Ruth 3-4 - Part C

Boaz doesn't want the field. Boaz wants the girl.

But he is willing to buy the field to get the bride. Sound familiar? Sound like one of the parables of Jesus, where Jesus said, the kingdom of God shall be like a treasure hidden in a field, and a man sells everything he has to buy the field that he might get the treasure? Today on Connect with Skip Heitig, Pastor Skip concludes his teaching on the book of Ruth and shows you how it paints a wonderful picture of what Christ did for us. But first, here's a resource that brings you powerful teaching from some truly inspiring pastors. Over the years, Skip Heitig has invited a number of notable speakers to come to Albuquerque. For an end-of-year resource, we want you to hear some of these amazing messages by speakers such as Tim LaHaye.

I travel all over the country and speak on prophecy conferences, and it's very seldom that you find churches that really recognize the importance of history written in advance, only by God, coming true so we can believe what we believe. Also a part of this pulpit package, the familiar voice of Pastor Chuck Smith. I'm overwhelmed when I see what God is doing here.

What a thrill to see the work of God being wrought here in Albuquerque. This package contains 10 full-length messages available on CD or as a download. We will send it to you as a thank you when you make an end-of-year donation of $100 or more to support this program. Request your pulpit package at connectwithskip.com or by calling 1-800-922-1888. This resource is available through the month of December, and this pulpit package includes a classic teaching by J. Vernon McGee. I count it a privilege to be here to talk to many young people and especially those that are interested in Bible study. This is sure a high pulpit made for a tall fellow. Request your pulpit package at connectwithskip.com or by calling 1-800-922-1888.

That is connectwithskip.com or call 1-800-922-1888. We're about to join Skip for today's lesson, so let's turn to Ruth Ford to get started. And she said, these six ephas of barley he gave me, for he said, do not go away empty-handed to your mother-in-law. Now this is gonna make Naomi feel really gratified, happy that here's a kinsman who can redeem her.

The little scheme of dusting herself up and popping the question worked. The Lord's in this, and boy, this guy is awesome because he wants to take care of mother-in-law. But notice what he says. Verse 18 is a great verse. Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out, for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day.

What is the matter? What is the business that he's going to attend to? Redemption. Sit still. The work of redemption is his alone to fulfill. That's what mother-in-law is saying.

You can't add to it. You've done your part. You've asked him in. Now he's going to do it. The work of redemption is his alone. It's a beautiful corollary to the work of Jesus Christ. In John 17, Jesus on the cross prayed to the Father as he knew that final transaction of redemption was about to take place. He said, I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And then he went to the cross. And on the cross, he used those words. It is finished.

In Greek, one word, tetelestai. It is finished. It is completed. The transaction is completed.

I have finished the work. So what did you do to get saved? Well, I gave my life to Jesus.

I really turned things over. And I love what Spurgeon said. Spurgeon said, it is not your grip on the Savior that saves you. It's the Savior that saves you. It's not your grasp on Christ that saves you. It's Christ that saves you. Jesus did it. You just said, Lord, save me.

I believe in you. Saved by faith, by grace, through faith, not of works, lest anyone should boast. So we sat still.

And we should still sit still and know that the ultimate work of redemption he will complete as well. So chapter 4, verse 1, Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, a near kinsman of whom Boaz had spoken came by. And so Boaz said, come aside, friend.

Sit down. So he came aside. And he sat down. And he took 10 men of the elders of the city and said, sit down here.

So they sat down. In the ancient cities, the ancient cities of biblical times were walled. So they had a perimeter wall all the way around. And they had gates.

A gate was not just a little piece of wood that opened and closed or a piece of metal that opened and closed like the gate on your fence at home. A city gate was actually a room with a courtyard, had alcoves in it. It had kind of an entrance and then a courtyard, then another entrance into the city.

There were typically benches for sitting. Kings would sit at the gates of the city. Elders would sit at the gates of the city. That's where people would gather to enter the city.

And they would come from a different place. They would tell you the news or tell the elders the news of the city that they've traveled from, news of what they saw along the road. So the ancient newspaper, ancient CNN or Fox News or MSNBC or whatever network you're into or not into, that they would that's even a divisive issue these days, was at that time it was just the gate of the city. You want to find out what's happening abroad? Go to the gate.

Talk to travelers. That's where the newspaper takes place. If you want to adjudicate a case, if you want a courtroom setting, you go to the elders of the city who are seated at the gate. It was a place of importance. If you wanted to make a legal transaction, you would go to the gate.

And that's what Boaz is doing. He wants to make a legal transaction to redeem land and get a bride. So he goes to the gate, finds the nearer kinsmen, finds the elders of the city, and is about to state his case. So we find in Bible times that the gate is a very, very important place. Abraham conducted business at a gate when his wife Sarah died. Abraham went to the gate of Hebron, the city Hebron, and spoke with the owners of the cave of Machpelah so that he could find a place to bury his wife. And they haggled on a price and he buried her there. Absalom, when he wanted to get people on his side, when they would travel into the gates of Jerusalem, he'd stand out by the gates and, I'm the king's son and I, you know, if I were in charge around here, I would listen to your case and I would make sure that you get equity and fairness, you know, sort of acting like the new judge on the block.

So he won people's hearts by being at the gate of the city. So he took men, verse two, the elders of the city, sit down here, so they sat down, and he said to the nearer kinsmen, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. And I thought to inform you, saying, buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. If you will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know, for there is no one but you to redeem it and I am next after you. And he said that, unnamed kinsman, who was closer than Boaz, said, I'll do it.

I will redeem it. Verse five, then Boaz said, on the day that you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance. Now, let me kind of set you up for something that I want to end with, but it's what it is based on. There's a text in the book of Revelation that is based on this idea. When land was transacted, a deed was drawn up, a title deed, like today. A title deed in those days was a scroll, and the names were written, the stipulations were written, clauses were written for ownership, because you could lose the land, you could then buy it back, et cetera. All of that was written on two scrolls. The owner kept one scroll, and then usually it was kept somewhere in the city in a safe place, so you had a reference in case you lost it. And then the scroll was sealed shut. So you had a title deed in a scroll for the transaction of the land.

When you wanted to buy land or redeem land, you had to break the seal, unroll the scroll, and claim the stipulations that are in that title deed. So in order to buy back or to redeem something, you had to fulfill the requirements. You had to be related. You had to be in the family. You had to be able to pay it. You had to have the money to do it. You had to be willing to do it. So, so far, Boaz has told this guy, look, there's some land to redeem. Do you want to redeem? He goes, I'll do it.

I'm a kinsman. I can afford it, and I'm willing to do it. That's what he's saying.

That's what he's saying. Okay, so at first, before you get to verse five, Boaz just said, there's some land to redeem. Do you want it?

I want it in the presence of everybody. He doesn't tell him the other part of the deal till verse five, and I think strategically. Now he lays it on him. In verse five, Boaz says, on the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead for his inheritance. Now that changes everything for this guy. He holds back this bit of information.

Then he gives the information, and the way he gives the information is quite telling. Ruth the Moabitess. If you were a Hebrew and you heard that term, you would go, you'd get shocked a little bit because if you were a Hebrew, you knew your Bible, and the Bible said that no Ammonite or Moabite shall enter into the presence of the Lord up until the 10th generation. None of his descendants shall enter it.

It was a cursed race. So he's saying, oh really, you want the land? Okay, and he's saying this out loud with witnesses. If you want the land, you got to have the girl, and you have to raise up children for her dead husband. Well, the near kinsman said, I can't redeem it. I can't do it.

Deal's off, dude. I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself.

I cannot redeem it. Evidently, he had a wife and children, thus an inheritance for those children. Buying the land, marrying another wife would place the inheritance of his children in jeopardy. So he's going, oh man, I can't do this.

I don't think my wife's going to be stoked if I tell her I'm going to take another wife and have kids. And so he calls off the deal. Now, I read part of Deuteronomy 25 to you, did I not? The law of the lover of marriage. I didn't read the second part, if a guy refuses to do it.

So let me read that to you. Same chapter. This is Deuteronomy 25. But if the man does not want to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate to the elders and say, my husband's brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel. He will not perform the duty of my husband's brother. Then the elders of the city shall call him and speak to him. And if he stands firm and he says, I do not want to take her, then his brother's wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face and answer and say, so shall it be done to the man who will not build up his brother's house. And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of him who's had his sandal removed. So take the sandal off, get a loogie in the face. You're publicly shamed because you're saying I'm not going to perform the duty.

I'm not going to fulfill my obligation. By the time it comes down to Boaz, things have changed a little bit. That old law has been revised a little bit. And Boaz is not a brother. And the other kinsmen may or may not have been a brother, but that law is a little bit revised because in verse six of Ruth chapter four, the near kinsmen said, I can't redeem it. As we said, verse seven, now here's the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging to confirm anything. One man took off his sandal and gave it to the other.

This was the attestation in Israel. Therefore, the near kinsmen said to Boaz, buy it for yourself. So he took off his sandal. So they took out the the hock a loogie and put it in his face bit mercifully. And now you just kind of, you know, in a nice fashion, take off a sandal and give it to the guy.

That's part of that ancient custom. So that takes place at the gate of the city. And Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Alimelechs and all that was Kilians and Melons from the hand of Naomi. Now something about Boaz. Boaz is buying a field. Boaz doesn't need a field. Boaz is rich. He's got lots of fields.

He's very wealthy. The last thing Boaz needs is more land. In fact, Boaz doesn't want the field. Boaz wants the girl. But he is willing to buy the field to get the bride.

Sound familiar? Sound like one of the parables of Jesus where Jesus said the kingdom of God shall be like a treasure hidden in a field and a man sells everything he has to buy the field that he might get the treasure. And what was the treasure that Boaz was getting? Not just a bride, a Gentile bride. You see the fingerprint of the Holy Spirit here. Here is Boaz from Bethlehem willing to buy a field to get a Gentile bride to take the Gentile bride to himself.

Beautiful picture of what Jesus did for the church. Moreover, verse 10, Moreover, root the Moabitess, the wife of Malon I have acquired as my wife, to raise up the name of the dead of his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses this day.

And all the people who were at the gate, the elders said, we are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel. And may you prosper in Ephrathah, that district of Bethlehem, and be famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman. In other words, you know, we pray that your descendants will be numerous. By the way, Rachel was buried really close to this area, to Bethlehem. You can go to Israel today and still see the tomb of Rachel, or women will go who are infertile and they will pray that God will open up their wombs, still to this day.

So everybody's excited, they attest to it, it's like a big party. And so, verse 13, let's get to the good part. Boaz took Ruth, she became his wife, and when he went into her the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son. Then the woman said to Naomi, blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a near kinsman. And may his name be famous in Israel, and may he be to you a restorer of life, a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him. Then Naomi took the child, laid him on her bosom, became a nurse to him. Also the neighbor women gave him a name saying, there is a son born to Naomi and they called his name Obed.

He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now here's a little appendix, a genealogical appendix. Now this is the genealogy of Perez. So it goes all the way back to when the children of Judah and Israel left Egypt, and they start with Perez because he is of the family, of the family tree, of the line of Judah that he comes from, that Boaz came from. So this is the genealogy of Perez.

Perez begot Hezron, Hezrod begot Ram, Ram begot Amenadab, Amenadab begot Nashon, Nashon begot Salman, Salman begot Boaz, Boaz begot Obed, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David. Nine generations going back from the time of Egypt all the way up to just before the monarchy under King Saul and then eventually King David. Okay, so I talked to you about the real estate deal, right, in the scroll. This is where Revelation chapter 5 takes on beautiful meaning to us. In Revelation chapter 5 John has a vision, right, and he sees, he said, and I saw in the right hand of him who sat upon the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaim with a loud voice, who is worthy to take the scroll and to loose its seals? And no one was able in heaven, in earth, or under the earth to take the scroll or even to look at it.

So John said, so I wept much because no one was found worthy to take the scroll and to look at it or to read it. And then one of the elders said to me, do not weep for behold the lion of the tribe of Judah of the root of David has prevailed to take the scroll and to loose its seven seals. Then praise broke out in heaven, and the praise in heaven is to the lamb, the lion of the tribe of Judah, also the lamb, also the root of David, it's Jesus Christ. Saying you are worthy, right, you are worthy to take the scroll and loose its seals for you have, here's the word, redeemed us. You've redeemed us, you've bought us back, you've purchased us back, you have redeemed us by your blood to God out of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, and made us kings and priests to our God and we will reign with him.

There is in heaven a real estate deal, we would call it the closing, the land at stake, the earth, the future of the earth. That's why John wept convulsively, he wept much because he knew the earth is doomed forever. But the lion of the tribe of Judah is the only one worthy, the only one who can open up the scroll and meet all of the qualifications. Number one, he was related. If you wonder why is a virgin birth so necessary, he has to be related. Jesus has to be God and man, he has to be fully man, related to us, right?

In the beginning was the word, the word is with God, the word was God, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So he has to be related to us, so he was fully man. He has to be able to do it, he has to be able to pay the price. Did he pay the price?

Yes, with what? His blood, you have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe, tongue, nation, and people. So he paid the highest price to buy the field, to get the treasure, to redeem the world, and he had to be willing. He was so willing. He said, no one takes my life from me, I lay it down of myself.

I have the power to lay it down, I have the power to take it again. He was related, he was able, he was willing to redeem you. You are so precious to Jesus. Your life, your salvation is so important to Jesus that he would pay the ultimate price to buy the treasure, the bride, the Gentile bride in the field, the world.

So the title deed to the earth in Revelation chapter five, the scroll with the seven seals, he is redeeming the earth, buying the field for the treasure. That concludes Skip Heitzig's teaching on the book of Ruth from his series Expound. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Now, here's Skip to share how you can connect you and many others with the truth of God's word with a gift to keep these messages going out around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. You know, this ministry is really all about connecting you and others around the world with God's word, and we do that so that you'll be equipped, equipped to live abundantly in Christ Jesus. Now, I want to personally invite you to join in that life-changing work today.

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