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.
2. Most believers are allowed to go through valleys to test their faith. Our faith should be strong enough to know that God is in control and loves us.
3. Naomi = “pleasant,” but she renamed herself Mara, (“bitter”). The devil’s work is to try and get Christians disillusioned with God.
4. “The hand of the Lord has gone out against me.” That’s the lie. SHE LET HER CIRCUMSTANCES DICTATE TO HER THE HAND OF GOD! But we’re to trust the Lord whatever the circumstances! Like Job who said, “The Lord has given & taken away…blessed be the name of the Lord”
B. THE 2 DAUGHTERS-IN-LAW CONTRASTED
1. Ruth = “friendship;” Orpah = “stubborn.” They had married Naomi’s 2 sons – “sick & pining” (the meaning of their names). They weren’t the kind of guys your girls want to marry – because they don’t live long (humor).
2. Orpah chose to go back to the world; but Ruth chose Naomi and the True God.
C. RUTH’S AMAZING FAITH
1. What did Ruth know about Israel’s God? The only contact she had with God was through Naomi. She dared commit herself to the God of a bitter, barren woman.
2. Ruth believed that though they were poor, God would provide for them. She didn’t go back to the world – but chose God! What faith!
D. CHRISTIAN FRIENDS
1. When we know a Christian who is struggling, we should cling to them and buoy them.
2. Ruth (“friendship”) determined not to let Naomi (“pleasant”) become “bitter,” but to hold onto her until what God had spoken of her – “pleasant” – came true.
3. You, Christian friend, shall be “pleasant.”
III. MOTIVE OF RUTH’S BENEFACTOR
A. RUTH WOULD NOT HAVE FOUND GRAIN
1. The Harvesters were experts at stripping off the grain. It was their job NOT to leave any behind.
2. Ruth, on the other hand, was NOT a skilled harvester – she probably wouldn’t have found but a few kernels.
3. Naomi was shocked at the quantity Ruth gathered. In this world, the reapers grab all the blessings available, but God preserves a portion for His saints! Praise God!
B. GOD’S PROVIDENCE NOT RECOG. AT FIRST
1. Ruth thought the reapers had missed some. To her, it looked accidental, but we know it was left on purpose by Boaz.
2. So it appears when God meets our needs, it seems to be accidental. But there is a divine Hand guiding events. He knows when the need will arrive and He leaves behind just what we need to meet the need.
3. BOAZ’S MOTIVE? Boaz loved Ruth and the “handfuls” left behind on purpose were symbols of his love. So does our Father shower us with blessings because He loves us; but God’s greatest gift to us is the gift of His Son! John 3:16.
IV. BOAZ BECAME KINSMAN REDEEMER
A. EVENTS AT BETHLEHEM
1. Ruth gleaned in Boaz’s fields. They noticed each other.
2. She let him know she was interested. He too.
3. He was 2nd in line in Kinship, so he talked to the man first in line, who didn’t want to endanger his own children’s inheritance by conceiving a son for deceased Mahlon’s name.
4. Boaz claimed the right and bought Mahlon’s land and married Ruth. The child born was counted to be Mahlon’s son, thus Naomi became a grandmother and ancestor to Christ (Obed, Jesse, David).
5. It’s possible that Ruth, the Moabitess, held David in her arms before she died! What a miracle of grace!
B. PICTURE OF CHRIST
1. Lev. 25:47-49. Jesus redeemed US as Kinsman-Redeemer. It took 3 things to redeem:
a. Priority in Kinship: Jesus became human.
b. Will to redeem. “No one takes [My life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” John 10:18.
c. Ability to pay the price: being divine, Jesus could.
2. JESUS BOUGHT US WITH HIS OWN BLOOD – Acts 20:28 and 1 Cor. 6:19-20.
3. Boaz (ancestor of Christ), redeeming His Gentile Bride (4:1-10) is a prophetic picture of Christ redeeming the Church as Bride for Himself.
4. Naomi could also represent the Jewish nation, which became lifeless (through Law). Yet through Ruth (church), Naomi (Jewish nation) is credited with children; “Naomi has a son” (4:17; representing Messiah).
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUS. OF REDEMPTION: TWICE BOUGHT
1. A boy made a little wooden sailboat. He tried it out in a creek. The wind caught it & blew it into the river and he lost it.
2. One day he was in the next town and saw his boat in the window of a pawn shop. He informed the owner that it belonged to him, but the owner said, “No, you have to buy it if you want it.”
3. So he cut people’s grass and did odd jobs all summer to get the money to redeem it. At last he returned to the pawn shop and bought his boat.
4. He walked outside, held the boat up and said, “You are mine, little boat, twice mine; once because I made you, and twice because I bought you back!”
5. That’s exactly what Jesus did; not only did He make us at creation, but He also bought us back at Calvary – so great is His love! We are twice bought!
B. THE CALL
1. Some of you here may identify with Naomi, feeling that God is against you. Let me be like Ruth & urge you to be unmovable in the faith.
2. Some of you have reached the borders of decision; will you be like Orpah and turn back from God? Or will you be like Ruth and go on to deeper knowledge of God? Remember, Ruth’s faith influenced history; so can yours!
3. Do some of you have friends who need to be redeemed from bondage? Then be like Boaz and help them be redeemed. James 5:20; “Remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”
