Boaz: the Kinsman Redeemer. Ruth 3

This is the Truth Network. Forever thy word is settled in heaven, O Lord. Psalm one nineteen, verse eighty nine. I'm Stu Arberson. Welcome to this special Wednesday in the Word leader podcast, where we prepare and equip our leaders of this special Bible study outreach breakfast every week to teach through the scriptures.

13 Dario locations. There's a men's group meeting and several of the Locations host the women on Thursday morning. Stay tuned. Be encouraged as we jump into this week's Wednesday in the Word. A reverse proposal.

How many of you wives out there proposed to your husbands? Got on your knee. Got the ring out and said, sir. But I don't even know what word to use. Will you marry me?

Well. It wasn't exactly like that in the days of the Bible in Ruth, but there's a very real sense. That Ruth approached Boaz And Asked him. If he would be her kinsman, redeemer, a picture of the gospel. a picture of how Biblical courtship should be And it all happened in the most interesting of times, chaotic of times in Israel's history.

Dr. Sam Horn. I hope I didn't ruin the whole narrative with my introduction, but these are some Interesting. grounds that we go on to here in Ruth chapter three, are they not? Oh, it's amazing as you think about this book and the overall story of redemption.

And how, in the Old Testament, God began to color. pieces of that story little by little. over time and in a book like Ruth, it becomes so vibrant. And that's in essence what's happening here in this chapter. It's all been heading somewhere from the very beginning, Ruth chapter 1, verse 1.

We we saw this. family heading away from Bethlehem. And we knew instinctively they were going to come back. And there was good that was going to come out of this tragedy. And here we are in Ruth chapter 3.

And we're about to see this incredible turning point in the narrative. And it's 18 verses, and it's a real. Kind of hinge point in the book, we've kind of come out of the bitterness and the loss and the brokenness and the devastation that Naomi experienced.

Now we're. getting into the favor of God upon Ruth, who Pledged your heart to God. She, before this great favor from Boaz, before this benefit of the gleaning that she picked up and all this grain that she was blessed with, and all these provisions that she had, before any of that, she had said, I'm going to go where you go. I'm going to live where you live. I'm going to die where you die.

Your God's going to be my God. Your people are going to be my people. Dr. Horn. Tell us about chapter three.

Tell us about how we've gotten here. Give us a little review of what has happened thus far before we jump into a preview of these 18 verses. Yeah, so if we're teaching this book or studying this book, we said there were four big ideas in the book. And they go with each chapter.

So, big idea number one. Is God's providence behind everything that happens in the book? And we're introduced to God's providence in chapter one. And we spend a lot of time looking at God's providence in the life of Ruth. And in the life of Naomi, especially.

And even though Naomi ended up. in a horrible place because of somebody else's disobedience. God's providence was always at work. And we noted in our own lives, God's providence is always at work. There's never a moment, there's never a circumstance, there's never an issue that comes into our life that escapes the provident eye and the provident hand and the provident will of God.

So, God's providence, chapter one. Chapter two is God's sovereignty. Right? I'm sorry, I've got those messed up, Stu. It's God's sovereignty in chapter one.

God's sovereignty is behind everything, God's providential care. In the midst of that sovereignty, is chapter two. We wanted to know what kind of God is this sovereign God in chapter one. He's orchestrating all these events, he orchestrates the famine in Bethlehem, right? He orchestrates what's going on in Moab.

He's behind, you know, he's the God who allows life and death to happen. And so there are three deaths in this chapter. And then, of course, there is this great movement where Ruth aligns herself to the God of Israel as God lifts the famine and these people come back. And so, sovereignty in chapter one, we want to know what kind of God is this? What is the God of Israel who's been sovereignly at work really like?

And so, chapter two is a look at his providential care for Naomi and Ruth. Naomi comes back and she says, The hand of the Lord was heavy on me. I went out full. I came back empty. And as you get into chapter two, you begin to realize, wait a minute.

I'm not sure that really does describe God's response to Naomi. Actually, he's been very kind to Naomi. He's given her a son, a daughter-in-law like Ruth. And she gets into chapter two. She returns home.

She's well received. Ruth goes and gleans in the field of this family relation. By happenstance. Remember, we talked about her happenstance happened. And she just ended up in this field.

Well, that's the providential hand of God. And she comes home with an immense amount of grain. And Naomi says, Where did you glean today? And as soon as she hears where she gleaned, she says, Oh. Ruth.

That's our relative. That's our Redeemer. And immediately we realize the providential hand of God, of the sovereign God, has been at work for Naomi's good and for Ruth's benefit. And now we come to chapter three, and we find the theme of redemption. And that theme is going to come front and center as we meet this kinsman Redeemer.

And this kinsman redeemer is a worthy man, and he is kind and gracious, and he uses language that God promised. toward his people. You know, take shelter under your wings is a cry that comes out of Ruth's mouth. And that's exactly what Boaz had said to her in chapter two. Verse 12.

There are these comparisons. that go on, but this is a chapter about redemption. And the thing that we're going to see about this redemption, one of the things that's very interesting is that there is a closer redeemer by law. But he doesn't want to redeem Ruth. The Redeemer that redeems her doesn't have to.

He wants to. And what a picture of God and the Redeemer he sent us in his son who didn't have to redeem us. But he did. You have just rich imagery here. God and what he's going to do for us through Christ.

Dr. Horne. We are the least worthy. We are outsiders. We were Romans 5 8 says, While we were yet sinners, right, Christ died for us, the wages we had coming to us was, you know, were the wages of sin, which is death, and on and on.

But you can't help but think in chapter one. You know, Naomi says, I went out full and came back empty. In chapter 2, Ruth. goes out empty into the fields and comes back full. And sees the favor of God.

And then chapter three. takes the narrative to a whole nother direction where all of us R Empty. In Christ Who Boaz is a picture of. makes us full.

So, Dr. Horne, that's where we find ourselves in chapter 3, 18 verses.

Now, chapter 4, I know, will get in more of the details of him. Settling this Hencemen Redeemer issue with a closer of kin, and we'll probably spend a little more time on that. When we get to chapter four, which will be next time, but So, chapter three, how do you break it down? You know, it opens up with this. You know, you know, Ruth, it opens up with introducing us to Boaz, which is interesting, and then Ruth gives some pretty specific instructions, or Naomi gives some specific instructions to Ruth.

And then play it out for us, Dr. Horn, because it's a fascinating piece. Picture of this proposal, as it were, which is almost like we used to call it, remember we used to call it reverse Balantine, you know, where the gal asked the guy out as opposed to the other way around.

So, this is a whole, there's a whole lot going on here. Take us through how we break down chapter. Chapter three, and help our teachers, those that are preaching through this or teaching through this this week, help them get a handle on these 18 verses.

So, the first thing I would say, as if I were teaching this to a group of people, is as a teacher, I got to remember: this is a story. And so not every single detail in the story. is theologically freighted. Because you got to tell the story. There are details in a story.

Once upon a time, there was. That's not the kind of story we're telling. Ours is a historical story that really happened. But we don't want to get into, like, well, what was the barley representing? This is not how the story unfolds.

The story unfolds. In chapter three, in four scenes. There are four scenes that go on in the chapter here, and each scene. Has an important component.

So, for example, in verses one through five, when we open up that scene and we look at what's happening on stage, you have two players. You got Ruth. And you got Neil. Right, and and they're having a conversation. And really, the main person doing the talking is Naomi.

And sort of the big idea going on here is what she says to her right away in verse one. Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, Shall I not seek? Rest for you that it may be well with you.

Now, if you have like an ESV Bible or a New American Standard Bible, the word there that I use for rest. is the word security, safety. But the word rest is actually the word in Hebrew. Shall I not seek rest for you? And the minute you read that word rest.

You are beginning to say, now, wait a second. I know this concept. I know this word. God wants to bring his people rest. There's a concept.

That we have in our head that is very different than what was in the mind. Of an Old Testament Israelite when they heard that word rest. When you and I hear the word rest, we're thinking, man, it was a long, hard day. I'm super tired. I just need to go home and put my feet up and rest.

I am tired. But the word rest biblically had a very different meaning. It had the idea of dwelling securely. dwelling in a fulfilled way. When God finished making the earth he rested And the idea there is, he moved in.

I've used this illustration to help people understand that. If somebody decided to build you the house of your dreams and pay for it. It didn't matter, like multi-million dollar home. You put whatever you want in it, you landscape it however you want. There's coming a day when the architect.

The landscaper, the carpenter, the finisher, they all gather and they hand you the key and they say, We're all done. We packed up our tools, we've cleaned it up, it's ready. Here's the key. And they all get in their vehicles and drive away, and you're standing there. At the door front with a key.

What's the next thing you do? You move in. You move into your house. and you enjoy it. You live in your house.

that was built for you. When God rested on the seventh day, he moved in to the garden kingdom that he built for his creator, for his created image bearers. And we know that because in chapter two, he's walking with Adam in the cool of the evening in the garden. When he built or caused rather the tabernacle to be built. His glory descended and rested on the tabernacle and later on the temple, meaning he moved in, he dwelt there among his people.

And that's the idea that Ruth is saying to Naomi. Naomi, you came here with me as a Moabitis. You said you would. You would follow me, and where I lived, you would live, and where I was buried, you would be buried. And you said, My God would be your God.

And I want to seek rest for you. I don't want you to just sort of be a temporary stranger that happened to come with me. I want you to find a permanent place. in this land. Shall I not seek Rest for you that it may be well with you.

Now, she's already known, she discovered something that God providentially moved Ruth to the field of Boaz. And she says in verse two, is not Boaz our kisman? with whose maids you were behold he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight And now she gives advice. Wash yourself, anoint yourself, put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor, but don't make yourself known until he has finished eating and drinking. And when he lies down, you will notice where he lies and you will go and uncover his feet and lie down and then he will tell you what to do.

They say, what is all that? This is an ancient. Israelite custom. When you uncovered somebody's feet. It was an act of submission.

you were actually appealing to them to bring you under their care. In ancient times, when you came as a stranger or as an alien to a new country and you were presented to the ruler and you wanted to submit yourself to that ruler and you wanted to put yourself under his care, you would take his foot and you would put it on top of his head. This was an idea of submission. And so here is Naomi saying, I am going to do my best. to find a way to give you a permanent place In this land, in this place.

And here's how it's gonna work: you wanna go to Boaz. And when he lays down, you want to uncover his feet.

Sometimes you'll read commentaries and they'll talk about how this was an immoral act. That's actually not the case. And Boaz is going to spend a lot of time in the chapter defending Ruth's honor so that nobody gets that. perspective.

So here she is and she's coming and she says to or Naomi says to Ruth, now you go and you present yourself in this way to Boaz. And Ruth's comment, here's what she says. Everything that you say, I will do. Think about how strange this was. Think about how risky this was.

Think about what was at stake for Ruth. And fast forward. to another Jewish maiden unmarried Who gets an announcement from an angel saying the Holy Spirit is going to conceive? The Messiah in you, you're an unmarried woman. You're betrothed to a man named Joseph.

And here's what's gonna happen, you're gonna get pregnant. before you ever know him. You're gonna get pregnant before you ever get married, and the pregnancy is going to be brought about in a miraculous way. It is going to be brought about by the Spirit of God. And here's Mary's response.

Wait a second. If that happens, it's going to destroy my engagement. That's going to devastate Joseph. That's going to ruin my reputation. That's going to upend everything I've ever dreamed about.

I'm going to be the scourge of my little village as an unwed, pregnant mother. That's not at all what you said. She said, Be it unto thy handmaid as thou hast said. There's this connection centuries later to this response. That Luke has.

And so that's the first scene. Do you have any thoughts about that?

Well, I tell you what I love about it is, you know, of course, the humility in Ruth. The respect in Ruth, the deference that she has, not just toward. Boaz, but toward Naomi. And there's a real powerful mentoring going on. You know, she's from Moab.

She doesn't know all these customs. She hasn't read Deuteronomy 25. Maybe she had by then. But she wasn't as familiar with the Kinsman Redeemer, the Leverite Law. And so, Dr.

Horn, here you have this older woman. And likely, Elizabeth mentored Mary, you know, her younger cousin, you know, in the Gospels, right? We read about that in Luke and they connected, but just to see. the power of an older woman Coming alongside a younger woman and giving her, not only giving her specific instructions. But Ruth having the humility to receive those Instructions and to actually do everything that Ruth or that Naomi called upon her to do.

which just speaks a lot to, again, to her character and to God's grace in both of their lives. She didn't sit idle. She said, I'm going to go with you. And she came back with her all the way on that long trek back to. Back to Bethlehem.

She didn't sit idle in the house. She went into the field. She worked her fingers to the bone, gleaning and getting all that grain. And that's not easy work, all that. that work in the fields and then And here she is not idle again.

Naomi says, Here's what you got to do, and she does it.

So I just, I love all of that happening here. And then we're going to see. Kind of that same Part and that same humility of Ruth in her how she interacts with Boaz. There's just a lot of respect. There's just, you know, it's sad, Dr.

Horn, the lack of respect. T today. You know, so many young people don't want, don't tell me what to do. Don't give me advice. I got it figured out, right?

And so we pick on our teenagers: hey, if you want to have every answer to every problem in the world, just have a teenager and you'll have everything solved, right? We joke that way. But sometimes us adults can be a bit adolescent and not. listening and not Gaining wisdom from those who have been there, who have seen. Things, who have experienced things, who have, who have, who want to turn.

What maybe their mess into a message for others, their test into a testimony to help others. And here, Naomi is doing that. Ruth responds so humbly. And then, of course, in her You know, in her interaction with Boaz. And I mean, can you imagine this guy?

He's. He's done everything right. He's harvested. He's sleeping right with his harvest. You know, after winnowing, after all that hard work, he's had a big meal and he's laying down to sleep because he's going to stay with that harvest because we know from the book of Judges, those Midianites and other raiders.

Could likely come in and plunder the grain. They could come in and steal it.

So he's there protecting that. But we we see him In a protective mode of this young lady who he finds at his feet, because that's how you can stir someone up from sleeping. If they're in a deep sleep, you uncover their feet, and the wind and all will, it might wake you up too, right? Yeah.

Well, so you have, you have seen, right? You got, so let me just make a little connection here because we made a connection all the way forward to Mary. Let me make a connection backwards now to a woman named Rahab the Harlot. We're going to find out. That Boaz was related to Rahab the harlot.

either a son or a grandson of Rahab the harlot. It's actually stated in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew.

So we know from the Bible that Rahab the harlot was connected very intimately to Boaz, who we're about to meet.

So in Rahab's conversion story, there were two Israelites who showed up with a message. And they told her exactly what to do. And then Rahab went and did exactly what they told her to do. Here we have an Israelite woman telling a Moabitis exactly what to do. And in scene two, that starts in verse six.

It goes through verse nine. It's a very short scene. This woman, this Moabitess, does exactly what the Israelite woman told her to do. What was Israel's role to the nations? What did God tell Israel to do to the nations way back at the beginning?

They were to bear his name to the nations. When it talks about don't take my name in vain in the commandments, it's not talking about swearing, although we certainly shouldn't swear. is talking about carrying the Lord's name. I lifted you up. I established you as my people.

I put my name on you so that you could bear it to the nations. You're supposed to take the news about me to the nations. and instruct them to know how they can worship me. and come under my wise providential leadership. And enjoy my blessings.

So, in Rahab's life, two members of this nation, two Israelites, bear. The offer of the God of Israel to somebody like Rahab. And she does exactly what they say. And here in Ruth 3, there is another member of this nation, Naomi. who instructs a pagan Moabitis.

in terms of how to become part of this covenant. Covenant of the family or the nation of this covenant-making God. And this woman, Ruth, goes and does exactly what she. Was told to do. She says it in verse five: all that you say, I will do.

And then she goes and does it. In verse 6, she went down to the threshing floor and did all that her mother-in-law had commanded her. And everything happened exactly like. Naomi anticipated. Boaz ate and drunk, and he lay down and he went to sleep.

And Ruth came in and uncovered his feet, and she lay down. And in the middle of the night, verse 8, he wakes up. He's startled, and here is this woman. And he says, Who are you? And she says, I am Ruth, your maid.

And then she says this, spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative. In other words, you are a kinsman redeemer. I can find security and safety and deliverance. from you. And that's what Boaz talked about in chapter 2, verse 12, when he met Ruth for the very first time.

He said, may the Lord reward your work. And may your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge. And the God of Israel was pointing. Ruth to find refuge in a kinsman redeemer. How does the God of Israel help us?

How does the God of heaven help us find refuge? The same way, he points us to the security and safety and deliverance and salvation of a kinsman redeemer who is greater than Boaz, right?

So that's seen two in the text. Very short. They're very powerful. We find a mobilized woman. Finding rest and security in a kinsman Redeemer who was identified to her by a member of the Jewish race.

by a member of God's covenant people. And that's our job, right? We are to be Naomis. We are to go to our pagan neighbors who know nothing about rest, who have no hope of security, who have no hope of safety. And we're to do the same thing.

We are to say to them, this is exactly where you go to find rest. This is exactly where you go to find deliverance. This is exactly who can help you. If you get to the feet of Jesus and you uncover his feet, and you put yourself in submission to him and you ask him to cover him, cover you with his wings, he will redeem you. He is our close relative.

Man, what a message for the nations, right? We can be Naomi to our neighbors. We can be Naomi to the people we work out at the gym. We can be Naomi to our workmates. But you know what often happens?

We just don't even think about it. This is a story in our Old Testament that we break out right around Christmas time or every once in a while because we need a short book to read. It is an incredibly powerful story. And so by the time you get to scene three. You're ready.

You're ready for Boaz. And so, in verses 10 through 15, now Boaz is front and center. And Boaz starts talking, right? In a real way. He says, Who are you?

And she says, I'm Ruth, your maid. And he's and then he says in verse 10, May you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter. You have shown your kindness to be better than the first by not going after the young men, whether poor or rich. In other words, You came to the right place. You could have gone to a lot of other younger.

More attractive solutions to try to find security. You could have hooked up with whoever, you could have caught their eye, but you didn't. You came to the kinsman Redeemer, even though I may not have appeared. to be attractive in your eyes. You have acted with loyalty.

The word kindness there is the word for loyalty. You have been loyal. to your mother-in-law. You've been loyal to the instruction. Right.

And so do not fear, verse 11. I will do for you whatever you ask. For all my people know that you are a woman of excellence.

Now I know that it is true. I'm a close relatives. But we got an issue. There's somebody closer than me who has a claim. By the way.

The law has a claim on us. In Romans chapter 3. The law has a claim on us. And when that law exercises its claim on us, the only verdict it can give us is guilty. Moses could never redeem.

We're going to find out that the person who had the right to redeem couldn't redeem in chapter 4. There's only one person who can redeem and ruth. And that person happens to be Boaz. And he doesn't have to redeem. He wants to redeem.

And then he says in verse 13, remain this night. And when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good, let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will. And as the Lord lives, I'm going to swear this to you.

Now lie down until morning.

So she lay at his feet until morning and rose before. Anybody could recognize another person and he says, do not let it be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.

So he is protecting her reputation. And she said, and he said, Give me the cloak that is on you and hold it. And so she held it, and he measured six measures of barley. That's 90 pounds. of wheat.

And laid it on her, and she went into the city. And so, this is how. Uh scene three ends with a promise. a heart and a provision from the Kinsman Redeemer.

So here he's blessing her. He's still giving to her, and he even throws out a shout out to her mother-in-law. He doesn't have the deal. In the bag yet, because he's still got to settle with this other. The closer relative, because that's the law.

The closer of the relatives is the one who has the. is first in line to be the Redeemer. Can't pronounce the Hebrew word, Dr. Horn, something like. Koel, it's a beautiful word for the Hebrew.

But even though he doesn't have the deal in the bag, he's still. giving her all this grain, sending her away in a A respectful way. They're trying to preserve her testimony. And her dignity. There's no Cloak and dagger here, or anything, you know, hiding, but just trying to keep that.

that virtuous, you know, go away so no one's detecting you, so there's no. Nothing that could be perceived as scandalous going on here. And this takes us all the way into the end of the chapter. Yeah, so we have the final scene in the chapter. By the way, there's a little Easter egg that we're not going to find out till we get to there.

You know how sometimes there's a little Easter egg at the end of a movie and you're watching the credits and then all of a sudden there's a scene that pops in and there's a little Easter egg that shows up.

Well, there's one of those Easter eggs here in the story. And I'm going to tell you where it fits, but we're not going to see it till the very end. When Boaz. says to her, give me the cloak that is on you and hold it. She held it, and he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her, and then she went into the city.

And if that's all we had, we would have thought, oh, that's a great little way to send her off. But He actually said more that's not recorded here. We're going to see the more in a minute.

So she comes home. This morning, she comes in the morning, you know, to her mother-in-law, her 16. And her mother-in-law, Naomi, says, well, how did it go? And she told Naomi all that Boaz had done. And she said.

These six measures of barley he gave to me. For he said, do not go to your mother-in-law what? Empty-handed. What did Naomi say when she came back at the end of chapter one? I went out full, but I came back what?

Yeah, empty-handed. Wow. I keep it. Yeah.

Who is going to fill Naomi's hand? The Kinsman Redeemer. Who is going to press down till it's overflowing? I mean, in our day and age, we don't live. In a barley and wheat world, we go to Walmart and buy it off the shelf when it's already cooked into bread.

But to get 90 pounds. 90 pounds of some of the most precious, life-giving food on the planet in the middle of a famine or just after a famine where you haven't had food, and to get 90 pounds. It's like getting 90 gallons of gasoline. When there's no gas to be held, and the gas you do have is seven bucks a gallon, and somebody gives you 90 gallons of it. And you're going to go, where did you get all that?

Where did you get all of that? Here is a woman who walks in and she is, I mean, the pictures, wheat is dribbling everywhere. There's so much of it. And Naomi says, where did you get that? And and Um Ruth says to Naomi, I got it from Boaz.

And the last thing that he said to me was, don't go back to Naomi empty-handed. This is for her. This is for Naomi. This is stunning to me. And we miss this little point in the narrative so often: is that the God of Israel is blessing Israel, and he is blessing the nations.

When he blesses Israel, he doesn't forget Moab. And when he blesses Moab, he doesn't forget Israel. And there is this abundant generosity that pours out of Boaz to Ruth, and it pours out to Naomi, and the generosity of God. Gets Naomi's attention, and she says the next thing: wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest until he settles it today. What convinced Naomi that Boaz was going to actually do for Ruth what Naomi was hoping for.

And the answer was his generosity. And I want you to fast forward in your mind to Paul's letter to the Romans in chapter two when he looks at. The Jewish person who's arguing with him, and he says to that Jewish person, do you despise the goodness of God that was designed to bring you to repentance? You know, think about how many times the goodness of God has been poured out on us, even when we weren't Christians. Even when we were far away from the Lord or even when we were being disobedient, God showered us with goodness and we despised it.

You know, think about how much safety the Lord has given us. Day after day on the roads on the way here, I had to pull off into a gas station. I was trying to get home so I could do this recording with you from my office at home. And I couldn't get there because the road was blocked and it was full of ambulances and fire trucks. And there had been a horrible wreck.

And I thought to myself, Lord, I don't know who that is. You know, you always pray for whoever's involved in those things. But here I'm sitting in a parking lot at a QT doing this broadcast or this podcast with you, Stu. And God's goodness to me protected me on the road. How many thousands of days has that happened to me where I get in my car and I drive and I have an uneventful drive and God's goodness protected me?

Oh, I was in the hospital just an hour ago with a guy in our church who had a quadruple bypass surgery. And I thought to myself, Lord, that could be me. That could be me, right? How many times have I experienced the abundant goodness of God, my own 90 pounds of barley? that's just dribbling out all over my life.

I've got a beautiful granddaughter that was born a year and a half ago, and I've got another one coming in May. You've got wonderful children that you're enjoying. And each one of us, no matter how. Parts of our life may be broken or missing, each one of us. If we really looked at our life, we have our own 90 pounds of barley that God has just poured out on us through Jesus Christ, our kinsman and Redeemer.

And you know what happens to us? We despise them. And instead of running to Jesus with grateful hearts and repentant spirits, we kind of go.

Well, that's your job. You should have done that. You know, I've been working hard for you, and you should have done that. And when we don't get our 90 pounds of barley and we only get 85, we actually get angry at God. I only got 85 pounds.

You know, this weight you didn't even think was 80 pounds. You know, and all of a sudden we start. We start looking at our life and we end up where Naomi was in chapter one. And then all of a sudden, God starts working in chapter two and in chapter three, and he uses Boas to say to Ruth, now, listen, when you go back. These 90 pounds of grain I'm giving you, they're not for you.

Therefore, your mother-in-law, I don't want you to go back empty-handed to her because she came back without. With it what what she thought or Was an empty hand, and I'm filling it with grain. God does that over and over and over. And as we wrap up the chapter, Here's the thing. We have redemption in the works.

The best is yet to come. And in chapter four, we're going to see redemption accomplished. And we're going to see blessings abound.

So that's how the book ends: redemption accomplished, and blessings abound. But that's for next time we come together. And you have so many rich pictures of the gospel, of God coming to us. bringing abundance into our poverty. And Dr.

Horn, you know, I think about that word bitter. You spent a lot of time on that in our first or second broadcast, you know, where nobody talks about God has dealt with me bitterly.

Well, it's one thing to have bitterness in your life. By way of circumstances, you just talked about death. You talked about pain, you talk about loss. People listen to this, they have been through it. Naomi, if anyone could complain, here I had a husband and two sons, and I'm looking, I got life by the horns and I'm full.

And I go to Moab and hope for a new start. And man, she comes back and she's like, change my name. You know, no longer am I pleasant. And Naomi, you know, I am bitter, but you know, but it's one thing to have bitterness. Come at you.

Life is full of bitterness. It's another thing. to not become bitter. And we see A woman turning from that, the bitterness, the bitter circumstances in her life to the point that wanted her to change her name, to blessing God and praising God and exhorting Ruth. And she's on mission and she's starting to see God's hand and to the point where now she is full.

And now she is blessed. I love that Easter egg. I had, you know, I missed that in studying this passage, Dr. Orne. I'm so glad you brought that out.

And then this final. Point, which is, I just did a new commentary on this. My dad's favorite verse. In the Bible is Psalm 46 verse 10 where we're where the psalmist says, Be still. And no.

I am God. And there's a sense to which they've done everything they can do, they haven't sit. Passively on their blessed assurance, doing nothing. You know, Naomi could have been bitter. She could have been, you know, I got burned by the church.

I, you know, you know, all these people did me wrong. Everything God's said to me has fallen apart. She could have been bitter and she could have just been. You know, Ruth could have been her audience of, you know, of fomenting all the anger and all the bad stuff instead, and all her woes. Instead, She's better.

And she's in her final word to Ruth after they've done all this, and if they've turned the corner from bitterness to blessing, she says, Be still. And I thought, how cool is that? What a great word. How much do we see waiting on the Lord all throughout scripture? You know, and how much do we see?

There's four chapters, and you're kind of hanging on every word, hanging, okay, I just hope this happens. You know, it's like it's a great, it's a great story, but it's no fairy tale. This is how it works. And think about the The sequence of redemption in all of our lives where people are praying. I just hope that little Stu or little Sam will, that this Christian camp he's going to, I hope this will be the time he gives his life to Christ.

I hope he'll turn from his rebellious ways. I hope that. You know, you think about the I hope the prodigal will come home. And so the best thing we can do is stop. Be still.

Because God is working. God is always working. And it's not so much of what I'm doing for him and what I'm accomplishing for him and how zealous I am for him. Maybe it's more what's he doing. And how can I stop, be still?

and join him in his work. And that's how this chapter. comes to an end. And to see what he's going to do. And we'll get to that obviously in chapter four.

Dr. Horn, take us home and give us a final word in prayer.

Well, you know, these themes, I just keep coming back to these four big ideas because they're the themes that anchor our lives. We have all these little side trails we go on year after year, and the will of God takes us up and down through the different twists and turns in life. But there are always these four big themes that are constant, no matter where we are, what stage, you know, whether you're in your 20s. And you're trying to figure your life out, or you're in your 30s and you're trying to navigate the busyness of life, or you're in your 40s and 50s trying to figure out what to do with kids and aging parents, and then you're in your 60s trying to figure out where did it all go. It doesn't matter where you are in life, these four.

Anchor points are like the points of a compass that never change. Right, there is the sovereignty of God. There is the sweet. providence of God. There is the redemption of God.

God is always redeeming. Everything in our life, there's a redemption that we have for salvation, but he's redeeming. There is a redemptive focus that God wants us to have throughout our life, and so there's redemption. And then the fourth is blessing, there is this. Redemption accomplished, and one day our redemption is going to be fully accomplished.

We're going to be in our glorified bodies. But until then, there is blessing. There is eternal blessing that's already ours, according to Ephesians 1, verse 2 and verse 3, but God is always blessing us, right? And so. As we go through life, these four compass points anchor us no matter where we find ourselves.

You know, you might, you might have lost your way. You might have been out in the desert of sin for years. Here are four compass points you can always look to. You know, when you were traveling in the ancient world at night, you always looked up for the North Star, the pole star. And you can set your direction.

Well, here are those points. in the bible god is sovereign There is a sweet providence behind that sovereignty. And then there is redemption, and then there is always blessing. And that's the storyline of the Bible. The God of heaven who created you wants to redeem you so that he can bless you.

And if we get those four points, it doesn't matter where we are. We will always get home. We will always get home. Lord, as we close our time today, And we have sat and watched this beautiful drama of Naomi and Ruth and Boaz. Lord, we are...

amazed because in the middle of all of this You are the main actor. You are the one orchestrating everything. You are the one that isn't just orchestrating everything. You're the one that's bringing it all about. And we see why you're doing this for your glory and our good.

So thank you for saving us. Thank you for blessing us. Thank you for being our sovereign God. Thank you for using providence in wise and good ways in our lives. And thank you for redeeming us so that you can bless us.

In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, Dr. Horn, and thank you for joining us for this Wednesday in the Word podcast. Learn more at wedintheword.com. Follow us on YouTube, Facebook, and all social media, including in Stu Graham.

And be encouraged, stay in the Word. Read it. Share it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on God's Word. Every word of God is pure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in him.

Proverbs 30, verse 5.