FBC Morning Light (3/23/2024)

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. We are looking this morning, we're going to look at the book of Ruth, but the reading this weekend centers on Gideon in the book of Judges, and then also on Ruth.

As this is a chronological approach to the reading of scripture, we are reading things that were written about the same timeframe. So, what I wanted to do today was just give you a couple of the big ideas from the book.

Ruth as a Story of Kindness, Faith, and Redemption

Of Ruth.

Ruth is four chapters long, and it starts with a woman named Naomi. And Naomi has moved to a foreign land with her two sons and their wives, or living in a foreign land with her two sons and their wives, and her two sons pass away.

And she encourages her daughter's-in-law to find new husbands in that land in Moab. And one of the daughter-in-laws stays in Moab, and one of them says, no, I'm going to come with you. I'm not going to have this any other way.

And that daughter-in-law is the one after whom this book is named. That was Ruth. And in chapter one, verses 16 and 17, she says the following, Ruth said, entreat me not to leave you or to turn back from following after you, for wherever you go, I will go.

And wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.

And you see here, Ruth, you see two overwhelming ideas that Ruth has a kindness and love for Naomi, but also a deep faith in her God. And so the big idea I saw in chapter one was Ruth's kindness and faith.

Well, in chapter two, they have moved back to a place called Bethlehem, and we are introduced to a man there named Boaz. And Boaz has heard of what Naomi and Ruth have gone through. And so Boaz has set things up so that Ruth can glean from his fields.

And in verse 11, Boaz answered and said to her, that is to Ruth, it has been fully reported, to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father, and your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before.

The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge. So again, here we see kindness and faith in response to Ruth here from Boaz, and this introduction of Boaz and Ruth is going to be very important as the book of Ruth continues.

Chapter 3, in verses 12 and 13, the courtship between Boaz and Ruth is much more serious, and Ruth as a widow and Boaz as a near-kin, Ruth needs a kinsman redeemer. And in verses 12 and 13, it says, now it is true that I am a close relative.

This is Boaz talking to Ruth. However, there is a relative closer than I, and that means that that relative closer than him would have the first right to marry Ruth and to buy her back. Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you, good, let him do it.

But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you as the Lord lives. Lie down until morning. And so, Boaz makes the commitment that if the closer relative will not be the kinsman redeemer for you, Ruth, I will be that kinsman redeemer, and it is a picture, it becomes a picture used throughout the rest of Scripture of the Messiah, the Savior, who does become our kinsman redeemer, one who has been able to buy us back.

And then in chapter four, we see what many people have called the scarlet thread of redemption. The scarlet thread of redemption is the lineage of Christ throughout the Old Testament and how the Lord has brought in many people, not just people of Jewish heritage, but brought in Rahab the harlot.

And here, the culmination of this story brings in Ruth, the Moabitess. And let me read verses 18 through 21. It says, now this is the genealogy of Perez. Perez begot Hezron. Hezron begat Ram. Ram begot Amminadab.

Amminadab begot Nashan, and Nashan begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed. Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David. And so here in the culmination of the story of Ruth, we see the Lord bringing in this Moabitess who expressed her faith in her God, her creator, and now is being brought into the lineage of the Christ child.

She is a part of that chain, one in whom the Lord worked out His marvelous plan to bring redemption for all believers through all time. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the book of Ruth. Thank you for what you did in bringing about your salvation of your people through the kinsman-redeemer of Jesus Christ, and how you've brought so many different people in to be a part of that work, but at the same time, it is all what you have done.

It's in your Son's name, Jesus, we pray, that kinsman-redeemer for us.

Amen.

Have an excellent day, people of faith.