In the previous type we saw how a person chosen by God to inherit God’s promised inheritance should be a burnt offering to God for the satisfaction of God’s desire. Following that, we have another type, a type portraying Christ and the church, symbolized by the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah.
Isaac as the son brought forth by Abraham through his wife Sarah became the unique seed to inherit all that his father had. When Abraham’s old servant was securing a wife for Isaac, he testified that his master had given all that he had to his son (Gen. 24:36). Genesis 25:5 also tells us that “Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.” Hence, Isaac became the one who inherited his father’s riches. Isaac’s inheriting of all that his father had is a type of Christ’s inheriting all that God the Father has. John 3:35 says, “The Father loves the Son and has given all into His hand.” Furthermore, in John 16:15 the Lord said, “All that the Father has is Mine.” Hence, Christ not only has received all that was given by the Father but has also inherited all that the Father has.
Abraham sent his oldest servant, who ruled over all that he had, charging him to take a wife for Isaac not of the daughters of the Canaanites but of Abraham’s kindred (Gen. 24:2-4). As a result, Isaac took Rebekah as his wife, who was of his father’s house and of his kindred. This typifies that Christ desires to obtain the church, which is of the same blood and flesh as He is, to be His counterpart. The counterpart of Christ must come from Christ’s race, not from the angels nor from any other creatures, but from the human race. Hebrews 2:14 says, “Since therefore the children have shared in blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same.” Through Christ’s becoming a man of blood and flesh, the human race has become Christ’s race. Christ’s desire is to obtain the church, which is of the same blood and flesh as He is, to be His beloved counterpart for the satisfaction of His heart’s intent.
Just as Isaac is a type of Christ, so Isaac’s wife Rebekah is a type of Christ’s counterpart, the church. Rebekah was chosen to be Isaac’s wife by the old servant whom Isaac’s father, Abraham, sent to the place from where he was called out by God. Rebekah never dreamed that she would be selected to be Isaac’s wife. What happened to her altogether did not depend on her. It all depended on God’s sovereign arrangement (Gen. 24:14), for she was the one chosen and prepared by God to be given to Isaac. This typifies that the church is chosen and prepared by God to be given to Christ. Ephesians 1:4 says, “Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” This shows that before He created us, God chose us according to His infinite foresight to match Christ as His corporate bride.
When Rebekah had provided sufficient water for the camels, the old servant took a gold ring weighing half a shekel and put it on Rebekah’s nose (Gen. 24:22, 47). Half a shekel signifies the first taste, the foretaste, indicating that another half, the full taste, is coming. The gold ring signifies the sealing Spirit. This is a type of the church’s receiving the Holy Spirit as a seal and a pledge. Ephesians 1:13-14 says that in Christ we have been “sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is the pledge of our inheritance.” To be sealed with the Holy Spirit is to be marked with the Holy Spirit as a living seal. At the time we were saved, God put His Holy Spirit into us as a seal to mark us out, indicating that we belong to God. The Greek word for pledge also means “foretaste, guarantee.” God gives His Holy Spirit to us not only as a pledge of our inheritance, securing our heritage, but also as a foretaste of what we will inherit of God, affording us a taste beforehand of the full inheritance.