God of History - The King is Coming - Ruth 4:13-22

We have realized that the Old Testament is rich, and every time, you know, certainly in the book of Ruth,

in each chapter, each page, if it was a living person and you were to cut it open, it would bleed the Lord Jesus Christ.

It just pours out from page to page. It tells us something about our Savior and about our salvation.

So let's look at the text this morning, and we'll just read from verse 13 of chapter 4.

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife.

And when he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

The woman said to Naomi, Praise be to the Lord, who is this day has not left you without a guardian redeemer.

May he become famous throughout Israel, and he will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.

For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.

Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him.

And the woman living there said, Naomi has a son.

And they named him Obed.

And he was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

So this is the genealogy of David.

This then is the family line of Perez.

Perez was the father of Hezron.

Hezron the father of Ram.

Ram the father of Aminadab.

Aminadab the father of Nashon.

Nashon the father of Salmon.

Salmon the father of Boaz.

Boaz the father of Obed.

Obed the father of Jesse.

And Jesse the father of David.

So how did we get to that list of names at the end of chapter 4?

It started off, if we remember, with a list of names and promise which came into hopelessness.

Yet here we have a list of names after an event which is filled with hope.

In chapter 1 we had Naomi.

Sorry.

Done something to the PowerPoint.

In chapter 1 we have Naomi who became empty.

She was bitter.

She was old.

She had lost her husband and she had lost her two sons.

Everything looked pretty bleak.

She had two daughter-in-laws.

Orpah, if we remember, she went back to her family.

She went back to the Moamites.

But then we had Ruth.

Ruth loved Naomi.

Ruth loved the God of Israel.

And she chose to convert.

She chose to leave her family.

She chose to leave Moab.

And she chose to join Israel.

And she picked Israel and Israel's God and Naomi over her own flesh and blood, over her own family.

And what that tells us is that God's people are people of faith.

Not just of a national identity.

You see, those people who trust in God are truly Abraham's descendants.

It's those that by faith trust in Christ that are the Lord's.

Not those who have some sort of heritage or ethnic leadings.

And in chapter 2, we saw the providence of God in that Ruth happened to come across Boaz's field.

This potential kinsman redeemer or guardian redeemer, as it says in the NIV.

And we found out in that that he was able to provide Ruth with protection from harm while she was working.

He was able to fill up, if you like, the storehouses.

The cupboards were no longer bare.

There was food on the table.

And Naomi was just that little bit less empty.

And in chapter 3, we found that there was a proposal of marriage.

There was hope maybe for Ruth in the future that she would have something and someone to come home to.

Someone to look after her.

And so there was an appeal to Boaz that he would do what was right.

That he would be the guardian redeemer for Ruth and Naomi.

And Naomi, again, was just that little less empty.

And we found them in chapter 3 waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting to see if Boaz would go and do what he should do.

And in some ways, that's where we are this morning.

As a church in the story of salvation, we're waiting.

And what are we waiting for?

We're waiting for the return of Christ.

We're putting our faith and our trust in our redeemer.

And we moved on.

And last week, we had the legal drama.

We had Mr. So-and-so, the person who is of insignificance.

And he was there to tell us and to tell everyone else of the cost of redemption.

What it cost Boaz to redeem Naomi.

To take Ruth as his wife.

And we found the response and the blessing of the elders.

And that they said, Ruth's no longer the Moabite.

She's no longer the widow.

She's going to be the wife of Boaz.

And she's going to be great in Israel.

The blessing of the elders.

And so then, we find that Naomi is just almost to the brim.

She's almost there, but she's not quite completely full.

It's not quite what she had before.

But it's getting there.

And so we have a few questions.

And the questions we have is, who's in control of the world?

Who's in control of history?

And can God be trusted with history?

Is he trustworthy?

Can you?

Can I?

Can we trust God with our future?

I think that the book of Ruth says that yes, we can.

And we'll look at that.

I think if we had ended the book of Ruth here at verse 12,

I think we would have had a nice little heartwarming story

of how God helped a widow and how God helped a Moabite

to integrate into Jewish society, integrate into Israel,

and they had a nice life.

And that was really great for everybody.

And isn't God good?

But I think with these last few verses,

we actually see the expansive nature of how God is that intricately linked

with the lives of ordinary people.

See, it's not just that Ruth and Naomi had Boaz come and redeem them.

We witnessed the hand of God to bring about a blessing,

not just to them, but to you and to me this morning.

There is a blessing from the book of Ruth for us today

because of the plan of God's unfolding salvation,

God's unfolding plan in history,

which is unfolding as we speak, as we live, as we breathe.

We are waiting for the return of our guardian redeemer,

the Lord Jesus Christ.

And this little book, it is, if you like,

a chain in the link that links, if you like,

the first five books of the Bible and Joshua and Judges,

and it links it into the period of the kings.

It's kind of a beginning again story, if you like.

If you think of Eve, and Eve became the mother of all living,

and then you had Rachel and Leah,

and they became the mothers of what we now know as the nation of Israel.

Here you have Ruth, and if you like,

she becomes the mother of the kingdom of Israel,

of the descendants which go on then to David and eventually to Christ.

And so we see God is alive,

and he is working in the lives of ordinary people

to bring about a redemptive purpose.

And God is still at that work.

He's still at his work to use ordinary people

to bring about redemption in the lives of ordinary people.

If you're here this morning and you know the Lord Jesus Christ,

what ordinary people influenced your life

so that you might know the guardian, redeemer of all redeemers, Jesus?

And we might not know the significance of our lives.

We know the significance of Ruth's life

because it's recorded for us in Scripture,

but we don't know necessarily how our life played out,

how it fitted in to God's plan and purposes.

We may have an idea, we may not know.

But we can trust that God is involved,

and God does want to know.

He wants us to know eventually.

And so let's look at what we have here in the text.

This morning we have heavenly matrimony.

We have a marriage that had the design in heaven.

God has brought Boaz and Ruth together.

He has a plan for them,

and we know he has a plan for them,

and we know he has done this.

It says,

So Boaz took Ruth,

and she became his wife.

And when he made love to her,

the Lord enabled her to conceive,

and she gave birth to a son.

They had a little baby.

Little babies are great.

I had two.

They're not so great after their babies,

but when they're babies,

they're great.

The Lord enabled her to conceive.

We know that it was in the plan of God

for them to be together,

because this word here,

the Lord enabled her to conceive,

is actually the same words that said

when the Lord visited his people in chapter 1

and brought them food.

When the Lord was doing something good in Bethlehem,

he visited them.

And he's now doing something significant

in the life of Ruth,

and he has visited Ruth.

And he hasn't visited Ruth just for her own sake.

And he hasn't just visited Ruth for Naomi's sake.

He has visited Ruth for you and for me.

And in his unfolding plan,

he has visited Ruth because he wants to bless the world.

And how he's going to do that is through Ruth the Moabite.

We have to think about this for a little minute.

We don't know how long that Ruth was married

to one of Naomi's sons.

But it could have been as long as 10 years.

And if that's the case,

10 years of marriage and no children

suggests that, you know,

there's something wrong.

Was it wrong with, you know,

the male and the female or both?

We don't know.

But there was something wrong.

We also know that Boaz was a lot older than Ruth.

And again, we don't want to speculate about how old.

But there is not necessarily the likelihood

that they would conceive.

But here, straight away,

God gives them a child.

It reminds us that God gave lots of other people

important children.

Hannah, you know, gave birth to Samuel.

And obviously, Rachel,

she gave birth to some of the children of Israel.

People who were longing to have children.

And they saw children as a gift from God.

And I think that in that,

we need to stop and to pause and to think,

do we see children as a gift from God?

The Bible is quite clear

that all children are a blessing from God.

In today's culture,

that's not what we see.

Children are an inconvenience in today's culture.

Children are so much an inconvenience

that it's all right to even end a child's life

before it breathes H2O.

That is how much that we've come away

from a biblical moral view

of children as a gift.

I remember that nervous time,

you know, when I walked into,

I think it was a 14-week,

because we were on holidays

and, you know, people were off.

So we had a 14-week scan

rather than the 12-week scan

that everybody has.

And we were nervous, sort of,

parents, what on earth are we going to do?

And, you know, my wife Claire,

she gets up on the table

and they get out the jelly

and they get the machine

and they put it on.

And before us on the screen appeared,

because he was a little bit bigger,

his whole little form,

Elijah, my eldest,

appeared on the screen.

And there he was,

suspended in, like, space animation

on this little, sort of,

green-coloured monitor.

And he was twisting his hands.

Almost, we were saying,

look there, there's our son.

He's waving at us.

He's saying hello.

And it was almost like, you know,

when your mum or your dad

or, you know, someone who you know and love

opens the door and comes into the house,

you don't need to say who's there.

You know who's there.

Well, that day, I knew

that someone had just entered our room.

The thing that, you know,

the secret place is no longer secret

because of science.

And we can see inside the womb

very clearly what goes on.

And that day,

I met my son, if you like,

before he was born.

And that, to me,

is the greatest experience

that I will take with me

to, obviously,

to my grave.

And I will be able to say,

quite clearly,

there's no one will convince me

that Elijah was not there that day.

And that's something

that science cannot quantify.

the human spirit,

the life of an individual.

I say that in passing

because I think it's something

that we need to really embrace

and encourage people

that life is valuable

and it is from God,

it is a gift from God.

And Elijah does that to this day.

When he was born

and he was a little baby,

when he got excited,

he went with his hands.

He still does that.

He's not here,

so I can tell this morning.

But, yeah,

he's nearly 16,

but he still does that.

So there's nobody telling me

that life is not a blessing.

And life is from God.

And here we have a little baby.

A little baby that God has given

to Boaz and to Ruth.

And the Lord enabled her to conceive

and she gave birth to a son.

Wow.

What a tremendous story.

Ruth, the widowed Moabite,

childless baron,

has now a husband.

She now has a son.

But there's going to be

another baby born,

another son,

a son promised.

From Bethlehem.

Bethlehem becomes

a significant place.

And you don't have to turn to it.

I'll read it for you.

But there's a prophecy

in Micah.

And verses 1 to 4,

it says,

Marshal your troops now.

City of troops,

for a siege is laid against us.

And they will strike Israel's ruler

on the cheek with a rod.

But you, Bethlehem,

Epaphrath,

though you are small

among the clans of Judah,

out of you will come for me

one who will be ruler

over Israel,

whose origins are from of old,

from ancient times.

Therefore, Israel will be abandoned

until the time

when she who is in labor

bears a son.

And the rest of his brothers

return to join the Israelites.

And he will stand up

and shepherd his flock

in the strength of the Lord.

You see, the significance

of this little baby

is that one day

there's going to be

another little baby.

We're about to celebrate Christmas.

I think it's around the corner.

People may be trying to

get their Christmas presents in.

But the significance of Christmas

is not Santa Claus.

The significance of Christmas

is not in our presents

or the PlayStations that we want.

It's in the fact that

God came to earth

in human flesh

and that he became

our guardian redeemer.

Do you know

Christ this morning?

Do you know

that you need

a guardian redeemer?

Do you know

that one day

when Christ returns again

to judge the world

that you will need him

to be your guardian redeemer?

If you don't know

what that means,

if you're unsure,

it means that he needs to

buy you back

from slavery.

It means that you are

trapped in sin

and he has died

to save you.

He has died

to make a way

for your sins

to be forgiven.

And he has enabled

through his death

to bring you life.

So there is the promise

of another,

a greater one

that would come

from Bethlehem.

And so in that,

we see that human plans,

they weave in and through

the plan of God.

And we can see

that God has visited

his people,

not just with food,

but he's visited them

by visiting Ruth

in the birth

of this newborn son.

and that this newborn son

is completely

in God's plan.

But we also have

a reversal.

The story then

shifts quite quickly

away from Boaz

and away from Ruth

and it brings Naomi.

Because of the idea

of the guardian

redeemership,

the child is actually

Naomi's

in that he's going

to be Elimelech's heir.

And so we see

that in the text.

And we also see

the women of Bethlehem.

If you remember

in chapter 2,

the women of Bethlehem,

they were saying,

is that Naomi?

Is that her?

The gossip was going

around Bethlehem

and they were saying,

is that, is she back?

Doesn't really look like her.

She looks a bit more

haggard and a bit worn.

Is that Naomi?

But now look at

what they say.

And so the women

of Bethlehem,

they say,

the women said to Naomi,

praise be to the Lord

who this day

has not left you

without a guardian redeemer.

And you say,

hold on.

I thought that was Boaz.

And you say,

yes.

But now this little baby,

he has now the right

to be her guardian redeemer also.

There's redeemers everywhere.

And it says,

may he become famous

throughout Israel

and he will renew your life

and sustain you

in your old age

for your daughter-in-law

who loves you

and who is better to you

than seven sons.

has given him birth.

That's a change

from their questioning,

who's that girl?

She looks a bit,

hmm?

Is that really her?

She's been away a while.

Imagine her coming back

after leaving us

at a time of famine.

You know,

all of those sort of things

that they may have been thinking.

But here they are.

They're praising

for what they can see

God is doing

in the life of Naomi.

Naomi.

And in verse 15,

if you remember

in the first week

we looked at

the whole idea

of turning

and returning

and God is bringing

Naomi back.

And God,

he says,

God brought me back.

God returned me

to Israel.

Well,

here the women

of Bethlehem,

they're saying something

very significant

in verse 15.

It says,

he will renew your life.

And actually what it says,

he will return to you life.

This little baby,

this little guardian redeemer

is going to sustain you

in your old age.

And there's another little baby,

the Lord Jesus Christ,

and he's going to return

to us life.

He is our guardian redeemer.

He is the one

that we need to look to

this morning.

You see,

Naomi was not left

without a guardian redeemer.

This little bundle

that she's now caring for

in her arms

is going to be

the one who can sustain her

in her old age.

He's the one

who will be able

to look after her.

Because in that society

without a man,

without someone

to provide food for her,

she would be left destitute.

And God has not left

his children,

in this case,

destitute.

We need to praise God

for not forgetting Naomi.

And what will this mean?

We need to praise God

for what it means.

It means protection

of Elimelech's name,

his property,

his inheritance

within Israel,

his place within the community,

and her sustained existence.

You see,

Naomi now is completely full.

She is full.

He's going to return

to you new life.

If you want life this morning,

there is only one place

that you can find it.

And that is in

the Lord Jesus Christ.

In John 10, 10,

it says that the thief

comes

to kill,

steal, kill,

and destroy.

But I have come

that you might have life

and have it

to the full.

I am the good shepherd

and the good shepherd

lays down his life

for the sheep.

God didn't leave

Naomi without a Redeemer

and he hasn't left us

without one.

God is concerned

about the future

of Naomi and Ruth.

I would say to you

this morning

that God is concerned

about your future.

And God's always working,

always working

to fulfill his plan.

But we need to be careful here

that it's not about,

you know,

there's many preachers

out there who will tell you,

you know,

Jesus wants to give you

life to the full.

And you say,

yeah,

I can agree with that.

With that,

he then says that

you can have

anything you want.

Just ask God

and he'll give it to you.

And I say,

no,

hold on.

That's not

what the Bible says.

In fact,

Jesus says in

John 16,

John 16:26

verses 26,

and Jesus answered,

very truly,

I tell you,

you're looking for me

not because you saw

the signs I performed,

but because you ate loaves

and had your fill.

So this is after

the miracle of Jesus

feeding the 5,000.

Do not work for food

that spoils,

but for food that endures

to eternal life,

which the Son of Man

will give you.

For on him,

God the Father

has placed his seal of approval.

And what Jesus is saying is,

don't be working

to build a bigger house here.

Work for the kingdom of God

to build a reward there.

Our focus should not be

on our immediate comfort,

but on the fact

that Jesus is going

to bring comfort

once and for all.

When he returns,

he's going to end

all suffering.

Not now,

but then.

It says in Colossians 2,

it says,

and in Christ

you have been brought

to fullness,

and he is head

over every power

and authority.

See,

already,

we have the fullness

of Christ.

We have his blessing.

We have his redemption.

But then,

we will experience

that fullness

in his kingdom

when he comes.

And it's interesting,

the idea of love,

you would expect

that in the chapter 4,

it says,

and Ruth loved Boaz.

But it doesn't.

It says,

Naomi was loved by Ruth

and was better

than seven sons.

The whole book

is building towards

this climax

of a birth of a son.

And yet,

these ladies say

this remarkable thing

about a Moabite widow,

someone outside

of Israel,

someone who should be

not included in Israel.

And they say

that she should be better.

You know,

she's better

than seven sons.

I think in that,

it's that sons

do what sons do.

Sons grow up,

and if they

don't pass away

as they did

in this case,

they would marry.

And in the natural

scale of things,

that they would

have children.

It's just what

sons do.

But Ruth was not

her son.

Ruth actually

chose.

If you remember,

Ruth chose

to stay

with Naomi

and go back

to Israel.

She chose

the God of Israel.

She didn't have

to do any of this.

And because of

her love for Naomi,

she chose

to do this.

And as a result

of that,

and as a result

of her love,

she now has

this little bundle

of joy.

So in a sense,

sons don't try

to please their mother

with grandchildren,

but Ruth had to.

And the ladies

of Bethlehem,

they realize this,

and they mark that.

It's a remarkable

change from

Ruth,

the Moabite,

to one who's worth

more than seven sons.

I think that's

wonderful.

And so we have

the complete reversal,

the complete reversal

of chapter one

in chapter four.

But we don't end there.

You see,

we continually have

the unfolding

plan of God.

In verse 17,

it says,

the woman living there,

they said,

Naomi has a son,

and they named him

Obed,

and he was the

father of Jesse,

the father of David.

I suppose we could

read that quite quickly

and go,

oh, that's okay,

and we could all

go home.

Or,

I think we're having

lunch later,

we could just,

you know,

stop here.

But what does that

mean?

Baby Obed.

Names mean an awful

lot and have

quite big significance

in the book of Ruth.

we remember that

Naomi was sweet.

But then she said,

call me Mara

because I am bitter.

But now she's quite

happy for everybody

to call her Naomi again.

Naomi is sweet.

So baby Obed

is unusually named

by the ladies of the town

and they call him

Obed.

And this is quite

an odd name

when you think that

Boaz is a man

of standing

in the community.

He owns property.

He has people

working for him.

He's quite respected

in the elders.

But Obed means servant.

Baby Obed

is going to be a blessing.

He's going to serve

the people

of Bethlehem.

But I know

a better servant

who's going to be born

in Bethlehem.

Mark 10 says,

for even the Son of Man

did not come

to be served,

but to serve

and to give his life

as a ransom

for many.

See,

we have an even better

Obed,

an even better

servant.

And so we have

the baby servant

Obed,

but we have

the man Christ

Jesus who came

to seek

and to save us

and to serve us

by giving us

his life.

And then we have

the line

to David.

We have this little

small genealogy

that says

they named him Obed

and he was the

father of Jesse

and the significance

of that is then

he was the father

of David.

Now I want you

to work this out

maybe.

King David,

the greatest king

that Israel ever knew.

So if anybody

says to you,

you see that Bible,

it's made up.

No one would

make this up.

And just,

that's my word

to you this morning.

If you were going

to write a back story

for your hero,

if you're going

to write a back story

for the greatest king

of Israel,

you're not going

to make this

your back story.

you're not going

to make the back story

that you came from

a Moabite widow.

That's not how

you're going to,

if you like,

fabricate a genealogy.

And I think that

attests to its

historic accuracy

and its truth

that this is history.

This really happened.

This is David's

great-grandmother,

Ruth.

But we also know

that if you want

to flick over

in your Bible,

maybe you haven't

realized this,

but you can flick

over to Matthew.

I'm not sure

what page that is

in the church Bible.

Maybe someone

might find it

and shout it out

if that's helpful.

955.

So it's 965

if you're struggling

to find it.

My Bible doesn't

want to turn there

either,

so don't worry.

So Matthew

Matthew 1:1

chapter 1,

verse 1.

We have a different

genealogy

than the one

that's recorded

in Ruth 18.

It says,

this is the genealogy

of Jesus Christ,

the Messiah,

the greater

son of David,

son of Abraham.

And it reads,

see Abraham

was the father

of Isaac,

Isaac the father

of Jacob,

Jacob the father

of Judah,

and his brothers

in Judah

the father of Perez

and Zerah

whose mother

was Tamar.

Perez the father

of Hezron,

Hezron the father

of Ram,

Ram the father

of Aminadab,

Aminadab the father

of Nashon,

Nashon the flower

of Salmon,

Salmon the father

of Boaz

whose mother

was Rahab,

and Boaz

the father

of Obed

whose mother

was Ruth.

And Obed

the father

of Jesse,

and Jesse

the father

of King David.

And if you read on down

and it gets to the end,

it then says,

And Jacob, the father of Joseph,

the husband of Mary,

and Mary was the mother of Jesus

who is called the Messiah.

You see, in this little story,

Ruth didn't know,

David didn't know,

that they were taking part

in a genealogy

that was going to be added to.

And that genealogy

was going to go right the way through

and to the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

And we see that unfolding plan.

And so we learn from that

and we ask the question,

is God in control?

In a time, as we reminded earlier,

when Israel had no king,

what was God doing?

God was about his work.

He was moving people around.

He was moving Ruth to Boaz.

Boaz to Obed.

Because he had a plan

to bring about a king in Israel.

And his plan was to bring about David,

Israel's greatest human king.

But we know that David

wasn't good enough.

We know that David,

as great a king he was,

as great as a man

after God's own heart,

as the Bible tells us,

as great as a musician he was

and all the songs that he wrote,

he just wasn't quite good enough.

In fact, he was a murderer.

In fact, he committed adultery.

He fell into sin.

His family was a little bit broken up.

In fact, he morally,

he just didn't quite meet the mark, did he?

And so we needed someone greater than David.

And we only find that

in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So where are we heading to?

Well, we're heading to somewhere else.

And I would like to say,

I'm heading home.

You know, the Bible would say

that this world is not our home.

We're heading for a city

whose builder and maker

is God himself.

And so if we turn in Revelation,

if you want to turn there,

Revelation chapter 7,

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

I'm going to read some verses for you.

And so if you're a Christian this morning,

this is about you.

This is our future.

This is what we are waiting for.

And then verse 9 says,

And after this I looked,

and there before me was a great multitude

that no one could count.

You know,

from every nation, tribe, people, and language,

standing before the throne

and before the Lamb.

And they were wearing white robes

and they were holding palm branches

and in their hands

and they cried out in a loud voice

as we sang this morning,

Salvation belongs to our God

who sits on the throne

and to the Lamb.

And all the angels were standing

around the throne

and they,

with the elders

and the four living creatures,

and they fell down in their faces

before the throne

and they worshipped God

saying, Amen,

praise and glory and wisdom

and thanks and honor

and power and strength

be to our God

forever and ever.

Amen.

And it says just on down there

in verse 15,

Therefore they are before

the throne of God

and they serve Him

day and night in His temple.

And He who sits on the throne

will shelter them

in His presence.

And this is where we get

the fullness of Christ.

Never again will they hunger.

Never again will they thirst.

And the sun will not beat down on them

and nor any scorching heat.

For the Lamb at the center of the throne

will be their shepherd

and He will lead them

to springs of living water

and He will wipe away

every tear from their eyes.

Amen.

If you know and you love

the Lord Jesus Christ,

that is your future.

The future of Brexit

is in the hands

of the politicians.

You could say,

but my future

is in the hands

of my kinsman,

Redeemer.

The sad part of this

is that if you don't know

Christ on that day,

that will not be your future.

Your future will be

marred by

by the judgment

and payment

of your own sin.

And on that day,

you will need

a kinsman,

Redeemer.

You will need someone

who will legally stand,

if you like,

before God

and say,

know He's mine.

And if you don't

know Christ this morning

and you don't have that,

I would urge you to

to make Jesus

your guardian,

Redeemer.

But for us

who know

and know the Lord,

we're looking forward

to a day

when we'll never again

be hungry,

never again thirst,

never again

will we need

to put on

Factor 50 sun cream,

especially

for me.

I burn,

you know,

quite into the sun.

The rest of my family,

they all tan

in an instant.

There's a picture,

I think,

of me and my sister

and she looks like

she comes from,

you know,

Brazil.

And I'm standing there

as white

as a ghost

beside her.

But never again

am I going to have

to worry about

being scorched

by the heat of the sun.

Because when

Christ returns,

He's going to make

all things new.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father,