A Bride for Isaac and a Bride for Jesus

Genesis 24  Who doesn’t love a wedding? They are beautiful but weddings are the end of courtship and planning. The bride is one who is sought but the groom is the one who shoulders the family after consummation.  Reading carefully through this chapter we encounter a servant sent to acquire a bride, a bride and then the groom. All of it is beautifully choreographed by the hand of God and we are the spectators to it all. The star in all of this is without a doubt the senior servant of Abraham sent to acquire a bride for his son. It is his life of devotion, prayer, and obedience that mirrors our Savior. He is doing much like what Jesus did. He made an oath to obey the Father to seek a bride. He swore to not take a wife of the Hittites because they were unbelievers.  His life was a life of prayer in his ongoing and when he reached the land of Abraham’s family.

Jesus is like the servant in this story seeking a bride to bring home. He does nothing without spending time in prayer. He worshipped and praised God just as this servant when the bride was found.  The servant brings the bride home and Jesus will bring us home to the Father and one day he will say:

Rejoice with me because I have found my bride!

Who are you in the story? Are you the bride waiting for your groom? Are you the servant doing the master’s bidding? Are you praying about it?

 

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Are You Revealing God’s Glory?

John 2 “Are you Revealing God’s Glory?”

When there is a task that needs attending, do you do it half-way or all the way? Do you do it to reveal God’s glory or your own?

Jesus was an invited wedding guest to a wedding in Cana of Galilee. While there,  Jesus’ mother noted a problem; the wine had run out.  As a mother, her first thoughts were how to help, so she solicited the help from her #1 son just like many mothers would do. Note his answer: Woman, or as we might say, ma’am, why are you telling me about this problem? Yet because this was the perfect opportunity to reveal his glory, he left his merriment and sought to end this drama by producing the wine needed. He instantly changed the metabolic nature of the water into the finest of wines. And to be sure there no question as to what happened; He engaged the stewards or servants of to be His witnesses. He ordered them to fill the jars to the very top; then give some to the wine steward as evidence of the miracle which just happened.

The water became the finest of wines as noted by the steward. In this way, Jesus chose to demonstrate to his disciples a practical lesson and a spiritual lesson. The practical was when you see a need; meet it–whole-heartedly. The spiritual lesson was that in this way Jesus He revealed his glory—and his disciples believed in him.

When Jesus transforms he does it miraculously to reveal His glory. You may not do a task with a miracle, but when you fulfill a need which is out of the ordinary, you show God’s glory to others of His transforming power in your life.

Stop and think: whose glory are you seeking to reveal? 

 

An Invitation…Will You Accept?

The Parade is over and Jesus is in the Temple once again and is teaching, as he has so often, about the kingdom of heaven through parables. We remember that Jesus told the disciples that he would be using that approach: “I speak to them in parables: Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand” thus fulfilling Isaiah’s 6:9-10 prophecy. Although this was Jesus’ method the Pharisees and chief priests knew not only was he directing his teaching at them but also they understood the implications of his teaching. That is why they wanted to arrest him as we found out in chapter 21.

Jesus spoke to them again in lest any should say they never understood. He has just told them that they were rejecting Him as the Chosen One and now He will emphasize it in greater detail through an illustration that they could all relate to which is a method that we must learn to utilize as well. Start with a common every day thought and use it as a spring board to the truth you want the audience to grasp. In this parable the listeners would have grasped the importance of the wedding banquet in their first century culture, but more importantly they would have been astounded that the king would invite any to his son’s banquet! This was thus not just any banquet–it was for his son! In that culture one received an invite and then when the banquet was ready the ‘king’ would send for them. Try to picture you receiving an invite to a head of state’s home for dinner. You receive it in advance and when the time is ready your limo arrives to pick you up. But, notice the responses of the invitees. They would NOT come! They were indifferent and turned their back even when he sent a second gracious summons! No wonder the king was furious! He had spared no expense nor the preparation.

What are we to learn? The king is God and He has a banquet prepared for Jesus, His Beloved Son. He has spared no expense; he sent his only son so that no one would perish but have eternal life. All have been invited to come and celebrate! Yet there were some then and some today who say no or some who are just too busy. In Matt 8 we read that many said they would go but they had many excuses as to why “not now.”  When he sent out the disciples he gave them orders to shake the dust off their shoes if the message they brought was ignored or rejected. We meet these same people today in the marketplace; in our workplace and even in our families. They are more concerned about their now than their eternal destiny. Felix said the same thing to Paul in Acts 24.

What about the intruder in the banquet? Who is he? And why is he even there? He is there because the invitation was to both good and bad but even with that there are rules of decorum to be followed and he chose to not do that. How often have we heard that the “I am the Way, The Truth, The Life” just doesn’t cut it for me? I will come to Jesus in my way. Note the consequence! Bound and sent packing to outer darkness. There will be some that will face this in the day of judgment.

Beloved, God has a plan and it includes you. He has issued His invitation and He has sent this message to you. What will you do with it? Will you come and celebrate or are you just too busy to do it now? Remember the intruder when this crosses your mind.

Matthew chapter 22