Whatever It Takes

I know you have experienced the same thing.

You can read whole passages of Scripture and have them be meaningful, but then, at a different time, have the Holy Spirit speak so powerfully in every turn of the narrative.

That is what is happening with me in Genesis right now, and especially in the chapters spanning the life of Abraham.

This morning I was in Genesis 24.

Abraham getting a wife for his 40 year old son, Isaac.

It is no small task.

And what is at stake is nothing less than the protection of God’s covenant relationship with His brand new people into the next generation.

Nothing is as fragile as God’s promises during the hand-off into the next generation.

• They can be compromised in the hand off.
• They can be mixed with the world.
• They can be neglected.
• They can be abandoned altogether.
• Their Source can be questioned.
• Their importance minimized.

Abraham is now “very old” (Genesis 24:1). And Isaac and whomever he marries will determine the continuation of the call, the covenant and the promises of God into the next generation.

Look at the lengths Abraham goes to to ensure God’s covenant is secure into the next generation! He is very serious about this!

Abraham makes his most trusted servant (likely Eliezer) swear that he “will not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women” (Genesis 24:3).

Sounds so separatist, so unkind, even intolerant.

Except wickedness was celebrated in Canaanite culture to the level that children were being burned alive in acts of worship to the god Molech. If Isaac married a local girl, the covenant would be doomed. It would die with Abraham.

But wait a minute!

The Apostle Paul was just as serious about this potential for compromise in the lives of New Testament believers.

“Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)

It is the same principle.

The continuation of the covenant into the next generation is at stake.

So, Abraham sends Eliezer back to Haran, where Abraham’s relatives lived, to find a suitable wife for Isaac. I would imagine he made this stipulation for two reasons:

1. Abraham would have known that his family had not sunk to the level of wickedness characteristic of the Canaanites.

2. Abraham would have known that, beginning with his father, Terah, whom God moved from Ur to Haran, there was a unique sensitivity to the voice of God in the family.

But also notice Abraham’s protectiveness of the covenant. His second command to Eliezer was that under no circumstances was Isaac to be allowed to go back to Haran (Genesis 24:6).

Why?

Because Haran was not the promised land, and Abraham could not risk having Isaac go back, like all the comforts of home and family and abandon the land and covenant promises of God.

For Abraham, it was non-negotiable.

He would not allow Isaac to compromise the covenant by marrying a local pagan devoted to gods that required the slaughter of babies.

And he would not risk the danger of Isaac abandoning the covenant for the comforts and safety of home.

If I seem to be as protective as Abraham, there is a reason for that.

We are in a season of the transmission of the covenant into the next generation.

It is nothing less than the passing of the covenant of God’s presence and power into the next generation as safely and securely as it was handed to me by my earthly father.