Chapter 24 of Genesis is a beautiful allegory of Our Father's desire to provide a bride for his son. Abraham represents our heavenly Father, the eldest servant in his house represents the Holy Spirit and of course, Jesus is represented by Isaac. 

 It may be said that throughout man's history,  from Adam until now, God has personally selected individuals to become wedded to Jesus for all eternity. This chapter of scripture provides an illuminating look at our God's most holy agenda, to find eternal companionship for his beloved Son. 

 First of all, Abraham instructs his servant to go to "my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son." Jesus' bride will only come from his own people. But not all of his people will become his bride. As we shall see - it is only those who welcome and serve the Holy Spirit who will be chosen, "For many are called, but few are chosen." Remember the wise and foolish virgins? All were virgins. All were pure by the blood of the Lamb, all were betrothed to him, but only those with enough oil in their lamps did not miss the moment of the groom's visitation. In scripture,  oil represents the Holy Spirit's presence and anointing. 

 The servant wants to know if "the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land", should I bring Isaac (Jesus) to her? The answer is no, she must be willing to go to Him. She must be willing to drop EVERYTHING at a moment's notice to become his bride - just as the apostles did when Jesus simply said "Come, follow me". She must be willing to leave her land and her  family to become his bride, as many have had to do throughout history. And too, many throughout history have not been willing to follow the Holy Spirit,  though he leads us to our Father's house to be with Jesus forever. "And the servant took ten camels of his master and departed; FOR ALL THE GOODS OF HIS MASTER WERE IN HIS HAND". In ancient times, in a caravan of camels, the lead camel was not burdened with supplies, he would carry a rider or nothing, to remain strong for the other camels to follow. This left nine camels in the eldest servant's caravan. How many gifts of the Spirit are there? That's right, nine. And how many fruits? Again, nine. We call them "gifts of the Spirit" but of a truth they are gifts from the Father for the bride of his son. All the "goods" of the Father are the Holy Spirit's to do with as he pleases. 1 Cor:12 makes it clear that the Holy Spirit gives away the Father's gifts to whomever he wishes to. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights". It is the Father's will that he use his Spirit to give away his gifts, and not a single gift of any of the nine has anything to do with money, material possessions or worldly wealth of any kind. Therefore set your hearts on heavenly riches, my brethren. Think about it - Word of wisdom, Word of knowledge,  Faith, Healing, Working of miracles, Prophecy, Discerning of spirits, Diverse kinds of tongues, Interpretation of tongues, none have anything to do with earthly riches. 

 Now if the Father's interest in giving these gifts is to prepare a bride that will be pleasing and attractive to his son, don't you think she should desire to be adorned with them? These cause him to become aroused with passion for her, these carry the sweet, familiar fragrance of his Father's house. She wears "robes of righteousness" but these gifts are her jewelry and her fragrant oils that she wears to please him. She does not appear before the son looking poor and impoverished. No, rather she looks like who she is, his eternal queen, majestic and glorious. Worldly wealth,  money, the the riches this world lusts after, pale in comparison to Heaven's glory! It's a tragedy of epic proportions that so many "Christians" set their hearts on worldly wealth, for they choke our hearts "with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection." Money, and all that it can buy, do nothing at all to prepare us for eternity as his bride. What prepares us best to spend eternity in intimacy with the Son are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,  goodness, faith, meekness and self-control.

 So the eldest servant obeys his master and by faith, believes God will lead him to the perfect bride for his master's son - hand picked by God and not by man. He even asks for a sign "let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom i shall say, let down thy pitcher, i pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, drink, and i will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that you have appointed for your servant Isaac." Know this - the bride of Çhrist is made up of all who respond to the Holy Spirit bt serving him! By welcoming Him. By saying "yes" to whatever he requests them to do, even going above and beyond his original request. Even as he is praying for this sign, Rebekah appears, for the bride of Christ will quickly grant the Holy Spirit's requests, she will not make him wait upon her, she will wait upon him. 

 Yes, Rebekah appears "very fair to look upon". She is a virgin, the scripture tells us, but it doesn't stop there - "neither had any man known her." As my book "Freedom from Babylon" points out - the bride of Christ are those who do not give themselves to men, they are not on earth to serve men nor seek men's praise. They are wholly and completely God's and God's alone. When they serve any man, it is as Christ leads them to. The lie that we must submit to a pastor or any other in order to be godly and pleasing to the Father is just that - a lie. Many are submitted to their pastor but not to God. We are to only follow those who are following Christ that we too, may learn to follow Christ.  

 Rebekah responds to the servant of the Father exactly the way he prayed she would for she is prophetic- she is the fulfillment of prophecy and she herself prophecies. She gives him drink, then goes back to the well (spring up oh Well, within my soul) and draws enough water for all his camels, not part. The bride of Christ never tires of serving, and gladly and wholeheartedly serves strangers. She gives freely of that which she has freely received. She draws from the well of salvation springing up within her soul, the water of the word of God, and quenches the thirst of all who ask her for drink, "whomsoever will" are bid by the Spirit and the Bride to "come, and let him that is athirst come." For the Spirit within her becomes a mighty river, pure and life giving, full of the words of God, for "my words, they are spirit and they are life", able to save and deliver and give life, and that more abundantly,  to all who have ears to hear.

 When the eldest servant asks her for lodging, she offers him, still a stranger, lodging without question, as well as his camels. Jesus holds in high regard all who honor his desire for us to be careful to "entertain strangers". He even says to those who thought they were his people " when i was thirsty, you gave me no drink: i was a stranger and you took me not in." His bride not only always provides the Holy Spirit a warm welcome and gives him lodging in her heart, she also welcomes all who travel with him, strangers in the flesh though they may be, there are no strangers in the Spirit. And the bride of Christ always shares what she has, giving freely and joyfully to those in need. 

 "And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raimant, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things. And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night." When we receive our Father's generous gifts from his servant, the Holy Spirit,  not only are we blessed but those in our household. They are blessed by the gifts but especially the fruut we receive of him  - all who abide with us receive the blessing of he who abides in us. The greatest blessing is that they become witnesses of him. They see the reality of "Emmanuel,  which being interpreted is, God with us". They then have the most wonderful and fearful of all choices - whether to embrace him or reject him, but if they reject him they will reject us. Many families have been torn apart this way (Jesus said he would divide families). At other times entire families have been saved because one member welcomed the Holy Spirit into their midst. "Precious thibgs" result from knowing him. 

 Notice they "tarried all night" eating and drinking together. This reminds me of the time Paul was sharing with a gathering in the upper chamber - he was ready to depart on the morrow but they so loced him they could not bear to part. The revelations and fellowship was so sweet they chose it rather than sleep. I want people to respond to me like this, to beg me to stay with them. What a legacy! I believe the Father was using the Holy Spirit in Paul that night to "bring forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment" for all those present who were a part of the Bride - just like that night long ago when Abraham's servant drank and supped with Rebekah's family all night . Those with Paul broke bread and ate and "talked a long while, even till the break of day." When we are supping and fellowshipping with God through his Spirit,  when He is present in our meetings, nothing else matters, not sleep, or food or drink, though notice, in both cases, they had sweet fellowship around a meal and so should we. So much can come out of a meal well shared with one another, where all are welcome to eat all, and all are invited to drink till their satisfied, and all may speak freely, one with another. Would that today's saints would receive apostles today the same way! 

 The bottom line for Rebekah and for us is this - "And they called Rebekah and said unto her, wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go". This is the response, the only response,  of all who are and will become, the Bride of Christ.  When Father sends his Spirit to anoint you, to gift you and invite you to be one with his son, Yeshua, forever, you must respond YES! I will go! I will follow you Holy Spirit all the way back to Jesus. I will not remain where i am. Not only did Rebekah say she would go, notvonly did she condess with her mouth, but "Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah and went HIS WAY." God's bride will walk in his ways, not her own. She will arise and follow the Holy Spirit (just as the apostles arose and followed Jesus), for she knows he is leading her to the Son, and she trusts him, for the gifts are proof he came from the Father. She will do anything and go anywhere to fulfill her purpose, the destiny for which she was created.

 "And Isaac lifted up his eyes and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming." They had left with earthly treasure but were returning with a treasure far greater. The Holy Spirit will one day soon return to his master's house "and Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel." They each see the one they're destined to be with "and Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah,  and she became his wife, and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted." 

 And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and saw....and when she saw him, she stopped her journey, she had arrived! She was safely delivered into the home and heart of the one whobloved her, and so shall the bride of Christ be delivered safely by the Holy Spirit.....and Jesus took her, and she became his wife. Such was his passion, there was no ceremony. The feast and the celebration came after the consummation of the marriage. Amen.