Issac, the Son of Promise

I want to continue in the study that we have been making of one of the administrations where God had worked with, in amazing ways, the patriarchs. We mentioned seven different administrations that you can read about in the Bible. The first one being just simply innocency, the very short time that you had with Adam and Eve. And then secondly, following that, a time of just following human conscience, which clearly didn't bring about a good result and ultimately led in the flood.

And then beyond that, you find a period that is really a remarkable period that takes up pretty much the rest of the book of Genesis. And you term that the administration of the patriarchs. We went through. Jacob was the first one that we have studied about. And then later, Jacob's grandfather, Abraham. Now, normally you see a sequence of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and that clearly is true.

But I started with Jacob because of the significance that he has in connection with the children of Israel. He was actually the forefather directly of the sons that would make up the tribes of Israel. And of course, in going back to his grandfather, Abraham, this was a very unique beginning where God was beginning to work with people in a clear direction, in a clear way, to be able to know how. And it's just stunning to me every time I read in primarily the book of Genesis how that God appeared to so and so.

Or God Almighty, Jacob actually says this to his sons. He says this to Joseph and to others. He says, God Almighty appeared to me. And of course, Jacob did wrestle with the one who would later become Jesus Christ, the one who is our Creator.

And yet, as we studied the lives of Jacob, and then as we studied Abraham, we learned about how it was that Jacob really became converted. He switched from being a deceiver, from being this supplanter, to someone who was prevailing with God. Someone who was very determined in his response to God, in his obedience to God.

And we also, in studying Abraham, learned about how it was that he became to be called the Father of the faithful. And as we know, he was credited to be righteous according to his faith, but he followed that up with his works. He followed that and completed that with his obedience because he truly loved God.

He truly was grateful and thankful for what God had done for him and in his life. So those two patriarchs are truly remarkable. But I ask us today, what do we learn? What do we recall about the life of Isaac, the one that's in the middle? The one who is called, and Isaac is said to be the son of promise.

Very clearly he was the son of Abraham. He was the son of Abraham in a remarkable way. And he was the father to Jacob. And whenever we read about the life of Isaac, you read it in the book of Genesis starting in chapter 21 where he was born and then through chapter 35.

So chapter 21 through chapter 35 is where Isaac's life is primarily summarized. And I want to be able to cover at least part of that during our sermon today. But actually, when you look through the rest of the Bible, you see the terminology Abraham and Isaac and Jacob either being in the kingdom of God or being the forefathers or being the patriarchs. That phrase is quite common in the Bible.

But particularly, Isaac's life is not covered very much in detail at all. About the only thing you see is here in Hebrews 11, you see Isaac mentioned, but you actually find it mentioned only very, very briefly. Here in Hebrews 11, you see several verses from verse 8 down to verse 19 that dealt with Abraham. Now, that was quite a lot of information that was added by Paul about Abraham and how faithful he had been to God and how he looked to the kingdom.

He looked to the kingdom of God. He looked to something that was promised that he never received. Yet in regard to Isaac, verse 20 is all we have. By faith, Isaac invoked blessings for the future on Jacob and Esau. That's all it says.

We can go back and in the book of Genesis, you can see how it was that Isaac did bless Jacob. He did give Jacob a great deal of prominence. Actually, as we learned when we went over that, Jacob was conniving to be able to get that blessing. But again, God was directing that. I think that Isaac certainly did know that Jacob was going to be the one through whom God was going to cause a great deal of blessing to come.

But clearly, even though there's very little information here in Hebrews, it shows that Isaac trusted that God would faithfully follow through on those blessings. Whenever he blessed Jacob, he gave him a considerable blessing. And later, even when he blessed Esau, which was with a lesser blessing, I think he fully believed and fully knew that God would bring that to pass.

I want us to be reminded of how it is, again, the Old Testament and the New Testament tie together. How is it that they are made to be united? There's a great deal of unity in the New and the Old Testament. And one thing we find whenever we study Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, Abraham is always or many times referred to, or you can see, that he is a type of God the Father. Abraham was the first individual that God started working with here in Genesis 12.

He started working with him. He directed him where to go. He told him what to do. He told him how to do it.

You see that Abraham responded in obedience. He responded in a responsiveness that was truly extraordinary. And so Abraham can be seen as a type of God the Father. Now that puts Isaac in a very unique situation because he can be viewed as a type of Jesus Christ. The Father and the Son clearly in the God family, but here in a physical family that God would work through Abraham, the Father, and Isaac, a very, very special son.

God even said, I've chosen to work with Abraham and I'm choosing to work with Isaac and not Ishmael. And later I'm choosing to work through Jacob and not Esau. And so God's hand was clearly involved. And I think as we think about it, Isaac and the way that he came to be born. He was born when Abraham was 100 years old. He was born when Sarah was 90. This was not expected.

It was not expected except that God said he would cause Isaac to be born. He would cause a son to be born to Abraham and to Sarah. But we see about Isaac that he was a son who was born according to faith, according to promise, not simply according to the flesh, but according to promise. It was predicted God would bring this son to pass. And you also find that his birth was announced beforehand. Abraham had many years waiting or wondering when God was going to provide a son. A son that he would work through. You also find, of course, that Isaac's birth, his conception and ultimately his birth was truly miraculous.

Because it was beyond time when either one of them would expect to be having children. So when we think about this, when we think about Isaac, there is a lot more that can be learned by all of us as members of the Church of God today. We make up a part of the body of Christ. We are looking to Jesus Christ as the head of the church.

The church is described as the body of Christ. It's described as the wife or a bride anticipating to be a part of a marriage to Jesus Christ. We might take a look at that here in Revelation 19. This is of course at the end of the book, at the end of the Bible, and at the time when Jesus is returning and establishing his kingdom on earth. But here in Revelation 19, it says in verse 7, Let us rejoice and let us exult and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. And the very last part of verse 7 is what I want to focus on. The marriage of the Lamb is going to happen.

And it says His bride, the bride who is His spouse who were engaged to Jesus Christ today, which should be each and every one of us. Each of us, whether we're male or female, we make up a part of the church. We make up a part of the bride that is in preparation for a marriage. It says in verse 7, His bride has made herself ready. We have to ask ourselves, are we making ourselves ready? Are we learning the examples and the illustrations of the Bible that prepare us for that tremendous union that's going to take place whenever Jesus returns, whenever this great marriage happens?

Are we prepared? Are we planning and looking forward to that? We might also look in 2 Corinthians 11. Because in 2 Corinthians 11, you see Paul writing about the church in this way. Second Corinthians 11, you find Paul in this whole chapter defending himself in a sense. He's defending his ministry.

He's defending the fact that he was an apostle. He had to elaborate on a number of the things that he had done and that he continued to do in service to the brethren. And yet he points out in verse 2 a very special concern for this particular group of Christians, the church that lived in Corinth.

He says, I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I have promised you in marriage to one husband. See, here he's talking about the church, per se. And he says spiritually, you know, you make up a body, a group that is to be prepared or preparing to eventually be a part of a marriage. I have promised you in marriage to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Jesus Christ. And I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ, from a simplicity that is in Jesus Christ.

See, he didn't want them to be sidetracked. He didn't want them to go off into a false way. He wanted them to remain faithful. He wanted them to be consistent with what he had taught and what he preached. And so he continued to point out that they needed to be on guard against those who would take them away from their responsibility of growing up to be this chaste virgin who is espoused, engaged to Jesus Christ, awaiting that marriage.

And he describes that, and that needs to be in our thinking as we study what we can hear about Isaac. Because it's interesting to see that there are many parallels between what Isaac actually did and even more so perhaps what his wife, Rebecca, went through. Isaac was going to marry Rebecca.

They would later have Jacob and Esau. But what can we learn about this woman that was selected to marry Isaac? See, I want us to look in Genesis 24, primarily today. I'm not going to go through the entirety of what we read about Isaac because some of it is not directly talking about just something that we can focus on.

We've already read about his blessing of Jacob and Esau. But in chapter 24, you've got a unique illustration. And this illustration actually involves Isaac's to-be wife, Rebecca. And how it was that she was cultivated or selected and then nurtured to be eventually the wife of Isaac who would be a part of the patriarchal family. In this chapter, and again, it's a pretty long chapter. I'm not trying to read through the entirety of it, but I certainly want to read some of it. Here in verse 1, it says, Abraham was old. He was well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.

And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest in his house, he says, I want to charge you to do something. I want you not to take a wife for my son Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live. But in verse 4, I want you to go to my country, to my kindred, and to get a wife for my son Isaac.

And the servant said, well, verse 5, perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me. And so he has a discussion here with Abraham. Abraham, in this case, Abraham was old. He knew that he wanted to prepare for Isaac, a proper family, a proper marriage. And this was, of course, the custom at the time that there was a great deal of arrangement that was made. And in this case, he certainly wanted Isaac to marry someone who, in a sense, was related to him in his family.

And so, after getting this charge, after getting this charge from Abraham, the servant begins in verse 10. It says he took ten of his master's camels, and he departed, taking all kinds of gifts from him from the master. He sent out to the city of Nahor. And in verse 11, this is what this servant did. In a sense, this seems kind of unusual. But in another way, it was exactly how it was that God was going to point out who Isaac was to marry. In verse 11, this servant made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water.

And it was outside the city at the well. It was toward evening. It was a time when women would go to draw water. And here, this servant prayed in verse 11. O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. I'm standing here by the spring of water, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.

Verse 14, he says, Let the girl, to whom I shall say, Please offer your jar that I may drink, let her respond by saying, Drink, and I will water your camels. It's kind of a strange thing to say, or you would think. And it says, Let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. And by this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master. And so here, this servant of Abraham had traveled to the country where Abraham had told him to go to find a wife for Isaac.

And he prays to God, and he actually sets this up. He says, Well, the girl that I asked for a drink, the right one that I'm looking for, I want her to respond, and I will water your camels. This is actually about watering camels, and you're going to find that out here in just a second. In verse 15, before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah. Rebekah who was born to Bethul, the son of Malchoh, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother. So this was a cousin, in a sense, of Isaac.

He says, She was coming out with her water jar on her shoulder. And in verse 16, the girl was very fair to look upon, a virgin whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. And the servant approached her. He ran to meet her and said, Please let me sip a little water from your jar. And in verse 18, Rebekah says, Drink, my Lord.

And she quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. And when she had finished giving him a drink, and she said, I will draw water. I will draw for your camels as well until they have finished drinking. So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well of water. And she drew for all his camels. The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful. Now clearly this was an answer to this man's prayer.

It was an answer to this man's prayer, but it was also revealing something about Rebekah. It was revealing something about the character of the young woman who would become a wife for Isaac and how it was that she viewed herself and her life and what it was that she had to offer to this fabulous lineage of the patriarchs.

If we read on a little bit, verse 22, when the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold nose ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets and gave those to her in thanks. And it says, tell me whose daughter you are? Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night? This servant had been sent on a mission by Abraham. He didn't know exactly who he was to find, but God was going to point this out.

But see, you see, you have an incident here where Rebekah is drawing water for the camels. You have to wonder, how much water do you have to draw to fill up ten thirsty camels? See, and she had to go from the well to the trot to the well to the trot to the well to the trot to the well to the well to the well, back and forth and back and forth, probably with a bucket or pail of a gallon or two in order to continue filling this trot until all the camels are finished drinking.

See, that's significant, as I'll point out to you in a little bit. Because of the labor involved and because of the diligence that she was applying. But you see throughout the remainder of the chapter that the servant deals with the family of Rebekah. And he comes to them and he talks to them and he tells them what's going on.

And he tells them that he's from his master. He's telling them he's from Abraham and that Abraham is an impressively wealthy man and that he wants their daughter to be a part of his family and to come and marry Isaac. And after he discusses this with Laban, actually we're going to find Laban in the picture a little later with Jacob because that's who Jacob was deceived by, his own kin.

And yet, here you find as you drop down to verse 50, you find that Laban, after they were asked, what do you think? Do you think that you should send or can you give your daughter to be Isaac's wife? They say the thing comes from the Lord.

We cannot speak to you anything bad or good. Look, Rebekah is before you. Take her and go. Never be the wife of your master's son as the Lord has spoken. See, in a sense, we're ready to just give her away. They were in a sense ready to make her available.

As we read on, we find out as they discuss that, they thought perhaps he might wait around for a week or two at 10 days and yet the servant says, I'm going to be going back pretty quick. I've found what I've come for and I'm going to return. So, is Rebekah ready to go? You find out as they discuss it with her that she was willing to go and that she was in subjection to this servant and she was willing to go and be married to Isaac.

And so what are lessons that we might see here from this selection of Rebekah that could be applicable to us as we have been selected and we are to be in preparation for a great marriage in the immediate future. Whenever Jesus returns, we are going to be a part of a marriage if we are prepared. In Revelation 19, it talks about how wonderful it is to be invited to be a part of that marriage.

And yet it says the bride should make herself ready. And so each one of us can learn lessons from what we see with Rebekah. The first one I want to mention, there are five of them that I mention here. And again, I hope all of us can see how significant these are because they apply to us spiritually. They even would apply physically. If any of us, we have younger girls here, what kind of a younger girl should you be if you are a younger girl waiting and looking forward to marriage?

What do you need to have in mind? The first thing that you can very easily see when you read chapter 24, verse 16, is that Rebekah was living by a set of standards. She was living a chaste life. She was living with not just an attractiveness that may have been a physical attractiveness because it says later she was very attractive or very beautiful, but more than that, her character was appealing.

Verse 16, talking about Rebekah, the girl was fair to look upon, a virgin whom no man had known, and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. She was very diligent. She was very capable. She had a character. She was, as it says, chaste, in a sense pure. She understood and upheld the sanctity of marriage. As we all know, the great debates that go on, not only in this country but around the world, about someone wanting to redefine marriage, people trying to desecrate a consecrated institution that God himself set up. This wasn't the thought that Rebekah had. She very much appreciated the sanctity of marriage.

She had kept herself pure for when she would be married. And yet you find, as you look at this, not only in verse 16, but if we drop down to verse 65 here, most of this is in chapter 24, whenever Rebekah was returning with the servant, and she was approaching where Abraham and Isaac would live.

It says in verse 64, Rebekah looked up and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel and said to the servant, who is that man over there walking in the field to meet us? The servant said, well, that's my master. And so she took her veil and covered herself. She had a certain level of modesty, a certain understanding of discretion, a certain level of discreteness in the way that she understood how she should act.

And certainly, living by a set of standards would be the first thing that all of us should think about as we prepare for our marriage to Jesus Christ. We want to live by the standards of God's law. We want to value God's values. We want to honor His ways and not the ways of the world and not things that just seem right to us, but exactly what it is that God wants for us.

So the first thing is that we see that Rebekah lived by a set of standards. Secondly, she had a service-oriented nature. You read this in verse 18. She said, drink, my Lord. And she quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. And in verse 24, she said, I'm the daughter of Bethul. Verse 25, she said, because the servant had asked, do you have a place where we could stay?

She was not only thinking of herself, but of them and of their traveling, people who were with them, the camels that would be there with them. She says, we have plenty of straw, we have plenty of fodder, we have a place for you to spend the night. And the man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord and said, Bless be the God of Abraham, who has not forsaken His love and faithfulness toward my master.

See, this was, and again, in a sense, the way that, you know, Sarah, or Rebecca in this case was, was responding to this servant. She was thinking of how she might help them. She was thinking about how, and of course you can see from the way she was willing, you know, to water the camels, that she was at least strong enough to do that. She was energetic. She was hardworking. She was industrious. She was friendly. You know, the servant wondered how she might interact with him. You know, that's exactly what he found in this wonderful girl that God, in a sense, had provided for him to take back to his master, Isaac.

You see a matter of courtesy or being kindly and loving toward others. And then the third thing I'll mention, because it involves the watering of the camels there in verse 19 and 20, is that she had an eye for the needs of others. Not only did she live by standards and that she was hardworking and diligent, she had a good character, but she also had an eye for the needs of others. Verse 19, when she finished giving him a drink, she says, I will draw for your camels as well until they have finished drinking. And so she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran, ran again to the well to draw.

And she drew for all the camels. And it says in verse 22, when the camels had finished drinking. Again, you don't know how long did that took. How much effort did that take? And she could clearly see that this servant, having traveled a distance and having camels that were in need of being watered, she could see the needs that needed to be cared for. I think that we might consider that or think about that as we consider how it is that we function with each other, how it is that we are in our home, how it is that we're with our husband or wife, how it is we're with our family or even with our congregation, how it is that we're looking out for the needs of others.

And not only that we see those needs, but we make ourselves available to fill those needs as Rebecca did. The fourth thing I'll mention is simply that as the servant realized, you know, she was willing to help him in thanks. He gave her some gifts. You also find a little bit later here in verse 53, after he had discussed the possibility of her returning with him, he gave even more gifts from Abraham to this family.

In verse 53, the servant brought out jewelry of silver and gold and garments and gave more of these to Rebecca, but he also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments. Now you might say, well, how does that tie in? Well, that was the fact that Abraham was sending through this servant gifts to Rebecca, and he wanted her to feel appreciated. He wanted her to feel a part of that family, and he wanted her, and we might apply it to us.

God has given us many gifts. He's given us not only the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is perhaps the most wonderful gift we could ever have, but he's given us other gifts, given us other talents, given us other abilities that we should use in service to others. But clearly, as Rebecca appreciated those gifts, we can appreciate the gifts that God has extended to each of us. And then finally, the fifth thing here is what we read in part down here in the latter part of this chapter 24. Rebecca was willing to be in subjection. She was willing to be in cooperation with this servant of Abraham, and ultimately then in subjection to Isaac as she then would marry him. If we begin in verse 58, now I guess we should back up. Verse 56, the servant tells the house of Laban and Rebecca's family, Don't delay me, since the Lord has made my journey successful. Let me go that I may go to my master. They said, well, we will call the girl and we'll ask her. Verse 58, they called Rebecca and said to her, will you go with this man? She said, I will. And so they sent away their sister Rebecca and her nurse, along with Abraham's servant and his men. And they blessed Rebecca and said to her, may you, our sister, become thousands of myriads. May your offspring gain possession of the gates of your foes. And then Rebecca and her maids rose up and mounted the camels and followed the man. Thus, the servant took Rebecca and went on his way. She was willing to be in subjection, to be in submission. And you can see that from her response. She in a sense understood what was being offered. It sounded exciting. It sounded as if God had put his blessing on it. And he wanted, or she wanted to go with him. She wanted to go, because again, it was a matter of would she go? And Abraham had even talked to his servant because the servant said, what if she won't go? What if she won't come? Abraham said, don't worry about that. God is the one who is involved in providing her. And certainly, whenever we think about our calling, we think about the responsibility that we accepted when we were baptized, when we were making a commitment that was for the rest of our lives. This is the type of thing that Rebecca was saying, I'm willing to be in subjection. I'm willing to serve my husband Isaac, and I'm certainly willing to go with this servant. That's the fifth point that I want to point out, but I also want to point that point out, the number five about being in subjection, because you find that as well in the nature and in the character of Isaac. I mentioned earlier that Isaac is a type of the way Jesus would be, a type of the way that the Son of God, as the Lamb of God, would come to the world and would then give His life, because He is to give His blood for the rest of all of us who need that blood to cover us. Isaac was very much displaying an attitude of willingness to be in subjection to not only His Father, but as each one of us are to be in subjection to the Father. Let's jump back to chapter 22, because in this chapter, you see perhaps the most remarkable description of what it was that God asked Abraham to do. See, He had dealt with Abraham over decades of years now. He had told him to wait for a son, and ultimately He had given him. Twenty-five years later, He had given him a son named Isaac. And then, thirteen years after that, it says in verse 1 of chapter 22, God tested Abraham.

And He said in verse 2 of chapter 22, Take your son, your only son, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you. You then had to be an alarming message from God. That would have been incredible for any of us to hear that type of thing. But you see Abraham's response. Abraham rose early in the morning. He saddled his donkey. He took two of his young men with him. And he took Isaac, and he cut the wood for the offering. He set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. Mount Moriah would eventually become where Jerusalem is. It's where the Temple Mount is. This is of course later where Jesus would also be sacrificed as the Lamb of God. But here in verse 4, Abraham spent three days traveling to this location. The third day Abraham looked up and saw the place. In verse 5, Abraham said to his young men, the two men that he had taken with him, I want you to stay here with the donkey. The boy, Isaac and I, will go over there, and we will worship, and we will come back to you. See Abraham made a very declarative statement. He understood what God had told him to do. He had gone on this trip with two men, and with Isaac, and with himself. And as he had them stay behind, he and Isaac were going to be the only ones who know what really happens. And yet he says, we're going to go, we're going to worship God, and we're going to come back. As we know in the book of Hebrews, it describes how it is that Abraham had to realize that, well, since God was going to bless me through this sun, and there were to be generations after generations that would come through Isaac, that if he allows me to go through with this offering, then he'll also have to resurrect Isaac from the dead. So he said, we're going to go, we're going to worship, and we're going to come back. So in verse 6, Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and he laid it on his son Isaac. Again, Isaac is carrying the wood. He's carrying the wood up to where he's going to be a part of this offering. And Abraham himself carried the fire and the knife, and so the two of them walked on together. It actually makes that statement. The two of them walked on together. They left the men whom they had brought with them. The two of them went together. They were the only two who would know what actually took place. Now they could tell someone later, but ultimately they would be the ones who would know. And interesting, of course, this particular example in chapter 22 is about Abraham and how God was dealing with him and how he was testing him. But I want to focus on what it was that Isaac was doing. Isaac was a teenager, a younger teenager, perhaps. Abraham was 100 years old.

Isaac could have easily run off. He could have easily gotten away, I would imagine. And yet that's not exactly what you find. In verse 7, Isaac said to his father Abraham, Father, and he said, Here I am. He said, The fire and the wood are here, but where's the lamb for the burnt offering? He got to looking around and realized this doesn't look too good.

This is very unusual. And Abraham said, in verse 8, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And again, it says the two of them walked on together. There was a certain bond, a certain closeness, a certain respect, a certain faith that I know that God had been working with Abraham a number of years in order for that faith to grow. But Isaac was a young boy. What kind of faith did he have? What kind of confidence did he have in the great God? Did he have the same type of confidence that his father had that God would resurrect him from the dead?

You know, it doesn't say. We don't know. But what we do see is in verse 9. Verse 9, when they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar, and he laid the wood on the altar, and he bound him on Isaac, and he laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Now, we know the rest of that story, and so I'm not focusing on that, but I am focusing on the fact that Isaac was seemingly in subjection to his father. He wasn't trying to get away.

He was willingly available. And you see that same type of thing whenever... If you think about this situation, and of course Abraham, I know, was so happy to see the ram caught in the bush, and to be able to have a sacrifice after God tells him.

And perhaps Abraham and Isaac both heard the angel of the Lord, verse 11, say, Abraham, do not lay your hand on the boy, or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. See, now that was directed at Abraham, but Isaac had to be hearing it.

He had to be aware that his father was dealing with the great God. He was dealing with the Creator God. And we go on to read how that... When he answered him again in verse 15, the angel of the Lord called to Abraham and said, By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this, you have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you. I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that's on the seashore, and your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing, be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.

See, now, not only did Abraham hear that, not only did he comprehend what it was that God was going to do as he promised, but see, Isaac had to be hearing that as well. He had to be aware, not only of what happened, which was miraculous, but of how it was that God was directing his Father. And so I think we could say that certainly Isaac displayed a yielded and willing spirit to his Father as he found himself in what you could only describe as an incredible and perhaps inexplicable situation.

Not something that anyone would want to find themselves in. But he, again, was showing that he wasn't going to demand his own way. He wasn't going to subject himself to all types of misinformation and running away or trying to thwart the plan. He was willingly in submission. And, of course, whenever we go to Luke 22 and we read about what it was that Jesus said as he was approaching the time that he would be taken and then crucified, Luke 22, starting in verse 39. This is just prior to Jesus being betrayed, being arrested, the next day being crucified. It says in chapter 22, verse 39, He came out, and as was his custom, he went to the Mount of Olives, the disciples followed him.

When he reached the place, he said to them, Pray that you not come into the time of trial, he withdrew himself from them about a stone's throw, and he knelt down and prayed. And he said in verse 42, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Yet not my will, but yours be done. Jesus' statement, his understanding of the plan, his understanding of God's purpose, his realization of the necessity for his sacrifice to be offered, was going to be not his will, but the Father's will that he wanted to follow.

So in a sense, you can very clearly see how that Isaac is thought to be a type of the way Jesus would later be, and how it is that as we study these patriarchs, as we study how it is that God chose to work with Abraham first and then Isaac and then Jacob and later Joseph. See, however, God chose to do that. That was what we want to keep in mind as we prepare for the marriage that we know is before us. If we go back to Revelation 19, we can conclude this by reading again a little more of the section here of Revelation 19.

Because this is a warning. A warning to all of us to be prepared. And every one of us has to individually be prepared. Individually, in subjection and in submission to God. And we have to ask ourselves, as it says here in verse 1, I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunder peels crying out and saying, hallelujah, the Lord God Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory and the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. And in verse 9, the angel said, write this, blessed are those who were invited to the married supper of the Lamb. He said, these are the true words of God.

We want to very much understand how it is that God is preparing us. How it is as He prepared Rebecca and as she displayed the attitudes that we would want to reflect as well. How God is preparing us. Are we truly living by God's standards? Are we living by true virtues? Do we live? Are our highest values the fruits of the Spirit of God? Are we reflecting the love and mercy and the judgment of God?

See, that's what we said about Rebecca. She was living by God's standards. And that, of course, is what we can do or should be doing as we prepare for this marriage. Are we service-minded? Are we service-minded as Rebecca was? Do we have an eye for the needs of others? Are we looking for an opportunity? Not looking to see how little can we do, but how much can we do to help? To help not only in our home, here in our congregation, and even with others as we interact either at work or elsewhere.

How are we? Do we have an eye for the needs of others? Do we use the gifts that have been given to us by our Father? Rebecca was given gifts by the servant, but they came from the Abraham. They came from the Master. They were given to her so that she would have them to use. We have to think about what kind of gifts we've been given and how we use those in service to others. And then, finally, are we willingly in submission to God? Even as Rebecca displayed that willingness, and certainly as Jesus would later show the perfect example of, Not my will, but yours be done in my life. See, those are the ways that we are preparing.

Those are the ways that the bride is making herself ready. And we can fulfill what it says here in verse 7 about the bride making herself ready. And in verse 8, to her, it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure. For that fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. See, we're expected to grow in faith. We're expected to grow closer to God. We're expected to have a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

We're expected to reflect that in our attitude and our outlook, but also in our deeds, in our actions that are described here as being clothed with fine linen. See, that's what God is wanting to see in all of us. And as we think about the life of Isaac, what he went through, how he would live through a period of time in conjunction between Abraham and Jacob, how he and Rebecca would be an example of the type of marriage, a type of respect that would be encouraging to others and certainly should be encouraging to us.

He gives us to see that the type of example, the type of outlook that they displayed is a part of what we should display as we also seek to be clothed in fine linen, which it says there in Revelation 19.8 is the righteous deeds of the saints. We want to do that, brethren. That's what God has called us. He's called us to be a part of his divine family.

We have a part in that. Respecting what he has done and respecting how he works with us and through us is how he wants us to grow in his divine nature.