Redemption That Brings a Royal Future

[0:00] Well, we are going to read in our Bibles now, so if you'd like to take your Bibles, turn to the Old Testament and to the book of Ruth. And we're reading in Ruth chapter 4.

[0:13] If you have one of the Church Visitor's Bibles, it's page 224. Otherwise, you'll find it after the book of Judges and before the books of Samuel. And we've been looking through with Phil Copeland these last few Sunday evenings this remarkable story, which begins with a very sad tale of an Israelite family fleeing the land because of famine and seeking refuge in the land of Moab, the land of Israel's enemies.

[0:42] But instead of finding happiness and satisfaction, nothing but tragedy strikes. The man dies, his two sons die, and we're left with three widows, Naomi and her two daughters-in-law.

[0:57] And then the story takes a turn. Naomi hears that God has blessed his people of Israel and sent food. And so she wants to return to the land, sending her daughters-in-law back to their own homes in Moab.

[1:10] But one of her daughters-in-law, Ruth, won't go back and wants to stick with Naomi and come with her and stay with her. And to worship Naomi's God, make her people Ruth's people and her God, Ruth's God.

[1:26] And when they come back, they find the beginnings of great satisfaction and fullness. God indeed has blessed his people with food, and he blesses Naomi and Ruth with food through the kindness of a man called Boaz in whose field Ruth goes gleaning.

[1:42] And then the story takes another unexpected turn. They discover that this man is indeed a relative, a distant relative. And under Israelite law and custom, a relative like that has a responsibility under God to care for the widows of a deceased family member as a kinsman redeemer.

[2:04] Somebody who is to take them under his wing, provide for them, and give them a future. And last week we saw the remarkable way in which Ruth goes and presents herself to Boaz.

[2:18] And he shows great kindness and says, yes, indeed, he's willing to take up this responsibility and look after them. But there is a slight spanner in the works.

[2:29] There is somebody who is a closer relative and closer redeemer. And therefore, he first must have the right of refusal. Will he step in and spoil the story?

[2:42] Or will, in fact, Boaz turn out to be the woman's redeemer? Well, let's see, shall we, as we discover what happens in chapter 4. Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there.

[2:55] And behold, the redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, turn aside, friend, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down.

[3:08] And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, sit down here. So they sat down. And he said to the redeemer, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative, Elimelech.

[3:23] So I thought I would tell you of it and say, buy it here in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it.

[3:35] But if you will not, tell me that I may know. There's no one besides you to redeem it. And I come after you. And he said, I will redeem it.

[3:47] Then Boaz said, the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.

[4:03] Then the redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.

[4:16] Now this was the custom in former times in Israel, concerning redeeming and exchanging. To confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the manner of attesting in Israel.

[4:30] So when the redeemer said to Boaz, buy it for yourself, he drew off his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Marlon.

[4:49] Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Marlon, I have bought to me my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place.

[5:04] You are witnesses this day. Then 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 house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.

[5:20] May you act worthily in Ephrata and be renowned in Bethlehem. And may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.

[5:36] So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife and he went into her and the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son.

[5:47] Then the women said to Naomi, blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a redeemer and may his name be renowned in Israel.

[6:00] He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.

[6:12] And Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name saying, a son has been born to Naomi.

[6:27] They named him Obed. And he was the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now these are the generations of Perez.

[6:39] Perez fathered Hezron. Hezron fathered Ram. Ram fathered Aminadab. Aminadab fathered Nashon. Nashon fathered Salmon.

[6:51] Salmon fathered Boaz. Boaz fathered Obed. And Obed fathered Jesse. And Jesse fathered David.

[7:04] Amen. And may God bless to us this his word. Well please do have your Bibles open to Ruth chapter 4.

[7:19] That's page 224 of our church Bibles. Amen. Amen. Amen. As you go about your ordinary everyday life, I wonder if you ask the same questions that I sometimes ask myself, which is this.

[7:51] What is God doing whilst I do these things? These mundane and unspectacular things. My mundane and unspectacular life.

[8:03] What is God doing? Well Ruth chapter 4 will help us. We're coming to the climax of the drama. And if you were to read the book of Ruth in one sitting from start to finish, at this point you notice a shift up in the pace, a change of pace in the action.

[8:21] At the end of Ruth chapter 1 and at the end of Ruth chapter 2, the author in both chapters presses the pause button. And there is an undefined passing of time before the story resumes in the following chapter.

[8:35] So Ruth and Naomi return to Bethlehem at the end of chapter 1. And sometime later, after time passes, Ruth decides to go to glean. Chapter 2, the same thing happens.

[8:48] It ends with a note that Ruth continued to glean day after day until the harvest ended. And then sometime later, towards the end of the harvest, she and Naomi reach out in that most extraordinary way to Boaz in the events of chapter 3.

[9:04] But by contrast, this scene, the night scene of chapter 3, flows immediately into the next day of chapter 4. The pace is quickening.

[9:15] We're getting to the climax and the resolution. And in chapter 4, we're going to see a resolve to Ruth and Naomi's emptiness. Finally. Both of these helpless widows will finally be redeemed.

[9:31] I'd like to look at this chapter under two sections and under two headings to do with redemption. Section 1, verse 1 to 11. And I've entitled it this.

[9:42] Redemption comes at a great cost. Redemption comes at a great cost. So before we go through the drama, I just want you to notice that in this section, it contains three things to do with making a legal decision.

[10:00] Firstly, in verse 1, we notice that this takes place in the gate. Now back then, the gate was so much more than simply just the entrance into the city. It was something more like an open plaza just inside the city against the back wall of the gate.

[10:18] And this area, I feel like, it functioned as a town hall, a courthouse, and a city chambers all in one. It was the place where legal transactions were carried out.

[10:29] The second legal detail in this section is the fact that there's a lot of sitting down. We saw last week there was a lot of lying down. And this week there's a lot of sitting down. Just let me read through the first few verses and notice the repetition.

[10:43] Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the Redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, Turn aside, friend.

[10:54] Sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten of the elders of the city and said, Sit down here.

[11:04] So they sat down. And again in verse 4, sitting is also mentioned there. Now what's that all about? Well, sitting back then, it was the posture of authority.

[11:16] People back then, if they were listening to a sermon, you would all be standing and I would be sitting. It was flipped on its head. And sitting actually in a legal context, that's how legal decisions were made.

[11:28] That was the posture you assumed. And excavations from the gate areas in some ancient towns show benches upon which people would sit to carry out legal business such as redemptions.

[11:42] The third legal detail in the text is the fact that there are witnesses. Witnesses. And in verse 9 to 11, we're not going to read those verses, we'll come to them later, the section ends with a threefold use of the word.

[11:55] Witnesses, witnesses, witnesses. So these three legal details in the drama, they're supposed to make you feel that a redemption is not a casual thing.

[12:07] It's not something that can be reversed once someone has gone into it. It is serious business. A redeemer cannot wiggle his way out of a redemption once he's sealed the deal.

[12:19] One commentator says this, if Ruth 3 focuses on the experiential reality of faith, Ruth 4 highlights the objective groundedness of the blessing that faith claims.

[12:34] Now keep that in mind as we go through the drama and as we look at Boaz. So back to verse 1. Boaz goes up to the gate and lo and behold, that's the same little phrase that we saw back in chapter 2 verse 4, when Boaz just so happened to walk into his field at the precise right time to see Ruth.

[12:55] My, my, my, what a coincidence. Here Boaz goes up to the gate, the place where legal decisions and redemptions are carried out and lo and behold, just look who was walking by. It just so happens to be the very man that he was looking for at just the precise right moment in time.

[13:12] It's only the very man Boaz was looking for. The other relative of Naomi, whom, being a closer relative to Naomi, has, if you like, the right to redeem her before Boaz.

[13:24] What a coincidence. Has that happened by chance? Hmm. I think not. It's almost as though there's someone in control of this whole scene, weaving all things together.

[13:34] So Boaz asks the man to sit down and he does. Notice please that we're not told his name. We're not told this other possible Redeemer's name and that means that he will lack lasting significance.

[13:49] So we need to ask ourselves, what's his function? Why are we told about this in the story other than the fact that it actually happened? Why has the author put this here? Well in verse 2, Boaz, he gathers 10 elders who represent the leadership of the town and they sit down as official witnesses and the legal discussion commences.

[14:12] And the question at issue is this, which Redeemer will redeem? To be a Redeemer is a status that was conferred on a man by virtue of his family relationship.

[14:24] It's a covenant calling into which he enters by birth or marriage. Whether he wants it or not, I reckon perhaps just about every adult male back then would have been a Redeemer to some others in the wider family.

[14:41] But you know, it becomes clear, however, that this status or calling are not always answered by action. In other words, not every Redeemer chooses to redeem.

[14:53] Please look at verse 3. Then Boaz said to the Redeemer, Naomi, who's come back from the land of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech.

[15:06] So it is a bit of a surprise here to us to learn that Naomi owns land. You might wonder why did Ruth need to glean in another person's field if her mother-in-law owned land that might be harvested?

[15:20] This suggests that Naomi was not able to use or benefit from the land that belonged to her dead husband, Elimelech. Now we don't know why, but it's not actually that difficult to imagine plausible circumstances that might lead to this status of affairs.

[15:36] After all, they'd left Bethlehem a decade previously. Ten years is a long time. And it's very unlikely that farming land would simply be allowed to just lie there unused.

[15:49] Much more likely is that somebody simply just said, oh, farming land, I'm having that, and moved in. We find this exact scenario actually later on in the Bible.

[16:00] If you were to go home, you can read 2 Kings chapter 8, and you'll see there that a widow goes away for seven years because of famine, and when she returns, she has to go and appeal to the king to get her house back and her land because someone else has just moved in and taken it.

[16:18] Now presumably, something like that has happened to Naomi here. And this is why she needs a strong man to redeem her, to get this land back into its rightful place, into the family line.

[16:31] We can't be 100% certain about that, but that biblically seems to be a good case for what's going on here. So in verse 4, Boaz says to the Redeemer, I thought I would tell you of Naomi's land and say, buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.

[16:50] If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you. And the unnamed Redeemer says, yes, I will.

[17:05] And the tension mounts. I don't know if you felt that as we were reading through it, but you should have. We're thinking, are we not going to get the happy ending or the ending the narrator has made us want?

[17:16] Will Boaz not redeem after all? Well, look at verse 5. Then Boaz said, the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.

[17:36] Let me just quickly say the word acquire there does not mean that a wife is a husband's property. It really means something like to take under the wings of your protection and provision, to care for her, to look after her.

[17:50] It's a very kind thing. It's not demeaning at all, but noble and virtuous. To acquire someone is to enrich them. Notice also that the purpose of taking Ruth as the Redeemer's wife is to maintain the name of the deceased Elimelech and his dead sons.

[18:10] That is to say, the firstborn of any union that would happen between Ruth and this Redeemer would be counted as Elimelech's heir and will inherit Elimelech's land in Bethlehem.

[18:22] But will this Redeemer carry out the redemption now that he knows Ruth is part of the deal? Well, please look at verse 6. The Redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself lest I impair my own inheritance.

[18:39] Take my right of redemption yourself for I cannot redeem it. And this is why we're told about this encounter. This is why this is in the text here. This encounter between Boaz and the unnamed Redeemer because it shows us just how costly a thing it was for Boaz to redeem.

[18:58] You see, at first in verse 4, it seemed as though this redemption would be an easy thing for the unnamed Redeemer to do. He says, I will redeem it. He doesn't even think twice about it. He doesn't get on the phone to his accountant and check his accounts.

[19:10] He says, yes, immediately because he was thinking, excellent, I'll redeem the land and I'll care for Naomi. That shouldn't cost too much. She's an older woman so she won't have any more children and I'll look after her until she dies.

[19:24] But you know, the profits that I make from her land and harvesting, well, that will compensate me for any cost it takes to care for her. And at the end of her life when she dies, well, the land will just merge into my inheritance.

[19:36] I'll be quids in. Brilliant. But add Ruth into the redemption and it becomes a different matter. If the Redeemer marries Ruth, then he would incur extra costs.

[19:49] Let me hit you with some. First, he must provide for Ruth as well as Naomi. So that's two mouths to feed instead of just one. And also, since Ruth is a woman of childbearing age, if there are children, then they too must be provided for.

[20:04] Yet more mouths to feed. But worst of all, for this unnamed Redeemer, all these children will grow up and if there's an eldest son, he will inherit Elimelech's land in the end.

[20:18] So with Ruth part of this redemption, it's extremely costly. If this unnamed Redeemer were to redeem, he would be taking on a triple whammy of debit.

[20:29] He would risk bankrupting his own estate, losing his own inheritance, and this he cannot do. He cannot do. It's too costly for him. Now at this point, you and I, we might want to boo, boo the unnamed Redeemer for being meany.

[20:45] But we shouldn't because he's only doing the normal, sensible thing. It's sensible. The redemption is far too costly for him and he's not willing to take the chance.

[20:57] But Boaz is. Boaz is. And this is why this unnamed Redeemer is in the narrative. It's to magnify how extraordinary Boaz is and being willing to redeem Ruth and Naomi.

[21:12] Without this incident, you and I might be tempted to think that Boaz's redemption was cheap and easy. No, no, no, no, no. It was extremely costly.

[21:23] Boaz is choosing to sacrificially carry out this act of redemption and it will cost him dearly. He's willing to deny himself for the sake of these two destitute and hopeless women.

[21:36] He's willing to sacrificially put his fullness in jeopardy so that these people could be brought from emptiness to fullness themselves. And in verse 7 to 8, we're not told exactly what the process of this sandal swapping involved.

[21:54] Who took off their shoe and gave it to whom and why. Most likely one party, as it were, steps into the shoes of the other party. So perhaps this other redeemer takes off his sandal and Boaz steps into his shoes and thereby taking upon himself the responsibility that the other man declined.

[22:15] Well, we can't be certain if that's precisely what was going on. It is clear that this seals the deal. This seals the redemption. Then verse 9, Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belong to Elimelech and all that belong to Chilean and to Malon.

[22:36] Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Malon, I have redeemed to be my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead and his inheritance that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place.

[22:50] You are witnesses this day. Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, yes, we are witnesses. Again, notice the threefold repetition of the witnesses.

[23:02] 9, 10 and 11. Three times there. A reminder that this costly redemption is legally grounded. It's definite, public, irreversible. Boaz cannot wiggle his way out of this now.

[23:14] He's fully committed and he's done the deal. You know, back at the end of chapter 3, verse 18, Naomi was confident that the man will not rest but will settle this matter this day.

[23:28] And that's exactly what's happened. The names of Elimelech, Malon and Chilean have been maintained. They've been saved and the family inheritance in the promised land will not be lost.

[23:41] The book of Ruth is, in some ways, a really feel-good drama because it ends happily. And yet, every happiness with which the drama ends, it comes only because there's been a costly redemption.

[23:57] A redemption that's greatly endangered a man's estate and welfare. And friends, in the bigger story of history, every single blessing that we experience and anticipate comes only because a far costlier redemption took place.

[24:14] one that was not merely the, one that didn't merely endanger a man's estate but cost a man his life. The perfect man. The apostle Peter says this to the church, you were redeemed from the futile ways sorry, from your, I think I've misquoted it, sorry.

[24:36] From, you were redeemed not with perishable things such as silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ. The Lord Jesus willingly emptied himself so that we might be brought from emptiness to fullness.

[24:49] Just think about what the apostle John says in the start of his gospel. He says this, from his fullness we have received grace upon grace.

[25:01] Redemption comes at a great cost. And as we look at Boaz here, we are really seeing a beautiful foreshadow of his greatest ancestor, our saviour.

[25:12] And friends, we must never forget what it cost him to redeem us. But remember, as well as we look at Boaz, we don't just see a foreshadow of the Lord Jesus.

[25:25] We also see Boaz as a believer. Someone just like us. Just like you and me. And so when we look at this man in action, this believer, and the costly kindness that he was willing to show, we also see a pattern for us to live today as the covenant people of God.

[25:41] We too are called to show the same sacrificial kindness to those around us, especially to those in the household of faith in the church. Remember that the book of Ruth teaches us that God's covenant kindness is not some ghostly or floaty thing that hangs in some immaterial spiritual realm.

[26:02] No. It's rather expressed in the flesh and blood kindness shown by human representatives who show God's kindness on his behalf. And we see this in the way that the Lord brings his grace to Naomi through the concrete, incarnate, loving kindness of Ruth and Boaz.

[26:22] And so as individuals of Christ's church today, this is how we are called to behave and treat one another. We are called to be a people who are renowned for showing this costly loving kindness.

[26:33] the same loving kindness that our Redeemer has showed us. It should overflow from him into our lives and outwards to one another and those outside the church. Do you know, from chatting to some of you over the past couple of months, you've been telling me about the places that you work.

[26:50] Good grief. The places that you work sound like people hate each other and are constantly trying to just do each other down. Think how distinctive you will be if you follow the pattern of your Redeemer in loving kindness.

[27:10] Well, that's scene one, section one. Let's look at section two, verse 11 to 22. I've called it this, redemption brings great blessing and hope.

[27:20] Great blessing and hope. Boaz's act of costly redemption brings great blessing and hope that stretches on and on and on and on well into the future.

[27:33] So in verse 11, all of the witnesses, they burst into prayer and they pray that Ruth will be blessed really in the same way that the patriarchs of the past were blessed.

[27:45] They say, look at verse 11, may the Lord make the woman who's coming into Boaz's house like Rachel and Leah who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem.

[28:01] So those praying, do you see what they do? When they pray, they look right back to Jacob's wives, Rachel and Leah, the great mothers of the people of Israel and they pray that the Lord will make Ruth like these mothers who were used greatly by God to build up the family of Israel.

[28:18] One commentator says this of these verses, says this, this blessing here causes our imaginations to break out of this vivid, small domestic drama into the mainstream of the big Bible history of the people of God.

[28:34] Something is about to happen here that will have dynastic consequences comparable to the patriarchs. So the prayer continues, verse 12, asking for more blessing.

[28:48] Look at what they say, and may your house, Boaz, be like that of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this woman.

[29:00] So again, here the prayer focuses upon blessing Boaz's offspring and future family line. Again, those who are praying to the Lord link Boaz back to the forefathers of the faith, this time from Genesis 38.

[29:14] In Genesis 38, we read of Judah who was an older man unwittingly playing the part of a redeemer to build up a house, have a child through his widowed daughter-in-law, Tamar.

[29:29] Now those of you who know that chapter, you'll know there's loads of moral ambiguities and complexities. It's a very strange chapter, but ultimately, what was the outcome? The outcome was a great family line.

[29:40] This family line, in fact, the family line of Perez. So with all sorts of resonances, the people of Bethlehem here pray that the offspring of this older man and this younger widow will likewise be the beginning of a great family line.

[29:58] And you know, all of these prayers are answered. Please look at verse 13. So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife and he went into her and the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son.

[30:12] Remember only twice is the Lord explicitly said to be doing something in this book. The first was back in 1 verse 6 when he came to the aid of his people in famine, providing food, bringing them from emptiness to fullness.

[30:28] And here, in verse 13, is the second explicit mention of the Lord intervening. This older man and this childless widow who has not conceived in the decade of her first marriage has a child.

[30:42] The covenant God comes to the aid of his people not now with food but with the conception and the birth of a son and not for the first or the last time in the Bible's story.

[30:54] And just listen to the response of the woman of Bethlehem once this baby boy has been born. Look at verse 14. They say, Blessed be the Lord who has not left you, Naomi, this day without a redeemer.

[31:08] And may his name be renowned in Israel. He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age.

[31:19] Now the word restorer there, the root of the word is literally cause to return. You could read that verse as this. He shall be the one who will cause your life to return to you.

[31:33] Have we heard that phrase earlier on in the book? Cause to return? Answer? Chapter 1 verse 21. When Naomi said, The Lord has literally caused me to return to the promised land empty.

[31:46] It's used here again. You see, for Naomi, the bringing back to the promised land in chapter 1 was more important than the temporary experience of emptiness that she felt.

[31:57] Painful though it was, for now the Lord causes Naomi's life to return to her through this son. He will protect and provide for Naomi in her old age.

[32:09] And listen to what the women say next in their prayer in verse 15. For your daughter-in-law loves you, who is worth more to you than seven sons has given birth to him.

[32:22] The women of Bethlehem, back in chapter 1 when Ruth and Naomi came from Moab, they totally ignored Ruth. They totally ignored her. But now they don't.

[32:33] They give her the attention that she's rightly due and they bless her. And notice that they say Ruth has loved Naomi. And indeed she has. Do you know that this is actually the only use of the verb to love in the whole book?

[32:48] It is not used as we might expect of the love between Boaz or for Ruth or Ruth for Boaz. No. But of love for Ruth and her mother-in-law.

[33:00] That is the main love story of this book. Ruth has shown steadfast, abundant love to Naomi. And for that reason the women of Bethlehem say that Ruth is worth more than seven sons.

[33:12] The Lord God has brought his loving kindness into the concrete realities of Naomi's life through Ruth. His faithful and obedient human being. And again, doesn't this, as someone who wants to obey the Lord, doesn't this inspire you when you read this to think, well the Lord, if I do the same today, if I live in covenant faithfulness and seek to obey him, then the Lord really does use the obedience of his people.

[33:39] It's never wasted when you seek to obey the Lord and show love like Ruth does. Any act of obedience and kindness that you carry out in your everyday life, it's never done in vain.

[33:49] because this is exactly how God spreads his loving kindness through obedient people going about their normal lives. Well, verse 16 is a beautiful moment.

[34:03] Naomi receives a son. At the end of chapter 2, Ruth gave Naomi all the grain she had gleaned and the leftovers of the generous meal that Boaz had given her.

[34:14] At the end of Ruth, chapter 3, Ruth gave her mother-in-law a bulging pile of grain reporting Boaz's instructions not to return to Naomi empty.

[34:26] Now, the end of chapter 4, Ruth brings not grain but a baby boy, a little lad who holds the key to the future, not only for Naomi but for the world.

[34:39] The book of Ruth began with death, despair, and emptiness but it ends with life, hope, and fullness. And just look at the end of verse 17 and for a second just try to imagine that you're an Israelite back then and this is the first time you've heard this book being read aloud.

[35:00] Imagine the powerful surprise that you would feel in your heart. Listen, verse 17, a son has been born to Naomi. They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

[35:14] I think an Israelite hearing this for the first time would have been filled with awe and wonder at this final verse and the genealogy.

[35:26] What was God doing when Naomi went away to Moab? What was God doing when Elimelech and his sons died? What was God doing when Ruth randomly chose to glean in Boaz's field?

[35:38] What was God doing in the dark of that threshing floor? What was God doing as Boaz went up to the gate the next morning? What was God doing through all of these events?

[35:49] Answer, he's weaving together all of these things to advance his plan of redemption. In his infinite love he was preparing to bring his king into the world, the rescuer that his people so desperately needed in the days of the judges.

[36:06] David, the man after God's own heart. And of course if you know your Bible history you will know that whilst David was the great king even he wasn't the end of this story.

[36:18] And in fact friends no Old Testament story really has its ending in the Old Testament. It's only when you come through the years to Matthew 1 and you read of the longer genealogy of the same family line mentioned in Ruth 4 that you find the complete fulfillment of the story.

[36:37] For only with Jesus who is called the Messiah does this story reach its true climax. Thanks. Well our time is gone let me end as I started.

[36:50] As you go about your ordinary everyday life doing perhaps mundane things unspectacular things if you ever ask yourself what is God up to as I go about these things including the ordinary and unspectacular things that you do well the answer is he is at work to ultimately bring about the return of his son.

[37:16] And friends on the day when he appears the day when Christ appears it will be glorious for on that day our redeemer will fully consummate our redemption. In this life now today we have received glorious first fruits of our redemption in Christ.

[37:32] but then on that day we will receive the fullness of his redemption and you and I will never ever ever experience emptiness ever again.

[37:46] Instead we will experience Christ's fullness in us forever and ever and ever. Amen. Well let's bow our heads and close our eyes take some time in the quiet to respond to God's words in your own heart and then I'll pray for us.

[38:21] Gracious heavenly father we praise you for the perfect redemption that you accomplished through your son. Please help us feel the great costliness of this redeeming act that your son did so that we will be full of love for him and praise.

[38:39] We ask that by the power of your Holy Spirit you would help us to be a people who behave like these great redeemers of the scriptures to behave like Boaz and above all to behave like Christ.

[38:53] May we be a people who always seek to show costly sacrificial kindness to those around us and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Father thank you for the assurance that you are always at work even in the moments that seem mundane to us and ordinary you are always sovereignly at work weaving all things together to bring about the return of your son.

[39:20] We thank you that on that day he will fully consummate our redemption and we will never again feel any emptiness at all but instead we'll share in Christ's fullness for all eternity.

[39:33] Father what grace and mercy you've shown us. help us to be a people who sing a song of gladness in our hearts all our days. We pray this in Jesus' name and for his sake.

[39:46] Amen.