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[0:00] All right. Book of Ruth, chapter 4, session 5. I don't know how many other Bible teachers managed to get five sessions out of a four-chapter book.

[0:13] Most of them managed to do it in one or two. I don't know what that says about me. Anyway, turn to Ruth 4. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid again, and from joy over it he goes and sells everything that he has, and he buys that field.

[0:40] That's Matthew 13, 44. A parable that Jesus told to illustrate what the kingdom of heaven is like. He likens it to a field in which there is something that is so precious that the man is prepared to sell everything he has to buy the field.

[1:00] He follows it with another parable. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value he went and sold everything that he had, and bought it.

[1:15] A pearl that is so precious and pure and perfect that the merchant counts everything else that he has as rubbish. The book of Ruth, I think, is like another longer parable.

[1:30] Much longer parable. Where we see Boaz, who desires the woman of excellence known as Ruth, and for him the only way to get her is to redeem the land of Naomi.

[1:43] Ruth is the treasure. Naomi's land is the field. Of course, unlike the parables that Jesus told, the story of Ruth is a true story.

[1:54] Real people in real history. And yet, it's a wonderful story of love and faithfulness that the Lord has woven together into what I posit to you is another the kingdom of heaven is like parable for us.

[2:12] Shows the love story of the ages. God, who loved the people he created so much, he was prepared to give everything, become a mortal man, and then give his own blood as the redemption price for the land, even the entire planet, to get the people there on.

[2:28] Of course, we know the land was given to Adam and Eve to tend and keep, and they forfeited it, and the land passed to Satan, and it needed redeeming.

[2:40] And in Matthew 4, which again we'll read in the coming weeks, we see Satan offering Jesus a shortcut. You don't have to go through redemption. Just worship me, and I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world.

[2:52] You can skip redemption. You can skip the cross. You can skip the giving and the sacrifice. Jesus could not be tempted. Anyway, in our story, in our parable, we've read of Naomi and Ruth returning destitute from Moab.

[3:09] They've returned paupers, and we've seen Ruth resort to gleaning in order to provide sustenance for them, and the whole town was abuzz when they returned.

[3:21] But Boaz seemed to be more taken by this young Moabitess. And while everybody was talking about Naomi, and Naomi was, oh, don't call me Naomi.

[3:32] Call me Mara. Boaz had his eye on this Moabitess, who'd forsaken everything that she had, her people, her gods, her family, everything that she had at home, in order to be faithful to Naomi, remain with Naomi, and be faithful to her late husband, Mahlon.

[3:53] And then we read through chapter 2, where we saw Boaz, just extraordinarily blessing Ruth, who'd come to his fields. He went above and beyond what he was legally obliged to do, in terms of support.

[4:08] And so hope starts to build, and then in chapter 3, we saw Ruth take the initiative, and she went to Boaz, and she said to him, redeem me, marry me, you are our redeemer.

[4:21] And Boaz expressed how great his desire to do so was, but there was a closer relative who had the opportunity first. He was entitled to first refusal, if you like. And that was where we left off last week.

[4:36] What's going to happen? And we had that closing phrase there, from Naomi. Wait until you know how the matter turns out, for this man will not rest, until we have settled it today.

[4:51] Amazing. Right, well then, let's read on. Ruth 1. Chapter 4, verse 1. Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there, and behold, the redeemer of whom Boaz spoke, was passing by.

[5:04] So he said, come over here, friend. sit down here. And he came over and sat down, and he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, sit down here.

[5:14] So they sat down. So they're up at the gate. The gate is like the town hall of the day, the marketplace, the center of commerce, as well as public meetings, legal proceedings, the courts, that kind of thing.

[5:30] It's where everyone frequents. And the ten men that are summoned, is the standard number that is required, the standard number of officials that is required for proceedings to be transacted.

[5:46] And the other thing of note here is that word friend. And it's a translation of a Hebrew idiom. And it's a two-word idiom, which I'll tell you if you're interested.

[5:59] But it's, what it, it's actually still used in modern Hebrew today. And it means, it's kind of like John Doe. It's like a person whose name is either being deliberately withheld from legal proceedings, or we just don't know who it is.

[6:16] So and so, such and such. And interestingly, the Net Bible actually does put John Doe in there, which I thought was, was quite interesting and very apt. Because that is the purpose of the phrase that the writer put in.

[6:27] I mean, look, this guy's a relative of Boaz, and he's a relative of, of Naomi. There's no way Boaz doesn't know the guy's name. And I, I find it hard to believe that Boaz stood up and said, hey, so and so.

[6:43] I think he used his name, but the author of this book has been like, nope, you don't get a name check. You do not get a name reference in here. Edited out of the record.

[6:55] So we have John Doe. Verse three. So Boaz said to this redeemer, Naomi, who has returned from the land of Moab, has, has to sell the plot of land which belonged to our brother, Elimelech.

[7:10] So I thought that I would inform you saying, buy it before those who are sitting here and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if not, tell me so that I may know for there is no one except you to redeem it and I am after you.

[7:26] And he said, I will redeem it. So initially, Boaz is making this thing all about the land. He says, Naomi is selling a plot of land and there is, you should be aware there's a bit of debate over the exact nature of the sale.

[7:43] It's not at all straightforward. The Hebrew actually reads Naomi has sold which only makes it even more confusing. Is she selling it now?

[7:53] Did she sell it before? Just to give you an example of three different views. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, who's a Messianic Jew, modern scholar today, says, he takes the view that Naomi owns the land still, but she's been unable to work it and now she's selling it out of poverty and in such cases it would be offered to a relative first.

[8:14] So that's his view. Josephus, who was a first century Jewish historian, he's only about a generation after Christ actually, a very interesting guy if you're not familiar with his works.

[8:26] So he took the view that this, the so-and-so here actually retains the land that belongs to Elimelech. The idea being when Elimelech left the land, so-and-so here took it on and started working it.

[8:37] And Boaz comes along and says, look, you've got to either make good on the whole of your obligation, which is to take Ruth as well and raise up an heir for Machlon, who's the rightful owner, or you've got to yield at the land.

[8:50] You can't have it, you have to have it all or none. So that was what Josephus took of it. And then another commentary I read in the Net Bible, this time, suggests that Elimelech and Naomi, they sold the land or they leased the land when they left.

[9:05] And so when Naomi returns, she has the right to redeem it as the legal owner and as the widow of Elimelech, but she doesn't have the funds to do it. And so she needs a redeemer to help with the cash.

[9:20] Which is it? I have no idea. Pick one. I don't know that it really matters, to be perfectly honest. The point is there's a transaction that needs to take place and the land and Ruth are bound up together.

[9:34] One thing that is worth being aware of, last week I shared a couple of passages that gave you the background to the law of redemption for the land and also the law of the Leverite marriage, which you can listen back to the study if you want to.

[9:47] It's all recorded. But there's one other law that I found this week that's pertinent and it's found in Numbers 27, verses 8 to 11. And it speaks of what happens to an inheritance if a man dies.

[9:59] So if you remember the story of the daughters of Zelophehad, it's that story just after that. And the law that is stated is if a man dies and he has no heir, then the land will pass, first of all, to his daughter if he has any.

[10:14] If he doesn't have a daughter, obviously he has no son that is. To son, if none, the daughter, if none, then it will go to his brothers. If he has any, if he doesn't have a brother, then it goes to his uncles if he has any. Or eventually, whoever his nearest relative is.

[10:28] So you remember that the land was owned by, well, by tribes, by clans and by families and the Lord had written the law so as to preserve those ancestral divisions of the land.

[10:39] And so that's why it was important for it to go to a close relative. The closer, the better. But then, in no case then would it pass to Naomi or Ruth because widow or wife was not mentioned here.

[10:57] So Naomi would have the right to use it until her death but then it goes on to so and so. Right? And Ruth would have nothing. Or, Naomi has got the option to sell it early either to a close relative who then have it permanently in his estate or to a non-relative as a lease and then after the year of Jubilee it would go back to so and so.

[11:19] Complicated, I know. So anyway, the point is, at this point, the so and so is thinking, hey, this is a good deal. I get some free land out of this. I've got to stump up a bit of cash now but I get to make a profit on the field.

[11:34] This is a good deal and ultimately I can pass it on to my children because Elimelech didn't have any sons or at least they're dead. Good deal. I'll redeem it, he says. And then the catch, the fine print, if you like.

[11:47] Verse 5. And Boaz said, On the day that you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth, the Moabitess, the widow of the deceased in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.

[12:01] And then the redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself otherwise I would jeopardise my own inheritance. Redeem it for yourself, you may have my right of redemption since I cannot redeem it.

[12:12] So, the fine print is, if you're going to be the Goel, so and so, if you're going to be the close relative who receives this land permanently, then, guess what, there's a surviving wife for Mahlon.

[12:31] Mahlon would have been the heir. So you need to raise him up a son. And he needs to receive that land ultimately. You'll be a steward of the land until he is raised up.

[12:42] You see, the land would have belonged to Mahlon and Ruth and to his son after him. So, and I should point out this isn't exactly the same, so what's on the table here isn't exactly the same as the Leverite marriage for a few reasons, mainly because neither Boaz nor so and so are actually the full brothers of Mahlon and therefore neither one of them is obliged in a sense legally bound to do this thing.

[13:12] So what seems to be happening here is that there's a sort of like there's a moral, it's the right thing to do for a moral person. The right thing to do to save this name being cut off in Israel is to give a son and you can do it so therefore you should.

[13:30] But so and so is like, I'm out. Why? Because now the deal is this. Receive the land but then you have to marry Ruth and you have to have a family with her.

[13:43] The firstborn of that union will be counted as Mahlon's heir and so he's going to receive all that land in entirety and he actually gets nothing other than a bit of profit over whatever crops he can grow in the meantime.

[13:55] Any other children that he may have with Ruth are also entitled to a share of his entire estate and in the meantime he's got extra mouths to feed in the form of Ruth and whatever children she may produce so he's like this isn't sounding like such a good deal after all I prefer my money over doing what is right.

[14:20] So not a good deal he bows out but Boaz isn't in it for the money as I said Boaz is after the treasury in the field which is Ruth Boaz is more than happy to put up significant cost here because he loves Ruth the woman of excellence Proverbs 31 verse 10 to 12 says an excellent wife who can find her for her worth is far above jewels the heart of her husband trusts in her and he will have no lack of gain she does him good and not evil all the days of her life obviously that's written way after Boaz but I think that's what Boaz knew and understood this is an amazing woman of character and excellence and she is worth far more than riches so he's prepared to lose money because he gained something far far better verse 7 now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the exchange of land to confirm any matter a man removed his sandal and gave it to another and this was the way of confirmation in Israel so the redeemer said to Boaz buy it for yourself and he removed his sandal and then Boaz said to the elders and all the people you are witnesses today that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belongs to Elimelech and all that belongs to Kilian and Machlon furthermore

[15:52] I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess the widow of Machlon to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance so that the name of the deceased will not be eliminated from his brothers or from the court of his birthplace you are witnesses today and there we see Boaz outlining exactly why this is morally the right thing because otherwise that name Elimelech Machlon will be cut off and gone from the inheritance but we also read of this quaint custom the removal of the sandal and you'll note from what the author of the book of Ruth has said that it was already archaic by the time he wrote the book it was a custom in former times to remove the shoe and I mentioned I think last week that there is a resemblance to the Leverite marriage and in the case of the Leverite marriage which is the one where the full brother of a deceased man should marry the widow and give him a child in the event that he was unwilling to do his legal obligation then the wife would remove his shoe spit in his face and he would be forever known as the man who was disgraced the man whose shoe was removed the man who would not do what he was obliged to do but that's not what's happening here

[17:19] I mean actually there's no evidence that Ruth is even there he the man himself the so and so is removing his own shoe and saying eh I can't do it so it's not the same thing for a few reasons but there's a resemblance and I did find myself wondering if there had been some sort of evolution of the traditions here that had gone away from what Moses had written I don't know either way it was again archaic and historic by the time the book was even written but again I would point out that for Josephus that first century historian as far as he was concerned Ruth was there she removed the shoe she did spit in his face and did all those things so I don't know where he got that!

[18:03] that's not what the text says as to why we have this quaint custom again all we really have is speculation I think one thing that I thought did have some merit was the shoe is a symbol of walking and the ability to walk in your land to freely walk in your land the shoe is a symbol of it and the idea of visually removing your shoe which has trodden your land and giving it to another is symbolizing I'm giving you the land and when you have a community that is predominantly illiterate you do need a way of legally showing the transaction to take place and evidencing it in a way that doesn't depend on documents that many may not be able to read so possibly yeah maybe it was an idea I read that I thought was worth sharing so in any case the shoe is removed and the deal is done

[19:03] Boaz immediately as soon as he receives the shoe he immediately purchases all that belongs to the family from Naomi and that includes Ruth I will point out this is the only place that we have that positive confirmation that Ruth was the widow of Mahlon until now we haven't known that we just knew that there were two brothers and that there were two wives in the form of Ruth and Orpah here we see that it was Mahlon so anyway verse 11 and all the people who were in the court and the elders said we are witnesses may the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah both of whom built the house of Israel and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem moreover may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah through the descendants whom the

[20:05] Lord will give you by these young women wow well this needs a little bit of exposition this blessing from the courts they are witnesses and they deliver this blessing in the name of the Lord which I thought was noteworthy again our context for this is the very dark period of the time of the judges where everyone is just doing what's right in their own eyes and here we have and we've seen a family of godly people and now we see actually that there's still faith a blessing in the name of the Lord from this community of officials in Bethlehem a faith community remains there so may the Lord make this woman like Rachel and Leah both of whom built the house of Israel well you may be familiar with the story of course these two were the two wives of Jacob Jacob who was renamed to Israel and between the two of them they did indeed give birth to the twelve sons who became the twelve tribes but they also lived as rivals and theirs was a home of considerable strife actually climaxing with poor old Joseph being sold into slavery and I must have asked what kind of blessing is this and then the blessing of Perez who was born to

[21:31] Tamar and that story is one where Tamar was married to Judah's son I think it was and he died the Lord was not pleased with him and he died if memory serves and so Judah gave his brother Onan to Tamar a Leverite marriage he died and then Judah wouldn't give Tamar any more sons and in the end Tamar had to pose as a prostitute to sleep with Judah and get a son called Perez and you're reading the story going what is happening this is a dark story what kind of blessing are we getting from these officials is it even a blessing well it is of course it is because the point of those two stories is these are pillars the Lord used these messy messy families and these imperfect people to build the community of Israel

[22:31] Rachel and Leah were the mothers of the whole nation Perez is the heir of Judah and quite possibly the ancestor of this entire town certainly he is ancestor to Boaz in fact we'll read at the end he's great great great great grandfather to Boaz so the Lord used these messy people with all of their well sin and difficulty and challenge and he built up a community so the blessing is may the Lord bless your family and build it up may this family who are in danger of being eliminated be magnified and may you acquire a mighty name of renown like the name of Israel and the name of his wives and the name of Judah and Tamar who built all these things up I do have an interesting point to stay on verse 11 but I'm going to save it for the end just to keep you hanging on verse 13 so the scene at the gate has ended and so there's a little bit of a time lapse

[23:45] Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife and he had relations with her and the Lord enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a son and then the women said to Naomi blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today and may his name become famous in Israel may he also be to you one who restores life and sustains your old age for your daughter-in-law who loves you and is better to you than seven sons has given birth to him and then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap and became his nurse and the neighbor woman gave him a name saying a son has been born to Naomi so they named him Obed he is the father of Jesse the father of David I thought it was interesting and fascinating that the child born to Ruth and to

[24:46] Boaz is called the redeemer of Naomi that's what the women say the Lord has not left you without a redeemer and may his name become famous in Israel because the daughter-in-law has given birth to him so this child Obed is called the redeemer and I think this is the only time in scripture where a child is called Goel a redeemer very very interesting also noteworthy is that the women of the town are the ones who name him they bless the Lord because Naomi this is the climax for Naomi that Naomi who returns destitute and empty is now filled filled with the love of a daughter-in-law who is better than seven sons and Naomi now has a son who is counted as her own and it is only through the faithfulness the chesed of Ruth that this redeemer has come about for

[25:50] Naomi interesting isn't it that in chapter one Naomi was saying to Ruth have I still got sons in my womb to give you a husband and Ruth turns it around and she gives to Naomi her son I just think that's a wonderful poetic thing and we read that Naomi became his nurse the word you can think of the word as guardian or even a foster parent because you'll see in the text that Obed is being counted as if a son to Naomi right the women say a son has been born to Naomi so I don't think this is intended to be thought of in a legal or in an adoptive sense but more in a

[26:51] Naomi becomes the primary caregiver and in future this son Obed would become the caregiver to Naomi as a son would to his mother the name Obed is given to him and it means a servant or a worker similar to the word Obadiah means the servant of the Lord well here ends the narrative with Naomi filled with Ruth in a loving relationship and marriage to Boaz and the future is bright for them and then the book now closes which is arguably what the whole point for the author one of the key points for the author was all along now these are the generations of Perez Perez fathered Hezron Hezron fathered Ram Ram fathered Aminadab Aminadab fathered Nachshon and Nachshon fathered Salmon Salmon fathered Boaz and Boaz fathered Obed and Obed fathered Jesse and Jesse fathered

[27:52] David so ten generations are given Perez the son of Judah the great great grandson of Abraham we've all spoken a little about him Hezron well he would have gone down to Egypt with his father Perez and you can read about that in Genesis 46 verse 12 if you're interested and then his sons Ram and Aminadab would have lived out their lives in Egypt and they would have seen how things went from good to bad to worse under the Pharaoh who didn't know Joseph and he started to oppress them so Ram and Aminadab in particular would have had it tough his son then was Nashon now this is an interesting guy during the time of the Exodus he came out with Moses he was head of the tribe of Judah during the Exodus and you can read about that in Numbers 1 and in Numbers 2 he was called leader of the sons of Judah head over the army of Judah in Numbers 10 14 so big big cheese big head guy

[28:54] Nashon now he had a sister so another daughter of Minadab and his sister his sister's name was Elisheba and she married Aaron the high priest of course Aaron and Moses the two brothers so this is a family of some renown Nashon was brother-in-law to Moab was brother-in-law to Moses and to Aaron well having said all that ultimately what would have happened to him well we'd have died in the wilderness same as the rest of the generation right he would have got as far as the place of the crossing and then he with the rest of his generation bottled it except for Joshua and Caleb so he would have died in the wilderness well his son Salmon then would have gone in with Joshua Salmon was at the battle of Jericho and he married Rahab the prostitute and we only know that from Matthew chapter 1 verse 5 and I shall defer to Ray to tell you all about that next week

[29:56] Salmon had Boaz with Rahab Boaz of course Obed which is the whole point of this book and so Obed then was the heir to Elimelech and Mahlon and then Jesse we don't know anything about Jesse and his mother actually his name he crops up and we see him appear in the book of Samuel with his several sons seven I want to say and then of course King David so closing out this book then the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field the kingdom of heaven is like precious pearl the kingdom of heaven is like a beautiful loving act of redemption where a Jewish man purchases a field to restore a destitute Jewish woman and at the same time acquires a Gentile bride the history of the story of the universe capital S if you like the history of all time the story is one of a creator god or if you like a land owner a landlord over a perfect land that he had created and he granted this perfect land to stewards

[31:17] Adam and Eve and they forsook the land if you like they yielded it up to an enemy the prince of the power of the air the dragon the serpent of old Satan who attempted Adam and Eve and they succumbed and in doing so they forfeited the land and the land was cursed and the people of earth degenerated and everybody just did what was right in their own eyes there was no king and there was certainly no creator god to whom they worshipped there was there was no king and as in a famine all creation groaned even as it does to this day the new testament says that the creation to this day groans as if suffering in child birth it is in bondage to corruption and longs for redemption the land is cursed and the people suffer and all suffering to this day of whatever kind can be traced back ultimately in terms of root cause to that fall in Eden but it's in the context of everyone doing what is right in their own eyes that we see this beautiful story that I suggest to you is the kingdom of heaven is like story our parable of redemption because we saw

[32:47] Elimelech and Naomi they they seeked to take matters into their own hands to escape the corruption escape the famine but ultimately all they found was death that which promised life to them only brought death and they were full they went out full but like Naomi says she returned empty embittered by the curse and Naomi's plight I suggest to you is a picture of all humanity everything is lost and our own efforts to redeem ourselves and to find solutions to this curse that just make it worse it just brings death and the land that was theirs is destitute and it is the only hope there is no hope what's going to happen it's going to be lost because there is no air I didn't understand that I'm sorry let me try and put it in other words oh dear where did I get to anyway

[33:56] Naomi's plight a picture of all humanity and there's no hope because the land is fixing to be lost and the name cut off well the Lord provides a redeemer in the form of Boaz and in our parable Boaz stands of course for Jesus Christ our redeemer Boaz is rich he is capable he's been described for us as a mighty man of valour he is rich with all the resources at his disposal so as to be able to redeem and we've seen him show grace towards this family giving them abundantly food and water like manna from heaven and water from a rock and crucially though he is a blood relative he is a kinsman redeemer means to say that he has the legal right through his kinship and he has the means to pay the redemption fee he is a picture of Christ Jesus Christ we read in Hebrews 2.17 had to become made like his brothers he had to become a man like us

[35:01] Philippians 2 said that he existed in the form of God but he took the form of a doulos in fact let me read that Jesus Christ who he already existed in the form of God he did not count equality with God something to be grasped but he emptied himself by taking the form of a bond servant and being born in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even the death on a cross for this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name so that in the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father you see Christ became our kinsman he became a blood relative to humanity he needed to so that he could redeem in our story our bride to be Ruth she had to believe that

[36:10] Boaz was able and because she believed in chapter 3 she could come forward and find out is he willing I know that you are able are you willing she had to have faith in his ability and faith enough to come forward and say are you willing Hebrews 11 6 that says that without faith it is impossible to please him for the one who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he proves to be the one who rewards those who seek him you see Ruth is a model of faith being exercised for those who come to Christ for redemption believing that he is able to save believing that he is willing and the Bible of course wonderfully tells us that he is both willing and able Paul says in Romans 10 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus says Lord if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved for with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation for the scripture says whoever believes in him will not be put to shame for there is no distinction between

[37:20] Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all abounding in riches for all who call on him for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved you see the kingdom of heaven is like two poor widows bereft of all things wonderfully redeemed by their kinsmen out of pure love and grace and I want to close with just a few ways in which Jesus Christ is just far better than Boaz far better than Boaz he's a better Boaz a better redeemer Boaz was of course rich and mighty he was a he was a good man an upstanding man but Jesus Christ is God incarnate with infinite riches and infinite resources at his disposal while Boaz was willing to give up his riches to marry Ruth Jesus Christ gave everything he poured out his blood his very life on the cross so that he could marry the church while Boaz paid the redemption price for just one family

[38:27] Christ provides redemption for all who will receive it while Boaz in marrying a Gentile bride Ruth also redeemed the Jewish Naomi Christ redeems both Jew and Gentile alike through his blood and makes them one people while Boaz shares his riches with Ruth and provides an inheritance in Christ we have a far better inheritance that doesn't fail it doesn't fade kept up for us kept for us in heaven while Boaz received a blessing from the town elders that he would receive a name of renown Christ has a name above every name I mentioned something interesting about verse 11 didn't I there's a part there in verse 11 that's translated where is it now may you achieve wealth and Ephrath and become famous in Bethlehem and it's not straightforward to translate which is why you'll see a few different attempts by our English translators literally it says call a name in

[39:31] Bethlehem and it is not a full sentence call a name in Bethlehem whose name it's a bit odd I think that the point is to strengthen the former statement may you achieve great wealth and a great name in Bethlehem but I was super intrigued by the way that the Septuagint translators had put this Septuagint translators wrote a couple hundred years before Jesus I want to say so before Christ came they translated the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek and it's a really really fascinating ancient study guide as to how the scribes of Old understood the Hebrew but what did they put they put this there will be a name in Bethlehem fascinating amen there will be a name the name of Jesus Christ born in Bethlehem maybe they had in mind the name of David of course because King David is a great name born in Bethlehem but I think for us it is the name of all names and there is a wonderful little prophecy there the name of

[40:37] Jesus born in Bethlehem like Obed in fact born to a young woman well anyway in the end so Boaz purchased the title deed for the land Jesus Christ will in the end restore the title deed of the entire world I told you already how for now while Christ's redemption of us is well we are redeemed from the power of sin for the penalty of sin we are being redeemed from the power of sin but we are not yet redeemed from the presence of sin but that is yet to come because creation does indeed still groan John 1st John 9 nope 1st John 5 verse 9 declares that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one present tense still happens you probably noticed so history still awaits the the final act of the drama the grand story when the land deed of planet earth is opened I suggest to you that in revelation 5 where we read of this great scroll written on the inside on the outside sealed with seven seals it says there this it says

[41:50] I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back sealed up with seven seals seals and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals and no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it and then I John began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look at it and one of the elders said to me stop weeping for behold the lion that is from the tribe of Judah the root of David has overcome so as to be able to open the scroll and its seven seals I suggest to you that that scroll is in fact the title deed to planet earth and the book of revelation documents events that happen as those seals are open as the redemption of creation is completed and the enemies of God are destroyed looking forward to that day so and I guess I just wanted to end on that as a as a point of encouragement that even though these days can be tough because creation does still groan our future is incredibly bright and Naomi and

[43:09]  Ruth were content in the knowledge that their future has been secured in that the name of Elimelech and Machlon is it will be perpetuated and that in Obed they had a secure future but it's still a temporal one for us we're secure in an eternal future because we have an eternally living redeemer of whom we sang this morning whoever lives and pleads for us he's given to us eternal life Christ our redeemer amen thank you Lord for your word thank you Lord God for providing for us such a great redemption in Christ thank you Lord that even though our sins they are many your mercy is more and you have cast our sins away from us you've written them off you have chosen to remove them as far as the east is from the west because Christ Jesus paid the redemption fee we praise you and we worship you in Jesus name amen amen amen