Ruth 4:13-22 – Redemption for You
Is this not an anticlimactic ending, this genealogy? But it leaves us looking forward to something greater. The Gospel begins with a genealogy. In Matthew 1 he earthy roots of Jesus Christ are laid before us. He was a true man. But it also very clearly shows to us that the Lord Jesus Christ is divine, the Son of God. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. In the Book of Ruth, we see a genealogy that’s very ordinary, but it leaves us longing for the king who will come, who is not ordinary. This genealogy points us forward to the Redeemer.
The book ends in this way, but it leaves us with the question, are you trusting in the Redeemer? This whole book is about redemption. It paints to you the bleakness of our natural state, a nation in chaos, us dead in our trespasses and sins. But then it gives us hope, because it sets before us a redeemer, a kinsman, one who comes and who legally transacts all the business, so that our debts are paid, and we get new life and new hope. Are you trusting in the Redeemer? Do you know Him? Have you come to believe in Him? If we go to Christ for redemption, He will redeem you from all your iniquities. There will not be one sin left. There is nothing for you to do, just as there was nothing for Ruth to do but to sit and wait until Boaz accomplished the redemption for her. There’s nothing for you to do but what Ruth herself did as she went in chapter three to Boaz. She goes to him and she says, I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative. The Lord Jesus Christ is a close relative, very God, very man, close to us in flesh and blood, just as we are, yet without sin. He is willing to take you under his wing. He is willing to take you under his protection. He is willing to give you abundant redemption and to redeem you from all your iniquities. All that is left for you to do is to go to Him.
Question
- How does the Gospel begin?
- Is Christ willing to redeem those who come to Him?