THE SISTERHOOD IN RELATION TO MARRIAGE
[p. 377] THE SISTERHOOD IN RELATION TO MARRIAGE
Genesis 22:20 - 23; Genesis 24:1 - 9
One is reminded of the parable in Matthew 22:2 “The kingdom of the heavens has become like a king who made a wedding feast for his son”. This would go beyond the principals, for it is not simply a marriage, but a marriage feast, affording something for each guest. The parable conveys a wide thought, for the occasion of a marriage should be unselfishly and generously employed in making the happiness radiate to as wide an extent as possible; and in a marriage feast there is nothing worth radiating or extending, save what is characteristic of those who are believers in the Lord Jesus. What belongs to mere nature is not worth passing on. What is of the Spirit is to be extended; that is of vital value. All else perishes; even the very best joys of nature are perishing; not to be despised in their place, of course, but it is well to have a right appraisement of everything.
The marriage feast of Matthew 22 was made by a great personage — a king, for it is a question of God and Christ and the assembly. It was God who conceived the thought of this wedding feast. The great heart of God would take occasion to extend the spiritual felicity of such a time; in fact it was a matter of extending grace. There were those who spurned it, but there were those who did not, and shared in the holy joy of the occasion. I would remark that, save as we share in the holy joy of the wedding feast that God has made for Christ, we shall not rightly enjoy a wedding feast of this kind. It is patterned on that, for we are here in relation to what is spiritual. We should not come together merely to share the natural; while we fully value it and respect it,
[p. 378] we come here in goodly numbers for more than that; at least, one would hope so. It is in what is spiritual that God has His part; He loves to share in our spiritual feasts. He ever takes advantage of an opportunity to take part in such occasions. He would extend and promote joy in the Holy Spirit. One of the greatest things in this world of sorrow is joy in the Holy Spirit. All else is evanescent, but joy in the Holy Spirit is a permanent thing, and God would have us share in it.
The king in preparing this feast was really acting on family lines. It was not for a subject, but for his son. A glorious thought! It connects with Abraham in that way, for it is a family idea; and we have part in it as Christians. The king looks for his guests to be attired in wedding garments, such as are suitable for a holy, spiritual occasion. Let us not forget that. God comes in to see the guests, to see what kind of garments we have on, whether they are merely in relation to the natural or, as they should be, wholly related to the spiritual. No garment that is unspiritual will please His eye. The king came in to see the guests, and one had not on a wedding garment. He took notice of that. Very solemn!
The book of Genesis affords a remarkable field for instruction as to this matter. Abraham, as you might say, is the centre of the book from the patriarchal side, although there were others, of course, such as Noah, who “prepared an ark for the saving of his house (Hebrews 11:7)”. He was not behind in his day. Although his sons were all married, he provided for them. They came under his wing, and the daughters-in-law as well, which serves to show what I am saying as to the great paternal thought of Genesis. The three families of Noah came in under one head. He prepared an ark for the saving of his house. It was what the house needed. As we have said, God Himself led in this. He thought of Adam and said, “It is not good that Man should be alone”, (Genesis 2:18). The paternal idea is seen there, for Adam, we [p. 379] might say, was a son of God. Luke says he was “of God”; God had breathed into him. Parents are therefore to be considerate, and every father is to develop the paternal thought, if he is to promote family feelings and affections. The divine thought is that these should be handed down. One of the greatest heritages is right family feelings and affections. So God said it was not good for Adam that he should be alone, but He immediately proposes to provide for that need. He would make him one suitable, “a helpmate, his like (Genesis 2:18)”. And Abraham had a corresponding thought as to Isaac, that he should have a suitable wife. One of the important thoughts in Genesis is the sisterhood among the saints.
As one looks round in the circle of the saints, it is gratifying to see godly sisters, young and old. There is the brotherhood, but to balance that there must be the sisterhood. It did not exist in Genesis 2, when God thought for Adam: the sisterhood did not then exist. God says in principle, I will provide it. He built the woman, we are told — a remarkable word. She is not viewed as a generation; she is a creation, but a creation on the ground and principle of being built, implying, I suppose, symmetry; that is, there is correspondence according to divine design; she is suitable for Adam. It is very remarkable that God should take such pains. The word is not used in relation to any creature save the woman, and it is with man in view; that the wife should be in every way according to what was needed. Adam was a wonderful creature, and no one knew that better than God, for he was His own supreme handiwork and so is his wife, too, but she is builded in relation to Adam. God says, I will provide him one, his like. And then we have this structural word, “builded”. It is a matter of what she is — made to order, so to speak. God ordered her in His own mind, and designed and builded her accordingly.
Well, all this is important for the sisters: the thought [p. 380] of being built should search our hearts, for it excludes will, and will in woman is peculiarly strong, and would easily interfere with the design. The thought runs down; it cannot be with Eve only. The sisterhood must be in accord with the need. What was the need? The need was in the brotherhood. Adam was first formed, and then Eve, we are told; but the moral defect appeared first in Eve; she was in the transgression. It is a very solemn reminder, showing how feminine character lends itself to the enemy and spoils the divine plan. As soon as the enemy is admitted, the divine plan is spoiled.
Well now, the paternal thought comes down, as I said, and appears in Abraham. He had been wonderfully honoured, but now in chapter 22, the true thought of a man shines: man as a father, for it is in that way that a man should shine; as a husband too, and Abraham shone as a husband; but as a father, he shines in this chapter; a man fully obedient as to God. He acceded to the will of God under great pain, we must understand, but he fulfilled the divine requirement, “Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, Isaac”, (Genesis 22:2). It is a demand on his keenest affections. Is God not worthy of such a sacrifice — of such an exhibition of true manhood under His eye? That true womanhood should come to light there, is what might be expected, and that is just what does come to light, for Rebecca and her genealogy are immediately introduced, representing the sisterhood coming down from the family of Terah. It is Abraham’s own family line that is brought to our attention, for he and Isaac through him, also sprang from Terah.
Now Abraham has Isaac on the principle of resurrection — the heavenly man — for Isaac is not said to have come down from the mountain. Abraham and the servants went to Beer-sheba, but nothing is said of Isaac being with them, as if his place is above, so he is [p. 381] peculiarly the heavenly man henceforth. That is what the type conveys here. Then the Spirit of God brings the woman into evidence; it is the sister; and, dear brethren, this is one of the most important bits of instruction for the moment, because there are so many with us who are young. We can thank God for them all. There is nothing more pleasing to God’s eye than to see the young coming forward spiritually, not only taking their place in fellowship, but taking on what enters into it, in a spiritual way. That is what the sisterhood, as descended from Terah would mean - a spiritual family on the feminine side; that is the idea. So we have these eight whom Milcah bore to Abraham’s brother Nahor; a remarkable family from a spiritual point of view, but from one of them, Bethuel, comes Rebecca, the one who is specially in mind. She is the one whom the Spirit of God has in His mind at this point; and, as we have seen, Isaac is already presented according to what he was typically. This chapter establishes him in the mind of faith, and now we have the woman, and she is established in our minds as of the right family, that is, of the same family as himself. Thus we have here in type, Christ and the assembly.
Bringing this into the present occasion, young people are instructed that the sisterhood must correspond with the brotherhood; that in entering into the marriage relation, the sister must correspond with the brother. That is the divine mind. Anything contrary to this great thought is detrimental to the testimony, as we see in Esau later, for his wives were a source of grief to this spiritual woman, Rebecca. The linking on of unconverted persons or merely nominal Christians with believing sons and daughters of spiritual persons, is an abomination to heaven. It makes for the ruin of the testimony wherever it prevails. The Spirit of God is contending against it constantly, and other worldly associations, also, indeed against all worldly things,
[p. 382] such as radio, current worldly literature, and the like. The Spirit of God is battling with these things all over the world day and night, to preserve the testimony from their terrible influence, and these scriptures are to help us see the kind of brotherhood and the kind of sisterhood that are to be in mind as new households are contemplated. Isaac is the brother, and a type of Christ; Rebecca is the sister, and a type of the assembly. She is of the right family; she has come down from the same family as Abraham, so the word in the New Testament is, “she is free to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord”, (1 Corinthians 7:39). The word is “only in the Lord” — you might say. Why does it not say, Only a child of God? The point is that in these matters it is the natural will that has to be dealt with — the will of the young person. “In the Lord” means that the natural will is superseded; that my will is not in it. It is the will of God. The authority of God is vested in the Lord Jesus, and hence marriage “in the Lord” implies that the will of God prevails, and not the natural wills of those entering into this relation.
Having made these remarks, I now call attention to Abraham, and his great fatherly concern as to his son Isaac, as to the kind of wife he is to have. What I have been saying keeps the thought in our minds that the wife is already existent; a suitable one. She is somewhere, and Abraham is concerned that she should be found; and if not found, no one else will do. He says, “And if the woman be not willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be quit of this my oath” — that is, she determines the matter. If her will is against the truth, then the servant is cleared, but there is no wife for Isaac, and Isaac will be without one; there is no other. Isaac will be better without one than with one who will damage him for the testimony. So Abraham is concerned about this, and he causes his servant to swear as to it. That is to be observed. What is on the face of this [p. 383] passage is the fatherly affection and deep concern of Abraham for Isaac, that he should have a suitable companion, and it is obvious that the same exercise should enter into a moment like this. We have here parents on both sides, true sons and daughters of Abraham, thank God, so that our dear brother and sister are well set out. Both have descended from right families, and the parental feelings to which I have alluded, exist. The wedding feast made by the king for his son, is reflected here; this is seen in what is provided for us here today; but then the thought now is that this parental principle should go down; that it should pass on. It is one of the greatest heritages that we have, the principles we have spoken of properly cherished and exercised in one generation, handed on to the next, all originating in God.
There is, alas! a parentage that originates with the devil, John 8:44 — it is not so here today, thank God! We have the right parents, and our young brother and sister are to cherish the principles in which they have been tutored, and in turn hand them down. It will be exercised in a variety of ways. It enters into the household, into entertainment of the saints, into hospitality generally, and into many other relations and circumstances. It is really, dear brethren, what enters into the revelation which we enjoy, of what and how the Father thinks of the Son. John says, “we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father”, John 1:14. It was how the Lord Jesus acted towards His Father, and so it is that as the parental thought is taken on, the son knows how to act towards his father. Solomon said, “For I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother”, Proverbs 4:3. Proverbs becomes the most useful book for all young people.
So these thoughts I would commit to our dear brother and sister in their new path. They are to adorn it; they are to add to it throughout.