Isaac through Whom the Seed Promise Came

1. How much do I trust in God?
2. When I know God’s desire for me, how long should I wait before heeding it?
3. How did people know God’s will for them in the Old Testament and how can I know God’s will for me today?

In the last blog, Abraham was sending his servant back to Abraham’s home county to find a wife for his son, Isaac, the son of promise. Abraham told the servant in Genesis 24 beginning in verse 2 he was not to take a wife of the Canaanites for Isaac. Abraham told his servant God would send His angel before the servant. The servant believed Abraham and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor. At a well of water, the servant prayed to God asking for success in finding this wife. He prayed for a woman to come to the well and upon his asking her, for her to give him water to drink and to also water his camels. If this happened, he would know she was the chosen one for Isaac.

Before the servant had finished his prayer, Rebekah came to the well. She was the daughter of Bethuel who was the son of Abraham’s brother, Nahor, making her Abraham’s niece. Rebekah filled her pitcher and as she came up from the well, the servant asked her for a drink. She gave him a drink and said she would get water for his camels. The servant watched her to see if the Lord was going to make his journey prosperous. After she watered the animals, the servant gave her gifts of jewelry and gold and then he asked her who she was and if there was room at her father’s house for him to stay.

Rebekah invited the servant to her father’s house where he was well received. The servant refused to eat until he told them his mission. He told them how well off Abraham had become and how he and Sarah had been blessed with a son in their old age. He told them Abraham had charged him with the task of finding a wife for Isaac who was to receive all of Abraham’s wealth. He told them how he had prayed for a woman to do just what Rebekah had done and now he was asking if her father and brother would give her as a wife to Isaac. Rebekah’s father and brother acknowledged this was from the Lord and they could not speak for or against it. They told him to take Rebekah as God had spoken. The servant then worshiped God and gave gifts to Rebekah’s family.

The next day the servant told the family to send him away to Abraham but they wanted him to stay at least ten days. Of course, they wanted some time to say goodbye to Rebekah. He asked them to send him and Rebekah on, so they called Rebekah to see what she wanted to do. She knew the mission was from God and she said she would go right then. They blessed her and sent her on with the servant. This can be a lesson for all of us in how we need to serve the Lord. When we know the Lord’s will, we should be ready to follow Him immediately. There is not need to wait for another day or even another hour. Do His will immediately.

But that brings up another of our thought questions. How do we know God’s will concerning our salvation today? It should be clear by now in the Old Testament times people knew of God’s will because He spoke directly to them. Some today would say God still speaks directly to us, but that is not what we find in the New Testament. Instead, we are to use our knowledge of God’s will as revealed to us in the scripture as we make our daily choices. There is an excellent article in which the author has provided many scriptures to help us understand how God speaks to us. If you read that article, you will find many references in the New Testament showing us we have everything we need to know today about God and salvation recorded in the scriptures. We do not need man’s opinion, church councils, or creeds and doctrines of men to guide us into eternal life with God. When we know the truth as provided by God through the writers of the Bible, we need to do as Rebekah and act upon it immediately. We need to be teaching others to do the same.

So Rebekah agreed to leave with the servant and he took her to Isaac and she became his wife. In the meantime, Abraham died at at he age of of 175. According to Genesis 25:9, both Isaac and Ishmael buried him. Although we know from previous scriptures, there was a problem between the boys, at Abraham’s death they came together and took care of the business at hand. Sometimes we too have to lay aside our differences in order to take care of the issues of life. It can be hard but it can be done. Both sons were blessed by God. Remember back in Genesis 21:13, although Ishmael was not the son of promise, God still promised Abraham to make a great nation of Ishmael. In Genesis 25:13-16 we have the names of the 12 sons of Ishmael. A search on the Internet will reveal many believe Ishmael to be the father of the Muslim nations while many reject that idea. The Bible does not tell us but the Bible is clear concerning Isaac’s seed.

Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, also had trouble becoming pregnant. Isaac prayed for her and God answered his prayer with twins. Rebekah felt them struggling within her and when she asked why, the Lord said there were two nations in her womb and one group of them would be stronger than the other with the older son serving the younger son. When the twins were born, the first came out red and hairy and they named him Esau. As his brother, Jacob was born, he took hold of Esau’s heel. We will look at the interesting and often deceitful lives of these children in the next blog.