Much More Then A Baby
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Intro
Intro
Who is writing the last chapter? Finally, we have reached the conclusion of the Ruth's book.
A book that opens with 3 funerals and concludes with a wedding and the birth of a beutiful child.
The book of Ruth begins its narrative by talking about famine and sorrow and ends with abundance and joy.
All this should remind us that we can look to the future with hope and peace, for the last chapter of our lives will be written by the Lord our God.
We may have experienced pains and sorrows along our Christian journey, but in the end there will be joy:
For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
Characters in chapter 4. This last chapter contains many people who realize joy because of the marriage between Boaz and Ruth (for example, there are the elders and the women of Bethlehem).
It's always like this: when things are bad for us, no one is near us, but if things are good, everyone runs to see us:
After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.
Returning to our last chapter of the book of Ruth, we can see that among all the people in chapter 4, there are 3 main characters:
The Bridegroom Boaz (Ruth 4:1-10);
The Bride Ruth (Ruth 4:11-12);
The Child Obed (Ruth 4:13-22).
He is not just a baby! This morning I wish to consider closely the significance, the value this child will have for:
Boaz and Ruth (Ruth 4:13);
Naomi (Ruth 4:14-16);
The city of Behtlehem (Ruth 4:17).
N.1 - Obed is God's gift to Boaz and Ruth
N.1 - Obed is God's gift to Boaz and Ruth
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
Obed represents God's direct intervention. In Ruth's first marriage, the Moabite did not have the joy of being able to embrace a child (10 years of marriage to Malhon).
But in the marriage to Boaz, God personally intervenes:
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
Just as He intervened with the barren land of Bethlehem: When Naomi heard in:
When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.
Although the love and affection between Boaz and Ruth was pure and sincere, if God had not intervened, this couple would never have been able to embrace a child.
Jesus is God's Gift. Obed's birth reminds us of another far more important birth: that of Christ Jesus our Lord.
Indeed, Jesus is the result of God's direct intervention on behalf of a humanity that lay in spiritual barrenness.
Let no one be deceived! It was only God's love and direct action that propitiated the coming of Jesus Christ; we would have remained in our miserable spiritual condition.
Yet God, despite the terrible condition in which humanity was in, gave us His only begotten Son Jesus:
He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
Without minimizing your desire to be saved, without wanting to underestimate your awareness of being in need of God, but if the Lord had not intervened personally towards us, there would have been no hope, no salvation, no success, no blessing.
If the Lord had not been on our side—let Israel say— if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us;
He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.
N.2 - Obed is God’s joy to Naomi
N.2 - Obed is God’s joy to Naomi
The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him.
Obed is God's joy. Burying her husband Elimelec and her two children was a great sorrow for Naomi, indescribable pain!
But through Obed, God again gives joy to this elderly woman's heart. God's joy transforms her: from an abandoned and lonely widow Naomi has become Obed's happy grandmother. Naomi experienced what Psalm 30:11 proclaims:
You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
Embrace God's joy. Naomi chooses God's joy, indeed Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him (Ruth 4:16 - NIV).
Her gesture clearly expresses her desire to embrace the joyful future that God has provided for her through the little child Obed.
Just like Naomi each one of us is called to embrace the future that God has provided for us through Jesus Christ.
We want to leave our terrible past and together with all the saints embrace our future that is full of God's joy:
may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
Questions time:
What are you holding today?
What are your hands holding?
Are you embracing your past or the future that God has established?
1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Look at Mary’s Child
There is an old legend which maintains that when Jesus was a baby growing up in Nazareth, the neighbors used to say when they were discouraged or depressed, “Let us go and see Mary’s child.” After looking upon the precious One, sunshine and peace returned and the distraught souls returned to their tasks with high heart.
N.3 - Obed is God’s dignity to Bethlehem
N.3 - Obed is God’s dignity to Bethlehem
The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
A coward citizen. At the beginning of the book of Ruth we read about a man who decided to leave Bethlehem and flee from his responsibilities: (Ruth 1:1-2 - NIV): his name was Elimelec.
Certainly this Elimelech's behaviour brought shame, not only on his family, but on the whole city of Bethlehem.
Thanks to Elimelech's cowardice, Bethlehem would also live in infamy.
A glorious citizen. The people of Bethlehem addressed this wish to Boaz and Ruth:
All the people who were at the city gate, including the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is entering your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built the house of Israel. May you be powerful in Ephrathah and your name well known in Bethlehem.
And God granted the city's wish. Because of this little boy, the Lord gave this city a great name: David (Ruth 4:18 - NIV).
Through his deeds, David would remove the shame of Bethlehem.
This is the story of Bethlehem: through David's name the shame of Bethlehem was removed.
Yet, this city will be given an even greater name than David's name:
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
This Name is Jesus! He has removed the shame that was over all humanity.
He is the Name that removes our shame and gives us dignity.
There was a man who lived a shameful and miserable existence: he lived in the cemetery and was demons possessed.
One day he met the Son of David: Jesus Christ the Lord. Jesus freed that man and restored his dignity:
and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
This evening we want to remember that in our midst is the One Who can restore our dignity and honour: He is Jesus.
In considering the work of redemption and salvation carried out by Jesus on our behalf, Paul describes it as a work of art, a masterpiece of God:
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Much more than a child. There was an old man (Simon) in the Gospels who, embracing the baby of a young mother called Mary, saw much more than a child:
“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”
In Jesus we see the gift of God, He is the one who removed our pain by giving us His joy, He is the one who removed our shame and gave us dignity and honour. Praise the Lord!
