"A Bride for Isaac"

"A Bride for Isaac"The 24th chapter of Genesis begins with Abraham's realization that the time has come for Isaac to be married. Rather than let Isaac pick one of the local idolatrous ladies, Abraham calls for his servant and gives him a job."Travel a thousand miles to my family and find a bride for my son."You might expect Isaac to go with the servant and pick the woman out for himself, but three times Abraham forbids Isaac to go with the servant to choose his bride. Instead the father sends his servant to find a bride. She must be selfless, brave, and willing to leave everything behind in order to please her God.The servant tests her by asking for a sign: "Show me a servant who helps strangers." After he meets her he explains why he has come. She agrees to follow him across a dangerous desert to marry a man she hasn't even met. The servant leads the woman a thousand miles, giving her gifts along the way.Now Isaac is in the field meditating when he sees something in the distance. Not the woman, but camels. Remember that. As they near, the woman asks the servant, is this the master? Yes, he says. She covers her face with a viel. The servant tells Isaac about the miracles God did to bring the woman there. Isaac accepts and loves her. She becomes his bride.What does this show us? The son represents Christ and the bride represents those who are being saved, lead by the Spirit back to their saviour to be wedded forever with Him (Rev. 22.). Likewise, Paul writes that all men and women are supposed to symbolize this same relationship. Therefore, if we truly desire to be like Christ and the Church, then we must model this same example:At the right time God will send His Spirit to find a suitable bride, not an idolatrous woman, but a woman from "our own family". This woman is a selfless servant. The Spirit meets her at the place where everyone draws water, i.e. the Word of God, and compels her to follow Him into a life of dedication and trust. He gives her gifts of the spirit. So I know that the woman the God wants is a woman who is in the word and freely shares the word with total strangers.In turn, men are to be as Isaac, found "in the field" of evangelism which is so white with harvest. Men are to be meditating and praying that God sends more workers into the field. In fact, it says that Isaac was at a place called Beer Lahai Roi, which means "The well of God's vision for life." The man of God is to drink from God's vision for life. He water's the world with God's way of life, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.When the woman has been lead far enough away from her attachments to the former life then the Spirit will lead her into view. What the man of God sees first is not the figure of the woman but the method of her travel: as Isaac saw camels, so the man of God will see the woman riding upon the gifts of the Spirit.She asks the Spirit, is this the man? He says yes and she prepares herself by covering her outward beauty with godly humility. She steps off of her camel, which is a picture of the woman willingly lowering herself beneath the authority of her groom.The Spirit brings her closer to the man of God and tells him, "look at this woman who has left everything behind to follow Me into the pursuit of God's will. Look at how she has crossed a desert of trials, riding upon the gifts of the Spirit. This woman is chosen by God to be the wife of whomever the Father desires and she has proven herself to be a servant of all, a traveler and a sojourner. Accept her and love her." And so the chapter ends with the words, "Isaac loved Rebekkah."The Father will send His Spirit at the appropriate time to prepare wives for His sons. Until then men must be wholeheartedly in the fields of evangelism and prayer. When she does arrive, the man will know because of two things: he will see her riding upon the gifts of the Spirit instead of walking in her own strength. And the Spirit Himself will testify in the man's heart that God the Father has selected and prepared her, having first proven her worth as a helper by testing her willingness to serve strangers with the Word of Life.