Redemption from and for the Redeemed

Ruth 4 from the daily reading in the One year Bible

Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz spoke was passing by, so he said, “Turn aside, friend, sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. ² He took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. ³ Then he said to the closest relative, “Naomi, who has come back from the land of Moab, has to sell the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. ⁴ So I thought to inform you, saying, ‘Buy it before those who are sitting here, and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if not, tell me that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am after you.’” And he said, “I will redeem it.” ⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of the deceased, in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.” ⁶ The closest relative said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, because I would jeopardize my own inheritance. Redeem it for yourself; you may have my right of redemption, for I cannot redeem it.”

⁷ Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the exchange of land to confirm any matter: a man removed his sandal and gave it to another; and this was the manner of attestation in Israel. ⁸ So the closest relative said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” And he removed his sandal. ⁹ Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰ Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased will not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birth place; you are witnesses today.” ¹¹ All the people who were in the court, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel; and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem. ¹² Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the offspring which the Lord will give you by this young woman.”

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. ¹⁴ Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel. ¹⁵ May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

The Line of David Began Here

¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap, and became his nurse. ¹⁷ The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi!” So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

¹⁸ Now these are the generations of Perez: to Perez was born Hezron, ¹⁹ and to Hezron was born Ram, and to Ram, Amminadab, ²⁰ and to Amminadab was born Nahshon, and to Nahshon, Salmon, ²¹ and to Salmon was born Boaz, and to Boaz, Obed, ²² and to Obed was born Jesse, and to Jesse, David.

The story of Ruth is a wonderful story of unconditional love and redemption. It is much more though than the story of the redemption of Naomi and Ruth, through Boaz. While Ruth lived approximately 1300 years before the birth of Christ, her story is a part of the redemption story of Jesus. In today’s text it says:   The Line of David Began Here:  Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap, and became his nurse. The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi!” So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now these are the generations of Perez: to Perez was born Hezron,  and to Hezron was born Ram, and to Ram, Amminadab,  and to Amminadab was born Nahshon, and to Nahshon, Salmon, and to Salmon was born Boaz, and to Boaz, Obed,  and to Obed was born Jesse, and to Jesse, David.  Christ was born through the line of David. The redemption of Ruth though is not where the story begins.

In Genesis 19 the account of the destruction of the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah is recorded. In verses 27-38 we see what happened to Lot, who God spared from the judgment:    Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. Lot went up from Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our family through our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.    So out of judgment against sin, sin continued through the daughters of Lot. Yet out of sin, God still planned for redemption. Ruth was a Moabitess, yet she is included in the line of Christ. Jesus, the redeemer, born of a line needing redemption; that’s the story of Christ. That’s the story of redemption told in scripture from Genesis to Revelation. When we look at the genealogies of Christ we see an assortment of people and with them an assortment of sins. Only God could devise a plan to bring forth redemption from the very ones who needed to be redeemed.

When Jesus was here on earth, His message was to repent. Repentance means to change the way you think and act. Because of the redemption of Christ we are no longer to think and act as sinners. Regardless of what we have done, or where we have come from, we are no longer to be subject to what is behind us, either by our own actions or to heritage of sin we were born into or experienced. There is no sin so great, no place so dark, that it cannot be redeemed and made light by the redemption of Christ. 1 John 1:9 says:  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.   He is faithful to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We need only to confess our sins. On the cross though, in Luke 23:34 Jesus says: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”   So the redemption and forgiveness of Christ goes even beyond what we know and confess. Jesus the redeemer came to redeem every sin of every person, even those we do not know. The story of redemption begins all the way back in Genesis after Adam and Eve, the first in the line of all mankind, sinned. In truth it goes even beyond that. In Revelation 13:8 Jesus is referred to as “the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.” In Jeremiah 1:5 God says:  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you.”   In Jeremiah 29:11-13 God says:  “I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”   In Psalm 139:7-12 the psalmist says:  Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,  Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.    There is nowhere or nothing that is hidden from God or from the redeeming power of Christ. Regardless of what is behind us or around us, He knows and He knew, and even before we were born He redeemed and sanctified us. That was His plan from the beginning.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit it is not enough that You know the plans that You have for me. I desire to seek You with all my heart, to find You and for You to reveal to me all that You have planned for me so that I might walk in its fullness. Thank You for Your love, Your redemption and sanctification, that I am made new in You.   Amen.