Notes from Willmington p.703
The Institution of the Church was not revealed in the Old Testament. see The Mystery in Ephesian 3:1-12
However there are two special brides mentioned in the OT whose lives beautifully lend themselves to a remarkable foreshadowing of the coming NT Church. They are Eve and Rebekah.
A The Bride Eve.
1. Eve was taken from Adam’s side as the Church came from Christ’s side.
Gen 2:21 And God brought a trance upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and filled up the flesh instead thereof.
Gen 2:22 And God formed the rib which he took from Adam into a woman, and brought her to Adam. Brenton
Joh 19:34 One of the soldiers stuck his spear into Jesus' side, and blood and water came out.
2. Eve was espoused to the first head of Creation while the church is espoused to the Final head of Creation.
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
3. Eve was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh while the church did the same with Christ.
Gen 2:23 And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Eph 5:28 Even so ought husbands also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his own wife loveth himself:
Eph 5:29 for no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the church;
Eph 5:30 because we are members of his body.
B. The Bride Rebekah.
Genesis 24 is the greatest single typical chapter in the entire Old Testament. ( By the term ‘typical’ we mean -The typical sense of Bible texts is the deeper meaning that some elements (persons, places, things and events) of the Bible have because God, the divine author of the Bible, intended that these elements foreshadow/shadow further things.(Hermeneutics: Understanding Revelation)
The four key individuals involved in the chapter are Abraham (the father), Isaac, (the son), the servant Eliezer, and Rebekah (the bride)
1. Abraham sends his trusted servant to a distant land to fetch a bride for his son Isaac. He becomes a type of the heavenly Father who has done the same for His Son.
Gen 24:2 And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh,
Gen 24:3 that I may make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell,
Gen 24:4 but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac."
Mat 22:1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying,
Mat 22:2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son,
Mat 22:3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.
Mat 22:4 Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast."'
2. Isaac, having been previously offered up on Mt Moriah, is content to await the arrival of his bride from Mesopotamia. He becomes a type of the Son of God who now awaits the arrival of His bride in Heaven.
Gen 24:63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming.
Gen 24:64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel
Gen 24:65 and said to the servant, "Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?" The servant said, "It is my master." So she took her veil and covered herself.
Heb 10:12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
Heb 10:13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
Heb 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
3. The servant arrives in the distant land for the sole purpose of taking a bride. He becomes a foreshadow of the Holy Spirit.
a. He was sent by the Father. Joh 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
Joh 14:17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
b. He came at Pentecost to take a Bride. 1Co 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
c. He elevates Christ as the servant did Isaac.
Gen 24:36 And Sarah my master's wife bore a son to my master when she was old, and to him he has given all that he has.
Gen 24:37 My master made me swear, saying, 'You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell,
Gen 24:38 but you shall go to my father's house and to my clan and take a wife for my son.'
Joh 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Joh 16:14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
4. Rebekah, upon hearing about Isaac, agrees to go with the servant. She becomes a foreshadow of the church.
a. Like the church and Christ, she loved her bridegroom even before seeing him.
1Pe 1:8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
b.Like the church, she receives an earnest [a foretaste] from his riches from the servant.
Gen 24:53 And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments.
Gold earrings, Mycenae, made at about the time that Rebecca lived
2Co 1:22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
Eph 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
Eph 1:14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
c. Like the church and Christ, she begins her long pilgrimage to meet her bridegroom.
Gen 24:59 So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men.
Gen 24:60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him!"
1Pe 2:11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
d. Like the church and Christ, she is prayed for by her Bridegroom.
Gen 24:63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming.
Rom 8:34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
e. Like the church and Christ, she is received into the home of her father-in-law.
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| Rebekah is home |
Gen 24:67 Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
Joh 14:2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
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