Lectures on the Book of Ruth

… Guten Abend, liebe Freunde, Brüder und Schwestern, was für ein wundervolles Hymn, das wir gesungen haben, und ich bitte Sie um die Worte Gottes, in Ihrem Buch, das Sie veröffentlicht haben, Ich sehe den Herrn. Das Buch von Ruth, Kapitel 1. JMD Translation I have before me the JMD translation, so if there is some difference with your translation, bear with me, please. Not that I would exclude other translations, I'm just adjusting that. The Book of Ruth, Chapter 1. And it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man went from Bethlehem, Judah, to sojourn in the 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, Nehomai. And the name of his two sons, Mahlon and Keolion, Ephratai, of Bethlehem, Judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. And Elimelech, Nehomai's husband, died, and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them, Moabitish wives, the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the second, Ruth. And they abode there about ten years. And Mahlon and Keolion died also, both of them. And the woman was left of her two children and of her husband. And she arose, she and her daughters-in-law, and returned from the fields of Moab. For she had heard in the fields of Moab how that Jehovah had visited his people to give them bread. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she had been, and her two daughters-in-law whispered, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. And Nehomai said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each to her mother's house. Jehovah deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead and with me. Jehovah grant you that ye may find rest, each in the house of her husband. And she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept. And they said to her, We will certainly return with thee to thy people. And Nehomai said, Return my daughters. Why will you go with me? Are there yet sons in my womb that they could be your husbands? Return my daughters, go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hopes, should I even have a husband tonight? And should I also bear sons? Would ye wait on that account till they were grown? Would ye stay on that account from having husbands? No, my daughters, for I am in much more bitterness than you. For the hand of Jehovah is gone out against me. And they lifted up their voice and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clayed to her. And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone, back to her people and to her God. Return after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, Do not entreat me to leave thee, to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried. Jehovah, do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part me and thee. And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her. And they too went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they came to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and the women said, Is this Nehomai? And he said to them, Call me not Nehomai, call me Marah, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and Jehovah has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Nehomai, seeing Jehovah has brought me low, and the Almighty has afflicted me? So Nehomai returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned out of the fields of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem, in the beginning of the barley harvest. So far. The task I have tonight, brothers and sisters, is not so easy, because some of us are quite familiar with this book. We may have read even books on it. Others may hear it for the first time, or read it for the first time. And apart from that, in this book, we find old people, or at least old people, or at least older, and young, quite young people. And I think for all of us, there are many lessons to learn. And we have sung in our beautiful hymn, how we really depend on the Lord, that He might show what we need. The needs are so different. And only the Lord can provide, but He uses His Word to fulfill our needs. We have planned, Lord willing, to have five evenings on this little booklet. We might have more evenings, but we have only a limited time, of course. And therefore, we have to go through a chapter an evening. But it might be very helpful, and that is what we would like to reserve for the last evening, to look into the prophetic meaning of this book. You know, when you start reading the Scriptures, then the first impression you get about the literal meaning is, of course, very important. The literal meaning of the Scriptures, the historical meaning is very important. And so, in that sense, we could read this book, and we see how God, in His line to bring the Messiah, has provided here, in some generations, we find it at the end of the book, to go to David. So we find, connected with the New Testament, Matthew 1, how here, in this little booklet, an important chain, in the long chain of generations, from Adam to the Messiah, here the Lord has provided in some of these chains. So, in historical ways, it is important to study this book. We will come back to that meaning in a few minutes. But when you read the Scriptures, I dare say that the first meaning for Christians is the spiritual meaning. Not to put the literal meaning aside, not at all, but the most important meaning is the spiritual lessons we can find. There are many Scriptures in the New Testament which explain this to us. And I would say, first of all, we should try to find the Lord Jesus in these pages. And we have some of the Lord Jesus, that it is the intention of the Scriptures to bring Him before us. And this is in this little booklet, in a special way the case. When you see at the end of chapter 4, the last word of this book is David. David means the Beloved. Now, what the intention is of God, the Holy Spirit, is to introduce the real David into our lives, the Beloved, our Lord Jesus. That is really a very important meaning. And that is the spiritual meaning for us. And when you read in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Himself, as the true teacher in Luke 24, has spoken to the disciples of Emmaus that Moses and the prophets and the Psalms have spoken of Him. How wonderful this is! So also these pages speak of our Lord Jesus. And we will find that, Lord willing, the next time in Boaz, in a special way, and also later on in David. There are more Scriptures in the New Testament. In John 5, for example, the Lord has said that Moses has spoken of Him, of Him. And think of 1 Corinthians 9 and 10, how important the lessons of the Old Testament are for us. You see, all the history of the people of Israel has been written for you and me in the first place. Not in the first place for them, but for you and me. That is what we can find in 1 Corinthians 9 and 10. We have no time now to elaborate on that, but if you have questions, you can always come after the meeting and I can explain it in more detail to you. There are more passages. Think of Romans 15, where we find that the Scriptures of the Old Testament are given for our consolation or encouragement, how great it is. And so even this little book that we have now before us has been given for our consolation and encouragement, really, for spiritual encouragement. And so we find many times in the New Testament that these Old Testament Scriptures have a special meaning bearing for us. And then we have the typical or prophetical meaning, but we, as I said, will keep this for the last evening, Lord willing, and concentrate more on the spiritual lessons and the moral lessons for you and me today. Now, to come back on the historical setting, we know in the book of Genesis we find that God is the creator of the material universe, and that's a wonderful subject in itself to study. But then we find also that in that same book God shows himself as the one who gives life, spiritual life. And the lesson we find in the book of Genesis is first the natural and then the spiritual. And then it is God who introduces this spiritual life in a wonderful way. Then in the book of Exodus we find how God wants to have a people for himself. And what was true for the people of Israel, the sons of Israel, God wants to have sons of Israel today, a people for himself today. And he sends a deliverer, Moses. So he sent the Lord Jesus for us to deliver us from the power of Satan, from this world system, to set us apart for himself, to serve him. Let my son go that he may serve me. That's what God wants. God wants sons. Did you ever study that in the Scriptures? How great this is, that God wants something for himself. And he has called you and me, like he did Abraham, to have us for himself in this world. And then we find in the book of Exodus at the end how God has given the tabernacle system as a dwelling place. He wanted to dwell among his people. And that's even today true. He wants to dwell among us. And how great this is. In the book of Leviticus you find how this whole service is worked out to be in the presence of God. We are so used to these expressions that we often do not realize the greatness of these privileges, the greatness of the privilege to be in the presence of the Lord. We easily confess that Matthew 18, verse 20, but do we realize it practically? And then in the book of Numbers we find how this people is a witness for God in this world, in this wicked, wicked world. God has a testimony, his own people presented as soldiers to defend the testimony, presented as Levites to carry on the testimony. But then, now we come closer to the subject of tonight, the land. God draws them, as it were, to the land of his promise, to the land of his counsel. You know that God has a special purpose in relation to Israel. It is a purpose from the beginning of the creation. But in relation to the assembly or the church, God's purpose is from before the foundation of the world. Imagine, God had sought for you and me already before the creation, from, as it says in the scripture, before the foundation of the world. How great it is that God had thought of you and me, to have you and me, and not only individually but also as a whole, as a company, the assembly for himself. And this is God's purpose. Now we find how the people of Israel despised the land. Numbers 13, 14, you find that they despised it. They had no faith to go into it. In the book of Deuteronomy, we find how God, as it were, presents in detail the beauty of this land in a wonderful way. It is to attract the new generation, the younger children, who did not reject the land as the parents did, to attract them and to present for them the beauties of the land that God had prepared for them. What does that mean for you and me? The land of God's counsel is heaven for us. The heavenly places where now the Lord Jesus, the heavenlies, where now the Lord Jesus is seated, crowned with glory and honor, is your and my portion. That is our land. That is what God has reserved, prepared already before the foundation of the world for you and me. And what he now brings out through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the epistles and in the New Testament, he shows in detail what these blessings are. Ephesians 1, verse 3, we find how God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus. That means, every blessing which rejoices the heart of God, the heart of the Father, he has given to you and me. Imagine, there is nothing excluded that God does not want to share with you and me, how rich God is. Do we really appreciate that? Do we really appreciate that God has given us such a rich portion with the Lord Jesus and in the Lord Jesus? I hope to come back in a while on that. Then we find how the people of Israel was brought into that land, under Joshua. That's a whole story in itself. We cannot enter into the details now. But there you find how they conquered the land and put it in possession. They got it. And they had then to dwell in that land. That's what God wants now for us. Not only in a physical way, that we may conquer a land, of course that is not the situation for us. But that we would occupy these blessings and let us say in another sense, that we would enjoy them, that we would appropriate them. All these blessings I mentioned, Ephesians 1, verse 3, puts them all together, that we would really enter into these blessings. That is what God wants. And we find how in a literal sense the people of Israel failed. In the book of Judges, we find then how they failed. They did not really appreciate these blessings. And what happened in the history of the Church? What happened with all these wonderful blessings? Were they appreciated? Already in the days of the Apostle Paul, he said, he complained really, in Philippians 3, that many were more serving the God of the belly, instead of enjoying these wonderful blessings linked up with Christ in heaven. How sad this is. And then we find in the book of Judges, how the enemy comes in and takes all these blessings away, in different ways. This is a very, very sad picture. Now, what did we read in the first verse of this chapter? It came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, in this dark day, when you turn the page back, you find in those days, at the end, the last verse of Judges 21, in those days, there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes. This was the picture. And is it not so in our days? This is what we will find, tonight, in Ewan Malick. Self-will. Every man did what was right in his own eyes. There was no king. No recognition of the authority of God. There was a king. What does God say to Samuel, later on, in the book of Samuel? They have rejected me. And in Deuteronomy, we find that God was the real king, and Moses, in a sense, too. So they had a king, but they didn't recognize him. Now, God is going to change that situation. In the book of Samuel, we find how David is introduced. Now, you see the link, because our book ends with this name, this little name, David. God is going to introduce his king, his beloved, in a public way. That is what you have in Samuel. And that is what we get in the Millennium. The Lord Jesus will be introduced. But now, God is introducing the Lord Jesus, the true David, in a moral way. And that's a matter of love, of our affection. It's wonderful. David means the beloved. And it is wonderful to find in Ruth somebody who shows real love. Now, what caused all the failure in the church history I just mentioned was lack of love. What says the Lord to the First Assembly, in Revelation 2, I have one thing against thee, that thou hast forsaken thy first love. His first love was forsaken. Now, that's what we find in Elimelech, you know. We find it in verse 1 already, that he went away. There was no love for this real portion, for this wonderful land. You know, when you are studying in a book of Deuteronomy, God is, as it were, trying to do his best to encourage you to appreciate this portion. When you read Deuteronomy 8 and many other chapters, you find a wonderful presentation of the beauties of the land. And so God, in the scriptures, in the New Testament, tries to present to us all these heavenly blessings we have now linked up with Christ in heaven. Now we come back to the hymn we sang in Thy book revealed, I see thee, Lord. Because it's not a matter of our blessings only. It is, first of all, a matter of the blesser. It's, first of all, a matter of the person. So the real question is, do we love the Lord Jesus? That's the question. Do we really love the Lord Jesus? You know, in the church history, there was lack of love. And what did God send them? What did the Lord Jesus send them? Tribulation, afflictions. That's the second picture you get in Smyrna. What do we find here in the book of Ruth? When the judges ruled, there was a lack of appreciation of that wonderful country. They were there, but they didn't appreciate it. They didn't recognize the greatness of it. And they had forgotten about the blesser. What did the blesser do then? Did he leave them? Verse 1 says, there was a famine in the land. Was that for nothing? Was that just in God's providence, or just that happened to be so? Impossible. You know what we read? In the same verse, there was a man, a certain man, went from Bethlehem, Judah. Bethlehem means house of food, or house of bread. Imagine, in this wonderful country, where God had said that it would be, that it would flow from milk and honey, where you can find all kinds of fruits mentioned in Deuteronomy. A wonderful country. And there is a famine. How is that possible? How in the world is that possible? In Deuteronomy 11, God had warned them already. He had first said, this country drains water of the rain of heaven. It means it is dependent on God for the blessing. That's an important key. What we see tonight in this chapter is to learn to rely on the Lord alone. It drinks water of the rain of heaven. And what do you find in Deuteronomy 11, verse 17? That God warned them, and if they would not listen, God would shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the ground yield not its produce, and ye perish quickly from of the good land which Jehovah is giving you. You know, why God gives us all these lessons from the Old Testament, the types, all these types he has given to help us to enjoy what we have in the New Testament. I will say it in other words. In the New Testament, God gives us the position, as I said in Ephesians 1, verse 3, for example, all heavenly blessings in Christ. Every Christian has them. No exception. Every Christian has these blessings. But the point is, do you enjoy these blessings? Have you entered into these blessings? That is the point. And therefore, God gives help in the Old Testament, and the types of the Old Testament help us to enter into the enjoyment of the blessings. That is the point. And you find that every time and again, how God gives us all these types in different ways to help us to appreciate these blessings, to appreciate the position, and to enter into the enjoyment of them. Why? In order that there may be fruit for God. He wants fruit. He wants fruit in your life, in my life. But when we are only following our own wills, then he has to send something else. And that is what we find in verse 1. We found it. You see, in the book of Judges, even the grandson of Moses introduced idolatry. We find a very sad picture at the end of the Judges. It is an appendix. But when we study the Scriptures, we find that, literally, these chapters should be placed at the beginning of Judges. Historically, I mean. In a historical sense, we find that the failure was so soon after that Joshua and the elders passed away that already then, in the third generation, idolatry was introduced. And all these moral evils we find at the end of Judges happened already then, in the beginning. How sad this is. Now, we have thought of the church history, but now we think of our own history. When we came to the Lord Jesus, when we received the Lord Jesus by grace as our Saviour, God, in principle, gave us already all these blessings. But did we appreciate them? Did we enter into these blessings? You see, Elimelech had a wonderful name. His name means, My God is King. Now, that was just lacking. We have just read there was no king. What a wonderful name he had, My God is King. A better name you couldn't have in that time. But what happened? Did he really consider God to be his King? You see, so often we say that we confess, at least, to do the Lord's will. We come together to the Lord's name. But is it reality? You see, what here decays is lack of reality. Now, and I speak to myself first of all. And the Lord speaks to every one of us. How far is there a lack of reality? You see, what David had to learn through very deep and humiliating experiences in the history of Bathsheba, he learned, Psalm 51, God wants reality. God wants truth in the endless path. That's what God wants. He doesn't want only a beautiful confession. Orpah can give that as well, as we will find later on. A beautiful confession is not so difficult to give. But to be up to that confession practically, really, that's another thing. And we find that here, Eli Malak had a wonderful name, a wonderful confession, so to speak, but he didn't care about God's rights. He didn't really care. He went his own way. And instead of going to the Lord, confessing all the needs, we try to find our own solution. You see, one of the first lessons we have to learn here already is when there is something wrong, like this famine was obviously wrong, that was not normal, do we go to the Lord? When we find something in our lives, personally or in family or in the assembly, that is not right, where do we go to? Bring me these things before the Lord? Or will we go our own way? We find Eli Malak went his own way. Sad to say. He had many good excuses. He would go to the country of Moab only for a while to sojourn there as a stranger. Even Abraham, the father of all believers, tried once when there was a famine in the land to follow his own will. But it had sad consequences. You can read it in Genesis 12. God brought him to the land in a wonderful possession of the land. He blessed God there. He had an altar. He was a worshipper. How wonderful! That is what God wants to give us, really, that we may enjoy these wonderful heavenly blessings. And I really think the Lord wants to stress that to us, that we would realize more what Christian blessings mean. Christian blessings is not good health. Many unbelievers have good health. Christian blessings does not have many earthly blessings, a good family, a good job, wonderful to receive from the hand of God, of course. I don't say a bad word about that. Of course not. These are all blessings we can receive from God's hands. Earthly blessings. But God has much more to give. Heavenly blessings. Blessings all linked with the Lord Jesus. And what do we see? In our own history, and in the history of the Church, that exactly these blessings, which rejoice the heart of God, which rejoice the heart of the Lord Jesus in heaven, have been despised. The wonderful land, as I said before, the Israelites did, was despised. And so it happened so many times in the history of the Church, in our own history. What do we... Do we really appreciate these wonderful blessings? Think of the Lord Jesus as He is now in the glory. He is the delight of the Father. The Father is only one object, and that is the Lord Jesus. And you can study the Gospel of John, for example, and many other, the whole Scriptures, and you will find more and more details of the beauties and the glories of the Lord Jesus, as He now is in the glory. But instead of being occupied with Him, instead of confessing our lack of appreciation, we go our own way. What do we do? You know, it might happen, just one word about the land. It's wonderful to see here that Bethlehem is connected with Judah. You know, when there is food, when God provides this wonderful food for our souls, the result will be praise. That is what God had in mind. Maybe you can think about it. I would suggest Bethlehem, Judah, would also be a picture of a local assembly. You see, in Bethlehem, Judah, we find these many blessings. We find that the Lord was born later on. Wonderful. We find in chapter 2 that Boaz was living there. But we find also that these blessings were despised. You know, this man who introduced idolatry, or at least was part of it, came from Bethlehem, Judah. This Levite who was connected with moral evil, in a sense, he came from Bethlehem, Judah. So, it's really a point, what do we do with these blessings? Do we despise them, or do we appreciate them? Now, to continue our story, we find that Elimelech, though he had this wonderful name, went his own way. Where did he go to? To the country of Moab. You see, the world is presented in the scripture in many different ways. We find the world as a system of self-support, independent from God in Egypt. I don't want to say a bad word to our brothers coming from that country, but we speak now in the spiritual sense of that land. The Nile provides food, and they are independent from heaven. That is the difference with the country that God gave. All the blessings there depend from the blessings of God. Whereas in Egypt, they could work, and they were not dependent on heaven. Even Pharaoh regarded himself as God, and he, we find in the prophets, said that he had produced the Nile. So we find idolatry connected with that as well. Then secondly, we have Babylon as a religious system. We could talk about that long, because we find that Abram left that system to be a faithful witness to the only and true God, but his descendants later on the people of Israel was brought back there when they had reintroduced idolatry. And so it happened with the history of the church as well. But Moab is another picture. Moab would speak of pride and ease. You know, when we have so many exercises, so many tests the Lord allows in a local assembly, I don't know about your situation, but you know better than I do, and the Lord does even better know than you do how many exercises there can be in such a place. And then it might happen, as I said, it's too heavy for me. I will go away. I prefer to follow my own will. Like, he didn't say that, Elimelech, but he acted that way. He followed only his own will. He didn't care about God's authority, the Lord's authority, not at all. And we find in the prophets a very sad picture of Moab. Moab is presented as connected with pride and ease. One of the kings of Moab occupied the country, Jericho. Rebuilt Jericho even. God had cursed Jericho. And this man came and he rebuilt Jericho. In a sense, it was his possession. In Judges 3 you can find it. And this king, Ehad, was a very fat man. You see, the ease, all things were quite at ease there. There were no exercises. There was not a... You see, Moab is characterized as a vessel, as wine in a vessel that had not been poured out from vessel to vessel. To improve the quality of wine, it has to be poured out from vessel to vessel. And that is a picture of the exercises the Lord would introduce into our lives in order to have fruit. You know, when God introduces in your and my life difficulties, it is out of love. It is not to plague us. It is not to get rid of us. It is love. Even this famine that God brought was an act of love. In Hebrews 12 the Lord says, All those whom I love, I rebuke. That is what he did. He tried to speak to them. In the time of Smyrna, the same thing in Revelation 2, God sent these tribulations and it was a wonderful result. When you go to China and Russia today, suppose it would be possible, you could see these believers there, through these afflictions and pressure, they are spiritually wonderful, doing wonderful. And so it was really love from God's side to send this famine, to bring restoration. But Elimelech despised that. He preferred love. He preferred his own will. He preferred ease. He preferred even pride. And that can happen in my life easily, how proud we are. And we have to judge that pride, otherwise we cannot be brought into the blessings of the land. That is one of the lessons we find in this chapter. Self, pride, ease, has all to be judged in order to enjoy the blessings of God. Now we find in verse 2, he took his whole family with him, there you find that a backslider like Elimelech influences others. That is another sad lesson. When I am a backslider, I confess the authority of the Lord but I do not act accordingly. I follow my own will. I will influence others. And the end result is death. Spiritual death. That is the end result for us. Here it was literal death. But for us, of course, in the spiritual way, death. You see how serious this lack of reality is, really. And we find in another indication in verse 2 already, that there was something wrong in this family. Nehomai, beautiful name, means my pleasantness. A wonderful name. But what is the result of this couple? What they produce is makwan and chilion. You see, there must have been something wrong, spiritually. And that can happen in our case too. We can have a very wonderful confession. Outwardly, all things can be very nice. But what is really going on? Now, just one other word about verse 2. It says they were ephratites. That means they were connected with a region that was fruitful. Ephra means fruitfulness. Now you see again, a sensing of the land. We have found Bethlehem, Judah. Food, house of food. House is also linked with fellowship, with dwelling place. God wanted to dwell with his people. God wants to dwell with you and me. The Lord wants to stay with you and me. He wants to bless us. He wants to have praise as a result. He wants fruit. He wants fruit for you, but also fruit for himself. Ephra. But there was no fruit. There was no fruit. Instead of that there was sickness, pining, fading away. What a different picture we get when we read the prophecies about the future, the millennium. We will come to that in the last evening. When you read, for example, Psalm 132, you find how the presence of the real king brings blessing. Wonderful. But they despised this wonderful portion. Now we will move somewhat faster. You find in verse 3 the consequences of this way. When we go our way in self-will, do not honor practically the Lord Jesus, there will be some result. There will always be a result, but it is here very negative. In Galatians 6 we find a principle that you cannot mock with God. It is impossible. When we follow our own will and we confess that we follow the Lord's will, God has to intervene because of his own name. And we find here that he does that. In the end it is desolation, death. Not only Elimelech, but also his sons. How sad this is. And then we find that in verse 4 both sons had married, but shortly after probably died already. And then Nehomai and her two daughters-in-law left alone. The total time Nehomai left there was about ten years. It speaks also about the responsibility we have. We find that she stayed there ten years. It was a complete period according to her responsibility to show that Nehomai, despite her beautiful name, did not produce anything for God. How sad was that. But what we get now in this chapter is God comes in in sovereign grace. When we fail, that is one of the lessons we have to learn, we fail. God can give us wonderful blessings. We will fail to appreciate them. But then God will come in to help us to appreciate them. We can see that in so many different ways. Every one of us has a responsibility. Or as father, or as mother, as husband or wife, as brother or sister, in your job, in so many different senses. As God's stewards, we have so many different responsibilities. Can you say really that you have been faithful in connection with all these responsibilities? I think when we will be honest before God, we have to say no. And then the important question in the setting of this chapter, have we been faithful to appreciate these wonderful blessings, these heavenly blessings, to enjoy them, to be fruitful, to produce fruit for God? That is what God wanted. He wanted to have fruit for himself. Did we produce some fruit? Now, according to our responsibility, we have to say no. That is the lesson we have to come to. But then we will find, when there is a restoration and true love introduced, then things will change. And I think this is one of the secrets of this chapter, of this whole book. The turning point is where love, real affection, is introduced. When our hearts are opened for the Lord. You know what Ruth had learned, I think, maybe even through her husband, you see how wonderful God's dealings are, nevertheless, because God overrules all. Our failures are calculated, as it were, by God. God is not embarrassed, so to speak. And maybe even, Magdalene had... You might say, being filled with... Not only that, very cruel, terrible. She had heard about the God of Israel. Totally different character. Totally different. And we know so much more about our God, who is our Father now. So much more than Magdalene did about the Eternal, about Jehovah, the Lord. We know so much more. And what do we speak to others around us? Do we influence others? Probably Ruth has learned a lot about the true character of his God. What a difference between the God of Moab and the God of Israel. The God of Moab, of course, is not a real God. Behind his idolatry are Satan and his demons. And that is even today an important lesson to learn, that behind all idolatry are the efforts of Satan. But now we find here a heart that is attracted to the true God of Israel. What a change! Instead of turning away from him, there is now a heart that turns towards him. But when we find, in the next verses, we find again that confession is put to the test. You know, in verse 6, there is a wonderful expression, just to mention that, Nehomai had heard that the Lord had visited his people. This expression, he had visited his people, is really a wonderful expression. You find it in the book of Exodus, when the people was in slavery, in bondage, in Egypt, we find that God visited them. In Luke's Gospel, you find it several times that the Lord, in grace, visited his people. This is really a wonderful expression. Has God visited you in your situation? When you come to the recognition of that fact, that God has touched you, in other words, the touch of the Master's hand has come into your life, then all things start to change. All things start to change. This is the real change that starts here, when God intervenes. And then, we find in verse 7, Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she had been, and her two daughters-in-law with her. Maybe it was, in the beginning, politeness of these two daughters to go with Nehemiah to help her and just to accompany her to the border of the land. But then, they are put to the test. You see, in verse 8, Nehemiah says, Go back. And then, she has many good reasons, humanly speaking. Return my daughters, verse 11. Verse 12, Return my daughters. She has many good reasons, humanly speaking. Very good reasons. There were no resources in Nehemiah herself. Absolutely nothing. And we will see, later on, in connection with the prophetical meaning, what that means, also for Israel, the recognition that there are no resources. What had Ruth to expect from this woman? Nothing, humanly speaking. Nothing could she expect from her. Why not go back to her house, to her mother, to her father, to her isles, her gods? You know, I think, Nehemiah was very glad that Ruth came with her. But he put her to the test. You know, we can be very happy when we meet a neighbor or somebody in the street or at school or at work who confesses the Lord. That is wonderful. But you have to put the test. You have to check if it is real. We have seen that the Lord will check in your life if your confession is real. But you have to do the same with others who you meet. And now we find that Orpah did not want to pay the price. She had a beautiful confession, but then when she really was put to the test, she turned her back to Nehemiah, towards Nehemiah and towards the Lord. And so, it is a lesson also for us. We have to put confession to the test. But not only that, I am sure that Nehemiah was very happy that Ruth's mind was not. But she wanted to be sure. And so the Lord wants to be sure when you say, Lord, I want to go with you. The Lord wants to be sure. There is a wonderful story in 2 Kings 2, Elijah and Elisha. It was a very bad picture in those days. Idolatry everywhere and so many other things that were not correct. And then Elijah said, Would you not stay? Would you rather stay here? No. Elisha wanted to go with Elijah. And three times again, he puts him to the test. But how glad was Elijah that Elisha wanted to go with him. How glad is the Lord Jesus when you want to go with him. The Lord put the disciples to the test once in John 6, when many disciples went away. The Lord said, Would you not go away too? Peter said, No, thou hast the word of eternal life. It's the Lord. By seeing the Lord, we have son. That's what the Lord wants. To see Him and to love Him. That is the point. Ruth really loved the Lord. That's the change. And you see, the Lord will put us to the test. Think of the disciples of Emmaus. I've mentioned them already. When they reached home, the Lord, He just pretended to go on. But then they asked, Lord, come with us. They didn't realize then at that time that it was the Lord Jesus. But they had felt something. They wanted to have this stranger with them. When the disciples were in the ship and the storm was there, the Lord came walking on the sea. They didn't recognize Him. But then, when they had understood it was the Lord, they wanted to have Him in the boat. And so the Lord puts you and me to the test. Do you really love Him? Do you really follow Me? You see, the Lord will allow some tests. But through these tests, we learn, we are formed. It's like a tree surrounded by many winds, many adverse circumstances. But the tree will grow, will be stronger and stronger. The Lord will allow these tests that we will show the reality of our life. And how beautiful it is in verse 14. When Orpah at one hand kissed her mother-in-law and went away, Ruth clave to her. It would be a wonderful study in itself already to see other passages in the Scriptures which speak of the same attitude like Ruth had. Clave to her. That is real love. We have seen lack of love. But here is real love. There were no expectations. There were no resorts in Naomi. And nevertheless, Ruth wanted to go with her. Only real love can explain this. And so the question is for me and for you. Do we love the Lord Jesus? Have we appreciated really what we now have received as Christian blessings linked with the Father? Not only the God of Israel, but this God of Israel is now our Father. Not only our Heavenly Father, but the Father, our Lord Jesus, is our Father. How great this is! Do we love Him? Do we love the Lord Jesus? Do we want to clave to Him, but also to clave to the testimony? Because Naomi speaks about the testimony in its public form. It is in a sad situation. But we are, as Christians, also linked with the testimony of the Lord. That is also a thing to think about. Every Christian, only through his name already, is part of the testimony. And even when this testimony is despised, even when this testimony is in bad shape outwardly, we belong to it. But when we start to see the things as God sees them, then we will change our attitude. And that is so often the key. We love it. We often see only the failures in ourselves or more in others. Instead of appreciating what God has given, Ruth started to appreciate what God had given and all changed. When we see the church, the assembly as it is, according to God's Word, we start to appreciate the truth. Now we find real faith in Ruth. Instead of going back to her people and her God, she gives a real confession. And it is commitment, real commitment. Is that not what is lacking with us? Real commitment. We are living in a world where there is no commitment. People want only profit but no commitment. They want to have the profits of married life but no commitment. They want to have profits of spiritual blessings but no commitment, and so on. Here we find a heart that is wholly committed, totally committed. There is a heart here that is prepared to be obedient. Lately I saw a tract written by a brother in the last century and he gave a review of the blessings God had given and he said, how was it possible that God gave these blessings? And he realized it was by being. You know, the path to enter into these blessings we have spoken about a little bit and very weak because these blessings are so great, all linked with the Lord Jesus. How can you present them? It is wonderful to meditate on these blessings, to see the Lord Jesus, but how can you really enjoy these blessings when you are obedient? How can you enjoy God's thoughts in connection with the assembly, Bethlehem, Judah, even in connection with family, life, and other ways? How can you enjoy these thoughts, these things, only when you are obedient? Obedience is a key to enjoy God's blessings. We find already in Adam and Eve that that was the point. They were not obedient and therefore they failed all these blessings. Here we find true commitment and an interest in God's things. That's the point. How great it is when we start to appreciate what rejoices the heart of God. Think about a father who has a son. I have only one son, five dogs, but how great it is when you can really have fellowship with children. When they grow up and you are able to share with them what rejoices your heart. That's wonderful. How great for God, our Father. How great for the Lord Jesus, the great administrator of all these blessings, when he can really share with you what rejoices his heart. And that will result in worship. That is great. Now to go on. Just one word about Orpah. You see, we have often come to a choice. We find it, for example, in Simeon already and Levi, the sons of Jacob. The one was a blessing, Levi. In the beginning those were evil men. Genesis 34, you can read it. But then, one of them changed later on, finally. Another example, the two murders at the cross. There was only one. One of them, he turned to the Lord Jesus, the last hours of his life. But the other didn't care. You see, many times in the Bible, you find these choices. Orpah, she knew about the land, she knew about the God of Israel, but she turned her back to him. Maybe there is somebody here who heard the gospel, maybe many times, but did not receive the blessed tidings. It is, even now, an opportunity to receive the blessed tidings. Orpah means neck. She hardened herself against God's grace. It's terrible when you harden your neck against God's grace, but also for believers. We have seen that in Elimelech, the consequences of this hardening is terrible. But Ruth, Ruth means friend or delight, as some translate. And I've even found a translation, satisfied. Maybe that is somewhat artificial. I don't know if that is too artificial. We will find it in Ruth too, at least, that she is satisfied. And a brother in our prayer mentioned, I think, that the Lord satisfies the longing heart. That's the key in Ruth, that God will satisfy the longing heart. But anyway, we find here beautiful characteristics in Ruth. This commitment. She had no rights, no claims whatsoever. We will find that later on. But she turns her eyes to the God of Israel, to the blesser. Not only to the blessing, but to the blessing. That's a lesson for us. And then, this confession in verse 16, and then we will hurry on to the end. Whither thou goest, I will go. Yesterday night, in Hawkesbury, in the meeting, a brother has read this verse in Revelation 14, verse 4. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. Whither thou goest, I will go. How beautiful it is. Whither thou goest, I will go. Is that the intention of my heart? Of course, we will fail to realize this. But the Lord sees the intention of our hearts. If it is real, then the Lord will rejoice in this. He will be very glad when that is at the bottom of our hearts. Whither thou goest, I will go. This is the pass of the pilgrim. Think of Abraham. Secondly, where thou lodgest, I will lodge. We are strangers here on earth. We can try to settle down as best as we can. But we have seen in Moab how dangerous this is with our own ease. How dangerous this is with our own pride. It is very dangerous that they will take us away from the presence of the Lord. We are strangers. And lodge would also be an indication of the night. We are living in the night. But we have the light of the day in our hearts. But we are living in the night. Realize that. We realize that. But it says, Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Think of the words the Lord Jesus had spoken at the end of Matthew 28 to the disciples. He said, I will be with you. But here, it is a free application, but think now a moment that the Lord would go with us and that we could say, Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. That is something. Where the Lord wants to be, I want to be in the night of this world. And then there is an identification with the people of God. Thy people and my people. Sometimes, when we meet a brother, we feel ashamed. You know, when Moses was 40 years old, a prince in Egypt, he went to these poor beggars, to these poor slaves. He was not ashamed of his brethren. He identified himself with his brethren. When we find the Lord Jesus, what a person. Did he feel ashamed to identify himself with the people of God, with those who wanted to kill him? No, not at all. He was baptized, Matthew 3, Luke 3. How great it is to identify ourselves with the people of God. Not to be ashamed. The Lord is not ashamed for the brethren, Hebrews 2. Are we ashamed for our brothers and sisters? Thy people shall be my people. But now it comes, Thy God, my God. That was the real center of all. Thy God, my God. We have spoken a little bit of that. How diest will I die? Here is full commitment. Not only for a day, for a whole life. Think of Ittai. When David was rejected and he went out of Jerusalem, Ittai had just come from a strange country and he loved David. He wanted to be with David. That's the same commitment. You can read it in 2 Samuel 15. Wonderful story. That's what the heart of the Lord would really rejoice in when he sees this commitment in your and my life. Until death. Think of Paul. Think of the apostles. How they were committed to the Lord. Why? Love. They loved the Lord. That's the only reason. Otherwise, it's impossible to explain how they would go through sufferings and afflictions. It was only love. How much love do we have for the Lord? And where thou diest, I will die. And there, I will be buried. It is in the light of resurrection, for sure. We have so much more light than Ruth had, but how less dedication, how less committal is there compared with Ruth. And then, in verse 18, Nehemiah sees that he was steadfastly minded. That's a wonderful expression. Steadfastly minded. To have our minds directed on one goal, one aim. The Lord says in the Gospels that when we have a single eye, the whole body is enlightened. And that means one object. Do we have one object? Like Paul had, Philippians 3. One object in the glory. That is steadfastly minded. One object. And so, wonderful expression in verse 19. They too went until they came to Bethlehem. We have spoken about different people who went together, like Elijah and Elisha. How wonderful. Think of Abraham and Isaac who went together. And that is fellowship. There is a verse in Amos that says how should two go together when they are not one mind? You see, there we find this one-mindedness, having the same mind that is precious for God and also for ourselves. And then we find how they came back to Bethlehem. See, Nehemiah is brought back to the point where she came from. And, really, the head person, I think, the most important person in chapter 1 is Nehemiah. Ruth is brought into connection with her, but only in chapter 2 we will find another person, Boaz. And then in chapter 3 the full light is shed again on Ruth. But here we find many details about Nehemiah. So therefore, I said in the beginning, it is difficult because you have different lessons. There is a conversion, as it were, in Ruth. New birth, new life, new affections, love for the Lord. And you find a totally different picture in Nehemiah, how to bring these two together. Sometimes you find that when the Lord brings a new soul to a meeting that it stirs up the whole company. And here, as it were, the whole city was moved about, I think, Nehemiah, first of all. Because here is where Nehemiah brought back where she came from. Now, just a word on restoration. We have seen the backslider, Elimelech. And Nehemiah linked with him. Elimelech speaks of the practical failure and Nehemiah of the position. And when you have questions about that later on, we have no more time to elaborate on that. But here we find that God, in His grace, brings her back. You know, when we have failed, when we have backslidden, when we have turned our back to the Lord, the Lord, in His grace, will come in between. He always will deal with us, as He says here, the Almighty has dealt with me, verse 20, at the end. God will deal with us. His love will do that. But in order to bring us back, that is always the point. Even when we have mentioned in Revelations 2, lack of first love, the Lord brings back us back to first love. How does the Revelation end? In 22, in first love. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit, and the Bride says, Come, Lord Jesus. That is first love. So you see, that is the dealing of the Lord. He brings us back to the point where we were, in Bethlehem, so to speak, in His presence, enjoying these privileges. And the whole city was moved. That is, maybe, an expression of real concern. Do we have concern, each one, for each other? Do we have, really? Are we moved when we see how some go astray? Are we moved when some would come back? Have we compassion for each other? Then we find, in verse 20, that Nehemiah had accepted the hand of the Lord. He says, Call me not Nehemiah. Call me Marah. That was the result of her own ways. She didn't accuse Elah Melech. How often we accuse somebody else when we have the fault. But she had now accepted the dealings of the Lord and she sees the consequences of her ways. Then she says, Call me Marah. For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. But He has dealt with me. And then, secondly, bitterly. It is not pleasant that the Lord will deal with us when that is necessary. It is not a pleasure. Not at all. But it is out of love that the Lord will do it. And then she says, in verse 21, I went out full. You know, she recognizes then, and that's often the case, we only appreciate what we have when we have lost it. I remember very well, I was a young boy, I lost, I had got a present, some money and I lost it somehow. I was very sad about it. You see, but when, what about these wonderful blessings in connection with Bethlehem, the land, the portion that the Lord has given us, when we have lost this, really, we start to realize what we had. And then, the Lord will bring us back in His grace, in sovereign grace. I went out full and Jehovah has brought me home. You see, she returned, but it is here Jehovah has brought me back. In Psalm 23, He restores my soul. It says, you can translate it, He brings my soul back. It's the same word for return, or He brought me back. That's what the Lord does in His grace. When it depends on us, we will be lost, so to speak. And then, empty. That's the consequence of a way without the Lord. The consequences of our acting in self-will is that there is no result for God. Empty. Emptiness. There was barrenness. Empty. No fruit. What a difference with chapter 2, we will see later on. But that is the consequences of our failures. No progress, no fruit. And then, verse 22, we find that they came back to Bethlehem. And then it is added in the beginning of the barley harvest. There we have, we stop here at this point, it is the introduction for the next chapter, but I would suggest it is also the basis of restoration. Because, what does this mean? Just in a few words, the barley harvest started right after the Passover. The Passover is the real basis. Passover speaks of our Lord Jesus, not only crucified, but sacrificed for us. And when the Lord Jesus entered into our lives in this practical way, we find this basis, his death, his person, for us, is the starting point, because closely linked with that is the barley harvest. Then the Sunday after that, the Passover was slaughtered, the first fruit of the barley harvest was offered for God. And that speaks of the Lord in resurrection, because on that day, the Lord Jesus was raised from the tomb. The barley harvest introduces a risen Christ. Now that is just the introduction to go into the land. How can you enter into the land where the Lord Jesus now is? How can you enjoy spiritual blessings? Only when you are linked with the Lord Jesus, the risen one. When you see him, who is now the head of the new creation, who is entered now already in heaven as the risen one, and he is glorified there. Then we come to Boaz. But this is the basis, and how great this is. When we have felt that God would bring us on this basis, on the basis of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus, and his resurrection, that is the only real basis to stand upon. There is no other basis that will hold us. And so God, in his grace, in restoration, he brings us to that point. Not only back, but on a solid, very solid base. And this is the basis when the Lord will help us to enter into the enjoyment really of the land, the blessings of the land. Not only that, bring us into a living relationship with this man in the glory. That is what God wants. Not only a confession from our mouths that we belong to the Lord Jesus. Fine. Full stop. Know that this means practically something for you and me. That is what the Lord wants us, to bring us into the enjoyment of the land, and the enjoyment of these blessings with the blessing. Just one verse, we will close. Isaiah 1, verse 19. Isaiah 1, verse 19. If ye be willing and hearken, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken. What a solemn word it is. If ye be willing and hearken, that is what the Lord says to you and me. If we want to follow this road, so to speak, this way that Ruth went, and Naomi, recognizing God's dealings with her, Ruth was attracted to the God of Israel, and she obeyed, she had real faith, real love, real hope. If ye be willing, ye shall eat the good of the land. That is what God has in store for us. He wants to share with us all the blessings of the heavenly land for you and me, if we are willing to listen. So may the Lord in His grace help each one of us to listen and to take these things, these instructions at heart, to consider these things, and to follow these instructions. That is what the Lord wants, to help us, to bring us to the enjoyment of these wonderful blessings in fellowship with Him, and there will be results for God as well in worship and adoration. May the Lord help us, all of us, for His name's sake. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. …

… Friends and sisters, shall we continue to read in the Book of Ruth, Chapter 2 this time? In the Book of Ruth, Chapter 2, Nehomai had a relation of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. And Ruth, the Moabitess, said to Nehomai, Let me, I pray, go to the field, and glean among the ears of corn, after him in whose sight I shall find favour. And she said to her, Go, my daughter. And she went. And she came and gleaned in the fields after the reapers, and she chanced to light on an allotment of Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and he said to the reapers, Jehovah be with you. And they said to him, Jehovah bless thee. And Boaz said to his servant that was sent over the reapers, Whose maiden is this? And the servant that was sent over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitess maiden who came back with Nehomai out of the fields of Moab. And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers. And she came and has continued from the morning until now. Her sitting in the house has been little as yet. And Boaz said to Ruth, Here is thou not, my daughter. Go not to glean in another field. Neither go from here, but keep here with my maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field which is being reaped, and go thou after them. Have I not charged the young man not to touch thee? And when thou art a third, go to the vessels and drink of what a young man draw. Then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground and said to him, Why have I found favour in thine eyes, that thou shouldst regard me, seeing I am a foreigner? And Boaz answered and said to her, It has fully been shown to me all that thou hast done to thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband, and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother and the land of thy nativity, and art come to a people that thou hast not known heretofore. Jehovah recompense thy work, and let thy reward be full from Jehovah the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to take refuge. And she said, Let me find favour in thine eyes, my lord, for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken kindly to thy handmaid, though I am not like one of thy handmaidens. And Boaz said to her at mealtime, Come 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 ate, and was cephalic, and reserved some. And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and ye shall not reproach her. And ye shall also sometimes draw out for her some ears out of the handfuls, and leave them, that she may glean and rebuke her not. And she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. And she took it up, and came into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And she brought forth and gave to her that which she had reserved after she was cephalic. And her mother-in-law said to her, Where hast thou gleaned to-day, and where hast thou wrought? Blessed be he that did regard thee. And she told her mother-in-law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom I wrought to-day is Boaz. And Nehomai said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of Jehovah, who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Nehomai said to her, The man is near of kin to us, one of those who have the right of our redemption. And Ruth, the Moabitess, said, He said to me also, Thou shalt keep with my young men until they have ended all my harvest. And Nehomai said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. So she kept with the maidens of Boaz to glean until the end of the barley harvest and of the wheat harvest, and she dwelt with her mother-in-law. So far the reading of the Scriptures. Now this is a very long chapter, but may the Lord help us to go through it and to get some lessons, as we have also asked in our prayer. I'd like to review a little bit the first chapter to give the connection also with this chapter, and also to try to get the same line of thinking we had the last time in connection with the application of this chapter. Because we have seen we can read and study this book as a literal story, which happened about, let's say, 3,000 years ago, and that's very interesting. But we have seen also last time that it is good to read these chapters and see what they mean for us now today, and that Lord Jesus has a special spiritual meaning given to these chapters to help us to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus. And we have asked in our prayer that the Lord Jesus Himself would help us to grow. And I was reminded of that verse of 2 Peter 3, and you could really put this above chapter 2, which we have read, that Peter says, That is what the Lord has in mind for us. We hope to see this tonight, how the Lord wants to help us to grow in His grace and in the knowledge of His blessed person. But we have also seen that this book, this little book, has a prophetic application. And Lord willing, if we will still be here, we hope to meditate on that side of the truth in the last lecture, when we will think about the prophetic application. So in connection with the people of Israel and with the remnant in the future. But now, may the Lord help us to think of the practical and spiritual and moral lessons which we find here really in plenty for us. Now we have seen the last time that this book brings us into the land of God's promise. And so you could ask now for us, what does that mean for us? And we have seen a little bit that the land of God's promise would speak of the heavens. The heaven where the Lord Jesus is seated now at God's right hand. And it is really essential to get, I think, to understand that all our Christian blessings are linked with the Lord Jesus who is in the glory now. When you do not get that, you cannot really enter into the Christian blessings which God would like to share with his people. In our hymn we have mentioned that we are sons now. Sons. And why did God make us to be sons? In order that we might receive these wonderful blessings that God would have fellowship. God the Father and God the Son would have fellowship through the power of the Holy Spirit with each one of us to share these wonderful blessings, heavenly blessings, eternal blessings. We will enjoy them through the whole eternity. But it is God's desire that we would enjoy these blessings already now. The land speaks of God's counsel, what God had prepared in his heart already before the foundation of the world. God had prepared a special portion for you and me. You can read about that in Ephesians 1, verse 3, where we find, as it were, summed up in one verse what the thought is, that God has blessed us now with every or all spiritual blessings in heavenlies, in Christ Jesus. That is what God has reserved for us. Now, when we have seen in the beginning of this book that the people of Israel were in that land, they were brought, it was a long journey, they were brought into the land to enjoy the blessings in the presence of God. God wanted to dwell with them, Deuteronomy 12, and God wanted to have them as worshippers, Deuteronomy 26. But then we find in the book of Judges what a situation, into what situation they came actually, not acknowledging or recognizing the authority of God. The same God who had brought them into that portion, they forgot Him. And they were thinking just, and that is the lesson we get also, just according to their own mind what to do. God sent even a famine, as we have seen in chapter 1, but Elimelech, he didn't care. He went his own way in self-will. Now, this is an important lesson for us, how we would follow our own ideas and self-will and then go to the country of Moab. Moab means what father? Instead of knowing God as our father, we would follow another father, as it were. And Moab speaks of pride and also ease. It is not easy to maintain the position the Lord has given us, the real Christian position, in dependence on a man in the glory. You cannot see him. You can only see him by faith. We have no pope, we have no church leader, we have the Lord in the glory. But that brings many exercises to maintain these things and to walk in this truth, really. And we have seen Elimelech, he had a wonderful name, but he wanted to go his own way. He thought to find a blessing, but instead of blessing he found death. And now we find God's dealings in grace. He brings Nehemiah back and he brings with Nehemiah Ruth. And we have seen God's wonderful grace in Ruth. It speaks also of a soul who comes to the Lord Jesus, who would accept him and be drawn to him. In Ruth we find really a soul who is drawn to the Lord Jesus and by God's grace many of us, maybe all of us even tonight, have been drawn to the Lord Jesus. And that is step number one. But then we'll find there's much to learn and that's what we find in chapter two. But the point I'd like to stress now first of all is this. In order to enter into God's blessings we have to be like Ruth. You'll see that in chapter two also. Coming from afar, no claims, no rights, leaving the land of ease and pride behind. When we are proud even about our blessings or our position before the Lord, the Lord cannot help us, he cannot bless us. But when we are humble like Ruth he can bring us into these blessings. And we find even how God had dealings with Naomi. And at the end of the book we see how Naomi was restored completely and blessed. But even in chapter one we have seen already a little bit, a glimpse of how God dealt with Naomi and restored her, brought her back. Restoration means that God brings you back to the point where you were before. You remember maybe the story of Abraham when he was brought into the land of God's promise, Genesis 12. After that he went his own way and he came to Egypt. There God will not bless him. But God in his grace brought him back to the point where he was before. Lord Jesus has presented that to the disciples in John 14, 15 and 16 and other passages that this would be the ministry of the Holy Spirit to present the Lord to the disciples. But the Lord as he is now in a special way. It is not only the intention of the Holy Spirit to remind us of what happened in the past, but in a special way to present the Lord Jesus before us how he is now in the glory. And so when we would get profit from this chapter, I mean spiritual profit, it is good for us to realize who is this Boaz. This Boaz he is mentioned in chapter 2, verse 1 as being a relation of Nehemiah's husband. So there is a family relationship between him and Nehemiah. And so there is a family relationship now between the Lord Jesus and us. How wonderful this is. We find it in many different places, but I was thinking especially of Hebrew chapter 2 where we find how the Lord Jesus took part in blood and flesh. There we find one of the verses which shows us that the Lord Jesus has as it were a family relationship with us. He is the creator on the one hand, but he partook in blood and flesh to have this special relationship with us. And that was one of the conditions to be the Redeemer. We will find that later on, Lord willing, the Goel or the Redeemer and also called the Avenger. He had many different functions. He had to buy the property back of those who became poor. He had to produce a seed as we will find in chapter 4. He had to marry the widow. And he had also the right of the Avenger to revenge the blood that was shed. Lord willing, we will see that later on in chapter 4. But to be a Redeemer, to be a Goel, he had to have a relationship, a family relationship. You can read that in the books of Moses how that is worked out with the condition that he had a family relationship. And so, that the Lord Jesus might be our Redeemer, our Goel, and also the one with whom we will have a relationship as we will find in chapter 3 and 4, it was necessary that he belong to the same family as it were. That is what we find here. The Lord Jesus, as God, he cannot have the relationship as we find here. But as Son of Man, the Lord Jesus can have this special relationship. We find it in the New Testament that the Lord Jesus is now in the glory and we are even united with him in the glory. We are not united with God. We are companions of the Son of God. But we are united in a special bond with the Son of Man in the glory. That is this relationship we find here. Now he is called a mighty man of wealth. And it is wonderful. That is one of his titles we find also in the book of Isaiah where we find the expression El Geber means God-man, mighty man, in one person. We cannot understand that really. Who could understand that God and man in one person? How great he is, actually. We cannot understand. But we can fall down before him. We can admire him. We can see this mighty man of wealth. All riches, all wealth is in him, united. A man, a mighty man of wealth. He is the center of God's universe. When you study the creation you really get impressed by the vastness, the greatness of the whole universe. And he is the upholder, not only. He is the very center of this universe. But in a special way the Lord Jesus as the Lord of glory is the center of God's moral universe. And we have the privilege to be linked, associated with him. How wonderful privilege this is. He is this mighty man of wealth. All things are subjected to him. You find many passages in the New Testament which explain to us the power the Lord Jesus has. Now this we find indicated. It's only a type of course but it is an indication of what the Lord Jesus is. And it is summed up in his name. Boaz means in him, his strength. One of the pillars of the temple later built by Solomon was called Boaz. The other was Jechin. And it means he will establish. Both sorts belong together. But in him is all strength. And he will establish. We think of the promises that God has given. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 20. All God's promises are yea and amen in him. He will establish all God's promises. But in him is strength to realize that. All is in him. Now think of the Lord Jesus in resurrection. In Matthew 28. That is wonderful that you find him in resurrection. What does he say? All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. That is this mighty man of wealth. How wonderful he is. And in another passage we read in Philippians 3, verse 21. We have thought of that at the conference. That he has the power to transform even our bodies. To be conformed to his body of glory. A wonderful power he has. In him is strength to do that. And even now we read in 1 Peter 4, the last verse. That all powers have been subjected under him. Though it is not seen in this world. Hebrews 2. But for the eye of faith it is a reality. We see that all things are already subjected to him. And how great he is. And brothers and sisters I think this is one of the keys for spiritual growth. To see the greatness of this person which is presented before us. And I think therefore the Holy Spirit wanted to present in the first verse already of this chapter. Boaz. To give us an impression of the greatness of this person with whom we have to do now. That is our privilege. We do not deal with him or he doesn't deal with us as the judge as he will do later on. We have very sweet links with him. Very sweet fellowship as we will see in this chapter. So you see here how important the name is. Shakespeare said what's in a name? But in the scriptures we find that a name is very important. The names of God you could study the names of God. And they indicate also a relationship. And here we find this name reveals also what is in him and indicates at the same time this relationship. We have seen that Ruth came from far. Now she is attracted to the God of Israel to the land of God's promise. And now she is brought onto the field of this man. She doesn't know anything about him at this time. But the end will be that she has a relationship with him. And that would indicate what the work of the Holy Spirit is for us. We came from far away and he wants to bring us into a living relationship with our God the Lord Jesus in the glory. Now to go on with verse 2 Andrews the Moabite said to Nehomai let me I pray go to the field. I'd like to follow verse by verse and sometimes we have different subjects before. It might be a little bit hard. Sometimes we will think on Ruth what she does how she grows. Sometimes we will speak about Boaz and his reapers and his field and so on. But what we find here in Ruth is a condition for growth. One of the subjects I'd like to present is spiritual growth. As we have said in our prayer and the verse I read in 2 Peter 3 that is what the Lord has in mind for us. In order to make it possible that we would have a relationship with this mighty man we have to grow. How can he have a relationship with a baby? Of course in a sense there is that relationship the same life. But how can he have fellowship that's what I mean communion if there is no real growth. And that is the objective of the Holy Spirit and here of Boaz to make us grow. But at the same time we find that from our side there has to be the desire to grow. And this desire we find in a wonderful way presented in Ruth. The attitude the right attitude. Now the first point we find here is she's humble. And I've mentioned that already. She was not pride. She had left Moab the land of pride and ease. She was humble. And she was also subject, submissive. She says let me I pray. She was not acting in self-will. She was she wanted to listen to her mother-in-law. Do we want to listen to advice to spiritual advice experiences of others? It's important to grow spiritually. And then I'd like to mention a general point. She says here go to let me pray go to the field and glean among the ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find faith. Now you might say the land of God's promise that's a wonderful land that is full of milk and honey. You can sit down there and the fruits will come to you. Nothing to do. There's nothing to do. It's the land of God's promise so it is plenty with fruits. Yeah. But you see there are two aspects and I think it's important to understand also for our spiritual growth. At one hand there's God's blessing. It is God's land. All the blessings there are available. But we have to do something. I read one verse in Deuteronomy 11 that makes it clear. In Deuteronomy 11 verse 12 God says it is a land which drinks water of the rain of heaven a land which Jehovah thy God cares for. The eyes of Jehovah thy God are constantly upon it from the beginning of the year even until the end of the year. Verse 12. Verse 14 he says I will give rain to your land in its season the early rain and the latter rain. But then it says and thou shalt gather in thy corn and thy wine and thy oil. Thou shalt gather in. You see all depends on God's blessing God's rain and so on. But we have to do something. We have to gather in. We have to be active in this sense. Of course in dependence on the instructions he gives. But we have to do something. And that's one of the lessons we find here. The one hand God's blessings without God's blessings you have nothing. But at the other hand our responsibility to do something. What might that be? It's very simple. And not only once we will see we have to continue in the past. Do we read the scriptures in this attitude of humbleness and subjection? Do we meditate upon this blessed person? Do we take time for that? Maybe we receive some lessons from ministry or we go to the meetings. But that's not enough. In order to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the person of the Christ we have to let me I pray go to the field and glean among the ears of corn. The corn is one of the fruits of the land. So we find here he starts right at the beginning where the harvest started. The barley harvest. And we have seen barley speaks of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. There are many scriptures we have no time now to elaborate on that. You can ask me if you want where you find the barley harvest or the barley as an indication of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. There is where it starts. But as we have seen in Deuteronomy and many other passages God wants to give us the full harvest all the fruits of the land. And these fruits speak in different ways of the glories of the Lord Jesus. You can read about it in Deuteronomy 8 but again I'm sorry we cannot enter into that now. Here she starts at the basis and there is where we have to start. We cannot get all at once. That's something what we want. Sometimes we want we are impressed by the greatness of these things and we want to have all at once. That is not possible. We have to do it bit by bit so to speak. If it's here a little there a little. And so we will grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus. And then she says glean among the ears of corn this is the right place after him in whose sight I shall find favour. This is already an indication that there is a link with this blessed person after him. She needs to be attracted to him as we will find later on in whose sight I shall find favour. No rights as we have seen no claims whatsoever. And then Naomi who is the older believer she can teach her as we will find later on also in chapter 3 she can teach Ruth. And she said to her go my daughter. How beautiful this is that believers can help young believers. Even when you are one year old in the faith you can already help another believer who just received the Lord Jesus. And by the way that might be a real encouragement for our growth. When we get in touch with a young believer that might encourage us to grow ourselves in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus. You see when you can help somebody who just received the Lord Jesus it might invite you to grow yourself as well. So it is really important to be occupied with others. Because when others need something we need as well something. And we will grow both of us. And that will establish a special link a relationship in a practical way. Now in verse 3 we see she went and she came and gleaned in the fields after the reapers. The reapers were special servants of Boaz. We will see that later on. And then she chanced to light on an allotment of Boaz. You find here God's providence. God knew all about Boaz she didn't know much of God she didn't know much of Boaz nothing of Boaz actually. But God knew her needs and that's the same for us. God knows exactly how young we are it doesn't matter. God knows all about our needs and he will direct our feet. When we will commit ourselves to him he will direct us in a very simple way it's not complicated we make it sometimes complicated but here we find how there is under God's providence this direction. It looks like chance or how the word coincidence and in a sense from our viewpoint that's from our point of view that's from our perspective into these blessings. That is an important lesson I think. Now see how beautiful this is. He said to the reapers Jehovah we wish you it's the blessing he gives so he wants to bless us when we do something for him when we work for him how wonderful it is as the risen Lord and they said to him Jehovah bless thee now you can apply it in a practical way what about our work situation imagine that that would be possible that a bus would come and he would say the Lord we wish you and we would say the Lord bless thee now that is how practical the scriptures are and would give help to be happy together as servant and master in verse five now we see that Boaz is speaking to a special servant he had it said his servant but you can also read his young man and we find that expression many times his young man would link with himself many others but given the same energy he has given us the life of his resurrection resurrection life and young man would indicate this new energy this new power we have received in resurrection with the Lord Jesus I speak now of resurrection in a moral sense of course because our bodies are still belonging to this present and we can read it in Ephesians one and two how God took us from the scene of death where we were and has raised us from death and brought us into a living relationship with Christ so the young man in general speak of this new life this new energy that God has given us in connection with the resurrection it might indicate the Holy Spirit how the Holy Spirit now would direct all labourers every labourer in his place or her place is under the direction of the Holy Spirit but we could apply it also in this sense maybe that sometimes the Holy Spirit would use a special vessel to give direction and guidance but anyway reading this passage I was thinking of Mark 14 and also in Matthew we find it that the Lord was speaking of a man carrying a pot of water and then the disciples had to follow him to be brought into the upper room and so we find many indications in the scriptures which speak of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in directing us and bringing us to the place where the Lord was speaking to the disciples and also by the way an important lesson for those who work for the Lord that they would be subjected to the leading of the Holy Spirit as we find here indicated then we find another point Boaz asks is asking now this servant whose maiden is this he doesn't say he doesn't only ask who is but to whom does he belong and that's an important question today also because there is only there are only two possibilities either you belong to the prince of this world or you belong to this Boaz the Redeemer there are only two possibilities and so this is a very important question to whom do you belong and here we see that the Gospel Paul says when somebody doesn't have the Spirit of God he doesn't belong to Christ to belong to Christ in the glory Boaz the glorified man he has given his Spirit and that is the proof that we belong to him but his rights we find as the Redeemer we don't belong to him and the Holy Spirit makes this link living and practical now verse 6 and the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said it is the Moabitish maiden who came back with Nehomai out of the fields of Moab notice here she came back we will see where she came from and by the way is again stressed she came from Moab and I would like to stress that really in order that we would get the benefit of all these blessings we have to realize that we came out of Moab that we leave the land of pride and ease behind us we can be very proud I have I have to judge my heart several times before the Lord we can be so proud but then we cannot enter into these blessings it's impossible verse 7 and she said I pray you let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers now he is repeating what she had asked and she came and has continued now his commentary she has continued and some people are very enthusiastic to start something for the Lord a service or a bible study and after a week two weeks it's gone there's nothing left she has continued from the morning that's also a beautiful indication that would encourage us to start to read the scriptures in the morning what we get in the morning is fresh and will give a character to the whole day will help us what do we do in the morning how we start the morning with the Lord is really very helpful for the whole day when we think of the Lord Jesus himself in Isaiah 50 how he started the morning the prayer dependence upon God how important is this question how do we start the day and then she probably there was in the field a little house to rest a little bit or to drink she was diligent she was really devoted to do this job and that is also a key to grow when the Lord gives us something we should continue in Acts 2 verse 42 we find a wonderful verse that they persevered in the breaking of bread in the doctrine of the apostles the fellowship of the apostles and in prayer they continued and that is the key for spiritual growth to be devoted to go on and then Boaz addressed himself to Ruth personally how great it is that the Lord wants to have personal contact with you and me the Lord in the glory he rejected in this world he wants to have a special link and special communications with you and me and he acknowledges this relationship which exists he says hearest thou not my daughter of course it was usual language at that time but for us there is a special touch in it it would indicate already a special relationship this family relationship I have mentioned in the beginning of the chapter go not to glean in another field neither go from here but keep here as my maidens now I would like to point to something something that struck me really in verse 5 we have seen this question who's maiden is this it's the matter of rights to whom does she belong now Boaz has rights and these rights are acknowledged Devery says in his field at least these rights are acknowledged go not to glean in another field apparently there were other fields which did not belong to Boaz probably had many fields and the reapers had started in this particular field and tomorrow they would go to another field and so on and so on but here he says he encourages Ruth to stay in this field and he says with my maidens later on we find that he speaks about my reapers and at the end he says in verse 21 thou shalt keep with my young men until they have ended all my harvest so it is really stressed this aspect of his rights and I was referring to Mark 14 where we find that the Lord speaks about this upper room but it is really important to see that the Lord speaks about my upper room and he has rights he has rights but the point is do I acknowledge these rights all Christians belong to the Lord that is the point that is without doubt but do they all acknowledge his rights now of course there are two possibilities of two dangers let's put it that way in which we should not fall the one hand is we should not care about Boaz's rights we should just go on our own way we do not care about his authority that's one danger the other danger is we would say and that is also that is a pretension we hear sometimes and the church in the history has had these pretensions you come here with us to a place where the Lord's rights are acknowledged but that is not what the scripture is saying here what the scripture say and bring before us that we should keep in his presence that we should recognize his authority but not claim that we have this you see that's the point I'd like to mention in the history of the church in different groups we have found that there are claims and pretensions when we have this sincere desire to follow the Lord Jesus to acknowledge his authority the Lord will be so glad and we will be glad as well I'm sure we will acknowledge his rights he has upon his laborers we will acknowledge his rights he has upon every individual that's the one extreme and I said the other extreme is when we forget about all his rights we do just our own will that's the other extreme but may the Lord help us that we may be attracted to him it is the field of Boaz which is brought before us his laborers who accept and maintain his authority now when we maintain that it will help us really to be exercised about these things because the Lord his authority is neglected in so many different ways and when we do not accept really his authority we cannot grow according to his thoughts so this is a very important point do not glean in another field neither go from the same authority they do not claim something they are not speaking the whole day we are the ones no they simply follow Boaz and his instructions and they enjoy his fellowship they enjoy and they receive his instructions that is what we should do let thine eyes be on the field it is wonderful to study and again I would encourage the brethren to study a book like Deuteronomy where we find so many details on the land but also the field the field I would suggest speaks in a special way of this portion of the land which we have to do in a certain situation of course Boaz has many fields but here it is one field where he has to lead the sheep in these rich pastures he has many pastures available but he is leading them in one particular field and then maybe next day in another field and the next day in another field but under his directions we are in a particular field in a particular portion of his blessing we cannot go day to day from different fields to different fields and he would help us to direct us and I think of a brother who said I have been many times in these fields but without his directions Psalm 23 he leads us so how important the lesson this is for me for all of us to study the scriptures under his guidance his directions now he encourages him he have I not charged the young man not to touch thee so he protects her that's what the Lord wants us to do too to protect us against influences who would not be correct when thou art athirst he thinks of her needs when thou art athirst and we have seen how important this is to realize our needs in order to grow and we have seen when we do not have needs the Lord cannot bless us so it's really a matter of being hungry being thirsty in order to be blessed Psalm 107 the Lord says that he satisfies the longing soul this is what we find in Ruth and she may drink from the vessels where the young man the young man has provided these vessels how beautiful he can use vessels I mean young man like we have seen his servants to help his people of course he could do it himself but he likes to use you and me to in order that we would serve each other the Lord is powerful enough he doesn't need any one of them but he likes to use what he wants to go and then in verse 10 we find this wonderful reaction then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground you see this her reaction now think of these men of old who fell down before the Lord in Daniel 10 you find one example this is the right attitude you see faced with these wonderful privileges there is only one reaction that would fit that we would fall before him and bow to the ground this is the right reaction and she said to him why have I found favor in thine eyes this is a question most asked already when he was confronted with this pure grace and that's what it is and that thou should regard me seeing I am a foreigner she was not only poor but she was even a foreigner and as we will see later on from Moab had no rights whatsoever to be among the people of God and to marry there now Boaz answered and said to her it has fully been shown me all that thou has done to thy mother-in-law also a practical lesson it's much harder for a sister to care for her mother-in-law than for her own mother since the death of thy husband even and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother how beautiful this is Boaz is here speaking as it were the same words that God addressed to Abraham when Abraham was called when we study the life of Abraham it is so rich and it is so helpful for us to realize God's call and to realize God's promise and so on now Ruth has gone the same way and that is also for us a key for spiritual growth verse 12 Jehovah has Jehovah recompensed thy work and let thy reward be full from Jehovah the God of Israel so here Boaz speaks about a recompense now this is a study in itself you cannot do that now of course but you can work it out at home it is one of the points through which we can grow to study these details recompense thy work and let thy reward be full from Jehovah and now a beautiful point under whose wings thou art come to take refuge she came from a land Moab where there was a very cruel God Camos where babies were offered to them terrible things now she comes under the wings of the God of Israel what a change and we have been brought under the wings of our God who is now our Father these wings speak of protection we are living in a cruel world brothers and sisters you know it but we do not always realize that how cruel this world is but we have been brought under the protection of his wings we are brought together you can think also of the ark then at that time with the kerubim and over the ark over the mercy sea thank you and so literally you could apply it in that way she had come to that place where the ark was and thou art come to take refuge what a wonderful refuge we find under these wings we are studying itself to see the different sounds which speak of these wings and think of the example that Jesus gave in Matthew 23 to the Jews to Jerusalem that he had been as his mother hand and had protected these little children and she said let me find favor in thine eyes my Lord again you see she recognizes his authority and also a wonderful study I give two examples you find in 1st Samuel 25 I think it is Abigail who recognized its leaders all soul characters but we recognize the own and true Lord the Lord Jesus my Lord you find it in the New Testament how there were people who could say my Lord in Luke 1 Elizabeth speaks of my Lord and then later on in the resurrection the day and Paul at the end of his life in prison he speaks still of my Lord how wonderful this is and she recognizes how he has comforted her you can only find true comfort and consolation in his presence how he speaks with grace the Lord is not a harsh master he speaks kindly with grace so we should learn from him to do to act in the same way though I am not like one of thy maidens she recognized again she had no rights whatsoever it's like the Queen of Sheba she had come from afar and she admired these servants that Solomon had she had no part there but she admired and here Ruth she admired these hand maidens which Boaz had and she recognized that she even had not a place like that now there comes a special portion we have here Boaz deals in a special way with her not only he has been speaking to her but now he is giving himself special blessings and I would like to mention two words only that you may get the idea the first part of this chapter I would say is take you have to appropriate these blessings there was a man in the New Testament who had a withered hand and he went to the field and gleaned like Ruth did the disciples of the Lord Jesus they went out in the field and they took from the corn and they could use their hands and they had the benefit of these blessings but this man with the withered hand could not use this hand so here we find how we should take how we should appropriate these blessings but there is not only take not only be active but also to take this time of rest with the Lord the sheep were in the pasture some wonderful the Lord wants to attract us to himself and eat of the bread and dip their morsel in the vinegar vinegar would also speak would refer to his death I think even this fellowship is on the basis of his death and he sat beside here is fellowship not only with these maidens but also with the reapers the young men and so we have fellowship in one with another in different settings and he reached her parched corn parched corn would speak of the blessings of the land in a special way you find them also in Joshua 5 when the people entered into the land for the first time and you find that they were blessed and but it is Boaz himself who reached her how wonderful is this and the parched corn I think would also speak of his death even when we are occupied with these heavenly blessings even when we will be in heaven and receive these wonderful blessings we will always be reminded of his death the fire would speak of his death not only that he died but also how he went through the fire and his death is the basis to feed us now to go on we find here she ate and was sufficed she got enough and she even left over and reserved some she can even share now with others what she has received how great are the provisions of our Boaz but the point I'd like to stress is this she ate here could eat and that is an important lesson because eating in the scriptures speak of formation you are what you eat in other words when you receive these wonderful blessings as food for your soul you grow in the grace in the knowledge of our lord Jesus as he is now in the glory when we are occupied with these wonderful blessings of the land where he is and we eat them in the same way that is what the lord wants we have said the lord wants to have a bride with whom he can have fellowship not only a little baby in the face he wants that we would grow now this is the way we grow to eat to assimilate these wonderful blessings and then we can become as he is in a sense in verse 15 when she rose up to glean Boaz commanded his young man he gives now special instructions that she would receive more as I have said he could give the whole storehouse but he didn't he wanted her to go on in this way he wanted her to be diligent she rose up we find that she was not lazy she was very diligent but Boaz in his grace he gave her portions which were more than she would have got through her own activities you see again here we find that both sides go together what we do the Lord will bless that and he will give in his grace even much more than we would ever merit through our own activities you shall also sometimes draw out for her some ears out of the handfuls and leave them that she may glean and rebuke her not so many instructions Boaz gave in connection with Ruth and about every instruction you could think we could but you can think about it yourself and see what the Lord has to speak through these different details for your own soul and then in verse 17 she gleaned in the field until even now we have seen she started in the morning and she went on and on until even and then she not she didn't forget all about it we find that she beat out what she had gleaned she was really occupied with what she had not only gleaned but then she had also brought it together as it were and prepared it to for nourishment and it was about an ephah of Baal an ephah would indicate that it was enough for ten days for one person as you can find in Exodus 16 so she had been very diligent and she had much provision and now she brought as we find in verse 18 she brought it into the city and then her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned and now a beautiful expression she brought forth and gave to her that which she had reserved you know the Lord wants to give you a special portion and you can administer that for others here it is she brought forth of course it was all grace she had received it from Boaz but now she could bring it forth when we have received a special blessing from himself we are able to bring it forth as it were you remember the story of Melchizedek he brought forth bread and wine it was in his own reserve as it were he had it available and that is what the Lord wants to give us these treasures to make them available for others and then her mother-in-law she was bitter as we find in chapter 1 she was very bitter and bitter and now she sees how the light starts to shine in her life again with only death and darkness and no food and so on and now she sees that God has really started to deal with her and start to bless her and she makes a link that Ruth had not thought of Ruth says in verse 19 the man's name with whom I wrote today is Boaz now you could think about that this is a wonderful verse two things verse 19 where has thou wrought speaks of the place at the end of verse 19 the man's name with whom I wrote today is Boaz is the person both belong together in John 1 the disciples followed John the Baptist and then they asked the Lord Jesus to come and see the man's name and the Lord said come and see then they saw really the person his blessed person the place and the person are mentioned here in one verse they both belong together and the name is really also in itself a meditation when you would see in in Song of Songs chapter 1 already how the bride speaks about the name of her beloved a wonderful name and the value of the name is so great you can find many scriptures about that try it with a concordance of course with the Lord's help at the same time and then verse 20 and Nehomai said to her daughter-in-law blessed be he of Jehovah who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead and Nehomai said to her the man is near of King and he is the right of our redemption and Lord Will will speak about that in more detail later on and Ruth the Moabite said he said to me also thou shalt keep with my young man now again a key for spiritual growth thou shalt keep with my young man we have seen that she continued the whole day but that was of course literally in that time it was about 7 weeks until the feast of Pentecost but I would suggest for us this indicates the return of the Lord Jesus we have seen at the conference how important it is that his return will be placed before our hearts as a living reality with which we reckon every day but we have to go on there were many women who were in danger to fold their arms and just to wait until the coming of the Lord but that's not right she should continue keep with my young man until they have ended all my harvest they go on and they go on and we can work also with them until the coming of the Lord not relax in that sense go on it's good my daughter that thou go out with his maidens again you see this special relationship with his authority that they meet not in any other field I think this is really worthwhile to meditate upon how easily our feet go in a direction which is not controlled by God our Lord in the glory we can experience it in our life at school in our job in our family life how easily we walk away as it were from his authority and we have seen how easily he exercises his authority he is not a harsh master he is a loving master very tender and kind but we should stay under his guidance and so she kept with the maidens of Boaz she is persevering not only one day the whole period that is what the Lord wants to see in you and me this perseverance that is so in the grace and the knowledge of his person daily until he will come until the end of the harvest and of the wheat harvest here is a touch of something else the Lord would bring us to another point because I think the wheat would speak more of the Lord Jesus in connection with the assembly we have seen the Lord is the risen one in the barley harvest but the Lord was the corn that fell down in the earth in resurrection he has now in his glory a whole company and I think the wheat harvest would speak in a special way of this link which we have with the glorified Lord and of the whole assembly and so we go on until the end of the harvest see it is really a great encouragement brother and sister I think to expect the return of the Lord Jesus but in the meantime to prepare ourselves for him we will see in the next chapter to be occupied with all his wondrous blessings and we will grow automatically Ruth was not seeing at her cell her eyes were on the field her eyes were on boas and on all these blessings and the Lord would encourage us to do the same to have our eyes on the field on him and on these wondrous blessings in the meantime we will grow may the Lord help us to do that amen …

… The place where he shall have lain down, and he went to lie down at the end of the heave of corn, and she went softly, and uncovered his feet, and lay herself down, and it came to pass at midnight that the man was startled, and turned herself, and behold, a woman lay at his feet, and he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth, thy handmaid. Spread thy skirt over thy handmaid, for thou hast the right of redemption. And he said, Blessed be thou of Jehovah my daughter, thou hast shown more kindness at the end than at the first, inasmuch as thou followeth not a young man, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, fear not, all that thou sayest will I do to thee, for all the gate of my people knows that thou art a woman of worth. And now, truly I am one that has the right of redemption, yet there is one that has the right of redemption who is nearer than I. Stay over tonight, and it shall be in the morning, if he will redeem thee, well, let him redeem, but if he like not to redeem thee, then will I redeem thee as Jehovah lives. Lie down until the morning. And she lay at his feet until the morning, and she rose up before one could know another, and he said, Let it not be known that a woman came into the threshing floor, and he said, Bring the cloak that thou hast upon thee, and fold it. And she held it, and he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her, and he went into the city. And she came to her mother-in-law, and she said, Who art thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her. And she said, These six measures of barley gave thee me, for he said to me, Go not empty to thy mother-in-law. Then she said, Be still, my daughter, until thou knowest how the matter will fall, for the man will not rest until he hath completed the matter his way. It might be good to review just in a few words what was before us in chapter one and two. You see new faces and even children tonight. And it is a wonderful story, this book. You can't read it as a story which happened more than 3,000 years ago, or about 3,000 years ago. You can read it even as a kind of love story, not as the world produces, but as the Holy Spirit has found good to record for us. But we have seen also that we, living in this time, in this dispensation, according to 1 Corinthians 10, should read it in a special way to find lessons for ourselves. We can also read it, and we hope to be occupied more with that line of thought in connection with the prophetic events. And so we find in this booklet also things which will happen in the future, in connection with the future renderings, before the King, the Lord Jesus, the true David, will be introduced in a public way into this world. Now we have seen in chapter one how Elimelech and his family left Bethlehem, Judah. We have found, and you can meditate upon this yourself, how Bethlehem, the house of bread, the house of food, was the place where God was honored. Judah means praise of the Lord. And we find that because of the situation there, God had sent a family. We can see in the book of Judges how the situation was in that time. Everybody did according to his own ideas. There was no authority. And so when we apply this to our day, we see it is the same problem today. The authority of the Lord is not recognized. Everyone does what seems to be right in his own eyes. Now in this setting we find how there is a family who follow their own ideas, but we find then also how God doesn't leave them where they are, but how God starts to work in restoration, and how God in sovereign grace brings even roots to the country, the promised land. And we have seen also what the land means for us, for Christians. A heavenly country, where the two Boas are in chapter two, where he is the Lord of the harvest. That is chapter two. Now we have seen the last time when we were together in chapter two, in a special way, how on this field of Boas, Ruth was led to go and we have seen how she was occupied there. We have thought about the wealth that is available in Boas. All the treasures of God, so to speak, are available in our glorified Lord in Heaven. But it is our task, but also our privilege, to start very low, to enter into all these blessings. We have meditated a little bit on that the last time. Now one of the most important lessons I think in this book is to see that we have to humble ourselves. It was pride of Elimelech to go away. It was self-will with which he was led. It was not obedience, it was not willingness to obey God and to listen to God's voice. But here we find in God's grace restoration. We find how Nehomai had learned to listen to God's voice. And how Ruth, who came from Moab, and we have seen Moab stands for pride, for ease also. There are no tribulations according to the word of God. But we have to leave that country. We have to humble ourselves in order to receive all these blessings in chapter 2. We find how her feet were involved. She went. It was not only the knowledge she received that Boas was a mighty man of wealth. She went to the field. And then her eyes were on the field. Boas said that she should have her eyes on the field. That is also an instruction for us. We cannot repeat all we saw, but I just wanted to repeat that because we see that Ruth committed herself completely to the country of the Lord, as we have seen in chapter 1 already. It is also an encouragement for a soul who is not really committed to the Lord. We see the only way to enter into God's heart is commitment. We have seen that Orpah walked in self-will. She was very kind to her mother-in-law, but she acted in self-will. Her name means neck. So that is an indication that she acted in self-will, Orpah. She didn't want to humble herself like Ruth did. And so many times it happens to us also that we want to go our way in self-will. We try. We don't want to humble ourselves. But in Ruth we see how she humbled herself and how she made a definite commitment in chapter 1 verse 16. And that is a key for spiritual growth. Definite commitment. And then we have found in chapter 2 how her whole body, as it were, was available. And she used her eyes the right way. Do we use our eyes in the right sense? Are our eyes directed on the field? Are our eyes directed on the Lord Jesus? How do we use our hands? She was very active. She wanted to appropriate these blessings to herself. That's an important lesson. And she even used her knees. It is not mentioned literally, but this work was work that was very humble. It was done by beggars. You see how Ruth, who came from abroad, and the law was against her and Moabit could not have any relationship with the people of God, but she used the grace which was available. And we have seen how Boaz acted very kindly to her. And she used her ears very well. It is a very practical thing. She used her ears. And Boaz spoke to her heart. Her heart was open to listen to His voice. And so we can learn many things of Ruth. And we have thought the last time, she is really an example for us to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is chapter 2. But that's not the whole story. By the end of chapter 2 we have seen that the harvest continued, but there was a big question mark. What was going to happen? Because after 50 days the early harvest would stop. She was there during the barley harvest and even the wheat harvest we have seen in chapter 2 verse 23. And then there was a period of about 3 months there was silence. You find this silence also in Leviticus 23. When you study the Feast of Jehovah, you will find that there are three feasts close together. Passover, then the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and then also closely linked together with the first fruit of the Lamb. And then after 50 days you have the Feast of Weeks. Now we find here a picture also of the church brought in. We find a suggestion in the wheat harvest. We cannot go into the details now, but it's just a suggestion. You can think about this. But then a practical problem was there. Ruth had seen Boaz every day. And now she was going to miss him. She knew that he was one of the redeemed. And we will see in chapter 4 that the other redeemer, who was nearer, didn't want to. And we will see why. The redeemer had to be of the family. We have seen that already in chapter 2. So one of the great themes in the book of Ruth is the theme of redemption, of the redeemer. Not only the fact of redemption, but especially the person of the redeemer's redemption. And then the relationship into which Ruth is brought with the redeemer. But there is still a future here in the beginning of chapter 3. What would she do? And we find that Naomi is her instructor. Now just a general remark. My suggestion for this chapter was the bride. We find here how Ruth prepares herself for Boaz. And that's a big difference in chapter 2. We find the blessings of the field. The blessings which Boaz gave. He administers all to her. We have not only seen that she was very busy to glean and so on, but we have found also how Boaz himself administered to her all these wondrous blessings. But you know, the heart of the Lord Jesus is not satisfied to give us blessings. How rich these blessings in themselves may be. The heart of our Lord Jesus is only satisfied when He will have us for Himself. That's the big difference between chapter 2 and 3. And for us also, we often ask for a blessing and we forget about the blessing. But the Holy Spirit would use this chapter 3, I think, to open our eyes for the need that we would enter into a real and practical relationship with the redeemer, with the blessing himself. And I think that brings in the thought of how are we prepared for this relationship. We have seen that Ruth received many blessings from the field and she ate. That was one of the important blessings. She not only appropriated these blessings with her hand, or she took these blessings to her, but she ate also. And it is very important to grow in the knowledge and the grace of our Lord Jesus. We have to eat to be formed. But still then, it is not enough. But now, how is this being realized? How are we prepared for this relationship with our Boaz? I find an important principle in the scriptures, and that is affliction, that is tribulation. I didn't realize myself until just a few days ago. I saw how this was a very difficult situation in chapter 3. So I say, Boaz, who wanted to follow the Lord, Boaz is a very pious man, a very righteous man, how could he redeem the land for Naomi? Because he knew very well that would mean that he had also the obligation to marry Ruth, to produce or to have a seed for Ruth's husband, who was dead now. He knew that, because we have these institutions in the Word of God, we can read in Ephesians 25 and also in Deuteronomy, in different places, where we find at the one hand how God provided that when an Israelite became poor, he could have get his portion in the land. But not only that, we find that there was a second thing, that the one who became poor, and maybe the widow in this case, who had lost all, that then the one who would buy the portion had also the obligation to bring in the seed, that the descendant would inherit this portion. So we have seen already, I think, in the first evening that the Goel, that's the name for Redeemer, Goel, is translated in different ways, but it is always through this book the same expression, Goel, means Redeemer or also Avenger. We will see in chapter 4, Lord willing, also the role of the Avenger. But the Goel had the obligation to buy the land back, to redeem the land. He had also then the obligation to marry the widow. In this case, Naomi was too old to have descendants, so it would be Ruth. And then there was not only, I skipped one thought, not only the land had to be redeemed, also the soul, the person itself had to be redeemed. That is how redemption comes in connection with us. So in order to enjoy the land, you have the redeemer who brings the land back to earth, to introduce us to the enjoyment of the land. But he is also the one who will redeem the person. And then we find how he is going to marry the person. And that's not the subject in chapters 3 and 4. And he is the Avenger, the one who, when there was, in the case of Manslaughter, the one who had the obligation to revenge this. So these are the tasks of the Goel. And we find that Boaz was very faithful and he knew his obligations. I'm sure every day when he saw Ruth, he realized what his task was. But he knew also that the Moabitess, he could not marry somebody from Moab according to the same law. How was this going to be solved? It was a real problem. And I think for Nehomah it was also a problem. How could they solve this question? And I think that the other redeemer, he had realized this very well, but he didn't want to. Whereas Boaz, probably he wanted, but he couldn't. Now, it is remarkable that about 50 days after the first three priests I mentioned, we have the Feast of Weeks. And that is for the Jews also called the Joy of the Law, Simchat Torah. And there we find how the thoughts of the Lord are going to be realized. But it is a very difficult situation. At the one hand, the law said somebody from Moab cannot be introduced among the people of God. At the other hand, it was very clear what Boaz had to do. You see the problem. Now, I think that Nehomah acted by faith. And not only by faith, she had learned the heart of God. Through God's dealings with Nehomah, through all the bitterness she went through, she had learned to know God's heart. And she had seen how faithful God is at one hand, but also how He is gracious, full of life. And I think that Nehomah understood through these dealings with her what is in the heart of God. But now, Ruth had to learn that too. And my thought was that it is through tribulation, through affliction, that we learn. And this is a very important lesson, I think, for us. We will see that in detail when we follow now the instructions of the chapter. We will have some invitations for this. So in itself, I thought these three months of silence, which followed after the first part of the harvest, before the fruit of the vineyard and the fig tree and so on were brought in, this time of silence was very difficult. And we find now how Nehomah had found a solution in her own heart, and she is going to instruct Ruth. But at the same time, we should keep in mind that the objective of this chapter is to bring Ruth, and now when we apply it to ourselves, to bring us into a definite relationship with the redeemed. And we find even in this chapter and the beginning of the next chapter that there was a competitor, so to speak. There was a possibility of another. And this matter has to be cleared. And we have to wait for the next chapter to see how this matter is solved. But it remains a question mark, even over this chapter. But we see, on the other hand, many indications how Ruth is prepared now to enter into this relationship. So I'll just repeat the difference. Chapter two is the field, and you could say Boaz is the lord of the harvest. But chapter three is Ruth in another aspect. She is now to be formed and to be brought into a relationship with Boaz. That is higher. It's not only a matter of the blessings, it's now also a relationship with the blessing. Not only that, we find here also Boaz as the lord, we could say, of the threshing floor. The threshing floor is one of the points why I said it is through tribulation, through afflictions, that we are taught and that we are brought into this relationship. And therefore I have thought it might be good to take up some passages in the word of God which speak about the threshing floor. It might help us to understand why God would use these activities of the threshing floor to prepare us for this relationship. Now, just before we go to some passages, let us read verse one again. Nehomai, her mother-in-law, said to her, my daughter, shall I not seek rest for you? It's such a wonderful thought, beloved. In chapter one, she had tested Ruth. She had said in verse nine, Jehovah grants you that you may find rest each in the house of her husband. Not that Nehomai would love to see her go to the country, back to Moab, but it was a test, we have seen that. The confession of Ruth had to be tested, but here we find a higher order of rest. It is now rest in connection with this great question, would there be a definite relationship with Boaz? She had food enough now, she had blessings enough, but it was still this question of the Redeemer and of the relationship with him. And we find already suggestions for this matter of rest in connection with other questions, but just to help us to see how important this question is in general, in Genesis 5 already, when there was a difficult situation, in Genesis 4 we find the features of the world in independence from God and how then from Enosh to Enosh. They start to call on the name of the Lord, but then after a long line we come to Noah, and there his father Lamech said, God will give us rest. He was thinking of himself, not so of God's rights, but the thought of rest is introduced. And the name Noah means rest, the one who brings rest. Now this brings us also to this thought, how can we find rest? And Omai said, shall I not seek rest for thee? But what I wanted to point out is this, where can you find rest? How can you find rest? It is in the great Noah, the one who brings rest. And there it goes through the judgment. You can only have rest, really, when you see that God's rights are met. There it is in judgment. But Noah means the one who brings rest. And so I think the Holy Spirit would bring us into a relationship with our Lord Jesus, who is the only one who can bring rest. And you know in the days that the Lord Jesus was born, there was an old man, Simeon, and he had waited for the consolation of Israel. And the word consolation is closely linked with the thought of rest, in Hebrew at least. And so we find that rest is something to be desired. Simeon had wanted to have this consolation, but again we find this consolation, this rest, in the person of the Lord Jesus. That is my point to underline. We have only rest in connection with the blessed person of our Lord Jesus. And then we come to Matthew 11, where he invites us, not only those who are not saved yet, but he invites every disciple who wants to follow him, who wants to take up his yoke with him, to come to him to find his rest. Find rest for our souls, but also for our conscience and for our hearts, taking up his yoke. That's the only way to have practical rest in this difficult world. It is a study in itself, but you see, rest is brought in in connection with his blessed person. And so Naomi would instruct Boaz, and so we may have the privilege to instruct younger believers how to find this rest, how to find an established relationship with our Redeemer. And then in chapter 2 we find how Boaz was closely related. And we can find many passages in the New Testament who show how the Lord Jesus now related to us. When the Lord Jesus was here on earth alone for the glory of God, he had no relationship, he had no family, he was alone. But in resurrection, the Lord Jesus has a family. In Isaiah 53 we read that he will have a seed. In Psalm 22 we find the new generation, and among them the Lord would sing the praises of God. And so I would suggest the Lord Jesus, our Boaz, he linked himself with us, of course when he took upon him flesh and blood, Hebrews 2, but then a definite relationship was established in resurrection. And that's what you find in John 20, go to my brothers. That's what the Lord Jesus said. And there we find this definite relationship. And that is one of the conditions for the Redeemer. The Redeemer had to be closely related to the one who had to be redeemed. And so we find how the Lord Jesus came and became flesh, God, as we find in John 1, and in resurrection he is now linked with himself. And then in verse 2 we find this indication of the threshing floor. We find here that Boaz was winnowing. He is not threshing here. But I'd like to take up that thought of the threshing floor first and then come back on the thought of winnowing. In Genesis 50 we find for the first time the threshing floor mentioned. We find there in chapter 50 how Jacob died, and then in verse 9 they left Goshen to go to the country of Israel, and they went up with him, Boaz, Cariots, and horsemen, and the camp was very great. Verse 10, and they came to the threshing floor of Eteh. Eteh means the thondush, which is beyond the Jordan. And there they lamented with a great and very grievous lamentation. And he made a mourning for his father seven days. And the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Eteh, and they said, This is a grievous mourning of the Egyptians. Therefore the name of it was called Ebel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. Here we find the thought of threshing floor introduced in connection with a difference between Egypt and the people of God. It's called here the mourning of the Egyptians. We find here that there is a difference between those who have no hope, the Egyptians, and the people of God. So this is the first lesson. In the threshing floor you find that there is a difference between those who belong to the people of God and those who don't. And the threshing floor is, in general, God's discipline. God wants to show the difference. And even through tribulations, the threshing floor is linked with tribulations, you find that God shows there is a difference. When today or tomorrow there will be persecution here in this country, you will see immediately the difference between the believers and those who are only professors. So the threshing floor brings in this separation between real believers and only those who have a profession. But then the second time that we find the threshing floor is here. And here it is to form a believer for this relationship with the Redeemer. I wanted to mention to you two other occasions where you find the need of the threshing floor. When we have been brought into a relationship with God, we are to be led by the Word of God. And now it is very remarkable that we find in 1 Chronicles 13 when David wanted to bring in the Ark of the Lord to Jerusalem, that he did not follow the instructions of the Word of God. And this is a very interesting story. And we find that they carried the Ark of God on a new cart out of the house of Abinadar. The Philistines had sent back the Ark on a cart they did not know. It was ignorance. They did it and the Lord used it. But David, he could know better. And the Levites and also Uzzah, as we find in this chapter, he was the one who had watched over the Ark. He could know God's thoughts. And so we find here that the threshing floor in verse 9 is the place where it is made known when there is failure. I just wanted to read the verse. And you see that God uses the threshing floor here to reveal that. And Uzzah and his name means strength. We can be very strong, but it is not only needful to be strong, we need also to be led by God's thoughts. It is 2 Peter that says that we should add to virtue, spiritual strength, also the knowledge. And so the knowledge of the Word of God is very important. And God brings this to the test. That is my point here. That God uses the threshing floor to put things to the test. And here it is in the life of a believer with the best intentions. What is better than to place the Ark in the center? What is better in our words to speak? To place the Lord Jesus in the center. And it is very good. But you have to follow God's instructions. And here we find that there was failure because of not obeying the Lord's instructions. This was at the beginning of David's reign. Now at the end of David's reign we find another experience in connection with the threshing floor, chapter 21, where we find at the end of the life of a believer that still the test has to be made. God maintains His rights. And so we find here that David had counted the people. Maybe there was pride in David's case, to know how many belonged to his reign. Like pride, God cannot accept it. God cannot accept, even in a person like David, spiritual pride. God has to judge them. And here we find that God not only judged David, but the whole people whom he had counted. And then we find the threshing floor again in verse 20. And Ornan turned back and saw the angel and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing weak. Here we find the threshing floor again. But Ornan, we have no time to go into all the details, but you can meditate on this yourself. But my point is to show that God uses the threshing floor on different stages. First, as we have seen, to make a difference between believer and unbeliever. Then to prepare us for a relationship with our Redeemer. And then to maintain His rights in connection with His Word. And then at the end of our life, when we have failed, He shows His thoughts again. His thoughts in grace. And we find here how the threshing floor at the end of David's life was still a blessing. It was not easy for David, but it was an experience through which now the foundation was laid for the temple. So that is wonderful how God can use our failures and bring in something which is good. And the last reference that we have no time to read is Isaiah 28. It is a wonderful passage where we find how in connection with threshing God's wisdom is brought in. Are you passing through difficulties? Are you passing through deep waters? It is God's hand and it is according to His wisdom. And not only that, it is because He wants to establish you, to prepare you for this wonderful relationship. And that is the positive point. And so we find here an indication that God used a difficult way for our good. And now the thought of winnowing. Winnowing was to put away the calf. So threshing is a process to remove the grain, the corn or barley or wheat from the ear and from the tongue. But what winnowing means is something which follows that process. So threshing might be severe as we find in Isaiah 28, but it is according to the wisdom of God. Sometimes God has to deal very severely with us. But winnowing is a sweeter process. It is to eliminate the calf from the grain. And we find here that the result is to satisfy the heart of Boaz as we will find later on. So winnowing is to secure the fruit completely without anything that is not in agreement with the fruit itself. So God wants to have pure fruit. That is what we find in winnowing. We find it in other passages, how important this is really. The Lord Jesus, when He will enter into His reign, He will burn the calf with fire. You can read it in Matthew 3 and Luke 3. But in connection with us now, I think the Lord wants to have fruit. And He wants to have fruit which is really according to His thoughts. Nothing which is contrary. He cannot maintain the calf. He has to eliminate it. And when does He do that? He does it during the night. We have seen it already in chapter 1, the night of His rejection. And the night means difficulties, tribulations, we have seen that. But the Lord uses the same night to take away the calf. You see how beautiful this is? And then we find in verse 3 the instructions for Ruth, how she should prepare herself. I am suggesting four points here which we might apply for ourselves, how we can enter now into this relationship with our Redeemer, with the Lord Jesus. To prepare us for this definite relationship. Now, just to make clear the point, I found that Boaz is mentioned in chapter 2 as being a mighty man of wealth. And Ruth in verse 11 of this chapter is called a woman of worth. In the Hebrew it is exactly the same expression. Wealth and worth is the same word. It means that there is a link here in Boaz. That Boaz, the mighty man of wealth, he needs a woman. He needs a bride, as we have in this chapter. And she is to be a woman of wealth. The same word at least. And that makes it clear that Ruth had to be introduced not only into this relationship, but she had to be brought on a level which is conformed to Boaz. In other words, she has to be conformed to him. That is my thought. And how can we be conformed morally to our Bridegroom, to the Lord Jesus? That is what we find here in verse 3. First of all, we have to wash ourselves. That is to remove all that is contrary to His thoughts. We find a washing of the water of the Word to purify us. You can find it in John's 3, the food washing. The Lord said to Peter, when I do not wash your feet, you have no part with Me. You see, to have fellowship, to be brought on the level of the Lord Jesus, that is what we find here in this chapter, to be brought on His level. Not that He steps down on our level, He does that in grace. But here is the thought, He wants to have a bride for Himself, which is prepared for His level. Conformed to Himself. Now, to do that, He uses His Word. And He is washing us. Ephesians 5, we find it, how the Lord Jesus, now in the glory, has a service continuously to wash us, to apply the Word for us. Now that is precious service of the Lord Jesus. It is a service that lasts already almost 2,000 years. What the Lord Jesus did at the cross was once and for all. But His service now in the glory to prepare us for Himself is wondrous. But here it says, wash thyself. You see, the types in the Old Testament is not what we are positionally, it is not what the Lord Jesus is doing for us, it is how we enter into God's house. When you get granted what the types mean in the Old Testament, it is a big help. In the types you do not find the truths positionally, in the types you do not find what God's thoughts are for us, but in the types we find how we realize God's thoughts personally, how we enter into God's thoughts and are formed practically. So we have to apply the Word ourselves. But it goes together with what the Lord is doing. When the Lord is washing us through the water of the Word, Ephesians 5, and we listen to the Word, then we are washing ourselves. But it goes together. And we have often in the Scriptures these both aspects together. We have seen it also the last time, I think, in connection with the field, that with one hand all was ready, but real strength to go. And here we can say, the Lord is washing us through the water of the Word, but we have to apply it to ourselves. Wash thyself. That in a sense is negative. It removes things which are contrary. But then there is another element added. Anoint thyself. Anointment or unction in the Scriptures would bring in something which is very positive, what is according to God's thought. You can link it with the Holy Spirit, but again it is not positionally here. It is not the fact that we have the Holy Spirit, but it is the fact that we place ourselves under his guidance. It is that we realize what we have received. In Ephesians 1 we find also the fact that we have the Holy Spirit. We find in 2 Corinthians 1 that we have this ointment of the Holy Spirit, but the point is now that we use that. That we place ourselves before God, that he can direct us by his Spirit. That we anoint ourselves, that we are precious in his sight. That is what it means here. Anoint thyself. And of course you can mention many other passages in the New Testament where the Holy Spirit is brought in, but in the types we find that we apply this to ourselves personally. And then put thy raiment upon thee. You remember the prodigal son, how he came back and he got the best garment. But you have to take it, to put it on. In the New Testament we find that we can close ourselves with Christ. How wonderful this is. We have the clothes of righteousness and all these wonderful clothes according to God's thought. But we have to put it on. You see, that is the exhortation here in this part, that we must not only take knowledge of God's thoughts, but if we would apply these thoughts practically. You see, often the problem with us is, I say to myself in the first place, that we know God's thoughts, or we listen to God's thoughts, but we do not put them into practice. That's the problem. And when we know God's thoughts only, but we do not put them into practice, there cannot be a real relationship with them. Of course, positionally, every Christian has this relationship before God, but practically it doesn't mean anything. But God wants that it would mean something for us, you see, and therefore these prescriptions, these instructions from Nehomah. And it's wonderful to prepare us for this living relationship with the Lord Jesus. But there is one other step to go, to go down. And that's very hard. Because we want to maintain ourselves. We like to listen to the Word of God and even to apply these things, anoint us. And put this raiment, think of the beautiful garment the bride will have in Revelation 19, but we can apply this already today to ourselves. But to go down, that's the problem. But that is essential. When we do not want to go down, we can forget about this relationship. So this is really a very serious thing. Question from the audience. Therefore, go down. And where? We have said, go as a spirit to the Lord of the threshing floor. Here we find that we have to humble ourselves under His mighty hand, go to that place where this process takes place of threshing, but also of winnowing, and then He is going to talk. Isn't that wonderful? Make not thyself known to the man. I remember Mary in John 20, she received the Lord's instructions, but she first stood down. She went into the tomb, and she humbled herself, so to speak, but she received communications from the Lord. She was the one who could give these communications to the brothers. This humble, simple sister, she received these instructions, and that's a lesson for us. How can we listen to the voice of the Lord when we follow these steps, including to go down? The Lord wants to communicate Himself with us. He is willing to do that. Here the instruction of Nehemiah says, Make not thyself known to the man until he shall have done eating and drinking, and it shall be when he lies down that thou shalt mark the place where he shall have lain down, and thou shalt go in and uncover his feet, and so on, and then he shall show thee what thou shalt do. There are other steps to be taken, but it is in order to receive His communications. Now what are the other steps? She went down to the floor, and then in verse 4, she would mark the place where he shall have lain down. Do that. Mark the place where he shall have lain down, and thou shalt go in and uncover his feet. How can you do that? Now apply for us. How can you uncover the feet of the Lord Jesus? You read the Gospel. You see a man who walked through this world there in Canaan, in the land of Israel. You find a woman seated at the feet of the Lord Jesus. She, Mary, uncovered the feet of the Lord Jesus. I say reverently. She was at His feet, and she uncovered, in that sense, His feet. It was not a mystery for her. It was not with a veil or a cover, but she entered into that, what His feet mean. And that is what we have to do. We have to, not only to see where He died, how He died, but also to meditate upon His walk here on earth, to uncover His feet, in that sense. You see, that is the way to receive His instructions. And then lay thyself down. That is, again, very humbling. It is humiliating, I would say, that she would lay herself down. Because we have to realize what she is going to do here. She was offering herself now to Boaz as the bride. She would lay herself down. It is, again, I think, a suggestion of putting aside all pride, all our own thoughts, what we want to maintain in the presence of the Lord, because in the presence of the Lord we cannot maintain anything. It is very important to see how many servants of the Lord stood down before Him. I remember Daniel, chapter 10, how he fell down for the glory of the Lord. We find it in Abraham already, in Genesis 18. We find it in John, in the Isle of Patmos, and many other references where we find how God's people, in the presence of the Lord, would stood down. That is the only acceptable attitude. But then, that is precious. He will show thee what thou shalt do. He will instruct us. Not only Nehemiah, not only a brother or a sister, He Himself will speak to us. And it is really worthwhile to go into your closet and to pray. I think that is very important in connection with this subject. To enter into a real relationship with the Lord, we have to know this secret prayer, and to be able to listen also to the voice of the Lord. I remember a story. There was a young boy, I think in France or Switzerland, when he saw his mother in the morning, when she had been in his closet, she came out with joy at her face. Every time the young boy noticed it. And then he understood how she had communications from the Lord, how the Lord would speak to her through prayer and through reading the Scriptures. So this secret communion with the Lord is very important. And then in verse 5, the attitude of Ruth, it is again commitment, and she said to her, all that thou sayest will I do. That is discipleship. You find it in John 2, when the mother of the Lord Jesus said to the slaves, you do all what He says. And then they were blessed. You see, that is really important for us, to do all what He says, and how we fail in that aspect. It is again the same commitment you find here with Ruth, as you have found already in chapter 1, how she committed herself totally to the Lord, in verse 16. And here again it is the same attitude. And she not only took in these instructions, she not only received these instructions, but now she put them into practice. Verse 6, she went down to the floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had bidden her. And then verse 7, that is a wonderful verse, Boaz ate and went. What does that mean? In a general way I would suggest, when Boaz speaks of the Lord Jesus, we find in his life, one who did the will of God. He said, my foot is to do the will of my father, or to do the will of the one who sent me. Seven times we find how the Lord, in John's gospel, came to do the will of God. The will of the Father, to glorify the Father, that was his need, that was his drink. And he was satisfied to do that. Drinking speaks also of satisfaction. And his heart was married. Not only because of his food, because of his drink, he was married because he had a result of his labors. And we find here how the barley was ready. He went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn. We can feel the satisfaction of the Lord Jesus when he sees the fruit of his labors. He is satisfied. You read it in the Psalms. And in Isaiah 53 it says literally that he will see the fruit of his travail, of his soul, and he will be satisfied. That is what you find here. The satisfaction of the Lord. He could lie down at the end of the heap of corn. He could rest in the result of his labors. How beautiful this is. And then in verse 7 at the end, then she went softly and uncovered his feet and laid herself down. We could link this also with baptism, where we put aside all of the old men. It's just a suggestion. So you find many instances in which we find this downward path. But initially you find it already in baptism that we have put aside all of the first men. And then in verse 8, it came to pass at midnight. This brings me again back to the part of tribulation. Midnight, and we hope to see this in connection with the future lens, the tribulation, in the middle of the week, the tribulation, the man was startled and turned himself and behold the woman laid his feet. And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth, thy handmaid. So I think also in this verse 8 we find an indication of the aspect of tribulation. In connection with the remnant, the future remnant, the great tribulation, but in connection with believers, it is through tribulations that the Lord would form us. You can read Romans 5, the first version. You see how the Lord would use tribulation to bring us into the enjoyment of his salt. And at midnight, we find that he is starting to speak now. It took a long time. You can apply that to the history of the church. You see how long it took, really, before the Lord was able to speak to the church. But also the history of Israel, the Lord had said already long before about the place he was going to choose in the land, Deuteronomy 12. It took, I don't know how many years, but hundreds of years before David found a place, you see. But then, how beautiful is this? In chapter 2, the last time, we have seen how Boaz spoke to Ruth in verse 12 and said, Jehovah recompense thy work, and let thy reward be full from Jehovah the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to take refuge. And here we find, I am Ruth, thy handmaid, thy slave. Spread thy skirt, or thy wing, over thy handmaid. How wonderful this is. Here we find Ruth not, she is a bride, she has prepared herself, but she is very humble. We find in Psalm 45 also how the bride prepares herself for the King, but in all humbleness. And here, I think this is also an indication, to please the Lord, we have to be slaves. Nothing of our own will, only obeying, only listening to his voice. And that is wonderful, because the Lord Jesus himself, I say it reverently, the great slave, Exodus 21, the Lord himself was that. And he wants to have somebody who is conformed to himself, as we find here. But the thought is so wonderful here to see that she asked his protection, she is asking that he would cover her as it were. Now she had received already this protection from the God of Israel, but now she wants to be brought into this relationship with the true Boaz, and to have his protection. And you can find many places in the Psalms especially which speak about this thought of protection and wing. And then she explains, for thou hast the right of redemption. This is what Nehemiah had said to her. It was still not clear to see the matter, it was still not established. And we find also in the book of the Song of Songs the same progressive line. In the beginning, chapter 1 gives the outline, there all is established. But then from chapter 2 on you find the development, how the bride is brought into this relationship. And by the end she could say that she belonged to her beloved, and the beloved was hers, but then also his satisfaction was towards her. That is the end of this line of progress, that his satisfaction, excuse me, literally it says his desire is towards me. So that is what is going to be realized here, that we would prepare ourselves for him according to these instructions in order that his desire would be towards us. But from our side one problem has to be settled, and we will find it also the next time, that is the other Redeemer. As long as there is the possibility of this other Redeemer, there is not this definite relationship established. And this other Redeemer would speak, I think, of the law, and as long as we would, I say it now very simple, as long as we would follow our own efforts, do our best so to speak, or place ourselves under the law even out of thankfulness, as long as we do that, we cannot have this relationship with the Lord Jesus. Because that takes away of his greatness and of his work, and it is very serious. You can think about it in the meantime, and Lord willing we would enter into that the next time, how the law would rob Christ, how the law would take away the result of his work. And as long as this matter has not been settled, there cannot be a definite relationship with him. So this is a very important question. And in verse 11 now, or verse 10, Blessed be thou of Jehovah my daughter, you see how Boaz recognizes her and he compares what she has done now with what she did before. And he said, what you have done now is even better than before. You see, I said it was a risky matter what she did, but Boaz recognized what she did, it was an act of faith, and as we have seen Naomi, she knew the heart of God, she knew that these two conflicting laws were going to be solved, and there would be a solution. And Boaz, now he recognized it. He recognized, now the solution is coming. She is ready for the solution. And so he said, thou hast shown more kindness at the end than at the first, and as much as thou followest not young men, whether poor or rich. There is also a practical remark. Sometimes we want to follow Christians or to have a relationship with the Lord, serving the Lord, but we want to do it according to our thoughts, whether poor or rich. But it is wrong. She did not follow her own thoughts. Her heart went out to Boaz, the Redeemer. And that is for us also so important, that we would not deviate this direction or that direction. It is also in connection with the Gospel. There are those who want the social Gospel, and there are those who want only the Gospel for the chosen one, the elect. No, it is the Lord. He alone. And then in verse 11, now my daughter, fear not. All that thou sayest will I do to thee. I don't know how many times we find the expression fear not, but it is encouraging for us, because often we fear. Often we have so many fears, and I do not speak about the fear of the Lord, because the fear of the Lord is another thought. The fear of the Lord is walking in His presence, realizing that He sees me. He knows my heart. He knows all my thoughts. And the fear of the Lord is a beginner of knowledge. But what we find here is human fear. And there is no place for human fear. That is what Boaz says here. All that thou sayest will I do to thee. Now I did this morning. All that thou sayest. Now He is going to listen to us. He is first instructing us, but the Lord wants to hear our voice too, you see. The Lord wants to communicate His thoughts with us, but He wants to have a response. All that thou sayest will I do to thee. Wonderful. But He wants us to bring to the point that we acknowledge our needs, and that we bring our needs to Him, and He is going to solve all the problems for us. But now one beautiful touch. For all the gate of my people knows, that thou art the ruler of this. He recognizes, as we have seen already, it is the same expression in connection with Boaz. He sees that He is suitable to Him. But not only Boaz knows it, the whole gate, that means the whole administration, the government of the city, so those who are responsible, they knew it. And that is also important in connection with the future remnant, you will see that, Lord willing, how the whole people will recognize the special relationship between the Lord and the remnant. For all the gate of my people knows, that thou art the woman of worth. Where can you find this woman of worth in the scriptures? We have no time to read it now, but Proverbs 31. And it is in the Hebrew the same expression and also in the translation by Mr. Darby, the woman of worth. And it is really worthwhile to study that, because there we find a beautiful presentation of the bride, of Ruth, so to speak. How we should be before the Lord. How we could be conformed to Himself. He wants to, as it were, to see Himself in us. That is the deepest thought here, that He Himself may be seen in us. That is what God wants, that Christ may be seen in us. Then we are a woman of worth. And then it will be publicly recognized, because that is the point here. It is not only that we are linked with the Lord in a hidden way, but it is here also a public aspect, that the world might recognize this. You remember the story of Abraham with Abimelech? The first, in chapter 20, Abraham acted by unbelief, but then later on he was restored. And then Abimelech recognized that God was with him. That is the point. Public testimony. And then in verse 12, And now truly I am one that has the right of redemption. We mentioned that already. There was one nearer than he. And this matter has to be solved. But we will see that next time, Lord willing. And then He says, Stay overnight, and it shall be in the morning. If He will redeem thee, well, let Him redeem thee. But if He would like not to redeem thee, then will I redeem thee as Jehovah lives. Lie down until the morning. Here we find how we may identify ourselves as the Lord in His rejection. It is still the night. And we have seen the importance of lying down. Putting aside all pride, all what is of the human heart. Putting aside that to join the Lord in His rejection during the night. Though the light of the coming day is already in our heart. Then verse 14, She lay at His feet. That is so beautiful. She lay at His feet. You know, I mentioned already Mary, who was at the feet of the Lord Jesus. I mentioned already the need that we have to uncover His feet. To meditate upon the Lord Jesus. His walk here on earth. But here she lay at His feet until the morning. Three points I would like to mention in the New Testament in connection with Mary. The first time she was at the Lord's feet was to listen to His voice. Not to neglect her duties. Not to neglect what she had to do. She did her job, so to speak. But she listened to the voice of the Lord. There was real balance. Often we can be out of balance, you see. Or we don't listen to the Lord. Or we only are reading the Bible or whatever. There needs to be balance. And we find it at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Mary was there. And see, Ruth is there. But then this brings us to the need of prayer. And that is what we find in John 11. She brought all her needs to Him at His feet. And that is the place of worship. We like the worship meeting. We like to be there when the hall is filled. Not only here, but almost in every meeting. But how about the prayer meeting? How about the ministry meeting? It starts with the Word of God. And then prayer. And then worship. How can we worship when we do not listen to His voice? When we do not bring all our needs to His feet? It's very practical. And then, of course, there are also practical remarks in the setting of the story. Let it not be known that a woman came into the threshing floor. The good name of Boaz and the good name of Ruth had not to be defiled. And verse 15, now a wonderful point before we close. He said, Bring the cloak that thou hast upon her. She had put her raiment on her. She had something that was prepared for Boaz. But now Boaz uses that to bless her. He says, Bring the cloak that thou hast upon her. There's another thought I'd like to bring in here. He will never be our debtor. We have seen the full commitment of Ruth. And how she stepped down. How she prepared herself for Boaz. But He is never our debtor. He is going to bless us. And that is what we find here. He gives six measures of bond. I mentioned already in John 2, tonight, how the disciples or the slaves in that house were going to do the will of the Lord Jesus. And there were six measures then of water for purification. But after that, you find six measures of bond. Bond would speak of resurrection life. We have seen that already in Connections chapter 2 and already the last verse of chapter 1. What we need is a full impression of the power of the Lord Jesus in resurrection. I've said already, the Lord is linked with us in resurrection. But now He lays it upon us, as it were, that we would realize all this power, all these resources which are in Him. Because the number six measures means that there is almost full resource. Here is not seven measures, because I think Ruth was not ready yet for seven. Because the matter of this other Redeemer was not solved yet. You see, that is an indication, I think, that six is not a fullness, but it is a great blessing. And what she needed, and what we need, is to have a better impression of the power of the life resurrection. When you read Ephesians 1, you find how God showed all His power in raising the Lord Jesus from the tomb. And now God is working in the same power in you and me to operate this resurrection life. It is wonderful to hear these six measures of bond speak of the power of resurrection. And we may carry that, as it were. We may carry these treasures fully in the realization of this power, and then go to the city. Then take our place where we belong. And then, to close with the last verses, we find that Nehomai asked now Ruth, Who are thou, my daughter? This is also an indication that there was now a new relationship established. Ruth had made progress. We have seen in chapter 2 how we make progress in the knowledge of the grace, and progress in knowing the grace of our Lord Jesus and knowledge of His person. But here it is progress towards this relationship. And so, Nehomai recognizes this in this question. And then she told her all that a man had done to her, in verse 17, and she said, These six measures of bond gave it to me. We can be the witness of this wonderful power in resurrection, which works now in you and me. And then, in verse 18, then she said, Be still, my daughter. You see, the matter which had to be established now, that there was this relationship between Boaz and Ruth, but now publicly. You know, it was publicly known how Ruth was. It was known how Boaz was. And though there was now this link between those, it was still hidden. The city didn't know about that. We will find it in the next chapter. And so therefore she had to wait and to be still until Boaz would settle this matter publicly. You know, for the world, this relationship between Christ and the glory and us here on earth is hidden. It is known for faith. It is a reality for faith. When Paul, the apostle, was called, he was sold in. How did he see the Lord Jesus in connection with this relationship? The Lord in the glory and the church here on earth. And it is still the case. It is hidden from man's eyes, though God reveals it in His grace. But there will come a moment that it will be publicly known. When the Lord Jesus will come back from heaven, He will be glorified and admired in all the saints. Then it will be publicly known. But we cannot realize that. We cannot bring in that. There are people who are working to introduce the millennium today already, to reign already now. We cannot do that. We have to be still in that sense. We can only wait until the Lord will do that. And so be still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall. But then a beautiful text at the end of the chapter, for the man will not rest until he has completed the matter this day. He is going to complete the matter. And it is an encouragement, brothers and sisters. Maybe you started last year with the Lord. Maybe this year that you started to live for the Lord. And there are many questions. But He is going to complete the matter. You can be sure. He will look after that. We find in Philippians 1, a beautiful verse, and that is really an encouragement for all of us, I think, that when He has started a work in us, He is going to complete it. It says in Philippians 1, verse 6, Having confidence of this very thing, that he who has begun in you a work, a good work, will complete it unto Jesus Christ's day. So you see how there is the thought of completion. When the Lord has begun a work in you and me, He is going to complete it. And the Lord wants completion. You read in Revelation 3 that one of the complaints of the Lord against Sardis was that their works were not complete. But He wants completion. He wants, in this sense, that the matter is completed totally. And we find it in Solomon. It struck me when I read about the temple. He completed it. He not only started, he completed it. And that is with the Lord. He started this work for our blessing, and He is going to complete it. And that may give us rest and confidence. Often we, our hearts, are not in this settled rest. But He wants us to be still. He is going to establish this. He is going to complete this. And we may trust Him. So may the Lord help us in the meditation of this chapter also to enter really into this living relationship with the Lord. That we not only see what He is for us, but that we also start to see what we are for Him. Chapter 2 is what He is for us, and chapter 3 is what we are for Him. That is the challenge, so to speak. And so may the Lord help us to realize what the church, what the assembly, and what every believer means for the Lord. And therefore He sends tribulation. Therefore He allows that we have to go through this threshing floor, through this winnowing, to purify us. But in order that we may be suitable for Him to be at this side. That is what He wants. Praise be His name. …

… Ruth, chapter four. And Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, he that had the right of redemption, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. And he said, Thou such a one, turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit down here. And they sat down. And he said to him that had the right of redemption, Nehomai, who has come back out of the country of Moab, sells the allotment that was our brother Elimelech's. And I thought I would apprise thee of it and say, Buy it in the presence of the inhabitants and in the presence of the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem. But if thou wilt not redeem, tell me that I may know. For there is none to redeem besides thee. And I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. And Boaz said, On the day thou buyest the field of the hand of Nehomai, thou must buy it also of Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. And he that had the right of redemption said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance. Redeem thou for thyself what I should redeem, for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redemption and concerning exchange to confirm the whole matter. A man drew off his sandal and gave it to his neighbor, and this was the mode of attestation in Israel. And he that had the right of redemption said to Boaz, Buy for thyself. And he drew off his sandal. And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, Ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Caelion's and Magallon's of the hand of Nehomai. Moreover, Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of Magallon, have I 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. Ye are witnesses this day. And all the people that were in the gate and the elders said, We are witnesses. Jehovah make the woman that comes into thy house like Rachel and like Leah, which too did build the house of Israel, and acquire power in Ephrathah, and make thyself a name in Bethlehem, and let thy house become like the house of Pyrrhus, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which Jehovah shall give thee of this young woman. And Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in unto her, and Jehovah gave her conception, and she bore a son. And the women said to Nehomai, Blessed be Jehovah, who has not left thee this day without one that has the right of redemption, and may his name be famous in Israel. And he shall be to thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age. For thy daughter-in-law, who loves thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, has born him. And Nehomai took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse to it. And the women, her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Nehomai. And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now these are the generations of Phares. Phares begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amenadab, and Amenadab begot Nachshon, and Nachshon begot Salmon, and Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed, and Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David. Now with the Lord's help and your prayers, we might look into this chapter, which is surely the climax of this little, wonderful book. As we have seen before, we could read this book as a, I say reverently, as a love story. There is certainly lots to be learned in connection with love and marriage. We could read it as a history, as a novel, which really happened. Next time, Lord willing, if the Lord will still leave us here, we might look into the prophetic application of this wonderful book. Like Jonah, the story is in itself prophecy. So this book, the story, is prophecy at the same time. But we might look now tonight, in a special way, to the spiritual, moral meaning for us. And we have seen, among other passages in 1 Corinthians 10, that all these things have been written for us in the first place. Now we have seen that the setting of this book was in the days when the judges judged, a time when everybody did, belonging to the people of God, did his own will. And we have seen how one of them left the country because God had sent a famine. He didn't want to humble himself to recognize maybe his faults, his mistakes, maybe to humble himself like Daniel did, Daniel 9, for the sins of the whole people, though he might have been blameless himself, he didn't want it. He went to Moab. Now we'll come back on the meaning of Moab in verse 3 again. I think it is very important to understand what Moab means. And then we have seen how this man died and his two sons, and how before these sons died, they married Moabitish wives. And how one of them, Ruth, went back with Nehemiah when she had heard, Nehemiah, that God had visited his people again and had given them bread. And we see in Nehemiah real restoration. We see that he recognized God's hand, and we will see this also in connection with the future history of Israel and the remnant. They will recognize God's dealings and humble themselves. Then we find in chapter 2, and we have meditated upon that, how Ruth has become now the head person. And all is highlighted, as it were, around Ruth. And then Boaz is introduced already, the field of Boaz, and the many provisions he gave. Then we find what Boaz is for Ruth, a wonderful chapter, and how she was very active. And we have seen how this would give many lessons for us, for a believer, for spiritual growth. But then in chapter 3, we have found that there was a problem. You know, there were two laws. One law said, and we will look into that now in chapter 4, in connection with the right of redemption, that Nehemiah could sell her land. And then there was another law which said that the widow would be married to that man, to the Redeemer. But the same law said that a Moabite or a Moabitess could not come into the meeting of the Lord, Deuteronomy 23. So there is a conflict. And probably during these 50 days, we have seen that Ruth was on the field of Boaz, or on the fields of Boaz, about 50 days. And then the harvest, at least the harvest of barley and wheat, was over. And now, what was going to happen? Boaz didn't take the initiative, and we find in chapter 3 that Ruth, or better, Nehemiah took the initiative. And then we have seen that in God's grace, the conflict can be solved. And we have seen how Ruth was really prepared now, and prepared herself for Boaz. So you see the difference, Ruth too, is what Boaz is for Ruth, and what she receives. But there is formation, as it were, in Ruth. She's growing. And now she is, I think, very attractive for Boaz. Boaz loves her, surely. But there was this law which withheld him from taking steps. And not only that, he was not the first Redeemer, he was the second, so he had to wait anyway. Though he loved her, that's clear when you read his book. And then we find in chapter 3 how she presented herself, according to the counsel of Nehemiah, to Boaz, and how Boaz acted in grace, and received her, and spoke words to her which comforted her. She was at his feet, and we have meditated upon that, to be at the feet of the Lord Jesus. And we could say this is our place during the night of the rejection of the Lord Jesus. That's our place, at his feet. But there would come a moment that she would be at his side, and that's chapter 4. We will see in the future also, in Revelation 19, how the bride, the wife of the Lamb, will be at his side. But during the time of his rejection, we are at his feet. In the kingdom of God we are slaves, we are subjects to the Lord. Though we love him, though we are already his bride and his wife, but during his rejection, in this night where the world is, we are at his feet. But things will change. And now we see in chapter 4 the public aspect. Of course, this relation has been established now between Boaz and Ruth, that is very clear. But as to the public development of these things, the public side of it, we find that Boaz has to do something. And that is now the point where we have arrived, in chapter 4. And this is very, when you read it, and you would not know the end of the story, you would really wonder how is this problem going to be solved. Now we find that in the end of chapter 3, Nehomai had full trust in Boaz. He said, Be still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall, for the man will not rest until he hath completed the matter this day. And so we ended last time with the thought of completion. The Lord wants to complete things, to accomplish things, in our lives, and we see that in Philippians and in Colossians, I think, but there are different references where we find how the Lord starts a work and how he will accomplish this work. That's a work of God in us. So what we see, especially in chapter 3, is a work of God in us to prepare us for the bridegroom. That's the thought. And of course, we have seen also our responsibility to wash ourselves, to anoint ourselves, to put raiment upon us, that is, in order to be acceptable in his sight. But now it's his turn, so to speak. He is going to do something to complete this matter, to solve this matter and bring it to completion. Now the thought of the gate we find here in chapter 4 is linked, as I said, with the public aspect of the things. What was hidden, what was for no other eyes in chapter 3, though I want to be very clear, I don't think that they had already marital relationship at that time. When you know the scripture, then it is very clear that that was not the case. But this relationship in itself, though it was very pure, without doubt, was not for other eyes. But at the same time, we find here in chapter 4 that there is also a public aspect. And we will see also the same line in connection with the future remnant. But now in connection with the Assembly, it is clear that now, during the time of the rejection of the Lord Jesus, that he would appreciate very much when we would follow the same steps as Ruth did. The Lord would appreciate it very much when we would show such a love for him. But there is also the other side, as we find now in chapter 4, that Boaz will take up our case, as it were, and that this relationship will be established in a public way. The gate you find in many passages, and it would suggest administration, it would suggest also that there was authority, that there was rule. I would refer also to Deuteronomy, I think in Deuteronomy 25, there is a beautiful verse on this. Oh yeah, maybe we could read it, because we have then at the same time some information about these points which will be before us in connection with the right of the Redeemer and the marriage of the one who redeemed. In Deuteronomy 25, in verse 7 we have the thought of the gate, but we will read the whole passage, verse 5 to 7. If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not marry a stranger abroad. Her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her. And it shall be that the firstborn that she bears shall stand in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name be not blotted out from Israel. But if the man like not to take his brother's wife, his brother's wife shall go up to the gate unto the elders. And so on. And then you see some details in connection with the fact that this man refused to marry her. We do not find a clear indication that the right of redemption and this right to marry the widow of a brother, that it goes together. But it is very clear that it had become a custom that the one who redeemed the land, and maybe it should be good to read also a passage about that, that this man would also marry the widow who would be linked with this land. I think it is helpful to read this passage because then we can better understand what we have read in Ruth 4. In Leviticus 25, we find that God says in verse 23, in the middle of, let's read the whole verse, Leviticus 25 verse 23, the land shall not be sold forever, for the land is mine. That's the point where it starts. The whole land belonged to the Lord. And this is true in connection with Israel, but it is also true in connection with, as we have seen in the first meeting on Ruth 1, in connection with the heavenly land. It belongs to the Lord. But he gives it into possession. Or as we have read in Ruth 4, he gives allotments, he gives portions. That's what we have in Leviticus 25 verse 24, and in all the land of your possession, he shall grant redemption for the land. Now what does that mean? And that's explained in verse 25, if thy brother grow poor and sell of his possession, then shall his redeemer, his nearest relation, come and redeem that which his brother sold. So far. Now just to go into this a little bit to understand what we have read in Ruth 4, here we find this thought that the land belonged to the Lord, first of all. And we know under Joshua the land was divided for the tribes, and every family received a portion in the land. And they recognized that it belonged to the Lord, so the Lord gave them the enjoyment of it. And we read in the story of Naboth, in the time of King Ahab, that Naboth was not willing to give this portion to Ahab, because it was the portion his fathers received from the Lord. So Naboth, he recognized it was a portion that belonged to the Lord, and he held that in honor. But now the problem we find here in verse 25, when an Israelite became poor and he had no money, then he could sell the land, but not really the land, because the land belonged to the Lord. So what he really sold was the value of the crops, that is what you find in verse 16, thou shalt diminish the price of it, or according to the fewness of the years thou shalt diminish it, or, you see that is in connection with the rite, that it would come back to the original owner after 50 years, or after 49 years, there was the year of Jubilee, you see? And then it came back to the original possessor. So you see, it belonged to the Lord, the Lord gave it into possession to his people, and when somebody would become poor, and he had no money for his nourishment, for his food and so on, and his clothes, then he could sell the land, but that meant only he sold the value of so many crops. Let's say it was 20 years before the year of the Jubilee, then he sold 20 crops, you see what it means? And so, what we get now here in the book of Ruth, Naomi came back from Moab, and she had still this allotment that belonged to her husband, Elimelech. She had no people to work on that land, so she had no income of it, not at all. We have seen that Ruth has worked, and for this period they had enough income, but now, what was going to happen now, after the harvest? You see, she needed money, so she would sell this portion to the Redeemer, and now we have seen in Leviticus 25, the Redeemer would be the nearest relation, so that might be a brother of Elimelech, and if not a brother, like this nearer kinsman probably, then it would be the son of a brother, or whatever. And probably Boaz was then the son of another brother of Elimelech, who died already before. So he would then buy this land, or in other words, the crops, which would still be on the fields before the year of the Jubilee. Now what happened with this first Redeemer, he was not willing to buy this land. You know why? Because he had counted, Nehomai is my aunt, and she is going to die anyway. Ruth, she is a widow, she will not have children, so what is going to happen, this portion will be mine anyway, so why shall I buy it? That's probably the reason why he did not turn up, why he left them aside, like the Levite and the priest did in Luke 15, they did not care about this man, and so he didn't care about his aunt and her daughter-in-law. Now the second thing we have read in Deuteronomy 25 was then the thought of the marriage, that the brother would marry the widow. So in this case, Boaz could not marry Nehomai, because she would not have children anymore. And the thought was that the fields would stay in the family. So when Nehomai would not have a baby or a son, then it would have no value. But Nehomai is linked with Ruth, and Ruth was still a young woman, so Ruth could have a son. And then Elimelech and his son, Matlon, would continue, as it were, in this line of succession, and the fields would stay in their family. I hope you got it. And then the thought is, which we find here in Deuteronomy 25, that the Redeemer would marry also this young widow. Now we have seen already that the Redeemer has to be a kinsman, a close relative. And when we apply this in connection with the people of Israel, we see how the Lord Jesus came to his people. Galatians 4 says that he was born under the law from a woman, and we know that Mary was a Jewess. So we find here how the Lord Jesus became literally their kinsman. And so it is also, in connection with all mankind, the Lord Jesus, he was too, he became our kinsman. He partook of blood and flesh, so he became our kinsman. But then we find that the Redeemer, he bought back the land. Now we find in the Scriptures that the Lord Jesus, the Redeemer, who bought the whole world. Do you remember the story in Matthew 13, the parable of the treasure in the field? The Lord, he bought the whole field. And that is, as we find in the parable, or in the explanation of it, the whole world. He is the Redeemer. He bought it with the price of his blood. But the Redeemer, we find also, he will take possession of it, and we find, in connection with the Redeemer, two thoughts. The Lord is the Redeemer who buys through the value of his blood, and he will take it by power. And that is what we get here in chapter 4. Just to continue this thought, in Revelation 4 and 5, in Revelation 4 you see the Lord Jesus is the Creator, but through the fall, he lost everything, so to speak. And then the Lord Jesus became the Redeemer, and that is Revelation 5. And he got all back for God and for himself. Colossians 1, he is the Creator, but at the same time he is the one who died, and he got all back for the glory of God and for himself. Now this is wonderful to see, Boaz is a picture of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus is the great Redeemer. It is really, it touches our hearts, and it is really a thought that gives us so much delight. When we think of this merchant, in Matthew 13 also, who had this precious pearl, he sold everything. It is another aspect of the Lord, what he did. We find even in 2 Peter that the false teachers, who were not born again, they are bought, so that means, and we have other passages which show us that the whole universe belongs now to the Lord Jesus, by right, at the price of his blood. And here we find in Titus that he is going also to establish his rights by power. Now we do not see that everything is subjected to the Lord Jesus, though by faith we know that he has all rights. And then the moment will come that he will establish his rights, righteously. Now the Redeemer had also, and we will see that also in connection with Israel, he will buy the nation back, not only the whole universe did he buy, the Lord Jesus, not only the land, but also the nation, so Israel will be bought back. But the same applies to us. The Lord Jesus buys, has bought us, and that is what we find in Ephesians 5, for example. And that is because of the special value we have for him. Then there is a third point we find now, that this man, the Redeemer, marries the widow. And that is what we have now here in this chapter. And there is a fourth aspect, and that is that he is the avenger. He will take wrath, and that is a point I would like to keep for the next time, because we see that especially in connection with Israel. Now here, Boaz went up to the gate to establish this matter. You could find many passages, that is worthwhile, by the way, to take the concordance and to check some passages where we find some information about the gate, and then you will find that this part is confirmed, that in the gate matters were established, even in the days of Abraham when he bought the field to bury his Sarah, his wife, this matter was settled in the gate. And probably you will find other places, I am thinking of the woman of worth in Proverbs 31, her husband is known in the gate. So this is the same sort you have here. We have seen the last time that Ruth is this woman of worth of Proverbs 31, or the woman of, as it says here, the woman of worth, and we have seen that it is the same word, the same expression as we find in relation with Boaz, a mighty man of wealth. Both belong together, and her husband is known in the gate. And now Boaz is going to establish this matter, and then we find that he who had the right of redemption, and that was the first relative, as I mentioned, he came by, and then the writer of this story, he didn't want to mention his name, because he had said, thou such a one. Of course, Boaz did not say that, he would probably have said Carl or Peter or whatever, but the writer of the story didn't want to mention his name, and probably it is also important in connection with the next verses to understand what it means for us that no name is mentioned. In verse 2 he takes ten men to be witnesses, in verse 3 he tells the story. Now this is a point I'd like to go into a little bit, because I feel for the, to understand the real meaning of this book, it is very important. Verse 3, and he said to him that had the right of redemption, Nehomai, who has come back out of the country of Moab, sells the allotment that was our brother Elimelech. I have spoken about that, but now I want to say something about the fact that he came back out of the country of Moab. We have seen in Ruth 1 already that Moab in the scriptures stands for at least two things, and I just wanted to mention them again to you that you might understand the importance of the fact that he came back from Moab. In Isaiah 16 verse 6 we read, we have heard of the arrogance of Moab, he is very proud of his pride and his arrogance and his wrath, his pratings are vain, that's one aspect. And then in Jeremiah 48 we read that Moab never changed from vessel to vessel. You know the people of Israel, they were in difficult situation, they were in slavery in Egypt, they were in bondage under the power of Babel, and many wars, many afflictions, many tribulations, but of Moab we read in Jeremiah 48 verse 11, Moab has been at ease from his youth and has settled on his lease, he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity, therefore his taste has remained in him and his scent is not changed. So in other words we find here two points, and these might be very important lessons for you, at least for me they are. In Isaiah 16 we have read about the arrogance and the pride of Moab. Now don't think that that is nothing for us, because our hearts are proud, we are arrogant, and the lesson we have to learn here that we have to come back from Moab, we have to leave this arrogance there and this pride, we have to come back in humiliation, in confession as we have seen in Nehemiah, acknowledging our wrongs, acknowledging even the fact that we have been so proud, that is what we have to do. And there is no real restoration when this point is not reached, you will get no restoration when there is no confession of this pride, when there is not the desire at least to leave this pride and to judge it and to leave it in Moab. The other side is ease, how can this struck us as well, that we want to have our ease, we do not want to get involved, we do not want to have exercises, to use this word, or like we have seen in this priest and Levite who left this Samaritan man at the roadside, we do not want to get involved in whatever it may be, for the benefit of others. It's our ease, our comfort, you know, this king of Moab, he was a very fat man, you can read it in Judges 3, that shows very clear that he had his ease. He was not emptied from vessel to vessel, you know what God wants? He wants fruit, we will see that at the end of Ruse 4. He wants good wine, and how does he get this good wine? By pouring out the wine from vessel to vessel, this is necessary for the ripening process. So in other words, when the Lord would allow tribulation in our lives and not give us ease, it is to create this good wine, that's the point. The Lord wants something of this good wine in our lives. We have heard yesterday night of joy, in different places in the New Testament, joy. Now this is the way God gets this joy, by pouring us from vessel to vessel, and then this wine will ripen, will be better quality for the enjoyment of God's heart. And when we reject God's dealings and discipline, when we do not want them, then this good wine will not be produced in us, this joy will not occur, simply. So you see, this verse is very important, that she came back, and then the point comes that God can take our matters in his hands, as long as we do not want to judge ourselves, as long as we do not want to confess our pride, our arrogance, our ease, then the Lord cannot do anything with us, he has to leave us where we are. But now Naomi had come back, and Ruth had come back with her, and Boaz can take the matters in his hands. And then we read in the verses which follow, and I just wanted to add one thought in connection with what we had in Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 25, Jeremiah 32 makes it clear that it had become custom that the Redeemer bought the land right away. You know, when the widow was so poor she could sell the land or the crops to another man, but they liked to keep it in the family. And what was even better, to sell it to the Redeemer himself right away. You see, what could happen, they could sell it to somebody else, and then the Redeemer might come to buy it back, that it would stay in the family. And now what had become custom, and that we can conclude from Jeremiah 32 very clearly, that the Redeemer bought the field right away for the allotment. And that is what we find here in verse 4. The Lord would take care of widows at the same time, we thought a little bit of widows yesterday night, and we find here how the Lord would provide for them. And it is really touching for us to see in the Old Testament Scriptures also the many verses which speak about God's care for widows. But we do not find this care and this love, we do not find with the first Redeemer. That's an important point to get in mind. We will see that in the next verses. So Boaz tells the whole story, and then the man is willing, as we have expressed also in prayer, he was willing, but he was not able. Boaz only was able, and it was a matter of love, that is what we will find now in verse 5. Boaz said, On the day thou buyest the field of the hand of Nehomai, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. Now, then the Redeemer says, I cannot redeem it, why? He says, lest I mar my own inheritance. Now we can think of this law, when this first Redeemer would speak of the law, we would think of this conflict I mentioned before. The law said the Moabitess could not come into the congregation of the Lord. On the other hand, the law said that the land had to be redeemed, that the widow had to be married. How can this be brought together? Only God's grace can bring it together, that's the point. The law cannot bring this together. So only God's grace. And now to help a little bit to understand what this means for us, we might turn to two passages in the New Testament. I thought first of Romans 8. In Romans 7 we find the situation that the soul is placed under the law and he wants to please God, but he cannot. And in Romans 7, in the beginning, we find the position, Romans 7 in the beginning gives a picture of our position, that we have died. And somebody who has died, the law cannot say anything to him. When there is a transgressor or he has committed adultery or murder, whatever, the moment this man dies, the law cannot say anything. So in Romans 7 we find that we are dead, that is to say, before God, Christ died, we died. And so the law cannot say anything. The law is righteous and good and holy, as we find in Romans 7. The law is not wrong, we were wrong, but we died. And so it's terminated, the matter is finished, it's delphic. But then Romans 8 says us, and that's the positive aspect, verse 3, for what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh. You see this redeemer here, he says, I cannot buy it, and that is the law, as a way of salvation, the law could save you, could give you life, theoretically, but not really, as we find here. It was only a hypothesis, and how do you pronounce that? Hypothetical. Yeah, it was hypothetical, and it was a way God had presented in the Scriptures. But now grace comes in. Grace says, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and forcing 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. And also in other passages, in Galatians, you can find this, saw that the law could not redeem. And we find here very clearly because of the weakness of the flesh, not because the law was not good, but we were not good, but we have died before God, and so the law is not longer necessary to apply the law to us. And that is also important for our spiritual growth, for our spiritual development, progress, that we realise this, that we have nothing more to do with the law as a system which regulates our relationship with God. The law in itself is good, nothing wrong with it, but it does not longer regulate our relationship. When it does, we lose all the benefits of Christ, we come again under a curse, as Galatians make it very clear. But God has placed us in liberty, that we would walk in liberty and walk through the Spirit. So this is really now an important point for our own lives to come to that point, that we would recognise this, that this first Redeemer, he is not able to redeem. As long as we have expectations of the flesh, Romans 7, as long as we expect to do something good for God and we are disappointed, as long as we do that, we are occupied with the first Redeemer. But as soon as we give up and as we recognise that what the law could not do because of the weakness of the flesh, God did in sending his Son, then our eyes are turned to the Lord. That's the big change. Romans 7, our eyes are turned towards ourselves. In Romans 8, our eyes are turned to the Lord and to the Word of the Spirit. So this is an important matter and also for a believer to realise that he cannot please God by his own efforts. So it's important to see, I repeat, that the law in itself was good. And as freed from this system, God has placed us under the authority of Boaz. We are not now free to do our own will, not at all. We are placed under the law of Christ, Galatians 6. And also in James we find that this law is the kingly law, the law of liberty. It is a rule. We are now under his authority and this liberty in which we have been placed now has been given to us that we might please the Lord. So then he can really function as the great Boaz and he will be happy to share with us all his treasures as we will find later on because Ruth will be at his side and then share with Boaz all the blessings. But we have to come to that point that we recognise that he is the Redeemer. In chapter 3 you could read he is a Redeemer. Thou hast the right of redemption in verse 12 and some translations say a Redeemer. That would indicate that Ruth was not yet come to that point in chapter 3. Of course she appreciated Boaz but she recognised that there was still another Redeemer and in her mind the matter had not been settled yet and now we find in chapter 4 that this matter has been settled definitely by Boaz. And that is often also in our case, in our spiritual history the case that we have to bring the matters into the hands of the Lord. The Lord will deal with this. And that is what we find here in chapter 4. It is a very important matter to come to that conclusion that the first Redeemer he cannot do that and we cannot have any expectation from him, we should not. And it is very clear also that his first Redeemer he had no love for Ruth, Boaz had real love for Ruth. And so the Lord Jesus really loved us and he wanted to redeem us out of love. And so grace solved the problem as we have seen this conflict in Ruth 3. And Elmire found a solution. And here also in chapter 4 love and grace find the right solution. Now just a word in connection with the inheritance because here in verse 5 and 6 it speaks about the inheritance and later on we will find also the expression about the heir. We have seen already the importance of the land and the inheritance would speak of a portion in the land. We can read it in Numbers and Deuteronomy especially. I would encourage you to read Deuteronomy especially chapter 8, 11 among others who speak of this inheritance of the land. And in Joshua we find how the land was conquered, how they entered into the land and conquered it and then possessed it and how all this land was divided under Joshua that every family had a portion in the land. And here we have seen in Judges that because of the failure of the people, enemies came and occupied the land and so on, it was a very sad situation. But here our thoughts are brought back to the value of the inheritance and Boaz recognized the value of the inheritance. Our Lord Jesus as he is now in the glory, he would help us also to realize the value of the inheritance. When you think of the history of the church, then you find that the inheritance that the church has, has been lost very soon. The inheritance which speaks of the heavenly blessings we have now in Christ, Ephesians 1 verse 3, of eternal life, it was promised before the foundation of the world already. So these are blessings, real Christian blessings which we can see in the history of the church the enjoyment of these blessings was lost very soon. But here our thoughts are brought back to the inheritance. But it's important to see that the enjoyment of spiritual blessings, heavenly blessings is on the basis of resurrection life. We have found it already in connection with the barley harvest and then the wheat harvest. You can find it in John 5, the thought that the Lord Jesus introduced resurrection life and on the base of that you have the blessing. In chapter 6 also and I think also in John 12 where we find the same thought that the Lord brings in eternal life and the enjoyment of eternal life is based on the fact that he is the source of life and that he introduces life, resurrection life. And that is important for us to understand that we cannot, you have your Bibles, you can read all these things, but the enjoyment of these blessings is on the basis that we are linked with the Redeemer, the one who died and rose again. That is really the basis upon which we can enjoy our blessings. We find in verse 7, now just a few words on the next verse and then we will think about some highlights we get and at the end of the chapter especially in connection with David I'd like to say a few words. Now in verse 7 we find that this custom was there in connection with this transaction. To confirm this transaction the man drew off his sandal. We find many times that a sandal in the Scriptures is linked with the right of property or possession and you can read in Psalm 60 the sandal would be put on Edom I think. You find also that Joshua when he was in the land he took off his sandal, he recognized the authority of the Lord Jesus presented in this man who came to him in Joshua 5. You see it in Exodus 3 when Moses was called that he had to put off his sandals, he recognized the rights of the Lord. In John 1, John the Baptist, he recognized the rights of the Lord, he was speaking about the sandals, he said I'm even not worthy to loosen his sandals. So he recognized the authority of the Lord and the sandal was in connection with, was a symbol of the right of possession. Then in verse 8 we find that the first Redeemer says to Boaz, now buy for thyself, he recognizes that he is the one who is going to buy. And then in verse 9 we find that Boaz said to the elders and all the people, so here we find really the public aspect of this matter, ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Cilion's and Maglon's of the hand of Nehemiah. The first Redeemer, he would maybe suggest that there is no value, that it is a land that is almost of no value, but Boaz, he presents the things in their value before God, especially I would say in verse 10. He says moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Maglon have I 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 from the gate of his place, ye are witnesses this day. So here you find in these two verses, these two ordinances or rules brought together, the right of redemption and the marriage with the widow, they are both brought together and Boaz puts these things in the right light, he values the inheritance of Elimelech and so on, and that's what the Lord does, when we have lost the enjoyment of these blessings of this inheritance, the Lord values still this inheritance and he would bring us back into the enjoyment of this inheritance, that is the thought, he appreciates the inheritance and he will help us to bring us back there that we would also appreciate the inheritance. And second point is that there would be established a relationship between him and us, and that's now the point where we should dwell upon a little bit, because that is of the utmost importance, that the Lord would have a living relationship with us. Of course all Christians, all real believers have a relationship with the Lord Jesus, they have him as their life, but not always there is this relationship of love, mutual love. You find it for example in the book of Psalm of Psalms how this relationship is developed, again there it is first of all in connection with the future remnant, but in like manner the Lord Jesus would like to see us grow in the knowledge of his person and the knowledge of his grace, and he wants us to be conformed to himself. Now you can read a passage, we have no time to go into details, but I just want to suggest this passage in Ephesians 5 verse 25 and the verses which follow, where you find how this relationship is very precious to the Lord, the relationship between himself and the assembly, and how the Lord is working constantly to, there it says, through the washing of the water through the Word, to make us conformed to himself, more conformed to him, that is the thought. Why? When we are to be the bride or the wife of the Lamb at his side, we have to be like him, that is the point. It is not enough that we recognise his authority and that we are at his feet, it is not even enough that we love him, we have now to be brought into this relationship in such a way that we are able to stand at his side. I will give an example, we find in the New Testament at least two ways, but there are more, how the assembly is presented as the wife and as the body, that is in the same chapter of Ephesians 5, you find both types or both images or figures brought together, these types, the type of the wife and the type of the body, you find them already in the Scriptures in Genesis 1 and 2, in Genesis 2 you find how Eve was taken from Adam, in other words, to be the bride of the Lord Jesus, God can only recognise what came from him, you see, God can nothing recognise from the old man or from the flesh, what God only can recognise is what he worked himself, that is Ephesians 2, verse 10, his workmanship, his workmanship, so God creates as it were this woman, this assembly, it is his body, the body of the Lord, there in this type of Adam, but then there is a second thought, she is brought to Adam, Genesis 2 at the end, and there we find that she is his wife, you see the difference, is both of course the same person but seen in a different way, seen as the body, as Christ's body, we are the expression of what Christ is himself, but then we are brought to him that he might have his delight in us, that is the point, and in order that Christ might have his delight in us, we have to be at his side, therefore Eve was taken from his side, not from his feet that she would be a slave, nor from his head that she would roll over him, but from his side, and so you see how these types help us to understand what the assembly is, and here we find so, the thought that Boaz, of course he would like to have Ruth by his side, but we have seen how important it is that this formation takes place, and that is one of the things I would like to underline, and of course you can find many other types in the Old Testament of the bride, who would all present some aspect of the bride, who shares the rejection of the Lord, like Zipporah and Moses, and Abigail and David, and so you find different types of the wife of the Lamb in the Scriptures, which help us to understand what the assembly means for the Lord Jesus. Now in verse 10, I would like to say again that we find here again how Boaz is acting out of love for Ruth. He values, as we have seen, the inheritance, but he values also now the person of Ruth herself. We have seen already the difference between the fact that he bought the land, but that he now also purchased or bought her. We have seen that is the case in Acts 20 even, it says that God purchased the assembly through the blood of his own. So this is an important matter. And then what is added here, that new life is to come in, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. So again, the thought of resurrection is introduced here, that this living relationship and the result, and now we come to the next point, the fruit of this relationship is on the basis of resurrection, life. And now this is very important. I would give one example in the life of Abraham. We have this evening before us the thought of the heir, and the before us the thought of the heir. Now in Genesis 15 you find that Abraham is speaking about an heir. In Genesis 12 God had given him all the blessings already. He had presented to him all the blessings. Abraham will get the land, and he will be blessed, and his name will be great. But then in chapter 15 we find that Abraham, he had no descendants, he had no children. How would he get an heir? And then God shows him in Genesis 15 how at one hand his descendants would be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand at the seashore. But then God shows also how his seed would be in the furnace, in tribulation in Egypt. And we find so the two thoughts brought together, the thought of the multitude of descendants and how they would be in tribulation, and then God would deliver them. But when we see that in Genesis 16 we find that Abraham did not really appreciate God's thought. He started to work himself, and he took Hagar, the Egyptian slave, and the bondwoman, and then he and she got a son, Ishmael. Now this is the effort of the flesh. There was not what we have here to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance in the power of resurrection, in the power of life which God gives. And then we find that in chapter 17 Abraham was circumcised, and then he could not longer get children. God waited so long that he could not longer be the progenitor of a generation. And then God intervened in sovereign grace. Sarah could not, she was barren, so she could not receive seed. Abraham could not produce seed, so what happened? God intervened in sovereign grace, and that is in Hebrews 11 explained. It was at the same time by faith on their part, but it was God's sovereign act of grace. Now this is what we find, I would suggest here in a sense. How does the heir come about? It is by an act of sovereign grace on God's side. But at the same time there is faith, and that is what we find also in Ruth, special faith. That is what we will see also in verse 13. But before we forget the other verses, in verse 11, the witnesses, they respond now. They are so glad with this development, and they speak with joy, you could say, in verse 11. They are happy for Boaz, and they are happy for Ruth, and they speak in verse 11, Jehovah make the woman that comes into thy house like Rachel and like Leah, which too did build the house of Israel, and acquire power in Ephrathah. And that's remarkable. This word used here, acquire power, is the same word as we found in connection with Ruth, a woman of worth, and it is again the same word as we found in connection with Boaz, the mighty man of wealth. The Hebrew word chayil that is used here, and that is remarkable. Here again we find the same thought, acquire power in Ephrathah. So we have the man of wealth, the woman of worth, of virtue, and now Boaz can acquire power in Ephrathah. Ephrathah we speak of fruitfulness. There was barrenness, there was no fruit, and now there is going to be fruit. But now I come back to what I said before, how is this fruit, how does this fruit come about? And that's important, there is only fruit on the basis of resurrection. In the types of the scriptures you find it already in Genesis 1 indicated, the third day God speaks about fruit. The third day speaks of resurrection out of the dead. And that is the basis of fruit. There cannot be fruit in our lives for God which is placed on another basis, which comes from the flesh as in Abram in the beginning, or through our efforts according to the law or whatever, there cannot be real fruit. Only there can be fruit when there is this living relationship, and now we come to this point, verse 13, between the Lord Jesus and us. Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife, and he went in unto her, and Jehovah gave her conception, and she bore a son. Of course this is a literal story, but now in this application we might see it this way, that the Lord, he wants to produce fruit in us. He wants to have an heir, as we find in the next verses. In this sense, in a sense the Lord himself is the heir. But I would suggest this, the Lord is going to be seen in us, that's the point. When is there fruit for God? When the Lord somehow is seen in us. You find this thought in Luke's Gospel. In Luke's Gospel you find the Lord Jesus himself, how he was a little baby and grew up then. Now, I think this thought you find, yeah, in Luke too. A little baby was laid in the arms of Simeon. Yesterday we thought of Anna who came at the same moment there, but Simeon, we find how he received the Lord Jesus in his arms. Now in this sense we may receive the Lord Jesus, it is not exactly the same thought as here, but that he may grow in us, that is the thought. In Galatians, Paul is in travail, he is the one who is like a wife who would bear a son. Paul says in Galatians 4 verse 19 that he is in travail of them, of the Galatians, in order that Christ might be formed in them. Now that is the desire of the Lord's heart, of God's heart, that there may be some living link between the Lord, he is the true Boaz, he is in the glory as we have seen in the first chapter, he is our Redeemer, but he wants to see fruit. And this living relationship between him and us only can produce fruit. As we have seen, not by our own efforts, not as under the law, but only when there is the real love, when there is the working of grace, then he can produce this. And it is also a second thought, the Lord is going to grow in us, he is to become bigger and bigger. As John said, John the Baptist in John 3, he said, I must diminish, he must grow. You see, that is his desire. Then there is fruit. You think of John 15, which speaks much about fruit bearing, and then it says, without me you can do nothing. You see, that is the point. Without the Lord there is no fruit. And we are constantly looking at ourselves, if I produce fruit, I will have no fruit. When to the Lord, when we are engaged with him, when we are really filled with love for him, then there will be fruit. And in this fruit, he will be seen, not me, he will be seen. That is the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. All these different aspects of the fruit of the Spirit is a representation or a reproduction of Christ. That is the point. So this fruit speaks of our true God, speaks of what he is, but then reproduced in us. That is the thought. Now, I think this is really the desire of the heart of the Lord, and even when you would only learn this lesson, I think the Lord would be already satisfied. When you would have forgotten all about the whole book of Ruth and you would get this lesson, it would already be a lesson. And to reproduce Christ in a living way in our lives, in our manner of life, in whatever aspect of our lives, that he might be seen. That is his desire. And then there is real fruit. And then in verse 14, the women said to Nehemiah, Blessed be Jehovah who has not left thee this day without one that has the right of redemption. Now this is very remarkable. Here we find that the young boy, we find later on his name, Obed, is the Redeemer. As the note says, without a Redeemer, it refers to the son born, that is Obed. Because now for Nehemiah, the field stayed in the family. The fact that Boaz married Ruth was not in itself a guarantee that this field stayed in the family. But now this little son was born, and so he is called the Redeemer. So that is wonderful to see how Nehemiah was satisfied, and we will see this in connection with Israel. But I would suggest also, this is an example of how Christ is reproduced in us. He is the true Obed. And I skipped verse 15, I will come back on verse 15 later on. But Obed means literally slave. Some say worshipper, but the real meaning of the word is slave. Now that is remarkable. How can the Lord Jesus be reproduced in us when we are like Him? We read so very often Philippians 2, verse 5 and 6 and 7. Now that is where you find it. He became a slave. He will be a slave forever and ever. Even when we will be in the glory and be blessed with all His heavenly blessings, He will be the slave who will service. In Luke 12 you find it. He was the slave on earth. In John 13 He did the work of a slave to wash the feet of the disciples. You see, Obed is a slave. Of course, he is the possessor of heaven and earth. But I think the first characteristic which is produced in us then, which would represent Christ, is the fact that we are willing to submit ourselves, to put aside our own will, because He has no will of His own. How important it is. You see, this is a real test. We could have the desire that Christ might be reproduced in us, but when I am not willing to be a slave, He will not be reproduced in me. So the first point that is brought before us here is Obed, a slave. And what a blessing it was, because he was the father of Jesse, and that means literally Jehovah exists, and there we find the faithfulness of God, and then the father of David. I'll come back on that. But now we skip verse 15, and He shall be to thee a restorer of thy life and a nourisher of thine old age. These are two expressions which are, to me at least, very precious. We find the restorer is the one who brings back life. So the restorer of life. We have seen there was death, but now life is introduced. That is point one. And secondly, a nourisher of thine old age, or the one who maintains. We can think of Joseph in Egypt, who was there, the one who maintained the whole family. And it is the same word in Hebrew, I think, of nourisher, the one who provided food. Now this is very precious. The Lord, He brings back. He introduces life there where death is, and secondly, He maintains us, He nourishes us. I come back to that part in Ephesians 5. One of the characteristics, about seven points we find there, what the Lord is doing for us is that He is nourishing us. Now when you would keep this thought in mind, and we have asked the Lord in prayer that our hearts might be touched by the Lord Himself. Now I think when you only would study this thought, that He is the nourisher of us, He is our nourisher, the one who gives food, then you would really marvel. You see in the beginning of the scripture, but I mention only Exodus 16 now, where He is the manna. In John 6, the living bread came down from heaven. Now that is our food, as He was here on earth. But when you go on, I referred already to Joshua 5, you will find that He in heaven is the one who gives food. That is wonderful. He is the one who feeds us. He is the real nourisher. In whatever situation we are, He is the one who feeds us, who gives us nourishment, and that is what you find in Ephesians 5. And so you could find many, many verses which speak about the nourishment He gives. It is wonderful. So He introduces life and He gives food. And then to close with the last verses we have read, there we find the genealogy. The part of the genealogy of the Lord Jesus. Ten names mentioned there, five in connection with Egypt and the desert, the wilderness, and five in connection with the land. It is remarkable. And this is how God secured this lineage to introduce the Messiah later on. You find in Matthew 1, four women mentioned. It is remarkable that you find here one of them in this book, who is the mother of the Lord Jesus, or the grand-grand-grandmother, you understand. And in Matthew 1 you find Tamar, who is also in this book, in verse 12, Tamar bore to Judah. She came into that lineage by her own sin. She acted as a prostitute. That was the case with us. We were sinners, Romans 3. Then in the next we find Rahab. She is not mentioned here in this book, but she was married with Salmon, or Selma. Rahab, how did she come into this genealogy? Because of her faith. You can read it in Joshua 2. That is wonderful. And that is for us also, how can we have a link with the Lord Jesus? Not only because we were saved from our sins, but by faith, Abraham, Romans 4. But then we come to the third person, that is Ruth. How did Ruth come into this genealogy? There was nothing against her, she was a virtuous woman. But there was this point of the law, and this was solved now by Boris. And she is introduced into this genealogy. And later on you find then the history of David and Bathsheba. But these four women speak of God's grace. You see, that is an important point to get in this little book. The work of God's grace, and how He brings them into this lineage. But I am sorry that it took so long to come to the end of this chapter, but I did not want to stop without mentioning the name of David. Because that is the true key of the chapter. The true key of the whole book. You remember the whole setting? No king? Here is the king. In a time there was no king, God is preparing a people for the king. And that is what you find in Ruth, and those who would be of similar attitude. It is on the base of God's grace, sovereign grace. That is important in the history of David, to remember that God introduced David on the base of sovereign grace. Psalm 78 you can find it. He rejected Saul, and He introduced David. He rejected the priesthood, and the succession of the priesthood, and He introduced them by sovereign grace. That is David. Sovereign grace. But not only that. David means the Beloved. He speaks of Christ, in a very special way. And so you could say this book, this little book, does not only speak of grace, this little book speaks of true love. And the key to understand this, the end of the book as I said, David the Beloved. Because God is going to introduce the Beloved. Now you can apply that to the history of Israel, to our own history. When do we really, when are we really happy? When God comes to that point, that He can introduce in a real way, His Beloved in our lives. When we are under His influence. It might be that we are in a world where He is rejected, where all is against Him. But when our eyes are fixed on the real David, we can be happy, like Bruce was. So in your meditations you can think about it, but David is the key of the whole book. And so we find here already a remnant prepared for the true King. Where all was against Him, where all was against God, in backsliding, rebellion even, sin, God introduces His Beloved. And that is what He wants in your life and in my life, that His Beloved might be introduced. And that we might recognize His kingly rights as the true David, but also that we would be in a real way His bride, His wife, matter of affection, formation as we have seen, of fruit. How wonderful this is. With all these different aspects, we have no time to enter into the names of these different persons mentioned here, but they would speak also of different aspects of the fruit, the fruit which God would introduce in our lives. But when we would only produce one fruit of obedience, like in Obed, and willingness to be a slave, then the Lord would already be magnified in our lives. Amen. …

… Shall we turn again to Ruth 4? We have read already the whole chapter last time, but in connection with the question which came in, it might be good to come back on that later on, and therefore I would like to read it again. In Ruth 4. Ruth 4, verse 13. And Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in unto her, and Jehovah gave her conception, and she bore a son. And the women said to Nehomai, Blessed be Jehovah, who has not left thee this day without one that has the right of redemption. And may his name be famous in Israel. And he shall be to thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age, for thy daughter-in-law who loves thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, has born him. And Nehomai took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse to it. And the women, her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Nehomai. And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. So far. Now we have studied already a little bit together the book of Ruth in connection with the moral and spiritual application for us. And it is always good to come back on that, because it is food for our souls, and it would form us also to bear fruit for the Lord, as you find here in the last portion of the book. And I think that is the climax, really. To see how God brings a soul who was far away in a foreign country, brings it into his own country, and then brings her into a relationship with Boaz, and then she bears fruit. That is a very wonderful line of thought, development. And that is what the Lord wants also for us. And maybe we can come back on that later on. But we have planned for tonight to speak and to think together on the prophetic line, the prophetic outline of this book. And in thinking of that, I thought I might need another four evenings, because you could study every chapter in that line of the prophetic application, the prophetic meaning. But we have only one evening, so we are very limited, and we have to take just a few headlines. And for that I have also brought some transparencies, just to help us a little bit to grasp this prophetic meaning. Before we go over to see the transparencies, I'd like to read with you a verse in 2 Peter. In our hymn we sing about the Lord Jesus and the bride. And you know what is so wonderful? Even when we are thinking now about things which will not apply immediately on us, but on other believers, like the Jewish remnant, it is of interest for us. Why? Because it has to do with the blessed person of our Lord. And therefore we take interest in every single word of God, even when it would concern other categories, other dispensations. We would take an interest in all these things, like the bride in the Song of Songs. She took an interest in everything that was growing in the valleys. Why? Because it belonged to Solomon. And so we would take interest in everything that is going on in God's world. God's interests are also our interests, because they are linked with the person of our Beloved. So let's just read 2 Peter 1. We have no time to enter into all the details, but just to make that point clear how important it is to read the Scriptures in connection with the person of the Lord. In 2 Peter 1 we read about the way Peter thought of the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. And then he says, in verse 19, we have the prophetic word, make sure. Why did he say that? Because he had seen the fulfillment, or at least a glance of the fulfillment, in the person of the Lord Jesus, as he describes in these verses, in verse 16. For we have not made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, following cleverly imagined fables, having been eyewitnesses of his majesty. So it is about his coming, his power, his majesty, his person. That's the point. And then he says, in verse 17, Such a voice being uttered to him by the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight. And this voice we heard uttered from heaven, being with him on the holy mountain. You can imagine a queen, when she is with her husband, and he is, let's say, delivering a speech, maybe about some state business. Now, in itself, she is not involved in this business, but the queen will take an interest, because her husband is delivering this speech. And so, this is just a weak example. We should take an interest in everything in which the Lord Jesus is involved. And so, the prophetic dealings of God with the faithful remnant, with Israel, with the whole world, are important for us, because the Lord Jesus, our beloved, is involved in this. And he, when he is rejected in this world, he is going to receive his place of honor, given by God, in this same world, where he is still rejected. So, I am thinking of that verse in 2 Timothy, maybe you can note sometimes some verses down, when I mention it, because we have no time to look to every verse. But in 2 Timothy 4, verse 8, you find a wonderful verse, Paul says, those who love the appearing of the Lord Jesus. He doesn't say, those who love the rapture, those who love the coming of the Lord for the Church. No, he says, who love his appearing. So, that shows the interest we should have in the fact that the Lord is coming back and will receive a place of honor and glory in this very world where he is rejected. And so, this would also help us to understand that those who will be faithful to the Lord Jesus, like the Jewish remnant in the future, when the Church will be in heaven already, we will already now have an interest in them, because they will be faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus, in a time when it will be very difficult. And we will see how God will form them. And now, these things we find in the book of Ruth. We will come back to that. But the point is here to see it is linked with the person of the Lord Jesus. In Revelation 19, I think it was 9 or 10, you find that the spirit of prophecy is Jesus. The prophecy is concerning him. So, we should never forget that when we study prophecy, is not to get a clear outline, then this will happen then, and then that will happen, and so on, and so on. That's very important. But never forget it is in connection with, somehow, with our Lord Jesus. And then, he makes it clear, the Apostle Peter here, at the end of the chapter, that the prophetic word is one complete unity. You cannot take one particular point and say, that means that. No. You can only understand the meaning of one particular point in the context of the whole, you see. And that is, of course, a principle too, in connection with the whole world of the Word of God. You cannot just take one verse and then say, that means this, and you don't look at the context, the character of the epistle, and so on. You cannot do that. It is one whole. And so, the prophetic word is also one unity. You cannot take away one thing of it without disturbing the whole. And there also, again, is mentioned how for us already, in our hearts, the prophetic word is like a lamp shining in an obscure place until the day dawn and the morning star arise in your heart. You see, it's a matter of our hearts. It's a matter of love. When you study the book of Ruth, really struck with this thought, it's a book that speaks of love. Why was Ruth brought into the country of the Lord? Because she loved the Lord. She loved Nehemiah. She loved the people of God. And that is a big help for us. To enter into God's thoughts, it's a matter of love. I've noted down a few points. I'll come back to that later on. But I think it might be helpful just to show a few transparencies. For those who have no idea where Bethlehem is, it's here on the map. And it's close to Jerusalem, as you see. Jerusalem, the capital. And we know that in this town, the Lord Jesus, or close to this town, Lord Jesus was born later on. It's called Bethlehem House of Bread. We have seen that. So it was in the province Judea. Now, in connection with the... Just to have an idea... ...of the dispensations. I'm not a strong supporter of a study of the dispensations in the sense that you have to be very rigid in these divisions. But it may help sometimes to understand a little bit what's going on. Just to give an idea where we are now. Here, we are living in the church period. Here, we are living in the church period. And then we have the rapture. And in this short time after the rapture, and before the introduction of the millennium, we have in a short period of time all the fulfillment of the prophecies. It's really wonderful when you study the Word of God to realize that so many prophecies will be fulfilled in a very, very short period of time. And we find in the book of Daniel how this period is indicated as the 70th week of Daniel. We have in Daniel 9, at the end of the chapter, really the key to understand the prophecies. And there we find also, we have no time now to explain this, but we find there the 70th week, and that is the last week in which all these prophecies will be fulfilled. So in a very short period of seven years, and perhaps you can say even shorter time, all these prophecies of the Old Testament and some of the New Testament will be fulfilled. I don't say that the rapture of the church is in itself a subject of prophecy, but the church as a testament of God here on earth is a subject of the prophetic dealings of God with this world. So in this short period, after the rapture of the church, all these things will be fulfilled. And that's what we're going to find in the book of Luke. Many things are mentioned there, the fulfillment of which we will find in this period. And then, of course, the introduction of the millennium, the reign of Christ. Now, it is wonderful, we could study in the Old Testament a book, a chapter, Leviticus 23, where you find an outline of God's ways, how he is going to introduce this wonderful reign of the Lord Jesus, presented in the feast at the end of this series, the Feast of Tabernacles. It is a presentation of the future blessings of the millennium. But in this feast, we have an outline of God's ways. Now, we are not going to study now this, but just to mention where you can also place Ruth, the book of Ruth. The first feast, as you know, is the Passover feast, when the people in Egypt found shelter behind the blood of the Lamb, and then they fed on the Lamb. Then we find also the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. We find the first fruit, speaking of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. All these three were very close together. And then you have a period of 50 days, and then you have the fourth feast, as we find here. Now, we have seen in Ruth, that Ruth came with Naomi to the land when the harvest started. So it was just after Passover, and when the first fruit was offered in the temple, then they came to the land, and they enjoyed a whole time of harvest. We have seen that the book of Ruth is also a book in connection with the harvest. It's very important to understand. And with this feast, you can place it a little bit. And then, there's a point I'd like to mention. God has made one wonderful provision for the strangers. You find it in Leviticus, and also in Deuteronomy. I think we have read one of the passages last time, where God made provision for the stranger and the widows. So you find a provision in God's grace for Naomi, the widow, who had lost everything. And you find the provision by God for the stranger, like Ruth. Both are received help by God. And it's remarkable that in Leviticus 23, when God sums up this feast, He mentions this special portion for the widow and the stranger. So the book of Ruth you could place just between the third and the fourth feast, and also the fourth feast included, because that's the point I'd like to mention. The fourth feast was the Feast of Weeks, 50 days after the first Ruth. So we have seen that Ruth and Naomi, Ruth was on the field with Boaz during these 50 days. And then, after these 50 days, nothing happened. We have seen that at the beginning of Ruth 3, what was going to be done now? Nothing changed. Everybody could see that Boaz loved Ruth, and Ruth was waiting. What's going to happen now? And then we have seen how this problem was solved in Ruth 3. But you find another reason the book of Ruth is read by the Jews at this feast. When they have the Feast of Weeks, the book is read in the synagogue. So that's just an interesting detail. And also, this point, they have the Feast of the Joy of the Law. Simcha Torah means that they have the Joy of the Law. And we have found, in the study of Ruth 3, how important this is. There were two problems you could never solve. The law said that the widow had to be married. The land had to be redeemed. We'll just see some details about the redemption. And there was another law which said somebody from the Moabites could not enter into the congregation of the Lord. So two contradictions, as it were. How was this to be solved? And then you find that there is a provision by God's grace, even in the days when the law was still accepted at that time, that God in his grace has given a provision to Ruth and Boaz. So that is really the Joy of the Law you find in the Feast of Weeks. Just a few details, then, on these things. But we cannot enter into the details now. Then, I have made an outline for some of you. It will be just a repetition of what we had before. But it is also going to help us now to understand the prophetic outline. Because the subject of redemption is a very big subject in the Scriptures. When we speak about redemption and the Redeemer, we are involved, and as you will see also, the Jewish people, Israel, the Jewish remnant, the land of Israel is also involved in this great matter. We have seen that the Redeemer, or the Goel, has four different functions. And we have seen them in the application for us, but we see them also now in connection with Israel and the prophetic outline we are trying to study now. Now, just in the beginning, one point we mentioned already last time. Redemption you find by blood. That is the basis. You find it in Colossians 1 verse 20. You find it also in the time of Exodus 12, the Passover land. There you find the basis of redemption, by blood. But then God is going to introduce His Redeemer by power in the future, when He will claim the whole world for Himself. And so the land, we have seen, the land was given by God to the people of Israel. But through their unfaithfulness they had lost the land. Nehomai, we hope to see that in a few minutes, became a widow and was outside the land. That's the people of Israel. They lost the land. They are outside the country. Now the Redeemer, He will buy the land back. That's what we find in the Lord Jesus. In His redemption work, He has paid already the price for that. And by His power, He will really bring His people into the enjoyment of the inheritance. First lecture, we have thought of the land, what the land means for us. But the land is also the subject of the promises of God for the people of Israel. This is of very great importance. And a faithful Jew like Naboth, under the reign of Ahab, he didn't want to give up his portion that God had given through his fathers of the land. In connection with this, you can also study the subject, the heir. He has a place in the land. And we have seen last time that there were many scriptures dealing with this matter. Leviticus 25, I forgot to mention Deuteronomy 25, I think. And Leviticus 27 and Jeremiah 32. These are the four portions in the scriptures which deal with this subject. Now what the Lord is going to do, He will, in His redemption power, restore the land to His people. Of course, He brought it back also to God. A wonderful, just for the children, little detail. This may be a difficult matter to understand. The Lord Jesus is the creator of heaven and earth. So He possesses everything because He is the creator. And nevertheless, He has to redeem it. Maybe you remember the story of a little boy who made a little boat. Very nice. And he went out to play with it. And then he lost it. The wind took it away. And then a few days later, he went to town. And then he saw his boat just for sale somewhere. And then he said, Daddy, can you buy it? And Daddy, he bought the boat. And then he got his boat back. And now he said, now I have it twice. I made it and you bought it. So, this is just a simple example of what the Lord Jesus did. He made all. He had rights because He is the creator. But He redeemed all by His blood. And He is going to exert His claim on all what He redeemed. So, even unbelievers belong to the Lord Jesus in a sense, as 2 Peter teaches us. Because the Lord Jesus, by the price of His blood, He has rights over the whole universe. And He is going to claim these things. Now, the second point is that you find the nation in connection with the land. The nation is away. Nehemiah, you will see, he is far from the country, but he is brought back. So, the people of Israel, they will be brought back in parting. The small remnant in unbelief are brought back to the country already. But God will bring the whole nation back, the remnant back. Because those who will be born again, Ezekiel 36, those will be introduced, according to God's standards, into the land. And so, this is also an important point that the Redeemer will redeem the country, the land, or the portion, in connection with the Book of Ruth. But also bring those back who live there and restore them into the enjoyment of these blessings. That's important. But because the widow could not produce herself a child, an heir, the one who was the Redeemer married her. But Nehemiah was too old, as we have seen last time, so he married Ruth, her daughter-in-law, who was also a widow, by the way. And so, he would then introduce new life. And this new son, he would be the heir, and the name of the one who died would be maintained of the inheritance. So, then the last thought is that the Redeemer is also the revenger, or the avenger. And that's what you find in connection with the laws. You remember the cities of refuge? There you find, in three different scriptures, the cities of refuge, because the one who was guilty of manslaughter had to flee to one of the cities of refuge. And that's in our days, but these are many details I cannot elaborate now on, we find that the assembly is now the city of refuge for the Jews. And in the future, the remnant will recognize this provision God has given. The moment they accept the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, they will also find a place of refuge because God's wrath is going to be executed. That's for sure. And what is so important to see is that the one who is the Redeemer is also the one who is the avenger, or revenger. In Isaiah 63, we find how the Lord Jesus himself will do this work of revenge. And he will, so there is a saying that says, savior or judge? The Lord Jesus is the Redeemer. When you reject him as the Redeemer, he is going to be the avenger, or the judge. And he will execute God's rights anyway. So, all God's rights are maintained in redemption, all God's rights are going to be maintained in judgment. So, you see that this subject of redemption and the Redeemer is a very important subject in the scriptures. Now, one thing is important to see, though in some passages God is called to be the Redeemer, we find that it is through the Lord Jesus, because the Redeemer had to be a kinsman. He had to have a relation with the people of God, or with us when he applied to us as a man. And so we find in Hebrews, for example, that the Lord Jesus partake of blood and flesh in order to be this kinsman. Of course, much could be said, but this is just a repetition, a little bit of what we have seen. But it is important to see that these principles apply also in connection with the study of the prophetic outline now, that the Lord Jesus is the Redeemer who will bring the people back to this country, who will free this country from the enemy, and also who will have this relationship in marriage with this remnant, and God, Jehovah, will have even a relationship with the whole people of Israel. I hope to come back in a few minutes on that. But just to go now through a few points, we have to limit ourselves to just a few remarks. Now, you remember that in Ruth 1, we found that it was in the days when the judges ruled that this story started. We find in the book of Judges an appendix, or two appendixes. One describes the introduction of idolatry, the other describes fornication. We find in the Scripture that both go together. You can find them in the history of the Church, idolatry and fornication, associations with the world. And this is what you see, how the people of God failed. In God's grace, he gave judges who delivered the people, but there was failure to enjoy really the inheritance. And what we find now in the book of Ruth is that God finds a solution, that in those very days, the days when the judges ruled, there is somebody who enjoys the inheritance. And that is Ruth, and that is Boaz, and that is Obed, and then we come to David. And it is wonderful to see how this book shows that in those very days, when the people failed, that there were those who enjoyed, who were brought into the enjoyment of God's thoughts. Now that is something for you and me. We have seen that it is the desire of the Lord's heart to introduce us into the enjoyment of his thoughts, in connection with the land, heavenly blessings, in connection with Boaz, the man in the glory, the Lord Jesus, to bring us into the enjoyment of these things. This is God's thoughts. And so we find also in this book how God is going to bring the future reign into the enjoyment of his thoughts, in the days when the judges ruled. I was thinking of Dan when I was reading this again. You find in Genesis 49 that Jacob gives a whole review of the history, of the future history, even of his sons. And then at a given moment he is speaking of Dan, he will judge his people. Now that is just when the Antichrist will reign. Then you find that Dan will reign over his people. Now in those days when idolatry is introduced, as never before, during the reign of Dan, so to speak, the reign of Antichrist, when fornication, the association with this world, will be known, among the people of God, Israel as a whole, those very days, darker days you cannot imagine, in those days God is going to have this faithful remnant who will be prepared for the true day. So you see this is a wonderful book, that in the dark days, we can apply it for us, we are living in very dark days, that all our resources are in our Boaz, the Lord Jesus in the Glory, chapter 2, and we may enjoy all God's blessings. And so the future remnant, in dark days, even the days of Antichrist, God will have provisions for them that they will enjoy his thoughts. And so they will prepare the reign of the true David. Now we have seen, just to get an idea, Nehomai and Ruth belong together. We have seen in several instances how Nehomai helped Ruth and so on. But also now in the prophetic application they belong together. Nehomai would speak of the people of Israel in the past. Nehomai means pleasant one. And we read in the prophecies that Israel is compared with a pleasant one, and for God she was his delight. It is remarkable, I just mentioned one verse in Psalm 44, it is not always necessary to check it right away, Psalm 44, verse 3, at the end, Because thou hast delight in them. That's what God had in them. Delight. Nehomai. In Jeremiah 2 you find how God had this marriage, this marriage relationship with his people. Jehovah with his whole people. And God's thinking back of these wonderful days, when the people of Israel were in the wilderness, and they enjoyed this relationship with the Lord. He compared it with a marriage. He is delight in them, really. And now what we see in the future, in Isaiah 62, God is going to bring them back into the enjoyment of this relationship. This is, by the way, a very helpful passage to understand the prophetic outline. In Isaiah 62, verse 1 to 5, you find really an outline of what God is going to do. For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be still, until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a torch that burns. Then he gives a new name, and then in verse 3, And thou shalt be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah. Imagine, these same people, so far away, will be restored and become a crown of beauty. And then verse 4, they were desolate, but at the end it says, But thou shalt be God, my delight is in her, and thy land married. So you see, the people of Israel, or at least the faithful remnant, brought back into this relationship with God, my delight is in her, as it was in the beginning, Nehomai, and thy land married. So again you have here the land, but brought into a relationship with God, as God had given it in the beginning. And so God will rejoice over them. How wonderful this is. And so there are many passages in the scriptures which make it clear that what God introduced in the past, he will restore according to his sovereign grace, and his delight will be in them. But now in connection with the bride, you might say, but this is a little bit confusing. How does that work? The Lord Jesus has his bride, and some people have really difficulties with that, and it took me quite a while to understand these differences. You see, the Lord Jesus is the glorified man in heaven. He has the assembly. The assembly is the bride of the Lamb. But in the scriptures you find in Psalm 45, among others, that the Lord Jesus, as an earthly ruler, he will be the King of Israel, and he will have the faithful remnant, and then especially in connection with Jerusalem, as his bride. And that is what we find in the book of the Son of Sons, and what we find here in the book of Ruth. That the Lord Jesus will have, as the true Boaz, this faithful remnant brought in on the basis of sovereign grace, as his bride. And then in the millennium, we have another thought, the whole people of Israel is seen as the wife, the bride of Jehovah, God of Israel. So we have to distinguish these three different thoughts. And the Lord Jesus, who is now linked with a heavenly bride, the assembly, will have a relationship, a special relationship compared with the marriage, with the faithful remnant, and especially in connection with the city of Jerusalem. So just to have a little bit an idea of the differences. Now we find here, the beginning of the story of Israel is failure. We find it in the book of Judges. And we have seen already this failure in Elimelech. Elimelech, he had a very wonderful name. And so the people of Israel, they confessed God, and they had a very nice profession, but that is not enough. In Romans 2 we read that the name of the Lord is blasphemed among the nations because of the Jews. That's terrible. And so God cannot maintain only a beautiful confession. That's an important lesson for us. Elimelech, with his wonderful confession, he dies, because he was not really up to that confession. That's the point. God wants truth in the inner parts. We can give a beautiful confession, but when there is no truth, then somehow God has to come in. And we see in the story of Elimelech where it ends. It ends in death. We find how that works. Because he went to Moab. And we have seen that Moab was connected with ease, Jeremiah 48, with pride, Isaiah 16, arrogance. When we want to maintain our own ideas, when we are proud, like the people of Israel, like the Jews today even, or like so many of us, myself included, how often that happens that we are proud, then we are not really enjoying the inheritance. You see, that is a key in the scriptures. To enjoy God's thoughts, you have to have a contrite heart. That's what we find in Ruth. Ruth has seen, I will come to that, how Nehomai had accepted God's dealings. There was true repentance. Now that is just necessary to enjoy God's thoughts. Without that, you will be in Moab. You will be characterized by pride and arrogance, but you will not enjoy God's portion. Not at all. Not for a minute. And so we find that Elimelech and his sons, they die. The responsible element dies. They fail. What's going to happen now? Nehomai, she lost all. And so it was with the people of Israel, they lost all. And we have seen that may happen in our lives, or in the assembly, or in a broader sense even, in testimony. The responsible element may die. What's going to happen then? Then we find, on God's part, an action of sovereign grace. God visited his people. He brought food there. That's what we have seen. So the initiative, God is the one who takes the initiative, and so it will be also in the future. When God brings these people back, it is his initiative. That's an important point. God visited his people in sovereign grace. They have not merited it. Absolutely not. And it's the same for us. When God in grace would deal with us, it's not because of our merits. Not at all. We find how God produces something, anyway, during these tribulations. The people of Israel, they will be enriched. We have seen Moab. They were not poured out from vessel to vessel. There is no fruit for God in Moab. But where is there going to be much fruit? In this faithful land. Where is there going to be fruit in your life and my life when we accept God's dealings with us? Then there is going to be fruit, as we find in Ruth 4 at the end. But it starts here. The recognition of God's dealings, excuse me, in Nehomah. Nehomah, she had lost all. But she is going now to recognize God's hand. I was thinking, I was reading the other day a story of a flower or flowers which grow, let's say, in Singapore or that area. They do not smell as nice as they do here. Why not? Because they do not know this cold wind from the north as we had in the last days. You see, this north wind forms a kind of pressure. And under this pressure the flower is going to give a special smell. Now that is what God, just one weak example of what God uses, the pressure. This faithful land that is going through in the future will produce wonderful odors for God, for God's heart. And so, in the application for us, it is through afflictions and tribulations, God's dealings with us, that there will be something God can delight in. Though she calls herself Mara, in such a situation, when there is true repentance, I am sure we are like Nehomah for God. We are pleasant ones for God when He accepts His dealings with us. And so the faithful remnant will accept God's dealings. You can read it in Psalm 44, that they maintain God's rights when everything is rejected in this world under the rule of Antichrist. They maintain God's rights, there is much pressure, and then they are going to enjoy the King. In Psalm 45 you find it. That is a wonderful psalm, by the way, but maybe we will come back to that later on. So here you find God's dealings then in grace with Nehomah. That is the first point, that she accepts God's dealings, there is true repentance, and Ruth has seen it. Ruth had no part among the people of Israel. Not at all. No part whatsoever. But she was attracted to the God of Israel, maybe already through Elimelech, though he had failed, maybe through her husband, Mahlon, but also through the dealings now of God with Nehomah. She felt attracted to this God of Israel. And we have seen her confession, her creed, as it were, in verse 16. That is the language of love. She gave up everything that she had naturally. Nehomah said, go back to your country, go back to your gods, go back, maybe you will find a husband there. But she gave all up. But she got everything, you see. But that is faith. So you find here the principle of faith in Ruth, and love. It's really love what you find. But from God's side, it's sovereign grace, because Nehomah had no rights whatsoever. And so it is wonderful to see that in God's dealings with the people of Israel, this faithful remnant is now compared with somebody who has no link with the people of Israel, who is a foreigner, a Moabitess. Now, that is to make it clear that to be introduced into the promises of God, she can only stand on the basis of sovereign grace, not on her merits. That's what the faithful remnant has to learn, and that's what we have to learn. In Romans 11, Paul explains that we had no rights in the promises of Abraham, and God brought us into the enjoyment of these promises because of the sovereign grace. And now on the basis of the same principle, the future remnant will be brought into the enjoyment of all God's blessings and promises He promised to Abraham already, not because they are descendants of Abraham, but because of the sovereign grace of God. They are like a Moabitess, no rights whatsoever, but God's dealing in sovereign grace with them, and He will bring them into the enjoyment of these. And that's what they have to learn. That's what you find in the Gospel, when the Lord meets this woman from Tyrus, and Sidon from that area, she had no rights, she had no claims, and that is an example of us. But then the Jews had to learn the same thing, that they had no rights either. And that's hard for those who think to have so many privileges, to have so many claims, to see there is nothing they can claim, only the sovereign grace of God. And that's an important choice, because Orpah, she doesn't want to do that. There we see self-will. She went away. When there is an element of self-will, even when we are very close to God's love, we will not be brought really into the enjoyment of these things. And we find that Orpah went away. That's very, very sad to see this. So we find that in Naomai there was self-judgment, there was humiliation, humbling before God, confessing her sins, and also recognizing that God had dealt with her. All these elements we find, that is necessary for the people of Israel in the future, to confess this. And then the second element is brought in, that is Ruth. They both belong together. There we find that on the basis of sovereign grace, they are going to... ...situation before God. There you find a widow, like Naomai. All is lost. Lamentations 1, verse 1. Jerusalem is gone, the testimony is gone. All is lost. But then, during this book, you find how there is hope. And then at the end already, it becomes clear that God is going to deal with all this, and he is going to solve it. But then, in the book of Song of Songs, you find a whole development of the affections in connection with this relationship between the remnant and the Lord Jesus. And that is a really very interesting study, also for our hearts, of course. But then, you do not find this real stability of the affections. That is what you find in Psalm 45. Now, really, Psalm 45 is such a wonderful psalm. Psalm 45, you find the introduction of Christ. And that is so important for us also. But imagine for the future remnant, when they are outside the country, like here, Naomai and Ruth, when they have nothing, when they are attacked from every side, they are faithful, then all of a sudden, God directs their eyes to him in the glory. And they will know the Lord Jesus. They will not have the same relationship as we have, but they will, through faith, they will know the Lord Jesus, though he is still in the glory, as being their Messiah. And they will know by faith what they have to do. And then the Lord will teach them, and you find it in the scriptures, the Maschilim, the teachers, you find it also in the psalms of instruction, by the way, Psalm 45 is one of these psalms of instruction, where you find how this faithful remnant is formed. Now, that is just what we find in the book of Ruth. In the book of Ruth, we have found that Ruth is very diligent, and so this faithful remnant will study the scriptures, and they will grow in the knowledge in these things, and all of a sudden, they will realize, but this is our Boaz. That's wonderful. They will discover this. That's Ruth 3. We have seen in Ruth 2, we find what Boaz is for Ruth. She doesn't know him. She is brought on his field, she eats with him, that is a very special privilege, but she still doesn't know that he is the Redeemer. But then in Ruth 3, we find how she prepares herself now for him. That's a big step forward, and that is what the faithful remnant will do also. I think in Psalm 45, then they are going to realize that they are this bride, the remnant in Jerusalem, which is so precious for the king, and they prepare themselves for the king. Now, that's a big study. We cannot enter into that, just to have an idea of what's going on. And so we see that the introduction of Boaz really changes all. That's for us, the moment that the Lord Jesus is introduced in our lives, everything changes. But then the next step, when we see that we are formed to be suitable for him, that's wonderful. And so this faithful remnant, and that's what you find in Ruth 3, we have now no time to enter into all the details, but I just mentioned it, that she washes herself in verse 3, she anoints herself, she puts raiment on her, that is this suitable condition which is necessary to have this relationship with Boaz. She is not still officially recognized in this relationship. And so it will take some time before the Jewish remnant will be recognized publicly as being in this relationship with the true Boaz, but we find here this formation. And we find in the part of Boaz that he recognizes this. And we find also the problem of the nearer kinsman, the nearer Redeemer, that we have seen the law. And I was thinking of another picture in the Old Testament which speaks about this nearer Redeemer. He did not love Ruth. He had no love. He didn't care for her. He didn't care for Nehemiah. And that's what you find in Nabal. Nabal, the man in 1 Samuel 25, and Abigail. Abigail, she had intelligence. She had her heart in the right place. And so the future remnant will have the heart in the right place. But the links with Nabal have to be given up. So the links with this nearer kinsman, the Redeemer, have to be given up. He has to die. In the case of Nabal, it was literally, he has to be replaced, as it were, by Boaz. And so David is introduced in 1 Samuel 25. And here we find that Boaz is introduced here into a relationship now with Ruth. Now, I'd like to meditate a little while with you at the end of these chapters. I'm sorry that we really cannot enter into the details because it said that would take another four evenings. It is really a wonderful study to see how this remnant will grow in the knowledge of the person of the Lord Jesus, how they will enjoy this relationship with Him, how He will take care of them. Just one point, just see. I was thinking of these reapers who have a special service. We have seen that in connection with the application for us. And so the Lord will have His reapers in connection with the future remnant. The masculine, as I said, the wise man, you find them in Daniel 11 and 12. They will teach this faithful remnant. And so they have also a place here in the book of Luke. So you see many, many details you can find here as illustrations of what you find back in the prophets. And you find in principle many times we think of Jonah, the book of Jonah. It's just a story, like this is a story. But how wonderful, the prophetic, all the prophetic dealings of God, you find them back. Think of the book of Esther. Now, that is history, all history. But you find an outline of God's dealings with the future remnant and so on. It's wonderful how God can use the story of Joseph and his brothers. It's a wonderful story to listen to, to read. But many principles you find developed in the prophets. You find them back already as an illustration in the story of Joseph and his brothers. It's wonderful how these illustrations will help us to understand God's dealings with Israel, with the future remnant, with Jerusalem, and so on. Just one point before we start with Ruth 4. In the Proverbs, you find, excuse me, in Ecclesiastes, you find the introduction of a man in chapter 7 it is, but who can find a wife for him? There's a man, one of thousand, and we think of the Lord Jesus. He's even one of ten thousand called in Psalm of Psalms chapter 5. But who is going to find a wife for this man? That's the big question. And then we find in Proverbs 31 a description of this woman. Now we come closer to Ruth because here we find Boaz, this wonderful person. He had no bride. Who's going to find a bride for him? And then we find in Ruth 3 that he says in verse 12, Thou art a woman of worth. And we have seen that this expression, woman of worth, is in the Hebrew exactly the same word as we find for Boaz, a man of wealth, or a wealthy man, a mighty man of wealth. That is the same word in Hebrew. And so we find that both belong together. Now you see they are brought together. And that's what you find in Proverbs 31. There you find a description of this wife who would fit to this man. And then in the book of Psalm of Psalms you find really how she's introduced into this relationship of love. And so it is also in the book of Ruth in a sense that we find how she's introduced into this relationship. One other point I'd like to mention. You find that also in the book of Psalm of Psalms. You find that at the end of the book of Psalm of Psalms in chapter 8, the ten tribes are brought in. So that is later on. That is an other chapter in God's dealings with the people of Israel. Here we have to do with the two tribes and even with less with the facial remnant among them and in Psalm 45 and also as we have seen in Proverbs 31. And so we find in Psalm 45 and also as we have seen in Psalm of Psalms only in connection with Jerusalem. That's important to distinguish. In connection with the question that was asked maybe we should now enter into that last portion we have read in Ruth 4. There was a question to review the steps by which Boaz and Ruth were able to enter into a marriage relationship which by the law had been forbidden and then the spiritual application. Now a few points I mentioned already but we have seen that it is very important that this other redeemer was disqualified and that is spiritually very important for us. We have seen once that as long as our hopes are linked with this other redeemer is nearer then Boaz cannot be introduced. We cannot really enjoy the relationship with the Lord Jesus. So this is a very important point as long as we hope to find a solution by our own efforts let's say to get back the land let's say to have a place among the people of God let's say to know more of the Lord Jesus you cannot really enjoy something of him on the basis of your own efforts or your own righteousness. People of Israel are seeking their own righteousness as Paul says in Romans 10 but they have failed. It is not possible. And so this is a very important principle you find in the New Testament explained again and again that not on the basis of our works our efforts we can have this relationship with the Lord Jesus. And so it will be for the future remnant only sovereign grace that is sovereign grace God that brings them back but they have to recognize for themselves that it is sovereign grace and the introduction to this relationship is on the basis of sovereign grace. But not only that it is also a very thing that is very that should be very clear to us that she lost her Moabitish character so to speak. Having this background this Moabitish background she could not be linked with Boaz as she was only when she would be with Boaz she would be only when she would take in the lessons Neoma had learned so true repentance recognizing God's dealings confession all we find and then love for the God of Israel love for his country in other words love for his interest that was necessary on her side. And so that is also in the arrogance ease and so on being poured from vessel to vessel is necessary to get a good quality of wine the wine has to be poured from vessel to vessel that is not a pleasant thing for the wine that is not a pleasant thing for us either when we have to pass through many many tribulations that we will enter into the kingdom of God through many tribulations it is a principle in God's ways tribulations will form us to have this relationship so I would say Ruth had to get rid of her morbidity background but it was of course the sovereign grace of God which brought her there but at the same time she had to find the whole all these aspects submission humble spirit a contrite heart and so on all these things are necessary to be brought into enjoyment to the enjoyment of this relationship now then we come in chapter 4 that we find a public way to make it clear in a public way that he is linked with the assembly as we have seen but also the Lord will in a public sense be identified with this remnant now that is the last passage I would like to mention in this passage is that we find the remnant from the Jews publicly associated with the Lord Jesus he is the lamb on mount Zion there you have sovereign grace mount Zion and the Lord Jesus publicly linked though he is still in heaven but publicly linked with this remnant that is what is found in Revelation 14 verse 1 to 6 where you find how the lamb the lamb in glory is associated with this remnant on mount Zion now that is what you find here in verse 4 and then we find that there can be fruit for God in Ephratah Ephratah means double fruitfulness that there is going to be food in the house of God Bethlehem and it is all on the base of this new life which is introduced by the sovereign grace of God and now we come to the last portion we have read we have meditated a little bit on that relationship is not the only thing it is all these different steps which build up to this relationship are necessary but why this relationship because God wants to have fruit now that is what you have in the epistle to the Romans why are we associated with the Lord Jesus the one who is risen already that we should bear fruit for God because Boaz took Ruth could Boaz take Ruth as she was in Moab not at all there are certain conditions on Ruth's side necessary in order that Boaz could take her and that is exactly the same for us there are conditions necessary on our side before the Lord Jesus can use us in that situation and that is the point here she is available for him completely there is no hindrance in Ruth 3 she was already available for him but there was the matter of the other Redeemer still not sold here she is completely for him and what is the result she became his wife and he went into her and Jehovah gave her conception you see of course they are brought into this marriage relationship but we cannot speak about that now we have seen that it is also applicable for us to bring fruit for God and so it will be in the future when all the hindrances on their part have been solved they are brought in this relationship with the Lord Jesus and there will be fruit for God it is wonderful to see how a handful of millions and millions of people will be converted there will be fruit for God Revelation 7 you can find it and so the Lord will use them there will be fruit but not only that there will be people converted you see what is fruit which is precious for God that there is a condition brought or produced where the beloved is seen that's the point so it is not only important that so many people will be converted in our days or at that time that's very good and necessary but it is in order that the beloved will be introduced it's just before the millennial rain will start and so it is also in the application for us as we have seen God wants to introduce His beloved now that's the way God wants to see fruit not only that we will be very active it might be a hindrance we can activity is only at it's place the right place when it is in submission as we find in Ruth when it is total surrender to the Lord nothing maintaining in self-will and so we find here this fruit is produced and it is through the Lord Jehovah gave her conception and she bore a son it is through the Lord and then it is also for the Lord we could say that grace is brought back into the picture and not only that has it's blessings again that's God's faithfulness excuse me Romans 11 says that God's promises are without repentance God cannot come back on these promises He will fulfill them but of course our blessings are of a higher order but that doesn't mean that God cannot fulfill the blessings for the people God has set aside the people of Israel and is not going to deal with them no in this book we see how God is going to deal with them and how God is going to reintroduce them into all the blessings He has prepared for them and this little son is called now a nourisher of thine old age this Obed is now for Nehomai a great help a restorer of life that's also Boaz of course but then also a nourisher of thine old age and we find that Obed has the right of redemption so we find Boaz as the redeemer but also which is now produced Obed has the right of redemption that is a little bit complicated to understand but I think that is really what God wants not only an official relationship with the Lord Jesus but really to introduce this to introduce us into the enjoyment of God's into the enjoyment of his thoughts there will be full restoration there will be nourishment it's in itself a wonderful study to see how God will provide food for his people already now before the true king is introduced publicly you see because that is the character of this book before the true king is introduced publicly this faithful remnant they know all about him they produce fruit for God the true slave or worshipper as some translate but literally it is first of all slave and that is wonderful we find the true slave of the Lord Jesus and he became the book of exodus you find already the true priest we find a wonderful picture here also of the Lord Jesus he is the and then we find God's faithfulness in Jesse Jehovah is these names are very important we find how there is life brought in this generation which is given at the end of the book God shows how there is life brought in in Ferris or Paris Paris is breaking force or a breach in his life and that is a beautiful picture and you can learn how this is really wonderful picture so part of it the freshness of it how it grows in Ram mean so that is so precious that is where this development of new life leads to that we are willing to give the place to the bride room and then it brings us to David you see how wonderful when there is fruit for God is not only many conversions it is introduced already in this book because there are souls who are ready for it and that is the big question for you and me am I ready that God can introduce his David in my life that there may be fruit for God that characterized by the beloved and so the remnant will come to this fruit that is glorified when we bear fruit and so God will have his portion the Lord Jesus will have his portion and they will enjoy this wonderful fellowship now this is a picture that God gives in dark days and that is a real encouragement for you and me because it is a challenge at the same time so when God is able to do that then we should never give up hope then we should never be discouraged we should be happy people knowing that God is occupied with us that God cares for us that God loves us that God sees us already in the beloved one Ephesians 1 but he wants us that God wants us to enjoy his thoughts he is not satisfied to give us the most wonderful position you can think of and that is what we have he wants us that we enjoy this position and then there will be fruit for him in worship in ministry like Obed there will be fruit for God only when we are brought into the enjoyment of his thoughts and we will be blessed when we think meditate on it because when you will go through the book again also in this outline in connection with the prophetic dealings you will only marvel at the wonders of God's grace and the riches of the scriptures and so it might be what we learn that is what is so important we may enjoy the reading of these books and these scriptures and these studies but may there be a practical fruit in our lives in real activity as true disciples of the Lord Jesus for his namesake Amen …