Genesis 24:28-25:18, Matthew 15:12-39

Thought from Today’s Old Testament Passage: Rebekah is a type of the church. One commentator says, "She was thought of before she knew it and was chosen when she did not know of the existence of her bridegroom." (Donald Grey Barnhouse, Genesis: A Devotional Commentary, 2 vols. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970), 2:30-31) So it has been with us, for we were chosen in Christ "before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:4 KJV). Isaac passed through his experience of sacrifice and resurrection before Rebekah knew him. The faithful servant left home to find her when she was still ignorant of Isaac’s existence. And when the servant found her, he initiated a contact and then induced her to come with him, not for himself, but for his absent master. Thus has the Holy Spirit sought us and drawn us to Jesus. As we travel through this life, He prepares us for when we will see Jesus face to face, much as the old servant of Abraham undoubtedly used the return trip to Beersheba to prepare Rebekah to love and live with Isaac…. May you respond as Rebekah did and start out joyfully for heaven, knowing that some day, at the end of your life journey, you—"without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless" (Eph. 5:27)—will meet Jesus face to face. (J. M. Boice, Genesis, an Expositional Commentary, Vol. 2, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1985), pp. 250-251)