Ruth 4

Bible Passage:  Ruth 4

The finale to the short book of Ruth. And inspired by biblereadingcompanion’s comment at the beginning of his post, I’ll keep mine short too (I hope..).

When I first read this chapter, one main point came to my mind, and it brings me back to my  student theological lessons.

We read of Boaz arranging with the kinsman to redeem what was rightfully his (the kinsman that is). That would include redeeming Ruth as his wife. But as we see in verse 6, the kinsman couldn’t redeem it, lest he “ruins his own inheritance” by marrying a Moabite woman. So Boaz redeemed it (and Ruth) since he was the next in line. One could say that.. It was God’s will for Boaz to redeem Ruth.

Could we draw a parallel here?

Boaz redeems Ruth… Christ redeems us…

It was God’s will for Ruth to be redeemed… It is God’s will for us to be redeemed…

See it now? I learnt that Boaz prefigures Christ.

Ruth was a Moabite and wasn’t exactly worthy to be redeemed, thus the kinsman reacted as such. We as Gentiles never deserved to be redeemed by Christ, but were meant to face eternal punishment. But it is because of God’s mercy and grace, that we have been redeemed. From being abased, we have the position of noble priesthood. Upon receiving Christ, we have been moved from hopelessness to hope…

The salvation grace of Christ has enabled us to be saved. And I think this is a good chapter (a point of time in this bible reading blog schedule) to remember this very important point. To remind ourselves of why and how we are in the true church today… Do we sometimes take this fact for granted?

Praise God for His wonderful mercy and grace! Let us praise Him always!

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the manner as they..

Acts 15: 11