‘TAKE A WIFE FOR MY SON’ – The Holy Spirit—Our Helper; Lesson 1; Introduction

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on October 11, 2017 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group; October 11, 2017 – The Holy Spirit—Our Helper; Lesson 1; Introduction

Theme: Genesis 24 illustrates the ministry of love that the the Holy Spirit has been sent to fulfill toward us.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

This morning, we begin a study of a wonderful Person—Someone who is the constant Helper and Counselor of the follower of Jesus Christ—Someone who has graciously taken up residence in us and empowers us in our walk with the Savior—Someone who Himself is the third Person of the Trinity, and who is to be worshiped as God—Someone the Bible presents to us as the Holy Spirit.

A great theologian once pointed out that the Old Testament era is the era of Christ, because it gives us the promise of His coming into this world as our Redeemer; but also, now that He has come, the New Testament era is the era of the divine Helper that Jesus has sent in His place to preserve us and sanctify us for the day when Jesus returns for us as King of kings and Lord of lords. This, then—in God’s redemptive plan for the ages—is the age of the Holy Spirit’s ministry on earth. It’s very much worth our while to learn of Him.

And a story that illustrates what that ministry would be like with respect to our Savior is found in the 24th chapter of Genesis.

I. LET’S READ OF HOW ABRAHAM SENT HIS SERVANT TO TAKE A BRIDE FOR HIS SON.

In Genesis 24, Abraham sends the oldest servant of his household to go to his homeland to take a bride for his only son Isaac. Let’s read this story together. And as we do, pay special attention to the main characters in the story.

II. CONSIDER THE PICTURE THIS GIVES US¹.

A. Of God the Father; who, like Abraham, sought a bride for His Son (Genesis 24:1-9, 48; Matthew 22:2; John 6:37, 44; 17:6, 8-10).

B. Of the Church; which, like Rebekah, is “called out” to be the Son’s bride (Genesis 24:15-21; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:25-32).

C. Of Jesus Christ; who, like Isaac, was not yet seen by His bride (1 Peter1:8), but was only known to her by the testimony of Another (Genesis 24:30, 58; John 14:26; 15:26); and who, like Isaac, patiently waited until it was time to go out and take His bride to Himself (Genesis 24:63-67; Matthew 24:29-31; John 17:24; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

D. Of the Holy Spirit; who, like the servant who went out at Abraham’s command . . .

1. does not glorify Himself but shows the bride the things of the Son (Genesis 24:53; John 16:13-14),

2. enriches the bride with gifts (Genesis 24:30, 53; 1 Corinthians 12:7-11; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 4:7-8), and

3. eagerly protects and safely transports the bride to the Son (Genesis 24:56, 61; Romans 8:11, 15-16, 26-27; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 1 John 2:20, 27).

III. THINK ABOUT WHAT THE GREAT BIBLE TEACHER R.A. TORREY ONCE WROTE ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT:

“… [D]o you ever kneel down and look up to the Holy Spirit and say to Him, ‘Holy Spirit, I thank Thee for Thy great love to me’? And yet we owe our salvation as truly to the love of the Spirit as we do to the love of the Father and the love of the Son. … [I]f it had not been for the love of the Holy Spirit to me, leading Him to come down to the world in obedience to the Father and the Son, to seek me out in my lost condition, following me day after day, and week after week, and month after month, and year after year, following me when I would not listen to Him, when I deliberately turned my back upon Him, when I insulted Him, following me into places where it must have been agony for that Holy One to go, following me day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, until at last He succeeded in bringing me to my senses, and bringing me to realize my utterly lost condition, and revealing the Lord Jesus to me as just the Savior Whom I needed and induced me and enabled me to receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior and Lord; if it had not been for this patient, long-suffering, never-wearying love of the Spirit of God to me, I would have been a lost man today.”²

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These notes are adapted from the notes on Genesis 24 found in The Scofield Reference Bible.

R.A. Torrey, The Holy Spirit (Old Tapan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1927), pp. 19-20.