God's Unstoppable Will Genesis 24:52-67

The Will of God in Abraham’s Search for Isaac’s Wife

Genesis 24 is the longest chapter in Genesis. We spent some time in it over the past four weeks. It's 67 verses. And today is the fourth Sunday we are going to dive into the story of Abraham's servant finding Isaac's future wife.

The dominant theme we have seen during this chapter is the will of God. This chapter has been very applicable in helping us understand how to discern the will of God for our own lives. What we have seen is that Abraham carefully thought through a plan to find a wife for Isaac.

We could say with confidence that he he did discern the will of God because he did not send his servant to the wicked Canaanites or somewhere else, but rather sent him to the region of Haran and Nahor where his brothers were from.

His desire to have his son marry an extended relative was the right move and we have seen the Lord bless his plan the last four Sundays. We have learned that as we discern the will of God most of our decisions are made up for us.

The Bible tells us how to live a pleasing life to him. However, the Bible does not give us a clear answer for some of the decisions that we have to make in our life. Sometimes we have multiple paths that we could take and none of them are sinful.

But the Lord does have a path he wants us to take and so we must follow the example of Abraham and the example of his servant by gathering information and asking the Lord for help in prayer. And that's what we must do.

The Bible tells us also to seek wise counselors in Proverbs 15 -22 when we aim to discern which path to take. And as we look closely and close out this chapter today we are going to see through a window the great future the Lord has for Rebecca.

The Lord has great plans for his people. That's why I've titled the sermon this morning, The Best Path Possible. I encourage you to turn with me in a Bible to Genesis 24. If you're using a red Bible and the pews is on page 22 we're going to be looking at verses 52 through 67.

And our big idea, our proposition, is the Lord has you alive for a very specific purpose. The Lord has you alive for a very specific purpose. And we're going to see three observations that I've pulled out here from this text and the first observation about the very specific purpose the Lord has for you is to be mission minded.

To be mission minded. And we'll see this in verses 52 through the first half of verse 54. But before I jump in to our sermon today, I'm going to give a little recap of last week's sermon. We looked at the continued topic of God's will in this narrative of the search for Isaac's future wife.

The Lord led Abraham's servant to Rebecca and he had a good feeling that she was the one for Isaac. Once Abraham's servant met Rebecca's family, he received further confirmation that she was Isaac's future wife.

After Abraham's servant explained everything to Rebecca's family, they told him that we cannot stand in the way of this. If this is God's will, who are we to stop it? The application was clear for us.

The first application was that when we go down the right path, we will receive further confirmation that this path is indeed the right path. The second application was that nothing can stand in the way of God's will for the believer.

This is greatly encouraging to us because God works everything for the good of the believer. Today we are going to see Rebecca leave her home and meet her husband Isaac for the first time and we are going to see the Lord has a very specific purpose for her life.

Now in verse 52, Abraham's servant knows officially that she is the one. When Abraham's servant heard their words, the words of her family, he bowed himself to the earth before the Lord. So he hears the words of approval saying, you take her.

We're not going to stand in the way of God's will. This whole time the servant has been giving praise to the Lord as he has received more and more confirmation that this is indeed the wife for Isaac. In verse 26, he is described as bowing his head and worshiping the Lord.

And in verse 27, he said, blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master's kinsmen.

Now in verse 52, when the servant heard the response from Rebecca's family, he worshiped the Lord again. The servant knows officially that she is the one and he is overjoyed in gratefulness to the Lord.

In the beginning of verse 53, the servant blesses Rebecca again also. And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold and garments and gave them to Rebecca. In verse 22, after it appeared that the Lord had led him to Isaac's future wife, he gave her jewelry then.

In that verse, it said that he gave her a gold ring, which we find out in verse 47 was for her nose. So that tells me nose rings are nothing new here. This was a long time ago. And he also gave two bracelets for her arms.

Now in verse 53, he gives her much more. The verse says that he gave her jewelry of silver and gold and he also gave her garments. Not only did he bless Rebecca, but he also blesses her family for the kindness they have shown him.

In the second half of verse 53, as it says here, he also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments. What we see here again is the wealth of Abraham. Throughout Genesis, we have seen the Lord greatly bless Abraham, not only spiritually by making him all these wonderful promises to him and his offspring, but he's also blessed him materially.

Abraham was a prominent man in this region who had plenty of resources. The servant gives these resources to bless Abraham's future daughter-in-law and her family. Now what we saw last week was that Abraham's servant and the men who were with him would not eat the meal offered by Laban until he explained why he was there.

He needed to explain to Laban the mission they were on. So he was mission minded. And once he explained to Laban and the household that the Lord had led him to Rebecca, now they could eat. And this is what happens in the first half of verse 54.

And he and the men who were with him ate and drank and they spent the night there. But they didn't do this until they accomplished their mission of making sure that she was the one for Isaac. And this would have been a joyous meal knowing that their mission was not a waste of time.

The Lord had blessed it from the start. What you find when you are following the Lord's will for your life and you know it, there's a great joy that accompanies you. The thought of knowing that you are fulfilling the mission of why you exist.

God keeps you alive until his plans with you are done. He sustains you through life by giving you food, drink, shelter, clothing, family, friends, and most importantly his word to help sustain you through life.

He has a mission for each Christian to accomplish and until you are done with that mission you will be here. But once you fulfill the purpose that he has for you in this life, he will take you. There's a man by the name of Henry Martin who follows in the line of the Puritan tradition.

He once said, the Christian is immortal until God is done with you. So you're not going to just die in an accident unless God's done with you. Because if that happens that means your time is done. But you are immortal until his plan for you is over.

And I encourage you to think of your life as a mission that you need to accomplish because that is what it is. It may not be glamorous in the world's eyes. The Lord's plan for you may not be extravagant by appearances and most of the time it's not.

His mission for you may be to be as simple as he desires for you to be a faithful member of Eureka Baptist, growing here and blessing others. While you also serve him in this community as a light for Christ in the workplace and through your interaction with the people.

It may not seem glamorous to the world but it's a very important mission. Your life is more important than a Hollywood movie star who does not know God. Do you realize that? And the world will laugh at that but they're wrong.

You must understand that your mission is a small part of the most important mission there is. God's big plans for this world. God has this master plan and he makes you a part of it. How kind is he to us?

Not just to do everything for us but actually say no I'm gonna send you out to be mission minded to be a part of my big mission of bringing this world to a close. This wicked world and establishing a new one that you get to be a part of.

The mission is to know God more yourself and to lead others to know him as well. That everyone can share in his glory together forever. Abraham's servant was on a mission and he knew it. And he and the men with him did not eat till they explained why they were there.

Now we see in these verses that the mission was completed and they ate and they were able to finally rest. You are on a mission and your mission will not be completed till you pass from this life or the Lord returns.

Whichever one comes first. But his plan is for you to be mission minded while you're here. So the Lord has you alive for a very specific purpose. The first observation in this text is to be mission minded.

That's your purpose. The Lord has a very has you alive for a very specific purpose and the second observation that we'll see in verses 54 B through 58 is to take wise risks as he leads you. To take wise risks as he leads you.

After the servant and the men with him finished eating they were ready to complete their mission by taking Rebecca and heading back to Canaan to introduce her to Isaac. So they spent the night and the next morning they were ready to start the journey home.

But we will see that they meet some resistance at the end of verse 54 and verse 55. When they arose in the morning he said send me away to my master. So Abraham's servant is saying this to Rebecca's family.

Verse 55 her brother and her mother said let the young woman remain with us a while at least 10 days. After that she may go. So Abraham's servant wants to take Rebecca and leave right then. But Rebecca's brother Laban and her mother asked if she could stay 10 days before she goes.

We can understand how difficult this would have been for the family. They know this is the Lord's will. They said that already. So they do not want to stand in the way of Rebecca leaving. But she is family and they don't want her just to leave right then.

They want kind of a sending away period. I don't need to tell you this but these are days way before technology came on the scene. They are not sure if they'll see her again. This could be the last time they ever see her.

But Abraham's servant pushes back in verse 56. But he said to them do not delay me since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master. Abraham's servant insists that she leave with them right there.

The servant is on a mission that he desires to complete. And while it would have been kind to let her stay 10 days he makes clear that the importance of the mission requires that they leave right then.

A delay would mean the mission has yet to be accomplished. He is determined to deliver Rebecca to Isaac. And he may be concerned here that maybe if she stays 10 days they might change their mind. That's a possibility.

He says no we need to go now. And what happens here, we'll see in verse 58, is that the family leaves it up to Rebecca. So they put it in her court and say essentially they say what do you want to do?

So verse 58. And they called Rebecca and said to her will you go with this man? And what she says is, this is very important, I will go. The Hebrew verb used in Rebecca's reply expresses a strong desire for her to go to start this new life.

Through this whole process of Abraham's servant zeroing in on her and explaining to her how the Lord led him to persuade Rebecca that this is God's calling on her life. She knows that this is, she's been persuaded.

She knows that this is what she needs to do. She knows that this is the Lord's will for her life. And by being willing to go right then without delay she makes clear that she's all in. If she wanted to stay 10 days with her family it may have indicated that she was torn.

But she makes clear that this is what I'm supposed to do and I'm gonna go right now. I'm gonna follow the wishes of Abraham's servant and not the wishes of my family because we must start this journey.

We've had many missionaries come over the last summer. I think we had four different missionary families step into this church and show their ministry to us. Two of them we already support and two of them we we just began to support.

And being a missionary it's an interesting life because what missionaries are doing is that they're giving up everything they know to go to a place they've never been before. They're from, the missionaries we've seen, they're from Minnesota, they're from Wisconsin, and they're giving up their comforts.

They're willing to take a risk to do something that they don't know how it's gonna turn out. I mean for all they know they could fall flat on their face in this new land. It's a big risk that they're taking.

But the Lord makes them in a certain way and persuades them to say, you know what, this is what I need to do. And if I don't do this, then I'm not fulfilling the purpose that God has for my life. And I can't live with that.

Okay, so this is a joyful obedience here. It's like, okay, I want to go because I want to be obedient to the Lord. I know it's gonna be scary. I know it's gonna be a risk, but we're gonna do it. And so we've seen missionary families in our church do that.

It is a big risk to go to the mission field, but God loves it when his people take risks for his cause in the world. The cause of making disciples of Jesus Christ everywhere, including where there are few Christians.

No one in this room may ever go to the mission field, but the Lord still expects you to take risks for him. He does. He expects you to take risks even in the small things. If you're faithful in the little things, you'll be faithful in the big things, right?

When you share the gospel with an unbeliever, what you are saying is, I love this person more than I fear him or her. As the scripture says, perfect love casts out fear. The reason we are afraid to share Christ with the people is because we are concerned about what they will think of us.

To share the gospel is a risk. The Lord expects us to take. I was going for a run with an athlete at St. Croix Falls, and we were running alone, and I'm thinking, this might be a good opportunity to talk about Jesus with him.

If this isn't the opportunity, I don't know when it is. I actually prayed for an open door, and I'm like, the Lord's telling me, Seth, this is the open door. You're running with him alone. And so I figured I'd ask him some questions, and before we knew it, we were talking about Christ.

And I was able to kind of get his background, his religious background, and I don't know what was accomplished from the conversation, but I was able to talk about the cross and how we need Christ to be reconciled with God, and it seemed to resonate with him.

At the very least, it's a planted seed, and I trust the Lord may use this in this young man's life. But I could get fired for doing that. They might not want me around the school anymore. They might say, you know what, you're proselytizing, and that's not a popular thing to do in this day and age, right?

But we need to use wisdom and say, the Lord does want us to speak about him, even in a dangerous place. We need to use proper wisdom, right? We don't want to just maybe go down the hallways and start saying Roman's Road.

That's probably not the wisest thing to do, but just get to know people, develop a relationship, build trust with them, and then that's when you can have a conversation with someone about Christ. Another way you take risks is by giving financially to the Lord's work.

When you give, what you are saying is, Lord, I trust you to take care of me. You are acknowledging that he owns everything you have. He owns you. He's your creator, and he owns your life once you gave it over to him.

And you are showing that he's everything to you, so giving to the Lord and his work is a risk. Not just giving financially, but giving of yourself to him is a risk. Because when you come to Christ, right, you're giving yourself completely over to him, and by giving yourself to God, you are saying that you belong to him.

And you will live your life for him, and not for selfish desires. And he stretches you, making you who he wants you to be. Right, 2nd Corinthians, I think it's like Corinthians 5, or it's either 2 or 5, I can't remember which chapter, but it says that the love of Christ compels us because we no longer live for ourselves, but for him.

God owns you in your life, and it's a risk, right, to give up all your selfish desires to go after and live your life for him. And not only do you give yourself to God, but you give yourself to other people as well.

Going to a small church like this is a risk. I'm persuaded that one of the reasons some churches get so big is because people, they like the idea of just sneaking in and sneaking out. It's convenient, right, it's comfortable, right?

When you come here, it's a risk. In a small church, you give yourself to the other people here. When someone's going through a hard time, fellow church members are to be there to lift that person up, right?

And it causes you to have to stop focusing about your own life and say, I'm gonna think about someone else's life. The church is an environment of giving and receiving. You give of yourself, which is a blessing, but you also receive the blessing of others giving to you as well.

But to put yourself in this environment is a risk. What you find is tremendous blessings that come from it. It certainly does stretch you, but it's so much better for you. This is how God desires for his churches to be, and we all work together, giving to one another with the goal of growing in Christ together.

It just depends, how much do you want it? How much do you want, how deep do you want to go with the Lord? Because you can take the easy way out, right, and try to live as comfortable a life as possible and say you're following the Lord, when the truth is, you might, it's like Peter following Christ from a distance, right?

We don't want to do that. We want to be closely walking with him, and it takes a risk to be a part of an environment like this, to follow after him. And Jesus said, you must take up your cross and follow him daily.

It's a risk to leave the comfort of your sin to follow after him, but in the process you save your life, and you find that there is, that this is where true joy is. Jesus said that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

This means that following the Lord is a burden as you submit to his lordship, but it is a joyful burden because you get more joy being in a relationship with the Lord and going on a journey with him than any other path you could take in life.

Like I said, it's the best path possible. Rebecca is a risk taker. She's willing to go with Abraham's servant to marry a man whom she has never met, because she knows this is the Lord's will. She knows that this may be a difficult path, but she knows this is the only path she wants.

This is the joyful path. We must follow her example in this. I was talking to a friend this week who's a fellow pastor, and he said sometimes in pastoral ministry you have those days where you're like, I should be doing something else.

To be honest, sometimes you have those days where they come up, and he said, if I was doing anything else, I'd be miserable. This is why I exist. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. This is where the most joy is, and I feel the same way.

And I hope you see that in your life as well, where God has called you. We should be willing to take risks for the Lord as he leads us on this journey of following him. Risk-taking is the will that he has for his people.

The Lord has you alive for a very specific purpose, and the second observation we've seen in this text is to take wise risks as he leads you. The third observation that we'll see in this text, and we'll zero in on this in verses 59 and 60, is to understand the significance of your path.

To understand the significance of your path. Rebecca takes a risk to go on a journey that would blow her away. Her life is about to have so much more significance than she could have ever imagined. We will see this important idea brought out in our third point.

After Rebecca tells her family that she will go with Abraham's servant immediately, they are about to begin the journey home from the area of Haran to what became Abraham's new home, the land of Canaan.

But before Rebecca's family sends her away, they give her a blessing that gives a peek into her bright future. So we see some prophecy taking place here, and we see this in verses 59 and 60. So they sent away Rebecca, their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men, and they blessed Rebecca and said to her, our sister, may you become thousands of ten-thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him.

The blessing that Rebecca's family gives her is very important for us to see. We see the providence of God in both statements. The Lord already told Abraham numerous times that he would have offspring as many as the stars in the heavens and the sand on the seashore.

This is how Rebecca's family blesses her before she goes. They tell her, may you become thousands of ten-thousands. What they say matches what the Lord already promised to Abraham. We know that this blessing would come true.

A whole nation would come from Isaac and Rebecca, the nation of Israel. Secondly, they bless Sarah by stating their desire that her offspring would possess the gate of those who hate him. This statement may sound familiar to you, since the Lord told Abraham in Genesis 22 17 that his offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies.

This declaration made by God to Abraham and Rebecca's family to her is almost identical. What we learned when we looked at this verse in chapter 22 a while back was the magnitude of this future prediction.

The word offspring in Hebrew can be used as a singular or a plural. It's used both ways in Genesis 22 17. In that verse, the promise of many offspring is mentioned first. It's mentioned plural, but secondly, the promise that the offspring would conquer his enemies is second.

That verse says his enemies, not their enemies in the Hebrew, signaling that the offspring who shall possess the gate of his enemies is one man. In verse 60 in our text today, we see the same pattern.

The blessing of many offspring is mentioned. Then the offspring possessing the gate of his enemies follows. And if the same pattern is followed, which I believe it is, then this offspring who will have the gate of his enemies is one man.

We know who this one man is. The Old Testament points to the most significant man in the Bible. And that, of course, is the God-man, Jesus Christ. What scripture shows is that God established a chosen line that brings blessing to the whole world.

From this chosen line comes Jesus Christ. This line that started with Seth in Genesis 5 goes all the way to Jesus. Remember that Genesis 3 15, which is such an important verse in Genesis, Genesis 3 15 said that he, singular, shall bruise the head of the serpent who is Satan.

The offspring of Genesis 3 15 has Jesus chiefly in mind. He is the one who brings salvation to the world and defeats Satan. And all those united to Jesus defeat him as well. In that way, he possesses the gate of his enemies.

So we see here a clear reference to Jesus Christ in this mention here at the end of verse 60. And what we see is this theme of a specific offspring, a conquering king, who will defeat his enemies and everyone allied with him is victorious as well.

So you, as a follower of Jesus Christ, are victorious because you're allied with him. The chief enemy of God's people is Satan. Everyone who does not follow God is on Satan's team. That's why the world is so opposed to Christians.

You ever wonder why they hate us so much? What do we do to you? We're good neighbors. We help you. We share the gospel with you. We don't want you to go to hell. And they hate us. It's because Satan is behind their deeds.

The Apostle John said in 1 John 5 19, he wrote that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. This offspring, Jesus Christ, is the one who defeated Satan at the cross and through his resurrection.

In the future, he will officially defeat the devil when he's thrown into the lake of fire in Revelation 20 10. Rebecca is involved in this because the Christ eventually comes from her line. This is the life that Rebecca is signing up for.

This is what I'm honing in on in this third point. This is going to be Rebecca's legacy. The Savior of the world is coming from her line. And if she stays in Haran and says, I don't want to go, how pathetic her life is going to be compared to what it could have been.

What a legacy it would be for Rebecca. And this is how it is for you also as a follower of Jesus Christ. When you follow Jesus, you are signing up for bigger and better things. Your life is not stale and boring anymore.

You have a reason to get out of bed in the morning. So many people don't. And I know there are some brain issues that can lead to depression where people just they tend to be more prone to depression than others.

I think many people are depressed because they don't have a relationship with Christ. And they go to a doctor thinking there's going to be some magic pill that's also going to make them happy when all they need is Jesus.

That's the cure right there. What gets you out of bed in the morning? You are a part of the greatest cause and the greatest mission in the history of the world. Every day is a spiritual battle. There's so much we cannot see.

We are surrounded by angels and demons every day and most of the time we don't even know it. The Lord's presence is with us and He is very interested in what is happening at Eureka Baptist Church. He's very interested in what is happening in your life.

He's with you every day. He cares about the details of your life. He cares about the path you take and He directs you. He has a path He wants you to take through all the decisions of your life. And this is the life you signed up for when you become a follower of Jesus Christ.

Heaven is in the balance and hell is in the balance. There's so much on the line and you are on the winning side. And so you have enemies that are opposed to you because they want to defeat you. Every day you live for Christ.

You are shining His light in a dark world. You are His instrument to accomplish His purposes in this community. And one of the ways God accomplishes His purposes in this world is through His people. That's you if you belong to Christ.

People come to faith in Christ through your ministry. Think about that. People grow in the faith because of your influence. When you are obedient to God you frustrate Satan's plans. This is the life you're signing up for when you submit yourself completely to God.

When you became a Christian. You might not have even known all this when you became a Christian. You might have just known I'm a sinner. I need a Savior. And that's good. But once you enter the Christian faith and you start walking with them you realize okay I signed up for something big here.

Think of how important your life is. Your mission. We need to be reminded of this because sometimes our life can feel so mundane. Rebecca risked it all by going on this uncertain journey. And look at the legacy she would leave.

The nation of Israel would come from her. They were the vehicle through which God accomplished His purposes during the Old Testament period of world history. Most importantly the only hope for the world.

The only Savior Jesus Christ would come from her and Isaac eventually. She risked it all. And look at what a legacy she would leave. And so it is with you as you follow Christ. Your life is more important than you could ever imagine.

I just want you to understand that. The Lord has you alive for a very specific purpose. And the third observation is to understand the significance of your path. I'm going to close this morning by reading the first encounter between Rebecca and Isaac as we wrap up this chapter.

So this will put a period on this chapter we've been in for four weeks. And so here we go. Then Rebecca and her young women arose and rode on the camels and followed the man. Thus the servant took Rebecca and went his way.

Now Isaac had returned from Bir Lahairoi and was dwelling in the Negev. 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 Rebecca lifted up her eyes 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 the things that he had done. That 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.

So that wraps up this big narrative on how these two met and how God orchestrated all of this. He cares about the details of your life. Can't you see that? So they meet and we see God's will incredibly come together.

And we should we should take great comfort in knowing that the Lord guides all the details of our lives for his glory and for our good. Now next week as I mentioned at the beginning of the service today I'm going to take a break from Genesis and preach on the importance of the office of eldership in the church as we as we make this proposal to the congregation about moving to a plurality of elders.

And as I mentioned we're going to we're hoping to establish this office Lord willing on the third Sunday of October. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to explain to you why I think the Lord is lead is leading us down this path and show you the wisdom of many elders shepherding the flock in the church.

And what we're going to do is we're going to have all the time for during that period of two weeks we'll have time for questions time for prayer. And because we don't want we want everyone to understand what's happening as we move this forward.

So let's pray as we close here. Father in heaven we thank you for your word. Lord I wouldn't have anything to say if it wasn't for the Bible. But because of the Bible I have a lot to say and I'm grateful Lord for those who've come to hear what you have to say to us because there is much here to see.

And we should draw great encouragement Lord from this chapter seeing your will show up so clearly in the lives of your people. You plan this from eternity past that Isaac and Rebecca would meet that they would have offspring that eventually the savior of the world Jesus would come from them and we would all have a hope to be rescued from our hopeless position when we come into this world.

So we give you praise Lord for your wisdom in your plans for your power in bringing it about and how blessed we are Lord to be your children just as they were. So Lord encourage us with the word today in Jesus name.

Amen.