Marriage by Faith, Part 1

Genesis 24
Gregory Broderick | Sunday, August 28, 2022
Copyright © 2022, Gregory Broderick

I am going to preach about Christian marriage from Genesis 24 both this morning and this evening.  So before we get into our text, I want to make some preliminary observations about Christian marriage.  The title is “Marriage by Faith.”

Christian marriage is important.  Marriage is of vital importance for the people of God.  The Bible is full of teaching about marriage and how we are to fulfill our roles as married people.  This should give us a hint that God is interested in marriage.  And, of course, we know that marriage was instituted by God Himself in the garden and before the Fall.  So marriage in the Lord is very good, as were all other things in the garden.

In Genesis 2:18, less than fifty verses into the Bible, we see the first marriage.  God says, “It is not good for man to be alone.”  Now, stop and think about that.  Everything else in the garden was good and very good.  But God said, “Something is lacking here,” and that was Christian marriage.  So God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.  I will make a suitable helper for him.”  We know that they were married, for Genesis 2:25 tells us that the man and his wife were naked and they felt no shame.  Note that this was Adam’s wife.  It was not a casual arrangement in the garden.  We note also since marriage was instituted before the Fall and that marriage was not a result of the Fall.  God created marriage in the pre-Fall garden for the good of His people.

We must be clear about our terms as we come to marriage.  What is Christian marriage?  There is all kinds of marriage available out in the world:  same-sex marriage, plural marriage—all manner of things.  I read a story about a person who married herself.  So the term does not mean anything in the abstract.  We are interested in Christian marriage, marriage as God defines it.

First, Christian marriage is one man and one woman.  God did not make two or three or one thousand wives for Adam in the garden.  It is one.  And that is true, despite the fact that it would be easier, or at least more efficient, to fulfill the mission to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth and subdue it if you have multiple gestations going on at once, such as certain animals do.  Yet God did not set up man and woman like the animals.  There is more to Christian marriage than mere procreation.  Certainly, having godly offspring is an important part of Christian marriage, but that is not the whole of it.  That is not all there is to it.  We see this in Genesis 2:24 early on:   “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”  This is speaking about more than mere reproduction.  There is a sense, generally, in which marriage makes the two of them whole.  It makes them complete for service to God.

Second, marriage is restricted to a man and a woman.  Man cannot marry another man in  the will of God.  Woman cannot marry another woman in the will of God.  You can do it in the state of California.  Soon, I imagine, we will have plural marriages between multiple parties and it will all be perfectly legal.  But as Christians, you can neither engage in nor support same-sex marriage.  It is antithetical to the idea of marriage as God defines it.

Now, we may hear that and think it is obvious.  But in 2018 Jimmy Carter (supposedly the great evangelical president), in speaking about gay marriage, said, “I believe Jesus would [support gay marriage].  I don’t have any verse in Scripture.”  That should be the first hint that you are off.  “I don’t have any verse in Scripture, but that’s just my own personal belief.  I think that Jesus would encourage any love affair if it were honest and sincere and was not damaging to anyone else, and I don’t see that gay marriage damages anyone else.”[1]  That is Jimmy’s belief.  But what does the Bible say?  Our only standard is the word of God, so what does the Bible say?  Genesis 3 says the man and the woman got married.  It makes no provision for same-sex marriage.  Abraham, Isaac, Noah—these people married one woman.  And in the few situations in the Bible where we see plural marriages, where provision was made for that, it was cast in a poor light even where tolerated.  Think about David, or think about Solomon, whose heart was led after other gods.

And, of course, homosexuality itself is also specifically condemned in Leviticus 18, Leviticus 20, 1 Corinthians 6:9, Romans 1:26–27, Jude 7, and so on.  So Jimmy might not have a specific Bible verse, but I do.  The  Bible says that man shouldn’t lie with another man.  It does not say man shouldn’t lie with another man unless they really love each other.  Our thinking is to be controlled by the word of God, not by culture and not by “my own personal belief,” as Mr.  Carter said.  Go back and read that sentence.  I have the benefit of having it written in front of me.  It is highlighted.  “I believe. . . . I believe. . . . my own personal belief. . . . I think. . . . I don’t see.”  The standard is not what I think or what I see.  It is the word of God.

Third, marriage is to be a lifelong commitment: “as long as you both shall live.”  There is no provision in God’s word for a no-fault divorce.  In fact, the Bible says God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16).  The Bible says, “Rejoice in the wife of your youth” (Prov. 5:18).  It doesn’t say, “Rejoice in your young wife.”  It says, “the wife of your youth.”  So you stick with the wife of your youth.  Mark 10:9 says, “What God has joined together, let man not separate,” including the man or the woman in the marriage.  There is some biblical argument for divorce in very limited cases of adultery, abuse, abandonment, and so on.  But such a narrow exception should prove the rule and the importance of the rule: that marriage is to be a sacred, binding, lifelong, and generally inviolable commitment.

Fourth, marriage is to be “in the Lord.”  A Christian is not to marry an unbeliever.  He or she must be “in the Lord” (1 Cor. 7:39).  Now, there are exceptions to this rule.  If one is already married when he or she is converted, then that man or woman must remain married if the spouse is willing.  But, generally speaking, as believers we are not to intermarry with the world (Deut. 7:3).  God gives the command in Deuteronomy 7:3 and He gives the reason:   “They will surely turn your hearts after other gods.”

This is not jingoism or some kind of cultural superiority.  It is a spiritual precaution.  After all, how can two walk together unless there is agreement (Amos 3:3)?  It is very, very difficult, or perhaps impossible, to live for the glory of God or to raise your children in the fear of the Lord if your head or your helpmeet, your closest ally, is working against you or undermining you.  Eventually, you will probably go one way or the other.

Consider Solomon, whom I referenced earlier.  He married 700 wives and 300 concubines, despite knowing God’s contrary command.  Perhaps he thought, “Well, that does not apply to me.  That is for regular people, but I am the king.”  Or maybe he thought, “I have to do it to make allies or trade agreements.”  It was the way that you made deals at that time.  Or maybe he thought, “I can handle it.  God has appeared to me twice and I am a very mature person.”  Whatever he thought was the exception for him, it did not work.  He was not the exception.  His heart was turned after other gods.  And I want to tell you, young people, you are not the exception either, and your heart will be turned after other gods.  What happened to Solomon?  In 1 Kings 11:4 we read, “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods.”  And as Pastor Mathew put it, Solomon introduced pluralism into the heart of the kingdom of God.  He was not just satisfied to go and worship other gods, but he introduced this idea to Israel.  He built temples for Chemosh, for Molech, for Ashtoreth, and for all other idols.  So also Samson, and we could come up with a whole list of people who did this and fell.

The point is this:  A true believer will follow God’s clear word only to marry in the Lord; that is, only to marry another believer.  It is no exaggeration to say that marriage is the second-most important decision in your life and has a substantial relationship to the first.  The first, of course, is whether you will confess Jesus Christ as Lord and persevere in that confession all of life.  This is, after all, the “one thing needful” (Luke 10:42).  But marriage can help you walk on that straight and narrow way, or marriage to the wrong person can draw you away from the straight and narrow way.  Consider the godly Abigail, who gave David wise and godly counsel.  She helped him to go on the straight and narrow way.  Contrast the foolish wives of Lot and Job, or Solomon’s harem, who drew these men away from the path God was saying to go.

A godly wife or husband is a gift from the Lord (Prov. 19:14).  A godly spouse greatly enhances your life spiritually, emotionally, and even materially (Prov. 31:10–31).   That godly spouse can bring you good and not harm all the days of your life (Prov. 31:12).  A godly husband or a godly wife is worth far more than rubies (Prov. 31:10).  And an ungodly spouse is the converse.  He or she can bring destruction to the entire house, just like Athaliah or Nabal.  They tear down their houses (we could say their families) with both hands rather than building them up (Prov. 14:1).  I could go on and on, but just go ask any person married to a godly spouse.  It is a blessing beyond our ability to articulate.  It is certainly my observation and my personal experience.  You are grateful any time you consider your godly husband or your godly wife, which, in the case of most of us, is far too seldom.  It is true in the world that having an excellent spouse will help you, but it is even more true in the kingdom of  God.  A godly wife or a godly husband can enhance your home life, your work life, and your ministry life.  Mr.  Perry put it this way:  “The godly spouse will make you twice as effective in the kingdom rather than half as effective in the kingdom.”

So that is God’s will for marriage generally.  What about God’s will for your marriage?  You see, God has a general will—”Marry in the Lord”—but he also has a particular will for your marriage particularly.  This makes sense, of course.  God has a perfect and a best will for each of His people.  He is a detail-oriented God.  This obviously includes the highest-priority item of marriage.  If God has interest in where you live or what job you have, why would He not have an interest in your marriage, which is above all those things?  Moreover, God created marriage in the garden not generally, but for two people particularly.  He  made the wife for Adam, the right wife for Adam.  So He is interested in the particularity.

Third, the marriage relationship is fundamental.  The two become one flesh.  As God’s people, we are His treasured possession.  So certainly He is not going to join His treasured possession with something unclean, with the refuse of the world.  But even more than that, He has a particular spouse picked out for you.  I have used the analogy in the past of two puzzle pieces that fit together.  There is a puzzle piece for you, no matter your shape.  God’s will for Christian marriage is exact.  He has that one right person for you, unless you are part of that rare class for whom God has reserved the gift of celibacy.

This is the God who has determined the exact times and places men should live (Acts 17:26).  So the fact that He has determined the exact times and places men should live means that He is taking care of all the greater and all the lesser details.  He made a helpmeet for Adam in the  garden, and He will make a helpmeet for you, Christian man, or just that right head and husband for you, Christian sister.  We could say that God is into arranged marriage—not arranged by man or some kind of yenta but arranged by God Himself.

Your job as a single person is not to find that person that you like or that you think or that you feel is your “soul mate,” but to find the person God has for you.  Genesis 24:14 said that the servant sat down and prayed for the one “you have chosen”—not the one the servant chose, not the one that Isaac might like, but the one that God chose.  So God has a particular person for you.  Your job is to find that person.  On the wall in Pastor Mathew’s office, there is a paper that says, “What is the will of God in this situation?” Now, if I eat or drink for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31), I must also find my spouse for the glory of God.  So my mission here is straightforward:   Find the one whom God has chosen for me.

That is  great.  How do we do that?  By faith.  By trusting in the Lord with all our heart and leaning not on our own understanding (Prov. 3:5).  No “following your heart” exclusively, for “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9).  In Christian marriage, as everywhere, we utilize God’s gracious means to discover and to understand his will for us—the word, prayer, godly counsel, godly parents, godly brothers and sisters in Christ, the circumstances, and so on.  When it is the will of God, Rev. Buddingh’ tells people all the time, all the buoys will line  up in the same direction to tell you which way the boat should sail.

But the critical element undergirding all these various means is faith—trusting in God to direct my steps, to direct me in the way that I should go, including whom I should marry; trusting God enough to say, “Not that  one,” when my heart or my eyes say, “Please.”  Trusting God enough to hear “Yes” when I am not sure.  Or consider this one: when I am skeptical.  Trusting God enough to hear “Wait” when I am very eager to marry, or to hear  “Go” when I am very reticent to take this important step in life.  We must trust God and move forward by faith, remembering always His promise:  God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and whom He has called according to His good purposes.

Now, with all that in mind, let us look at the great faith of Rebekah in terms of marriage in Genesis 24.

Rebekah’s Great Faith

We get the story from the beginning of Genesis 24.  When we read it, we know that way back in Canaan, Abraham has made a plan: he has charged his servant, his servant has prayed, and all of that.  But Rebekah is not blessed with this information.  She does not get it up front.  We do not meet her until verse 15, when she is walking along with her jar on her shoulder, doing her job to get the water, minding her own merry business.  She does not know that her whole life is about to change.  She does not know that God has sent a man from far-off Canaan, from the house of mighty Abraham, to find the wife that God has anointed for his son, the ancestor of the promised Messiah.  She does not know that that is her.  She does not know that she will soon leave her home, that she will marry a man she has never met, that she will be the mother of twins and the ancestor herself of a great nation and of that promised Messiah.

As far as she knows, it is just another Thursday, and it is time to go get the water from the well.   So she takes her jugs and goes with her group out of town to get the water.  She does not know this man sitting there by the well or why he is there.  Now, she is probably a young lady at this point, likely between thirteen and thirty years old, although it is not totally clear how old she is.  But she soon hears from this man who he is, that he has come from a distant relative to find a wife for the son of the great man Abraham.  She hears the amazing story of how God directed this servant to her:  “Drink, and I will water your camels also.”  This was a specific prayer that he prayed, and it had a specific answer, and the answer was Rebekah.

Everyone recognizes that this is God’s will made clear.  The servant himself recognizes it.  He says, “God . . . led me on the right road to get [Rebekah] for [Abraham’s] son” (Gen. 24:48).  Second, her brother and her father recognize that this is the will of God.  The servant asked them, “Will you let the girl go off to this land and marry Abraham’s son?”  And they replied, “This is from the Lord; we can say nothing one way or the other.  Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed” (Gen. 24:50–51).  So they recognized that it is clearly from the Lord.  Third, Rebekah herself saw that it was God’s will.  When her father and brother tried to delay fulfilling the obligation later, they asked her, “Will you go with this man?” and  she boldly states, “I will go” (Gen. 24:58).  She recognizes that this was God’s will for her.  And then she goes.  She and a few maidservants get on the camels and they go.  So everyone saw that this was the will of  God for her marriage and for Isaac’s marriage.

Let us now look at the aspects of Rebekah’s faith.  The key thing that stands out, of course, is that she goes right away and with confidence.  In context, this is amazing faith.  She seems very happy and very loved at home.  We are not presented with the picture of someone who is looking to get out of there.  Their family is prosperous.  She is in or near Haran, which seems to be a fairly civilized and advanced place for that time.  And she seems proud and happy to be part of that family.  In verse 24, when she more or less introduces herself, she says she is “the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor.”  So this is a person who is properly proud of her family connection.

Yet she goes with this man at the drop of a hat.  She heads to a place she has never been before and does not know.  She goes to marry a man she has never met, and she does not know almost anything about him.  She does not even seem to know his name.  “Abraham my master’s son” is about the closest she gets to Isaac’s name when they are back in Haran.  So she does not seem to even know his name.  She does not know what he looks like.  Is he tall or is he short?  Is he fat or is he skinny, or does he have the elusive “athletic build”?  Is he cool or is he socially awkward?  Is he funny?  Is he nice?  Is he kind of mean?  Is he outdoorsy, or intellectual?  Is he handy around the tent?  She does not know.  She knows virtually nothing about this man aside from the fact that he is a believer and that he is to inherit all from Abraham, and that they have enough resources to load up ten camels’ worth of stuff.  That is some information, but it is not much.  Yet off she goes.

Now, what accounts for that?  Is she stupid?   Is she reckless?  Is she foolish?  Is she crazy?  Is she a risk-taker?  No, she is a woman of faith.  She knows God, and she knows God’s will for her in this situation.  It has been clearly revealed by the specific answer to prayer.  So she has no further questions to ask.  She does not need to know anything about “whatever-his-name-is.”  She does not need ten days to think it over or to “pray about it,” which can be a way of delaying when we know the will of God.  We should pray about things, but not after we know what to do.  She doesn’t even need to know the destination.  She does not need to know the family.  Remember, Abraham left a long time ago, almost certainly before she was born.  She doesn’t know Abraham at all.  She can’t say, “Well, I know this Abraham man is okay and he will take care of me.”  She did not know almost anything of what is about to happen to her.  But what she does know is God’s will, and therefore she knows exactly what she needs to do.  She needs to go, she needs to go today, and she can go with confidence—not confidence in some man, not confidence in some family, but confidence in God, and excited to see what God will do for her.

This is great faith.  And I ask you:  Would we be so bold?  Would we be so ready and willing?  Oh, for a job, we might be so bold and ready and willing.  After all, if it doesn’t work out, we can just get another one.  To buy a house we might be so ready and willing.  For anything temporal or impersonal, we might be ready and willing.  (GTB)  But this is marriage.  This is a big deal.  This is lifelong, and this is very personal and very close to home.  And it is, of course, permanent.  There is no legitimate divorce even now.  But in this time, there is no divorce at all, and she probably recognizes that she is never going to come back home again, or at least she recognizes that it is very unlikely that she will come back home again.  As far as we are told in the Bible, she never did.

And yet she goes, and she goes confidently.  She can do so because she knows for sure the will of God for her.  Notice, she also perseveres to complete God’s will for her.  It is one thing to agree and to commit to do the will of God, it is one thing to start to do the will of God, but she takes it all the way.  She says she will go, and she goes.  Right away.  Up on the camels, ladies, it is time to go (v. 61).  And they left.  And she completed the journey; she made it all the way there (v. 63).  She hears, “That is the man over in the field,” (vv. 64–65), and then she goes in the tent  and she marries Isaac.  At least by then she probably knew his name.

There is no reevaluation or reconsideration upon meeting Isaac.  There is no delay.  There is no “getting to know you” interval present in the Bible.  Now, I admit it is not excluded by the text, and some people have thought that maybe there was some period in which they got to know each other.  But go and read the end of chapter 24.  It does not read that way to me.  It looks like she got down off the camel, went into the tent, and married the man.  Again, this is because she knew the will of God was for her to marry Isaac, so she could see it all the way through.  So that is what she did, confidently and without delay.

We have to think about it.  For us, this happens in a few short verses.  But that is a long camel ride from the town of Nahor out to where she marries Isaac.  I am sure that along the way she thought about it.  I am very sure that she talked about it with her maidservants.  Perhaps she even had some doubts or some fears or some concerns.  None are presented in the Bible, but that would be a natural thing.  You get a few miles down the road and you begin to think, “What is going to happen to me when I get there?  Who is this person I am going to marry?”  What if, what if, what if?  That would be natural.  But she never swayed and she never moved.  She forged ahead with the revealed will of God as her guiding light.  She did not lean on her own understanding; she leaned on God.  And we should do the same.  Find out what is the will of God for us, and once we know God’s will for us in a situation, do it.  Complete the work that God has assigned.  Overcome all those doubts and fears about the unknown or the known.  Persevere and do not delay in the work and do not waver.

The application is obvious for single people.  You can apply this to your life most directly in the area of whom you are going to marry.  Look for the person that God has for you and then forge ahead.  Move forward.  Don’t be wracked by doubts or fears or reservations when you know  the will of God.  Don’t be paralyzed by indecision or by dithering.  Do not fear or worry about what you know or what you do not know or what might happen.  If you are doing God’s revealed will—in other words, if God is saying that this is the person for you—then you can be sure that you will be blessed.  You don’t know how you will be blessed, but you can know that you will be blessed.  Find the man or woman that God has for you and then marry him or her.

Now, married people, this applies to you too.  The will of God is clear for us.  It is not whom we should marry.  That is decided.  But husbands, the will of God is clear for you.  Be the  head of your household and lead and govern it as God commands.  Love your wife just as Christ loves the church, as God has commanded.  Raise up your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, as God has commanded.  Provide for your family by working hard and being a success.  These things are hard to do, and they can be scary and tough at times.  But it is God’s will for you, so forge ahead and do it.

Wives, God’s will for you is clear.  Submit to your husbands as to the Lord in everything because God says so (Eph. 5:22 et seq.).  Overcome all those fears and all those doubts and all those hesitations as Rebekah did.  As God blessed her and her offspring when she obeyed and walked in the will of God, so He will bless you and your offspring when you walk in the will of God.

All people, live holy lives.  Obey God and His word.  Evangelize.  Spread the gospel to others.  Say “No” to sin and “Yes” to righteousness.  Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Obey your leaders and submit to their authority.  Stand for the name of Jesus Christ in a hostile world.  This is the clearly revealed will of God for us.  We must do it, and we must do it with confidence even though we don’t know what is going to happen, we don’t know what is ahead, we don’t know what difficulties are out there.  But like Rebekah, we know it is the will of God, and so we can do it, and we can do it with confidence.  God will enable you and bless you as He did for Rebekah.  So be like her, a person living by faith and not by sight.

And if you are not a believer, if you have never confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, the will of God is clear for you too.  There is application for you too.  God’s will is very clear; in fact, it is most clear for you.  God commands all people everywhere to repent of sin (Acts 17:30).  God offers salvation to all (Rom. 10:13).  God wants all people, including you personally, to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4).  Put your faith in Jesus Christ today is the application for you.  Be saved today.  It demands your life and your all.  You don’t know what will happen to you or what will come ahead.  You are not sure that you can do it.  None of that matters.  You see, all that was true of Rebekah too, in a comparatively minor and temporal matter of marriage.  Marriage is important, but it is nothing compared to the importance of eternal life.  We are all going to go to heaven to be with God forever, or we are all going to go to hell to suffer torment and agony forever.  You may not know what is on the road ahead, but the will of God for you is to confess Him and to walk according to His word.  Do it, and He will take care of you and deliver you into glory.

It doesn’t matter what your fears and concerns are.  God’s will is for you to do it, to confess Christ as Lord.  So do it and be blessed.  Trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation.  Repent and forsake your sin and He will enable you and He will bless you exceedingly abundantly far beyond what you could ask or imagine.

Rebekah’s Remarkable Character

Before we leave Rebekah, let us look at her remarkable character.  We looked at her faith, but now let us look at her remarkable character.  The idea is not just to examine it to appreciate it, but to examine it to emulate it.

First, notice that Rebekah was a hard worker.  She seems to be somewhat of a prominent woman in a prominent family.  After all, they have straw and fodder and room for people to stay and maids and so on.  So she is maybe not a princess or anything, but she is not a pauper.  She is not a low-class person.  And yet when we first see her, we find her carrying a jar of water, doing her part.  We notice that she is not lazy in the way that she does her work.  She empties the jar quickly (v. 18).  She runs to get more water (v. 20).  She runs ahead to tell her mother’s household what has happened (v. 28).  This is a person who sets about her work with energy and with commitment.  She is a hard worker.

Second, she is a gracious, hospitable, and generous person.  She quickly agrees to the servant’s request for a drink (v. 18).  Now, that might seem small to us.  That is because our water comes out of the tap by itself.  But she has to go down to the spring, fill her jar, and bring it back to give this man a drink.  That is hard work.  We are reminded of what Jesus said:  “Anyone who gives a cup of cold water to these little ones for my sake will be rewarded.”

So Rebekah quickly agrees to the servant’s request for a drink.  She offers to go and to get water for the camels.  I did not have time to look it up, but camels drink a lot of water when they drink.  So she was probably filling those jars at least once or maybe multiple times.  She draws plenty of water for ten camels.  That is a lot.  She also offers to shelter the servant and the camels and to supply them with what they need (v. 25).  She is generous, she is hospitable, and she is very gracious.  We get the idea from reading the text that these were genuine offers extended, not some, like, “Well, I guess we can give you some water, I suppose.  Then I have to go back down there and get some more.”  No, she is welcoming and generous in her giving.   These are good qualities in any person.  We should all be generous, gracious, and hospitable.  But these are particularly admirable and necessary qualities in women, and we should all take note.  Go read Proverbs 31.  You get the same sense from that woman.  Rebekah is not bossy, resentful, snarky, sarcastic, combative, or loud.  But she has a gentle and quiet spirit that is of great worth in the sight of God (1 Pet. 3:4).

The third aspect of her character is that she is prepared.  She did not become a hard worker or a generous and gracious person at that moment.  It was likely a lifelong process.  It became her habit.  She was probably trained in it, but then took on these characteristics, took ownership of them for herself.  They come naturally to her at this moment because she has long been living in this way.  Young people and parents, develop such godly character in yourselves and in your children.  Commit to those characteristics, strive for those characteristics, and do them until they are habit or second-nature, until they become part of your character.

So she was prepared to be a godly person, prepared to be a hard worker and gracious and so on, but she was also prepared to discern the will of God in the moment.  We are not told how, and we probably should not speculate.  But somehow these relatives of Abraham knew enough about God, and they knew enough of Him to see His hand and to submit to it.  They were descendants of Noah and Shem.  They were close relatives of Abraham, so they probably had the understanding about God.  We do not exactly know what they knew about God or how they knew it.  But the point is, they saw the will of God plainly in the moment.  We should all practice seeing, learning, and doing the will of God for all of our lives and from a young age.  It will serve us well in the big and unexpected moments when you are just minding your own business, carrying your jar of water, and the test of faith comes.

Rebekah was prepared by living a holy life (v. 16).  It says she was very beautiful, and she was from a prominent family of some means.  She likely had other offers of marriage before.  And surely there were men who would have slept with her outside of marriage.  But she lived a holy life in obedience to God’s law.  Verse 16 says, “The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had  ever lain with her.”  She did not allow herself to become a used person.  She obeyed God by not fornicating.  That is obvious.  But she also obeyed God by waiting for a godly man to marry and  not settling for some local man in the town.  That was probably hard to do, but she was blessed, and she remains blessed.  Think of this.  If she had married some other man earlier, she would just be some no-name who died a long time ago who no one had ever heard of instead of a mother in Israel and an ancestor of Jesus Christ.

The fourth characteristic is that she was ready.  Largely because she was prepared by a lifetime of godly living, she was ready for the moment when God called her to act.  She did not hesitate to help the servant and to invite him into her home, or to go with him when called to do so.  Now, few people are prepared, but even fewer people are ready to act on those preparations, to pull the trigger in the big moment.  Be ready to move when God says to move.  You can be prepared all you want, but if you dither or delay in the moment, if you hesitate in the moment, God may pass you by.

This is going to mean different things for all of us.  Perhaps, like her, it will involve your marriage.  Young men, be ready to move when the woman that God has for you goes by with her jar on her shoulder.  Don’t delay and don’t dither.  Don’t freeze and refuse to move.  Go and pursue her.  Talk to her.  Determine God’s will:  “Is this woman for me?” And then if it is, commit to her and to God, and marry her.  Ladies, be ready when God calls you to become a wife.  It may be at nineteen, when you do not think you are quite ready, or it may be at thirty-four, when you are tired of waiting and tired of hoping.  Or God may call you to parenthood before you think you are ready.  Here is a news flash:  No one is ready; you are just ready enough.  He may call you to parenthood, promotion, suffering, or ministry when you do not think you are qualified or ready for that.  You, like Rebekah, do not know when God will call you or what He will call you to, but be ready for it.  Get ready, but then stay ready, and carry your water jar until He sends His servant your way to tell you, “This is the will of God for you.”

God’s Arranged Marriage for You

My final point:  God’s arranged marriage for you.  A single, married, young, old person—whatever you are—God has another arranged marriage for you.  The church is to be the bride of Christ (Eph. 5).  The wedding supper of the Lamb is coming (Rev. 19:7), and you are invited to the wedding supper.  He calls you to be His bride.  Accept His invitation by putting your faith in Him.  He will wash your linens, stained with sin as they are, and make them bright and clean with the shed blood of the precious Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

So my question for you is:  Have you accepted that call?  Have you accepted His marriage proposal?  If not, do so.  If you have, then stay ready.  Keep yourself pure by your holy life and by your frequent repentance.  Don’t let those garments that He has washed clean in His blood become filthy again.  It is a great honor and a great privilege to be the bride of Christ, the church.  His servants are speaking His marriage proposal to His bride all the time, including even right now.  Don’t delay, don’t dither, don’t hesitate.  Receive it, accept it, glory in it, and then be ready to depart this life, our Haran.  Be ready to depart it for something even better, the glorious Promised Land of eternal heaven and life with God forever.  Amen.

[1] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jimmy-carter-gay-marriage_n_7744390