This post is based on Genesis 24v29-67 and is best understood by reading said passage first.
Scripture is the most compelling, beautiful, and valuable piece of literature in the history of literature precisely because it is more than just a piece of literature. It is a book in which every word has been breathed out from the mouth of God Himself, the God of Heaven and of Earth. It is not just a book that accounts for history, tells spiritual truths, or simply documents the lives of the prophets and of Jesus. Scripture is God’s revelation to mankind. That means that the Bible is the book in which God has revealed and made known the truth about Himself, us, and our world. It tells us what God has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. It tells us where we come from, who we are, and what happens to us.
This is one of the big themes that begins in Genesis and runs throughout the entirety of Scripture, that God is making a particular kingdom, out of a particular people, through a particular person, Jesus Christ. When we consider Genesis 24, we see that it fits into this overall theme of God making a particular kingdom, out of a particular people, through a particular person. “Ok,” you might ask, “how does Abraham’s servant finding a wife for Isaac fit into that theme?” If we step back, or zoom out from the passage, we see it clearly – in order for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, to make a great nation out of him, his son Isaac would of course have to be married in order to continue on the line of Abraham’s offspring. And it is through God’s promise to Abraham that God would fulfill His Genesis 3v15 promise that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. For from the great nation that would come from Abraham, the ultimate promised seed would come, Jesus Christ, and would crush the head of the serpent and a greater nation would be made in Him.
Genesis 24 not only fits into that, but it is a crucially important step in the process of the history of redemption.
In one sense Scripture is like a map. If you’re looking at your map you see all the big themes, the 7 continents, the oceans, the north and south pole, etc. But what happens when you zoom in on a certain country, then you zoom in on a certain city, then to a certain street, and then to a certain building? What you were looking at from a zoomed out perspective hasn’t changed. The same building, street, and city were there at the zoomed out perspective. The substance hasn’t changed, but your perspective has.
It is similar when we look at Scripture. Zoomed out we see the big theme of what God is doing, and the major movements. But when we zoom in a particular book, chapter, or verse we begin to see all the little details that make up the big story and theme of Scripture. And of course, both perspectives are beneficial and important for different reasons. (I’m not pitting these perspectives against one another; but I want you to see how rich and full of detail Scripture is, and yet all the minute details and nuances come together and form a coherent beautiful picture).
From an elevated perspective we certainly can’t help but see God’s hand sovereignly moving big things together to fit his plan. But when we zoom in, we don’t find that God is too busy with the big things, as some might incorrectly suggest, but that He is there in the details, working every one of them out according to his will. God works out all the little things that make up all the big things. As we zoom in on Genesis 24, we will properly understand it by understanding the zoomed out view. Understanding how it fits into the big theme of what God is doing, helps us glean rich diamonds and gold nuggets in the nitty gritty details of Genesis 24.
Zoomed In
When we zoom in on certain passages of Scripture we can learn many principles by which we govern and order our lives, and many things that we learn about God. The Bible is a dynamic book, and so along with those things, zooming in helps us see Jesus in tons of little ways that point to him, foreshadow him, and tell of him. We will see all of these things today as we exit off the highway into Genesis 24 and spend some time there.
Principles of Service
In Genesis 24, after meeting Rebekah and God showing her to him, Abraham’s servant is brought to dinner with Rebekah’s family. There he of course tells her family who he is and what he has come to do, and asks if they will allow Rebekah to go with him.
While this servant may be an insignificant figure in the grand scheme of things, as we zoom in on him there is quite a bit that we can learn from him about what it means to be a servant, particularly a servant of Jesus Christ, as all who follow Christ are. This servant of Abraham is a teacher to us about what it means to be a servant.
An Urgency to the Message
After the servant is invited in for dinner, water is put out to wash his feet, and then verse 33 says, “Then food was set before him to eat. But he said, ‘I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.’”
There was such an urgency to the message that this servant had, that he would not eat until he said what he had to say. I’m sure this servant was extremely hungry, as he just made a quite a long journey to this place, yet he would not satisfy his own hunger until he said what he had to say. He refused to indulge himself on the desires of his flesh, lest he forget his entire purpose for being there. What he had to say he considered as more important than food and the desire to eat. He made his own needs and desires subservient to that of the mission his master Abraham gave him to do.
As servants of Jesus Christ we must recognize that there is a certain urgency to the message that we have been given to tell. Our message is of course the gospel of Jesus Christ, that the wrath of God is coming upon sinners, but He has provided a way of escape through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. This is our message, and there is an urgency to it. There are thousands of people dying every single day that enter into an eternity in hell. This is the most urgent message on the face of the planet.
So often we don’t treat the gospel message as urgent. We’re hesitant to share the gospel. We think that there will be more time later, or a better time will come later. We would rather just indulge our fleshly desires. We would rather just enjoy the things of this world, and save our gospel for another more convenient time.
We must recognize that our message is more important than our physical wants or even needs. We need to be servants of Jesus who refuse to eat until we have said what we have to say, so to speak. There is nothing more urgent than the gospel message.
An Immediacy to Obedience
Along the same lines, we see that not only was there an urgency to the message, but there was an immediacy to obedience for the servant. This is the whole reason Abraham sent him, to find a wife for Isaac, not to eat dinner, or have a good time. So the servant recognizes, “I must obey immediately. Obedience to my master is the first thing I must do, before I do anything else.” We see this immediacy to obedience come up again in verse 56. They wake up the next morning, and Rebekah’s family is sort of having second thoughts about everything, but in verse 56 the servant says, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.”
We must not delay in our obedience to God. We must obey at once. Obeying immediately, is precisely what it means to obey. Do not put off tomorrow what you can do today.
I can’t imagine how frustrating it is as a parent to tell your kid to do something and you come back 20 minutes later and they haven’t done it, and they tell you that they were going to do it. Obedience means obeying immediately. Who are we to delay our obedience to the God of Heaven and Earth? Who are we to tell him that we will obey eventually?
In Luke chapter 9, Jesus tells a man to follow him. Luke 9, starting in verse 59, “To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Yet another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’”
We know that Jesus wasn’t just being a jerk here. It’s been said that the man who wanted to bury his father wasn’t meaning that his father had just died and he wanted to go to the funeral and Jesus wouldn’t let him. But rather, he wanted to wait to follow after Jesus until his father died, so that he could receive his inheritance and then follow after Jesus. So Jesus was not being a jerk, he was instead revealing the reality of disobedience in these men’s hearts. He was revealing the fact that delayed obedience is disobedience.
“Today is the day of Salvation!” “Behold, I am coming quickly!” “Repent and believe for the kingdom is at hand!” There is an urgency to the message of Scripture and there is an immediacy to obedience that Scripture calls us to! One of the most deadly lies the devil can get us to believe is that the gospel is not urgent, and that our call to obey the gospel is not an immediate need. Let us learn from Abraham’s servant the immediacy of obedience.
Authority to Speak
Verse 34 in Genesis 24 says, “So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant.” There is so much weight in that simple declaration. The servant is grounding what he has to say and his authority to speak in his master, Abraham. His authority to speak comes from His master. He does not come on his own authority. He does not speak of his own accord. His message is not from his own imaginations. He comes on the authority of his master.
As servants of Jesus Christ when we proclaim the gospel and speak of the truths of God in obedience to Christ, we do so on the authority of our master. We do not speak where He has not spoken, we do not alter what the Lord has said; but rather we repeat what the Lord has said on His good authority, not our own.
In Matthew 28 Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And Behold, I will be with you to the end of the age.” All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus Christ, and from this all-encompassing authority, He has commanded us to make disciples and teach them to obey all that He has commanded us. From His authority, we speak with urgency the most immediate message of repentance and faith in Jesus. Let us not be afraid to say, “the Bible says.” For that is where our authority to speak comes from. If anyone thinks it is weird that we are quoting the Bible, it is the authority of God that they will have to deal with, not us. So this servant laid out that dilemma for Rebekah’s parents by speaking on the authority of Abraham and of the Lord.
Identity
Along these lines, the identity of Abraham’s servant, comes from Abraham. The servant doesn’t simply say, “I am a servant.” He says, “I am Abraham’s servant.” This is our identity, slaves to Christ, servants of Jesus. The Apostle Paul began all of his letters with some form of the greeting, “Paul, and apostle of Jesus Christ,” or “Paul, bond slave to Jesus Christ.” There is something about our identity being rooted in our master, the Lord Jesus, that gives us a certain confidence in our obedience in following Him and proclaiming the message He has given us to proclaim.
Boasts on Master
In verse 35, the servant begins to boast on his master Abraham, saying, “The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants camels and donkeys.” This servant is bragging on his master, proclaiming his riches and wealth, thus making him look good.
“Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord” the Scripture says. This is our persuasion in proclaiming the gospel. We don’t sugarcoat the gospel or smooth out the edges, but we genuinely have much to boast about the Lord. Our God is not weak, small, or poor. He is mighty, great, and rich. He has done great things. He has saved us, He has defeated sin and Satan on the cross. He beat death by rising again. He will come back again and put all of His enemies away once and for all. At His right hand are pleasures forevermore. There are endless riches in Christ Jesus. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and suspends the planets in space. There is so much that we have to boast upon our Lord about.
Let us, as Abraham’s servant modeled, strive to act with an urgency to the gospel message, having an immediacy in our obedience, rooting our authority to speak and our identity as servants in our Lord Jesus, and let us boast greatly of the endless wonders and riches of Christ.
We Fail
But let us not fall into the error of believing that our striving is earning us something or that our faithfulness as servants of Jesus is meriting us salvation. If we begin to think those things we have utterly underestimated our own sinfulness and the depravity of our hearts. Either that or we’ve totally underestimated the standard of obedience God requires of us. The standard is perfect obedience. The standard is not pretty good. The standard is not obedience most of the time or ¾ of the time or more times than not. No, the requirement is absolute perfection, without spot, blemish, wrinkle, or error. If we think we can attain to that we are being blatantly dishonest or entirely delusional. We are not always urgent. We are not always immediate. We don’t always acknowledge the rightful authority of God, or root our identity in Christ. We tend to like to boast on ourselves and not always on Jesus. Does this mean we shouldn’t strive for these things? Of course not! But it means that we are honest with ourselves in that our salvation or worthiness does not come from what we’ve done or who we are, but rather it comes from what Jesus has done for us and who he is.
Jesus was the Suffering Servant
While we can learn principles of service for the Christian life from Abraham’s servant, this servant is not our role model. This servant points to a greater servant. A suffering servant actually.
The Lord Jesus came down from Heaven, and became a servant. He served his parents. He served the poor, needy, and sick. He served his disciples. He washed their feet. Ultimately He served His Father, as He carried His cross to Golgotha. It was there that He completed the greatest act of service known to mankind, He died in the place of sinners. He took their sin, and served them His perfection.
Isaiah writes of this Suffering Servant: “Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted… He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hid their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth… And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him… Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities… He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”
This is the greatest act of service one could ever do, and Jesus has done it for wretched sinners like us. The Master and Sovereign King of all the universe has become a servant to vile and wretched worms like us! That’s not the way it is supposed to be! How could the King of all stoop to such a level? Alas it was the only way for us to be saved, and so He did it.
The suffering servant was immediate and obedient in this great task. He did not delay, he did not drag his feet, but willingly, silently he went to the slaughter like a sheep is silent before it’s shearers. The King of all became the servant of all, and was killed by those who claimed to be servants of God so that He could make sinners His servants.
Think of how Jesus came on the authority of the Father, doing the Father’s will. “Not my will, but yours be done,” He prayed in the garden before his crucifixion. Jesus tells of this mission He had in John 6, saying, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me…” Jesus was the epitome of the perfect servant. And yet, He was crushed. Though He was the perfect servant, He was treated as if He was a traitor. He was treated as we should be treated. Because on the cross, He was treated that way for us.
Jesus is more than a Servant
While being the ultimate suffering servant, Jesus was more than just a servant.
Jesus became our Servant in Order to be our Bridegroom
In Genesis 24, Rebekah’s family sends her off to go and marry Isaac. Then in verse 67, the final verse of the chapter it says this, “Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”
Jesus is a greater Isaac. Unlike Isaac, Jesus became the servant that came to get us when we were once far off; and unlike the servant, Jesus is also the bridegroom who not only served in our place, but weds himself to us, and loves us, and comforts us. Jesus became the Servant in Order to be our Bridegroom. Jesus does what Isaac wouldn’t do, and Jesus does what the servant could not do. Jesus is better and greater and truer and all accounts! This is why I refuse to make heroes out of ordinary Bible characters, because they all are insufficient in some way. They all point to someone greater and better and truer than they. What’s even greater about Jesus is that unlike these Bible characters who can merely be examples at best, Jesus is more than just our example, He is our substitute, our Savior, our rescuer, He is everything, our all in all.
Jesus has Greater Love for His Bride than Isaac did for His
Verse 67 says that Isaac loved his wife Rebekah. And so we must believe that he did, and that it was real, and great. If Isaac genuinely loved his bride, how much more does Jesus, who is a greater Isaac, love His bride? Jesus isn’t just better in Isaac’s defeciencies, Jesus is better than the things Isaac was actually good at. Infinitely more does Jesus love His bride, The Church – those of us who have believed in faith. The extent and the lengths to which Jesus went to display His love for His bride cannot be adequately articulated by a human tongue in our limited vocabularies. “He shows His great love for us in this, that at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.” “He has loved us with an everlasting love.” “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.”
The love of Jesus for His bride cannot be exhausted, it cannot be adequately comprehended by the brightest of minds. It is so great that it will thrill our hearts for all eternity and occupy our minds without end.
Jesus is also a greater Isaac in that while Isaac took comfort in His wife, Jesus is the one who comforts us. When death wounds us, as the death of Sarah did to Isaac, the love of Christ is there to comfort us. For all the trials and tribulations and persecutions we may face in this life, the one who served us by taking the ultimate trial, and tribulation and persecution for us is there to comfort us with his great love for us. The love of Christ for His bride is the greatest topic of theological exploration the most learned scholars can explore, yet they will never explore its depths, or bump up into a wall, floor, or ceiling, so vast, measureless, and deep, and yet so simple, comforting, and sweet a child can know the love of Christ. Ladies and Gentlemen this is the love that Jesus has for His bride, The Church, for us who have believed. There is great comfort to be had in that.
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