TEXT: Ruth 2-4

SUBJECT: Ruth #2: Redeemed

Last week we began a short study of the Book of Ruth. Today, with God’s blessing, we will finish it. Ruth is divided into four chapters, but it’s not about four things: it’s about two things. The two things it is about are the same two things the whole Bible is about: Loss and Redemption.

In Chapter One, a family in Israel is lost. When a famine comes to Bethlehem, Judah, Elimilech, his wife, and two sons quit their country for the promise of a better life in Moab. The life they were looking for, however, was not found: in fact, all Moab gave them was death. First the father died, and then his two sons, leaving an aging widow and two Moabite daughters-in-law to fend for themselves.

Feeling the hopelessness of their situation, the mother urges the younger women to go back to their families, go back to their people--and go back to their gods. One of them takes her advice, but the other will not! She will live and die with the mother of her late husband, and with her God! The mother gives in to her wishes, and the two widows go back to Israel.

When they reach their hometown, the neighbors are overjoyed to have them. But the mother is not so happy. Her name is Naomi, and that means something like ‘Sweetness’; but from now on she’s going by ‘Mara’, bitterness, ‘because the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with’ her.

The theme of this Chapter is loss. Naomi and Ruth have lost everything. Their husbands are dead, and their hopes are dead with them.

If Chapter One is about losing everything, Chapters 2-4 are about getting it all back, and more! We might call it recovery, but the Bible has a richer word for it: the word is Redemption. This is what Ruth is about; it’s what the Bible is about; and to put a finer point on it: it’s what God is about!

Did God permit the human race to fall into sin, and to lose everything? Yes He did. But, had He been happy with the loss, He would have done nothing about it. But He didn’t do nothing about it, He did something about it--and more than something, He did everything that needed to be done to restore the loss. And then some.

Including Ruth, Chapters 2-4. Let’s get to it, and the love of God be with us!

Today's reading was a long one, but the story is simple and easy to summarize--I hope. We begin with Boaz, maybe the richest man in Bethlehem. He is a relative of Elimelech, and therefore, a candidate to marry Ruth and to redeem the loss her family has suffered.

Is he likely to do it? It seems he is, for he's a godly and generous man. His first words are a blessing upon his servants: "The LORD be with you!" he says. They reply: "The LORD bless you!" He's the Master of a large estate who treats his workers with respect and affection.

Speaking of workers, who's the foreign girl? She is Ruth, he's told, the Moabite who came back with Naomi. He knows her story, her devotion to Naomi--and to the God of Israel. He introduces himself, and allows her to glean the field behind his workers. Then, pulling the foreman aside, he says, "Nobody touches the girl...and leave a little extra for her". In this, Boaz is obeying the Word which commands us to "Love the stranger...who dwells among you".

Ruth takes the good news home to Naomi who blesses "The LORD who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!"

After giving thanks, she starts thinking how to get Boaz for her daughter. The plan she comes up with is a good one--though I wouldn't recommend it to you!

The next day, Boaz offers Ruth to a relative who has "first dibs" on her. He declines the offer, and Boaz redeems the family, buys the land, marries the widow, brings the mother into his home, and fathers a child in the name of the Ruth's dead husband.

Naomi is overjoyed! Her foreign daughter was "better to [her] than seven sons". As for the child, he would be the "restorer of [her] name and the nourisher of [her] old age".

"May his name be famous in Israel!" was everyone's wish. Did it come to pass? It did. For Obed had a son, Jesse. And Jesse had a son, David. And David had a Son, too, Our Lord Jesus Christ!

"God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform".

From a dead man, He brings life. From a name blotted out in Israel, He brings the "Name which is above every name".

What's the story about? It is about "redemption"--loss and recovery. The contrast could not be sharper: the land is sold and regained. The name is dead and revived. Naomi is bitter and full of joy. Ruth is a Moabite widow who bears the king of Israel.

That's quite a story, isn't it? But how does it apply to us? In general, it teaches us to hope in God. When you read the story for the first time, you're likely to say, "Wow! God can do anything!" That's right, He can. If He can solve Ruth and Naomi's problems, He can solve yours too.

"Let Israel hope in the LORD,

for with the LORD there is mercy;

and with Him there is plentiful redemption".

To be specific, the story says, "Not only can God do something for us, He has done something!"

What's that?

Naomi's friends knew very well, 4:14: "Blessed be the LORD who has not left you this day without a near kinsman..." What do they mean by this? They're looking back to the Law of God which provided a way for taking care of widows and orphans.

What was that? Not a welfare system. For God knows the poor need more than money; they need love--which no agency can give. So, what does the LORD do for the widow and fatherless? He appoints a Kinsman-Redeemer.

1. He must be a close relative.

2. He must be able to pay the debts.

3. He must be willing to marry the widow and father a child for her dead husband.

This Law served a double purpose. When obeyed, it took care of the needy in Israel. But, more importantly, it prophesied of the Kinsman Redeemer to come.

Who is that? Jesus Christ. Is He qualified to undertake this great work? Let's see.

Is He a close relative? He is. By nature, our Lord is Divine. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". Fully Divine, sharing in all qualities and works of God. The Nicene Creed has Him

"Very God of very God".

By choice, He became human. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us". Our Lord is not superhuman, but as human as you and I. He "partook of flesh and blood" and all that entails: sorrow, pain, weariness, disappointment, bereavement, and death! We have a High Priest who is "touched with the feelings of our infirmity". Why? Because they were His too. The Church Fathers stressed this too, calling Him

"Very man of very man".

To whom is He related? If we had but the First Gospel, we might think He's related to the Jews only. For there He is called, "The Son of David, the Son of Abraham". But we have other Gospel, too. In the Third--Luke's Gospel--His line is traced back to David, of course, and to Abraham...and to Noah and to Adam, too. This makes our Lord Jesus Everyone's Cousin!

Therefore, He is qualified to redeem--not just one family or one tribe or one nation--but the world!

Is He able to redeem? The Bible says He is "Able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by Him..." When He was here in body, He saved all sorts of people, from the Learned Rabbi to the despised Publican; from the devout young lady to the woman out of whom He cast seven demons. If any man was beyond redemption, it was that thief on the cross. He was a life-long criminal, it seems, who was but hours from death. Yet he became--as J.C. Ryle put it, "Christ's Greatest Trophy".

Although the Bible contains many such stories, it is not alone in telling His wonders. People here can tell the same stories. People who didn't grow up in Christian homes; people who didn't abstain from sex before marriage; people who didn't "know when to say when"; people who spent time in jail; spent time in rehab; spent time in cults--you name it! Each one of them can sing,

"He is able to deliver thee".

Our Lord's power to redeem is beyond question, but is He willing? Boaz was qualified to redeem Ruth; he had the money to do it; but if he'd said, "No, I won't do it", she would have remained in her misery. Did he say "No"? He didn't. And neither does Christ.

A leper came to Him one day, saying: "Lord, if You are willing, you can make me clean". What did the Lord say, "Uh, let me get back to you on that one?" No! Without hesitation He said, "I am willing, be cleansed!"

He takes "No pleasure in the death of the wicked", but "Stretches out [His] hand all day long to a rebellious people..." What a blessed picture! He's not "shaking His fist" at sinners, but extending an open hand. He's not doing it for two minutes, but "all day long". He's not doing it for people who are honestly mistaken, but for rebels.

Produce one person who truly wants to be saved, but who finds our Lord unwilling to save him. Some want to be forgiven; some want to be happy; some want to escape hell, but find one who wants to be "saved from his sins" to whom Christ said, "No way". You'll be a long time looking, for

"He who comes to Me,

I will in no wise cast out".

As for your losses, He will recover them all. The joy you lost in sin, is returned to you with interest! "In His Presence is the fullness of joy; at His right hand are pleasures forever more". The friendships you broke up are replaced by "A Friend who sticks closer than a brother". The family you threw away is made up for "a hundredfold". The hope you gave up long ago, is renewed with a "hope that does not disappoint". Have you wasted an inheritance? If so, He'll give you "an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you".

Boaz gave Ruth and Naomi the child they wanted. Christ will make you fruitful, too. Sin is like a sterile husband, it may talk big, but can't deliver the goods. Our Lord can: We are "married to Christ that we should bear fruit to God".

If the Book of Ruth teaches us anything at all, it teaches us that self-redemption is impossible. So quit trying to redeem yourself by reading books, going to seminars, turning over new leaves, and so on.

Ruth teaches us that redemption is a work of God in a Kinsman-Redeemer. Thus, I urge you to look to Him--to Jesus Christ--and find the redemption God promises everyone who comes "Under His wings for refuge".

God teach us these things, for Christ's sake. Amen.