One of the sweetest things in
all the scriptures is the beauty of the marriage relationship
between the Lord Jesus and His bride. Romans 7 says that He's
speaking to people under the law. He says in Romans 7.2, for
the woman which has a husband is bound by the law to her husband
as long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she
is loose from the law of her husband. So then if while the
husband liveth, she's married to another man, she shall be
called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law. So she's no adulteress. though
being married to another man. Therefore, wherefore, my brethren,
you also became dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you
should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Those
who bring forth fruit unto God are those who are married to
the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Ruth, as we saw last time
we met, we have a beautiful picture of that covenant made. A picture of the covenant
made in the eternity of the Antipas, the covenant made between Boaz
and Ruth. And one of the sweet things about
it was that it was the covenant in this particular instance that
was made on the threshing floor. And there's something very sweet
about that, isn't there? Just as in human marriages, there
is a knitting of people together and there are promises made privately
and personally before there are public dealings. So Boaz entered
into that covenant with Ruth and it was a covenant of betrothal
and it was a covenant that was hidden from the world. As we saw last time, it was a
covenant where Boaz promised in righteousness he will not
redeem, he will not have his bride unless he has her with
perfect righteousness, perfect obedience to the law of God,
and publicly seen to be so. And gloriously also we see that
in that situation where Ruth was seemingly vulnerable, Boaz
went to great lengths not just to protect her reputation, but
to protect his, and to bless her abundantly on her way home. And he made a promise to her
in verse 11. He said, And now, my daughter, fear not. I will
do to thee all that thou requirest. He'll do to her all that thou
requirest. But there is a nearer kinsman. There is a nearer kinsman and
he must be dealt with. The nearer kinsman, of course,
represents the law. We'll see that as we go through
these verses in Chapter 4. But I love Naomi's words at the
end of Chapter 3. We finished with it last time.
Then she said, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how
the matter will fall, for the man will not be in rest until
he have finished the thing this day. And then we go on in Chapter
4 and we see the thing that's to be finished this day. And
Boaz went up to the gate. And he sat down there, and behold,
the kinsmen of whom Boaz spoke came by and said unto him, O
such a one, turn aside and sit down here. And he turned aside
and sat down. And he took, verse 2, ten men
of the elders of the city and said, Sit you down here. And
they sat down. As I said earlier, one of the
beautiful pictures of it is that Boaz, in redeeming his bride
to himself, does it all alone. It's a glorious picture of substitution. Naomi and Ruth are not involved
in the matter at all. She said, sit still, my daughter. They are at home, but their kinsman
redeemer goes to this public place. It was effectively like
the courtroom of the city. It was the place of judgement,
even the place of public execution. It's a place where matters of
law and integrity and God's honour were dealt with. And it's a place
where these things are dealt with, with many witnesses. to secure Ruth, to redeem Ruth
to himself as his lawful bride. He went to the gate, the Lord
Jesus went to the gate. He went outside the city, he
went outside the camp to redeem his wife to himself. Our Lord
Jesus went up, it says, brothers, went up to the gate. He went
up to the place of redemption. And he went there before many
witnesses, before God and before man, to secure his bride by redemption. And there was just so many witnesses,
wasn't there, when the Lord Jesus gave up his life's breath and
committed his spirit into the hands of his father. There were
so many witnesses, weren't there? The heavens gave testimony. There was an earthquake and the
graves were opened. The veil of the temple gave testimony
that now there is access to sinners, to the throne of grace and to
the mercy seat. And his resurrection bore testimony. And now publicly our Lord Jesus
Christ represents His own in Heaven before the Throne of Grace. And there they are accepted in
the Beloved. Not only does he do it alone,
and he does it with them sitting, he actually does it in a way
which reveals his sovereignty. See how Boaz, Boaz it seems was
one of the judges of Israel, he was a mighty man of wealth,
wealth in honour, wealth in power, and he pictures the Lord Jesus
Christ hit In verse 1 he says to the man, the nearer kinsman,
he says, you turn aside and sit down here. And he turned aside
and he sat down. In verse 2, and he took ten men
of the elders of the city and said, sit down here. And they
sat down. When our great kinsman redeemer
acts in redemption, he acts as a substitute and he acts as a
sovereign. And also He acts in such a way
that it's a matter of public record. Redemption is always
a matter of indisputable public record. God arranged His law
in such a way that throughout the history of the Old Testament,
in all the pictures of redemption, every transaction involving redemption
is done in public, was attested to by numerous witnesses and
was recorded on the public records so all the people of Israel,
all the people of Bethlehem knew. And it was done in that way so
that the transaction could never be nullified and it could never
be disputed. Our redemption was public. As Paul said to King Agrippa,
he said, this thing was not done in a corner. The crucifixion
of the Lord Jesus Christ was a public act, seen by many. There were reputedly a million
people in Jerusalem. It's extraordinary, isn't it?
It's extraordinary that in the wickedness of men in their rebellion
against God, they actually now want to even deny that he lived. Anyway, our God did this publicly
that everyone would see what He was doing. In verse 3, He
said to the kinsmen, Naomi, that is, come out of the country of
Moab, selleth a parcel of land which was thy brother Elimelech's. And I thought to advertise thee,
saying, Buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people.
If thou will redeem it, redeem it. If thou 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. So there are only two possible
redeemers and we will see that there is only one who is able
to redeem. So the Nera Kinsman represents
the law which is why the ten elders representing the Ten Commandments
came and sat down there as bearing witness to all this. And the
law represents that covenant of works that holds us We were
created in it, in our father Adam, and everyone lives in it
until they are redeemed. The law has a rightful claim
on us. And when God sends people to
hell, it will be on the basis of his legal justice. The law has a claim. The law
is holy and just and good. But as Paul goes on to say in
Romans 7, I'm sold unto sin, just as Ruth and Naomi were sold. They came as beggars. And the
law is interesting, isn't it, how here you'll see that the
law actually is keen to take, isn't it? And he said at the
end of verse 4, he said, I will redeem it. So the law can take
from us, as this man was willing to do. It will take, ultimately
it will take everything from us. If you seek life by the law,
it will take that life. If you seek righteousness by
the law, it will take that righteousness. Paul said that he was alive once
without the law and then the law came. The law came to that
new man of his heart and sin revived and I died. It took from Paul everything
that he had. In meeting the Lord Jesus and
seeing the law as it really is, it takes and it doesn't give,
and it doesn't give life. So the redemption of God's children
is a matter of law, isn't it? It's a matter of legal necessity,
our redemption. And the very law of God, the
very law of God which condemns the guilty conscience, of sinners
is the very law of God which demands the redemption and the
complete forgiveness of them. The law is unable to redeem. The law always identifies and
exposes sinners, condemns the sinner, The law takes only one
thing into consideration, justice, strict, absolute justice. It identifies sin, it exposes
sin, it condemns sin, and it cannot forgive, it condemns us
all, and it changes none of us. And the law slays and can never
save. And our great Saviour, our great
Saviour in His sovereignty and His redemption came to this gate
and He came there to legally redeem His bride to Himself,
the one that He'd made that covenant promise in that evening on the
threshing floor. Verse 4-5, then Boaz said, What
day thou buy'st the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must
also buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess." She's the wife of
the dead. She was the wife of Marlon. She
was the wife of the eldest son. If you're going to buy the field,
you're going to have to buy Ruth with it, and you're going to
buy Ruth with it to raise up the name of the dead upon his
inheritance. This was the law in the land
of Israel, and as you probably remember from that The story
that the Sadducees tried to trick the Lord Jesus with, if one brother
dies then the next brother must marry the wife and then the next
mother and then you know, remember the story. The law demanded that
the near kinsmen redeem the purchased possession and then raise up
a child. so that all that was redeemed
then belonged to that child in the name of its father. In Israel
there are all these rules about the perpetuality of family lines
and the possession of families and of course the great necessity
of all of that is for the family of Judah to produce a son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so in Genesis 38 you have
the remarkable, miraculous story of Judah, the grandson of Abraham,
and he had a son who was married to Tamar, and he behaved wickedly
and the Lord slew him and then he had Onan who should have taken
Tamar to be his wife but he spilled his semen on the ground and the
Lord took him and he slew him because he wouldn't perform the
part of the redeemed, the kinsman. And then the next son The next
son came along and Judah was shielding him from Tamar and
Tamar acts in the role of a prostitute and she has sex with Judah and
she produces twins and one of them is mentioned a little bit
later on. But Judah says a remarkable thing
to Tamar in Genesis 38 and he says, she is more righteous than
I. Why was she more righteous? She
was more righteous because she was honouring the covenant of
God. She was honouring those things
of God which kept the family lines together. She was more
righteous than Judy. And so the child to be born would
have been would have been the possessor of all that was redeemed. in this transaction. And that's
why the Kinsmen said in verse 6, I cannot redeem it for myself
lest I mar my own inheritance. Redeem thou my right to thyself,
for I cannot redeem it. So the law can take, but when
the law is asked to give life, to raise up children, to give
an inheritance, to keep the name of the dead, the law just says
I cannot do it, and it has never been able to do it. The law cannot
give life. The law cannot produce righteousness. But, and this is a wonderful
but, the law bears witness that the kinsman-redeemer can redeem
it. The law and the prophets all
speak of a kinsman-redeemer who really can redeem. Romans 8.3,
it's wonderful isn't it? For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. In verse 7 we have a great picture
of this transaction. Now this was the manner in former
time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing. So now
there is a changing. There is in this redemption a
changing. There's a changing of ownership
and possession. There's a changing of relationship. Ruth, as you remember, came as
a beggar, effectively a slave. There is a changing. For to confirm
all things, a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbour,
and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto
Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe." It
seems like an odd custom. But in Deuteronomy 25, it's remarkable,
the role of the kinsman redeemer was that he should redeem. And
if he wouldn't, if he says he will not do it, he says, if I
will not take Deuteronomy 25. Then shall the brother's wife
come unto him in the presence of the elder, and loose his shoe
off from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer
and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build
up his brother's house. And his name shall be called
in Israel the house of him that hath his shoe loosed." It was. It was when there is no redemption,
when the kinsman doesn't play his part, it was meant to be
a time of shame. But here in this transaction,
there is no spitting. Ruth and Naomi are not even there.
This is a transaction between Boaz, our kinsman-redeemer, and
the law. And the law not only bears testimony
to the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Lord Jesus Christ will have
the law honoured. publicly before people. In the
redemption of his bride, the joining of his bride to himself,
the law will be honoured perfectly and justly. It will not be brought
to shame. Christ came to honour the law. He will magnify the law and make
it honourable. Moses, as you remember, was told
to take off his shoe for you're standing on holy ground. The law was our schoolmaster,
as we saw in Galatians, until Christ. People are under the
law until they have the freedom and the liberty of the glorious
relationship of marriage with the Lord Jesus Christ. And Boaz
said unto the elders and unto all the people, you are witnesses
this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all
that was Chilean's and Marlon's of the hand of Naomi. Boaz makes
this declaration. There is now a public declaration
and there are public witnesses. 10. Moreover, Ruth the Moabite,
as the wife of Marlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise
up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name
of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from
the gate of his place. You are witnesses this day. And all the people that were
in the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. The law is
witness, isn't it? It is a publicly witnessed redemption. The Lord make the woman that
has come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which too
did build the house of Israel, and do thou worthily in Ephrathah,
and be famous in Bethlehem. And let thy house be like the
house of Pharaohs, whom Tamar bore unto Judah, of the seed
which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman." So the
Lord bears witness that our Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed, and
He has redeemed a particular people to Himself. He's redeemed
Ruth and Naomi to Himself, all for it's not even mentioned again. He says, moreover, Ruth the Moabitess,
the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased, I have purchased, he has purchased,
we are not our own, we have been bought with a price, we have
been bought with the redemption price, the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. See Ruth throughout this book
is a picture of and a type of the Church, and out of this great
field of the world the Church of God is a treasure, as it were,
hidden in a field. And our Lord Jesus Christ sold
all that he had and he bought the field that he might get the
treasure, and he got it. and he's purchased all things,
and he rules and disposes of all things for the saving of
his people. He must do good to his bribe. He must do good, and he must
do it in such a way that honours all the character of God, honours
all the law of God, and is perfectly good to bring life, to bring
new life to his people. It is, it is, as we declare in
the Gospel that we preach here, a particular redemption, a purposeful
redemption, a sovereign redemption, a substitutionary redemption,
a legal redemption, a particular redemption. There's not even
a hint of universal redemption anywhere in the Scriptures. Redemption
is always particular, it is always purposeful, it is always a redemption
in which all the character of God is on display publicly and
legally, and we are His by purchase. The law is dealt with, and so
the bride is mine, says Boaz. by righteous redemption. The Lord Jesus marries us to
himself in that covenant which we saw in the previous chapter
which was in secret, hidden from the world, a secret covenant. is now a public declaration of
his faithfulness to his bride. He will have her to himself and
he will have her in such a way that the law is now honoured. And the wonderful thing is that
that nearer kinsman, that law now has absolutely no claim upon
Ruth whatsoever. She belongs to another. She's
been married to him. She has been married to one who
will raise up the name of the dead. She's been married to one
that will ensure the inheritance and that name is perpetuated.
Our inheritance is secure. Our marriage is sealed. Our Great Redeemer has done His
work. It is finished. He has finished
the work. May God bless unto us his words
and cause us to look again and again and again to our husband
and away from our works and our activities and all things. Let's
pray. Our Heavenly Father we do thank
you again for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that we
can in this place bear witness to His redemption, that redemption
that was costly, but that redemption that was perfectly effectual.
We praise You, Heavenly Father, that our kinsman Redeemer is
sovereign in all that He does. We praise You that He does His
work as a substitute perfectly and successfully. And we praise
You, Heavenly Father, that He honoured Your law in all points. and was tested and tried by that
law, and we praise you, Heavenly Father, that He suffered the
just punishment that we deserved under that law, sins punished
eternally and infinitely and forever, and taken away, that
you don't remember them anymore. Our Father, please protect us
from looking back to our works of any sort. for anything to
do with our relationship with you, but have our eyes, by your
grace, fixed upon your dear and precious son, our great Boaz,
our great kinsman, redeemer. We thank you that these things
are done publicly before witnesses, Heavenly Father, that all the
world must ultimately testify to the truthfulness and the integrity
and the honor of your dear and precious son. We thank you again
for his grace and his mercy and his eternal and infinite and
unchangeable love to his bride. Bless us Heavenly Father in our
marriage with our great Kingsman Redeemer. Amen.