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Discipleship Volume 2 Jesus in the Old Testament #10 Ruth
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Like! Share! Subscribe! This time we'll be looking at the love story between Ruth and Boaz... how it's a prophetic narrative of the Gospel of Grace... and how it speaks to the ultimate redemption of Israel. If you'd like the Bible studies that go with these studies, they cost €10. Reach out and let me know. They've got the same theme as the videos, but FAR MORE information. Let's jump in! The content used in this video is intended for educational and informational purposes only. All rights to the images, music, clips, and other materials used belong to their respective owners. I do not claim ownership over any third-party content used. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📘 Order My Books Read faith-filled adventure, fantasy, and science-fiction books to support Christian entertainment. 👉 https://www.amazon.co.uk/GHOST-UNSAID-ONE-PANOPTICON-Triumvirate/dp/1948581647 👉https://www.amazon.co.uk/GHOST-UNSAID-BOOK-RECKONING-Triumvirate/dp/B0CH2H6LSX 🎥 Watch More Videos: Teaching, encouragement, testimony, and biblical truth. 👉 https://www.youtube.com/@brendanthomasmarrett9868/videos 🧢 From Dublin to Cleveland – Official Merch: Wear the message. Support the work. 👉 https://www.bonfire.com/from-dublin-to-cleveland-shirt/?srsltid=AfmBOorvSsSmUI-oAQ9mC4uSVWhkPmZvaMkeouFcmZEM8G3eJAqNyGnT ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🤝 Support the Ministry: If this ministry blesses you and you’d like to help it grow, please consider becoming a monthly supporter or making a one-off love offering: 💸 PayPal: paypal.me/BrendanMarrett 💵 Revolut: https://revolut.me/brendanthomasmarrett ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📬 Mail / Contact For letters, testimonies, or ministry-related mail: fromdublintocleveland@gmail.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔗 Connect With Me Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brendan.marrett Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brendanthomasmarrett/
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Transcript
Introduction to Jesus in the Old Testament
00:00:03
Speaker
So guys, you're incredibly welcome today, where we are going to be looking at Jesus in the Old Testament.
God's Subtle Actions in Ruth
00:00:11
Speaker
And today we're looking at the book of Ruth. Ruth's story is a really amazing one in which, unlike in other weeks, you're not going to see the physical manifestation of Jesus running around under a different identity.
00:00:28
Speaker
The book of Ruth is an unusual one in that...
Challenges in the Time of Judges
00:00:34
Speaker
Does God do supernatural things? Yeah, he's supernatural God. But the majority of what he does is actually, it would appear, by happenstance.
00:00:46
Speaker
This is a book in which, by and large, he mostly does things through people, rather than in an overtly, but obviously supernatural kind of way.
00:01:01
Speaker
And sometimes if you look at your life and you think, oh, wow, every now and life is so supernatural and so amazing and mine isn't. And you feel inadequate? Don't. but Because even some Bible heroes and heroines had similar ofar lives where things weren't always overtly supernatural, but God fulfilled his plans through them.
Naomi and Ruth's Journey to Bethlehem
00:01:23
Speaker
So the book of Ruth opens up in the days of Judges. Now we looked at some of the let' say the highlights, the low points of the judges last week, where you had, let's say gang rapists.
00:01:45
Speaker
You had a man slashing his concubine and chopping her into 12 different pieces and sending her all around the country in the post.
00:01:58
Speaker
You had Baal worship in God's country, basically what abortion is today, child sacrifice. You Asherah worship, the goddess of transgenderism, where boys would be castrated and dressed as girls to serve as priestesses.
00:02:21
Speaker
Women would dress as men and hold a staff as a fake penis. and serve as priests. You had a couple good judges.
00:02:33
Speaker
You had some absolutely insane ones, and you had one just like Samson, who never quite surrendered his libido and sex drive to the Lord, and he ended up blinded, his haircut, and m basically becoming court jester.
00:02:52
Speaker
in the temple of the demonic Philistine god Dagon for the amusement of his enemies. It was in those days that the Book of Ruth occurs.
00:03:11
Speaker
So in Ruth, chapter one, it starts in days of famine. As a result of the famine, a woman named Naomi and her husband, Elimelech, leave Bethlehem and they go all the way to Moab.
00:03:33
Speaker
Now, Moab was actually an enemy nation for the vast majority of its appearances in the Old Testament.
00:03:43
Speaker
We can trace the creation of Moab all the way back to Genesis 19, 30 to 38. thirty to thirty eight when Lot, his wife, and his daughters flee the land of Sodom.
00:04:01
Speaker
Sodom was an incredibly wicked place, and where humans even tried to rape angels, and the Lord said, I'm going to destroy them.
00:04:13
Speaker
Sodom is located where the Dead Sea is today, and God said nothing would ever survive or live there again, and nothing grows in the Dead Sea.
00:04:24
Speaker
And even tour guides around the Dead Sea region say that it is like molten lava fell from the sky in how the Dead Sea was created. corrected That is how hot the fire that fell from heaven was.
00:04:42
Speaker
Lot, his wife, and his two daughters escaped, But his wife longingly, lovingly turned around and looked at Sodom as he turned into a pillar of salt.
00:04:54
Speaker
Lot and his two daughters continued running away to a mountain. The daughters concocted wicked plan. um They did not want to die childless, so they would get their father drunk and take it in turns raping him. until they got pregnant with his sons, and one of them and became the father of the Moabite race.
00:05:27
Speaker
In 2 Kings, which happens after this story, 3, 26, 27, we see that the Moabites are people who commit child sacrifice.
00:05:39
Speaker
In Numbers 25, Balaam balaam The individual who had a an interesting altercation with a speaking donkey convinced the Moabites to use shrine prostitution to turn the men of God, the men of Israel, and towards wickedness, towards evil, and it worked.
00:06:06
Speaker
Just before that, in Numbers 22 to 24, you see the evil king of Moab tries to get the wicked prophet Balaam to prophesy against Israel. Balaam was not a false prophet, he was a wicked prophet. His gift was legit, it was authentic, it was real, but he used it mainly for evil.
00:06:28
Speaker
And in Judges chapter 3, verses 12 to 30, there was an evil king Eglon whose people The Moabites invaded, harassed, and oppressed the Israelites for 18 until eventually God raised up a judge who actually stabbed Eglon in the belly, and Eglon was so fat that the fat of his belly actually wrapped around the sword. and That is the land that the...
00:07:01
Speaker
the and
00:07:05
Speaker
Israelite Elimelech and his wife Naomi flee to during the famine.
00:07:15
Speaker
Now while they get there, they have two sons. One is called Malon and one is called Killian. And their two sons meet two women and get married.
00:07:28
Speaker
So Malon marries Ruth, the titular character from this book. And Killian marries Borpa.
00:07:40
Speaker
Now, Elimelech and Naomi spend 10 years in Moab. We don't know if Malon and Killian were married to their wives for 10 years, or if it was less time, but whatever happens.
Ruth's Loyalty and Hesed
00:07:53
Speaker
Elimelech dies, Malon dies, and Killian dies, all three of them, leaving Naomi, Ruth, Orpa as widows and all childless.
00:08:12
Speaker
But the hand of God is still over the nation of Israel. And in chapter one, verse six, it says, when Naomi heard in Moab, the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them.
00:08:26
Speaker
Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home there. Even though they're living in days of famine, In days of lack, the Lord still miraculously provides for them, sends them aid, sends them help.
00:08:42
Speaker
Maybe he did it miraculously. Food just began popping out the ground. Maybe he put in some other people's hearts to bless the nation. We don't know exactly how he did it.
00:08:54
Speaker
But maybe right now you're going through a famine. Maybe you're going through a famine of hope. Maybe you're going through a famine of the word of God, where you feel like the word of God in your life is just stale. You're not getting the revelation you'd like to get.
00:09:10
Speaker
Maybe you're living in days where you feel a famine of community. You feel like, by and large, you're doing this journey with Jesus alone. Whatever your famine is, it might last 10 years, like it did for Elimelech and Naomi.
00:09:28
Speaker
And there may be losses and casualties, as there was with Elimelech, Malon and Killian. But the Lord, in his good, perfect timing, will move and provide aid for his people.
00:09:49
Speaker
Now, Naomi is incredibly upset and bitter that her husband's dead and her sons are dead. However, her daughters-in-law treat her as good as gold. Their love for her is so sweet.
00:10:04
Speaker
It is so true. It is so authentic. It comes from a deep, real place. And she uses the word hesed chapter one, verse eight.
00:10:17
Speaker
Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the Lord show kindness, hesed, Hebrew, to you, as you've shown to your dead, your husbands, and to me. Hesed,
00:10:38
Speaker
kindness, we sometimes think of kindness as such a such a safe word, so familiar. It actually kind of loses a lot of its power.
00:10:53
Speaker
We're telling, oh, be kind to strangers, oh, be kind to adults, be kind to people in authority, be kind to poor people. Just means smile, don't make things awkward, be polite. But actually, this is what kindness really means.
00:11:07
Speaker
Orpah and Ruth, Ruth means friendliness, by the way, had shown loving kindness in redeeming people, Naomi specifically, from troubles and preserving her from death.
00:11:23
Speaker
It means steadfast love. It can include mercy. means loyalty, faithfulness. It means goodness, specifically with the meaning of plenteous and abundant in kindness.
00:11:43
Speaker
means fidelity. It means showing kindness towards other people by doing favours and benefits. especially when those people are feeling lonely or they're in a place of neediness or they're just plain miserable.
00:12:03
Speaker
And keeping your covenant, keeping the commitments that you made. When Naomi says her two daughters-in-law had shown her kindness, that is how she describes them.
00:12:17
Speaker
That is the love that they had exhibited towards her.
00:12:24
Speaker
Now she tells them, on back to your mother's home, back where you came from, and find and rest. Kind a strange thing to say, but rest means find the security of a new husband and a new home.
00:12:42
Speaker
Get married again, settle down, live your best life, just forget it about me, just off you go.
00:12:52
Speaker
It was the custom of the ancient Israelites, that if a woman was married and her husband died, she would marry his brother or as a nearest relative and as a way of basically not being homeless.
00:13:09
Speaker
It was to give the woman financial security, to give the woman protection so she wouldn't end up homeless or a prostitute or on the streets. And Naomi just says, listen, there's absolutely nothing I can offer you. umm I'm all barren and dried up. If ever I was to find another man and get pregnant, you'd be waiting 18 years.
00:13:31
Speaker
says, just leave. Off you go now.
00:13:36
Speaker
And initially, neither of them want to leave. But eventually Orpah says, okay, okay, I'm going to go back to my father's house and back to his gods, which is perhaps the most tragic part of all this.
00:13:50
Speaker
and How even God's people, if you choose to be bitter, you can actually send people back to demons. Imagine if Naomi had kept her feelings in check. Yes, she'd lost a lot. Her husband and two sons, her home, her country. Yeah, okay, things were bad.
00:14:10
Speaker
But because she did not own her feelings, she literally sent a woman who had loved her that much would have said kindness. send her back to worship demons.
00:14:22
Speaker
I think that's a very important health check we all need to do. health check for our own heart and those around us. Do you turn people off Jesus so much that you actually send them to the demonic?
00:14:38
Speaker
Are you such a bad ambassador for Christ that actually you push people away from God and into the hands of the enemy?
00:14:51
Speaker
But Ruth was made from different stuff. Ruth clung to Naomi and said, I'm never letting you go. I'm staying with you.
00:15:04
Speaker
Now, I'm not saying this is true, but this is what the ancients taught. In the Babylonian Talmud, in Sota 42b, I can't make it any more specific, but we're told that Orpah became the mother of giants.
00:15:23
Speaker
After she left Naomi i went back to Moab. And one of her kids was Goliath. And this is really graphic and disgusting. Don't think about it too much because it would not behoove your imagination to ponder it.
00:15:43
Speaker
But the Babylonian Talmud, written by the ancient rabbis, said that Goliath was the son of 100 fathers and one dog. As his mother, who the Babylonian town that specifies is Orpah, engaged in sexual intercourse with 100 men and a dog, and he was fathered from among them.
00:16:06
Speaker
And that's why when David comes onto the battlefield in the valley, Goliath makes a reference to a dog. Am I a dog? With a two-comitney with sticks. Again, I'm not saying it's biblical, that it's extra biblical, not Holy Spirit inspired, but that is what the ancients taught. They taught that Orpah, after she left Naomi, went on this sexual rampage with 100 men and even bit of bestiality and became the mother of Goliath and not only Goliath, but other giants as well.
00:16:42
Speaker
Not saying it's true, but that's what the ancients taught.
00:16:49
Speaker
Ruth, however, had a very different story. She clung to Naomi and in chapter one, verses 16 to 17, she says this.
00:17:02
Speaker
Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go. And where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God, my God.
00:17:17
Speaker
Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.
00:17:33
Speaker
That is a covenant of friendship, if ever I have heard one.
Ruth and Boaz's Relationship
00:17:41
Speaker
And what an amazing covenant you could even make with Jesus.
00:17:48
Speaker
I know Jesus Culture, the band, have a song. um i really like it. It's not the most famous song. I love it. I think it's a prayer and a half. Where you go, why go?
00:18:00
Speaker
What you say, I say. What you pray, I pray. Jesus only did what he saw you do. He would only say what he heard you speak.
00:18:14
Speaker
He would only move. when he felt you leave, following your heart, following your spirit. How can i begin to live without you?
00:18:28
Speaker
When every move that Jesus made was in surrender, how can I begin to walk without you? For you alone are worthy. You are always good.
00:18:39
Speaker
It's a phenomenal song. I love it to bits. And i believe least part of it, was inspired by these words out of Ruth's mouth.
00:18:54
Speaker
So Naomi and Ruth continue on to Bethlehem and Israel. And in verses 19 to 21, people are like, oh my goodness, is that Naomi? She's back. well this looks a bit different, doesn't she?
00:19:11
Speaker
You see, Naomi actually means pleasant. But she said no. No, call me Mara instead. Which means bitzer.
00:19:23
Speaker
And the funny thing is, I actually knew a Mara once. yeah She was bitzer, so yeah. She lived up to her name. ah Be careful what you name your kids. my My mom is called happy in Arabic. No way. That's the super name. I thought, Carlina, you're right to say my mother is called Mara. I'd like to apologize.
00:19:43
Speaker
No, she's called happiness. Brilliant. But she's never been happy, to be honest. You just keep declaring it over her. She'll get there eventually. but like Brendan, for instance, means, well, in Gwailga, it's Brandon.
00:20:01
Speaker
And it translates as prince or king. And, you know, the son of God and Jesus, the king of heaven, that makes me a prince of heaven. though So totally prophetic. Makes sense.
00:20:17
Speaker
It does. And wherever I go, i just have this like, you know, these kingly notions. I'm going to own my i own this space.
00:20:28
Speaker
um So Naomi is running around telling everyone to call her a bitter. Now I used to read that as a child and think, oh for goodness sakes, how nonsensical. Woman, get your act together, cop yourself on.
00:20:42
Speaker
But actually, the Lord reminded me a number of years ago that when I was a teenager and going through a really hard patch, I used to call myself dark and twisty.
00:20:55
Speaker
And I was like, oh my goodness, God, the things we speak over ourselves. And some people might say, okay that's that's not something I can relate with. That's that's a bit mad. That's a bit weird.
00:21:07
Speaker
But maybe you call yourself in your head unloved. Maybe you call yourself unworthy of the blood of Jesus, which is a lie, by the way.
00:21:21
Speaker
Maybe what you call yourself is never good enough. Maybe what you call yourself is left on a shelf while God focuses on all the children he actually cares about.
00:21:36
Speaker
Maybe what you say over yourself is probably gonna die soon. That was another thing for me.
00:21:47
Speaker
I could never, ever imagine myself turning 27. Never not once. um The day I turned 26 to 27 blew my mind. Couldn't believe it.
00:21:59
Speaker
I think I was 26 when COVID lockdown began. Now obviously I look at COVID very differently now. But at the time, you know, I got, for maybe two or three weeks, I probably got caught up in the whole hysteria and madness of it all. And I was like, oh, well,
00:22:19
Speaker
This will probably be the thing that takes me out. Okay, that makes sense. I just figured I'd be dead before my 27th birthday. Just a notion that I got at a young age.
00:22:32
Speaker
And at some point, but but obviously I prayed I would break premature death off me. The spirit of that. But we all have an internal monologue.
00:22:45
Speaker
We all have things we speak over ourselves, and if you don't, great, but there are other people speaking things over you. And if there aren't, there are demons speaking things over you.
00:22:56
Speaker
Catch yourself. Be a Naomi, don't be a Mara. Be a pleasant, don't be a bitter. Break off those words and do not let them get a foothold, because a foothold becomes a stronghold.
00:23:14
Speaker
Very, very easily.
00:23:19
Speaker
Alright, so Naomi and Ruth are back in Bethlehem, but like all human beings, they need to eat if they are to survive. so Ruth decides to go to a field where reaping is taking place.
00:23:36
Speaker
There are three steps to this. First, a group of men walk through the field in rows, gathering stalks in their hands or the crew their elbows, and they cut them with a sickle in the opposite hand. So yeah you grab a stalk or a group stalks, cut them.
00:23:55
Speaker
Step number two, the women gather the bundles and tie them into sheaves. This idea that, you know, in Bible times, women just sat in the kitchen all day long. Not true.
00:24:08
Speaker
Set number three, the workers would return and they would carry the bundles to the threshing floor where they would separate the wheat from the chaff. So men and women, they're all very, very busy.
00:24:22
Speaker
Now you might think, okay, but what was Ruth doing there? I mean, this wasn't her field. They had a tradition, which actually I really like.
00:24:33
Speaker
and Today, when you picture poor people, you kind of imagine people, you know, either walking onto a train, you know, I have no money, or sitting on a street corner somewhere, you know, begging for food, and then you give them a sandwich, and then they complain, because all the people ever do is give them sandwich, whatever it is.
00:24:52
Speaker
It was very different in the Old Testament. The law said that... If you went to field, you would, you know, take what was yours.
00:25:03
Speaker
But as you were going along, if you dropped something, you left it there.
00:25:09
Speaker
If you're going strawberry, strawberry, strawberry, I missed one. You left it there. And you just kept on moving forward. The Sojourners...
00:25:21
Speaker
Or the aliens, when I was a child, yes, I believe there were UFOs in the Bible. I've since come to realize it just means a foreigner. but but but and Or the poor, would come in behind you. And anything that you dropped, it was like it had been it it dropped, like, you know, serendipitously.
00:25:42
Speaker
It was probably dropped providentially. It was dropped specifically for them. um Or if you walked past something, you couldn't go back and reclaim it. You left it for them.
00:25:53
Speaker
But the onus was on the boar and the foreigner to get all off their backside or off their mat and feed themselves.
00:26:05
Speaker
God wanted even those who are needy to take initiative.
00:26:11
Speaker
In Leviticus 19, it says, when you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap the very edges of your field, So even leave some space intentionally for those who are less fortunate.
00:26:27
Speaker
Or gather the gleanings of your harvest, the things left behind. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. If you dropped this, you left it there.
00:26:39
Speaker
you Now, you weren't cruel. You didn't go back and step in it with a boot. You left it there so someone else could pick it up and eat it. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord, your God.
00:26:53
Speaker
So that's what Ruth did. Ruth went to a field, which happens to be owned by man named Boaz. And just like this, she was walking behind the men, like, oh, they dropped this. Oh, they dropped this. Oh, they forgot this.
00:27:06
Speaker
And she was picking all these up to feed herself and Naomi. And she did an exceptional job, only stopping to take a very short break.
00:27:19
Speaker
Now, in chapter two, two verses 11 to 12, it says this. Boaz replied, the man who owned the field walks up to her. I've been told all about what you've done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and your homeland, Moab, and came to live with the people you didn't know before.
00:27:47
Speaker
May the Lord repay you for what you've done. May you be, and take note of this part, because she uses these words against him later on. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the gods of Israel, just in case there was any doubt, not a Moabite god, which is in fact a demon, the god of Israel, under whose covering, some translations say wings or corners, it's all the same, it's the same Hebrew word,
00:28:16
Speaker
you've come to take refuge. So you're looking for a refuge, looking to build a new life in God's country. You're looking after one of God's daughters.
00:28:26
Speaker
May he bless you. Amazingly. If there had been any doubt that Naomi's God was Nerut's God, it was evidenced by her labor of love for her mother-in-law.
00:28:43
Speaker
And in verse 14, Boaz invites her to get some bread and to dip it into his wine vinegar.
00:28:53
Speaker
And then they have like a little lunch, little romantic lunch.
00:28:59
Speaker
In chapter two, verse 15, he says this.
00:29:12
Speaker
As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men. Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don't embarrass her.
00:29:23
Speaker
Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave her to pick up, and don't rebuke her. Even if she makes some mistakes, leave her be. Why?
00:29:35
Speaker
Well, being a foreigner, and you know her mother and father are not there, especially her father in the land of Israel, She's and unengaged foreign widow who basically would have almost no legal rights.
00:29:51
Speaker
If in the case an Israelite man had raped an Israelite woman, the father could get involved and either make sure that she was given financial compensation or home, or if the guy was really rebellious and his own parents were disgusted by him,
00:30:11
Speaker
The death penalty could be administered, but Faroot, in other words, none of these legal protections appeared to be available. So he did not want any men in the field to have the potential to harm her, to victimize her, to have their way with her, toss her to the curb and discard her in absolute disgrace to harm her.
00:30:41
Speaker
and So, therefore, he specifically moved to give her as much protection as possible. And even though there wasn't law um to describe this particular situation with a foreign woman, he still loved the Lord, so he understood the spirit of the law.
00:31:06
Speaker
And sometimes you might think, okay, you know, there's a situation going through and the Bible says this, and says this, and says this, and I don't know which one really speaks to my situation exactly. If you know the Lord, if you know the sound of his voice, and if you know the Holy Spirit, you should be able to discern how the Lord would use his word to speak into that particular situation. And look, if you don't know, just pray. Just say, Holy Spirit, lead me to the right scripture. Give me just the right word.
00:31:46
Speaker
So Ruth returns home at the end of the day with an absolute sheer abundance of food.
Boaz as Kinsman Redeemer
00:31:52
Speaker
And Naomi is like, oh my goodness. There must be a man out there who is very impressed with you.
00:32:01
Speaker
but I don't know what she... That is like, you know as just like a confused or surprised exclamation or she was really digging for dirt and the gossip.
00:32:14
Speaker
And Ruth's like, well, yeah, the guy who owns the the field, his name's Boaz. And Naomi says, no way. He is one of our kinsman redeemers.
00:32:26
Speaker
Other Bible translations say he's one of our guardian redeemers. Again, what is this? It's a Leveret marriage.
00:32:38
Speaker
Leveret, I think, means brother. it basically, it's a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative who's going through a really serious situation or a great difficulty by ensuring that property remained within the household and that a widow was not abandoned without support or an heir.
00:33:05
Speaker
Leviticus 25. 25-55 describes in detail.
00:33:16
Speaker
five to ten also explain this ill reads how it comes across in deuteronomy cause it's a shorter reference
00:33:29
Speaker
so geonoy twenty five five to ten If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family.
00:33:43
Speaker
Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blocked out from Israel.
00:33:56
Speaker
However, if a man does not want to marry... I love this line. think this so, so funny. However, if a man does not want to marry his brother's wife, she'll go to the elders at the town gate and say, my husband's brother refuses to carry on his brother's name Israel.
00:34:13
Speaker
He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me. That's not the funny part. The funny part comes out. Then the elders of the town shall summon him and talk to him.
00:34:24
Speaker
If he persists in saying, I don't want to marry her. His brother's widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, this is what is done the man who will not build up his brother's family line. That man's line shall be known Israel as the family of the unsandals. The family of the man who only has one sandal and not two.
00:34:53
Speaker
Beautiful revenge. So effectively, God did not want a nation full of women who are homeless, women who are barren, women who ended up on the streets or looking for, looking into prostitution to keep a roof over their head or money in their back pockets. So this is way of honoring the brother who was dead, where the first son would carry on his name, but also offering protections for the woman.
00:35:24
Speaker
And Naomi says Boaz is, note this, one of our kinsman redeemers. He's one of our guardian redeemers.
00:35:36
Speaker
Not that one. He is one of. There are couple of them.
00:35:43
Speaker
All right. In Ruth chapter three, verse three, Naomi really likes Boaz. And she thinks she's
00:35:55
Speaker
one of the best things Ruth could do is get herself another husband. And Boaz is Mr. Right. So she decides to set Ruth up to win.
00:36:11
Speaker
It is so easy to be surrounded by people who want to set you up to fail. To be surrounded by people who are bitter, and so they want you to be bitter.
00:36:24
Speaker
They are not happy with how their own lives have turned out, so they do not want your life to turn out the way you want it to. They are very unimpressed at their own situations, and the idea of you thriving is offensive to them.
00:36:47
Speaker
And they set people up to fail. Or they put stumbling blocks in their paths. They say, well, what's good for one is good for all. I had to struggle, so you should too. That's not how Naomi felt about Ruth.
00:37:01
Speaker
So Naomi began to strategically style and fashion and instruct Ruth in how to get her man. So she said, girl, wash your yourself.
00:37:16
Speaker
Today you would say take a bath or a shower. She said, put on best perfume.
00:37:24
Speaker
And then some translations say she put on her best clothes. Some translations say she put on her cloak. One, it could be, you know, keep warm. You know, don't shiver. Just look after your general health.
00:37:37
Speaker
But it could also mean take off your mourning clothes. Take off your clothes which signify you're a grieving widow. Instead, lady, you are Single and you are looking to mingle.
00:37:51
Speaker
You're a single Pringle. Put on something beautiful and attractive that shows that you are eligible for marriage and actually interested in getting married.
00:38:09
Speaker
Naomi then instructs Ruth to go to the threshing floor. Now, threshing floor in Hosea 9-1 is not necessarily the best place a woman could be. They're actually known for sexual decadence.
00:38:23
Speaker
All manner of hanky-panky got on, or got up to, at the threshing floors. um So, Naomi says, yeah, go when everyone's asleep.
00:38:36
Speaker
but but Don't go and everyone's awake. Now, it's not to say that Boaz was involved in any of this nonsense, but, you know, people do what they're going to And Naomi says, when they're all asleep, then sneak in.
00:38:51
Speaker
And at the end of the working day, people would eat and people would drink and they they'd sleep on the threshing floor. They didn't fall drunk asleep, at least not Boaz, but they were there to protect their grain.
00:39:05
Speaker
You know, if you weren't looking after your storehouse well was to stop a thief going in and just stealing it. So you actually were sleeping in the workplace almost as a way of protection.
00:39:16
Speaker
So Naomi sends Ruth in and the fact that there are other people there, it would actually help protect her as well. Again, did Naomi think Boaz was going to do anything untoward or nasty or physically violent or aggressive to Ruth? Of course not.
00:39:34
Speaker
But their strength in numbers and the fact that there would be other people around, even if they're asleep, it would offer some degree of added protection.
00:39:45
Speaker
And they would just have to speak in hushed voices as was not to wake everyone else up.
00:39:54
Speaker
All right, then. Chapter 3, verse 4 says, When Boaz lies down, again, this is still Naomi instructing Ruth in what to do. Note the place where he's lying. Okay, don't just start walking around all these sleeping bodies. Boaz, is it you?
00:40:11
Speaker
Boaz? both Look at where he's going. Zero win on him. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.
00:40:23
Speaker
Now... but I used to read this and just think, God, that's mad. That's just a bit weird. But basically, if he woke up and just found a woman standing over him, well, that would be intimidating. He probably would have been like, what you doing?
00:40:42
Speaker
So don't scare the man. But if you just uncover his feet, you know, you're not pulling up his clothes, looking at anything private. Just his feet. It's very gentle, and then you're the wind will just gently blow on his feet, and eventually he'll he'll stir awake all by himself.
00:41:02
Speaker
So it's just a way of waking him up more calmly and peaceably than he otherwise might. And Ruth just says, okay,
00:41:17
Speaker
And she does everything Naomi told her to do. She got every i she crosses every T, she follows the instructions to the letter, and she lies down at his feet like a servant.
00:41:31
Speaker
And in chapter three, verse nine, Boaz wakes up and is like, yo, who's asleep down there? And Ruth says, and ruth uses own blessing against him. i in chapter two, verse 12, Boaz said, may you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose covering you've come to take refuge.
00:42:01
Speaker
He's just saying, God, protect this woman, please. She's amazing. And in chapter three, verse nine, she says, spread the corner of your garment over me.
00:42:14
Speaker
since you are a guardian redeemer for of our family, that blessing that you prayed over me, I would like you to be the answer to that prayer.
00:42:28
Speaker
You prayed that someone would bless me and take care of my needs and yadaada yada, yada, yada. She's forward. I like it. The woman knows what she wants.
00:42:39
Speaker
And she says, Boaz, DIY. Do it yourself. Alison, it won't always be romantic, guys, but there will be times when you are praying for something.
00:42:53
Speaker
And don't be surprised when the Lord says, oh yeah, you know that thing you prayed for? yeah Go do it. but Like, I am so over people praying, oh, God, please save my family and my friends and yadda yada, yada, yada.
00:43:12
Speaker
Do you not know that you are an ambassador for Jesus Christ?
00:43:17
Speaker
Showing heaven culture and revealing the finished work the cross is your job. Teaching on the gospel of grace is job of the church, not an institution, not a congregation, the individual, that's your job.
00:43:34
Speaker
And so if someone is like, you know, asleep or in a coma, okay, pray that God reveals himself in a dream or if they're living in a country that you can't get to, whatever. But actually start to say, Lord, showing Christ is my job. It's my job to show up and show Christ.
00:43:52
Speaker
It's my job to show up so the Holy Spirit can show off. Help me to do that. Here I am. Use me.
Strategic Marriage and God's Plan
00:44:01
Speaker
Reveal yourself through me Because some of the things you're praying for, God is actually saying, well, go do it.
00:44:13
Speaker
That's your job. Humans are always supposed to co-labor with God. We were never supposed to be like, oh God, please do literally everything I want.
00:44:24
Speaker
No, God made the physical realm to be Run by physical beings and step with him and obedient to him in line with his Holy Spirit, following the unction of Holy Spirit.
00:44:37
Speaker
But we have a part to play. We always have. That was true for Adam and Eve. That was true for Jesus in those 33 and a half years. It's true for us.
00:44:49
Speaker
It's the world we were born into. I remember at university once, where I was the Bible study coordinator, much to my... but but fame or embarrassment now, looking back.
00:45:01
Speaker
And I was like, oh God, use me to show Jesus not just to Christians, but to the unsaved. And I stood outside the canteen one day, big restaurant on the campus, and there was an Asian girl.
00:45:17
Speaker
Don't ask what nationality she was. don't know. And she just looked really, really sad. She may have been 10 meters away from me. And I stood there looking at her, and I just said,
00:45:29
Speaker
Oh God, send just the right person to ask her if she's okay. Send just the right person to bless her. Send just the right person to show Christ.
00:45:41
Speaker
Send just the right person to all the things that I could have done myself. In fact, I didn't have to walk 10 meters over to her. I could just shouted at her and she would have heard me, but I didn't.
00:45:56
Speaker
And instead I walked away and even as I was walking away, leaving her crying, alone, going through whatever she was going through, i knew i was walking away in disobedience.
00:46:09
Speaker
But it came from a place of cowardice. It came from a place of, um oh, but what if she doesn't like what I have to say? What if, that you know, I misspeak?
00:46:21
Speaker
What if i reveal Christ and she doesn't like it? Which had been the story of my life anyway. So, you know, what was one more person? You know, a stranger I was never going to see again anyway. But we talk ourselves out of being obedient. But actually the things you're praying for, you might just be the answer to that prayer.
00:46:41
Speaker
So get ready to be used by God, people.
00:46:49
Speaker
Alright. Then we get to chapter to four. So Boaz says, listen, 100%, I would gladly be that covering for you. However, there is one other.
00:47:06
Speaker
I'm not the Kinsman Redeemer, like you said. I'm only one of two options. um But actually, the other guy is a closer relative of your dead father-in-law, Elimelech. So he gets dibs.
00:47:23
Speaker
So Boaz the next day gets that guy, brings him before the 10 leaders of the community and asks him, hey friend, you may not know this, but actually Naomi's back.
00:47:40
Speaker
She needs a kinsman redeemer and you are the closest relative. Would you like to take on board all of her property? And, you know, this guy is, we don't know his name. Let's call him Paddy, for the sake of, you know, for sake of arguments.
00:47:58
Speaker
And Paddy goes, another field, more property, more money. a Yeah, happy days. Of course I accept it. Inwardly, Boaz is probably thinking...
00:48:11
Speaker
but but But Boaz is crafty. He's a good kind of crafty. Some Christians are absolutely stupid. They have no street smarts whatsoever. There is a healthy crafty that helps you get you want.
00:48:25
Speaker
For Jesus. And Boaz says, okay, fair enough. That's alright. That's allowed. But what Boaz really wants is to win the right, and again, this other guy has priority, but he wants to win the right to redeem Naomi's land.
00:48:45
Speaker
To marry Ruth. To have a son. Who will basically be like. Almost like Naomi's child. And re-inherit.
00:48:56
Speaker
Naomi's land. That's his plan. So he wants the land. He wants a kid. He wants to keep the land of the family. He also wants a wife. So Boaz says. Yeah sure that's awesome.
00:49:08
Speaker
But you know. You are going to have to look after Naomi as well. You're going to have to have another woman in the house. And by the way, between you and me, you're also to have to take on Ruth, the Moabitess as well.
00:49:24
Speaker
Now, by this stage, Boaz and Ruth have already had a few conversations. He has already seen her in action. He undoubtedly knows she's saved.
00:49:36
Speaker
Boaz undoubtedly knows she loves the Lord. But what he says to the other guy, to Patty, is, well, you know, you're going to have to Ruth the Moabites as well.
00:49:51
Speaker
He doesn't say Ruth, the follower of the Lord. He doesn't say Ruth, the one who loves God and loves people.
00:50:02
Speaker
He says Ruth the Moabite, Ruth the Moabites. He's kind of planting this idea in Patty's mind. you know, Ruth might be a demon worshipper.
00:50:13
Speaker
You know, Ruth might still have all those evil oogity-boogity superstitions from the land of Moab. Kind of plants that idea in the other guy's head. it really doesn't He obviously wants to marry Ruth himself. He doesn't want Ruth ending up with this chap.
00:50:28
Speaker
And that guy starts second guessing. He's like, oh my goodness, do I really want to take all this on board? And another aspect of this is found in Deuteronomy.
00:50:40
Speaker
23, 3 to 6. I'm going to read it and then I'll explain it because not perfectly clear in English. You of need look at the Hebrew to get the full picture what's happening.
00:50:54
Speaker
But Deuteronomy 23, 3 to 6.
00:50:59
Speaker
No Ammonite, irrelevant in the story, or Moabite, hello, or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord. even down to the 10th generation.
00:51:14
Speaker
That might sound harsh. Why? For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam, so the Moabites hired Balaam, Zonobior, this is the wicked prophet, not a false prophet, a wicked prophet, a real one, but nasty, from Pether in Aram Naharam to pronounce a curse on you.
00:51:40
Speaker
However, the Lord, your God, would not listen to Balaam, but turn the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord, your God, loves you. Do not seek a treat to your friendship with them as long as you live.
00:51:55
Speaker
You might think, how is that related this story at all? Because if Maddie takes on Ruth, now he doesn't have to, but if he does, and he marries her, and she has a son,
00:52:11
Speaker
her son will not be allowed into the assembly of God for 10 generations. um Because it says here, no Moabites any of his descendants, okay?
Ruth's Role in Jesus' Genealogy
00:52:27
Speaker
Female Moabites, fine. Grand, no problem. If your Moabite's male, or in this case, Paddy marries a Moabitesess and has a Moabite son,
00:52:41
Speaker
That son will not be allowed into Assemblies of God, and it could also screw up the inheritance plan for the kids Paddy already has. And Paddy just starts thinking,
00:52:54
Speaker
this could get messy illegally. This could be a headache I really don't want to contend with. And the end, Paddy says, you know what, Boaz?
00:53:06
Speaker
They're yours. Keep the land. Keep Naomi. Keep them all by death. I don't need them. And Boaz's like, really? Sure. Okay, then I suppose.
00:53:17
Speaker
And there's like a swapping of sandals, which is basically um picture of today you'd be putting your signature on the dotted line.
00:53:29
Speaker
Now, i used to kind of read this in Deuteronomy and think, oh my goodness, does that mean like that Ruth wasn't allowed to worship with God publicly?
00:53:40
Speaker
Like, you know, at all in the assemblies of gods and how did that impact, you know, her descendants? Did she always feel like a thawed or not cast? No, not at all.
00:53:53
Speaker
In Deuteronomy 23, three, only the naturalization of Moabites is mentioned. It says nothing about those who are actually dwelling in the land of Israel,
00:54:08
Speaker
nor does it specifically mention the ones m in relation to marriage.
00:54:16
Speaker
Secondly, it's about men only, not women. In the Misnah Yevamot, I'm going butcher this pronunciation, Yevamot 83, says Ammonite and Moabite converts are prohibited for entering into the congregation and marrying a woman who's born Jewish.
00:54:37
Speaker
and their prohibition is eternal for all generations. However, their female counterparts, even the convert herself, are permitted immediately. So the Moabites, who married into Judaism, could attend.
00:54:53
Speaker
Third, Ruth was a proselyte of the Jewish religion. okay She did put her faith in Yahweh. She was converted, if you want to use that word. Four,
00:55:05
Speaker
God blessed the marriage, which we see in verses 13 to 22. So this was a God connection. And five, a lot of people think that God had a problem with the Israelites marrying foreigners.
00:55:20
Speaker
Not true. You remember that Moses is the one who was given the law of God. And even Moses married a foreigner.
00:55:32
Speaker
And then Aaron and Miriam, his brother and sister, kicked to a fuss. They said, oh my goodness, this is scandal. This is disgusting. And they were cursed. And Miriam had to stand outside the community until her leprosy withered away and she was healed of it.
00:55:51
Speaker
God didn't have a problem with the Israelites marrying foreigners. In Deuteronomy 7, 3 to 4, three to four God had a problem with the Israelites marrying foreigners who worshipped demons.
00:56:05
Speaker
If you were a foreigner, but actually you put your faith in the Lord, it was fine. The problem was if you married a foreigner, you were a God-believer, your spouse was not, but actually you know they were committing you know witchcraft and human sacrifices and making hexes and vexes for an next-door neighbor.
00:56:28
Speaker
Deuteronomy 7, 3-4 says, Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will follow your sons away from following me to serve other gods. And Lord's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.
00:56:47
Speaker
But that doesn't apply to Ruth, because she had already given her heart to God. She said to Naomi, Where you go, I go. Your God is my God.
00:57:04
Speaker
In chapter four, verses 13 to 17, Boaz and Ruth get married and the Lord opens Ruth's womb and she has son.
00:57:19
Speaker
And the whole community say, Naomi has a son. Naomi has a son. Well, it was Ruth's son. But On one hand, Naomi had set Ruth up to win to get her man.
00:57:36
Speaker
And Ruth's win, the husband and the child, was Naomi's win. You can look at that as a picture of heaven. If someone says or it does something that blesses me, and I use that to bless someone else, in heaven...
00:57:54
Speaker
Yes, I'll get blessed for it, but actually there's a chain reaction. And the person who blessed me and equipped me to help others gets in on the blessing.
00:58:06
Speaker
Or as I'm sharing with you every week, if you take hold of the word of God as it's been released, and you run with it, and you own your zone, you put it into action in your life, I'll get blessed by extension,
00:58:23
Speaker
well, you get blessed because you're the one who's doing it, was a chain reaction to blessing. That's part of it. And another part is the fact that Naomi's husband was dead.
00:58:34
Speaker
And her two sons was dead. So, Ruth having a child and with the Kinsman Redeemer, it was almost like Naomi was getting a son back.
00:58:47
Speaker
And with his son... It's so rare, actually, in any story, especially in Bible stories, to have a genealogy in the Old Testament in the final chapter.
00:59:01
Speaker
But verses 13 through 22 give you a genealogy. And you can see it again, actually, in Matthew 1.5. where it talks about Salmon and Rahab.
00:59:15
Speaker
They had Boaz. We looked at Rahab couple weeks ago, actually. Rahab lived in Jericho. And when the wolves came down, she had the red cord in her window. She and her family were spared.
00:59:31
Speaker
Rahab the prostitute married an Israelite named Salmon who entered into the promised land, who entered into Jericho. They are the parents of Boaz.
00:59:44
Speaker
So we looked at Rahab two weeks ago. She married Zaman, who we know very little about, but their son was Boaz. And I think that's perhaps why Boaz found it so easy have a soft spot for Ruth, because his mother was a foreigner.
01:00:03
Speaker
His mother was a woman of Jericho, a woman of Canaan, not a natural biological Israelite, not of the Israeli race. So suddenly he was able to say, oh, well, you know, I can marry a foreigner because I know what it's like. You know, my parents did it.
01:00:19
Speaker
Their son was Obed. Obed had a son called Jesse. Jesse's son was David, the most famous human king in all of history and the greatest king in the nation of Israel, whatever.
Themes of Redemption and Providence
01:00:41
Speaker
So that is the book of Ruth. That's the story of Ruth. But of course, this discipleship series is looking for Jesus in the Old Testament. Now, I did say that Jesus does not physically appear in this story, but he is hidden in the details.
01:01:01
Speaker
Let's backtrack to Bethlehem.
01:01:05
Speaker
Bethlehem is where Elimelech and Naomi and their two sons, Mylon and Killian had originally come from. And it's also in Bethlehem that Joseph and Mary would have the baby Jesus.
01:01:26
Speaker
If you follow Matthew chapter one, that It's a genealogy. It gives you the genealogy of Joseph.
01:01:36
Speaker
Who comes through the line of King David. So everyone we looked at today, Ruth, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David, they are part of Joseph's ancestry.
01:01:55
Speaker
If you look at Luke, It gives you the genealogy of Mary, stretching all the way back to Adam and Eve.
01:02:08
Speaker
It goes all whole way down to Mary's father, and then it says, and then, you know, um his son-in-law, Joseph, who people call it the father Jesus. So that's the genealogy of Mary.
01:02:20
Speaker
And David is also in her ancestry. So Joseph and Mary were the uncrowned king and queen of Israel. What were they doing hiding in the back end of nowhere in Nazareth while they were hiding from an evil king named Herod? Herod was not a Jew.
01:02:40
Speaker
He was an Edomite. um He came from a different nation, an enemy nation. But the Edomites always believed the land of Israel should have been theirs.
01:02:52
Speaker
It dates all right, way back to Genesis to an issue between two twins, Isaac and Esau. Isaac, Israel. Esau, Edom. The Edomites always wanted the land of Israel, always wanted the Promised Land.
01:03:07
Speaker
And Herod the Great, or as I call him, Herod the Not-So-Great, was the first Edomite king who actually got to take the land of Israel for himself.
01:03:18
Speaker
And therefore the uncrowned king and queen Two teenagers, Joseph and Mary, were hiding in Nazareth. I live in a small town in Ireland called Ardee. It's a small town in the smallest county.
01:03:34
Speaker
If you ask people about it, they say, where's that? Or... yeah I've driven through there before. They're the only two responses. ah People in the town tend to say the best thing about RD is the road that leads out of it.
01:03:51
Speaker
I live in the Nazareth of Israel in a 21st century Irish context. um But you have that Bethlehem connection between Naomi's family and Joseph, his family.
01:04:15
Speaker
There's another picture.
01:04:19
Speaker
Naomi has two daughters-in-law. One of them gets saved, Ruth. One of them goes back to her Moabite gods and goddesses. That's Orpah.
01:04:34
Speaker
And like I've said, Ruth makes a covenant to follow Yahweh, our God, Jesus. Orpah, it's not biblical, it's extra biblical.
01:04:46
Speaker
I'm not saying it's true, but it's what the ancient rabbis taught in the Babylonian Talmud. Became the mother of Goliath and other giants. One was saved, one was damned.
01:05:02
Speaker
And in the same way, when Jesus was on the cross, there were two thieves, two men who were guilty, to men who have lived sinful lives. And the thief, on Jesus' right, looked at him, listened to how he spoke, took a note of all the things he was not saying, took note of what he was saying, how he said them, had a light bulb moment and said, oh my goodness, this guy is the Christ, this guy actually is the United One, this guy is the Messiah, and said, Jesus,
01:05:40
Speaker
When you bring in your kingdom, remember me. That kingdom is not heaven. This is the kingdom of God on the earth. When you bring in your physical, literal, geographical, Israel-centered, miracle, everywhere, kingdom.
01:06:08
Speaker
Spare me a thought.
01:06:11
Speaker
And Jesus said to him, you and I are going to be in paradise together this day. And they both died that day. And they went into the bowels of the earth, into paradise, which was where the saved went before crucifixion.
01:06:30
Speaker
None of one none them would died into heaven before then.
01:06:35
Speaker
But there was a criminal. The thief on Jesus left. who said, oh please, if you're the Messiah, how about you save yourself and, don't know, you save us? ha Little did he re realize, Jesus not saving himself was Jesus saving us.
01:07:02
Speaker
He literally insulted the very thing Jesus was doing, he mocked. Save us. Go on, rescue us if you're so amazing. And maybe that's a word for some of you today.
01:07:15
Speaker
Maybe you've stepped out in faith to serve Jesus and people are flandering the very thing you're doing, the very godly, good, holy, holy spirit prompted thing you're doing.
01:07:27
Speaker
Don't give ear to the thief on your left. Thieves come to steal, kill and destroy? Don't be dissuaded by them.
01:07:41
Speaker
In Ruth chapter 2, 14, Boaz tells Ruth come on over to him to have some bread and wine, to dip the bread in his wine vinegar.
01:07:54
Speaker
That's a beautiful picture of communion. Where Jesus would pick up bread and say, tear to shreds, this is my body. It's broken to put your life back together again.
01:08:08
Speaker
It's broken to put your soul back together again. It's broken put your health back together again. It's broken to put your family back together again.
01:08:20
Speaker
The wine, or wine vinegar in some translations, the picture of the blood of Jesus, which protects you from the destroyer, which washes you white as snow,
01:08:37
Speaker
which gives you pre protection
01:08:42
Speaker
And even the fact it's called wine vinegar. You know, when Jesus was thirsty on the cross. A sponge of vinegar was pressed into a hyssop stick.
01:08:55
Speaker
And was fed some vinegar. So again, Boaz and Ruth could not have imagined that they were just having snack.
01:09:05
Speaker
But actually what they did was very prophetic.
01:09:12
Speaker
It's picture of the sacrifice of Jesus.
01:09:21
Speaker
In the threshing floor, where wheat is separated from the chaff,
01:09:33
Speaker
Ruth lay down as a servant at the feet of Boaz until he woke up.
01:09:40
Speaker
And our were a savior, because, you know, for her, he was a kinsman redeemer, a guardian redeemer. One who would cover over her as though with a garment or wings and look after her, take care of her, put her life back together again, give her a home, give her offspring,
01:10:03
Speaker
give her ah ring, marry her. Obviously, he's starting with that one. The kids came next.
01:10:11
Speaker
And for us, the feet of our Lord Jesus, well, nail was driven through them onto the cross.
01:10:20
Speaker
But he is our or kinsman redeemer. He's our guardian redeemer.
01:10:28
Speaker
We dwell under the shadow of his wings
01:10:34
Speaker
for our protection, for our covering. where covered by his blood and all of our sins are hidden in the holiness and the perfection of Jesus.
01:10:53
Speaker
We're as far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our sins from us.
01:11:03
Speaker
Then got the legal disputes. Between Paddy and Boaz. Where Paddy actually has a right to that land.
01:11:22
Speaker
Naomi's field and property. And he has first dibs on her and Ruth if he wants. It's just the way the law was set up. It is what it is.
01:11:34
Speaker
But Boaz... The little Trixie, little bit manipulative in a good way, gets to make sure that actually he gets the property. He gets take care of Naomi and he gets Ruth as his wife.
01:11:52
Speaker
But Paddy, the first and closest relative of Elamina, has first dibs as a matter, of course.
01:12:06
Speaker
That's very true for the entirety of the human race regarding the devil.
01:12:11
Speaker
Romans 6.23 says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
01:12:23
Speaker
For the wage of sin, the penalty of evil, is death. And all people are guilty of that.
01:12:34
Speaker
Even those who are innocent, have an inbuilt propensity or slant or bend towards sin, towards being a slave to sin, death and the grave, to elemental powers,
01:12:56
Speaker
principalities, cosmic rulers, the demonic realm.
01:13:05
Speaker
But the gift of God is a eternal to life in Christ Jesus our Lord, who was a little tricksy, did things in a way that's unexpected. Really wanted the Moabites. Really wanted the Gentiles.
01:13:18
Speaker
Really wanted the down and outs. Really wanted the ones with a bad reputation. But he didn't just give a sandal. He gave his life.
01:13:31
Speaker
So that we could have his That we could have eternal life. Abundant life. Exceeding life. Super added life.
01:13:45
Speaker
Legally. Root and Naomi the property. Could and should have gone to Paddy. may not have wanted all three. But however much he wanted. But Boaz won them back.
01:13:59
Speaker
Legally. Because the enemy is a legal expert. He is a magistrate. Legally, all humans belong to the darkness and have been blinded by his dragon scales.
01:14:14
Speaker
But Jesus paid the price in full to buy us back.
01:14:23
Speaker
And then there's one more detail here. You can also look at this entire story. It's love story, perhaps the Bible's most famous story. man, woman, love story, as a picture for Jesus' love for the nation of Israel.
01:14:42
Speaker
Here you have a righteous man, kinsman-redeemer, who goes against the legal system and the norms and what's expected and what's traditional.
01:15:01
Speaker
in order to get himself a wife. And in the same way, Jesus loves the nation of Israel so much that he came to the earth and did everything he had to do to buy them back for himself.
01:15:21
Speaker
Of course, they did not receive him at the time. So now there's kind of like a pause button on them, and instead he's focusing on the body of Christ, which is mainly made up of Gentile nations.
01:15:34
Speaker
But i with the rapture, the rapture of the body of Christ, that's when we go up into heaven. And then Israel becomes its main focus again in the book of Revelation. When you read the book of Revelation, God's focus is on Israel.
01:15:49
Speaker
And it's Israel's job to evangelize the nations. So the body of Christ is mostly consisting of Gentiles. The bride of Christ is specific to when the nation of Israel had the mandate for the evangelization of the earth.
01:16:06
Speaker
And then you've got some references here in the Old and New Testament and for the love that Jesus had for the nation of Israel. Psalm 45, 1-17 is probably one of my favorite examples of it.
01:16:22
Speaker
Song of Psalms is great. Some parts that might make you blush if you think, hang on a second, that sounds like it does mean what you think it does. Isaiah 54, 4-8. Isaiah 62, 1-12.
01:16:39
Speaker
and Basically, when Israel sinned against the Lord, it was seen as a spiritual adultery. and What the Lord would call them, my wife, my bride, he's going take them back Jeremiah 3.14, Jeremiah 31, 31.33.
01:16:59
Speaker
Hosea's entire life is basically a picture of this, where he's married to, he's a prophet, and the Lord tells him to marry a prostitute, to marry a woman who's not very nice.
01:17:13
Speaker
And they have some kids together who he prophetically names regarding how the Lord's going to treat Israel. and in their rebellion and their sin. And ultimately, he wakes up one day and realizes and his wife isn't in bed next to him.
01:17:29
Speaker
She has run back into captivity. Some people read it that she ran back into like you know spiritual adultery, worshipping demons. um Most people read it that she returned to red light district of Israel.
01:17:47
Speaker
And Hosea has to firstly, visit the most scandalous places a prophet could possibly be found, and then actually has to buy her back and says, listen, even if you're faithless towards me, i will still be faithful towards you. And in Matthew, Mark, Luke, Revelation, you have more examples of the love that Jesus has for the nation of Israel.
01:18:18
Speaker
climaxing in Revelation 19, 7-9, when he rescues Israel from the Antichrist, the false prophet, and the consortium or confederacy of ten evil kings, and he sets up the wedding supper of the Lamb, which when he brings in a physical, geographical, Israel-centric kingdom, of miracles and peace and prosperity that lasts 1000 years.
01:18:55
Speaker
So, ruth is a beautiful story in of itself. It's got truly beautiful pictures and prophetic narratives of the love of Jesus and the cross.
01:19:12
Speaker
But you can also read the whole story of Ruth as a picture of the love that Jesus has for the nation that he first came to. The nation and that he himself created he first called Abram.
01:19:26
Speaker
And a nation he has not given up on. A nation that even today he and his angels fight to protect in the spirit realm.
Conclusion: Reflections on Grace and Salvation
01:19:39
Speaker
and one that he will indeed rule and reign in in the future, crown and all ruling and reigning from the temple of God in Jerusalem.
01:19:51
Speaker
So thank you guys for your attention. ah right there Are there any comments, any queries, any questions on any of that?
01:20:06
Speaker
Or your head's all full. I need to think more maybe. to again and There's so much now. um There's a lot in it for such a short book.
01:20:22
Speaker
Yeah.
01:20:25
Speaker
It's a lot. But yeah. Ruth isn't in John. John. John. so
01:20:35
Speaker
but now out
01:20:42
Speaker
genealogy of Jesus, isn't it? Isn't that lion says it's the most important thing, you know, that she participated in. Like she's not of a nation and
01:20:57
Speaker
yeah, she's, you know, like we all are saved, isn't it, by his grace. None of us ever, like none of a man ever was worthy.
01:21:11
Speaker
But we are saved by that. So it's it's amazing. When I think about God's grace, it just strikes me again and again. It's like, how much, God, you can forgive.
01:21:24
Speaker
And you realize there is no there are no limits. like the Peter, isn't it, asks, that seven times like I should forgive my brother? He goes, 70 by seven a day. 490, yeah. four hundred and ninety yeah And the Peter himself, isn't it, wrote that Count Lord's patience, you know, long-suffering your salvation.
01:21:53
Speaker
And it's just unbelievable. Unbelievable. Every time I start thinking, it's just unbelievable.
01:22:04
Speaker
You know that he loves you. regardless of your faults and like you mentioned you know ah even if you're unsafe or I am safe or he's just yep yeah just he just strikes you think even if I am he's too safe or anything how how but and to pay that in advance regardless of you you know walking is so much so much
01:22:38
Speaker
It's crazy much. Yeah, it it is. But even what you mentioned there, Ramas, about the genealogy, it was very, very uncommon for women's names to be in Hebraic genealogy. Actually, Matthew chapter 1, you've got a few, but two of them are Rahab, Boaz's mother, and Ruth, Boaz's wife.
01:23:06
Speaker
And she had two foreign women One who's basically, you know, had been prostitute before. Prostitute, yeah. Saved. She was a prostitute. And then Ruth, who had come, not saying...
01:23:20
Speaker
I don't know what exactly she had been doing in Moab but before she married Malon, but she'd come from a nation of demon worshippers. She'd come from nation whose history was affiliated with shrine prostitution, with oppression of the Israelites, and with wicked prophets. Deep, deep Satanism. Deep Satanism. deep satanism And there she is.
01:23:50
Speaker
In her redeemed, renewed, restored life in Matthew chapter 1 the genealogy of Jesus. And the Lord remembers your sin no more once he's forgiven it. No more. a shit By, you know, through the word, by faith.
01:24:13
Speaker
And it's like, if you call upon the name of the Lord, you will be saved as well. Amen. It can't be less expected from us than that, you know.
01:24:26
Speaker
And even then, you know, not not all the people will want to do that because of the pride and... But yeah, it's so less expected of us. We've done the majority of the work, you know.
01:24:43
Speaker
He cut a covenant with himself, not with a man. He's going to keep it.
01:24:54
Speaker
But yeah. Amen. Thanks, Rameth. Amen. Great. Any more final thoughts, comments, or questions, guys, before we finish up for today?
01:25:15
Speaker
just set that um you mentioned that prophet, the minor prophet. What's his name? Hosea? Hosea, yes, is yes, yes. I think that's extraordinary that God had him marry a prostitute. um I mean, do it do we need it? dialogue like Are people that dumb that we don't i don't know?
01:25:42
Speaker
I mean, did he have to go to that extreme? To show people what they're like? It's a great question, Kitty. It's called a prophetic narrative.
01:25:53
Speaker
It's when someone would live a story. It's all real real people, real marriages, real covenants. But they're living out a story which has a deeper meaning.
01:26:08
Speaker
And in what they live out, in in his case, marrying a woman who God ultimately knew would betray him. and her his story actually in and her story as a couple became a picture of what the nation of Israel were like to the Lord all throughout the Old Testament especially in Judges which we saw last week where he would bless them they would choose sin they would perform such evil evil acts of wickedness he punished them
01:26:45
Speaker
And moved only by his own compassion, moved by his mercy, moved by his grace, moved by the word he had already spoken, he would rescue them.
01:26:58
Speaker
And not a long time would pass before they would give him the middle finger and jump back into them all over again. yeah And Hosea's life in in marriage when his wife betrays him,
01:27:11
Speaker
On one hand, you have this replication of the righteous man, the Lord, reaching out for people in rebellion, Israel, bringing them to himself in covenant, and then they betray him, and he has to get them back.
01:27:30
Speaker
And then you also have a prophetic narrative of Jesus, where Jesus is the prophet, the holy one, the greater prophet, the greater Moses, the greater David. who goes to originally nation of Israel, now it's global, to people who did not receive him, who would betray him, who think of the last time you sinned, probably some point today or yesterday,
01:27:57
Speaker
And still he chooses to be faithful on his end. Still he chooses to be true on his end. Still he chooses to be good on his end. Now my, one my favorite passages of scripture. Oh, and that's a big hallelujah.
01:28:12
Speaker
One of my favorite passages of scripture is Hosea chapter two. i not going to read the whole thing this long, but going to start in Hosea 2, 14.
01:28:23
Speaker
basically he goes into this whole rant of how Israel's been naughty, badly behaved. And in verse 14, you just think he's about to blow a gasket. He's about to go ballistic. He's about to lose his mind. Not so.
01:28:39
Speaker
Therefore, i am now going to allure her. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards and make the valley of trouble a door of hope.
01:28:59
Speaker
There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the days she came out of Egypt. Some people like to stick the body of Christ near the church. You know, to an extent, but we're specifically talking about of Egypt here. Sorry, the nation of Israel.
01:29:15
Speaker
In that day declares the Lord. What is that day? It's the day Jesus comes into heaven on a white horse, double-edged swords in hand, slays the Antichrist and the host of heaven destroy the armies of evil one.
01:29:30
Speaker
In that day, you will call me my husband. Again, Israel, one who came out of Egypt, Israel, the bride of Christ. You will no longer call me my master, which in Hebrew is Baal, which is actually like, you know, was a demon that they worshipped.
01:29:50
Speaker
I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips, the demonic worship. No longer will their names be invoked. in that day, when Jesus comes out of that sky, kills the Antichrist, throws the lake of fire, throws the false prophet into the lake of fire, kills the evil ten kings, wipes out the army,
01:30:12
Speaker
In that day, i will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground.
01:30:23
Speaker
Bow and sword and battle i will abolish from the land so that all may lie down in safety. Animals will live in perfect unity with people like in the Garden of Eden.
01:30:37
Speaker
You will not hear of violence in the land of Israel because Jesus will literally be their king, living, ruling, and reigning in the temple, in physical Jerusalem, on physical Mount Zion, in physical geographical Israel.
01:30:52
Speaker
I will betroth you to me forever. Again, Israel's the bride of Christ. That's the betrothed. I'll betroth you to me forever. I'll betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.
01:31:07
Speaker
I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will i've acknowledge the Lord. In that day, again, what's he talking about? A future event. Revelation chapter 19, when he leaves heaven, destroys the Antichrist, the Confederacy of Ten Kings, the false prophet.
01:31:26
Speaker
If you don't know what that means, that's all right. The next discipleship series is on the end times. I'll explain it then. I'll respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth.
01:31:36
Speaker
and the earth will respond to the grain. Well, that's good, because earth will almost be destroyed after the apocalypse. It's going to need a big revival in the agricultural, natural realm.
01:31:47
Speaker
He will take, isn't it, as a rack, will roll it. that is That's when he where it destroys it all before the Day of Judgment. Yeah, that happens afterwards.
01:31:58
Speaker
The new wine oil, and they'll respond to Jezreel. I'll plant her for myself in the land, a specific land. He's going to take all the Israelites all around the world and plant them all in Israel.
01:32:13
Speaker
i um i will show my love to the one I called, not my loved one. I will say to those called, not my people. You are my people.
01:32:24
Speaker
And they will say, you are my God. That is one of my favorite passages of scripture. And that's another way of looking at Revelation 19, which is when Jesus wipes out the Antichrist empire.
01:32:44
Speaker
um That describes what he... Revelation 19 tells what he does to the wicked. Hosea 2 tells you what he does to his nation, to the the righteous survivors.
01:32:56
Speaker
um And basically... makes Earth as close to the Garden of Eden it's ever been. It's going to be phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal.
01:33:08
Speaker
But, yeah, the best days of Earth are always still ahead. No matter how bad things get, God's best is always still ahead. So that's just amazing, amazing. Every time I start thinking about it, I lord how did you want them that cross? You know, everyone is again...
01:33:29
Speaker
To his own he come and he was rejected by his own.
01:33:35
Speaker
And I said, he's just above, above, you know, above human reasoning, actually. How he does that. People who completely despise him, completely run the other way, completely spit on him, completely despise him.
01:33:55
Speaker
He manages to... Great plan for their salvation. It's phenomenal. But it's just like when Moses came to this the Hebrew slaves aged 40.
01:34:10
Speaker
We're told in the book of Acts, think it's chapter 7, that the time for the Hebrews' deliverance was when Moses was 40.
01:34:24
Speaker
He came, killed Egyptian, and the next day, two Hebrew slaves were like, who do you think you're? You think you're something special. You think you're a holy leader, someone in a position with authority she to tell us how to live our lives. We know. What happened? He left, and their deliverance was pushed back 40 years.
01:34:49
Speaker
So when Jesus came, yes, to his own, and they did not receive him, their freedom, their deliverance, their Hosea 2 moment got pushed back 2,000 plus years.
01:35:04
Speaker
But just as Moses did return to his people and set them free, bring them to the promised land, so too the greater Moses, the greater prophet, the greater David, Jesus Christ,
01:35:19
Speaker
will come back for his nation. Like the DNA of God, if you will, is Jewish. not anma The DNA of Jesus is Israelites' blood.
01:35:31
Speaker
Or our skin. And he will come back for his people. And he will give them their Hosea 2, Revelation 19 And it's going to be absolutely incredible.
01:35:42
Speaker
It's going to be amazing. And we will have the aerial heavenly perspective of all this Looking down watching the word of God taking a place on the earth. Amen.
01:35:57
Speaker
All right, guys. Well, thank you so much for your engagement tonight. As always, thank you for joining, for sitting under the word of God as I share it. Thank you for the trust that you've administered to me and released to me.
01:36:14
Speaker
in the hope that I would bring Word of God to you in a way where you learned something new, you heard something you hadn't heard before, perhaps in a way that demystified something that you found complicated beforehand. um i don't take that lightly. was following to someone only this morning, actually.
01:36:36
Speaker
that when I was younger, i was one of those guys who could have just opened any page in the Bible and just taught it, and I would have been like, oh, this is amazing, and I'm great. Where the older I've gotten,
01:36:51
Speaker
the heavier the Word of God feels, the less lightly I regard it, the more weight I know it carries.
01:37:04
Speaker
and the more substance that's within it. And yeah, I don't teach it frivolously. and I don't teach it in a way that's casual because I know that it is what can literally set people free, change lives, bring dead people to life, set captives free and equip the cold and release them into their lane of their destiny. So I do appreciate the trust that you put in me on a and these sessions.
01:37:38
Speaker
um If you would like any of the Bible study versions and the PDFs of these teachings, and just let me know. Whether it's the Ruth one, whether it's the Judges one from last week, whether it's the three weeks of Moses, that's a one part package, one bundle, or even further back.
01:37:58
Speaker
Just let me know. They're 10 euros and I'll give you the details. um Other than that, for those of you in Joshua Generation Church, I'll see you on Sunday, where we will be looking at part three of the Absalom Conspiracy, when a David's son Absalom went rogue.
01:38:21
Speaker
And for those of you who are just joining in Wednesdays, just remember next week is... trying to check this, but I'm almost convinced that i'm right. Yep.
01:38:33
Speaker
Next week is the final Wednesday of the month and we don't have discipleship on the final Wednesday of the month because i need an extra day to actually make these teachings. So um the next Wednesday stay session will be the 3rd of June. Okay, the 3rd of June.
01:38:53
Speaker
we're going to start three weeks on the life of David. The first part, and we'll be looking at and his life as a prophetic narrative of um whether there pictures of the cross and of Jesus' life in his life.
01:39:12
Speaker
little bit similar and style to this one. And then we're going to do one on the book of Psalms. where i'm going to go through different psalms, show you Jesus in the psalms, and to actually tell you what future events each psalm refers to.
01:39:32
Speaker
And sometimes people, God love them, they just put random psalm and they just start praying it or singing it or declaring it. And I think, shh. that's a word and a season. That's not quite right.
01:39:44
Speaker
I'm going to help you actually prophetically put these in the proper place in the prophetic timeline and show you Jesus in all his glory in the Psalms. So it's going to be good. going to be fun.
01:39:58
Speaker
And as always, learn something you hadn't known before. So thank you guys for your engagement. Thank you for the lovely messages there in the chat box. Carolina, Cajal, and Catherine, Anna.
01:40:11
Speaker
And guys, have a super special, awesome, wonderful rest of your night. Do you have a great rest of your week. And night there, Hazel. And I'll see you all very, very soon, okay?
01:40:24
Speaker
God bless. yeah God bless you all. Always remember, G-I-A-G. God is absolutely good. Amen. Good night, everyone. Good night.