The Hero of the Story
In the Beginning: A Study in Genesis • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 25:22
0 ratings
· 9 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
Sarah has passed away. Abraham is now very old. The focus of the Genesis account now begins to shift to Isaac, the only son of Abraham and Sarah, the son promised to them, the son through whom all the blessings of the promise will come.
The focus is no longer on Abraham as such, though he’s still involved here in Genesis 24. The focus has started to shift.
This is an important detail, a bit of carry-over from what we saw last Sunday: we are temporary/finite creatures.
Whereas we are temporary/finite creatures, the plan and purpose of God is an eternal one. God’s plan isn’t tied to Abraham or Isaac or David; not to Sarah or Rebekah or Rahab.
God’s plan and purpose are unshakable, unassailable. God will have His way. God’s plan is sure.
When we realize that Abraham and Isaac and every other character in the Biblical account is temporary/ finite/ transitory, we will stop thinking that any of them are the hero of the story.
This is the Sunday School problem. Sunday School is a good thing; it was formative in my life. But as I grew in my faith, I had to unlearn a good portion of the curriculum I was taught as a child.
Before you light your torches and ready your pitchforks, let me explain.
Most of the Bible characters were presented to us as heroes to emulate: Abraham was a hero of the faith. Moses was a hero among God’s people in Egypt. David was the hero of the Israelites in their battle versus Goliath. Daniel was a hero in Babylon.
Men and women from the Bible were presented as “the hero” and we were supposed to be more like them: do better, try harder, “slay giants.”
I’m sorry to say that’s missing the point of the Bible, almost entirely. We aren’t meant to be more like David or Moses or Abraham; we’re meant to be more like Jesus, more like the LORD—the true Hero of the Bible.
The Sunday School curriculum we’ve used here at RHCC for the last 10 years is from ‘The Gospel Project’. The mission of ‘The Gospel Project’ is to make central the Good News about God’s Only Son—the Hero of every story.
God Himself is the Hero of every biblical account, Genesis 24 included.
If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), turn to Genesis 24 and keep your Bible open there this morning as we look at and reflect upon God’s Word.
1 Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. 3 I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”
5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?”
6 “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. 7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. 8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
God is the Hero Here
God is the Hero Here
We’ll see this as we read through this chapter (half this week, and half next week; it’s a long one). I want you to keep this truth at the forefront as we journey though Genesis 24. God is the Hero.
All of this—everything in this chapter (and beyond)—works according to God’s plan and purpose. Apart from Him, there’s no way this comes together.
Abraham and his servant make an oath in the name of the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth concerning who Isaac should and shouldn’t marry.
Abraham insists that Isaac doesn’t marry any of the local Canaanite women (women who worship false idols and belong to a false god), and that Isaac doesn’t go back Abraham’s home country in the search for a wife there.
What’s guiding Abraham here?
First, his belief that Canaan is the land the LORD God has promised to him and his offspring. And second, his belief in the LORD God sending an angel ahead of his servant—The LORD, the God of heaven…will send His angel before you.
It’s not about Abraham or Isaac; it’s the LORD provision and promise. It’s God who’s sovereign over all of this; it’s His story, His plan, His purpose.
Abraham seems to understand this, seems to believe this, seems to have (finally!) oriented his life around this truth: God is the hero of the story.
It’s about Him and for Him and through Him that we live and move and have our being.
God is guiding Abraham in making sure Isaac stays in the land that God had promised to him/them and making sure he stays true to God, not allowing Isaac to marry a girl form a people who don’t worship the LORD.
The text continues:
10 Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. 11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.
In the span of 1 or 2 verses, Abraham’s servant travels over 500 miles, from Hebron in the land of Canaan to Mesopotamia, Paddan-Aram, Haran in the land between the two rivers.
[MAP]
It’s quite the journey; a few weeks worth of travel to head to Abraham’s home country. But Abraham’s servant does as he’s instructed, under Abraham’s orders, given by Abraham in faith that God would lead his servant to the woman who was to be Isaac’s wife.
12 Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”
15 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. 16 The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.
17 The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.”
18 “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.
19 After she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.” 20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. 21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.
God is the Hero, Doing the Impossible
God is the Hero, Doing the Impossible
This is needle-in-the-haystack stuff. To travel all this way and then to find the right woman. This is an impossible task; it really is.
Somehow, the servant of Abraham knows to pray when he makes it to the well outside of the town. He knows his only success will come from the LORD, the God of Abraham.
So, with faith like Abraham, the servant prays for guidance, asking the LORD to direct the events.
He prays in light of the steadfast love of God. This is the foundation for his prayer and ours.
The word in verse 12 and verse 14 translated kindness or steadfast love or lovingkindness is the word used of the covenant love of God. It’s hesed—an unbelievably significant word in the OT.
It’s the love of God that He shows to His people, a love that is steadfast and committed, an always-and-forever kind of love.
It’s this—the hesed of God—that forms the basis of the servant’s prayer. He trusts the LORD, and puts his faith in God’s great and committed kindness to Abraham.
He believes the LORD will lead him, or rather lead the woman the LORD has chosen for Isaac to him. “By this, I will know that you have shown kindness (hesed, steadfast love) to my master.”
The servant prays that the woman who comes and offers him a drink will also water his camels, too. That is, he wants for this woman to be someone who has a generous and caring disposition, someone with lovingkindness of her own.
My favorite turn of events in the chapter comes in verse 15:
15 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.
Before he had finished praying…
This is clear evidence of God at work, doing what is otherwise impossible. From the haystack of possible women who would visit the well, comes Rebekah.
The servant doesn’t yet know this detail. This is just for us, a “little did he know” kind of detail inserted into the story for the readers to appreciate.
For those who have read/studied/preached through Abraham’s life in Genesis, it should dawn on us that we’ve read this name ‘Rebekah’ before. It’s at the end of Genesis 22.
The author relaying these events clues us in: this girl who’s come to get water is from Abraham’s people. This, the beginning of God’s answering the servant’s prayer.
No one—save the LORD, the God of heaven and earth—could have done this. It’s far too detailed to be coincidence.
As my pastor, Ty Cross, says, “There is no coincidence in God’s economy.”
This is the faithful outworking of God’s covenant love and providence.
Sure enough, with hospitality typical of the day, Rebekah offers Abraham’s servant a drink. And then, she offers to water his camels until they had enough to drink.
Offering to water 10 camels (who drink up to 20 gallons at a time) is quite the offer, well-beyond what most people would offer.
Before he had finished praying, the LORD answered his prayer, doing the impossible. God really is the Hero here.
21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. 23 Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”
24 She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.” 25 And she added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.”
26 Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, 27 saying, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”
28 The young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things. 29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring.
God is the Hero, Working Out Every Detail
God is the Hero, Working Out Every Detail
This is just exactly what the LORD does. He’s the one orchestrating these events, leading the servant of Abraham to this place, bringing Rebekah (the daughter of Abraham’s nephew) to the well, answering the servant’s prayer exactly (and then some).
When Rebekah answers the servant, saying she’s a member of Nahor’s family, that is, a member of Abraham’s family, the servant bowed down and worshiped the LORD.
Worship is the proper response to what the LORD has done here for Abraham’s servant and Isaac. He bowed down and worshiped the LORD.
Brothers and sisters, understand: worship is the proper response to what the LORD does in your life and mine.
When we’re aware of what the LORD does in our lives, I wonder how often we stop and worship.
If we think life is all just a bunch of random events and circumstances of our own making, we are woefully mistaken.
It’s laughable, really, to believe that we’ve landed where we have, that we have what we have, that we are who we are simply by chance.
It’s the LORD’s leading. It’s His providence over our individual lives, His perfect direction.
The truth of this account is found in the servant’s worship, in what he says about the LORD. “As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey…the God of my master Abraham has not abandoned His kindness and faithfulness to my master.”
It’s the LORD working out all the details. He led the servant on his journey. The servant can see this plainly. “As for me,” he says. This is personal.
This is the providence of God shown to this man personally.
The LORD has orchestrated these events. He’s leading and guiding and working-out every detail for His glory and the good of His people.
This providence is part of the character of God:
J.I. Packer defines providence as, “The unceasing activity of the Creator whereby, in overflowing bounty and goodwill, He upholds His creatures in ordered existence, guides and governs all events, circumstances, and free acts of angels and men, and directs everything to its appointed goal, for His own glory.”
God works out every detail for His people.
God had promised Abraham land, offspring, blessing. Abraham waited for decades. The years of waiting were full of ups and downs. Many would look at Abraham and Sarah’s situation and consider it to be hopeless. Two people, at their respective ages, with everything stacked against them…it doesn’t look good.
Except for this one truth: God is faithful. God has proven Himself over and over.
God made a promise to Abraham. It wasn’t going to come to an end with Abraham.
If Abraham’s offspring were going to become as numerous as the stars in the sky or grains of sand on the seashore, Abraham must have a son.
Isaac is born to Sarah and Abraham. But now Isaac needs a wife if the promised line is going to continue. Rest assured, the LORD is going to see to the continuation of Abraham’s family.
You see, because the LORD had made a promise, much earlier in Genesis. In Genesis 3, God promised to raise up a man from the offspring of Eve to make right what sin had broken.
Here, down the line from Adam and Eve is Abraham. And now Isaac. From the line of Abraham and Isaac, would come Jesus, the One who would crush the head of the serpent, fixing what sin had broken.
If there’s no wife for Isaac…what would that mean for the promise of God?
God will see to His promise. Indeed, He has! Jesus, the One promised of God, comes and crushes the head of the serpent. In His death and in His resurrection from the dead, Jesus fulfills every promise of God—and fixes what sin had broken. Jesus makes for mankind the way back to right relationship with God.
God does here what would otherwise be impossible. He works out all the details. It’s not simply coincidence or luck that the servant finds Rebekah.
It’s God’s plan, His purpose for His people.
God is the Creator of all things. He’s the LORD over all things. He arranges everything to its appointed end.
We are meant to see this—how the LORD God providentially orchestrated all of this—we’re meant to see this and worship.
Worship the God who is, the God who acts according to His character, the God who works out every detail.
We’re meant to worship the LORD.
I hate to break it to you: the main character in your story is not you, as much as you’d like to think so. You’re not the lead actor; you’re not up for any awards. You are not some autonomous being, responsible for your fate, dictating and controlling your own life. You’re not the hero.
God is the hero of your story and mine. He is in charge, in control, providentially ordaining, maintaining all things.
Entrust yourself and your existence to the LORD’s providential care.
His kindness and faithfulness, His steadfast love and goodness—lean on that.
Trust His way and His plan; it’s better—by far—than anything you can imagine for yourself.