and trusting.

And so now we get introduced to Rebecca. 15 to 21. Candy, if you would do that.

And we're going to go to Proverbs 16 .9. Tim, you're going to have that one. It's another one of Jeff's favorites.

But go ahead, please. Genesis 24, 15 to 21. Before he had finished speaking,

Okay, stop. I've got to stop on this one. Did you hear what she just said? Okay, go back to the section before that.

Now here's the servant, and he's going to be saying, and the woman will come, and by this I shall know that you have shown steadfastness.

Before he had finished saying, Rebecca is on the scene. An accident?

No. No, this is God's already placing and leading Rebecca to where she needs to be, his sovereign will.

His sovereign plan is already unfolding. Continue on. 16. The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known.

She went down to the spring and filled her jar. Then the servant ran to meet her and said,

Please, give me a little water to drink. She said, Drink, my lord. And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink.

When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, I will draw water for your camels also until they have finished drinking.

So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and she drew for all his camels.

The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the lord had prospered his journey or not.

I got an answer to that last question. Yeah, you did. So here we now have

Rebecca and can there be no doubt that this was already prepared in advance, that Rebecca was already prepared in advance.

Now, just as a little bonus, she's a babe. She's very attractive.

It doesn't say that? You said there? Yeah, it does. It's in my book. The New Living Translation. Yeah, the

New Living Translation. And she had never been with a man. God had been preparing her for this very moment in time.

And it just so happens that she was born to Bethel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abram's brother.

It just so happens that the right lady has been put together to be presented that would be

Isaac's wife. And that she would show up at just that moment.

I have to look at this. Now, the well would be outside the city. And as it says here, the women come and go.

And they're taking, they're getting water. And so there would be a walk to go out and she has the jug on her shoulder as she's walking out.

And while this is about to happen, the servant and his camels and everybody else, they're coming down the road and they come to the well.

And all this is coming together. And now he starts to pray. While he's praying, she shows up. All of this was set in motion before the prayer.

And so now she shows up. And who is she? She happens to be the right person that God has already selected.

She happens to be prepared as a beautiful young maiden. She happens to be a woman that has never known a man before.

And by the way, she happens to have a servant heart. Yeah, Rick. I think it's interesting that we don't know the name of the servant.

He plays such an important part. And I mean, he's faithful, obedient, et cetera.

And we don't know. There are people we don't know their names. And Noah's wife was not

Joan of Arc. We do not know what her real name was. But she plays a big part. Yeah. There are people that God has playing a huge part in scripture.

And we don't know. We don't know. She was just Noah's wife. Yeah. But you're right.

We don't know who the servant was. But he clearly is a man that understands and prays to Yahweh and has trust in Yahweh.

In this particular case, Rebecca has been prepared by God. And she is responding according to God's will.

She goes to the well at just the right time. The stranger comes up and says, give me a drink. And she says, let me dip and get a drink that you may drink.

And having done that, she says, and let me get some water for your camel as well. How random is that?

And that's exactly the prayer that the servant had had in the section above. Now, if I'm thinking of the servant, and the marching orders he was given were go to the land of my forefathers and find a woman that would come and be the wife for my son.

It's not written that Abraham told him how to do it. He was just told, do it.

He could have gone out and perhaps had a bachelorette party or something, you know, find the one that wins the, no, that's not what he does.

What he does is seeking God because of God's plan. Proverbs 16 and 9. The heart of a man plans his way, but the

Lord establishes his steps. Everything about this episode in this section here of 15 to 21 is

God establishing the steps and putting all the pieces together where they must be.

And I love the fact that even before, before he had even started his prayer,

God put the steps in place to answer that prayer. And because of his prayer, everything that comes to be completely is fulfilled through this episode through the prayer that he played.

Godly women are definitely led by the Lord. Now, 22 to 28, we see blessings.

And Matthew 6 .33, if you would get

Matthew 6 .33 ready for us, please. Give me 22, oh, who's next to read?

Are you ready? Can you read a big passage for me? All right, 22 through 28.

And then Rick, you're gonna go to Matthew 6 .33. Godly women are blessed, 22 to 28.

And it came about, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a gold ring, weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her wrist, weighing ten shekels in gold, and said,

Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room for us to lodge in your father's house?

And she said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Melchizedek, whom she bore to Nahor.

And again she said to him, We have plenty for both straw and feed and room to lodge in.

Then the man bowed low and worshipped the Lord. And he said, Blessed be the

Lord God and my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his lovingkindness and his truth toward my master.

As for me, the Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master's brothers.

Then the girl ran and told her mother's household about these things.

There is blessings abounding in this situation. And it has a lot to do with the fact that the servant is obedient.

Rebecca has been prepared. Rebecca is obedient. So the camels are done drinking.

I've never raised camels. I think they drink a lot of water. They store a lot of water.

So it's not like Rebecca went to the well and dropped and picked up one pail full of water.

I imagine this was a job that she did. And she did it.

When the family, when the camels had finished drinking, By the way, the servant back in verse 10 had taken, verse 11, he took camels and all sorts of choice gifts.

He was already prepared to honor and bless this woman that God was going to bring. So he gives her a gold ring and bracelets and all this other kind of stuff.

And then he asks this important question, Who are you? Now, I find it interesting that he didn't say,

Who are you? And based on that answer, give her the gifts. There seems to be a certain level of confidence in God that he gave her.

And so then he asks her, Who are you? And I don't think this is a test to see if this is the right woman.

This could just as well be a validation to this woman that there is a reason why she's being called.

Or now he has the information to bring back to Abraham. But in any way, please tell me whose daughter you are.

Is there room in your father's house? And now comes the hospitality side.

She says, Yeah, I'm actually a relative of your master. And oh, by the way, we got room.

We got straw. We have a nice king -sized bed with a MyPillow pillow for you to lay on.

By the way, I guess, what's his name? MyPillow guy, right? Mike Lindell.

Mike Lindell. I guess some big box store canceled the order. And so he has all of these

MyPillow pillows, and he's selling for $19 .95. It's commercial. $14 .88

for the standard. $14 .88 for the standard. $14 .88 for the queen. And $1 more for the king.

See, we all know it's over. It's over. See, they just did a

Trump commercial. There is hospitality, and there is willingness to have fellowship.

There doesn't seem to be any concern. This is a stranger. There just seems to be an acknowledgement that this is the right person.

And how does the servant respond? He bows his head, and he prays.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master.

And as for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master's kitten.

Giving credit to God and seeing how God has been orchestrating this union between Isaac and Rebecca.

It's been prayed for and prepared on Abraham's side, and now it's clear on Rebecca's side the house is prepared, and God has had a hand in bringing them together.

Did I have Matthew 6 .33? Seek ye first the kingdom of God, his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

Notice he didn't have to read that. He quoted that one. What comes before that verse?

I don't have to read it. It talks about those seeking after...

I'm sorry, go ahead. These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers. Give me the verse before that then.

So don't worry about these things, saying what will I eat, what will I drink, what will I... God already knows what you need.

And we learn that if you seek his kingdom, that the things that you need will be given unto you.

And in this case, God has honored Abraham, he has honored the servant, and now he has honored

Rebecca's family because all of this is coming together at this point in time.

You see, God has prepared this way. And with God having prepared this way, there are going to be blessings that follow out of it.

Family involvement on Rebecca. And I love this section too because it demonstrates that women are not chattel.

Women are co -equal in the eyes of the Lord with a different role. But women are co -equal in the eyes of the

Lord. 29 to 33, Jeff, if you would do that. Rebecca had a brother whose name was

Laban. Laban ran out toward the man to the spring. 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. Okay, hang on a second. This is so cool.

Have you ever been involved with people and perhaps you've been praying for something to happen?

There was a couple that we knew, a family that we knew many, many years ago at a previous church.

And the guy was part of our men's fellowship. He was on our softball team, but he did not know the Lord.

The wife did. And Ginny had been praying and praying and praying and the church had been praying and praying and praying for Bill to come to know the

Lord. And one day, we're in the vestibule outside the sanctuary.

And Ginny came in and I took one look at her and I said, Bill just accepted the Lord. Because it was written all over her face.

Did you ever see that? Where the expression of somebody is just so there that the reality of what is there because of God's, you know, the glory of God.

So here's Laban, Rebecca's brother. He comes out and he sees his sister and she's got all these jewels on.

And he goes, oh, I know what just happened. Continue on.

He said, come in, oh blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside? For I have 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.

He said, speak on. Even Rebecca's family is going to be involved in this now because, again, the charter was go find the wife for my son

Isaac from my parents' household. Bring her back to me. Do not let him take a wife of the

Canaanites. In fact, don't let my son live there, but go find. So he goes in obedience and then he prays.

He prays very specifically. And while this is all going on, God has already prepared

Rebecca to come. And they meet and a very specific prayer is answered. And she goes running into the house.

And Laban sees her. The young woman ran and told her mother's household. And Rebecca told a brother.

His name was Laban. And he says, I saw a ring. I saw the bracelets. What's up, dude?

I know what you're all about. Thus the man spoke to me.

He went to the man. And behold, standing, he said, come in. O blessed of the Lord, why do you stand outside?

For I have prepared a house and a place for your camels. The family was even involved in these preparations.

It wasn't just Rebecca. It wasn't just Abraham. It wasn't just the servant. The house of Rebecca has already been prepared for this to happen.

And so the brother goes out and he sees the servant. And he says, come in, O blessed of the

Lord. Now, I didn't dive too deep into this. But what do we know about Abram's family?

They were idolaters. They were not Yahweh worshipers.

And God calls Abram out from that into the land of Canaan. His family, his heritage were not

Yahweh worshipers. But in this case, in this case, the family of Rebecca is given the grace and the vision to know that this was something from God.

This is something special from God. And he says, come in,

O blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared. That's past tense.

I have already been anticipating your coming. I have prepared a place for the camels.

And so the man came in and he took care of the camels and he washed the man's feet and those who were with him and set food before him.

But he said, I will not eat until I have said what I have to say. And he said, speak on.

There has got to be a communication and all this hospitality and all this caring is beautiful stuff.

How did it happen so quickly? It happened incredibly quickly, which is why I say that God has already been doing this while the servant was on the way.

Yeah, because he just arrived and everything's ready. There you go. This is the sovereignty of God.

Was all this by accident? Clearly not. How much of this is the result of the fact that I think that Abraham has been praying for Isaac?

And I don't think it's too big of a stretch for me to say that this family has some knowledge of Yahweh and they've been preparing in prayer for the right man for their daughter,

Rebecca. I see family involvement in a godly bringing together of a young man.

That's why you pray for your children. That's exactly it. That's exactly right. That's why you pray for your children.

Nice. It wasn't because she was a beauty queen, was it? Did you guys know that?

His wife was a beauty queen? I think if you know her. She still is. You can see that there is some more depth.

I know that. And I say that only half in jest. Yeah, God definitely brought a beautiful woman for you.

Just to know that God can be involved in establishing. There is hospitality.

There's love. There's all this stuff in here. What confirmation is there? What more confirmation can you have that God has taken care and prepared the way?

We now go to 34 to 39. Barbara, are you next? 39? 34 to 49.

And we're going to skip part of it because it is going to be a repeat. But start at 34.

So he said, I am Abraham's sister, servant. Not sister for sure.

No. The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, and cattle and donkeys.

My master's wife, Sarah, has born him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.

And my master made me swear an oath and said, you must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the

Canaanites in whose land I live, but go to my father's family and to my own clan and get a wife for my son.

Then I asked my master, what if the woman will not come back with me? He replied, the

Lord, before whom I have walked, will send this angel with you and make your journey a success so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father's family.

Okay, now stop. What's going to happen now is he's going to repeat everything pretty much that we've read, almost verbatim.

And if we take this down to, say, start at verse 48.

And read 48 and then 49. And I bow down and worship the

Lord. I praise the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son.

And then 49 is now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me, and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.

Now, what's going to happen here now is the servant, this is already seemingly coming to place.

The events that are occurring and occurring in a special way, there's clear evidence to it.

But notice that the servant is submitting to the authority of Rebecca's family.

And this is in God's economy too. There are scriptures that talk about Ephesians 6, 1 to 3, obey your parents, honor your father and mother.

There are scriptures that talk about a father's responsibility to have spiritual authority, spiritual teaching over his children.

There are scriptures that talk about the familial relationship. But the picture of somebody who has perhaps been courting, is dating, has desires for, in this case, it's through a servant that a daughter's hand would be given in marriage is submitted to the authority of the father and of the family.

And I think this is scriptural and I think it's a good picture for our young people to understand to have that as well.

Abraham's design was accepted by Abraham's servant and he goes and he talks.

First of all, he worships and blesses the Lord after recounting everything that had happened so that the family is fully apprised of who he is, how he got here, what has led him to this decision.

And then he bows his head, and I think in front of her family and worships the

Lord and blesses the Lord and has led me to the daughter of masters, can now tell me if it's okay with you.

He is not presuming anything. He is following after biblical structure of the family and in this case,

Rebecca's family. Honored, obey your father and your mother. Carol, I think you've got, please, 50 to 61.

Bring in Rebecca. Then Laban and Betheol replied, the

Lord has obviously brought you here, so what can we say? Here is Rebecca, take her and go.

Yes, let her be the wife of your master's son as the Lord has directed. At this reply,

Abraham's servants, then he brought out silver and gold.

He also gave valuable presents to her mother and brother. Then they had supper, and the servant and the men with them stayed there overnight.

But early the next morning, he said, send me back, my master, but we want Rebecca to stay at least 10 days, her father and mother said.

Then she can go. But he said, don't hinder my return. The Lord has made my mission successful, and I want to report back to my master.

Okay, stop right there. So the interchange at this point in time is one of respect, obedience, and anticipation that God has already ordained this union.

So Laban and Betheol answer, this thing has come from the Lord. We can't speak to you good or bad.

Rebecca is before you. We need to see what she has to say. Abraham's servant heard the word, and Rebecca comes.

They give her more ornaments. The men who were with them ate and drank. And he said, send me away to my master.

So now he wants to give this good news back to Abraham. And there is this conversation, well, let her stay 10 more days, and after that, she should go.

It started at 56. 56. But he said, don't hinder my return. The Lord has made my mission successful, and I want to report what she thinks.

Wow. Isn't that beautiful? That was nice.

This seems to be ordained by God. Everybody in agreement? Everybody in agreement? This seems to be ordained by God.

But let's ask Rebecca. See, in God's economy, men and women are created equal.

Women are not just chattel to be taken and given away. Women are people.

Now, there are different roles within the marriage, but I love this, and it says, let's call the woman and ask her.

Go ahead. Well, they said, we'll call Rebecca. So they called

Rebecca. Are you going to answer her? And she replied, yes, I will go.

So they said goodbye to Rebecca and sent her away with Abraham's servant and his men.

The woman, who had been Rebecca's childhood nurse, went along with her, and they blessed her with this blessing as they parted.

Our sister, may you become the mother of many millions. May your descendants overcome all.

Then Rebecca and her servants mounted the camels and left with Abraham's servant. Meanwhile, Isaac...

Okay, let's stop there. So the parents, the father, her family, they give assent.

This is the proper and the orderly way that it should go. Yet they are going to stop before this train leaves the station and make sure that this is

Rebecca's desire as well. See, I think Rebecca has been preparing Abraham, he's been preparing the servant, he's been preparing

Rebecca for the response, the family for the interchange, and now he's preparing

Rebecca's heart to say, yes, I am willing to leave my family, my home, and become the wife of another man.

The blessings are given. May you become the mother... That's a lot of kids. I think it's offspring and generations to come,

I hope. May your offspring possess the gates of those who... This is almost a repeat of Genesis 12, 1 to 3.

The blessings that God gives to Abraham, you will be the father of many nations and many of those promises.

And then Rebecca and her young woman rode with the camels and followed the man and on their way.

And now we get into the beautiful culmination of this story that is told.

Candy, give me a 62 to the end. Then Rebecca came and was dwelling in the nigget.

And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming.

And when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel and said to the servant, who is that man walking in the field to meet us?

The servant said, it is my master. So she took her veil and covered herself.

And the servant told Isaac all these 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.

I love this picture. If I go back to Genesis 2, 18 to 22,

God said, it is not good for man to be alone and he brings all of the animals of the kingdom, but there was no suitable helpmate to be found.

So God puts a deep sleep on Adam, takes a rib, and from rib he forms woman.

And when Adam wakes up, he brings them together. God brings the husband and the wife together.

And how has this story culminated? With Isaac out in the field and Rebecca coming in on the camels.

Again, they just happened to be at the same place at the same time. And the introduction of Isaac and Rebecca is one of the most beautiful culminations of a love story, of a

God's sovereignty story. And this marriage is established in love and in comfort.

It says that he loved her for the rest of his life and was comforted in his mother's death.

This is God's design. Okay, women, the world is going to encourage you to be all that you want to be.

You can bring home the bacon, you can fry it up in the pan. The world is going to encourage women to be all of that, but I'm telling you that God has a better plan, a sovereign plan.

He wants you to be with a husband and wife together in perfect union.

That's his design. Men, you need to be seeking after a godly woman. Not the most attractive one, definitely not one you're just going to find in a bar.

Find a godly woman. Women, seek after a godly man. Don't settle for less.

Proverbs 19, 14, house and wealth are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is a gift from God.

Jeff, close us in prayer. Father, thank you so much for this word today, and we want to thank you for all of the marriages that you have given.

Represented in this room and those listening online, Lord, we want to thank you for spouses. It's just as divine that you made the arrangements for us as you did for Isaac and Rebecca.

We thank you for your providence, and we pray a blessing on the marriages. Lord, we also pray again that you would create more stories like this right out of this church,

God. We give you all the praise and all the glory. We thank you for all of the words you've given us today.

In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you. Bring home the bacon fried in the pan.