By Mark Proctor
Pastor, Highland Park Baptist Church, Columbia
Focal Passage: Ruth 3:8-13; 4:13-17
I love the story of the traveler who pulled his car into a gas station in Kentucky and asked the attendant how far it was to Glasgow. “28,465 miles,” was the reply. “I didn’t mean Glasgow, Scotland. I meant Glasgow, Kentucky!” “So did I” said the attendant. “In the direction you’re headed, it’s 28,465 miles. If you’ll turn around and go the other direction, it’s only 11 miles!” The Bible teaches a more serious version of this story: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12 ESV).
In the book of Judges, we learn that during the period we’re studying, “Israel was without a king and everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). Henrietta Mears called Judges “the account of the dark ages of the Israelite people.” And the book after Ruth, 1 Samuel, is the beginning of the monarchy. But what Israel really needed was neither a judge nor a king. It needed a redeemer to help Israel change directions. This is why the book of Ruth is so beautifully placed. God tenderly reminds us of the need for a redeemer with the story of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, the kinsman redeemer.
The parallel with Christ the redeemer should not escape any teacher of Scripture. Jesus Christ is our redeemer, the one who redeems the dreary drudge of the past into the hope of eternity. We need simply to note that the laws and traditions governing redemption in the Old Testament context were set; the system was in place. Ruth had only to humbly and boldly ask for it. “Spread your cloak over me, for you are a … redeemer” (Ruth 3:9). Ruth had nothing, hence the humility. “I am your slave.” She brought nothing to Boaz. Likewise, I bring nothing to Christ but my desire to be His follower. Her redemption depended on a historically and traditionally honored system of God-given laws; our redemption depends on an eternal system put in place before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). Security and redemption are the eternal purposes of God for His children.
We will undoubtedly note also that her willingness to humbly ask for that which God had already established placed her in the lineage of the Messiah. She became the great grandmother of King David, mother to Obed, father of Jesse. The picture is clear: the follower of Christ comes humbly and broken to Jesus, worth nothing, worthy of nothing. And because of the grace that was shown to His children before the foundation of the world, we simply ask for that which has already been provided. And the greatest news of all is that by accepting that grace, we too come into the line of Christ, children of God and “coheirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). There’s the message of the book of Ruth, there’s the message of the Bible: because of the grace of redemption, we are eternally secure!
