“And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.” (Genesis 24:58)
In the Scriptures, Rebekah is a very special type of a woman of faith. She also represents the Bride of Christ in the Spiritual, as Isaac is a type of Christ.
(See Galatians 3:16; his Seed was Christ, but Isaac and Jacob represent Christ, the Seed, unto whom the Everlasting Covenant was confirmed.)
This devotion’s primary focus is upon Rebekah as a woman who moved on the basis of faith in what she had seen and heard from Abraham’s eldest servant, Eliezer.
The point is that Rebekah had met a man, Eliezer (Abraham’s servant) at the well. Eliezer had been sent on a mission to find the woman, appointed by God, who would be Isaac’s bride in the near future.
She had no idea or understanding that evening, when she went to the water well to carry out her duties, that she would meet a man who was searching for the chosen vessel to be another man’s wife. Even when she extended her service to give the stranger a drink of water upon his request, and even offered to water his camels – she didn’t realize that she was carrying out the Purpose of God. Little did she know that her actions were the answer to the stranger’s prayer to God to find that chosen vessel to be his master’s wife.
Neither did she know why the stranger asked her of her family; fulfilling another petition to God from the stranger, as proof that this particular woman was the right woman. Nor of why the stranger gave her gifts.
However, she later learned of the stranger’s mission and purpose for coming to this land; and asking her for a drink of water; and asking who her family was; and then accepting her offer to come home with her to lodge – as the stranger related his reason for coming.
She also learned, as the stranger related all of this to her father, mother, and brother, that the stranger knew from her actions, and of her family, that God had led him the right way (Genesis 24:48). She also heard her brother and father say:
“The thing proceedeth from the LORD… Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master’s son’s wife…” (Genesis 24:50-51)
Then the next morning, when it was time to leave, Laban, Rebekah’s brother, and her mother wanted Eliezer to wait ten days before leaving (Genesis 24:55). Eliezer did not agree and requested to leave immediately (Genesis 24:56). In Genesis 24:58, they called Rebekah and asked her, “Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.”
She did go with Eliezer; she did marry Isaac – Story complete; Mission accomplished for Eliezer.
But the questions are – How could Rebekah go:
- With a man she had never met?
- To be a man’s wife she had never met?
- To a land where she had never been?
- And leave her family, her home, her country, etc.?
The answer to these questions can only be the word “Faith.”
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
The only answer it could be is that she was a Possessor of The Faith, or Christ. Christ is “The Faith.”
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
When Christ, or Faith, dwells in a person, that person has the ability to perceive (or see) and the power to perform (or to enter) the Kingdom of God. (See John 3:3-5.)
Those who are Possessors of Faith have spiritual eyes to discern spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:9-16). They see past the physical. They have the ability and the power to believe God’s Word and to act upon that Word. They have the power to ‘overcome’ the pull of the flesh and the flesh’s deception.
In Rebekah’s case, she believed the man and his story.
So it is with the quickened person:
“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63)
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;” (Ephesians 2:1)
The quickened person is made alive by the Spirit of God; drawn by God (John 6:44, 65); and taught by God (John 6:45). He comes to believe, or trust, the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ, as the Sacrifice for his sin; as his Substitute; and as his Savior. Therefore, he comes to confession of the same:
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:10)
When Rebekah said, “I will go”; it was a proof, or a public confession, that she believed, or trusted, the story of the stranger, Eliezer. Her confession was not to get the stranger to do, but her confession was proof of her faith in what the stranger said.
You cannot obey something that you cannot trust. You cannot trust who Jesus is – until you have been given the ability to trust (or have been given faith).
“But without faith it is impossible to please him (God): for he that cometh to God must believe that he (God) is…” (Hebrews 11:6)
Faith is a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is not a work of man – but “the work of God” (John 6:29).
Some have said it is ‘blind faith.’ No, that is incorrect. Faith is not blind, for it sees Him who is invisible (Hebrews 11:27c). It obeys and endures. It hears the voice of Christ and follows Him (John 10:27). It walks in the darkness, yet there is light all around.
“Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” (Psalms 139:12)
“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
And it rests in the Promises of God as though they were already (Romans 4:13-22).
“(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” (Romans 4:17)
“Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.” (Romans 4:18)
“And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” (Romans 4:21)
This is where Rebekah was, and it is where all the Children of Faith are, “fully persuaded that, what he (God) had promised, he (God) was able also to perform” (Romans 4:21).
Therefore, Rebekah said (by Faith), “I will go.” Knowing (being fully persuaded) that Eliezer’s word was truth. Therefore, she obeyed and “followed the man” (Genesis 24:61). And the result was Victory for Rebekah. She became Isaac’s wife.
Reader, what do you hear and see today? Do you have true faith? What proof do you have in your life that you are a possessor of faith? Read James 2:14-26; Hebrews 11:1, 6, 8-39.
Based upon the Word of God…
Have you said, “I will go”?
And then – Have you gone?
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