Genesis 24:1-67 | Lord I’ve Seen What You’ve Done

Bible, you can go and grab it and turn it to the book of Genesis, the book of Genesis. We'll be looking at chapter 24, which is 67 verses. So, turn there. It's a long story. It's the first book in your Bible. If you've never used a Bible before, you can use a Pew Bible in front of you. If you don't own a Bible, we would love for you to just be able to keep that as a gift from our church to you. We would love for you to have a copy of God's word that you could read. We'll be looking at the first book in the Bible, the book of Genesis, and all of chapter 24. The big number, this is chapter number. Little numbers are the verse numbers. I'll be reading the entirety of the story from verses 1-67.

Abraham was now old, getting on in years, and the Lord had blessed him in everything. Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his household who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh, and I will have you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live, but will go to my land and my family to take a wife for my son Isaac.” The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I have your son go back to the land you came from?” Abraham answered him, “Make sure that you don’t take my son back there. The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’—he will send his angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are free from this oath to me, but don’t let my son go back there.” So the servant placed his hand under his master Abraham’s thigh and swore an oath to him concerning this matter. The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and with all kinds of his master’s goods in hand, he went to Aram-naharaim, to Nahor’s town. At evening, the time when women went out to draw water, he made the camels kneel beside a well outside the town. “Lord, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “make this happen for me today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. I am standing here at the spring where the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw water. Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.” Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah—daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor—coming with a jug on her shoulder. Now the girl was very beautiful, a virgin—no man had been intimate with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up. Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from my jug.” She replied, “Drink, my lord.” She quickly lowered her jug to her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I’ll also draw water for your camels until they have had enough to drink.” She quickly emptied her jug into the trough and hurried to the well again to draw water. She drew water for all his camels while the man silently watched her to see whether or not the Lord had made his journey a success. As the camels finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and for her wrists two bracelets weighing ten shekels of gold. “Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?” She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” She also said to him, “We have plenty of straw and feed and a place to spend the night.” Then the man knelt low, worshiped the Lord, and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld his kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.” The girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things. Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the spring. As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah’s words—“The man said this to me!”—he went to the man. He was standing there by the camels at the spring. Laban said, “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was brought to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him. A meal was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.”So Laban said, “Please speak.” “I am Abraham’s servant,” he said. “The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys. Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. My master put me under this oath: ‘You will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live but will go to my father’s family and to my clan to take a wife for my son.’ But I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman will not come back with me?’ He said to me, ‘The Lord before whom I have walked will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, and you will take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father’s family. Then you will be free from my oath if you go to my family and they do not give her to you—you will be free from my oath.’ “Today when I came to the spring, I prayed: Lord, God of my master Abraham, if only you will make my journey successful! I am standing here at a spring. Let the young woman who comes out to draw water, and I say to her, ‘Please let me drink a little water from your jug,’ and who responds to me, ‘Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels also’—let her be the woman the Lord has appointed for my master’s son. “Before I had finished praying silently, there was Rebekah coming with her jug on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please let me have a drink.’ She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She responded, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. Then I knelt low, worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who guided me on the right way to take the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son. Now, if you are going to show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; if not, tell me, and I will go elsewhere.” Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the Lord; we have no choice in the matter. Rebekah is here in front of you. Take her and go, and let her be a wife for your master’s son, just as the Lord has spoken.” When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed to the ground before the Lord. Then he brought out objects of silver and gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother. Then he and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night.When they got up in the morning, he said, “Send me to my master.” But her brother and mother said, “Let the girl stay with us for about ten days. Then she can go.” But he responded to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has made my journey a success. Send me away so that I may go to my master.” So they said, “Let’s call the girl and ask her opinion.” They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”She replied, “I will go.” So they sent away their sister Rebekah with the one who had nursed and raised her, and Abraham’s servant and his men. They blessed Rebekah, saying to her:Our sister, may you become thousands upon ten thousands. May your offspring possess the city gates of their enemies. Then Rebekah and her female servants got up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. Now Isaac was returning from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev region. In the early evening Isaac went out to walk in the field, and looking up he saw camels coming. Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she got down from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”The servant answered, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done. And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah to be his wife. Isaac loved her, and he was comforted after his mother’s death.

— Genesis 24:1-67 (CSB)

Let's pray. We pray, as we think about this story and as we meditate on it, that you would help us to not just have this vivid image and this arc in our mind, but that you would speak to us, that you would encourage us, embolden our confidence. We pray, Lord, that your Spirit would speak to us from your word. We're completely relying on you now. So we ask for your help in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

The True Focus of the Story

This story is not about dating. It'd be easy to walk through a passage like this as if it were. But I don't think that this sermon really has anything to do with dating. Frankly, neither does the Bible. If this passage was to try to tell you about the biblical way to date, it would advise you to go put your hand under the thigh of your father, go pray and ask God to send you a sign, have a woman show up, give her brother and mother gifts, and then take her back immediately to become your wife. That's not crazy, that's just biblical. But while obtaining a wife for Isaac is certainly the goal of this chapter, it is not the focus because Isaac isn't the main character of this story. He doesn't even show up until the very end of the chapter.

In fact, the main character of this story isn't even Rebecca. She doesn't show up until verse 15 in the story. The main character isn't even Abraham, the one that we've been following for the last 12 chapters. The focal point of this story isn't a patriarch at all; it's Abraham's servant. And by looking at this servant, we see a remarkable example of faithfulness in obeying his master, and as a result, it reveals God's remarkable faithfulness to us. This story is not about dating because it's about you. Notice the amount of times that the servant is described as “the man.” It's because it's not a story about what God is just doing for Isaac and Rebecca; it's a story about how you and I are supposed to live our lives. We are “the man” in this story; as we follow his example in following his earthly master, we get to learn about how we are supposed to live in serving our heavenly Master.

So, four things that we're supposed to do in order to serve our heavenly Master: First, commit. Second, you are to pray. Third, plead. And fourth, obey. So let's start with point number one: to commit.

Commit to God's Promises

Read again with me from verses 1 to 9:

Abraham was now old, getting on in years, and the Lord had blessed him in everything. Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his household who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh, and I will have you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live, but will go to my land and my family to take a wife for my son Isaac.” Then the servant said to him, “Suppose a woman is unwilling to follow me back to this land. Should I have your son go back to the land you came from?” Abraham answered him, “Make sure that you don’t take my son back there. The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’—he will send his angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there. If the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are free from this oath to me, but don’t let my son go back there.” So the servant placed his hand under his master Abraham’s thigh and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

— Genesis 24:1-9 (CSB)

We've seen Abraham, we've walked with him for many years. We see him leave his father's land, receive God's promises, fall into sin repeatedly, see some of God's promises realized, and after demonstrating his willingness to sacrifice his son, and after establishing burial arrangements for his wife, there's one last thing that he has arranged before his story comes to an end: His son Isaac doesn't have a wife. I understand the irony of having a single pastor preach to you on the necessity of marriage in this story, but before you get too carried away, let me just point out to you that by the time of this story happening in Genesis chapter 24, Isaac would have been around 40 years old. I still have 10 years!

But more importantly, marriage and birth are different in the Old Covenant. There's another level of significance to why Isaac needs a spouse. You see, Abraham was promised a people, a place, and power. In order to have people, you need to be able to have kids. The Hebrew word for that is to have “seed.” That's the reason why God had all of Abraham's household circumcised as a symbol from the place where children come from, that Abraham would receive this promise that he would have people as numerous as the sand by the sea or the stars in the sky.

And it's because of that promise that he's received, reflected in his own body, that he has the servant place his hand under his master's thigh. If you're wondering if that means what you think it means, it does. And before you gag, I encourage you to get your head out of the gutter. This verse doesn't smell like our sin-stained sewer of our imaginations; it is actually a beautiful picture of God's promises that Abraham is showing with this oath that he swears with his servant. He believes that God is going to do what he said he would do, so much so that he's willing to send one of his servants all the way back to his father's homeland to secure a wife for his son.

But the servant wants some clarification. He asks a reasonable question there in verse 5. He asks, “What happens if she doesn't want to come?” I mean, you can imagine how weird it'd be if someone showed up on your front door and said, “Hey, you know, I've come in the name of the Lord. In fact, your great uncle once removed has got some great news for you. He's got a son and he's looking for a wife, right? And you grab her and why don't you travel all the way back to that land and get hitched?” I could think of a thousand reasons why that wouldn't work out. I could think of a thousand reasons why that shouldn't work out. After all, this passage isn't about dating; it's about God's promises.

See, the servant isn't just asking if things don't work out according to plan. He's also asking whether or not he should adjust the plan. He asks Abraham if she's not willing to come all the way out here, “Should I bring Isaac all the way over there?” I mean, Abraham has tried adjusting his plan before. He's done this a number of times. He willingly gave up his wife to other kings. He even had another son, Ishmael, with Hagar. But after decades of bumbling and negotiating, Abraham has finally learned his lesson: He will not compromise. He will not give one inch when it comes to following after God's promises.

He insists, “Do not take my son there” because of what God said. He repeats that God said that he would give this land to his offspring. And then he tells the servant that God's angel would go before him to secure Isaac a wife. You see how Abraham's faith has grown over the course of his life. It's not that he's unaware of the challenges; he's given a provision so the servant can be freed from his oath, but he trusts that the Lord would arrange things in such a way as consistent with his promises. Because these logistical problems do not negate biblical principles. He's unwilling to trade God's promises in exchange for compromises. It's in response to this master's confidence in God's promises that the servant then swears this oath. He commits to seeing this promise through.

It's a big commitment. It's a far journey that takes resolve, a resolve that can only come from true faith. Faith that God's promises are absolutely true. Faith that empowers us to look at all of the logistical problems in the complexity of this life and to be able to smile, trusting in your almighty God, is willing to say that “I'm going to follow the Lord no matter what the cost.” No compromises, no chances, full obedience, full commitment. You know, that's exactly what we've sworn to do together as a church. When you come to Christ, when you join the church, when you're baptized, when you recite the church covenant like we did several weeks ago, what you're doing is you are committing to something that the world would consider to be absolutely insane. You are committing to wander through this life, to follow your Master, knowing that God is going to be the one who actually makes something of it. That's exactly what this servant decides to do. But there's the committing to do and there's the actual doing. And for this servant, doing looked like praying, which brings us to point number two: pray.

Pray with Trust in God's Providence

Look at verse 10:

The servant took ten of his master’s camels, and with all kinds of his master’s goods in hand, he went to Aram-naharaim, to Nahor’s town. At evening, the time when women went out to draw water, he made the camels kneel beside a well outside the town. “Lord, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “make this happen for me today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. I am standing here at the spring where the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw water. Let the girl to whom I say, ‘Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

— Genesis 24:10-14 (CSB)

Whether you're hoping to date or whether you're living your life as a Christian, we've all had moments where we go, we commit, we move to obey, and we're where we think the Lord wants us to be in the present moment, and there is nothing to do. All you can do is sit there. I mean, what would you do if you were that servant? Would you try to figure out your own way to get water? Maybe try to water your own camels? Perhaps you would go throughout the town posting up “wife wanted” signs, in case someone finds out? For this servant, he has his camels kneel and he himself bows before the Lord in prayer because he understands unless God does something, nothing will happen. There's no plan, there's no strategy, there's no execution that any of us do that is not determined by God's providence and his promise. It's completely out of our control. You see, prayer doesn't relinquish us of our control; it's not us letting go. Prayer is recognizing who's been in control the entire time. Prayer goes before an almighty, all-knowing, all-powerful God and says, “God, you need to make this happen. Please show me kindness.” So he asks God for a sign, for a woman to come and draw water for him.

Now, if you go to your local park's water fountain and pray this prayer, odds are nothing is going to happen. I'd even say that operating off of signs like this is really dangerous as a typical pattern for how to live your life. You don't want to take Bible verses like this and turn them into tea leaves, right? The servant's prayer is not about dating; it's about God's promises. And the reason why this servant can be so bold to ask God for a specific sign is because God has given Abraham a specific promise, a promise to make him into a great nation. And such a large promise that Abraham is confident enough to tell the servant, “God's angel has already gone before you and is arranging things according to his purposes.” So what the servant is doing is not asking God to meet his demands for what it looks like to get his desires fulfilled. What the servant is doing is asking God's angel to do exactly what Abraham said that he would do: make the path clear. And that's what brings a servant to pray.

Do you pray? It's the most important work that we do as a Christian is to pray because when you pray, things happen. See that happen in verse 15:

Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah—daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor—coming with a jug on her shoulder. Now the girl was very beautiful, a virgin—no man had been intimate with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came up. Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from my jug.” She replied, “Drink, my lord.” She quickly lowered her jug to her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I’ll also draw water for your camels until they have had enough to drink.” She quickly emptied her jug into the trough and hurried to the well again to draw water. She drew water for all his camels while the man silently watched her to see whether or not the Lord had made his journey a success. As the camels finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and for her wrists two bracelets weighing ten shekels of gold. “Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?” She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” She also said to him, “We have plenty of straw and feed and a place to spend the night.” Then the man knelt low, worshiped the Lord, and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld his kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.

— Genesis 24:15-27 (CSB)

Suddenly, Rebecca shows up, and she does exactly what the servant asks. And as she acts, the man is watching attentively because he's not jumping to conclusions about this woman. He's watching to see whether or not God has answered his prayer. As soon as it's confirmed, the man blesses her with gold and asks her, “Who's your father?” and she confirms she's the daughter of Bethuel. And then the servant falls, worships God. He doesn't worship God because he found Isaac a wife, but because the Lord has not withheld his kindness and faithfulness from Abraham. Because his worship isn't just about finding Isaac a spouse; it's about God's promises. God's promises are why he prays. God's promises are why he waits. And now it's why he worships. The servant wants God to answer his promises they made to Abraham. And God was at work far before the servant acted.

I mean, did you notice that before he finishes his prayer, Rebecca already shows up? God was already at work. Not only that, God was already at work way before the servant even enters into the story because Rebecca being the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, is not new news. You may remember from last week's sermon that Abraham already heard that Rebecca existed in Genesis 22:20-24. God was already orchestrating this exact providential provision for decades leading up to this exact moment. I think that's why hearing the name of Rebecca's father brings this servant to his knees. My guess is this servant already knows exactly who Rebecca is. That's exactly who the servant was sent to find. He wasn't just looking for anybody; he was there to look for a specific somebody, someone who came from Abraham's father's land whom God had already prepared for Isaac. And so God already planned to fulfill his purposes far before the servant even shows up for the scene.

So the common question when it comes to a situation like this is, if God has plans for his promises, then why pray? Why have such a big emphasis on this guy praying at this well, relying on the Lord? Not because the Lord doesn't plan, but because the God who has already planned for your prayers plans to use your prayers to effect his promises. Just because the Lord has plans doesn't mean that your prayers don't do anything. There are plenty of examples in Scripture where prayer results in God acting. See this example in Revelation 8 where you see the picture of the prayers of the saints rising up like incense to the heavens, and God smelling that incense then begins to act in the apocalypse. Even in John 17, the Son of God, Jesus, prays to his Father that the hour has come: “Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you.” Trusting in the Lord's plans leads us to pray because it helps us to remember that the Lord loves to answer the prayer of his saints. We need to keep praying. In fact, our prayers will be a direct reflection of the amount of trust that we have in what the Lord is doing. I hope that you're disciplined in prayer. I want to encourage all of you to show up on Sunday night as we pray together, as we go before the Lord and ask him to sustain us and to keep us. I pray that you pray for the members throughout this week, that you pray for God to keep his word to enact his will in our lives because every prayer flows from God's promises and propels us towards God's promises. And this servant's answered prayer then propels Rebecca back to her family.

Plead the Gospel to Others

You see that in our third point: to plead. Look at verse 28:

The girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things. Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban ran out to the man at the spring. As soon as he had seen the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he had heard his sister Rebekah’s words—“The man said this to me!”—he went to the man. He was standing there by the camels at the spring. Laban said, “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were given to the camels, and water was brought to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him. A meal was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.”So Laban said, “Please speak.” “I am Abraham’s servant,” he said. “The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys. Sarah, my master’s wife, bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. My master put me under this oath: ‘You will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live but will go to my father’s family and to my clan to take a wife for my son.’ But I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman will not come back with me?’ He said to me, ‘The Lord before whom I have walked will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, and you will take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father’s family. Then you will be free from my oath if you go to my family and they do not give her to you—you will be free from my oath.’ “Today when I came to the spring, I prayed: Lord, God of my master Abraham, if only you will make my journey successful! I am standing here at a spring. Let the young woman who comes out to draw water, and I say to her, ‘Please let me drink a little water from your jug,’ and who responds to me, ‘Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels also’—let her be the woman the Lord has appointed for my master’s son. “Before I had finished praying silently, there was Rebekah coming with her jug on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please let me have a drink.’ She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She responded, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. Then I knelt low, worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who guided me on the right way to take the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son. Now, if you are going to show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; if not, tell me, and I will go elsewhere.”

— Genesis 24:28-49 (CSB)

Rebecca doesn't waste any time going home and telling her family about this great news. And when her brother goes out to greet this servant, a meal is prepared for him. But this servant won't eat. You can imagine how hungry he is after a long journey. But he will not eat until he says what he has to say. And then what he does in the next several verses is he recounts all of this good news of God's promises to Rebecca's family. I don't think that this is meant to be an example of going to hang out with a woman's family and blabbering about how it's God's destiny for you to take her away and get her married to a complete stranger, because again, this news isn't about dating; it's about God's promises. These promises are so amazing that he has to share it. He can't help but share it. In fact, he's not chill about it, he's not playing coy, he's not feigning relaxation, he is direct. He's clear. And he retells the entire thing. It's almost like a student trying to pad his word count for a school essay. He says the exact same things all over again in this passage, all the way down to verse 48.

Then he ends in verse 49 with a very direct exhortation: “Now if you are going to show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me. If not, tell me, and I will go elsewhere.” See the way he talks at the end after recounting all the things that the Lord has done. He is direct, he's clear, he's communicating with proper urgency and clarity. And while he trusts that the Lord is doing what he's doing, he doesn't force providence on Laban and Bethuel. He doesn't declare with absolute certainty that they must obey the Lord in doing the exact outcome that he expects God to do. He tells them, “Tell me if you're going to show kindness to my master. If not, let me know and I will go elsewhere.”

If you're not a Christian and you're here this morning, I'd be remiss if I didn't do the same thing with you. All of us have this good news to share, a good news that you have to hear: that God is a good God who created the world to have an overflow of his joy. That he created us to steward and care after it. Instead of obeying him, we've rebelled in our sin and deserve to be condemned in hell forever. But God in his kindness has sent his Son, truly God, truly man, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life that we could never live, to die on a cross for our sin, and to rise from the dead three days later in everlasting life. And the good news, the urgent news for you today, is that if you turn from your sin and trust in Christ, you can have that kind of forgiveness today. The promise of everlasting life with him forever. That choice is before you right now. The choice is before you today. And that choice is urgent. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. I'd love to talk to you more about what it looks like to follow Christ at the door after service.

You know, all of us are called to share this kind of good news about God's promises. And when you do, learn from this servant's example. Don't forget to plead, to ask, to demand a response. Because following Christ is more than just information. It's more than just a suggestion. The goal of evangelism is not to share Jesus in such a way that someone thinks that you're still chill about it. The goal is to evoke a response. It's more than just a suggestion. It is a mandate to pledge allegiance to our almighty King. And it is right to tell others about the kindness and faithfulness of our God and to demand allegiance to him. They need that. People need your pleas. They need your direct, clear, urgent, thorough communication about what it looks like to follow your Master, to fulfill God's promises, to turn from your sin and trust in Christ. Are you willing to share with them?

Laban and Bethuel respond positively. They understand this news is from God and they submit themselves to this news. They tell the servant, “Take her and go.” And the servant blesses Rebecca and her family, and they all go to bed. You see that happen later in this verse. But this story isn't over yet because after this amazing act of God, there's still more work to be done, which brings us to point number four.

Obey God's Commands Immediately

To obey. Look at verse 54 there, the second half:

When they got up in the morning, he said, “Send me to my master.” But her brother and mother said, “Let the girl stay with us for about ten days. Then she can go.” But he responded to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has made my journey a success. Send me away so that I may go to my master.” So they said, “Let’s call the girl and ask her opinion.”

— Genesis 24:54-57 (CSB)

Despite the agreements made the previous night, Laban wakes up and he tells the servant, “Let's wait.” And the servant objects. And again, this advice isn't to tell you to blaze past the resistance of family members when pursuing marriage because this resistance isn't about dating; it's about God's promises. And this guy, Laban, who gets introduced in the story, he's going to show up later in this book. He is fluent in ambiguities, similar to the formal negotiation that you saw last week. There's Laban's words and then there's Laban's words. He wants Rebecca to stick around for “around 10 days” or “10 days or so.” He's not exactly sure. See, the point isn't the amount of time that he wants Rebecca to stick around. It's the fact that he wants to keep the servant around, to keep Rebecca within his vicinity. Perhaps having a loaded first cousin once removed, having incentive to go back to his hometown might help stimulate his economy, or the local economy, or at least his pockets. If you remember from the beginning of the story, that's the exact opposite of everything that Abraham wants. In fact, Abraham insisted that his son not go back into his father's land because of God's promises. And you do not get to delay in obeying what the Lord tells you to do. You don't get to delay God's commands.

And the servant doesn't get comfortable. He doesn't let his guard down now that the hardest part was over. He understands that he's called to be faithful all the way to the end. Did you notice that he doesn't even pause to consider the possibility of showing deference to her relatives? It's not 'cause he doesn't want to honor them. He's already honored them by showing tons of gifts and by showing deference and spending the night there. The reason why he doesn't delay is that when it comes to obeying the Lord's explicit commands, it is full obedience right away, all the time. You do not negotiate when it comes to doing what the Lord tells you to do. And so they decide that Rebecca will be the deciding vote. She gets to decide what will ultimately happen. As they're all waiting for Rebecca to answer, there's echoes of the servant's question ringing in the background: “What if the woman is unwilling to follow?” What's going to happen?

She answers in verse 58:

They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?”She replied, “I will go.” So they sent away their sister Rebekah with the one who had nursed and raised her, and Abraham’s servant and his men. They blessed Rebekah, saying to her:Our sister, may you become thousands upon ten thousands. May your offspring possess the city gates of their enemies. Then Rebekah and her female servants got up, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. Now Isaac was returning from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev region. In the early evening Isaac went out to walk in the field, and looking up he saw camels coming. Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she got down from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”The servant answered, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done. And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah to be his wife. Isaac loved her, and he was comforted after his mother’s death.

— Genesis 24:58-67 (CSB)

She answers with one word: “I'll go.” She confirms the Lord's promise and immediately following her commitment, the blessings shower down. I mean, she leaves. She goes and finds Isaac. Isaac gets up from the desert. He looks up and he finds someone who can quench his thirst. If Rebecca drew water for this servant, she's going to be drawing water for this man coming out of the desert. A beautiful picture takes Rebecca into the tent of his mother because now there's a new matriarch in the family of promise. The same tent where Abraham mourned is the same tent where Isaac finds relief. Did you notice at the very end of the story, the way that it ends isn't even focusing so much on Rebecca? It says, “Isaac loved her and he was comforted after his mother's death.”

After his mother's death, the resolution to this two-part story that started with Sarah coming to the end of her life is Isaac's marriage to Rebecca. It can almost seem disjointed. A wedding doesn't just undo all the rocky emotions that come from a funeral. Unless you know that Isaac's marriage isn't just about him. It's about God's promises. The Lord's promises don't just stop with Abraham. They don't just stop with Sarah. They continue on with Isaac and Rebecca and their union of marriage ensures the continuing of this seed. There's a reason why this story ends with marriage because it shows that the promise that God made to Abraham would continue on from generation to generation. And that promise would ultimately lead to Jesus.

Our Call to Faithfulness

All of this provision that happened in the last three chapters, they're all from the Lord. It's all about him that God always provides. God provided the lamb. God provided the land. And now in chapter 24, God provided the wife. God ensured that Abraham would be a people. He ensured that Abraham would have a place. And now he ensured that Abraham would have the power of blessing from generation to generation. No wonder Isaac was comforted. No wonder he found security because he knew from personal experience that God was going to be with him for all the days of his life. Don't you want that kind of comfort? Don't you want that kind of security, that kind of confidence in God?

If you want to be able to believe like that, you have to believe in God's promises. You have to believe that death isn't the end, that we're headed for something greater. And what greater comfort can you and I have than the promise of the wedding between Christ and his church? That Christ's death ensures our heavenly union with him. See, this story is about more than just securing a wife. It's about you and I, about what you and I do during this in-between period between the empty tomb and the marriage supper of the Lamb. Will you trust him? Will you commit? Will you pray? Will you plead and obey? Will you trust that Christ died for you, that he rose, and that he's coming again?

If you don't believe, you will fumble and fail like Abraham did throughout his whole life. You will willingly trade away the treasures of heaven for the treasures of Egypt that will waste away. You will spend life completely entombed in the anxieties and worries and cares of this world. But if you trust him, if you believe him the way that this servant did, if you resolve to follow him, if you pray, if you plead with others to follow him, if you obey with all of your heart, the promise of God is that he will do far more abundantly than you and I could ever imagine. There's some of us here that have spent decades of our lives banking in on this promise, and God will absolutely come through on every sacrifice, on every commitment, on every choice that we made to follow him, he will absolutely answer it.

Every single day that we wake up and we choose to follow the Lord, we demonstrate with our lives, with our hearts, that we have a promise worth believing in. That's a promise that will comfort us after all that the world can throw at us because we believe that Jesus is enough. And if Jesus is enough, if we believe that promise, then you and I can have complete confidence that the Lord will lead us home. Let's pray. Lord, we pray that you would help us in the midst of our weakness to be able to trust in your promises. Help us to be like this servant, this man who's seeking to be faithful to you. Pray, Lord, that you would help us to follow your leading as the good shepherd till you lead us safely home. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.