1 Valley View Chapel December 25, 2011 Christmas Day Bethlehem B.C., Part 4 Ruth 4:1-22 Introduction Something happened in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago that we celebrate today the birth of Emmanuel, God with us, the Savior of the world. But something else happened in Bethlehem 1,100 years before the first Christmas. If what happened 11 centuries before the angels appeared to the shepherds never happened, there would have never been a Christmas at all. It has been said that, The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. During the Advent season, our attention is naturally drawn to well-known and oft-cited Old Testament prophecies that predicted the coming of the Messiah. Micah 5:2 predicted his birthplace: But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past. (NLT) Isaiah 7:14 anticipated his virgin birth: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 9:6 foretold the fact of his deity: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (ESV) But rarely is the 4 th chapter of the book of Ruth tied to the Christmas story. Yet the book closes with the joyful news of a baby s birth in Bethlehem. That event alone reminds us of another nativity in Bethlehem over a millennium later. But there is much more to connect the book of Ruth in general and the 4 th chapter of Ruth in particular to the good news of Christmas. By symbols and historical narrative, the story of Ruth anticipated the account of the birth of a baby who not only brought joy to his family but salvation to the world. So on this Christmas Day, I want to direct our attention to 2 life lessons from Ruth chapter 4 that relate to the birth, life and death of the one who would be described by the Apostle John 1100 years later as the Word who became flesh.
2 We need a kinsman-redeemer Let s look carefully at Ruth 4:1-4, Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, Come over here, my friend, and sit down. So he went over and sat down. Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, Sit here, and they did so. Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line. I will redeem it, he said. There was an Old Testament law called the law of levirate marriage. This law stated that if a husband died without children, his nearest eligible relative should marry his widow, produce children, and the estate would go to the eldest son when the husband died. This was to keep the property in the family and to insure the physical safety and financial security of the dead first husband s widow. The nearest relative who married the widow was called the kinsman redeemer because he was related to her dead husband and he redeemed the woman from a life of certain poverty and destitution. Naomi was forced to sell Elimelech s property because she needed the resources to manage financially. She had neither the health nor the help nor the capital to maintain the land. Boaz arranged a meeting with Elimelech s closest relative and offered him first refusal as kinsman-redeemer. The relative immediately agreed. It was a good investment. Naomi was too old to have children and so the property would be his free-and-clear and he could add it to his real estate portfolio. The dialogue continues in verse 5, Then Boaz said, On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property. " Apparently, the land didn t belong to Elimelech but had been bequeathed to his son Mahlon upon Elimelech s death. In order to act as the kinsman-redeemer, the nearest relative would have to marry Mahlon s widow Ruth and the land and upon his death, would go to their eldest son. This was bad news for Elimelech s closest relative. We re told his response to this new development in Ruth 4:6, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it." He was unable to serve as kinsman-redeemer because he didn t have sufficient resources. As long as he could add to his own net worth, it was a good deal. But if the
3 purchase was eventually going to a son that he and Ruth might have, then he couldn t afford to lay out that much cash. What in the world has this to do with Christmas? Last week I explained that Boaz is a type or symbol of Jesus Christ and Ruth, his beloved friend, is a type of the bride of Christ, the Church. The closer relative in chapter 4 is an Old Testament type or symbol of the Law. Before Christ came into the world at Christmas, the Law had first claim on our lives. The old covenant was based on the people of God keeping the law. When they failed to keep the law consistently, God judged them. But the law was unable to pay the price of our redemption, not because the law was weak or bad but because our stubborn wills refused to keep the law. Paul, who in his pre-christian life tried to keep the law, confessed to the Galatians: "We know that a man is not justified by observing the law by observing the law no one will be justified. Galatians 2:15-16 Like the closer relative, the law was simply unable to redeem humanity. Let s look now at Ruth 4:8-10, So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, Buy it yourself. Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses! " The law didn t have the resources to redeem us. But our heavenly Boaz the Lord Jesus Christ did. He was both willing to redeem and able to redeem. What was the currency he used to redeem us? We re told emphatically in 1 Peter 1:18-19, For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. If we could have been redeemed by keeping the law, there would have never been a Christmas. God would have never had to come to earth in the person of the virgin born Son of God. But the law was unable to save us. Christ alone possessed the resources to buy us back from our selfishness and sin and adopt us into his forever family. The good news of Christmas is that we needed a kinsman redeemer, and God sent one! God s plan includes us, but is bigger than us A few years ago, someone asked me if I had seen the movie Marley and Me. I said No. Oh, you ve got to see it, they said. I replied, Before I see it, you ve got to answer one question: Does the dog die in the end? They responded: Do you really want to
4 know? I said: I don t only really want to know. I really have to know! They said, Yeah, the dog dies in the end. I said: Then I won t see it. I don t go to movies where the dog dies in the end. Call me a wimp. You wouldn t be the first one to do it. But I only watch movies with happy endings. If the plane had crashed and Kevin s parents never came home, I would have never watched Home Alone a second time, let alone the 20 or 30 times that I ve seen it. If it didn t start snowing at the end of White Christmas, do you think I would have watched it every December for the last 40 years? I m a sucker for happy endings. That s why I ve read the book of Ruth maybe 50 times and the book of Nahum maybe twice. Ruth s got a happy ending and Nahum doesn t. You can t get much happier than Ruth 4:13-17, So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth. Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, Naomi has a son. Suppose the book of Ruth ended with Ruth 1:20-21? " Don't call me Naomi, she told them. Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me. " I wouldn t be preaching from the book of Ruth on Christmas morning, I promise you that! Naomi came back to Bethlehem with empty arms and the story ends with Naomi holding her grandson, a baby boy named Obed. Just out of curiosity, I wonder if Boaz s mother Rahab was around to celebrate Obed s birth. Rahab was the former prostitute who had been kind to the Israelite spies and whose life was spared in Jericho. God had a wonderful plan for Naomi, Ruth, Boaz, Rahab, and everyone who figured directly in this beautiful love story. But the plan was a lot bigger than bringing Ruth and Boaz together in matrimony. It was bigger than giving Ruth and Boaz a son. His plan was bigger than filling Naomi s empty arms with a grandson. Look at the closing verses of the book - Ruth 4:17-22 And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of
5 Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David. Remember that the events in the book of Ruth took place during the time of the Judges. Israel had no king. But God knew that Israel would one day demand a king But God also knew that Saul, their first king, would fail to be the king he should have been. And so God looked for a man after his own heart and that man was David. And David led the nation to unprecedented glory and penned many of the psalms that have brought such help, comfort and encouragement to God s people for the last 3,000 years. So God s plan wasn t just about Ruth, Boaz and Naomi. It was a lot bigger. God s plan stretched 100 years down the road to include providing Israel with her greatest king and the people of God with their greatest composer of sacred songs. If you go to the genealogy recorded in Matthew 1, you see that the record in Ruth is corroborated by Matthew. Boaz was the father of Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse. And Jesse was the father of David. But keep reading down through the subsequent generations and you eventually come to Matthew 1:16, Jacob [was] the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Joseph was not the literal father of Jesus. But he was Jesus, earthly, legal father. Without Naomi returning to Bethlehem with Ruth in tow 1,100 years before, there would have been no marriage between Ruth and Boaz. There would have been no David and there would have been no Joseph. So all through the winding road of Naomi s journey through her vale of tears and Ruth s winding road of courtship with Boaz, God was thinking ahead 1,100 years to the birth of his son, the son whom Joseph his earthly father named Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21 Here s the final point I want to make. God s plan to redeem you includes you but is meant to be bigger than you. Just as Ruth and Boaz had children, so your relationship to Christ is meant to produce spiritual children. 35 years ago I visited in the home of Steve and Elaine Green. Elaine was a believer but Steve was not. That night, Steve received Christ as his Savior and Lord. Steve had the gift of evangelist. Almost from day one of his conversion, he had a passion to tell others about Jesus. Less than a year later, Steve led Ray Fredette to Christ. Ray s fiancé, Debbie, had come to Christ a few weeks earlier. Over the next couple of years, through a variety of circumstances, six of Ray s siblings and their husbands, wives, boyfriends and girlfriends had all come to faith in Jesus. Over the next year or so, Ray s parents had become Christians. Fast forward to 2011. Ray and Debbie s adult children are followers of Christ. Ray s sisters Rose, Mary, and Alice and their husbands Wayne, Jim, Gary and all their children are believers, active in their churches and serving the Lord.
6 Don t you see? When God led me to share Christ with Steve Green, God s plan included Steve, his wife Elaine and their children, Stevie and Susan. But it was far bigger than that. God s plan for Steve is still being worked out not only in the Fredette family but in the hundreds of people who have been touched by the lives and witness of the Fredette family! That s a story with a happy ending! Conclusion Edward Kimball, a Sunday school teacher in Chicago, was burdened for the salvation of the boys in his class. After sharing Christ with one of his class members, a young boy named D. L. Moody received Christ in 1858 in the back of his uncle s shoe store where he worked. Moody grew up to be a preacher. In 1879 Moody won to the Lord a young man by the name of F. B. Meyer, who also grew up to be a preacher. Meyer won a young man by the name of J. Wilbur Chapman to Christ. Chapman, in turn, grew up to be a preacher and brought the message of Christ to a baseball player named Billy Sunday. As an athlete/evangelist, Sunday held a revival in Charlotte, North Carolina, that was so successful that another evangelist by the name of Mordecai Ham was invited to Charlotte to preach. It was while Ham was preaching that a teenager named Billy Graham gave his life to Jesus. God s plan for Edward Kimball included him but it was far bigger than him. One Chicago Sunday School teacher s influence for Christ continues to live on well over a century after his death and will live on for eternity. For those of us who have been redeemed by our kinsman-redeemer, do we realize that our salvation was never supposed to stop with us? That God intended us to have a redemptive presence on earth through our spiritual influence on a few people who will influence others who will influence others? Have you received your kinsman-redeemer? Have you received the gift of forgiveness and new life purchased by Christ on the cross with his blood? If not, you can pray the following prayer in faith: God, I m sorry for my sins. Right now, I turn from my sins and ask you to forgive me. Thank you for sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for my sins. Jesus, I ask you to come into my life and be my Lord, Savior, and Friend. Thank you for forgiving me and giving me eternal life. In Jesus name I pray. Amen
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