Two sisters live who are daughters of one father. Their inheritance has been that of a pagan world. Their blood has followed gods which are no such thing.
One of the sisters chose to follow the path of the widely accepted family religion. It seemed a very stable and established path. Expectations and consequences were clearly expressed by the writings of her ancestors. She followed all the ritual observances to the letter. That way, she would acheive and maintain the respect and consideration of those close to her. They must see her as righteous because of her efforts, but her heart and convictions would remain her own. No one had the right to actually tell her what to think. No one must demand her loyalty without her consent.
The other daughter chose to cut herself free from the grinding weariness of authoritarian thought. She did not want to be a part of a duality which bordered on psychosis, which made WHO you are and WHAT you do, separate dimensions of existence. She sought something transcendent over all, One worthy of trust. She pursued Love. This belief, this faith, seems the most fragile of all foundations on which to build a destiny, yet she broke off from her inheritance and left her roots behind. She gave it all, as a package, to follow Him.
One of the greatest stories of faith of all time is the story of Rebecca, who left her family behind, and went to a country far away from them, to marry a man she had never met. He and she were blood kin, related from the past. Her soon to be husband, Issac, represents Messiah, and Rebecca, His bride, are His redeemed, taken from, and away from, the world, to live with Him. Issac already had been offered at Mt. Moriah, and disappears from the text of the story until His bride is brought to Him by the The Servant, in the open field near His home.
The sister of the bride is not spoken of in this text. She remained behind. She had thought she understood how to do well for herself in fulfilling the demands of the world. She did not seem to realize that she was despised by them and they simply used her for for their own purposes. What she thought to gain by her own strength and intelligence has been taken away. All the world is arrayed against her. She wanders without a home for many long, agonizing years. She will not live free from fear until she, too, commits her heart to the path of faith, and abandons her struggle for self realization. She must turn to her LORD to come into her inheritance of peace, joy, and accomplishment that the Father has reserved just for her.
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