“And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the
woman will not be willing to follow me unto this
land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the
land from whence thou camest? And Abraham said
unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son
thither again. The LORD God of heaven, which took
me from my father’s house, and from the land of my
kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware
unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this
land; he shall send his angel before thee, and
thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
And if the woman will not be willing to follow
thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath:
only bring not my son thither again.”–Genesis
24:5-8.
Genesis is both the book of beginnings and the book of
dispensations. You know what use Paul makes of Sarah
and Hagar, of Esau and Jacob, and the like. Genesis is,
all through, a book instructing the reader in the
dispensations of God towards man. Paul saith, in a
certain place, “which things are an allegory,” by which
he did not mean that they were not literal facts, but
that, being literal facts, they might also be used
instructively as an allegory. So may I say of this
chapter. It records what actually was said and done;
but at the same time, it bears within it allegorical
instruction with regard to heavenly things. The true
minister of Christ is like this Eleazar of Damascus; he
is sent to find a wife for his Master’s son. His great
desire is, that many shall be presented unto Christ in
the day of his appearing, as the bride, the Lamb’s
wife.
The faithful servant of Abraham, before he started,
communed with his master; and this is a lesson to us,
who go on our Lord’s errands. Let us, before we engage
in actual service, see the Master’s face, talk with
him, and tell to him any difficulties which occur to
our minds. Before we get to work, let us know what we
are at, and on what footing we stand. Let us hear from
our Lord’s own mouth what he expects us to do, and how
far he will help us in the doing of it. I charge you,
my fellow-servants, never to go forth to plead with men
for God until you have first pleaded with God for men.
Do not attempt to deliver a message which you have not
first of all yourself received by his Holy Spirit. Come
out of the chamber of fellowship with God into the
pulpit of ministry among men, and there will be a
freshness and a power about you which none shall be
able to resist. Abraham’s servant spoke and acted as
one who felt bound to do exactly what his master bade
him, and to say what his master told him; hence his one
anxiety was to know the essence and measure of his
commission. During his converse with his master he
mentioned one little point about which there might be a
hitch; and his master soon removed the difficulty from
his mind. It is about that hitch, which has occurred
lately on a very large scale, and has upset a good many
of my Master’s servants, that I am going to speak this
morning: may God grant that it may be to the benefit of
his church at large!
I. Beginning our sermon, we will ask you, first, to
THINK OF THE SERVANT’S JOYFUL BUT WEIGHTY ERRAND. It
was a joyful errand: the bells of marriage were ringing
around him. The marriage of the heir should be a joyful
event. It was an honourable thing for the servant to be
entrusted with the finding of a wife for his master’s
son. Yet it was every way a most responsible business,
by no means easy of accomplishment. Blunders might very
readily occur before he was aware of it; and he needed
to have all his wits about him, and something more than
his wits, too, for so delicate a matter. He had to
journey far, over lands without track or road; he had
to seek out a family which he did not know, and to find
out of that family a woman whom he did not know, who
nevertheless should be the right person to be the wife
of his master’s son: all this was a great service.
The work this man undertook was a business upon which
his master’s heart was set. Isaac was now forty years
old, and had shown no sign of marrying. He was of a
quiet, gentle spirit, and needed a more active spirit
to urge him on. The death of Sarah had deprived him of
the solace of his life, which he had found in his
mother, and had, no doubt, made him desire tender
companionship. Abraham himself was old, and well
stricken in years; and he very naturally wished to see
the promise beginning to be fulfilled, that in Isaac
should his seed be called. Therefore, with great
anxiety, which is indicated by his making his servant
swear an oath of a most solemn kind, he gave him the
commission to go to the old family abode in
Mesopotamia, and seek for Isaac a bride from thence.
Although that family was not all that could be desired,
yet it was the best he knew of; and as some heavenly
light lingered there, he hoped to find in that place
the best wife for his son. The business was, however, a
serious one which he committed to his servant. My
brethren, this is nothing compared with the weight
which hangs on the true minister of Christ. All the
Great Father’s heart is set on giving to Christ a
church which shall be his beloved for ever. Jesus must
not be alone: his church must be his dear companion.
The Father would find a bride for the great Bridegroom,
a recompense for the Redeemer, a solace for the
Saviour: therefore he lays it upon all whom he calls to
tell out the gospel, that we should seek souls for
Jesus, and never rest till hearts are wedded to the Son
of God. Oh, for grace to carry out this commission!
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
