“Christ and the Church”
“CHRIST AND THE CHURCH”
Every Christian is a part of the church of God and a member of the body of Christ (Eph 5: 29, 30, 32), and we are living at the end of the earthly history of the church, in the moment just prior to her being ushered into the Father’s house, John 14: 2, 3. “It is the last hour”, 1 John 2: 18 NT. And we are drawn to the instructions as to the “last hour” which the word of God supplies. It is the action of the Spirit in the bride, leading her in the fast waning moments to desire to know them. The church is betrothed to be “the bride, the Lamb’s wife”, Rev 21: 9. Beautiful is the picture presented to us in the whole of this chapter of Genesis, which is a type of the preparation and home-bringing, through the desert, of the church to the Bridegroom, waiting for her in the Father’s house. And it seems to me that in these final verses there is a peculiar intimacy of affection unfolded, an affection which is not before us in the earlier part of the story, for here we must remember we are just at the closing scene. I learn what is the occupation of CHRIST at this present moment, when I read these verses, and this the soul needs, not mere history, but what He would say to me today.
Let us turn then to verses 63 and 64 with this need: “And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide”. Now WE are living at the close of the day, in the evening of that day which has been marked truly by the presence of the Holy Ghost (typified by Eliezer), but also by the absence of the Bridegroom. It has lasted over eighteen centuries, and now, just at its close, our hearts turn from all the love that has carried us, along to the Lord Himself, as before us in this scripture. What is His occupation at the present time? And what is the subject of His meditation? Only one answer can be given to both questions. He is occupied with thoughts of the coming One.
This we know from His immediate action. “And he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming”, v 63. Let us ask our hearts, Do we BELIEVE He is NOW thus occupied? No belief, no joy. Jesus is on the look-out for the bride. “He lifted up his eyes, and saw”. Isaac’s whole soul’s affection is concentrated, so to speak, in that one, long, earnest gaze. But the moment has come for it. And it is today. The evening shades are around—the evening of that day during which the bride has journeyed to Him across the desert. And now “he saw, and, behold, the camels were coming”. And what is her occupation at this moment, a moment the like of which she has never known before? “And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel”, v 64. She lifted up her eyes, she turned them away and for ever from the desert sands, and she saw HIM.
Oh, that look of hers, which, meeting His own, eclipsed for her everything else! It is the eye of faith in the bride now, which turns away and finds its true rest in Christ. Christian, do you know what this is, amidst the shadows that lie around your path? Can you say, “We see JESUS”? Oh, what a sight is this for your heart!
I believe then that bridal affections will be found, awakened by the Spirit of God in us, and that this will be especially so just before we go to be with Him for ever. I do look for more of this in my own heart and for the saints. HE saw her, and she saw HIM.
And now notice the effect upon her of being so occupied. What about all the waywardness of the path? She lighted off the camel, and she took the veil, and covered herself. Yes, and the action was as suited to her as it is suggestive to us. We can take (and through grace shall surely take) a lower place. Yes! we shall only seek to hide ourselves as we see Him. But we can only take this lowest place, and hide ourselves, as we do see Him.
May the Spirit lead us into it yet more and more!
From Helps for the Poor of the Flock—vol 9, 1904
