This is a subject of great importance which is told here in Genesis in sixty-seven verses. "This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church." Eph. 5:3232This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:32). The Bible begins with the bride and ends with the bride. Prophetic scriptures like Gen. 24 illustrate the Church according to Rom. 6:23, 26.
Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ. according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever.
Suppose that we leave Christ and the Church out of this chapter, what is there of interest to us or the unconverted man? But what an unfolding of the mind of the Godhead we have in it: the Father's mind, the Son's will, and the Holy Spirit carrying it out. It brings forth very distinctly that the bride must not be of the angels; he charges his servant not to take a wife for his son from the Canaanites.
Rebekah wears the gold first, divine righteousness. Afterward, the jewels of silver, gold and garments all come in their place. So we must be suited to Him first and afterward we learn.
The bride of Christ was to be gathered in the place where redemption had been accomplished and from among the children of men. The bride is not gathered in heaven, she is gathered on earth. Man was not made for heaven, nor heaven for man. Heaven is the Lord's and the earth was given to the sons of men.
God's counsels and His ways are two different things. When the Lord says, "In My Father's house," there is no place for man there until He gets there, and that was not until after the earth had no place for Him. The Savior was refused by man a home on earth, but He went to heaven to prepare a place for man. John 17:4, 5: "I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.”
“In My Father's house are many mansions" is an allusion to the abodes in the temple with a balcony connecting them. All were gathered around Him. The word "many" denotes no limit. He says, "I will receive you unto Myself" not to the abodes. We do not want an empty house. It is association with Himself; He is to be surrounded with human abodes. No place could satisfy the heart of the saint if the Son were not in the Father's house. One hears lots of talk and sentimentality about heaven, but little about the person of Christ. Always in Scripture we go to be with Christ; for example, "to-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise." "My delights were with the sons of men" will be fulfilled then. The counsels of God are eternal and His ways are in time.
The faithful servant is the dependent servant. He speaks as though he had nothing, but he is in charge of all of his master's goods. He was faithful, not only at the beginning, but at the end too. Likewise, during our course of service there are sure to be places of testing, but we are to look to the One who is leading us on.
There were ten camels loaded up for the bride. Ten typifies all the fullness that God can supply. Everything is provided for the journey. We don't often realize the counsels of God concerning ourselves. We think of that other woman the Lord Jesus met at the well in John 4 which shows us where the bride came from, but Gen. 24 shows us where she was taken to! We little think how precious we are to God and how He thinks of us!
Neither Christ nor this servant tell these women what they came for, but the Lord asked the woman for a drink. The water out of the well was refreshment for the soul. There that poor woman was supplying His need and refreshment too.
The camels are the circumstances that take us through this scene. They have big broad feet; they cannot sink, although often, on her journey, Rebekah was jolted forward and sometimes backwards.
Blest the sorrow, kind the storm
That drives us nearer home.
The eldest servant ruled over all that the master had, a picture of the Holy Spirit. If we take a bit of trouble to minister to the saints, "I will repay thee, saith the Lord.”
Isaac was comforted after the death of his mother. The loss of his mother was the loss of Israel for the Lord, and it was a loss that was felt by the Lord. He is not without companionship in heaven. No one can tell what joy it will be for the Lord to receive the Church to Himself. It is not until after we are really saved that we can enter into this. After Rebekah had on the jewels of gold, she delighted in hearing the story of such a man; the one who had been laid on the altar and who had inherited ail that his father had. We want to be with Christ where He is and that is what makes us want to be Like Him now. Rebekah's jewels answer to the righteousness of God put upon us. "Let the damsel abide a few days, at the least ten." How we appreciate these things now, as we could riot ten, twenty, or thirty years ago. During our detention we are learning lessons we would never learn in heaven, lessons of dependence and discipline. "Take My yoke upon you," that is the ten days.
W. Potter