Let us turn again to God's Word
and the portion of Scripture that we were considering this
morning in the book of Ruth chapter 2 and verse 14. The book of Ruth chapter 2 and
verse 14, And Boaz said unto her, that is, unto Ruth, At mealtime
come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy 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 we
observe according to the punctuation as we have it here in our authorized
version that the text is made up of two sentences and this
morning we were considering more particularly that opening sentence
and Boaz said unto her at mealtime come thou hither and eat of the
bread and dip thy morsel in the vinegar and so we considered
that that was provided for Ruth the bread and the vinegar and
I said that in seeking to Open up the text we must observe that
Boaz is set before us here as a typical character. In the closing
verses we see quite clearly, the closing verses of the book
that is, we see quite clearly that he is in the line of the
Lord Jesus Christ and I said that his name is mentioned there
in the very first chapter of the New Testament in Matthew
chapter 1 and verse 5 we find this man as one from whom Christ
according to the flesh is descended. And as Christ is in the line
of Boaz, so Boaz is a type, a typical character, a type of the Lord
Jesus. And so we were seeking to show
that there are certain truths here that have more than an historic
interest. There's a spiritual significance
to this ministry that is exercised by Boaz. And the bread. The bread with which this man
makes provision for Ruth reminds us of Christ himself who is indeed
the bread. of life, the living bread that
has come down from heaven. Boaz simply gave Ruth this bread,
but Christ, of course, does more than that. He gives Himself. He gives Himself. He is that
bread. As we read there in the words
of the Gospel in the 6th chapter of John's Gospel, and there at
verse 51. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. All Christ has given Himself.
And given Himself, He says there, for the life of the world. What is that world? All that
is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life. He's not of the Father, but he's
of the world, that wicked world. Christ came for sinners in this
world. for the greatest and the vilest
of sinners. And such sinners I welcome them
to come even to that feast that is provided by Christ and in
Christ. The gospel is for sinners. He
came not to call the righteous but sinners unto repentance. And how this woman Ruth felt
herself to be a vile and an unworthy sinner. She was not worthy to
be taken any account of. She acknowledges it. Verse 10,
She fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said
unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest
take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? It is not that
the language of the true child of God, when favoured with the
knowledge of the forgiveness of his sins, and acceptance in
him who is the Beloved. Why? Why was I made to hear thy
voice, and enter whilst there is room, when thousands make
a wretched choice, and rather starve than come? Why have I
found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge
of me, seeing I am a stranger? And that's what we are by nature,
we're strangers, alienated from God, by wicked works, those who
were conceived in sin, those who were shapen in iniquity. And yet this is the one of whom
Boaz takes account and makes his provision. At mealtime come
thou hither and eat of the bread, he says. And so we consider the
significance of the bread and the significance also of the
vinegar. Dip thy morsel in the vinegar,
says Boaz. And now we remark this morning
concerning that vinegar that it sets before us something of
the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. That that was bitter,
all those sharp sufferings that the Lord Jesus Christ had to
endure. Remembering my affliction, he
says, and my misery, the wormwood and the gore. He had a cup to
drink, and it was a bitter cup, and He must drink the dregs of
that cup. And He pleads and He prays to
the Father there in Gethsemane, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from Me. Three times He makes this prayer.
But what does He say? Oh, if it be not possible, except
I drink it, Thy will be done. Except I drink it, He must drink
the bitter cup. He must taste that awful punishment
of sin. He must taste it in his own soul,
though he was the sinless one. And do we not, I say, see then
something of Christ, not only in the bread, but also in the
vinegar. Well, I said this morning that
we would go on tonight to consider the other part of the text. and that's the latter sentence
here in verse 14 and she sat beside the reapers and he reached
her parched corn and she did eat and was sufficed and left
so still considering the Lord Jesus Christ in the first place
as we see a certain truth with regards to this parched corn
as with the bread and as with the vinegar so also with the
parched corn. Firstly then I want us to consider
the significance of this parched corn and then to turn our attention
to Ruth and Ruth's posture in all of this as she sat and she
received and she did eat and was sufficed But first of all
we turn to consider this parched corn. There's something special
and something spiritual here in this also. It's a further
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now remember the book of Leviticus
which of course is full of ceremonial law there amongst the five books
of Moses. Leviticus is full of great gospel
truth. We see the Lord Jesus time and
again there, set before us in those types and those shadows,
those various offerings that were to be made by the children
of Israel, how the priest was to do service, initially in the
tabernacle of course, but then subsequently after Solomon in
the temple of the Lord. It was the priest's duty to be
about the altar of the burnt offerings. and there were various
offerings that were to be made we only have to read through
Leviticus there were to be many bloody sacrifices burnt offerings
are spoken of and sin offerings and trespass offerings it is
a worthwhile exercise for us to read through such a book as
Leviticus There's a remarkable commentary by Andrew Bonner of
course on the book of Leviticus and I would commend that to you
for consideration. of how Bonner opens up the spiritual
significance of all those various sacrifices and amongst them we
have mention also of meat offerings although the reference is really
to to meal and the the meat offerings are spoken
of there in chapter 2 of Leviticus. And when any will offer a meat
offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be a fine flour. and he
shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon, and he
shall bring it to Aaron's sons, the priest, and he shall take
there out his handful of flour thereof, and of the oil thereof,
with all the frankincense thereof, and the priest shall burn the
memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire
of a sweet savour unto the Lord." It's not an animal, it's not
a bloody sacrifice, is to take of this flour. and it's spoken
of as a meat offering, or a meal offering. The psalmist says,
the eyes of all wait upon thee, and they give us from their meat
in due season, their food in due season, and that there in
Leviticus 2 of course speaks of a flour that would be used
in the product of food, in the production of course of bread,
and so forth. But it's interesting how there
in that second chapter we see that the meat offering is associated
with the firstfruits of the harvest. In that second chapter and verse,
well the end of the chapter, verse 14 following. If thou offer
a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the Lord, They shall offer
for the meat-offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn
dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of folias. And they
shall put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon. It is a
meat-offering, and the priests shall burn the memorial of it
part of the beaten corn thereof, and part of the oil thereof,
with all the frankincense thereof. It is an offering made by fire
unto the Lord. We have mention of flour there
in the opening verses, but now here is another meat offering
that is associated with the first fruits. And what is it to consist
of? Green ears of corn dried by the
fire, even corn beaten out of full ears. And isn't it interesting to observe
with regards to what we have here in the book of Ruth, that
these events, and we read this morning of course in the opening
two chapters, and we've completed the reading of the book this
evening, but there in the opening two chapters, the end of chapter
one, we see what particular time it was when these events were
taking place. Right at the end of chapter 1,
they came to Bethlehem, it says, in the beginning of the barley
harvest. The beginning of the barley harvest,
the time of the first fruits of the harvest, the beginning
of the harvest. And we can see then that what
we have here, in this text concerning the parched corn, he sat beside
the reapers and he reached a parched corn, Parched corn, and she did
eat, and was sufficed and left, surely this parched corn is to
be equated with that that we just read in Leviticus 2.14. Green ears of corn dried by the
fire, even corn beaten out of full ears. And that is a wonderful type,
is it not, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Green ears of corn, dried
by the fire. All these green ears of corn.
What did they set before us? They set before us, again, something
of Christ. That greenness, that freshness
that is associated with it. When did Christ die? Christ did
not reach the allotted span of life. He did not die as an old
man. The days of our years, says Moses,
are three score year and ten. And if by reason of strength
they be eight score years, yet he's had strength, labor, and
sorrow, that is man's allotted span, 70 years, 80 years. But the Lord Jesus Christ did
not reach such an age. He died in the full vigor of
his manhood. He died sometime in his early
thirties. And here you see we have the
freshness, the greenness of that life that was sacrificed by the
Lord Jesus Christ when he made that great sin offering for his
people. And also, of course, we know
that there was no dryness, no seed of corruption in the Lord
Jesus Christ. His human nature was green and
fresh and sinless. He was the innocent one. What
was it that was conceived of the Holy Ghost in the womb of
the Virgin Mary? And the angel says to her, concerning
that human nature, that holy thing. Oh, that holy thing that
shall be born of thee, said the angel, shall be called the Son
of God. He is without any taint of sin,
no original sin. all are conceived in sin, all
are shapen in iniquity but not so this man the miracle of his
birth he is born of a sinful woman but she was a virgin she knew not a man and she is
with child of the Holy Ghost all the great miracle of the
virgin birth, the mystery the mystery of the Incarnation. Now
God's contracted to a span incomprehensibly made man. Now we see in there
as one who is without every taint of sin, no original sin, no actual
sins. His life is a holy life, an obedient
life. He must be about his father's
business, He will do the will of Him who was sent Him. He will
finish His work. He is holy and harmless and undefiled
and separate from sinners. And look at what He says when
He comes to die. There in Luke, Luke's account,
chapter 23 and verse 31, if they do these things in a green tree,
He's the green tree. Or what will be done in the dry?
and the reference you see there is to the sinner, the dry truth. Now God will visit his judgments
upon sinners who are yet lost, lost in trespasses and in sins. I say, friends, the Lord Jesus
Christ is that one who is spoken of there in Leviticus 2 and verse
14. Green ears, of course, dried
by the fire. Our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ,
you see, is that one who is scorched, scorched by the wrath of God. And isn't that what we have here
in the text? He reached a parched core, parched core. The Lord
Jesus, how he was parched and scorched, by the wrath of God
that was visited upon his holy soul, when he made his soul an
offering for sin. And we have him there, of course,
in the Psalms. Certainly, we see him time and
again in those Messianic Psalms, those Psalms that are prophetic.
those Psalms that are speaking of Christ and all that he has
to endure and speaking not only of the physical aspect of the
sufferings of Christ, is it the great beauty of the Psalms, is
it not? As we've said before, the veil is drawn aside here
in the Psalms and we're able, as God opens our eyes, to look
into his soul and to see those things that transpired deep in
the heart of the Lord Jesus. And so he speaks there in Psalm
22 Clearly a Messianic psalm, the opening words are there in
Matthew's account, Matthew 26, My God, My God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? There upon the cross we see him
as that one who is forsaken, as that one who has to endure
the hiding of the father's face and he cries out you see here
in the psalm verse 14 I am poured out like water all my bones are
out of joint my heart is like wax it is melted in the midst
of my bowels my strength is dried up like a potcher and my tongue
cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought me into the dust
of death." Oh, the wrath of God that was visited upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I say, friends, we have it
here, parched corn. Green ears of corn scorched by
the fire. Oh, this is what they do in the
green trees. in the Holy Soul of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And not only so, but what do
we read there in Leviticus 2.14? It's corn beaten out of full
ears. How is the corn obtained? It
has to be beaten out, beaten out of the ears. And isn't that
the Lord Jesus Christ a guy? Isaiah 28, verse 28, we read
bread, corn is bruised. Now that's true, is it not? The
corn must be ground between the upper and the nether millstones
in order to make the flour. It's bruised. And Isaiah 53,
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Oh, how he is bruised by the
wrath of God. Oh, that heavy load is laid upon
him as he suffers there and bears in his holy soul that punishment
that was the just desert of his people. That tremendous load
that was laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that corn beaten
out of full yields. That seed of corn that must fall
into the ground and die. Oh, we see, I say, the Lord Jesus
in all the detail of this provision that is made here by Boaz. Not only bread, not only that
morsel dipped in the vinegar, she sat beside the reapers and
he reached her parched core, and she did eat, and was sufficed,
and left. Well, let us turn in the second
place to consider something more of Ruth herself. Now, Ruth is
also a type, is she not? Boaz is a type of Christ. Ruth
is a type of the Church, and a type of the Gentile Church,
is she not? She is not an Israelite by birth. She's not One who is by nature
the seed of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. She was a Moabitish
woman, a stranger. She is a type of the Church. And she is a type, therefore,
of the Gentile Church. We said some weeks ago that another,
the Queen of Sheba is typical of the Gentile Church. Solomon
is a type of Christ. There are these types to be considered
here in the Old Testament Scriptures. And this is not fanciful interpretation.
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself has said, search the Scriptures,
these are they that testify of me. It is right to see Christ
in all the Scriptures. I strongly disagree with Mr.
Spurgeon. His book, Commenting and Commentaries,
is very useful with regards to commentaries, what might be the
best commentaries to have on various books of Scripture. But
when it comes to his remarks on Dr. Robert Hawker and his
plain man's commentary, Mr. Spurgeon makes this remark, he
says, Dr. Hawker sees Christ where he is
not. In other words, Dr. Hawker sees
Christ just about everywhere in the Scriptures. Well, I tend
to agree with Dr. Hawker more than I would with
Mr. Spurgeon. Christ is everywhere. And when we come to read the
Old Testament, yes, we take account of the historical. We don't tear
things out of context. We take account of the historical
situation, the real history that we're reading in the Old Testament.
Certainly in the historic books, and Ruth is an historic book,
but when we come to this book, surely we want to see what spiritual
truth is here. And we look for Christ. And we
see Christ, I say. We see Christ in Boaz. And we
see something of the church, the Gentile church in this woman,
this remarkable woman, Ruth. She sat beside the Reapers and
he reached her parched corn and she did eat and was sufficed. There are three things I want
to mention briefly. First of all, she sat. That's what it says. She sat
beside the Reapers. She certainly felt unworthy as
we've already observed. from those words in verse 10
where she falls on her face, she's not sitting there she's
prostrate bow to the ground why have I found grace in thine eyes
that thou shouldest take knowledge of me seeing I am a stranger
and then in verse 13 she cries out let me find favor in thy
sight my lord for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou
hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like
unto one of thine handmaid." And she feels herself to be so
different, she feels herself to be so unworthy, and yet, here
she is sitting. Why? Because this man Boaz will
receive her. Isn't this so typical? Remember
the words that we have at the opening of Luke chapter 15 concerning
Christ, and the criticism that was made by the Jewish religious
leaders, how the scribes and the Pharisees, they were ever
ready, always wanting to find fault with the Saviour. And we're
told there in Luke 15 too, how the Pharisees and scribes murmur,
saying, this man receive us sinners and eat us with him. Oh, that's
the man Christ Jesus. He receives sinners and eats
with them. And this is what we see here
with Boaz and with Ruth. She sits. She sits not only with
his servants, the reapers, she is sitting with him. He reached
her parched core. Oh, this is a wonderful picture,
is it not, of the Lord Jesus. What does Christ say when we
come to the very last Book of Scripture, those words to the
church of the Laodiceans, Behold I stand at the door and knock,
if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come into
him and will sup with him and he with me. How the Lord loves
to come and sup with his people. Those words of course are addressed
to a church. Revelation 3.20 is a text that
is much abused As if Christ is there, you see, standing at the
door of the poor sinner's heart, begging for admission, unable
to force an entry. That's how many, and even those
who would profess to be Calvinistic in their doctrine, take that
verse and they abuse it. It's a word addressed to a church,
the Church of the Laodiceans. And there was much fault in that
church, but there is the Lord, you see. He loves to come and
to sit with His people. and as we come presently to the
Lord's table, is that our desire that the Lord Himself might come
and sit with us and sup with us? Or what does He say in the
song of Solomon? Eat, O friends. Eat, O friends. Drink, yea, drink abundantly,
beloved. How He addresses His churches,
His friends, His beloved ones. And what is the response that
we have there in the song How the bride says, I sat down under
his shadow with great delight, and his fruits was sweet to my
taste. Oh, this is the feast, you see.
This is the feast that the Lord is pleased to provide for his
people. That's a lovely verse, is it
not, of John Berriges in M897. He says, A feast is now prepared for thee in spite of
all thy unbelief a feast of mercy sweetly free for sinners and
the sinner's church. For the sinner and the chief
of the sinners can come and can sup with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The sinner is welcome to come and to sit down at the gospel
table. I know the Lord's table is another thing, that's the
church, but there is a gospel table he's in. that he spread
for sinners when the word of God is opened and the word of
God is preached. The Lord himself is present.
This is the gospel feast. Here is one then who is welcome
to sit and to sit so freely and to partake. But then observed
in the second part the manner of her partaking. How does she
partake? Well she was served. She doesn't
just come and help herself. She served Him. That is Boaz. He served her. He reached her parched corn. They were going thinking of the
Lord's Supper. what does Christ say to his disciples at the institution
and as with the institution so in our observing of it he says
take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in
remembrance of me in like manner also after the supper he took
the cup how the Lord himself is the one who comes you see
and says that to us take eat Eat the broken bread, drink the
cup, and it's the cup of the new covenant in my blood. He reached a parched corn here.
Oh, how necessary it is, friends, for those who have learned something
experimental concerning themselves. Are we those who are aware of
our utter inability and our complete helplessness. We can do nothing
at all to help ourselves or to save ourselves. God himself must
put the truth into our very mouths. Is that not a truth? He must
take the truth and he must put it into our mouths and he must
cause us to eat that and to digest it. We're told concerning Ezekiel
and the ministry that he exercises. Ezekiel chapter 3 and verse 2,
so I opened my mouth and he caused me to eat that roll. Here is
the scroll, this is the word that the prophet is to proclaim,
it's the word of God, it's the Lord's mouthpiece. But what does
he do? He has to receive the word. How
does he receive it? He caused me God caused him to
eat that raw that he might speak the words of God. There's a principle.
God must cause us to eat the precious doctrines of the gospel.
It's not enough having these things set before us. We need
to partake of these things, to eat these things, to digest these
things. You see, the salvation of God is that that is not only
being appointed by the Father, not just that the Father has
made an eternal choice, setting His sovereign love upon the people,
appointing them to salvation. There is that, but also there
is the blessed work of the Son. He must come and He must accomplish
all that is necessary that His people might be saved. He must
come and He must stand in their law place. He must be born of
a woman and be born under the law. and He must for them honor
and magnify that law and be to them the end of the law for righteousness
and He must bear all that punishment of the broken law as their substitute. Oh yes, the Father has appointed
all the blessings of salvation, the Son has accomplished all
that blessing. But what of the application? How is this brought
home into the soul of the sinner. It's the work of the Holy Ghost.
It's the work of the Holy Ghost. He must make the application.
He must open the eyes and unstop the ears. And He must cause us
to be those who would partake. Partake of this precious meat
of the Gospel of the grace of God. And so what do we see with
Boaz? He reached her parched corn. She doesn't help herself. He's
the one who comes and he feeds her. And then we see this. She's satisfied. Oh, she's satisfied. There's sufficient here. There's
fullness here. She did eat and was sufficed
and left. after He's fed her, after she's
received at His gracious hand. And friends, isn't the Lord Jesus
Christ that One who satisfies sinners? And only Christ can
satisfy the sinner. Only Christ can satisfy us. My
flesh, He says, is meat indeed. And my blood is drink indeed. Here is real spiritual sustenance. Only God, you see, can satisfy
the soul of man. Where is the image of God in
man? It's in the soul of man. When God created the man, he
made his body of the dust of the earth, he breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
And he said in the soul, you see, he's made in the image and
the likeness of God, he's a fallen creature. But only God, only
God can fill the soul of man. What's a man profited if he go
in the whole world and lose his own soul? What shall a man give
in exchange for his soul? Asked the Lord Jesus. Only God,
only God can satisfy the soul of man. Was it not Augustine
who said, Thou hast made us for thyself. Thou hast made us for
thyself. Our souls are restless. till
they find their rest in thee. And this is the place, you see,
where Ruth finds rest. She finds her rest in Boaz. She finds her rest in Boaz. And
he finds his rest in her. And those words of Naomi In chapter
3, Naomi, her mother-in-law, said unto her, My daughter, shall
I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee? Oh,
it is only in the Lord Jesus Christ that there is real satisfaction
for the soul of the sinner. Oh, but what a fullness of grace!
What richness is to be found in him and in the gospel of the
grace of God are with those friends who have an appetite for these
things remember how Christ speaks of the blessed man in the opening
of his sermon on the Mount of Beatitudes one of the characters
of that blessed man he has an appetite blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled they
shall be filled says Christ are we those friends who have an
appetite really are hungry and thirsty we know Christ and yet
we feel we know so little of Christ and there's so much to
know of Christ and it grieves us that our capacity seems to
be so straight and we want our hearts enlarged we want to know
more of the wonders of the grace of God as he sets Christ before
us here in all the Scriptures. Boaz said unto her at mealtime,
Come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel
in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers,
and he reached her parched core, and she did eat, and was sufficed. and left. Amen.