Isaac is a person God was very proud of.  God talked about Isaac in the New and Old Testaments.  He was a true believer in the promises of God (Hebrews 11:20).  The story of his meeting of Rebecca and marriage to her should inspire us to seek godly mates when that time comes in our lives.

 

1. He was the miracle child promised to Abraham and Sarah in their old age.

   1. He was born when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old.

   2. Through faith, Abraham and Sarah believed the promise of God that they would have a child in their old age despite Sarah being well past childbearing years (Genesis 17; 18; 21).

2. As we studied in the lesson on Abraham, this was the young man his father was going to sacrifice.

   1. However, the Angel of the Lord stopped Abraham from sacrificing Him.

   2. God was only testing Abraham to see if He would do it.

   3. Of course, we know that God was very pleased with Abraham, because he was willing to sacrifice the only son in his household; showing God that the Lord was the highest priority in His life (Genesis 22:1-19; Romans 12:1).

      1. Again, this is a lesson for us.

      2. We are to make sure that God is number one in our lives over everything else (Romans 12:1).

      3. Remember, we show God that we truly love Him when we obey Him no matter what (1 John 5:3).

      4. We are to love God more than friends, family, and our own selfish desires.

         1. This is shown many ways by us today.

         2. When we tell our friends “no” when they offer us drugs and alcohol, we are showing God that we love Him more (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)!

         3. When we fight off wanting to get a little more sleep on Sunday mornings and miss opportunities to come to Bible class or worship service and come anyway, then we are showing God that we love Him more than our own selfish desires (Hebrews 10:25).

         4. When we do what our parents tell us instead of rebelling from them, then we are truly showing God that we love Him more than rebelling, because God put our parents in charge of us and we are to do what they say (Ephesians 6:1-3).

      5. Jesus said the following to all Christians, young and old, “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

         1. Our whole lives we are to look at our spiritual standing with God every day to find out if we are truly following Jesus like we are supposed to.

         2. If you noticed, Jesus started off by saying we must all deny ourselves daily, which means we must daily ask ourselves, “Am I really making all the sacrifices that I need to in order to show God that I love Him more than I love myself?”

            1. If the answer is “no,” then we have to make up our mind every day to get better.

            2. We have to keep telling ourselves, “I will not give up.  I will get more and more committed to getting better every day of my life!”

3. Genesis 24 and 25 talks about how Isaac was given his wife.

   1. Genesis 24:1-4 says, “1 Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. 3 I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac” (New International Version).

      1. Abraham gave orders to one of his servants to find a wife for Isaac.

      2. Notice, Abraham did not say to just get any wife.

      3. Instead, there was a certain quality of a woman that Abraham was indirectly telling his servant to find for Isaac.

      4. Abraham wanted Isaac to have a Hebrew wife.

      5. Why?

      6. We find out later in Bible history that the Canaanites were wicked (Leviticus 18).

         1. So, we infer that Abraham wanted to make sure Isaac had a good wife which would not have been easy to find within the Canaanite women of the time.

         2. There is a lesson in this for us.

            1. We always want to have standards for those we marry.

            2. We want to make sure that we are selecting a mate who is righteous most of all as Abraham wanted a Hebrew wife for his son Isaac.

            3. In fact, our very first standard that we must have before marrying any one is to make sure he or she is a Christian.

            4. God wants us to marry Christians and not outside of the Christian community (1 Corinthians 7:39).

            5. The problem with marrying outside of the Christian community is there is always the risk of the non-Christian person causing one to abandon Christ.

            6. We see an example of this in Solomon.  He was the smartest man to ever live.  However, he made many bad choices with women.  The Bible says He married many wives from foreign countries who were not of the children of Israel as He was.  As a result, they influenced Solomon to become an idol worshipper and greatly angered God in the process (1 Kings 11).

4. Moving on, Abraham’s servant went to the town of Nahor (Genesis 24:5-14).

   1. This was the town where Abraham’s relatives were living at the time.

   2. The servant prayed that God would give him success in finding Isaac a bride when he arrived in Nahor.

   3. This is also a lesson for us.

   4. We should pray about everything we do, because it is God that gives us success in all that we do (James 1:17; Matthew 6:5-14).

5. Genesis 24:15-16 says, “15 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. 16 The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again” (New International Version).

   1. God had answered the prayer of Abraham’s servant immediately.

   2. He sent Rebekah out and the two met.

   3. Rebecca’s family agreed to give her to Isaac as his bride (Genesis 24:50-51).

   4. Rebecca also agreed to go back with Abraham’s servant to become the wife of Isaac (Genesis 24:52-61).

   5. This shows the power of God to make things happen in our lives.

   6. Prayer is a powerful tool where we make our requests known to God (Philippians 4:6-7).

   7. Never underestimate its power as it is the tool God gave us to communicate with Him!

   8. There is also another lesson in this scene from Genesis 24:15-16.

      1. First, the Bible says that Rebekah was a beautiful woman in her physical appearance.

      2. This is encouragement for young men!

      3. The women in the church are just as physically attractive as those in the world!

      4. So, why look elsewhere for a wife?

      5. Second, the Bible says she was a virgin.

      6. This is no coincidence.

      7. Although the world pressures you to have sex before marriage, do not do it!

      8. You make yourself a prize to your future spouse by keeping yourself pure until marriage.

      9. Most importantly, whether we are old or young, God values your virginity and sexual purity at all times.

      10. Remember, it is a sin to have sex before marriage (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

      11. However, after marriage, God permits sex between marriage partners and it is not a sin (Hebrews 13:4)!

      12. So, please wait and save yourself.

      13. You will feel better about yourself.

      14. Your future wife or husband will appreciate you more.

      15. And you will be pleasing to God in process!

6. Isaac was very pleased when he finally had the chance to meet Rebecca.

   1. They Bible says that he loved her and made her his wife (Genesis 24:62-66).

 

In conclusion, one of the main things we learn from Isaac is to choose the right mate.  God intends for us to marry other children of God.  As a result, we must be patient for the right person to come along.  Even Isaac did not marry until he was forty years old (Genesis 25:20).  So, it may take awhile for the right godly person to come in our lives.  However, no matter how long it takes to get the right mate, we must keep ourselves sexually pure.  It is always a prize to one’s potential mate and pleasing to God if we remain virgins until we are married.  Please value your virginity despite the evil advice of worldly people for you to lose it.  You will feel better about yourself if you do and most of all, God will be smiling on you with His approval!

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- Anthony L. Norwood