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Camels, Water, and Revival
“And he caused the camels to kneel outside of the city near the well of water; the time was evening, the time when those come out who are drawing water. And he said, ‘Yahweh, the God of my lord Abraham, please ordain success for me in my presence this day and demonstrate covenant faithfulness to my lord Abraham.’”
(Genesis 24:11-12)
Abraham’s servant stops outside of the gate, a place to where visitors would come and a place where the animals could be watered at the end of the journey. A typical baggage camel can travel about 40 miles per day, so here they close about a 2-week journey from the wilderness of Canaan to the city of Nahor. This would be a typical place for a traveler to stop, water the camels, and inquire as to a place to stay for the night.
Though most of our English translations speak of the time of the evening as the time when women come to draw water, this is inferred from the feminine use of the term for those drawing. More specifically, we should state that these ladies coming out to draw would typically have been servant girls and young daughters in service of their mothers, not so much that all of the women of the community were coming out to draw at this time. Indeed, this sets the stage for the introduction of Rebekah, but before introductions are made, Eliezer goes to the Lord in prayer.
What is particularly interesting in this prayer is that he addresses it to “Yahweh, the God of my master (or lord) Abraham.” Here he does not say, “my God,” but only speaks of Yahweh as the God of his master. There are several things that can be implied by this choice of language. The first is that of the Federal Headship of his master, Abraham. As he is in the service of Abraham, he has chosen to submit to the authority of Abraham’s God in this task. Arguably, as second aspect is that Eliezer was a circumcised member of Abraham’s household (Genesis 17:12-13), and in submission to Abraham’s headship over his life and household, Eliezer himself has made Yahweh his God, but is praying in this way to reflect the authority of Abraham in his own life.
This is worth noting because in our modern, individualistic and pluralistic society, this idea of submission to authority and covenantal headship is something that has been all but forgotten. Rarely are fathers recognized as the spiritual heads and authorities in their homes and often families take the attitude that it is perfectly fine for children to choose their own religious preferences. Neither of these attitudes are Biblical, nor are they healthy to society, which is based on the Biblical institution of the family. If you don’t have a strong base of families upon which a society is built, you will not have a strong or vibrant society — and strong families are built on and around the idea of headship and authority…with the ultimate authority being God himself.
Loved ones, as Christians we often pray that God will bring revival to our land, and that is a good prayer that needs to be prayed. Yet often, those who pray for revival are unwilling to do the hard work of heart-work to prepare themselves for such a revival. Jesus told a parable about a sower casting seed and the seed falling on various types of ground, but only that which fell on fertile ground bore fruit (Matthew 13:1-23). Yet, we forget that it is preparation that makes fertile ground fertile in the first place. It has been cleared of weeds and rocks, fertilized, tilled, and irrigated — this takes the work of many hands. In terms of preparing our individual souls for the seed of the Gospel, this is work done through the Holy Spirit, though often the Spirit uses people as tools in that process. But for the soil in churches and in communities to be changed the Holy Spirit clearly demands that Christians order their lives according to God’s law and put away their evil practices. Are we willing and ready to do that? Sadly, I am not convinced that we are. One thing is for sure, though, God will never let go of those he has claimed as his own; yet when his own stray, he draws them back to himself and that process is not always a pleasant one. May God bless America with revival once again, but may he also bless the church with reform such as that his people reorder their lives in a way that would prepare them as a community to receive the anointing of his reviving grace.
Sanctification (1 Corinthians 15:2)
“and through which you are being saved. if you hold to the words which I preached to you—assuming you did not believe in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:2)
There are two things in particular that I want to highlight about this verse. The first thing is the word sw/◊zesqe (sozesthe), which is the passive form of the verb sw/◊zw (sozo). The verb means “to save” or “to deliver.” Yet, Paul very clearly uses this verb in the passive form which then means “to be saved.” Why do I make an issue about this? It is simply because salvation is something that is worked by God, not us. It is God’s grace and God’s grace alone. Too often we like to think that we bring something to the table in the work of salvation—even if we limit it to our own choice of God, but we must not do so, for were we to contribute to our own salvation, to use the words of Paul, grace would no longer be grace (Romans 11:6).
At the same time, given that this verb is in the present tense, the implication is that the saving is ongoing. This is one of the thematic things that you will see not only in Paul but throughout the New Testament. We often speak of this as “the already and the not yet.” Jesus sometimes speaks of the Kingdom of God being here (Mark 1:15) and sometimes speaks of it as yet to come (Luke 17:20ff). This verse is another example of this theme; at times scripture talks of us being saved (Ephesians 2:8 ) and at times, as in this verse, the scripture speaks of being saved as if it is an ongoing process.
Jesus, through his life and death on the cross, inaugurated the end times. Things were begun in the sacrifice of Christ, yet will not come to consummation until his return. Why is that? God is still gathering the elect from the nations through history. God’s patience, as Peter puts it, means salvation for all of the elect (2 Peter 3:8-10). In other words, the kingdom is here in the church right now, but until Christ returns in glory, the fullness of God’s kingdom will not be revealed.
On a scaled down level, the same thing can be applied to our own salvation, and for this we have two important Biblical terms: justification and sanctification. Justification is the already. When God brings us to faith, he declares us justified because of the work of Christ. In justification, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us (note the language of “impute”—Jesus’ righteousness is not imparted to us for we do not own it, rather it is imputed to us in a declarative way—we stand before God’s judgment seat in the robes of another). Sanctification is the not yet because it is ongoing. It is the language that Peter uses when he speaks of working to “make your election sure” (2 Peter 1:10) and Paul speaks of “working out your salvation” (Philippians 2:12).
Sanctification is ongoing and will not be complete until we are glorified with Christ. God is still doing the work on us in sanctification, just as a potter works a lump of clay into a beautiful vessel, but at the same time, we participate in the process (or seek to resist it). How do we participate? First of all, we seek to grow in our lifestyle, putting to death the sinful habits of our life. Second of all, we seek to learn more and more about God through his word. That word will reveal more and more about our life that we need to clean out or change for the glory of God, so that we might be able to better enjoy him in this world. And third, as these things are an ongoing practice, we do so as part of a believing community, being exposed to the means of grace, we rejoice and suffer in fellowship with others. Lastly, we grow through trial and testing. This strengthens us in our faith often so that we might assist others better in their sanctification.
Never lose sight of the fact that God has begun a work in you and he will not rest until that work is completed—which means he will not allow you to rest in your own sanctification. Paul closes this verse with an interesting statement. What he is implying is that if you are not growing in your faith and sanctification, you may have believed in vain. Does this mean that you can lose your salvation? Certainly not! It does mean, though, that your belief was not genuine to begin with. Remember the parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-20). There are some seeds that do sprout, even though they fall on rocky or weedy ground. There are some people who will look as if they had a genuine conversion experience for a time, yet, will fall away. These are those that Paul is referring to. In a sense, he is pointedly asking the Corinthians whether they are people of stony or weedy soil.
Does this mean that we stop preaching to those whose soil is rocky, that have given evidence of salvation and then fallen away? Certainly not! We have been given the task of scattering seed; it is the Holy Spirit who works the tiller in the soil. Though the soil may be unproductive at one point, we do not know whether, in the providence of God, that the Holy Spirit will later strip the soil of its rocks and weeds so that the world will find a place to sink deep and productive roots. We are given the joy of participating in the process by scattering seed; we must trust that the Holy Spirit is sovereign in his preparation of the soil.
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