“And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things. And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master. And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go. And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master. And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth. And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them, And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” (Gen. 24:53-6753And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things. 54And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master. 55And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go. 56And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master. 57And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth. 58And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. 59And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. 60And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. 61And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. 62And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the south country. 63And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. 64And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. 65For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself. 66And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. 67And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. (Genesis 24:53‑67)).
We have, in previous pages, been looking at this chapter, and seeing how simply and sweetly the gospel is therein foreshadowed and illustrated; and now, in referring to it once more, I avow, most distinctly, my object is not to unfold the gospel in its doctrinal view, but to get your soul. my reader, if possible, brought to a distinct point before Christ.
The Lord help me to pen, and you to peruse, this paper as if indeed it were the last occasion on which I could appeal to you, or you have the opportunity of receiving Christ.
I find, then, here one question: the person most interested gets one simple question put to her, to which she must make, on her own responsibility, one answer — Yes or No.
The narrative is very simple, the type equally beautiful, the application heart-winning. The Father of the Lord Jesus Christ offers to give you eternal glory in association with His Son. Consequent upon the death, resurrection and ascension of His Son — which are the proofs of God’s love on the one hand, in giving that Son to die, and His righteousness on the other, in raising and glorifying Him as man, in token of His delight and satisfaction in the work He has accomplished for sinners — there has come from heaven a divine messenger, the herald of a divine message, and it falls now on your ear. It is this: God wants to have you for His Son, He does not come and press upon you that you want His Son; that possibly may not be the case consciously, for many do not care to have Christ, as they are not aware of their lost and needy condition as sinners. When people really want anything they cast about till they get it, but if they are indifferent they are passive.
It is perfectly true you want a Savior; but salvation is not the thought here. God here proposes to you to share the glories of His beloved Son. Do you not see to what glories and dignities you are invited? Instead of being left to die in your sins, and then pass unpardoned and unblessed into outer darkness, to be the miserable companion of the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:4141Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (Matthew 25:41)), God wants you to enter into relationship with Christ now, by faith in His name, and then be the sharer of His joys through the endless cycles of eternity’s blissful day.
This is the message Eliezer brings. He comes from Canaan, where Isaac abides. The father sends his servant to the far-off land to get one, if he could, to cross the desert to be the Bride to the unseen and unknown Bridegroom. Three things are necessary if you are going to be a sharer of the glory of Christ — redemption, righteousness, and raiment; but “jewels of silver,” “jewels of gold,” and “raiment,” the very articles which typify these three things, the servant brings out and offers to Rebekah. Silver is the type of redemption: the only way the soul can draw near to God is on the ground of redemption. I need righteousness, and gold is the symbol of Divine righteousness. “Raiment” speaks for itself, and these three things I must have.
Christ is your raiment, if you will have Him as such, and all else.
I address you as a messenger from God. “Bold ground,” you say. Yes, but no more bold than blessed. In the name of my Master I come, and want to win you for Christ. I want to win you for Christ as you read this paper. O unsaved man, unsaved woman! my message is this — I want you, I want you for Christ. God wants you for Christ.
“Oh, but I am such a sinner!” True, that is quite true. “I cannot, as I am, draw near to God.” False. The veil is rent, the blood is shed and sprinkled before God, the new and living way exists, and you are bidden to come to God just as you are.
Nevertheless, mark, Eliezer does not say, “Wilt thou go?” before he gives Rebekah the jewels and the raiment. If it be the question of what will fit me for the Father’s house, could anything be better than what He sends? The gospel tells you that Christ came into the world, and it tells you, too, what He has done. The law tells me what I ought to do, and smites me because I have not done it. Law tells me of myself; the gospel tells — me what Christ is, and what He has done.
Are you going to have Christ? You have often heard about Jesus, but are you on your way to Him? I want this to be the moment of your betrothal.
What I want now is decision. Redemption is accomplished, the blood has been shed, and the claims of God have all been met by the cross. That which the sinner needs has been wrought out for him by Jesus; and now it is for you to accept the gospel message, for you in the truthful integrity of your soul to say, “Come what may, I am going to be Christ’s.” You may have some time to wait ere you see the Lord Jesus face to face; the desert may be long in crossing, but one sight of Him will more than make up for all the toil or trouble of the way.
Rebekah hears the message one day and starts the next. Many have put off coming to Christ for ten days and have spent them in hell. I beseech you to come now to Jesus.
Notice here how that arch-enemy of present blessing — procrastination — appears.
The servant “rose” and said, “Send me away unto my master.” Her relations reply, “Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.” They want the moment of decision deferred, and you want that too, don’t you? “Some day,” you say, “but not just now.” You want to defer it. This is the plausible voice of the devil. If you are not turned to the Lord, your back is towards Him; you are still in your sins, and they will bring you to judgment. Ten days are most insidious. Felix was a man of ten days. “Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.” Ah, poor Felix, when will his convenient season come? He never had a more convenient season. Oh, turn now to Jesus! Oh, ye halters, who are not yet decided for Christ, take Felix as a warning!
Perhaps you think you will turn to the Lord when you reach your deathbed. Delusive hope, for you may never have one. I heard lately of a procrastinator whose constant reply to earnest Christian friends, when they spoke to him of his soul’s salvation, and urged him to come to Christ, “I am sure that God is so merciful, that if I turn to Him, even on a deathbed, He will hear my prayer and save me, so I shall wait till then.” Though repeatedly warned, this was his refuge, and so on he went, till he came, not to his deathbed, but, as was his wont, into the hunting-field. While the hounds were in full cry after the quarry, his horse leaped a hedge, on the further side of which were lying some sheep. Disturbed and frightened by the sudden apparition of the horse, the timid creatures fled in all directions. Their scampering off alarmed the usually sure-footed steed, who fell, flinging his rider. Three words burst from the lips of the falling man — not “God have mercy!” but, addressing the sheep, “Devil take ye!” They were his last words, for he broke his neck and died on the spot. Reader, be sure of it, procrastination is the thief of souls, as well as of time, and I quite agree with Rowland Hill, who termed it “The recruiting-officer of hell.”
God may never give you the opportunity of repentance on a deathbed. Now is the only time you can be sure of finding Christ.
Sinner, I warn you, these are facts, stern facts, “But what do you want me to do?” you may reply. I want you to yield yourself to Christ just now. I want you to make sure of eternity, and not put off, even until tomorrow (which never comes), the momentous matter of getting really hold of the salvation of God.
Ye young ones, I appeal to you. It is vain to say “Let me die the death of the righteous.” If you are going to die the death of the righteous you must live the life of the righteous. It is vain to suppose you can get Christ when you like: you must get Him when you may, and that is just now.
And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go” (ver. 55). Such was the procrastinating speech of that day, and how solemnly is it echoed by many a soul nowadays — Do you say, “I will decide for Christ in a few days at the least: at most, ten? Ten days hence! Oh, no! It must be now if you want to be with Christ in glory; if you want to be with that rapturous throng around the Savior; if you want to join the chorus, “Worthy is the Lamb.”
What does God say? now. Jesus will have you now. I earnestly implore you not to delay. I lay no claim to being a prophet when I say you may never have another gospel message and another day of grace in which to be saved. Really, my dear reader, you can have no idea of the joy of being Christ’s or you would not delay a single hour in turning to Him, receiving the pardon of your sins, the salvation of your soul, and the sweet heart-thrilling assurance that He is yours and you are His. Do you know that Jesus loves you and wants you, wants to claim you as His? “Jesus... having loved his own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.” Oh, to be His own loved one — His very own! Nothing changes that love of His. Jesus wants to have you numbered among His own, His very own.
Will you yield? Let not Satan deceive you with a few days hence, ten days. Now is the time.
Well, what is the servant’s answer to be — “Send me away, for I have failed?” Oh, say, must I go and tell my Lord I have failed — failed to win your heart for Him? Shall it be so? Oh no, no; give me the joy of saying to my Lord, “This heart is Thine.”
What was Rebekah’s answer when her relations said to her, “Wilt thou go with this man?” She said, “I will go.” No one else can decide for you. You have a soul, its eternal welfare depends on your answer. You have a soul to be saved or lost. Oh, will you let any one, anything, come in between the Lord and your soul? Decide, decide now.
Jesus wants you, Jesus is waiting for you. Oh, let nothing hinder you from coming to Him. “We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth,” was the word then; it is you that are concerned now. Wilt thou go? dear soul, wilt thou go? Oh, say, “I will go!” Yes, have Christ, be Christ’s! Shall He be thine? What say you? “Wilt thou go?” The Holy Ghost puts the question to you, it is not my question. God’s question is, “Wilt thou go?” Wilt thou go to meet Christ and be His? Give me thine answer; oh, let there be no more delays. How can you tell you will have time to decide tomorrow? Tomorrow is God’s, not yours. “Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” Let there be no more procrastination. God lingers over you; again and again He lets you hear these words, “Wilt thou go?” “Wilt thou go?” “I will go,” says faith, “I will go,” says the decided heart, “I will go,” says the earnest one.
“I will go;” this is the calm, quiet resolution of the soul that wakes up to see the glory that is offered, and the grace that offers it.
What is the absolute alternative if Christ is not received? The dreary darkness of an eternal night, in which the only light is that shed by the lurid flame that is never quenched, the only companions sinners and devils as wretched as yourself, and the only occupation vain regrets over the folly and unbelief that have landed you in a spot beyond the reach of the hand of God Himself.
All depends on yielding yourself, or not, to Jesus, If the language of your soul is “I will go,” you will thank God for all eternity.
Would you like all to be saved but yourself? Would you like all to be included and you excluded from that blessed number who surround the Lord Jesus in unfading glory? Surely not. Then halt no longer, but give a decided answer to the query which again I put — nay, which God in His sovereign grace once more puts to thee.
Soul, “wilt thou go?” Thou canst hardly say no, when to remain is to be eternally lost. What is thine answer? “Ten days hence.” Beware, the clemency of God will not last forever. Ten days hence and the door of heaven may he closed forever against thee, and in vain shall thy piteous cry be, “Open unto me.” But, thank God, there is yet another answer thou canst give, “I will go.” Let it be thine.
Rebekah had never seen Isaac when she decided to go to him, but she believed the report that Eliezer gave. And think you not that as they journeyed across the desert many a question was asked concerning the one to whom she was going? And would not her heart grow warmer and warmer towards him as she heard his praise? And shall it not be so with you? The Holy Ghost, we are told, “Will take of the things of Christ and reveal them unto you.” Oh, listen to Him, let no trumpet-sound of earth deaden His voice. He would tell you of God’s well-beloved Son. Oh, learn of Him, of all His gentleness, love, and grace, and of His glory, too; and as each beauty bursts upon your admiring gaze know that He may be thine, and if thine, then shall the jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and the raiment become more precious to thee because they are His gifts.
Did Rebekah stop the camels to pick up the agates of the desert? I trow not; and wilt thou linger by the way to gather the withering pleasures of a death-doomed world?
Oh, no! Haste thee on to the joy, the satisfying and endless joy that is to be possessed only at thine Isaac’s side. Be unfettered, be but a sojourner and pilgrim here; heaven is thy home, speed thee on to it. And what shall the meeting be when thou shalt see Him face to face? Wonderful as was the story you listened to by the way, yet your astonished soul in wonder shall exclaim, “The half had not been told.”
There are three things the Lord has done for us. He loved us, He gave Himself for us, and He has washed us from our sins. Why has He done these? “That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” What a glorious Bride shall the Church be in that day when “the marriage of the Lamb has come!”
Rebekah goes, she commits herself to the guardianship of Eliezer, and at eventide she sees Isaac coming; and what is that but a simple type of the meeting with our Lord? Isaac was comforted when he received his Bride; and have we not read of Jesus, “Who for the joy... set before him endured the cross, despising the shame”? His joy will be full when He has His Bride in glory with Him. And is that blessed hour near? The last step of the journey may be indeed most near; this night it may be that “He that shall come will come.” He is coming. Three times in Revelation 22 He says, “I come quickly.” Are you ready? “Wilt thou go?” “I will go,” is the only answer suited to such a call of grace. And now, in conclusion, I would say, Let all know you are Christ’s. Confess Christ. Own Him.
“The Father, from eternity,
Chose us, O Jesus Christ, in Thee,
In Thee, His well-beloved;
And we, as given to Thee — Thy Bride —
In Thee, Lord Jesus, do confide:
Thy love remains unmoved.
From Thee daily
Strength receiving — to Thee cleaving,
Blessed Jesus!
May we all show forth Thy praises.
“Before the world we’d make our boast,
That Thou, in whom is all our trust,
Art Lord of life and glory:
And soon Thou’lt bring us to that place
Where we shall see Thee face to face,
And, glorified, adore Thee.
Amen! — Be then
Praise and blessing, never ceasing,
To Thee given,
Here, and when we come to heaven.”