There are plenty of books available today on marriage, but today on Truth for Life, Alastair Begg turns to a 3,000-year-old story to consider God's countercultural design for marriage, and he traces the hand of Providence through Boaz and Ruth's lives and beyond. We're looking at Ruth chapter four, beginning with verse thirteen. Yeah. We need to affirm for the well-being of those who are as yet unmarried, as well as for the continuing instruction of those of us who are married, that there are, according to the Bible, three elements in the covenant of marriage. First of all, We recognize that there is a promise of committed love.
which is between the husband and the wife. The second element is simply the fact that this covenant making in marriage takes place in a public forum. And a new family unit is created so that the society can say, There is a single man and there is a single woman. That single man has fallen in love with that single woman. She is committed in love to that single man, and they have come together in the public forum to declare their commitment of love to one another.
And we know now that they've gone off on their honeymoon, and on their honeymoon, the third element of the marriage covenant will come into place. And in biblical terms, not until their honeymoon will the third element of marriage come into place, namely the development. of the personal communion between the husband and wife. which sexual union symbolizes and deepens. You do not, in biblical terms, have marriage.
without each of these constituent elements in place. Each of these three elements are present. in Boaz's life. His Committed love for Ruth. The public witness of the same on the part of the elders of the community.
And then in verse 13, their sexual union.
So Boaz took Ruth She became his wife. And he went into her, King James Version. It is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
Now notice the process. Notice how discreetly The writer covers the account of the consummation of their marriage there in verse 13. He went into her, and the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. It's surely a lesson to us, living as we do in a society. That knows little, if anything, of discretion and decorum when it comes to matters of human sexuality.
They're kind of Approach to The physical dimensions of love between man and woman is so abused, so confused, so denigrated, so disregarded, so splashed everywhere. that the average young person Almost has to go through some kind of unique process. to be decontaminated. From all of the filth and innuendo which has been part of their growing teenage years and through their college existence, to try as best they can, unaffected by all of this, to come to the privileges and responsibilities of marriage in a way. That is marked by purity and by discretion and by decorum.
There is definitely, as the Bible says, a time to speak, and there is a time to be silent, and there are things about which we may with legitimacy speak, and there are other things which I don't believe are legitimate within the public forum. Do you really feel comfortable sitting with your daughters and listening to all this garbage? Do you feel comfortable in the company of your sons as they grow, being confronted by people who talk so much about all these things? We have been so Warmed up gradually, you know.
Now we've reached a point where we have taken on board so much. that an earlier generation would never ever have regarded as anything other than than distasteful. You don't need a course on everything, dear ones. You really don't. God has put all of the mechanisms together.
Trust me.
Now what is only briefly addressed here? in a simple sentence is actually developed throughout the Bible. What is that?
Well, simply that this process is not irrelevant. That first, there was the expression of desire on the part of the two. Then there was the public witness to To the fact of their willingness to be committed in marriage. And then physical union, which took place within the context of a committed, loving. publicly known relationship.
Now, what we discover here in passing, I say to you again, as you search the Bible, you'll discover in the Old and the New Testament is made perfectly clear. And that is why to try and isolate the physical dimension of love. From the emotional. Psychological. Spiritual.
Intellectual. Dimensions of a relationship between a man and a woman to seek to isolate the physical from that context. is actually to make a mockery. and a monstrosity. of God's design.
And much of what passes for filial affection in our generation. Is that upon which the Bible pronounces the most profound and serious judgment? And one of the great challenges for us at this point in our society is whether we as Christian men and women are going to live distinctive lives and whether we are going to be able to frame our children's lives. Restoring them, reclaiming them, proclaiming for them, guiding them, guarding them, keeping them, securing them. along the lines.
Which the Bible makes so clear. And so you will see that it is in that context that this conception takes place. Because we're told there that the Lord enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a son. Once again, we see the hand of God's guiding providence. The same hand that had guided her in particular ways as she made rational decisions for herself, now having led her to marriage, also steps in and enables her to conceive.
Every conception is a gift from God. At what point does conception take place? At the point that human life begins. At what point does human life begin? at the point that conception takes place.
Now, when conception is viewed in biblical terms as a gift from God. Then it takes on a far deeper dimension. And here, my friends, listen carefully. There is a vast difference. Between a world view which believes that the origin of life itself is as a result of time plus matter plus chance.
And a biblical worldview which views life in terms of in the beginning God. and which views conception in terms of Psalm 139. That we were intricately wrought in our mother's womb. That all the days of our lives were ordained before one of them came to be. And do you see, it is at that level.
Of interchange. And it is at that level of debate. that the whole abortion Fiasco falters. And where you end up with people simply shouting at one another. Don't misunderstand me.
or where I stand on these issues. I think it should be clear. When I tell you this, that I fully understand why my pagan neighbors and friends believe in abortion. They are logical. in relationship to their world view.
They are individuals who are born without reason. They fight for their place in humanity. They are simply turbocharged apes. They go through life and it's a haphazard existence, and eventually they die without any reason and they go into oblivion.
Well, if that is life, you see. Then somebody says, well, what does it matter if it begins or if it doesn't begin? What matters if you end it in the first few weeks, or if you end it after the first few years, or if you end it prematurely because somebody has a dreadful disease? At least they're logical in relationship to their world view. And that's why you see Christianity has to be very, very clear in dealing with Genesis 1 to 11.
Because if we give up the doctrine of creation, then we have given up the very basis upon which we can argue the legitimacy of our case for a view of human life.
Now, people say, well, it doesn't really matter, Genesis 1 to 11. You know, we can set that aside. Let's just get on to the good stuff about Jesus. Yes, I understand the good stuff about Jesus. But if the Bible is a book about Jesus, and if Jesus believed the Bible, and if Jesus, whatever Jesus believed about the Bible, we should believe about the Bible, don't you think?
Right.
So if he believed in Noah, so do we. If he believed in Adam and Eve, so do we. If he believed in the fall of man, so do we, right?
So therefore we have no other place to go?
Well, you see, you're getting off the point.
Well, no, I just wanted to stop there for a moment. On conception. to help you think these issues through. What a wonderful change has taken place in this girl's life. Look at what the people say about her in verse 15.
This is some daughter-in-law I would suggest to you, don't you agree? For your daughter-in-law who loves you. and who is better to you than seven sons. has given birth. You think Naomi likes Ruth?
Do you think these people think she's good? Better than seven sons. Is that hyperbole? I think it is. But it's an expression of the dramatic change that has taken place.
What happened?
Well, back in chapter one, remember, she made that great declaration in 1917 when Naomi was suggesting that she should go back to Moab and to our own people. And there she had professed her devotion to Naomi and to Naomi's God. Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Wherever you go, I'll go. Where you stay, I'll stay.
Your people, my people. You're God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. and so on. An amazing statement.
For a young girl. Turning our back on every opportunity that is represented in the familiarity of our homeland. Essentially recognizing that to make a commitment to her mother-in-law was to make a commitment to who knows what, and to go who knows where, and off into some strange environment that she didn't know. But her commitment is to the God of Israel.
Somewhere along the line, she's discovered that this God may be trusted.
So she commits herself to him and she commits herself to her mother-in-law. Back in chapter 2 and in verse 10. Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me? She says, a foreigner speaking to Boas, who's to become her husband. And he says, I've been told about what you've done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband.
And I heard how you left your father and your mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before, devoted to the God of Israel. Devoted to the servant of Israel. Chapter 3 and verse 10, the same thing. The Lord bless you, my daughter Boaz says. This kindness that you've done is greater than that which you showed me earlier.
You haven't run after the younger men, whether rich or poor, and now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I'll do for you all you ask. In other words, you'll notice that Ruth In her sacrifice. is rewarded by God. God rewards faithfulness on the part of his children.
Jesus said it, we saw it in Luke. I tell you the truth, Jesus says, no one who has left, father or mother, brother or sister, houses and land, for my sake and for the kingdom, will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age and more in the resurrection. I was very struck by this. I found myself pausing and saying, God, is there one single thing in my life that speaks of the kind of sacrifice that would be matched by your reward? Do I have any expectation on the basis of my desire to follow you, to trust you, to live for you, that would find me on the receiving end of such an overflow from heaven that I wouldn't even be able to contain it?
And I was forced to conclude that there is precious little in my life that even holds an inkling of the possibility. And whatever was as a church. She turned her back on it all and she walked off into who knows where. With her mother-in-law. And look at her now.
Oh, what a lovely conclusion there is to this story, isn't there? The woman said to Naomi, Praise the Lord who this day hasn't left you without a kinsman. And your daughter-in-law, look at this. And interestingly, Ruth fades from view. She gives birth to a son.
And she's gone. No more roof. It goes to verse 22, no more Ruth. The women are back. The women remember in verse 19 of chapter 1, When Naomi and Ruth showed up in Bethlehem, it was the women who exclaimed, Can this be Naomi?
Look at her! She didn't look like that when she left. And the women are back around her now. First of all, they had welcomed Naomi back, now they're welcoming Naomi and the baby. Because Naomi has got the baby in her arms.
This little boy called Obed, who apparently was brought up by Naomi. As if he were even her own child. We'll say more about that in our final study. Ruth had borne a son. Who was to be the grandfather of Israel's greatest king?
David. Once in Royal David City. In a lowly cattle shed. Where a mother laid her baby. In a manger.
For a bet. And Mary was the mother mild. And Jesus Christ. Her little child. The life of Jesus in terms of his physical descent.
Was tied to the story of a girl from Moab. Gleaning in a barley field miles from her home. Can you imagine if she had gone to the wrong field? I just said that to give you something to talk about over coffee. It's a theological question.
And they owe me. Who wanted to be called Mara? Bitter. Is happy now to be known as Neil. And if she'd gone through our chorus book, she'd have been happy to say, you know, I'd like to conclude the service this evening with a song that we don't often sing.
In fact, she may have been happy to sing it as a solo. He gave me beauty for ashes. The oil of joy for mourning. The garments of praise for a spirit of heaviness. But that's enough for now.
I don't wanna Spoil the climax of the story. By rushing. Instead, I'll just take a couple of minutes and I'll do as I promised. To give you the story, the whole story of Ruth. from my children's book that someone sent to me as a gift.
It's called I Love Ruthie, the story of Ruth and her one true love. Because like this, it can be true. I can't go on. Oh, everything we had is gone. Naomi wept.
Poor Ruthie cried. Naomi's precious sons had died. And oh, one precious, priceless son, Naomi's son, that very one was Ruthie's husband. Lord above. Her one and only one true love.
Now sometimes when it rains it pours and this time it would pour for sure. For evil people rule the land as evil people sometimes can and sometimes will and sometimes do when you and I allow them to. From here to there, from there to here, the food began to disappear. It filled the people full of fear, yes, full of fear from ear to ear. Orpa, Ruth, Naomi cried, the time has come.
We must decide. We have to leave. We cannot stay. We cannot stay. Not now.
No way. From north to south, from west to east, the men are gone, extinct, deceased. Without a man, Naomi said. We're all about as good as dead.
Now, ladies. Things were different then, so don't get too upset. Amen. Just look at me, I'm old and wrinkled, sagged and bagged and crooked and crinkled, crumpled, puckered, nooked and crannied, ripped van, winkled, grayed and grannied. Oh, there is just no hope in sight to find another Mr.
Wright, or even just a Daffy Duck, an Elmer Fudd, or Mr. Yuck. The time has come, the time is now, the time has come right now and how. You must return. You must, I say, return back home right now today.
Naomi prayed that they would bite, and Orpa knew that she was right. She packed her bags without a fight, and left for home that very night. But oh, not Ruth, not her, no way She had a thing or two to say. I can't return. I want to stay.
I will not go right now, today. For where you are is where I'll be. And when you stay, you'll stay with me. And when you die, I'll die with you. And that is what I'm going to do.
Your God will be my God, and He. will surely care for you and me. Oh what a thing for Ruth to say That kind of thing. can make your day and make you shout, hip, hip, hooray. They hugged and kissed, then packed up tight and left for Bethlehem that night.
Naomi. Is it really true? What happened, girl? Just look at you. Your hair.
Your clothes. Your shoes, your toes. your eyes, your ears, your mouth, your nose. You're looking pale. You're looking thin.
In fact, if we may say again, you're really looking more akin to something that the cat dragged in.
Well, things look bad the way things can, but listen now, God had a plan. Oh Naomi, please don't cry. Oh please don't cry. I'll tell you why. I'll find a farm.
I'll be real nice. I'll ask them once or maybe twice to take our jugs and jars and sacks and fill them full of treats and snacks. Yes, crumbs and morsels, flakes and flecks, leftover kernels, crumbs and specks, a black banana, bagels, locks, some cheese stuck to a pizza box. I'll beg and plead, I'll sob and bleat, I'll ask him for a tasty treat. And itsy bitsy, teeny, weeny tiny scrap for us to eat.
So off she went. She did her thing. She did it. Never noticing. that someone had been fastening His bulging eyes on everything.
Who is that girl? out in my field. And what's she doing, Boyas squealed? Look at that hair. Look at those eyes.
Excuse me just one minute guys, I've got to go and socialize. He shaved his toes, he licked his lips, he checked his teeth for cracks and chips, he combed the bugs out of his hair. Yes, Don Juan double debonair With savoir faire extraordinaire.
Now, don't be too quick to judge. Amen?
Well, don't think what you're thinking then, for Boaz was a gentleman. Please stay with us. Take what you need, take what you need, and more indeed. He loaded up all Ruthie's sacks, And jugs and jars with treats and snacks. Yes, it was true love at first sight, A double thumping heart delight.
She headed home, oh what she'd found Her world was turning upside down She ran the whole way back to town, About ten feet above the ground. I'm telling you. Tonight's the night. Naomi grinned, and if I'm right, there's only one thing left to do, to get that man to say, I do.
So do they did or did they do? They fluffed and puffed, they crimped and curled, they powdered, sweet, perfumed, and pearled. They thanked the Lord, they sang his praise. They marveled at his wondrous ways. And off she went into the night to have and hold her mister right, her mister shining armored knight, her straight from heaven-sent delight.
Now, as I'm sure that you supposed, Boaz said. Yes, when Ruth proposed, yes. Ruth proposed, that's what I said, just look it up, go right ahead. They tied the knot and lived to be quite happy ever after, and soon God blessed them with a son, a precious little baby one. But wait.
The story is far from done because their son, he was the one who had a son who had a kid known as King David. Yes, he did. And David was the great, great, great, great, great times three times one plus eight, great-granddad of a man whose wife you've probably heard of all your life. A man whose son, to be precise, was Jesus. No, yes.
Jesus Christ. Just take a second. Think it through. Oh what God will go and do For God is love. And love is kind.
The kindest that you'll ever find. The kindest That you'll ever see. as something else. Don't you agree? You're listening to Truth for Life with Alastair Begg.
You know, as we find ourselves living in a culture that is shifting further from God and His Word, many of us are shocked. Christian views that are no longer considered acceptable. What does it look like to live as a Christian in a society that doesn't believe what we believe?
Well, Alastair Begg addresses that topic in his book Brave by Faith. It shares the story of how God enabled Daniel to remain faithful even when he was living in a culture that opposed biblical views. Learn how you can stand confident and live brave by faith with this timely book for Christians of all ages. Brave by Faith comes with a study guide, and both the book and the guide are yours when you make a donation to support Truth for Life. You can give online at truthforlife.org/slash donate or call us at 888-588-7884.
Thanks for listening. Tomorrow we will see how God is often found in the most unexpected places. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
