Well, good morning, everyone. It's good to see you all. You can turn with me your Bibles to the book of Ruth chapter four. Ruth chapter four, we're gonna look at the entire chapter this morning.
So begin reading out verse one of the book of Ruth chapter four. Ruth 4, we'll begin reading at verse 1. Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by.
So Boaz said, come aside, friend. Sit down here. So he came aside and sat down. And he took 10 men of the elders of the city and said, sit down here.
So they sat down. Then he said to the close relative, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. And I thought to inform you, saying, Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it.
But if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know. For there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you." And he said, I will redeem it. Then Boaz said, on the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabites, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance. And the close relative said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance.
You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it. Now, this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging to confirm anything. One man took off his sandal and gave it to the other. And this was a confirmation in Israel.
Therefore, the close relative said to Boaz, buy it for yourself. So he took off his sandal. And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Cilion's and Maclone's from the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabite's, the widow of Maclone, I have acquired as my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead throughout his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate.
You are witnesses this day. And all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel. And may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.
May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman. So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went into her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. Then the woman said to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a close relative, and may his name be famous in Israel, and may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has born him.
Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom, and became a nurse to him. Also the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi, and they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now this is the genealogy of Perez.
Perez begot Hezron, Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amenadab. Amenadab begot Nashon, Nashon begot Solomon, Solomon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed. Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David. Amen.
Well, let us pray. Our good and gracious God, thank you that you are the Lord of hosts, and we're thankful for your sovereign rule over this world. Thank you that you are our king in whom we worship, our king who has sent forth his son who is king to die for a people like us. And we pray, oh God, that you'd remind us this day as we come to your word and come to your scriptures of the hope that we have in our savior, and in our Christ.
Thank you, O God, for the love that we see in the cross. It's not that we loved you, but that you love us. And we're thankful, O God, that when this world is ever-changing, your love never fades and your love never changes. Thank you, O God, you remind us of this often, for we are such a forgetful people.
And we pray, O God, that you'd give us hope in Christ our Lord and Christ our King, and find our only happiness in Him. And we're thankful for the forgiveness. We're thankful for the mercy that we have. And so we ask you, God, that you'd remind your saints this day about your love for us, that we might be encouraged, we might be strengthened, and we might be reminded of where our hope lies.
And we pray, O God, if there are any here today who do not know you, we pray, O God, you do a mighty act and that you would save their souls, that they would consider what love this is and look on Christ and believe on him and be saved. And we're thankful, O God, that you do this for your people whom you love, your elect whom you have chosen, And we're thankful, O God, that Christ came down to save his church, to save his bride, and to save his people. And we pray, O God, even now, as your word goes forth, that you would speak to your people, that you would comfort your people, that you'd remind us again of who you are. And we pray, O God, in all things, you would be glorified.
And we pray these things in the name of Christ. Amen. Well,
Introduction
I think a lot of people like a good love story, even men, but perhaps especially women. But the problem with a lot of modern love stories is they focus in on the ideal. Most of them are not reality. Then you turn to the scriptures and you see various ways in which couples meet, and they get a little shady, shall we say.
They get a little odd. Think about Judah and Tamar, for instance. If someone were to ask Perez, how did your parents meet? Well, Perez would say that dad thought mom was a prostitute, so that's not a very good start to their relationship.
Or perhaps even you think of Leah and Jacob and Rachel and Jacob and that whole debacle that happens there with her father and how he is the one who takes Laban, he is the one who dupes Jacob. Things don't go so well, so there's this unloved woman in the house of Jacob. Or think of Lot and his daughter, or think of Moab and how Moab came to being. If someone were to ask Moab the same question, he'd say, well, mom got grandpa drunk.
You see, the Bible gives unsavory sort of stories and makes us queasy as we read them, but it's important for us to see how God redeems his people. But one very positive, dare we say, love story in the scriptures that we sometimes forget is the story of Ruth and Boaz. It's actually quite a significant book. It's very well written, a lot of twists and turns.
It's about redemption, about forgiveness, and about the line of the king. But one thing very important is Ruth and Boaz get married not for the sake of themselves, but they get married for the sake of other people. And what makes this story so significant is it comes through a Gentile woman, comes through this one who is a Moabite, this one you would never think would have such faith. And at Surrey for the month of August, we've been going through Gentile foreshadowing, looking at unsavory sinners saved by grace in the Old Testament.
We looked at Tamar, we looked at Jethro, Rahab the harlot, and most recent when we looked at was Ruth the Moabite. And really the book of Ruth is instructive for God's people. It's all about the need for a king in such a hopeless time. Things are not going well in Israel at the time of Ruth.
And as well we see the hopelessness through the lens of this one who is Naomi. And thankfully, we come to the end of the book where we see hope restored. We see God's redemption in Boaz and Ruth. But at the same time, there is a lot of hopelessness at the start of the book.
And that's really the problem that we see in this book. The hopelessness for God's people. Sometimes things seem super bleak, don't they? Things aren't going to get any better.
Things seem to be going downhill. It's bleak for God's people personally. It's bleak for the church at large. It's bleak for perhaps loved ones that we see are so far gone, bleak for our country.
Unfortunately, if you're like me, God's people can lose hope. That's why Davis, as he entitles his sermon series on this, he calls it a no hopeless future for God's people. That's why I need to be reminded of God's grace and God's mercy and the hope that we have in our King and the hope that we have in the redemption found in our Lord Jesus Christ, because that's what we see in Ruth 4. We see redemption for Naomi.
We see redemption for a hopeless person. And this redemption comes through this one who is a Moabite. So
Redemption: Two Headings
the key theme is redemption this morning. And we'll look at this theme of redemption under two headings. First of all, redemption for the dead in verses one through 12. Then secondly, we'll see redemption through a son in verses 13 through 22.
So redemption for the dead in verses 1 and 12, and then we'll see redemption through his son in verses 13 through 22. So
Redemption for the Dead
let's first look at redemption for the dead in verses 1 through 12. And
Background: Hopelessness in Ruth 1–3
it's important in this book to be reminded of what's come before, especially as there's a lot of moving parts. Ruth 1 is very hopeless, isn't it? Things fall apart very quickly in verses 1 through 5. Davis says Ruth 1 and Job 1 ought to scare God's people because things fall apart very quickly.
And so we see that there is, even in the overarching setting, this is the time of the judges. Things aren't very good at this time, morally. There is no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
It was not the best for the people of God. And even too, we see things fall apart very quickly for this one Elimelech. There is a famine in the land, so he leaves. He goes to Moab with his wife, Naomi, and their two sons, Maklon and Kilion.
And then Elimelech dies, then Maklon dies, and as well, Kilion dies. But before Kilion and Maklon die, they receive two wives. So they're found wives of Moab for them. So there is this one of the Judahite lineage, this one Elimelech, God is my king, but he passes on very quickly.
Things fall apart very fast. We see death and bitterness. And even the names Maklon and Kilion, Maklon means sick, Kilion means end. So it's not a very positive start to this book.
But there is one bright spot in the start here, and that bright spot is this Moabite girl, this Moabite lady, this one Ruth. Even as they return, as Naomi wants to return back to Israel, back to Bethlehem, as God has given his people food, We still see, she tells them, stay here. I have nothing. I am old.
I have no sons. Stay here and find husbands for yourself. Orpah takes the suggestion and stays, but Ruth doesn't. Ruth puts her faith in God.
We see that in verses 16 and 17. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God, wherever you die, I will die and there I will be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also, if anything but death parts you and me. She puts her faith in Yahweh of Israel.
She puts her faith in the Covenant King in a very destitute situation. Again, there is nothing for her, yet she puts her faith in the God of heaven and earth. So she is this bright spot. They return.
Naomi doesn't want to be called Pleasant anymore, which is what her name means. She wants to be called Mara, which means bitterness. So they return. Things don't look very good.
But in Ruth 2, there seems to be some hope. Perhaps there is this one who can redeem them, this kinsman-redeemer. We see this idea of kinsman-redeemer or leverite marriage in Deuteronomy 25, where if the brother passes away, then the brother of the one who passed must marry, I guess, his sister-in-law to perpetuate a line, perpetuate inheritance. We see how not to do that in Genesis 38 with Judah and Tamar.
Things do not go so well. Tamar is the one who actually preserved the seed, wants to keep the line in Judah. Judah does not. She is more righteous than I.
And perhaps by the time we come to Ruth, things are relaxed a little bit more. Boaz is not actually the brother, but he is the one. He is a good man. He is one of great wealth who perhaps could redeem them.
And so Ruth goes down and gleans. Poor people, you know, or the rich who own fields were to give some at the edge of the field so that the poor could glean. So she goes to glean. So there perhaps is some hope.
Maybe this one could be such a man. And he does provide good things and gives good gifts, grace through barley, as Davis says. So things perhaps are looking a little bit better. And she is praised by Boaz as one who is virtuous. as one who, you know, honored and loved her mother-in-law.
So things seem to look better. Then we come to Ruth 3. Maybe Boaz can be the kinsman redeemer, the one who can redeem Naomi and Ruth. And so, in order for that to happen, Ruth has to marry this one.
So we see the proposal happen in Ruth 3. We see this romantic rendezvous, so to speak, as they go down to the threshing floor. She dresses all nice, she gets all cleaned up, and she goes down and puts herself out there for this one who is Boaz. He needs to be told, he needs to be reminded, he needs to be asked.
And so she goes down to the threshing floor. I know some commentators like to say there's something a little shady going on there. I understand there's no chaperone, but in any case, she moves away from the private area. She moves away to the feet.
I don't think anything shady happens in this section. And so he gets startled in verse eight. Oh, there's this woman at his feet. And so she says, I am Ruth, your maidservant.
Take your maidservant under your wing for you are a close relative. You are a redeemer. So he asks her right away, this is a proposal. Sometimes men don't always pay attention.
Sometimes men just need to be told what women actually mean. And here she comes, boom, you need to marry me. We need you to be the kinsman redeemer. And even that language there of the wings, the maidservant under your wings, perhaps the language there carries the idea of being under a garment, under protection.
The word wings is actually used in Ezekiel 16.8 to describe God's love for Israel and describe God's protection for Israel, God's covenant care for his people. And so Ruth and Naomi need this one Boaz to be the kinsmen redeemer. And he calls her virtuous in 3.11. And they're a match made in heaven because in chapter 2.1 of great wealth is the same word as virtuous.
So they're both virtuous. They have a lot of good things in common. And what's interesting is none, neither of them are obligated to marry each other. None of them.
But nonetheless, Ruth proposes, Boaz says, well, thank you. You know, there's younger men out there, but you chose me instead. He says, but there is this one who is closer than I. And so suspense builds.
He's going to see to it in verse 18, which is where we come in chapter four, beginning at chapter four. And
Boaz's Plan at the Gate
notice we see his plan in action in verses one through six. He needs to redeem the land and he needs to redeem Ruth. And so he goes to the gate, he sits down there. The gate is where commerce happened, where civic exchange enterprise was engaged, place of judgment and decisions.
It needs to be legal. And so he goes down to the gate, he sits there and behold, God's providence in action. Well, there's this Mr. So-and-so who walks on by.
He says, the close relative. What's interesting here is I usually love the translation of the New King James. I think they get this wrong. The word is redeemer.
I know he is a close relative, but the word means the one who shall redeem. So whenever you see close relative, it means the redeemer. So the redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken, this one who is closer than he, he walks on by. This is where that suspense builds.
There's an obstacle in their love story. It could be this guy instead of Boaz. We're rooting for Boaz and Ruth, but in this case, this one might be the one who takes the place. And so he says, come aside, friend, or Mr.
So-and-so. He's not given a name here. He's just called Mr. So-and-so, or Poloni Almoni in the Hebrew.
He has no name, which will be ironic later on. So he says, here, come aside. Come and sit down. In verse 2, he grabs the men of the city, the elders of the city.
Again, it has to be legal. Sit down here. So they sat down and he spoke to this one who is the Redeemer. He says, Naomi, verse 3, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to her brother Elimelech.
Now there is some debate about what's going on here. Perhaps it was that she's selling the use of the land. It still belonged to her even though they went to Moab. Perhaps she's selling the use of it in order to make some money with that.
That could be the case. Or perhaps they sold it before they went to Moab and now it needs to be repurchased, needs to be bought back. In any case, it had to be done through this one who is the Redeemer. So he says to him, he tells him about this scenario.
Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know, for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you. Seems like a pretty good situation.
Here's some land, Mr. Polonium Moni. Do you want this? And what does he say?
I will redeem it. Our hearts are crushed, right? Boaz and Ruth won't get together now. It seems like a good situation for him.
It's a win-win scenario. This Mr. Poloni-Almoni can keep his land and he can also gain something else as well. But Boaz is smart, isn't he?
This is part of Boaz's plan. He wants to be the one to redeem Ruth, not Mr. Poloni-Almoni. So he brings up what else has to be acquired in this transaction in verse six.
On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabites, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance. It's not just redeeming the land. but redeeming the line as well. The line of Elimelech that is passed on. You see, the one who is going to redeem the land and redeem Naomi and redeem the line of Elimelech, this one will have to do it at great cost.
It requires great sacrifice. And Mr. Polonyi Elmoni understands that. He says that in verse 6.
And the close relative said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.
The Nameless Redeemer Steps Aside
He has his own line he cares about. And he is nameless in this situation, which is actually kind of ironic. He wants to have a line that is kept. But as Ian Duguid says, he says, the irony is that by seeking to protect his future legacy in this way, Mr.
So-and-so ended up leaving himself nameless, missing out on having a share in the biggest legacy of all, a place in God's plan of salvation. So he's only concerned with himself, he's only concerned with his line, which is really a foil to Boaz, who really wants to be the one to redeem Ruth and to redeem the line. And Boaz wastes no time, verses 7 and 8. So we see the custom, the transaction, the signature, so to speak, to confirm the deal.
Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging. To confirm anything, One man took off his sandal and gave it to the other. And this was a confirmation in Israel. So they exchanged shoes.
That's an interesting way of doing things. And notice verse eight, Boaz does not hesitate. Therefore the close relative said to Boaz, buy it for yourself. So he took off his sandal.
This was Boaz's plan all along. It wasn't, hey, here's a land. You can take it. Oh, but also you need to take this Lady Ruth as well.
Your line is going to be perhaps, you're still going to get another inheritance of your own, but you're going also to have to give this line up to somebody else. Boaz is ready to do that. He's ready to sign it. He's ready to sign his life away, so to speak, for the sake of somebody else.
And again, God is affirming it through this transaction. Buy it for yourself. And so, Boaz says in verse 9, he said to the elders and all the people, You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and that was Cilion's and Maclon's from the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabite Tess, the woman of Maclone, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren, and from his position at the gate.
You are witnesses this day. And all that reference there should draw our attention back to Ruth 1. All the bad things that happened to Naomi, to Elimelech, all the things that fell apart in their lives. God in his mercy here is redeeming in this instance and it comes through costly love as Davis says.
Doesn't love cost? It requires sacrifice, doesn't it? Even in marriage. This is so different from our modern context that unfortunately creeps into the church as well.
We think marriages are about people making us happy. Well, nobody's happy then if we're only concerned with ourselves. It ought to be for the sake and care for other people. Boaz and Ruth get married, not for themselves, but to perpetuate a line and to perpetuate and care for other people and to love others.
They're not obligated to do that. What they do in this relationship costs both of them. It costs Boaz and Ruth. But God is pleased to redeem through such a thing.
God is pleased to move in mysterious ways and to bring about salvation for his people, salvation for Naomi, but salvation for the people of Israel as well through something that costs. And so it costs them much. He's going to redeem the land. He's going to redeem the line.
And we see the witnesses at the gate in verse 11 and 12. All the people who were at the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. Can't go back on it. Someone else can't come and say, hey, Mr.
Polonialmone can't all of a sudden go, oh, I want it now. No, it is done. We are the witnesses this day. And
The Blessing of the Witnesses
notice what they pray or what they, the blessing they hope happens for Boaz and Ruth. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel. May your womb be fruitful. Perhaps we can draw our attention again to that interesting situation, especially when we consider the marriages between Jacob and Leah, and Jacob and Rachel, and things even as the house of Israel is built all the way back in Genesis 30, some shady things go down there.
Rachel sells Jacob for some mandrakes. You know what we call that? Prostitution, right? See, things aren't always happy after people get married.
That's what Jane Austen forgot, because she never got married, I guess. We never see the latter part of marriages, because marriages are hard and difficult. And we see that with Leah and Rachel and Jacob and Rachel. But nonetheless, may your womb be like these two.
May your womb be fruitful. May God build the house. That's why we read, you know, Psalm 128, God is the one who builds his house. This is important for us to be reminded of that.
It's not the people, but God himself who moves in mysterious ways. to build his places. It's a reminder for Israel, especially with all that they're going through, with there was no one, everyone did what was right in his own eyes, there was no king in Israel, but God is building a line of a king who will rule his people. I think that's a reminder for us as well, isn't it? God builds his house, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
And God is pleased to move in mysterious ways. In times you wouldn't think, humanly speaking, churches would grow. God does marvelous works. There is kind of a, I guess, a general trend in history when there is peace without, that is, peace from oppression.
Theology goes down the drain, right? Because we have to fight with ourselves. When there's oppression, usually that's when people unite. That's when the church grows.
There seems to be this, you know, confessing the church, growing together in the truth. God, you know, does it in times of so-called despair. God grows his church. God is mighty and good.
And they're praying that God would be mighty and good to Boaz and Leah as well. So they pray that they'll be fruitful, but as well also, they pray that they might be famous. And may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous, or may you have a name in Bethlehem. Mr.
Polonyi Almoni, who cared about his name, again, has no name in the line of Israel. And the Ephrathah and Bethlehem, again, it's that Judahite lineage, the house of David, and even to that language of prosperity is the same word for valiant, or virtuous, the same word described in Ruth 3 about Ruth and of Boaz in Ruth 2. Really a virtuous woman who can find and a virtuous man who can find and virtuous children who can find. May they have virtuous, faithful children and famous children as well.
And spoiler alert, they do. And then verse 12, we see a reference. Again, this is again a prayer. May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman.
That's interesting, isn't it? Suspense builds again. We don't know that it's gonna happen, but it refers back to another squirmish situation. We would like to just gloss over Genesis 38, right?
When we see what goes on there and how a father-in-law engages in adultery with his daughter-in-law, but it leads to the line of Perez to come. Notice how it is actually painted in a positive light here. I'm not condoning incest, by the way. Don't do that.
But nonetheless, we see something very clear about God's redemption. In through unsavory sinners may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman. There's going to be salvation through a Canaanite like Tamar, right? There's going to be salvation through a harlot and a Canaanite like Rahab, right?
There's going to be salvation through a Hittite like Bathsheba, right? And there's going to be salvation through a Moabite like Ruth, right? And what's interesting is in the book of Ruth, guess how many times the Moabite or the Moabites or something of Moab is mentioned? Six, six times.
He's trying to tell us something. She is the Moabite, right? And where did the Moabites come from? I gave it away at the beginning.
Genesis 19, another passage we'd like to gloss over in our Bibles. with that unsavory, disgusting act that happens between Lot and his daughters. Moab is born in that situation. But God again, in his mercy and kindness, through this Moabites, will bring about the line of the king.
Hope Through Unsavory Sinners
Brethren, this should give us great hope in the world, shouldn't it, when we feel hopeless? If we've got unbelieving friends and family, I believe God saves his elect. He calls forth those who are his. We believe in the doctrine of predestination.
But we don't know that, do we? God is the one who calls them forth. God is the one who saves them. God is the one who changes them.
While there's still breath, there is still hope. If God can save a wretch like Tamar and bring about salvation through the Moabite, and save a wretch like you and I, There is great hope for this world found in Jesus Christ, redemption through this king. And that gives us great hope, doesn't it? Hope for the people, hope for the Christians, hope for the church, hope for us individually.
Even in that time, again, Israel did what was right in their own eyes. But there is hope in a coming king. There is hope in the Christ to come. There's hope for us individually, mercy and forgiveness in Jesus.
There's hope for the church corporately, mercy and forgiveness in Jesus, because Christ is the one who builds his church. Brethren, we can lose hope sometimes in our situations, and we ought not to. We ought to remember, as Davis says, there is a no hopeless future for the people of God, and that no hopeless future comes through a king. And so that was redemption for the dead.
Redemption Through a Son
Let's then look secondly at redemption through a son in verses 13 through 22.
A Son Is Born
Notice we see a son is born and a king is given. A son is born in verses 13 through 16. And Davis points out there's a lot of prayer in Ruth and a lot of prayers answered in the book of Ruth as well. We see that here in verse 13.
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And when he went into her, The Lord gave her conception, she bore a son. A couple of things to note. Naomi prays in 1 8 that her daughter-in-laws would find husbands, husbands in Moab, but God provides for Ruth with this one Boaz.
Or even Boaz, he says in chapter 2 12, he uses the language of wings. He said, the Lord repay your work and full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel under whose wings you come for refuge. She's put herself under Yahweh, but Yahweh is very practical and they still need someone under whose wings they are under, literally and practically, and God provides. Verse 11 of chapter 3, take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative.
God answers prayers. And Ruth conceiving a son is not a surefire thing. Back in Moab, they were there for 10 years, right? So she hadn't born children yet.
And what's interesting too, in the book of Ruth, God is sort of in the background. God works providentially. There's only two times it mentions God's direct acts. here in chapter four, but also back in chapter 1.6, where they hear how the Lord had visited his people by giving them bread. And the same thing, and so we see that here in 4.13, the Lord is the one who gave her conception.
God is sovereign over all things, dear brethren, even if we don't always feel like it. And we're Calvinists, we forget that so often. That's why it's so important, perhaps maybe during these times you've hopefully been reminded and perhaps appreciate more God's sovereignty in all things. We are not in control.
Even though we believe that sometimes the things that we like to use, I'm not against gadgets, so to speak, but they teach us we're in control. But in reality, God is in control of all things. We need to be reminded of that so often because we are so forgetful of those things. The Lord gave her conception and she bore a son.
And then verse 14, then the woman said to Naomi, blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a close relative or a redeemer. And may his name be famous in Israel. The Lord never left her when she was called Mara, and the Lord never left her when she is called Naomi. And what's interesting, too, is even when Naomi wanted to be called Mara, she also recognized God's sovereignty even in the bad things, didn't she?
May the Lord grant you favor, Ruth and Orpah. May God give you husbands. Or how the Lord has gone out against me. The Lord has afflicted me.
Sometimes we love at God's sovereignty when good things happen, but we always don't like it when bad things happen. Isn't it funny, too, when we like to say when a good thing happens, that was God's providence, right? And it was God's providence. What about when bad things happen, dear brethren?
Isn't that God's providence, too? for reasons we don't understand, for reasons we don't fathom in the moment, and we might never understand, or never know, or never fully realize. God remains King, and even the good times and the bad times, the sufferings and the prosperity are all from God. And Naomi understood that. And the people praised God for it.
Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day, and may his name be famous. in Israel. It's recalling all that God had done for Naomi, recalling His mercies. Brethren, that's good for us to do too. To recall God's salvation, to recall Christ always, but to recall all the good things God has done in our own lives as well.
And I'll be grumblers, whiners, and complainers if you're like me. I struggle very much with that. We need to be reminded of who God is in all his providences and all his mercies. May he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age.
Even that language, she was once called herself dead and now she is a one who has life. A lot of reversals in Ruth. Then we see these ladies commend Ruth In verse 15, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has born this one. A virtuous woman who can find.
And what's interesting is that word is also used in Proverbs 31.10. And in the Hebrew Bible, do you know what precedes Ruth? Proverbs. If I were to ask you who the Proverbs 31 woman is, you might say something abstract.
She's faithful. She's a delight to her husband. I'm meaning a specific person. Ruth is the Proverbs 31 woman, the way it unfolds in the Bible and the way in which the word is used.
She is faithful, isn't she? She is a delight. She works hard. She is faithful to Yahweh.
She's a virtuous woman by faith. Again, both her and Boaz do everything for the sake of other people, not for the sake of themselves. And it shows forth again God's grace in such times to give her such faith. In Israel, who can find such faith?
And it comes from this Moabite lady. John Yeo says, but this could not have happened, that is, Ruth or Naomi receiving the son, without her daughter-in-law, who displayed her undying love to Naomi, even in the most desperate of circumstances. By God's sovereign grace, Ruth helped to redeem Naomi from destitution and certain death. In this way, Ruth was indeed worth more than seven sons.
A virtuous, faithful woman who can find. A virtuous, faithful man who can find. But there is no one quite like Ruth. And then verse 16, Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom, and she became a nurse.
Restoration. And we see the restoration continue. Verse 17, also the neighbor woman gave him a name, saying, there is a son born to Naomi. They called his name Obed.
Provider. She was once empty, now she is full. And again, that only comes from Yahweh, God Almighty, who is good. And they called his name Obed, and we see his famous line.
He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
The Genealogy Points to David
And then we see the lineage or the genealogy in verses 18 through 22. Genealogies are about what comes next. I know we like to think about what came last, but it's about what comes next. Who is coming next?
You see that especially in Genesis. They're all about what comes next. And I think we see that here. We see Perez, to Hezron, to Ram, to Aminadab, to Nayshan, to Salmon.
You could say Salmon, but I think Salmon's probably better. Who marries Rahab? They got Boaz, and Boaz, Obed, Obed, Jesse, and Jesse, David. We're looking ahead to David, aren't we?
And again, we think about the placement of the Book of Ruth in various traditions. One tradition is the English Bibles, which we do have. Right after Judges, right before Samuel, right? Ruth is really a foil for the Book of Judges.
They need a king. They need one that they can look to. They need one that they can find hope in. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Even the name Elimelech, God is my king. The writer to Ruth is bookending Ruth with the idea of kingship. And he went away, Elimelech, away from Israel. But now we have this one who was raised up in Israel who is going to be a king.
They need a king. Brethren, we need a king. And again, for Israel, they're looking ahead. They wanted Saul, but instead they wanted to be like every other nation.
So God raised up for them Saul. Then God is good. He raised up David. And really, when you get to the Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel 7, there's a consummation of sorts there.
Not fully, but it says, when he had rest from all his enemies. And the judges, they were under oppression, oppression, oppression, oppression. They need a king to liberate and to redeem them, which they do find in David, not perfect. Solomon's got the greatest reign, but things go south from there.
That's why they still long for a true king. And in Ruth, in the Hebrew Bible, Ruth is placed in the writings. Right before we get to the end, the Hebrew Bible ends with Chronicles. Do you know the difference between Chronicles and Kings?
Kings looks back how we got to exile. Chronicles looking ahead for the King to come. What next for the people of God after they return? They're still waiting for that King.
And
David's Line Fulfilled in Christ
we see that fulfilled in Christ, don't we? Matthew finishes the Hebrew Bible. We see the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David. Israel longed for this king Israel was looking for this king and this king who is mighty and powerful has come this king who is mighty and powerful has defeated death and this king who is mighty and powerful has been raised and is seated at the right hand of God right now Brethren, that is where our hope lies.
Our source of hope is in Christ, our King, and in Christ alone. Even that's something we need to remember. You think that's an easy question. Well, who is the head of the church?
Christ is the head of the church. One problem, we all forgot that. Or maybe not we, I'm just saying the church in general forgot that this past year, didn't we? Who is the king, dear brethren?
Who tells us how to worship? Who comforts us in times of suffering? It is Christ alone, isn't it? Think about, I remember Dr.
Godfrey speaking about the Battle of La Rochelle, the Roman Catholics against the French Calvinists, and the Catholics were sieging La Rochelle, and what happened was they sent a message, surrender to your king. You know what the Calvinists said? We have a king. We have a King, dear brethren, and that is Christ.
And He is what gives us hope and strength. I must confess, these past few days, I've been a little bit down with the way the world is going, with the way things are operating. That's what the book of Revelation is meant to do for us, to comfort us in such times. And it has been a bomb to my soul in the past few days.
He talks about the one who was and is and is to come. He talks about the first and the last, the one who drives all of history, the one who's seated on the throne. How many times is throne mentioned in the book of Revelation? To give us comfort, to remind us who's in charge, to remind us who the king is, and to remind us of the king in times of suffering, and to remind us that the king walks amongst his lampstands in times of suffering.
Brethren, we have hope, and we have hope in this King. We have hope in a King who will guide us, and keep us, and walk with us in suffering. Christ never said we weren't going to suffer. He walks with us in times of suffering, and He knows our frame.
And this gives us great hope. He is like us in every way, yet without sin. And thankfully, too, as we see the redemptions found in the Moabite, there is hope for the world. There is hope for sinners in Christ.
Because let's be honest here, brethren. When we consider the fact that we are called the bride of Christ, why would anybody love us? When we consider our sinfulness, our wretchedness, our wicked thoughts, our wicked words, our wicked deeds, Why would anybody love us? But in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we see the great cost, don't we?
The costly love of our Lord. He did not consider his equality with God something to be grasped. but made himself of no reputation, that he would take on the form of a bondservant, becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, and be given the name that is above every other name. As the hymn writer says, from heaven he came and sought her, to be his holy bride, and with his blood he bought her, and for her life he died. Our Christ, our bridegroom, gave himself for his people.
This is where we see what love is. He gave himself for people like Tamars and Ruths and Rahabs and you and I. Davis again, indeed there is something very Tamarish and Ruthish about the fact of your own position. Most of you are not Israelites after the flesh.
Yet God died for us, the Son gave himself for us. This is how we know what love is. And if you're an unbeliever here today, consider what true love actually is. That we see it in Christ who sacrificed to die for his people in the gospel of free and sovereign grace.
How Jesus came down, he lived, he died, and he rose again for an unlovely people. And the blessedness is if you believe on him, confess your sins, repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved. You shall find mercy. You shall find grace.
And I pray that God would save you, that you might know what love we see in the cross of Christ. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our good and gracious God, thank you again for your love. We confess, O God, that sometimes we think we are well worth it, but in reality we know that we are such an unlovely people, yet you are pleased to love us, to send forth your Son for us, to keep us and protect us even now. Thank you that we find hope in this great King, this one who identified with us yet without sin, this one who rules and reigns, declared to be who he is. this one who is the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Thank you that he reigns at your right hand even now.
And we ask, O God, for your people that even in times of hopelessness, we would find our hope in Jesus Christ. Should we lose everything, may we be reminded of our Savior and all the good things found in Him. Thank you, O God, for a love that we do not truly understand, but thank you that it is, as your word says, eternal and immutable. Thank you, O God, that it is infinite.
And we pray, O God, that we would just see it in Christ and all that He has done. Thank you for your love. May we be reminded of this this day. May it encourage our hearts this day.
May it give us hope this day. If there are any here today who do not know you, oh God, we pray that they would look to Christ and find life and hope in him. And thank you, oh God, for the redemption that is found in him, the forgiveness of sins. And thank you so much for your blessed eternal love.
We do not deserve it, but we praise you and honor you as the God of love who would die for sinners like us. So we ask God you keep us and protect us, preserve us, we pray. Help us to stand firm and to be strong in you and find our hope in you. And thank you, God, that you are pleased to walk with us in times when we are weak.
And we pray that you be glorified in all things in the name of Christ. Amen. Well, we'll close this morning service by singing hymn 568. So you turn with me in the Trinity Psalter hymnal to hymn 568. will stand and sing together. ♪ Praise to God the Lord as he is known ♪ ♪ Praise to God the Lord as he is known ♪ ♪ Praise to God the dearly loved ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Christ the Lord ♪ to Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father.
To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. We'll close with a brief time meditation. The piano's finished.
You are dismissed.