I invite you to turn with me
to the book of Ruth. Last week I tried to give you
a little bit of an overview of the book of Ruth and its purpose
and place in the Word of God. This week I want to begin a series
of studies concerning the message which God sets forth in this
wonderful Old Testament book. I titled the study this morning,
A Visitation of Bread. Let's read the first seven verses
of the book of Ruth. Ruth chapter 1, verse 1. Now it came to pass in the days
when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. Not every land, but the land
of Canaan. a particular land. And a certain
man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to sojourn in a country of Moab,
he and his wife and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech,
and the name of his wife, Naomi, and the name of his two sons,
Malon and Chilion. Ephraim. That's where they lived,
that particular place of Bethlehem. And they came into the country
of Moab and continued there. And Limelech, Naomi's husband,
died. And she was left and her two
sons, and they, that is her two sons, took them wives of the
women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah,
and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten
years. Now I know that he meant this
visit to be a short visit, a sojourn. He was just going there to relieve
the pressure of the famine so he didn't lose everything he
owned, and then he was going to go right back up to Judah. But it didn't work out that way.
They were there about ten years, and Malon and Jelion died also,
both of them, and the woman was left of her two sons and her
husband. And she arose with her daughters-in-law,
that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had
heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited
his people in giving them bread. Wherefore, she went forth out
of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with
her, and they went on the way to return unto the Lord, and
unto the land of Judah. Now, by way of introduction,
let me say that the book of Ruth is about the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what it's about. All these Old Testament, to Him
give all the prophets witness. It's all about Him and the salvation
that God has purposed in Him and through Him of His people. It's all about the glory of God. That's what's behind creation. That's what's behind the fall.
That's what's behind God's providence. That's what's behind the history
of this world. God purposed to save a people
for the glory of His name. He's going to manifest His glory. What makes him God? What makes
him God alone? He's going to manifest that in
the salvation of a people. The book of Ruth is about the
Lord Jesus Christ and the redemption of his bride, who is the church. And let me say this, I want to
emphasize some things. The characters of the book of
Ruth are real. These are real people. The places where all this took
place are actual places. You can go visit that land today. And the events that transpired
really happened. And it's a mistake of too many,
I think, to suppose these Old Testament accounts to be fables
to teach lessons of life. That's what they say. A lady
asked me one time during a conversation, she said, you don't really believe
that God spoke and the universe appeared out of nothing. You
don't really believe that, do you? Huh? You don't really believe that
God flooded the whole earth. and saved eight souls and a bunch
of animals in a wooden boat. You don't really believe that,
do you? You don't really believe that
he made the sun stand still and took the Jordan River at flood
stage and backed it up and dried the land and Israel passed across
on dry land through the Jordan. You don't really believe that,
do you? You don't really believe that
he actually made iron float up out of the river. parted the
Red Sea, let Israel pass, and drowned out the whole Egyptian
army. You don't really believe these
things actually happened. And I said, yes, I do. And the reason you don't is because
you can't explain it. And she agreed. And she said,
if you can explain it, I'll believe it. I said, I can't explain anything
about God, and who needs a God you can explain to start with?
If you can explain God, then you're God, or equal with God. He said, whom will you compare
me to? There isn't anything out here to compare me to. I'm God. I'm God. And this book is either the inspired
Word of God or it's a total sham. There's nothing in between. Don't
ever get the idea that this thing is a compilation of a bunch of
fables. This is the Word of God. It's
been preserved for thousands of years. They've tried to destroy
it, they've tried to burn it, they've tried to do away with
it, and here it stands. It's either God breathed or it's
the biggest lie ever put over on men. And there's nothing in
between. And men and women reject the
Word of God to be divinely inspired because they can't explain it. The lives of the people in this
book of Ruth were arranged of God and preserved in the Word
of God to prefigure the redemption of His people in his son. Now that's the reason for the
book. If you miss this, you can still get all these lessons.
There's lessons throughout the book, all kinds of lessons online. But if that's all you get out
of this book, you missed it, because it's a book of redemption.
It's a book of redemption. And history is but the servant
of God's providence showing us over and over in time how God
saves sinners through the person and work of His Son. That's what
He's doing. And He did it throughout the
ages. He did it in the garden. He did it in the ark. He did
it after the ark. He did it in the law of Moses.
He did it in the sacrifice. All down through time. God spoke through His prophet
Isaiah. And he said, remember the former
things of old. What's he talking about? He's
talking about man's fall in the garden. He's talking about redemption
in the lamb's land. Remember that. Remember your
deliverance out of Egypt. Remember how God saved eight
souls on that ark. Remember the former things of
old. all of these things, for I am
God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like
me. Well, what sets you apart from
everything else? Well, here it is, declaring the
end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that
are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I'll
do all my pleasures. That's what sets God apart. I
can't tell you what's going to happen this afternoon. But he
can. He can. Nothing takes God by
surprise. And the story of Ruth is recorded
to teach us about the accomplished redemption of Christ figuratively. Now, I want to give you A New
Testament example about what I'm saying. Somebody's going
to say, oh yeah, he's going to take everything in the Word of
God and he's going to make it some kind of a figure, some kind
of a type. I don't know where he comes up
with that. Well, I'm going to show you where I come up with
it. Over in Hebrews chapter 9. The Apostle Paul gives a brief
description of the whole of the ceremonial law of God. Old Testament economy concerning
Israel. He gives a brief description
of it. Under this first covenant, he said, there was a tabernacle.
First thing God did. They were still out in the wilderness. God gave Moses direction to build
a tabernacle. And he said, you see to it that
you build this thing exactly as I showed you on the mount.
When God gave him the law, he gave him instructions concerning
the tabernacle, because there's no redemption from the law apart
from it. Something has to take place to
honor God. And under this first covenant,
there was a tabernacle made, and it had two sections in it.
You walked through the door of the tabernacle, the priest did.
And he entered into this first part, and there was a table there
that had showbread on it, and then there was a candlestick.
that gave light, because the only light in the tabernacle
was that candlestick. And then after that was a thick
veil separating the first part, which he calls a sanctuary, from
the Holy of Holies in the back. And there was priests chosen
to serve in this place of worship, common priests of the Levites
to serve daily in the first sanctuary. Every Sabbath they would put
new bread out on the table, two rows of six each, 12 loaves of
bread on that table. And they had to put oil in that
lamp. That light had to continually
burn, continually burn. There was no other light inside
that tabernacle. And then one time a year, the
high priest would take the blood of the sacrifice, the blood of the slain lamb,
And he'd go beyond that veil. The only person could enter in
there and the only time he could enter in there was on the Day
of Atonement. And he went beyond that veil
with the blood and he'd sprinkled on the mercy seat over the Ark
of the Testimony. And he'd come out and he made
atonement for Israel. Now look down here at verses
8 and 9, Hebrews chapter 9. Just a brief description. Now
if you want the details, go back and read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy. Read through there. It explains
a lot. It explains every little part of it. Now look at this,
verse 8. The Holy Ghost, this signifying. Now here, he's not talking about
what Moses wrote. He's talking about what the Holy
Ghost inspired Moses to write. He's not talking about what Joshua
said, he's talking about what the Holy Ghost said to Joshua.
You see what he's saying here? The Holy Ghost, the author of
the book, the one who inspired it, the Holy Ghost, this signifying
that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest,
while as the first tabernacle was yet standing. Now look at
this, which was a figure for the time then present. You mean
to tell me the whole ceremonial law was given to picture what
God would accomplish in Christ? That's exactly what he says.
And Paul didn't know that until God saved him. He revealed his
son in him that he might preach him among the heathen. Now he
understands what the Lamb was. The Lamb was Christ. The blood
was the blood of Christ. The Holy of Holies was heaven
itself. It was a figure for the time
then present in which was offered both gifts and sacrifices that
could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to the conscience. And it stood in meets and drinks
and divers washings and carnal ordinances and posed on them
until the time of reformation. But Christ, being come a high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. He was the high priest, he was
the tabernacle, and he was the sacrifice. He's the whole thing. Everything pictured in that tabernacle
was Christ. He calls these things, in verse
23 of that same chapter, patterns of things in the heavens. He calls them, in verse 24, figures
of the true. And then, in chapter 10, verse
1, He calls it shadows of good things to come. You see what
I'm saying? I'm not making this up about
things being a figure or things being a pattern or a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you read carefully Hebrews
chapter 3, and he tells us we're freely justified by His grace
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus whom God has
set forth, where? In the Old Testament. He clearly
set Him forth to be the propitiation for our sins. Isn't that what he said? That he might be just and justifier. And then he says there's a propitiation
for sins that are past. What's he talking about there?
He's talking about the sins of those folks in the Old Testament,
those days that have gone by before Christ ever appeared. It was a figure for the time
then present. Christ was set forth in the Old
Testament under the law, under figures and pictures. And there
was men back then who understood that. Abraham understood it. They all understood it. David
understood it. Redemption presupposes a need
and the individual awakens to that need. And I want us to see
several things here in our studies so as to give us a clear picture
of this work. The first thing I want us to
see is the hand of God in this gracious and merciful work. These folks all profess to be
children of God. When they left Canaan, nobody
in Canaan said, well, there goes a bunch of unbelievers. They
all were convinced that these were believers. And the reason
they were convinced is because they were blood relatives of
Abraham. And they were children of God
by blood relation. Elimelech, Naomi, Malon, Chelion,
all Jews, all children of Abraham, all supposedly heirs of the promise. And I had no doubt before they
left that they all kept the Sabbath. Sabbath day come, they kept it.
Come time to tithe on the Sabbath, they tithed. No doubt about it. They attended
worship. But I'm going to tell you something.
God's going to try your profession. Yeah, He is. Because faith is
the gift of God, He's going to prove whose work it is. He's
going to show to this world that some men have the work of God
in them and on them. He's going to try our professions
and prove what is His work and what is ours. And to prove this
work, He sent a trial. He sent a famine. Now, God's
accomplishing more than one thing here. This is also a chastisement
of the people because the people in general Everybody was doing
what was right in their own eyes. They had strayed from this, adapted,
or adopted, whichever word you want to use, heathen theology. And they were trying to mix this
with the Word of God. And God sent a famine. But this
famine is also a trial. And Limelech and Naomi were pretty
well-to-do folks. And the reason I know that is
when they come back, everybody said, Is that Naomi? I'll never forget Brother Mahan
preaching on this years ago. And he talked about how they
were dressed and what kind of wagon they must have had. And
he really formed a picture in your mind of this proud family
leaving Canaan. Being a wise businessman and
a prudent father of his family, he saw no reason to stay in the
place of promised blessing. Do you? Huh? So he picked up his family and
all of his belongings and he moved just temporarily. He wasn't
going there to stay. I'm just going down there to
kind of fix things up. I'm going to go down there so
I don't lose the bottom line. I've worked hard for this and
I don't want to lose it. And this is a picture, folks.
I believe in a local church. I see it all the time. And they
move away from God's means of grace to maintain a bottom line. It always, can you hear me? It always ends in disaster. Does it not? Always. It was a disaster and it always
is. God has chosen certain means. I preach on this a lot because
it's a point of rebellion in our age. God has chosen certain
means that he's pleased to use and certain places he's pleased
to place these means. Now that's just so. God doesn't
have a church in every city in this country. That's a lie. Well,
you say you can drive up and down the road and see all kinds
of churches. No, you can see buildings. God's church is His
people. In the end, the limelight is
taken away, both of his sons, and his bride is left penniless
in the land of the heathen with two daughter-in-laws, and they're
both heathen. But here's what I want you to
see. Faith is a marvelous work. And God's providence is a wondrous
work. The psalmist speaks of another
visitation. You know, she heard there was
going to be a visitation in the land. Faith is a wonderful work. It's
a mysterious, inward, powerful work, and one of the best definitions
of this work which I've ever found in the Word of God. Now,
there's definitions that apply to certain things. tell you this
morning is about this work of God's visitation. Visiting with
breath. And one of the best definitions
of it, which I've ever found in the Word of God, is over in
Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, verses
12 and 13. Now he just told us If there's
any compassion, any love, any inkling of a work of God in you,
then let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
Believers have the mind of Christ, and that's what he's telling
them. And then he says, Verse 12, Wherefore, my beloved, as
you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now
much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling, You going to tell a fallen man
to work out his own salvation of what he did? But he has a
reason. Verse 13. For it is God that
worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. God worketh in you. It is as
much the work of God as if you had nothing to do with it at
all, and as much the work of you as if God didn't have anything
to do with it at all. Huh? It's a mystery, isn't it? But it's a wonderful work. God
does it. Nobody else can do it. Only the
believer. God enables him. Thanks be unto
the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of enlightened saints. Faith is the gift of God. It's
God moving and working and willing within, and that's what I hope
to show you in the lesson today, the day of visitation. There'll
come a day when God visited His people, and in God's good providence,
Naomi heard about it. The good news didn't come out
of Moab, it came to Moab. You're not going to hear the
good news from the world. You're going to hear the good
news from God's people, but you're going to hear it while you're
in the world. Does that make sense? It didn't come out of Moab, but
it came to it. And God visits men in their transgressions,
David said. He visits men in trials. But
the psalmist speaks of another visitation over in Psalm 106.4. He cries, oh, he said, visit
me with thy salvation. What a visit it is, huh? How does God visit his people
with salvation? Well, let me give you several
things. First of all, by an act of divine providence. What are you talking about, preacher,
when you talk about providence? I'm talking about God working
all things together for our good, the good of them that love God,
them who are the called according to His purpose. Everything's
working together. Everything's not good in itself,
but it's working together for good. In Isaiah 44, the Lord
our God said, Who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set
it in order before me? Who beside me can do that? He
said. Now listen. Since I appointed
the ancient people, and the things that are coming, and shall come. That's God probably. And who
can do it better than Him who appointed them to start with?
This is all according to His power, His grace, His mercy,
His providence. And He said, who beside me can
tell you what's coming? Oh, God's providence. Now listen
to me. We're talking about the providence
of God. God's providence is not an excuse for our rebellion and
sin. Everything this family did was
opposed to God. Everything. They were not to
take heathen bribes. They were not to leave Canaan
under any circumstance. There's no excuse for our bad
judgments and ignorant decisions, and yet somehow these things
are arranged to accomplish the salvation of God's people. Think
of all the inner workings of God in not only the lives of
Elimelech and his sons and his wife, but in society to bring
this thing to pass. In the weather to take away the
famine. Ha! He worketh all things, he said. In him also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. And then secondly, how does he
visit his people in Providence? Secondly, how does God visit
his people? By way of a hearing. Listen to
what he says here. We're looking at this in figurative
language. What's going on here? Naomi heard
in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited His people
in giving them bread. Ten years she dwelt in Moab,
suffered nothing but loss. And then one day when it seemed
that all hope was gone. All hope was gone. She was past
the years of begatting a son that would rise up and give her
any hope at all. Somebody from the promised land
brought the good news to God's elect. There's bread in Canaan. Where's
it at? In Canaan. Who got it? God's
people. God's people. This bread is typical
of Christ. In John 6.35, Jesus said to his
hearers, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me will never
hunger. You're going to find the bread
you're looking for. But you're going to find it in
Him. The manna that came down from heaven in the wilderness
that they gathered and baked, was also a picture of Christ.
And in John 6, 32, when those Pharisees started quoting the
law, our Lord said, let me tell you something, Moses didn't give
you that manna. They said Moses gave the people
manna. He said, no, Moses didn't give you anything. Moses gave you not that bread
from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
And then he goes on to say, I'm the bread. It's all Christ and all by Him
and through Him and of Him. And the only place you can find
it is where God promises to give it. And that's in the place of
promise. Canyon's the place of promise.
And then thirdly, how does God visit His people? By way of the
gospel of Christ. What she heard was the gospel.
That's what she heard. The gospel differs from all other
religious messages. Now, if you don't hear anything
else, hear this. The gospel differs from all other
religious messages in the world in that it's not concerning what
you must do or what you should do, but about what God's already
done. That's the difference. They're
saying you need to come down here. You need to reform your
life. You need to quit doing this and start doing that. Yes,
all that's true. But there's no good news in that.
Let me tell you what the good news is. There's bread. It's
already there. There was bread in the tabernacle.
What was the tabernacle? That's the place of worship.
You couldn't worship God apart from the tabernacle. Everything
that was required for worship took place in the tabernacle.
And the first thing you run into when you walked in the door was
the bread. Well, what's that say? That tells me there's bread
on the table. And Christ is the bread. Huh? We going to worship God this
morning? There's bread on the table. Huh? You ain't going to
worship Him apart from that. What's the light for? To shine
on the bread. Here's the bread. Here's the
bread. Who's going to eat it? God's
priests. Is that right? Go back and check
me out. Nobody else eat that bread. But the priests did. And
I'll tell you, in the right situation and by faith, David ate it too.
And God didn't kill him. Him and his men entered in and
ate the shoulder. What we eat this morning, the
shelled bread. The shelled bread. Oh, God help
this unworthy priest to not only set the bread in order before
you. And I'll tell you something else about that bread that I
didn't know. I had to go back and re-read it this morning and
it was just like reading it for the first time. They were to
take frankincense, Brian, and sprinkle it on the bread. Why? Because it's going to be a sweet
savor unto God. What is setting that bread for? Now I don't care if people stomp
out the back door, it's still a sweet savor to God. The sweet
savor is on the bread. It ain't on the hearer. It ain't
on the preacher. It's in the bread. And whether
you eat it or not, it still smells good to God. And whether people
believe on Christ or not, it's still a sweet savor. Oh, may
the Lord help us all to see the importance of this bread. Has
God visited His people? Oh, my soul. He visited us in
the person of Christ, and He set that bread forth on the table.
That's what I want to get to, and that's what I'm trying to
build a foundation for this morning. I want us to see this accomplished
redemption of Christ in the Book of Ruth. God help us all to see
it. Thank you.