HOW GOD FILLED THE VACANCY

August 5, 2001 pm
MF Blume
Genesis 23:1-2 And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.
Genesis 23:15-20 My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead. And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant. And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.
Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.


Abram, the father of the faithful, has a life history that parallels the overall plan of God from Genesis to Revelation.
Isaac was born of Abram and Sarah in Genesis 21.

Jesus said the Kingdom of God is like a man who finds a treasure in a field and buys the entire field to obtain the treasure.

This is a pattern showing the plan of salvation.

Sarah's death parallels the spiritual death of mankind when Adam and Eve disobeyed God's word and brought death into the world.

Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Man died in the Garden.
Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

God set out to put away all the dead humanity and then get himself a new humanity.

Abram's wife, Sarah, depicts the human race as the Bride of God, so to speak.

When Sarah died, Abram insisted on paying for a burying place.
The place of burial represents the means by which God chose to save mankind.
The blood of Jesus was a price God paid in order to save mankind and make salvation sure!
Like the kingdom of God compared to the man buying an entire field to obtain the treasure, the place of death in Christ through the cross was a treasure to God!
In the same chapter as the parable of the treasure in the field, the Bible tells us in a parable that the FIELD IS THE WORLD.

Matthew 13:38 The field is the world;
In the world, God would do a work.
Abram's treasure was the burying place of Sarah.
Through the cross, God had the dead put away.
Genesis 23:4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
When mankind died, God's heart was broken and the Garden was made vacant.
Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
We are baptized into Christ's death.
In the tomb of Christ, his buryingplace, sinners would be put away through Christ's death and made into new creatures.
A price had to be paid in order to see this accomplished.

Ephron insisted that Abram not pay for the buryingplace.
Genesis 49:29-32 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.
We read that all the patriarchs used this buryingplace after Sarah was first buried there.
Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
All that matters in this world in God's eyes is whether we are new creatures or not.
Genesis 23:20 And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.
Abram's payment made it sure.

The name Machpelah means "double."
Machpelah was in Hebron.
The man in the parable of the treasure sold all he had in order to purchase the field.
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
John 12:31-33 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.
He drew all men into the potential for salvation through His death.
We leave Genesis 23 and the story of the field in Machpelah, and come to chapter 24 where THE BRIDE FOR THE SON IS SOUGHT.
Let's jump ahead and note what occurred after Rebekah married Isaac.
Genesis 24:67 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
Sarah's vacant tent became occupied once again with the bride of the son, Issac.
Genesis 24:3-4 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.
Genesis 24:15 And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.
Genesis 24:61-63 And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahairoi; for he dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.
Genesis 24:65 For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself.
In the field, the same field where the tomb was purchased, the new bride removed her veil.

The Garden is the place of the Bride for relationship with the Lord.
"The cool of the day" literally means the "spirit of the day".
Jesus died...
Matthew 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
And at the time of His death and in the location of His death...
Matthew 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
The veil was removed.

We find that the Garden of Eden had an entrance at the east side.
Removal of Veils in marriage represent the removal of a barrier that separates a man and woman from becoming one flesh.
1 Corinthians 6:16-17 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
Union of male and female represents the union of God's Spirit with our spirits.
Through the Son, Isaac, the vacant tent would be filled again.
At the cross, we experience the intimacy of union to Christ's death, causing new birth to occur.