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Our Kinsman-Redeemer
Presenter: Ruth Qualls
Location: Salina Seventh-day Adventist Church, Kansas, USA
Delivery: 2005-09-17
Publication: GreatControversy.org 2005-09-30 07:41Z
Type: Sermon
URL: http://www.greatcontroversy.org/gco/ser/rqu-kinsman.php
The gospel in the story of Ruth
We are probably all familiar with the story of Ruth in the Hebrew Scriptures. It occurs during the days when the judges ruled Israel between the time of Joshua’s death and the time when Samuel anointed Saul to be the first king of Israel.
In Ruth chapter one the story begins in Bethlehem, Judah, as a man named Elimelech along with his wife Naomi and their two sons leave Israel and travel to the land of Moab in the east because of a terrible famine in Israel.
While they were in Moab, Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died and her two sons, Mahlon and Kilion married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. But after they had lived there about 10 years, Mahlon and Kilion died, too, without producing any sons to carry on their name. All three women were thus left widows.
We know the story of how Naomi heard that the famine in Israel was over so she decided to go back home to Bethlehem. Ruth and Orpah went with her part way. Naomi urged them to go back to their people and their gods so they could have the opportunity to remarry and have children. Orpah eventually gave in and returned, but Ruth insisted on staying with Naomi. She eloquently stated her wish in verses 16 and 17 of Ruth chapter one:
Intreat me not to leave thee, or 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: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.
Ruth and Naomi arrived back in Bethlehem with nothing. In those days and in that culture, if a woman was without a husband and sons, she was nobody. And Ruth had another strike against her. Besides being a childless widow, she was a foreigner, a Gentile, not even part of Israel.
Naomi’s husband had owned property outside the walls of Bethlehem, but now he was gone and so were his sons. The only option for Naomi would be to sell the property and try to get a little money on which to live for awhile.
Since it was the time of the barley harvest, Ruth decided to go see if someone would let her glean barley after the reapers in their field. God had commanded that those who owned property and had crops to harvest must let the poor, the widows, the orphans, and the strangers (foreigners) gather what was left after they harvested their fields and orchards. The owners were not to go over the fields again and gather every last grain or fruit that had been left behind by mistake (see Deuteronomy 24:19-22).
It happened that Ruth ended up gleaning in one of the fields of Boaz, a very wealthy man, who was also a close relative of Naomi’s late husband, Elimelech. But she didn’t know he was a relative. Often when things seem to happen by chance, it is really God who has arranged the circumstances to bring about His will.
We know the story of how Boaz came to his field to see how the harvest was going, noticed Ruth immediately, and found out who she was. We remember how he kindly urged her to stay and glean in his fields, how he invited her to eat with his reapers, and how he served her food.
Reading between the lines of the story, one can see that it is highly likely Boaz was thinking of the possibilities for the future when he first met Ruth.
Boaz even told the harvesters to purposely let extra grain fall where she could pick it up. Because of this, when she threshed the grain she had gathered at the end of the day, she had about 30 pounds to take back to Naomi. That is much more than one would ordinarily get from a day of gleaning.
When Naomi found out that Ruth had gleaned in the field of Boaz and heard all about his kindness to her, she told Ruth who Boaz was. In verse 20 of chapter 2 in the NIV, Naomi said, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers.”
The KJV refers to Boaz as “a near kinsman,” but in the margin it says, “one that hath right to redeem.”
In Israel, if a man died without having a son to inherit his property then the widow could ask a near kinsman of her husband to marry her and their firstborn son would carry on her dead husband’s name. Also, the kinsman who married her could buy back, or redeem, any of her husband’s property that had been sold to pay off debts. It would then be passed on to their firstborn son so it would not be lost from the family.
Not just anyone could redeem the property that had been lost and marry the widow. It had to be a near kinsman. Only a close relative would have the right to redeem.
You can read the rest of the story in chapters 3 and 4 of the book of Ruth. It tells how Naomi devised a plan for Ruth to go to the threshing floor at night where Boaz was sleeping. Ruth asked him to marry her and he readily agreed.
The next day at the city gate of Bethlehem it was officially decided that Boaz would marry Ruth and redeem (buy back) the property of Elimelech that Naomi was being forced to sell—the property that would have been passed on to Mahlon, Ruth’s late husband.
There was another closer relative who could have chosen to buy the land, in fact Boaz gave him the opportunity, but he refused to marry Ruth. He was a selfish man and didn’t want to risk having to give any of his property to a child that Ruth might bare. So that allowed Boaz the privilege of marrying Ruth and purchasing the land. It is obvious in the story that Boaz was much more interested in Ruth than in the property. After all, he was a wealthy man who already owned plenty of land.
And so it was settled. In one day, Ruth, the poor widow who had lost everything, became the honored, much-loved wife of a godly man. His wealth and his home were now hers. She became a part of God’s chosen people, an ancestor of Jesus. Ruth and Boaz had a son together who was the grandfather of King David.
As for the other selfish relative who had refused to marry Ruth, we never hear of him again in the Bible. Because of his greed, he threw away the opportunity to be among the ancestors of the world’s Redeemer.
Our Kinsman-Redeemer
So, you might be thinking, that’s a nice story, but what does it have to do with us today? Why is it even recorded in the Bible?
Doubtless there are many lessons we can draw from Ruth’s story, but let us focus for a few moments on a particular theme—that of the kinsman-redeemer.
Consider our situation as humans. Alone, we are in a hopeless state. We have lost everything because of sin. We have sold our inheritance. The once-beautiful, perfect world that was to be our home has been spoiled by the effects of sin, with the devil claiming it as his territory.
Each of us has inherited a broken, badly-damaged nature because of the sins of our ancestors. And we have done worse than they, as we have continued in sin and rebellion, each generation sinking lower than the one before. We have no power in ourselves to obey God’s requirements. We are totally without strength. Without intervention, we have nothing; we are nobody; we are doomed to destruction.
The perfect, created beings of the universe look at our plight, but none of them can save us. None of them can truly understand our struggles and temptations and grasp what it is like to be stuck in the dreadful mess in which we find ourselves. None of them can demonstrate to us, in any meaningful way, how to have victory over sin. For them, obedience to God is easy. They have not been degraded and weakened by six thousand years of sin.
The only one who could possibly understand what we are experiencing would be one like us—a close relative, a near kinsman of the human race. Only one like us has the right to redeem us.
Thank God, the Bible describes such a One:
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He [Christ] also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Hebrews 2:14, 15, emphasis supplied throughout).
Notice it says that Christ took the same flesh and blood that we (the children) have. He didn’t come to earth in some nature that was different from ours. He is our closest relative, our near kinsman. Reading on in verses 16-18:
For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour [help] them that are tempted (Hebrews 2:16-18).
Praise God! Because Jesus took on Himself our fallen nature, He is our closest relative. Therefore He has the right to be our Kinsman-Redeemer. He knows from experience just what it feels like to be tempted in all the same ways we are tempted. Notice the wonderful good news in Hebrews 4:15:
For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
The Real Struggle
What is the real struggle involved in our greatest temptations? Isn’t it that our nature is pulling us in the wrong direction, that we are wanting our way instead of God’s way?
Submitting our will to the will of God; believing that God knows what is best for us; giving in to what He asks us to do rather than insisting on our own way; that is as tough as it gets. That was the nature of Christ’s ultimate temptation and struggle in Gethsemane.
Why do you think He had to pray, “not My will, but Thine, be done” (Luke 22:42)? Wasn’t Jesus God? Wouldn’t His will always be the same as God’s will?
He was God. But He was also a man. He was as human as we are. He emptied Himself of His infinite power and took on Himself our fallen nature so He understood what it was like to have a human nature that could be tempted to want something other than the will of God.
Jesus said in John 6:38: “For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” And Paul states in Romans 15:3 that “even Christ pleased not Himself.”
Jesus understands perfectly the struggle we must go through to submit our will to the will of God. He experienced the same thing. We have His sympathy and love.
Hope for the Hopeless
So what does Jesus’ coming to earth in our fallen humanity mean to us now in our practical day-to-day lives?
Paul answers our question in Romans 8:3, 4:
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
We have already noted that our case is hopeless unless there is divine intervention. We cannot obey God in our own strength. But these verses tell us that Jesus came in our helpless, sinful flesh and through the power of God He condemned sin in that flesh. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and God gave Him power to overcome every temptation. Thus He proved that humanity combined with divinity does not commit sin.
Listen to what Jesus went through:
Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him [God] that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared; though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him (Hebrews 5:7-9).
As a man, Jesus depended on His Father in the same way that we must. He had to learn obedience through suffering, just as we must. He is our Example.
Notice how He obtained the strength He needed:
As one with us, a sharer in our needs and weaknesses, He was wholly dependent upon God, and in the secret place of prayer He sought divine strength, that He might go forth braced for duty and trial….
As a man He supplicated the throne of God till His humanity was charged with a heavenly current that should connect humanity with divinity. Through continual communion He received life from God, that He might impart life to the world. His experience is to be ours (Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 362, 363).
The theme that keeps coming up in this quote is that of prayer and continual communion with God. That is where Christ obtained strength and that is also our source of strength.
Jesus, the perfect Son of God, died as our Substitute to pay the penalty for our sins. Though He came in sinful flesh, He lived a life of perfect obedience to all God’s requirements and thus He is our perfect Example.
As one of us He [Jesus] took upon Himself our nature, and passed through our experiences. ‘In all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren.’ Hebrews 2:17. If we had to bear anything which Jesus did not endure, then upon this point Satan would represent the power of God as insufficient for us. Therefore Jesus was ‘in all points tempted like as we are.’ Hebrews 4:15. He endured every trial to which we are subject. And He exercised in His own behalf no power that is not freely offered to us. As man, He met temptation, and overcame in the strength given Him from God. He says, ‘I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.’ Psalm 40:8…. His life testifies that it is possible for us also to obey the law of God (Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 24).
Christ came to the world to counteract Satan’s falsehood that God had made a law which men could not keep. Taking humanity upon Himself, He came to this earth, and by a life of obedience showed that God has not made a law that man cannot keep. He showed that it is possible for man perfectly to obey the law….
Christ possessed the same nature that man possesses. He was tempted in all points like as man is tempted. The same power by which He obeyed is at man’s command (Ellen G. White, That I May Know Him, p. 292).
How could the truth be any clearer than that?
A Beautiful Friend
As I was growing up, I wasn’t very pleased with my name. It seemed to me that I never met anyone under the age of 35 or 40 who was also named Ruth. But then one day I looked in a book that gives the meanings of names. I discovered that the name Ruth means “a beautiful friend.”
Suddenly my perspective changed. What a challenge to live up to! I began to realize that the meaning of my name describes what I really long to be.
Every woman wants to be beautiful. But there is a beauty we should desire that is vastly superior to mere physical beauty. The beauty that God wishes us to have is totally unrelated to what the world calls beautiful.
We may impress our fellow humans by dressing up in the latest, worldly fashions, exposing our bodies, decorating ourselves with gold and jewelry, and painting our faces with makeup. We may even be so pretty that we turn every head in a room when we enter, but that does not impress God.
True beauty has nothing to do with exquisite facial features, glamorous hair styles, or a perfect figure. God has much more than that in mind for us. His plan is for us to have beautiful characters.
Obviously we should strive to be in the best health possible, fix our hair neatly, and dress nicely. It should go without saying that such would be expected of a true Christian.
But the real measure of beauty is the purity of heart revealed in thoughtful, unselfish service to others. It shines forth in the joy that radiates from the countenance of those at peace with God. It is displayed in compassionate kindness and gentleness exhibited toward those who are suffering; in the bearing of the burdens and sorrows of the afflicted; in the giving of love and friendship to those who can offer nothing in return; in the tender, encouraging words spoken to those who are hurting; in just listening.
Such is a description of Christ’s character. He took on Himself the same fallen nature that we have and came to this world to show us what God is like. He poured out His love to all. He was courageous and steadfast in His commitment to truth, but He always spoke the truth in love. He was completely surrendered to the will of God in every aspect of His life. By faith He always obeyed His Father in heaven. Such will be the character of His followers.
The Last Generation
Just before Jesus returns to earth there will be a group of people—a last generation who will overcome as Christ overcame (Revelation 3:21; 14:5). They will have experienced the victory over all selfishness and sin through the power of the Holy Spirit. They would rather die than sin. They will truly be “beautiful friends” of God and man. God will be able to point to them and say to the universe, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).
Why do you think Jesus hasn’t returned yet? Is He waiting for some political developments to take place? Is He waiting for the world to become “bad enough” so He can come back and clean up the mess? Is He waiting for there to be more “wars and rumors of wars”? for more “famines, pestilences, and earthquakes” (Matthew 24:6, 7)? for more hurricanes and floods?
No.
Now you are probably thinking, “I know the answer; Jesus will come when the gospel has been preached in all the world. Matthew 24:14.”
It is true that the gospel will be preached in all the world before the end comes. But think about this for a moment. If all we do is tell people the theory of the gospel, what good will that do? If we ourselves haven’t been transformed by the power of the gospel, people will hear our words, then they will take a look at how we live our lives, and they will think, “Why should I believe what you say? The gospel you are presenting obviously doesn’t work. Look how you are acting. You haven’t been changed by it.”
That makes us look very bad indeed. But do you know who else looks bad in that scenario? God does. His reputation is damaged because He claims that it is possible for us to overcome all sin by relying on Him for strength. He has promised that He is able to keep us from falling and present us faultless before His throne (see Jude 24).
But when we persist in our sins, when we disbelieve God’s promises and insist that it is impossible for us to stop sinning, that we can never be completely transformed by God’s power, we make Him look like a liar to the entire universe.
Listen to this statement. It plainly reveals why Jesus hasn’t yet returned and tells us when that day will come:
Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own (Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 69).
There’s only one thing that prevents Christ’s return. His character has not yet been perfectly reproduced in His people—in you and me.
Conclusion
In the story of Ruth we have a beautiful illustration of the gospel, of God’s plan for His people. In Ruth, who lost everything when her husband died, we see a picture of ourselves. We have lost everything because of sin. In Boaz, Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer, we see a picture of Christ, our near Kinsman, who took on Himself our fallen humanity so He could have the right to redeem us. He has paid an infinite price to buy us back from slavery to sin and restore to us all we have lost.
Our Kinsman-Redeemer has a home filled with everything our hearts could desire and He wants to take us there to live with Him forever. He can do nothing more than He has already done to make salvation attractive to us. He wants to come and claim us as His own. But first we must surrender completely to Him so He can transform us into a generation of Ruths, “beautiful friends,” who perfectly reflect His character to those around us.
Yes, Christ is waiting with longing desire, but what about us? Do we really want Him to come, or do we have other priorities? How much longer will we wait before we surrender every part of our lives to Him? Will we decide right now to serve Him with an undivided heart? Or will we continue to cling to certain small, darling sins?
God wants us to be a part of that last generation of “beautiful friends” in whom the character of Christ will be perfectly reproduced. But the choice is ours.
How much longer will we keep our Kinsman-Redeemer waiting? GCO
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