Destiny in Arms Lesson 10

Destiny in Arms

Lesson 10

Ruth 4:13-22

Links that joined a chain of gold

Designed by the Master craftsman

With skillful hands

Holding three strands,

He braided Naomi, Ruth and Boaz.

A small part is all she played

But cast in a prominent role of greatness one line that would

Join the lifeline of promise

When such a time would be marked

And the moment love triumphed

Death would lose.

Before time began

History was recorded

The seed of woman

Would bring its fulfillment.

The deception of Eve

Passed through ages

Until the day

One lovely maidservant would say

“Let it be to me

according to your word.”

In faith we, too,

Recognize the grace of God

Who chose us as part of His plan

To carry the baton

To the next generation.

Links that join

The chain of purpose

To usher in the kingdom.

God’s Story

 God’s Story is different than our story. He is bringing the whole plan for all of humanity. He is bringing a legacy to Naomi. We wonder if we will have enough money for the light bill. We are not sure if or how we could ever have a legacy or if it is that important. God’s story is on a bigger and higher plane than the light bill.

While we wait, God is working.  As a people we do not know how to wait. The longer the wait, the greater the blessing. A day to God is a thousand years. When God acts he will act in the moment. He left them 10 years in Moab but when they returned to Bethlehem, they were ready to be completed. God acted in the time of harvest. When the harvest had come to completion 7X7+49 plus 1 – The one is the day it took to bring it to pass.

Today, He says is the day of salvation. This day, Today will work for the completion of harvest. We can afford to wait.  

Boaz’s Story (Kinsman Redeemer)

As a picture of Christ, he gave up everything to marry Ruth. He knew he had to appeal to the flesh of the close relative. Boaz married for love. Christ died recognized us as his bride.

The Devil came to Jesus and tried to appeal to his flesh, to his hunger, his pride of life and his eyes. Luke 4. Jesus did not act in the flesh but in the spirit and came to redeem His bride who was lost from before the beginning of time. Now Boaz is counting on the flesh of the man to refuse his offer. A paradox and yet the perfect story for all mankind.

Naomi’s Story

She felt responsible for bringing Ruth to her country. She felt it was her obligation to do something.  Was it her obligation?

Ruth’s Story

Ruth knew this country was better than hers. She had lived in luxury and the brutality of man and the god of Chemosh who had no feelings. She understood that Naomi’s God did not change and his laws were for the people’s protection and benefit.  

Principles and Relationships:

1. Every day we are closer to the end of our story. Are we beginning to see the whole story around our lives?

2. Are we willing to wait for the right answer?

3.     Do we understand due process? Every day counts to get us to our day.

4.     God chose the right man to do the job. Do we believe that God chose the right man for our husband?

5.     Can we trust God for whatever decision our husbands make? Even if it seems wrong to us?

The Cameo – The Story.

“Peloni almoni,” Boaz said as he approached the gate.  Boaz had been talking about the closer relative. He knew he was helter-skelter and he was counting on Peloni almoni to make the decision according to his own benefit.

The closer relative had always been caught up in the pleasure of the season and the current market for opportunity.

The more Boaz had talked to Ruth that very night, the more his heart yearned to marry Ruth. Love had captured his heart. He knew he would be giving up his name sake and his land to another man’s memory and name, but he didn’t care.

Just to have and hold Ruth would warm his bed at night. Boaz lost his wife many years before and the night Ruth lay at his feet, he was jolted into remembering how it felt to have the touch of a helpmate, a wife who cared for him.

Boaz continued to think of how he would redeem Ruth and Naomi. He needed to appeal to the relative’s flesh: the pride of life, the lust of the eyes. He would present the land first for buying and he knew he would accept that offer. But then he would bring up the Moabite’s name. He agonized in the garden of his own soul for the outcome. 

Five hundred years before, Lot, Ruth’s forefather, chose the green and beautiful plains of the Jordan, leaving the rest to Abraham.  Lot had chosen the well water lands of the Jordan, now he was counting on the relative to deny Ruth for the same choice.  The lust of the eyes and the pride of life would be bigger than he was.

If the close relative gave away his name and seeds and land, he would not have anything to show for all he had worked for.

The relative would lose everything to Naomi’s name. He was also married. Boaz couldn’t wait until he reached the gate where the leaders of Jerusalem ruled the city.

Ten in count awaited for the two men. Ten being the number of completion, two being the difference of a man of spirit and a man of flesh.

If he was to marry Ruth and if they had a child, Ruth’s child would inherit everything leaving his own children out of the picture.

So it happened, Boaz and Ruth married and a child was born for Naomi.

Chapter Ten – Workbook

Destiny in Arms

1.     According to Isaiah 43: and John 10:1-3, how are we called?

2.     Read John 20:10-18. At what point did Mary finally recognize Jesus after His resurrection?

3.     We all have a name and history. When Jesus vowed to redeem us, bless us, do er really believe He would take all of us?

4.     Boaz married Ruth out of a selfless act. Boaz realized that the first child born to Ruth and Boaz would own Elimilech’s family property and keep him and his sons alive in association with it.

Does Jesus redeem everything we have gone through and brings to our own name honor?  How does our flesh profit in all of this?

5.     Ruth’s marriage to Mahlon represents a fleshly marriage. Yet by Boaz marrying Ruth, he brought honor to Mahlon. How does that work in our lives?

6. Look at Tamar’s story in Gen 38. What did it say about Perez and his unique birth 38:8:27-30? How does it line up with Ruth’s story?

7. Look at Rachel and Leah in Gen 29:14-20:24. Ruth was playing a part in the society and legacy of Rachel and Leah.

1.     Look at Judah in Tamar’s story. Judah was the father of the tribe of Judah from which both Elimilech and Boaz descended. Judah had a son named Perez by a woman named Tamar, who played an important part in the line of Judah.

2.     The pay-off –Ruth ascended from a Moabite, to a stranger and foreigner to Boaz’s wife and an Israelite. Have we also come from who knows who to becoming the wife of Christ, the Son of God?

3.      A gentile is one who has turned to a pagan god and is turned away from God. When did Ruth became an Israelite?

4.      Now the off spring of Ruth carries the Seed of David to sit on the throne. Now as united to Jesus, we produce in our witness the off-spring of many for the glory of Jesus.

12. Our legacy? Proverbs 17:6 says that grandchildren are the crown of grandparents that parents are the glory of their children. What do we live for? It will tell in our hearts.