Jesus Our Kinsman Redeemer

JESUS OUR KINSMAN REDEEMER

Ruth 1:14-16; 2:15-16; 4:6,13,17

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. A Pastor went to the dentist for a set of dentures. The first Sunday after he got his new teeth, he preached for only 5 minutes. The next Sunday he spoke for only 10 minutes.

2. The following Sunday he preached for 2 ½ hours. The deacons had to go up and pull him out of the pulpit. He wasn’t exactly sure what had happened.

3. The next Sunday he explained; “The first Sunday my gums were sore, so I only spoke 5 minutes. The next Sunday I was feeling a little better, so I spoke for 10 minutes.”

4. “The third Sunday I accidentally put in my wife’s dentures and couldn’t stop talking!”

B. TEXT

1:14 Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “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.” 2:15 As [Ruth] got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them [“handfuls on purpose” KJV] for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.” 4:6 “So, when the closest relative (redeemer) said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he pulled off his sandal [and gave it to Boaz to confirm the agreement].” 13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife…and she bore a son. 17 And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Ruth 1:14-16; 2:15-16; (4:6 AMP),13,17 NIV

C. THESIS

1. The Book of Ruth describes an unusual episode in the lineage of Jesus Christ: He became descended from a Moabite woman! It’s a great instance of God’s forgiveness to include those who hired a sorcerer to Curse Israel (Josh. 24:9).

2. Here we see how Ruth forsakes her people and fortunes to serve the True God and trust God to provide for her. We also see the ancestor of Christ, Boaz, who, like his great Descendant, became kinsman-redeemer, redeeming his Gentile Bride, symbolic of the Church.

3. The title of this message is “Jesus our Kinsman Redeemer.”

I. THE STORY OF THE BOOK OF RUTH

A. MISFORTUNE STRIKES A FAMILY

1. There was a famine in Judah. A Jewish family decided to move to Moab; Elimelech & Naomi, and two sons, Mahlon & Kilion.

2. Both sons grew up and married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Then, possibly because of some pandemic, Naomi’s husband and both sons died, leaving only the daughters-in-law.

3. After a time of mourning, Naomi decided to go back to her home town of Bethlehem. She attempted to dissuade her daughters-in-law from coming with her, but Ruth said, “Where you go, I will go; where you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God my God.” And so Ruth went with Naomi back to Israel.

B. LAND STAYED IN THE FAMILY

1. There was still a piece of land in Judah owned by Naomi; it was her husband’s inheritance when the land was divided up by Joshua. When a man died in Israel without an heir, the closest male relative by Law was allowed first choice to buy or “redeem” the property.

2. If the man who died left a widow young enough for childbearing, the kinsman redeeming the land also had to marry the widow and procreate one child for the deceased man, that his name not disappear from the registry of Israel. This is what happened to Ruth, the widow of Mahlon [Deut. 25:5-6; Lev. 25:25].

C. BOAZ, THE KINSMAN-REDEEMER

1. Boaz wanted to redeem/claim the land of Mahlon and add it to his inheritance, but even more, he wanted to marry Ruth. The Problem? There was a Kinsman-Redeemer who was closer in the family tree to Mahlon than Boaz was; this man had the prior right and had to give it up for Boaz to claim it.

2. What made the Jewish readers of this story excited was something you might not know; that the child that Boaz and Ruth ultimately bore was Oded, the grandfather of David who was chosen by God as the ancestor of Christ! And Christ is the ultimate Kinsman-Redeemer, of which Boaz is a type!

II. NAOMI’S FALTER & RUTH’S RICH FAITH

A. “WENT OUT FULL, CAME BACK EMPTY” (1:21)

1. Naomi’s loss of husband & 2 sons in Moab was a circumstance that threatened her faith in God. In Vs. 13, she said that God is against her.