If we turn to this inspired account, we notice that Isaac had no bride until after that remarkable event in his history, his being offered up on the altar, and his being received in figure from the dead. It is written of Abraham, after he had offered up his only begotten son, that he accounted that “God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure” (Heb. 11:1919Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. (Hebrews 11:19)). Until this event, until in figure Isaac was raised from the dead, we do not hear of the bride of Isaac. This in our illustration then is the foundation of all that follows. “God will provide Himself a lamb.”
Was not this so in the great antitype? When God gave up His only begotten Son to the actual death of the cross, and until that work was finished on the cross, and God had raised up His Son from the dead—until that we have not one word of the Church, the bride of Christ, as an existing thing. So far then the illustration is in keeping with the New Testament account of the formation of the Church.
Then, in the account of Genesis, it is after the receiving of Isaac from the dead, that Sarah dies and is buried. It was after the death and resurrection of Jesus that the Jews were set aside, and for a time buried among the nations.
But still more striking is the fact, that after the death and resurrection of Isaac, the father, Abraham, and the risen son, Isaac, send the third person, the steward of the household, from Canaan (figure of heaven) for the specific purpose of fetching the bride, Rebecca, for Isaac the son. Could anything be more striking as a figure? It was after Jesus, the heavenly Bridegroom, had died, and was risen from the dead, and had ascended up to heaven, that the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to this world—the Jews having rejected the Savior-Messiah, and all the promises to Israel for a time being set aside, buried, as it were, for the present. Oh, that this were understood! The specific object of the descent of the Holy Spirit, as we shall see when we come to the Acts and epistles, was to form the bride, and take her to meet the Bridegroom. Let us look at this picture.
Eliezer then is a figure of the Holy Spirit come down from heaven. He comes, sent of the father, Abraham, for a bride for Isaac. He does not come for all Mesopotamia. And at this time Jesus does not ask for the whole world, but for those whom the Father has given Him, and who will compose the bride.
Mark, he comes in pure grace, giving freely his gifts, but giving first to the bride. Like Jesus at the well, he desires a drink of water from this stranger. For the Holy Spirit, as the Shepherd, also has joy in finding the lost one (Luke 15). But He brings all to her—the jewel for the forehead, and the bracelets for the hands. And not as the world, He gives all first. Such is the way of the Holy Spirit in taking of the things that are Christ's. It is the righteousness of God unto all, and the jewel upon the forehead of every one that believes; and where the righteousness of God is on the forehead. everlasting love clasps the hands. This free favor touches the heart of Rebecca. There is room enough for the camels to lodge in.
It is free favor, everlasting love, that opens the heart to Christ; and the Spirit then dwells there forever. The heart is won for Christ. Mark, this second type brings out the work of the Spirit in fetching the bride. Precious lessons for every servant of Christ. It is ours to seek this divine guidance, and when we have found it, to bow and worship. And now he brings out “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.” Yes, the gospel sent by the Holy Spirit is giving. Every other gospel is asking something from man, who finds he has nothing to give.
Which gospel do you hear? Giving in pure, free favor, like our picture here, or asking like the law, and giving nothing? But thus the Holy Spirit takes of the things of Christ for the bride. The precious realities of redemption are figured by jewels of silver, and divine righteousness by the figure of gold. All is from the risen Son, the heavenly Bridegroom. But when thus clothed, and made meet to be the bride of Isaac, is there nothing more? no question of responsibility for the bride? Yes, there is the question of all questions: “Wilt thou go?” Have we heard that question? The Holy Spirit will never ask you that question until He has shown you and given you all that makes you perfectly meet to be the bride of Christ. Ah, then your heart longs to be gone. Yes, she said, “I will go.” “And the servant took Rebekah and went his way.” Yes, she is gone from all she held dear in that land of idolators. SHE IS GONE to meet the bridegroom. She sits on the camel with her back on her former home, and her face toward the bridegroom and her future home. Which way do you sit, my reader? Is your back on all you once held dear in a sinful world? Is your face toward your waiting Bridegroom and your eternal home above? The true attitude of the Church is to go out to meet Him she loves. This was her first love. Yes, she turned her back on all below, to meet him she loved. The journey was long, in dependence at every step, on the guide who came to fetch her.
But the next event, after she left her old home, was, “Isaac came,” “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 to this agree the words of Jesus, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Yes, as Isaac came out in the fields of Canaan to meditate, so Jesus is now meditating in the fields of glory. Oh, that the bride may now lift up her eyes to see Him, as Rebecca lifted up her eyes and saw Isaac. May we, like her, dwell on all the Spirit has to tell us of the Man that comes out to meet us. Oh, yes, it is His delight to tell us more and more of the Man that comes out to meet us. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16-1716For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑17)).
Yes, as the call of Rebecca brings before us the work of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, to form and fetch the bride to meet and be forever with the Lord, this lovely picture will enable us to detect all that counterfeits His blessed work.
Let us try it. Here comes a very large company, led by a wonderful person. You will find his name and character in 2 Corinthians 11:1414And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14), and his company in verse 15. But how is this? They are all going the wrong way. They all have their backs on the coming of the Lord. They all say in their hearts, “My lord delayeth his coming.” They are full of hatred to Rebecca, and would like to smite her. They say, We are the church, and all that do not belong to us are damned, or shall be, both in this world and the next, so soon as we have power.
Well, they seem very much in earnest; they seem to have an object before them. If it is not Christ coming from heaven to meet them, what is it? Ah, if you could but get it out of them, you would not forget it.
Ask one or two. Well, try this one—the Reverend So-and-so. Kindly excuse me, do you not profess to be a Christian, and this company with you, does it not bear the name of being “the church,” the bride of Christ? “Yes, quite so. And we are the only church; all others are heretics, and will be lost forever.” This is strange. Did not the Church of Christ in the beginning go out to meet Him? And you are going the wrong way, with your backs to the coming of the Lord, and your faces on what?
How many would say, if they spoke up, “I have no time to think about such things as the coming of the Lord; I am seeking a good living in the world. We want possession of all Mesopotamia, and divide it into parishes for priests.”
And here comes another. He might say, “I am not so foolish as to give up the world. I delight in the theater and all the dancing and carousing of Mesopotamia.” Poor things! When they think of eternity, they need a good amount of what they call pleasure to make up for the awful despair of eternity.
Far more than this is true of that company who assume to be the only church on earth, but alas, they are traveling the wrong way. But what a test for the writer, and every reader of these lines! Are we being led by Satan, or by the Holy Spirit? Is the world your object, or mine? Or is the object of our hearts the Bridegroom of the Church? Have we received the free grace gifts of the Holy Spirit? Christ our redemption; Christ our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our all? Have we been won to Christ? Have we said, “I will go”? What have we gone out from, to meet the Lord? Is He, the coming One, the Object of our hearts?
Before we look at our third picture, let us meditate on this question: Which way are we traveling? If not to meet the Lord, our name is not Rebecca. In this picture then we see that the purpose of the Father, and the work of the Holy Spirit during this time, is to gather and present the bride to the risen Son. This alone is the present work of the Spirit.