Good To Great

Ruth - It Just So Happens…
November 26, 2023

God was masterfully orchestrating the steps of Ruth through divine timing - which led to divine appointments - which led to divine providence - which led to divine provision - while working through divine circumstances - that led to the divine alignment with God’s divine plan.

¹ Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the kinsman redeemer came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.”

² Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so. ³ Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. ⁴ I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of the elders.
If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.”

“I will redeem it,” he said.

⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”

⁶ At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.” —Ruth 4:1-6

THE GREAT REDEEMER

¹² No other name under heaven is given to mankind by which we can be saved. —Acts 4:12

Sōtēria - Deliverance | Preservation | Redemption

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me —John 14:6a

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. —Ephesians 2:8-9

THE GREAT EXCHANGE

⁷ In earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.

⁸ So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.

⁹ Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰ I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!” —Ruth 4:7-10

⁷ In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, by the riches of God’s grace. —Ephesians 1:7

¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. —Colossians 1:13a-14

¹⁷ Anyone united with Jesus gets a fresh start and is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges. Look at it! ¹⁸ All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him. God put the world square with himself through Jesus on the cross, giving us a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. —2 Corinthians 5:17-18

³ who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion, —Psalm 103:3a-4

¹² He has removed our sins as far from us as the East is from the West, never to be remembered. —Psalm 103:12

¹¹ Then the elders and all the people standing in the gate replied, “We are witnesses! May the Lord make this woman coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, from whom all the nation of Israel descended! May you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. ¹² And may the Lord give you descendants by this young woman who will be like those of our ancestor Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah.” —Ruth 4:11-12

May the great redeemer,
and the great exchange,
lead us into a great change,
in us and through us today!
Amen!