Sermon 8: God Works in Mysterious Ways
Series: Ruth
Chuck Sligh
August 4, 2019
TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Ruth 4.
INTRODUCTION
If you asked the average person to quote a verse of scripture, besides John 3:16 or Genesis 1:1, the third most probable verse they would cite would be that “God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.” Except that’s not…actually…IN…the Bible. But the statement is a true representation of how God works, and that is no less true of the ending of the story of the book of Ruth.
Everyone likes a story with a happy ending, and the Book of Ruth is that kind of story. The book began with 3 funerals and 3 weeping widows; it ends with a wedding and, ultimately, the joyful birth of a bouncing baby boy, as we will see. At the beginning of the book of Ruth, everything is falling apart; at the end, life has been put back together again.
If this story were a work of fiction, someone might say, “But life isn’t that way. People don’t always live happily ever after.” That’s true; but the book of Ruth IS true, and these events happened to real people. Everything ended “happily ever after” because God was working behind the scenes in mysterious ways.
For the last seven weeks, we’ve been examining the love story in the book of Ruth. Before we jump in, let’s first let’s review the basic details. Due to a famine in Israel, a man named Elimelech left Bethlehem-Judah and moved his family to Moab. Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, had two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Mahlon and Chilion both married Moabite women, named Orpah and Ruth At some point Elimelech and his sons passed away, leaving all three women widows. Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem-judah, and Ruth decided to go with her, while Orpah deciding to stay in Moab.
Once in Bethlehem-judah, in order to eat, Ruth set out to find a landowner who would, as she described it, find grace in her and allow her to glean barley in his field. Ruth found grace in a wealthy man named Boaz. Boaz immediately took an interest in her and did all he could to provide more than enough food to sustain both Ruth and Naomi. Later, when Ruth told Naomi she had worked for a man named Boaz, Naomi immediately realized that he was a close relative of her late husband. This meant that Boaz was qualified to act as their “kinsman redeemer,” a term in the Law of Moses that stipulated that a close relative could redeem, i.e., buy back, someone’s lost land and also marry a widow and raise up their firstborn son in the name of the deceased husband. So, Ruth approached Boaz one night and asked him to do just that. Boaz was more than willing to take on the responsibility of the kinsman-redeemer but there was a problem—there was another man who was a closer relative than he was. With that background in mind, let’s consider three wonderful truths from our text:
I. FIRST LET’S CONSIDER RUTH’S REDEMPTION – Verses 1-10 – “Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down. 3 And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s: 4 And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. 5 Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. 6 And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it. 7 Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel. 8 Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe.
9 And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi. 10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day..”
Boaz met with the prospective family redeemer at the town gate. This was the place where business transactions took place. Ten of the town’s elders and many of the town’s people were there as witnesses of this transaction. Boaz informed this man that he had the first right to redeem Elimelech’s land, and at first, he was interested and willing to redeem the land. But when Boaz mentioned that the one who redeemed the land needed to also marry Ruth, this man declined the offer stating that it would endanger his own estate. He then offered Boaz the estate and legalized the transaction by giving him his sandal.
That’s a long way from Judge Judy, but that’s the way it was done back then, according to verse 7. Once this was done, all barriers had been removed and Boaz can fulfill his duty as kinsman-redeemer.
Now according to the Law of Moses, for someone to be a kinsman-redeemer, he had to meet three qualifications:
First, he had to be a close relative.
Second, he had to be WILLING to redeem.
And lastly, he had to be ABLE to redeem.
Boaz fulfilled each of these requirements.
He was close enough related to Elimelech to legally able to serve as the kinsman-redeemer for Naomi and Ruth. – This was important because if one qualified as a kinsman-redeemer, the one now holding the property was obligated to sell the land back, something not required of someone not a kinsman-redeemer.
Second, He was also WILLING to redeem Naomi and Ruth, even if the closer relative wasn’t.
And finally, He was ABLE to redeem them: He had the money to buy the land.
In the very same way, Jesus fulfilled all that was required in order to redeem us.
1) Jesus meets the first qualification of kinsman-redeemer by the fact that He is a member of the human family, making Him our near relative.
Over 2000 years ago Jesus left heaven and came to earth as our kinsman-redeemer. In one of those wonderful things that God could only be arranged by God, he was born in the exact same little town where these very events took place! There in Bethlehem, God became man!
Hebrews 2:14-15 says, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He also shared in these…”
And John 1:14 says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelled among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
2) Jesus meets the second qualification of kinsman-redeemer by the fact that He was WILLING to redeem us.
He came to earth and willingly took our place on the cross. Romans 5:8 says that “...while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Technically, Elimelech did not have to marry Ruth while redeeming their lands, notwithstanding the way he presented it to the closer relative. Redeeming Elimelech’s land for Naomi was one thing; marrying Ruth was quite another. But because of his love for her, he was more than willing to do so. Likewise, Jesus did not have to redeem us, but because of His marvelous love He was more than willing to do so!
3) And finally, Jesus meets the third qualification of Kinsman Redeemer by the fact that He was ABLE to redeem us.
God’s Law demanded death for sin. Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death.”
Jesus went to the cross for us in order to fulfill God’s Law. Galatians 3:13 puts it this way, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree.”
Jesus was the only one able to redeem us because He was the only One who could fulfill the requirements of the Law!
He’s our near-kinsman, He was willing to REDEEM us and He was ABLE to redeem. And because of this, we can boldly proclaim...”I AM REDEEMED!”
II. IN VERSES 11-13, NOTICE HOW RUTH AND NAOMI EXPERIENCED A RADICAL TRANSFORMATION IN THEIR LIVES. – “And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, ‘We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel…Leah, who who together built the house of Israel. And may you prosper in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 …May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring…the LORD will give you from this young woman.”
Ruth’s whole life was about to change in a major way. There were many people gathered at the town’s gate who witnessed this transaction. They rejoiced over what Boaz had done for Ruth.
In verse 11 there is a noticeable change that has taken place. Ruth is no longer called “a stranger,” “a foreigner,” or “that Moabite woman.” Now she is mentioned alongside Leah and Rachel, who together, the elders said, “built the house of Israel!” Leah and Rachel were the wives of Jacob, who gave birth to his twelve sons. At the moment of her redemption her standing was elevated!
And the same thing is true of those who are redeemed by our Redeemer, Jesus Christ: At the moment of our redemption, our standing is immediately elevated and our life forever changed! We are transformed from “sinners” into “saints.” We are no longer strangers and outcasts; now God calls us His “children.”
1 John 3:1-2 says, “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called…children of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did nor know him. 2 Beloved, now we are the children of God...”
There is no greater privilege than to be called a child of God. The only way this is possible is for us to be redeemed through the blood of Christ. When Jesus comes into our lives, He removes our past, He forgives our sins, and He transforms our lives, and elevates our status and standing.
In Ephesians 1, Paul teaches us we’re “accepted in the Beloved,” and we “have obtained an inheritance in Christ Jesus” and in chapter 2 he says we’re “raised up together and seated in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ.” I mean, does it get any better than that?!!!
Maybe you have never surrendered to Jesus. I want you to know that He has done all that is necessary to redeem you from sin. I encourage you to put your faith in Him and trust in Him for your redemption. If you will, you will experience a wonderful transformation, just like Ruth did!
III. FINALLY, WE SEE THAT GOD’S PLAN WAS ACCOMPLISHED.
Look with me at verses 13-17 – “So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife: and when he went in to her, the LORD enable her to conceive, and she bore a son. 14 And the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name may be famous in Israel. 15 And may he be to you a restorer of your life, and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves, who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.’ 16 And Naomi took the child, and laid him on her bosom, and took care of him.”
Wow!—How their lives had changed! Remember how bitter Naomi had been when she first returned home? Remember how she blamed her bad circumstances on God? Remember how when she and Ruth rolled into Bethlehem-judah, they were without a protector and provider, without enough food to survive, landless and penniless and destitute and powerless?
Now look at them! The women told Naomi that Boaz would be a restorer of life to her and would nourish and take care of her in her old age. And Ruth has a baby, and a son to boot. The book of Ruth is about how God had accomplished His plan in their lives.
But not just His plan in THEIR lives, but also in in OUR lives too. – You might not see it at first, but look at verses 17-22 – “And the women her neighbors gave it a name, saying,…’A son has been born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. 18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, 19 And Hezron fathered Ram, and Ram fathered Amminadab, 20 And Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21 And Salmon fathered Boaz, and Boaz fathered Obed, 22 And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.”
So, here’s something wonderful. It turns out that because Ruth chose to go with and take care of a bitter, defeated woman in penury, she met Boaz. And because Boaz was able and willing and qualified to be their kinsman-redeemer, he rescued them from their lamentable condition and married Ruth. And because they married, they had a son. And the genealogy in verses 18-22 culminates in a very famous man by the name of David.
Yes, THAT David—King David—the singer-shepherd boy, the brave youth who slew Goliath, the one who built the Kingdom of Israel almost from the ground up and made it one of the greatest kingdoms of that era, the one who God described as “a man after my own heart,” the author of some of the world’s greatest poetry and the majority of the book of Psalms which has been loved and cherished by God’s people for millennia.
THAT David was the great-grandson of Boaz and Ruth. God had a plan, and He fulfilled it in the crucible of Naomi and Ruth’s tragedies and sorrows.
But God’s plan didn’t stop there. We just read one of those oft-neglected and boring genealogies in the Bible.
But let me read part of another genealogy, this one in Matthew’s Gospel in the New Testament. Matthew 1 begins with a long, yawn-inspiring, 16-verse genealogy that I bet you just skipped over, or skimmed, or fell asleep every time you read it. Too bad, because there are some real nuggets hidden in that seemingly endless list of “begats” or “fathered” if you’re willing to dig a little deeper.
About one-third of the way through it, in verses 5-6a Matthew says, “And Salmon fathered Boaz of Rahab; and Boaz fahtered Obed of Ruth; and Obed fahtered Jesse; 6 And Jesse fahtered David the king…”—which is almost word-for-word the same as the genealogy found in Ruth 4, except that the wives are added.
Then Matthew keeps drilling down, listing generation after generation, and ends in verse 16 with these words, “and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.”
Did you get that? If Ruth had not come home with Naomi, that whole train of events I already described would not have happened, there would have been no King David, there would have been no glorious Kingdom, David would not have written the 23rd Psalm or any other psalm, and David would not have been in the line of the Messiah.
You see, our wonderful God had a plan of redemption for our salvation that went back thousands of years; no, actually before the foundation of the earth! That plan was to send His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to this earth, to die for our sins and to pay the penalty for sin in our place. And Naomi and Ruth and Boaz all played important parts in that plan.
CONCLUSION
Pastor Kevin Jones tells the story of how his Grandmother and Grandfather met. – He says,
My Grandmother was born and raised in North Carolina, my Grandfather was from here in Talladega. One day I asked Grandma how the two of them met since they lived hundreds of miles apart. The story that followed absolutely fascinated me. It seems that Grandma was traveling home from a visit with her aunt and she boarded a bus that was completely full. A lady gave grandma her seat and next to her was the man would become her husband. Grandpa must have done something to impress her that day because he got her address. Not long after this he wrote her a letter asking her to marry him. She turned him down, he then wrote another letter and she turned him down again. When the third letter arrived (without her knowledge) Grandma’s sister wrote him back and said yes. When Grandpa received the fraudulent reply, he immediately traveled to North Carolina to retrieve his bride….Though [Grandma] knew very little about him, she decided that since he had traveled so far, the polite thing to do would be to marry him, so she did and they remained married until the day he died.
Pastor Jones continued his story: I know that is a strange, almost unbelievable story but I sure am glad that it happened. You see, without that encounter their 8 children would not have been born. As a result, I would not have been born, and my children would not have been born. In fact, our branch of the Jones family has over 50 people, none of which would have been born if Grandma had never gotten on that bus. But God had a plan…
And that’s the theme of the book of Ruth—God has plans for us, and He carries them out. God has a BIG PLAN to bring redemption to all of mankind.
But His plans are not just for the whole world; He has a plan for you personally as well. And like Naomi and Ruth, God’s plan will not be devoid of difficulties and struggles and sorrows and heartaches. But even in the midst of all those things, God is working in the background, arranging things behind the scenes, bringing people into your life who will play pivotal roles in your life, coordinating exact circumstances—all to lovingly accomplish His will in your life. And as with Naomi and Ruth, His plan always comes to a resolution of joy and restoration, and elevation, and hope.
If you have never come to the realization of your need for Jesus and His forgiveness and His acceptance, I invite you to come to him by faith today.
