In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of holding onto something that is no longer rightfully ours. He refers to the book of Revelation, where a scroll with seven seals will be brought forth and Jesus, portrayed as a lamb that had been slain, will take the scroll from the right hand of God. The preacher emphasizes that Jesus is worthy to take the scroll and loose the seals because he was slain and redeemed us by his blood. The sermon also references the story of Ruth and Boaz, highlighting Boaz's recognition of Ruth's loyalty and faithfulness. The preacher draws a parallel between Boaz's actions and Jesus' eventual triumph over Satan, who is still trying to hold onto the world despite Jesus' redemption.

Shall we turn now to the Book of Ruth? As we were studying the Book of Judges last week, we pointed out that at the end of chapter 16, the end of the story of Samson, you actually came to the end of the history part of the Book of Judges. What followed in chapter 17 and on to the end were a couple of incidents or scenes that took place during the time of the judges, just to show that it was a time of spiritual confusion and moral decay as far as the nation was concerned. When the Danites moved their area of inheritance, a portion of them went on up to the northern part of the land, how that they captured this young priest and how he had these teraphims and so forth, these little images that had been made and just, it was just a time of spiritual confusion. And then it was a time of moral decay as we saw the conditions of the Benjamites and the sodomy that was beginning to be practiced by the men of Gibeah and its consequences. Now, that gives you one side of what was happening. There is another story that took place in the Book of Ruth opens, now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled. And so, the story of Ruth, again, is sort of an appendix to the Book of Judges in that this story fits back into the period when the judges were ruling over Israel. Now, it was a time of spiritual confusion, it was a time of apostasy, a time of moral declension, but yet in the midst of it all, God was working out His plan in those hearts and lives that were open to Him. And this is always true, though you may look at an overall condition of a nation or a people and say, boy, they're really in a mess, yet God is always working out His plan in the hearts and in the lives of those that are open unto Him. And so, here God was working in the period of moral declension, in this period of confusion, yet God was working in a very special way and the Book of Ruth gives us the insight into the work of God. Now, quite often when we live in a corrupted society such as we live today, and wherein our whole educational philosophy, they teach that the mores of a society determine what is right and wrong conduct. And thus, having established that as a sociological fact, as we look around and see the mores, we say, well, everybody's doing it and that becomes the criteria, it must be right. It is interesting that the Bible declares that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now, that is the biblical account of creation. You have in the educational circles today the humanistic philosophy that is actually prevailing within our educational system. And the humanistic philosophy, rather than saying that God created man, declares that man created God for his own convenience, because he needed something to believe in. He needed to have some kind of a guide for moral conduct and all, and so man created God. And that actually man's moral conduct is determined by the mores of his society. The Bible declares in the beginning God created man, and the moral conduct were standards that were established by God, which are absolutes. Humanism, God created, or man created God for his own convenience, and man establishes his own standards, his own mores, and thus they are relative to the situations. Now, living, and all of you have in some degree been affected by the humanistic philosophy that prevails in every level of our society today. The danger is falling into that trap of thinking, well, everybody is doing it, I'm weird or out of step because I'm not following along with the same pattern of the world in which I live. And to be accepted, I must join the crowd. And after all, if everybody's doing it, it must be all right. False. That is the philosophy of humanism expressed in its existentialism. Not so. God has established standards. Man is always trying to get a little twist on the standard that God has established. But what if this, and what if that, and trying to make it relate to a special case that God has established, the standards by which we are to live. God created man and established the moral standards for that man. So, God is always working. And in this confused, corrupted society in which we live, God still desires to work in the hearts and the lives of those that are open to the work of God. Oh, God help me that my heart might be open unto God so that He can work in my life in the midst of this corrupted society. Now, the Bible foresaw the corruption in which you are living today. The Bible very aptly expressed sort of the scientific attitudes of uniformitarianism that have prevailed, that have set the stage for the evolutionary thesis, which has, of course, set the stage for the whole humanism because God is no longer needed. Man evolved from the protozoa and the whole thing is tied together. And Peter said, in the last days there will be scoffers that will come saying, where is the promise of the Father? That is, of the coming again of Jesus Christ. Where is the Lord? He hasn't come. Since our fathers have fallen asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning. I defy you to find me a better definition of uniformitarianism. All things have continued as they were from the beginning. That is exactly what the dogma or the theory of uniformitarianism declares. All of the phenomena that has ever existed in the creation and the evolving of man into his present state can be observed in the world today. There have been no catastrophes and so forth. No dramatic changes. And it is interesting that Peter foresaw this scientific theory before it was ever propounded and he actually gave the greatest flaw within it. For this they were willingly ignorant, that God destroyed the world that was with a flood. They closed their eyes to that. The fact of the universal flood, which is by far a better explanation of the geological column and of the geology itself than is this theory of evolution. The geological column does not prove at all the theory of evolution. In fact, it raises great questions in regards to the theory of evolution because within the geological column there is a total absence of any transitional forms. And if the transitional forms took place over millions of years of evolving, surely we would have fossils that would show the transitional forms. So absent is the fossil record of transitional forms that it has led one of the professors at Stanford to come up with the magic bird kind of a theory, whereas a snake one time laid an egg and a bird flew out. It's the hopeful monster theory. And he had to come up with that because of the absence of transitional forms in the geological column rather than there being gradual changes. They're now saying suddenly in the Cambrian state there appeared multitudes of many faceted animals in highly developed forms. Remarkable. Hocus pocus dominocus. So it's a thing that we are in this society of which the Bible said perilous times would come. Men would be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. They would be fierce. They'd be incontinent, which speaks of this sexual freedom that people are advocating today and goes on to describe our modern day society. Jesus in referring to these things said because the iniquity of the earth is going to abound, the love of many is going to wax cold. But in the midst of this crooked and perverse world, God is still working in the hearts and lives of those that are open and surrendered unto Him. So in the period of Judges, a time much as today when the gays were parading and declaring their normalcy and desiring to actually propagate their own thing there in Gibeah and were publicly parading their perverse style of life. God was working in the hearts and lives of those that were open to God. Now, the book of Ruth is another insight that shows us how God can work and does work His purposes on the earth even under adverse circumstances. So it came to pass when the Judges ruled that there was a family in the land, a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, and he went to sojourn in the country of Moab with his wife and his two sons. And this man was a lima, or he was a limalack, and the name of his wife was Naomi, and the name of his sons were Malon and Chilion. And he was an Ephratite. Now, Ephratite or Ephra was the area, the general area in which Bethlehem was situated, like Santa Ana is situated in Orange County. Bethlehem was situated in the area called Ephra, so he was an Ephratite, like you might be called an Orange Countian because you live in Orange County. Now, the names are always interesting because the names are oftentimes significant to the story. They named their children and every name had a meaning. Now, they say that names have meanings today. And you can look back to the meaning of your names in some of the dictionaries, what your name actually means. The name limalack means my God is king, beautiful name. The name Naomi means pleasantness, a very beautiful name indeed. But the name Malon means sickly, and the name Chilion means pining. Now, often the children were named after circumstances of their birth. When Esau was born, he was all covered with hair, and so they called him Harry. The word Esau means hairy, and he's just a hairy little kid, so it's a good name. When his brother was born, his twin brother, he reached out and grabbed hold of Harry's heel. And so they said, look at that, he's a heel catcher, and they called him Yaakov, heel catcher. So, they were named after circumstances of their birth. Probably when Malon was born, perhaps he was premature. Maybe it was touch and go for a while, he just didn't look well. They said, oh, he's sickly, he's Malon. So, he picked up the name Malon, sickly. Later, when his brother was born, he didn't look much better, so they called him pining, sickly and pining. No wonder they died young, they were sickly and pining. So, in the land of Bethlehem, there was a famine, there was a drought, which does take place periodically over there. Last year, they had a drought. They heard that there was good land over in Moab, and so, Elimelech decided to sell out, and with his wife and two sons, move over to Moab. Which is the high plateau country across the Great Rift, the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, over on the other side, the high plateau country, which is very fertile area. So, they moved over to Moab, and while they were there, Elimelech died. And so, the boys married girls from Moab. The one married a girl by the name of Orpah, the other married a girl by the name of Ruth. And it came to pass, in time, that both of the boys also died without having any children. And so, Naomi said to the two daughters-in-law, go back and return to your families, to your mother's house, and may the Lord deal kindly with you, even as you have dealt with the dead and with me. So, during this period of family tragedy, these two girls actually showed a real depth of character. They were very kind to Naomi, and the comforting of Naomi. They took their tragedy very well. And so, Naomi is wishing them that they also might receive the same degree of kindness that they have displayed unto her. And the Lord grants that you find rest, each of you, in the house of her husband. So, may you both find some good boys and get married. May you have a happy married life. May you find someone else. And may you live at rest in the house of your husband. So, she's just encouraging the girls, hey girls, you know, you're better off here. You're better off with your families. And you're better off just getting married here with someone else. And so, the two girls went with their father for a while on the way back. And so, they wept and all. And then Naomi said to them again, look girls, I am really too old to have any more sons. And even if I had a hope of having sons, let's say that I was married now and became pregnant tomorrow. Would you want to wait until my sons grew up old enough to get married? I don't want to wait for… and anyhow, it's not going to happen. So, you just go ahead and return home and get, you know, your husbands and get married. And so, Orpah fell on her neck and kissed her and bid her farewell and returned to her mother's house. But Ruth then uttered these beautiful words, entreat me not to leave thee or to forsake thee or to return from following after thee. Because where you will go or where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. And God forbid, if anything but death should separate between us. And so, the devotion of Ruth to her mother-in-law, look, I'll go with you. Don't ask me to leave you or to forsake you or to return back to my family. For wherever you go, evidently there was a beautiful bond that was created between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. Very beautiful bond. Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. And God forbid, if anything but death should separate us. And so, they came back into the land. When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. And the two went till they came to Bethlehem. Now, when they arrived in Bethlehem, the people said, Oh, Naomi has returned. And she said, Don't call me Naomi. Now, let's put it in their language. They said, Oh, pleasantness has returned. She said, Don't call me pleasant. Call me bitter. For the Lord has dealt bitterly with me. Mara, bitter. Don't call me pleasant. Call me bitter. The Lord has dealt bitterly with me. Now, it is interesting that she sort of blames the tragedy on God. The Lord has dealt bitterly with me. There seems to be a natural inclination for us to blame God for our tragedies and especially for death. When Jesus arrived in Bethany at the time of the death of Lazarus, he had been very sick. His sister sent the urgent message down to the Jordan where Jesus was staying. Come quickly, the one you love is sick. And Jesus tarried there at the Jordan for two days and then headed off for Bethany. Now, for a message to get from Bethany to Jordan took two days. Jesus stayed there an extra two days and it took him two days to get back to Bethany. So, in the meantime, six days had transpired from the time the message went out. Your friend is very sick. The one you love is very sick. And it was six days later that Jesus was arriving in Bethany and the girls knew that it was too late. And they knew that it was actually later than it should be. He could have arrived earlier. They were aware that he was delaying. They didn't know why. And Martha came out to meet him and in an accusing way said, Lord, if you would only have been here, my brother would not have died. Lord, where were you when we needed you? Lord, why didn't you come quicker? We told you to come quickly, the one you love is sick. Lord, what took you so long? Why didn't you respond, Lord? And really, the idea is she was blaming the death of her brother on the Lord. Lord, you could have averted this. Now, we know that that is true. We know that God does hold life in his hands. We know that God is able to sustain life. We know that God is able to restore life. We know that the days of man are appointed of God. And thus, there is this inclination to blame God for death. And in a sense, that is right. But in another sense, we only feel bitterness because we have a totally wrong concept of death as it being the end. Oh, he had his whole life in front of him. Everything going for him. Oh, what a shame. I heard this so much when my younger brother was killed. Handsome, good-looking, big guy. Just had everything going for him. Good sense of business and was making investments and just everything falling in the line. Bought an airplane so he could get back and forth between his business better. Crashed in his airplane. Oh, what a shame. Whole life in front of him. What a shame. Yeah, what a shame. He got there before I did. By the time I arrive, he's going to know every nook and cranny. It's going to take me a while to catch up. You know, he's with the Lord. What's so bad about that? He's there in God's kingdom. What's so sad? The sad part is that I miss him. The sad part that I miss all the fun we used to have together. He was an exciting person and he used to always be doing, you know, crazy things and exciting things. And I miss that. I sorrow because what I have lost. But I don't sorrow for him. I'm jealous of him being with the Lord. How glorious. Not having to hassle with gas lines, with bills, and all of the kind of things that we have to experience. How wonderful. But I'll catch up with him one of these days. But we have the wrong attitude, you see, concerning death. We look at this life as though, oh, it is so precious. It's so wonderful. Hang on to it. That's because of the uncertainty of that life that he has promised to us. Our lapses of faith. Don't call me pleasant. Call me bitter. That's sad. It's sad whenever you become bitter over any experience of life because bitterness only hurts you. We are warned to be careful of any root of bitterness within our lives because of the effect that it can have on your total life. The bitter roots can bring forth bitter fruit in your life. And we must guard against bitterness. And bitterness is an attitude that I choose because of the circumstances that I face. I don't have to become bitter. I choose to become bitter. For there are other people who go through the exact similar circumstances and they become better people because they learn to commit and trust in God all the more. They say, well, it's all in the Lord's hands and I belong to the Lord. And God has just given me strength and God has given me the capacities and all. And they become actually better people. Some of the greatest people I know are people who have suffered incessantly through life. And through the suffering, there has been a depth of character developed that is unparalleled by others who have never experienced suffering or sorrow. Out of suffering, out of sorrow, the roots can go deep into God and the life can become beautiful and strong and powerful. Powerful. Or you can root into bitterness and your life becomes bitter and tight and tense. It's tragic when a person gives himself over to bitterness. It's all in how you look at the situation. I can look at it and I can become bitter and say, if God loved me, then why did He allow that to happen to me? And my life becomes tense and I become tight and my blood vessels begin to constrict and there's not a real flowing anymore and my whole life is so tense and I begin to actually get the effects of it physically. Or I can say, well, the Lord has given, the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. All things work together for good and God has a plan and He loves me and I know that He's watching over me and whatever it is, God's working out a plan in my life. Praise the Lord. God, You know that I need to have this worked out. You're just seeking to conform me into Your image. Have Your perfect work within my life, God, and I can become a better person and an open person and filled with God's love and I can flow out the beautiful fruits of love and faith and hope to others. Naomi, for the moment, was responding in the wrong way. Don't call me pleasant. Call me bitter. Oh, sad. That's sad. When you've allowed the circumstances of your life to jaundice your feelings and you turn bitter against God and bitter against the circumstances of life. Naomi thought it was all over. She thought that was the end of the road. She didn't know the plan that God was working out. She said, I went away full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty. Why do you call me pleasant? Seeing the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has afflicted me. So, Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her. They came out of the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. Now, Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth in the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz. So, Elimelech had, and in the fourth chapter, Boaz calls him our brother Elimelech. So, a relation, perhaps a full brother, perhaps a half-brother, who became a very wealthy man, a mighty man of wealth. And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, let me now go to the field and glean the ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, go, my daughter. Now, in the law, God made a provision for the poor people. There were welfare laws in those days. I think they are far superior to the welfare laws today. It wasn't just a give-me or give-out dole to people, but the law declared that when you had fields, you could only harvest your fields once. You couldn't go back through to pick the second time. You had one shot at your harvest. You went through once, that was it. Nor did you pick the second time. You didn't pick up anything off the ground, so that the poor of the land could come into your fields after your harvesters had gone through. And whatever wasn't ripe when they had gone through, whatever was there, was free for the poor people. And thus, they could always go into the fields and they could come in after your harvesters. They could pick up any vegetables or any of the fruits or whatever that remained after your first once harvest through the thing. Then, the rest was left for the poor. And thus, were the poor of the land taken care of. It was a very excellent welfare law. The poor of the land were taken care adequately by this law. If you wanted to eat, there was always food. You could always go out into the field and gather it after the harvesters. And so, Ruth said to Naomi, I'm going to go out and glean in the fields after the harvesters. And it says, and it was her hap, or we would say today, it so happened that she was in the part of the field that belonged unto Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. It so happened. No, that's not so. Nothing just so happens. When we relate a thing, we say, well, you know, it was the strangest coincidence. But really, when you're God's child and God's hand is on your life, there aren't really coincidences. God's hand is in all of these things. Now, when God guides our lives, somehow we've got a mental concept that in order for God to guide me, there's got to be some kind of a mystical, spooky kind of a aura, you know, where you almost go into a semi-trance and a fog begins to sort of come around you. And you hear a voice in the echo chamber. And it says, go left, you know. You know, and you expect God to lead you in some kind of a mystical way. When in reality, God leads you in such natural ways, you say, well, it just happened that I was there at that moment, you know. For the last few weeks, my wife has been asking me concerning a doctor that was with us in Israel last year who helped her when she broke her arm. She said, I'm so concerned about him. I wonder if everything is all right. I haven't heard. We send them a Christmas card and we haven't heard. I wonder, oh, I wonder how he's doing. Have you seen? No, I haven't seen him. I wonder how they're doing. And she's been on to me for this for a few weeks. Well, my son's church, the ladies were having a retreat up at Idlewild last weekend. Not this, but the previous. And so Kay went up to teach the ladies. And because the dust was getting to her, she decided not to eat lunch there in the camp, but to go into a little restaurant called the Bread Basket. So as she was in there eating lunch, who should come in? But the doctor's wife, who was passing by and decided, oh, I want to get one of the specialties of the bakery shop there. And so she just on impulse ran in to get something out of the bakery. It just so happened. You see? No, those things don't happen. God is leading. God is guiding. And God puts these things together. But it happens so naturally that you don't recognize it's God doing it. God leads us in very natural ways. It comes as a thought. It comes as an impulse. It comes as an idea or it comes as an inspiration. Oh, I'm hungry for a tamale. Gotta have a tamale, you know. Well, where should we go? Well, let's go there. And God is actually putting together circumstances. You get there and there's the plan of God unfolding. He's been guiding and it so happened. But no, it doesn't so happen. God's hand is there leading and guiding. For the steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord and he delights in his way. And if you will, in all your ways, just acknowledge him, he will direct your path. Now, looking at it from our side, we say, and it so happened that she came into the field of Boaz. But in reality, God was holding her by the hand and directing her to that field. As she was going out wondering, where in the world am I going to glean? You know, oh my, this is all new. I don't know anybody around here. Oh, there's some gals out there. I'll follow them. God was just leading all the way along. It's neat the way the Lord does lead our lives. It's glorious the way God directs our paths as we just yield ourselves to him. Before I get out of bed in the morning, I say, Lord, today is yours. My life is yours. Now you just leave me, Lord, whatever you have for me. Direct my life today, Lord. I don't have any hard, fast plans that can't be broken, Lord. You just bring into my path whatever you want. I want to be open to you today. And it's always exciting because you never know just what God has in mind for you each day as he puts the circumstances together. And we look at it and say, man, that was the most amazing coincidence I've ever seen. You know, not really. God was bringing the ends together all the way along. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and he said to the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered him, the Lord bless thee. Now Boaz does show many characteristics of a fine, outstanding, godly man. Just remember, it's a time of spiritual declension and apostasy, the period of the judges. But here is a man who is walking with God, who comes out and greets his servants by saying, the Lord be with you. And evidently there's a good management relationship here with servants and they say, and the Lord bless thee. We'll see other indications of this man's spiritual nature. Then said Boaz unto his servant that was over the reapers, where did this chick come from? That's a modern translation. And the servant that was over the reapers answered and said, it is the Moabite that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. And she said, I beg you or pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. And she came and has continued even from morning till now. She only tarried just for a little time in the house. Then said Boaz unto Ruth, listen, my daughter, don't glean in any other fields, neither go from here, but abide here fast by my maidens and let your eyes be on the field that they reap and follow after them. For I have charged the young men that they shall not touch thee. And when you're thirsty, you can go to the vessels and drink of the water that the young men have drawn. And she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and said unto him, why have I found grace in thine eyes that you should take knowledge of me seeing I'm a stranger? And Boaz answered and said unto her, it has been fully shown to me all that you have done unto your mother-in-law since the death of your husband and how you have left your father and mother in the land of your nativity and are coming to a people which you did not know before this. The Lord recompense thy work and a full reward be given to thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust. So here's a beautiful scene. They're meeting. He speaks to Ruth and he said, you know, just stay in the fields of my maidens, follow with them. Don't go to any other fields. And when you get thirsty, you can drink from the containers that the young men have drawn. And she's amazed by the kindness. She knows she's a stranger here. She said, you know, how come you're treating me so kindly? I'm a stranger. And he said, I've heard all about you. I've heard about your kindness to Naomi. And I've heard about your decision really to come into a new land and under the shelter of Jehovah. And so his beautiful words may Jehovah recompense thy work. May the Lord just reward your decisions and a full reward be given to you from Jehovah, the God of Israel under whose wings you have come to trust. The people there were very close to nature. They were very earthy people. And thus they, they pictured God in earthy pictures. And one of the pictures that they had of God was that loving, protecting concern over his children. As a mother hen has that loving, protective concern over her little chicks so that when danger threatens, the little chicks run under the mother who ruffles out her feathers and covers them and stands there to protect them against danger. This is one of the pictures of God in the Old Testament. Under his wings shalt thou trust. And this picture of a mother hen brooding and protecting and covering with her wings, with her feathers, her little brood. It's a very earthy kind of a thing. And if you haven't been around a farm or chickens, you don't understand it fully. Fortunately, when I was a kid, even growing up here in California, we were country enough around here that we still had chickens on the backyard. But may the Lord reward you under whose wings, the God of Israel under whose wings you have come to trust. Trusting in God now, looking to him. Then she said, let me find favor in thy sight, my Lord, for you have comforted me and you have spoken friendly unto your handmaid, though I am not like one of your own handmaidens. And Boaz said to her, at mealtime, you can come here and eat of the bread and dip your morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers and he reached her parched corn and she did eat and was sufficed and left. And so Boaz is showing a definite interest in her, reaching over and getting some parched corn for her, inviting her to eat and showing the protection. And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men saying, now you let her glean even among the sheaves. Don't reproach her. Now, if she happens to wander over into the area where you haven't been yet, don't yell at her, let her go. And then every once in a while, just let a handful drop on purpose for her. So Ruth gleaned that day and she came up with about a bushel of barley so that when she got back to Naomi, Naomi said, where in the world were you gleaning today? The Lord be gracious unto that man. Wow. And Ruth said, well, I happened to be in the field of a man whose name was Boaz. And Naomi said unto her, blessed is he of the Lord who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said to her, the man is near of kin to us. He is one of our next Goels, kinsmen redeemers. This man is a family member. He is a Goel. He's a kinsman redeemer to us. One of the next of kinsmen redeemers. And Ruth, the Moabitess said, he said unto me also, you shall stay fast by my young men until they have ended all my harvest. And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, it is good, my daughter, that you do not go out with his maidens and that they do not, that you do not go out with his maidens and that they do not meet you in any other field. So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of the barley harvest and of the wheat harvest. And she stayed there with her mother-in-law. Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said unto her, my daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee that it may be well with thee? And now is not Boaz of our family with whose maidens you have been working? Behold, he winnows the barley tonight in the threshing floor. So watch yourself, put on your perfume and your beautiful gown and get down to the threshing floor, but don't let them see you until they have finished eating and drinking. And it shall be when he lies down to sleep that you mark carefully where he's lying and then go in and uncover his feet and lay down there and he will tell you what you're to do. And she said unto her, all that you say to me, I will do. So she went down to the floor and she did according to all that her mother-in-law had instructed her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, his heart was merry and he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn. And she came very quietly and uncovered his feet and laid down. Now about midnight, he woke up and was afraid. As he was rolling over, he became aware of a fact that a woman was lying there at his feet. And he said, who are you? And she answered, I'm Ruth, your handmaid. Spread therefore thy blanket or covering over thine handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman. Now under the law, because God sought to preserve families, if a man married a wife and died before they had any children, then it was his brother's obligation to take that woman as his wife, so that the first son that was born would be named after the dead brother, so that the family's name would continue in Israel. In the book of Genesis, about the 38th chapter or so, we find that Judah had a son who took a gal as his wife and he died without having any children. Tamar was the name of the wife. And so the second son took her and he died without having any children. And Judah was afraid to give the third son. And so he said, well, he's too young to get married. Wait for him. And then long after the guy was old enough to get married, Judah hadn't really come through with the third son. And so Tamar took things into her own hands. But it's a case where this law was being enacted and Judah was in the wrong for withholding this son. It was just the law to keep the family name alive. Now, because Elimelech had died and his two sons had died, the family name was about to die out. So she is actually asking Boaz to take the part of the Goel, the kinsman redeemer, and to have a son by her that could be named after the family of Elimelech so that that name would not die as a family in Israel. Actually is what she was asking. Cover me with this covering of the family, because you are a Goel, you are the kinsman redeemer. And he said to Ruth, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter, for you have shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as you followed not the young men, whether they were poor or rich. Now, Boaz was probably an older man. He was very flattered that this younger girl, rather than following after these young guys, would ask him to fulfill this kinsman relationship, this Goel kinsman redeemer relationship. Again, notice his is blessed be thou of the Lord. He shows all the way through good, godly characteristics. And he said, Now my daughter, fear not, for I will do unto you all that you require. For all the city and my people know that you are a virtuous woman. Ruth's reputation had gotten around. She is a virtuous girl. Her taking care of her mother-in-law, her whole attitude of really worshipping and serving God, word had gotten around concerning Ruth. She's a virtuous girl. And he said, I will do all that the law requires and what you're requiring. Don't be afraid. I'm going to do it. But it is true that I am a near kinsman. I'm close family relative. However, there is a kinsman that is closer than I am. Now you, Terry, tonight and in the morning, if he will not perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, fine. Or if he will perform unto you the part of the kinsman, fine, let him perform unto thee. But if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee as the Lord liveth, lie down until morning. Now, not always would they fulfill this part. Sometimes they didn't like the gal. Your brother married sort of a, you know, right? And he died and didn't have any children. And you say, hey, no way. I don't want her. And so you'd take off your shoe and hand it to her like, hey, you're a dirty shoe as far as I'm concerned. And you're giving up your right. I don't want to marry you. I don't want to have anything to do with you. And she then would spit in your face and you would be called the man from whom the shoe was loosed in Israel. You were considered sort of a dirty dog kind of a guy because you didn't fulfill the family obligations, no family loyalty. So that was the little ritual. And that oftentimes happened. A fella didn't want to carry through, hey, I don't want to marry her. I don't want the obligations to her. You know, not interested. And so he'd take off his shoe and hand it to her. So he said to Ruth, don't worry, I will do it. But the hitch is there's another fellow who is actually closer of kin and he has the right first to be the kinsman. And if he is fine, but if he doesn't, then I will be the kinsman unto thee. I will raise up a child and I will take you as my wife and I will fulfill this obligation. So don't worry, one way or the other, it's going to be taken care of. And so he said, lie down till the morning. And so she laid his feet until morning and she rose up before anyone could know each other. In other words, it was still so dark you couldn't recognize anybody. And he said, don't let it be known that a woman was in the floor, the threshing floor tonight. And so he said, bring me the veil that you have on you and hold it. And she held it. And he measured out six measures of barley and laid it on her. And she went into the city. And when she came to her mother-in-law, it was still dark. And so Naomi said, who is it? And she said, who art thou? My daughter. And so Ruth told her all that Boaz had said and done. And she said, these six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, don't go empty to your mother-in-law. Then Naomi said, she's a wise old gal, she's been around. She said, sit still my daughter until you know how the matter will fall. For this man is not going to rest until he's gotten everything taken care of. And so when Boaz rose up, he went to the gate of the city. He sat down there and behold, the kinsmen of which he was speaking came by. And he said, ho, such a one, turn aside and sit down here. And so he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city and he said, sit down here. And so they sat down and he said to the kinsmen, Naomi that is come again out of the country of Moab is selling a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech. And I thought to let you know saying, buy it before the inhabitants and the elders of the people. And if you will redeem it, then redeem it. But if you will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know for there is none to redeem it beside thee. And I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. Now, another Jewish law declared that whenever you sold a parcel of land, there was always a revisionary clause where you had the right to buy the land back again within a specified period of time. Usually they would write up the deed in a scroll and then they would seal the scroll. And in that specified period of time, when the right of redemption had come and the revisionary clause, then you could bring the title deed and you could break the seals and you could with the elders of the city they're present. And you would show that you had the right and the ability to buy the field back. You could always buy back your property. The revision clause was in every sale, the right of buying it back. Now, under the Jewish law, if you were not able because you were too poor to buy the land back when the time of redemption had come, then one of your family members, your next of kin could step in and buy it in order that it remained in the family because God wanted to preserve the family inheritances in Israel. So, the next of kin could come in and take your part or your place in the purchasing or the repurchasing of the land. So, when Naomi and Elimelech had moved to Moab, they had sold their parcel and according to the revisionary clause, the time was up and now it was again coming on the block, the time to redeem it. So, he said, you know, Naomi is getting ready to sell this parcel. She can't redeem it. The right of redemption is yours and if you're going to redeem it, then redeem it. If not, there's no one except me after you. And so, what do you want to do? And the fellow says, well, I'll redeem it. And so, Boaz said unto him, in 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 upon his inheritance. In other words, you're going to have to take Ruth as a wife and have a son in order that the name of the inheritance might continue. And the fellow says, oh man, that would mess up my own inheritance. In other words, he's already married and he already had children lined up for the inheritance. He said, man, my wife wouldn't go for that. We can't handle that one. He said to Boaz, why don't you redeem it? And so, Boaz was very happy about that turn of events. And so, the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself lest I mess up my own inheritance. You redeem it. Take the right to thyself for I cannot redeem it. Now, there was a custom in the former times. Now, this custom died out. However, it is interesting. There was a lady recently in Israel who tried to get her brother-in-law to enact this old law because her husband died. And so, she tried to get him to marry her and all to fulfill the ancient law and all. And he refused to do it. And so, she insisted that he take off. She sued him over the thing and take off his shoes so she could spit in his face and all. And so, they did go through this ceremony of recent vintage in Israel. But actually, it was a custom that died out in time. But it is saying in the older days, they did have this custom. So, the book of Ruth was written at some later date. And so, he's recording. Now, this was the manner in the former times in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing. For to confirm all things, a man had to take off his shoe and give it to his neighbor. And this was the testimony in Israel. So, the fellow took off his shoe and handed it to Boaz. Therefore, the kinsman said to Boaz, buy it for thee. So, he drew off his shoe. And Boaz said to the elders and to the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Chileon's and Melon's of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Melon, have I purchased to be my wife to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance that the name of the dead is not cut off from among his brethren and the gate of his place. You are witnesses this day. So, I have purchased the whole thing, all that belong to Naomi and to Elimelech and to Melon and Chileon. And I have purchased Ruth to be my wife. Now, here is an interesting case where because of his love for Ruth, he bought the field in order that he might obtain the bride. His primary interest was not the field at all. He was a very mighty man of wealth. He didn't need any more fields, but he bought the field in order to obtain the bride. And in that, he becomes a very beautiful picture of Jesus Christ who bought the world in order that he might purchase his bride, the church, out of the world. Not interested necessarily in the planet Earth as such, but interested and in love with his bride, Jesus purchased the world in order to take his treasure. So, in the kingdom parables, the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man going through a field, discovering a treasure, who for the joy thereof immediately goes out and sells all that he has in order that he might buy the field and obtain the treasure. So, Jesus, seeing the treasure, his church, his bride within the world, bought the whole world in order to take his bride out of it. A beautiful, beautiful sort of a parallel here with Boaz and Ruth and Jesus and the church. And all the people that were in the gate and the elders said, we are the witnesses, and the Lord make the woman that has come unto thine house like Rachel and Leah, which too did build the house of Israel. And do thou worthily in Euphrates and be famous in Bethlehem. And let thy house be like the house of Phares, whom Tamar bear unto Judah of the seed, which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. Now, it is interesting that they speak of Judah and Tamar and Phares, because here is where this whole thing, this particular law, I mentioned earlier that one of Judah's sons married Tamar, he died without having any children. Judah gave the other son, he died without having any children. Judah then was reluctant to give his third son, wait until he grows up, he's too young. And after a period of waiting and all, Judah hadn't come through with the third son. So, as I said, Tamar took things in her own hands. What she did is she put on the clothes of a prostitute. And she went out and sat there at a place in the path where Judah was walking by. And Judah, she was all veiled, had the garb of a prostitute on, he thought she was a prostitute. And he said, he propositioned her. And she said, well, what will you pay me? And he said, well, I'll give you a little goat out of the flocks. And she said, well, how do I know you'll come through with it? And he said, well, I'll give you my ring as a pledge. So, he came in unto Tamar, had relations with her, and gave her his ring as a pledge that he would send back a goat to her. That was what he propositioned for. So, Tamar took off the clothes of a prostitute, went back home, was pregnant. And he sent, Judah sent his servant back to get his ring back with a young little goat. And the guy came and he looked and there was no prostitute sitting there at this area where Judah said she, you know, was. And so, he said to the guys around there, where's the prostitute usually hangs out here? There's no prostitute hangs out here. So, he came back to Judah, he said, hey, I couldn't find any. And the fellow said there's no prostitute hangs out around there. So, Judah said, oh, well, let it go. Then word came to Judah, your daughter-in-law Tamar is pregnant. So, bring her forth, we'll stone her. And so, she came forth and she held out the ring and she said by the man who owns this ring, am I pregnant? Now, you see, it was the obligation of a kinsman to raise up a child for the dead sons. Judah was trapped by the young gal into doing it. And he acknowledged that she was, you know, you're more righteous than I am. I was really withholding, you're more righteous than I am. And the son that was born was called Perez. And he became a part of the line of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. And so, he was also of the line of Elimelech. Coming on down, he was one of the ancestors of Elimelech. And so, the people said, here's a similar situation, an older man fulfilling the kinsman part, raising up a son and may the Lord bless you and may she be like Tamar who bore Perez. May you have a son and may there be a progeny that comes forth, a blessed progeny that comes forth from this relationship. And so, the people in their congratulations to him go back into his own ancestry to a somewhat similar situation, at least the situation where the kinsman raised up the family name for those who had died. And so, let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. So, Boaz took Ruth and she was his wife. And when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception. She bore a son and the woman said to Naomi, blessed be Jehovah, which has not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life and a nourisher of thine old age for thy daughter-in-law which loves thee, which is better to thee than seven sons hath borne him. So, Naomi who said, call me bitter, is now experiencing really the blessings and the joy of a grandson, knowing now that the family's name is not going to die. And they're saying, may he be a blessing unto you and so forth and a nourisher of your old age. And Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and became a nurse unto it. And actually, she wet nursed then her little grandson, which was a very common thing in those days. And the women, her neighbors, gave it a name saying, there is a son born to Naomi. And they called his name Obed, which means worshiper. And he is the father of Jesse, who is the father of David. So, the grandfather of David, who became king of Israel, this is the parentage and all. Now, these are the generations of pharaohs. He begat Hezron, Hezron begat Ram, Ram begat Abinadab, Abinadab begat Nashon, Nashon begat Salmon, Salmon begat Boaz, Boaz begat Obed, Obed begat Jesse, Jesse begat David. So, ten generations are listed from pharaohs unto David. So, we have the background of the genealogy of David, which also becomes the background of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. For Christ came through the genealogy of David, which came through the genealogy of Pharaohs, who was born of Tamar by Judah in this unsavory kind of a situation. And here you have Amoabitess, who were cursed by God as far as the children of Israel were concerned, who could not come into the house of God to the tenth generation. And here happens to be ten generations listed to David. And so, you have the line of Christ, so that no matter what your background, you can always identify with Him. You say, well, my relatives weren't the, you know, nicest people in the block. Well, neither were his. And thus, each man can identify with Jesus Christ in a unique and special way. Even as Boaz was the kinsman-redeemer, fulfilled the law, redeemed the property in order to get the bride, so Jesus Christ is our kinsman-redeemer. He became a man in order that He might be next of kin to man in order that He could redeem man. It was necessary for Him in order to be the kinsman-redeemer, the goel, to become a man. That was an essential. That is why the Incarnation, so that as a man, He could be a kinsman-redeemer to redeem man, because the earth had been sold by Adam to Satan. Now the whole deal has been wrapped up in a scroll, and it's sealed with seven seals. Satan now rules the world. It's his. It belongs to him. He took it from Adam, or Adam actually sold out to Satan. Jesus came to redeem the world back to God, to pay the price of the redemption, which was His own blood, His death. Now in Hebrews, it says, and God has put all things in subjection unto Him, Jesus Christ, but we do not yet see all things in subjection unto Him. We don't see the whole thing yet established as it's going to be, the kingdom age. But we see Jesus, who was made a little Lord in the angels in order that He might suffer death, crowned with glory and honor, waiting really for that day in which the earth is to be redeemed back to God. Now there is a period of time in the history of Israel when Saul was king over Israel, and because of his disobedience to God, God said to Samuel, go down to the house of Jesse and anoint one of his sons to be the king. And so Samuel came down to the house of Jesse, and the first son, Eliab, came in, good-looking, big, strong guy, and Samuel said, wow, what a good-looking… surely this is the one God wants. And the Lord said, hey, no, no. You look on the outward appearance, but I look on the heart. And so one by one, Jesse paraded his sons through, and the Lord didn't bear witness to any of them. And finally, Samuel said, is that all the boys you've got? I've got one more, but he's just a kid. He's out there watching the sheave. I didn't figure he was of any account. Well, bring him in. And went out and whistled. David came running in, sweaty and dirty, and the Lord said to Samuel, that's the one. Samuel took this cruise of oil and poured it over David's head, and this little kid standing there with oil running down him, and he didn't know what was going on, you know. But God anointed him king over Israel. Now what happened? Did Saul suddenly abdicate the throne, and David sitting on? Oh, no, no, no. Saul now began to try to destroy David. He attempted to kill him. He attempted to drive him, and ultimately drove him out of the country. For Saul was trying to hang on to that which was no longer rightfully his. And he was doing his best by fighting force to hold on to that which didn't belong to him anymore. Now we have a sequel to that. The world in technically belongs to Jesus. He redeemed it. He paid the price. And yet, we do not yet see all things in subjection unto him. Satan is still hanging on, doing his best by force to drive Jesus out. To hang on to that which is no longer rightfully his. To hold by force that which is no longer rightfully his. But the day is coming, as is recorded in the fifth chapter of the book of Revelation, when this scroll with the seven seals will be brought forth. And the angel will declare who is worthy to take this scroll and to loose the seals. And Jesus will step forth as a lamb that hath been slain. He'll take this scroll out of the right hand of God. As the church sings his praises, worthy is the lamb to take the scroll and to loose the seals. For he was slain and has redeemed us by his blood. This word redemption again. He's redeemed us by his blood out of all of the nations, tribes, tongues and people. And hath made us unto our God, kings and priests. And we shall reign with him upon the earth. And then as you go through the book of Revelation, you see him beginning to break the seals. And in the 10th chapter, he comes back upon the earth, sets one foot upon the earth, one upon the sea, holds up the scroll that is now open, the title deed showing his rights. As they declare the kingdoms of this world have now become the kingdoms of our Lord. And he begins his reign. There shall be no longer a delay. And he begins his reign over the earth. He takes that which is rightfully his, lays claim to it and establishes God's kingdom upon the earth. And so here you have in the history of Israel and actually in the history of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, a little foreshadowing of the future when Jesus comes as king of kings and Lord of lords to take that which is rightfully his. But the whole transaction as Boaz had the elders of the city there and they went through this whole thing. So the 24 elders gathered in heaven around the throne as this legal transaction takes place. And of course, we will be gathered there too, because we got to sing this song because only we can sing it as this whole thing is consummated there in heaven. Oh, I can hardly wait. You know, Satan is at his day. You look at the world today and you see the results of rebellion against God. Oh, Lord, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. So we pray. Father, we thank you for the hope of thy soon coming kingdom, thy return for your church and our being gathered together with thee around the throne of God. When you take that authority and dominion that is rightfully yours because you died, your blood was shed for our redemption, Lord. Give us that strength that we need, that guidance that we need, that wisdom that we need in the meantime as we, Lord, seek to represent you and your kingdom in this foreign territory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.