Ruth 1

Prophecy Update: Mark of the Beast

Imagine just finishing up grocery shopping

As you scan the last piece of fake soy meat, you proceed to pay.

Instead of grabbing your wallet, you simply hold your hand over the machine and with a ”beep” you are done.

You have just completed a cashless payment using an implanted microchip in your hand.

Just a few years ago this was ridiculed as a crazy conspiracy theory, but this is happening right now.

It may sound like something out of The Great Reset, but this technology is now here and more and more people are beginning to use it,

so much so that even the BBC recently wrote about it.

Unsurprisingly, they seemed to like the idea…

Something that was ridiculed not long ago, is now being promoted on the mainstream media.

More and more people are now using cashless methods to pay, either by card or phone and contactless payment has been especially encouraged during the last years with the pandemic

Reportedly in Sweden, some 6000 people have already gotten microchipped.

This brings up thoughts of the Mark of the Beast

Revelation 13:16–18 ESV

Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

The microchip thing is nothing new. It has been mandated in many countries for dogs for years now.

And now they are beginning to push this for humans.

Back when Sweden had the covid passport, it was tied to people’s digital ID.

It is used for many things like online banking.

What made this unique is that many of the people had their covid vaccine on the chip

They could walk up to a scanner and wave their hand and be granted admission

There was always speculation of what this mark would be since it would be on the hand or forehead

Some thought a tattoo, others thought a barcode

Now with nano technology it can be a chip 100x’ smaller than a grain of rice

It can hold all of your information

The Antichrist will use this to control the economy of the world

It is believed by scholars that many who come to faith during the tribulation will die of starvation

Couple this with judgments that attack water, plant life, and the sun and food will be limited on earth

The number 666 has some interesting opinions

Some believe that 6 is just short of 7 which is a symbol of perfection

Others believe that is a numerical code for the Antichrist

Read Ruth 1:1-5

Trying to Run from Our Problems vs. 1-5

The Book of Judges is the story of Israel at one of its lowest points in history and is a record of division, cruelty, apostasy, civil war, and national disgrace.

Spiritually speaking, we are living today in the Book of Judges; for there is no king in Israel, and there will not be until Jesus returns.

Like Israel in the past, many of God’s people today are living in unbelief and disobedience and are not enjoying the blessings of God.

The story of Ruth is placed by the narrator in the time of the judges, but no indication is given as to when in this several-century period it took place.

It seems incredible that this beautiful love story should take place at such a calamitous period in the nation’s history, but is this not true today?

If the genealogy at the end of the book has no gaps, the events would best be placed in the second half of the twelfth century, at the same time as Samson.

In spite of alarms in the headlines and dangers on the streets, we can be sure that God still loves the world and wants to save lost sinners.

When you know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, no matter how tough the times may be, you are part of a beautiful love story.

vs. 1 Bethlehem is located about five miles south of Jerusalem.

Bronze and Iron Age pottery has been found at the site, but little excavation can be carried out due to continuing occupation.

The town was particularly susceptible to the climate because there was no spring and it relied on cisterns to gather water.

The place. How strange that there should be a famine in Bethlehem, which means “house of bread”

The decision. When trouble comes to our lives, we can do one of three things: endure it, escape it, or enlist it.

If we only endure our trials, then trials become our master, and we have a tendency to become hard and bitter.

If we try to escape our trials, then we will probably miss the purposes God wants to achieve in our lives.

But if we learn to enlist our trials, they will become our servants instead of our masters and work for us; and God will work all things together for our good and His glory (Rom. 8:28).

Elimelech made the wrong decision when he decided to leave home. What made this decision so wrong?

He walked by sight and not by faith.

Abraham made the same mistake when he encountered a famine in the land of promise (Gen. 12:10ff).

Instead of waiting for God to tell him what to do next, he fled to Egypt and got into trouble.

No matter how difficult our circumstances may be, the safest and best place is in the will of God.

But it’s wiser to claim the promise of Isaiah 40:31 and wait on the Lord for “wings like eagles” and by faith soar above the storms of life. You can’t run away from your problems.

How do you walk by faith?

By claiming the promises of God and obeying the Word of God, in spite of what you see, how you feel, or what may happen.

It means committing yourself to the Lord and relying wholly on Him to meet the need.

When we live by faith, it glorifies God, witnesses to a lost world, and builds Christian character into our lives.

God has ordained that “the righteous will live by his faith” and when we refuse to trust Him, we are calling God a liar and dishonoring Him.

The family of Elimelech would have traveled north to the area of Jerusalem and then taken the Jerusalem to Jericho road to cross the Jordan at the fords by Jericho.

Moab: The region measures about sixty miles north to south and about thirty miles from the Dead Sea to the eastern desert.

He majored on the physical and not the spiritual.

A husband and father certainly wants to provide for his wife and family, but he must not do it at the expense of losing the blessing of God.

When Satan met Jesus in the wilderness, his first temptation was to suggest that Christ satisfy His hunger rather than please His Father

One of the devil’s pet lies is: “You do have to live!” But it is in God that “we live and move and have our being” and He is able to take care of us.

In times of difficulty, if we die to self and put God’s will first (Matt. 6:33), we can be sure that He will either take us out of the trouble or bring us through.

The consequences.

The name Elimelech means “my God is king.” But the Lord was not king in Elimelech’s life, for he left God completely out of his decisions.

He made a decision out of God’s will when he went to Moab, and this led to another bad decision when his two sons married women of Moab.

Elimelech and his family had fled Judah to escape death, but the three men met death just the same.

We can’t run away from our problems. We can’t avoid taking with us the basic cause of most of our problems, which is an unbelieving and disobedient heart.

Trying to Hide Our Mistakes vs. 6-18

We need to consider 3 testimonies in this section

vs. 6-15 Testimony of Naomi

God visited His faithful people in Bethlehem, but not His disobedient daughter in Moab.

Naomi heard the report that the famine had ended; and when she heard the good news, she decided to return home.

Remind you of a prodigal son?

Luke 15:17 ESV

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!

There is always “bread enough and to spare” when you are in the Father’s will

How sad it is when people only hear about God’s blessing, but never experience it, because they are not in the place where God can bless them.

Whenever we have disobeyed the Lord and departed from His will, we must confess our sin and return to the place of blessing.

Isaiah 55:7 ESV

let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Naomi’s decision was right, but her motive was wrong.

She was still interested primarily in food, not in fellowship with God.

You don’t hear her confessing her sins to God and asking Him to forgive her.

She was returning to her land but not to her Lord.

But something else was wrong in the way Naomi handled this decision: She did not want her two daughters-in-law to go with her.

If it was right for Naomi to go to Bethlehem, where the true and living God was worshiped, then it was right for Orpah and Ruth to accompany her.

Numbers 10:29 ESV

And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the Lord has promised good to Israel.”

Why would a believing Jewess, a daughter of Abraham, encourage two pagan women to worship false gods?

I may be wrong, but I get the impression that Naomi didn’t want to take Orpah and Ruth to Bethlehem because they were living proof that she and her husband had permitted their two sons to marry women from outside the covenant nation.

In other words, Naomi was trying to cover up her disobedience.

If she returned to Bethlehem alone, nobody would know that the family had broken the Law of Moses.

Proverbs 28:13 ESV

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

When we try to cover our sins, it’s proof that we really haven’t faced them honestly and judged them according to God’s Word.

True repentance involves honest confession and a brokenness within.

Psalm 51:17 ESV

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Instead of brokenness, Naomi had bitterness.

The tragedy is that Naomi did not present the God of Israel in a positive way.

In Ruth 1:13, she suggests that God was to blame for the sorrow and pain the three women had experienced.

In other words, “I’m to blame for all our trials, so why remain with me?

Who knows what the Lord may do to me next?”

Had Naomi been walking with the Lord, she could have won Orpah to the faith and brought two trophies of grace home to Bethlehem.

vs. 11-14 Testimony of Orpah

The two daughters-in-law started off with Naomi (v. 7), but she stopped them and urged them not to accompany her.

She even prayed for them (vv. 8–9) that the Lord would be kind to them and find them new husbands and give them rest after all their sorrow.

But of what value are the prayers of a backslidden believer?

Psalm 66:18 ESV

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Three times Naomi told Orpah and Ruth to return

Orpah was the weaker of the two sisters-in-law.

She started to Bethlehem with Naomi, kissed her, and wept with her; yet she would not stay with her.

She was “not far from the kingdom” but she made the wrong decision and turned back.

Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but we wonder whether her heart was really in it; for her decision proved that her heart was back home where she hoped to find a husband.

Orpah left the scene and is never mentioned again in the Scriptures.

vs. 15-18 Testimony of Ruth

Naomi was trying to cover up; Orpah had given up, but Ruth was prepared to stand up!

She refused to listen to her mother-in-law’s pleas or follow her sister-in-law’s bad example.

Why? Because she had come to trust in the God of Israel

Ruth 2:12 ESV

The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”

She had experienced trials and disappointments, but instead of blaming God, she had trusted Him and was not ashamed to confess her faith.

Ruth’s conversion is evidence of the sovereign grace of God, for the only way sinners can be saved is by grace

Ephesians 2:8–10 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Her circumstances were against her and could have made her bitter against the God of Israel.

First, her father-in-law died, and then her husband and her brother-in-law; and she was left a widow without any support.

If this is the way Jehovah God treats His people, why follow Him?

Since Elimelech and Mahlon were now dead, Ruth was technically under the guardianship of Naomi; and she should have obeyed her mother-in-law’s counsel.

But God intervened and graciously saved Ruth in spite of all these obstacles.

Titus 3:5 ESV

he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

God delights in showing mercy (Micah 7:18), and often He shows His mercy to the least likely people in the least likely places.

This is the sovereign grace of the God

Ruth’s statement in Ruth 1:16–17 is one of the most magnificent confessions found anywhere in Scripture.

First, she confessed her love for Naomi and her desire to stay with her mother-in-law even unto death.

Then she confessed her faith in the true and living God and her decision to worship Him alone.

She was willing to forsake father and mother (2:11) in order to cleave to Naomi and the God of her people. Ruth was steadfastly “determined” to accompany Naomi (1:18) and live in Bethlehem with God’s covenant people

There was a divine law that said, “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the congregation of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the congregation of the Lord forever”

This meant permanent exclusion.

How then could Ruth enter into the congregation of the Lord?

By trusting God’s grace and throwing herself completely on His mercy.

Law excludes us from God’s family, but grace includes us if we put our faith in Christ.

When you read the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 4, you find the names of five women, four of whom have very questionable credentials:

Tamar committed incest with her father-in-law

Rahab was a Gentile harlot

Ruth was an outcast Gentile Moabitess

“the wife of Uriah” was an adulteress

How did they ever become a part of the family of the Messiah? Through the sovereign grace and mercy of God!

Blaming God for Our Trials vs. 19-22

Naomi had been away from home for ten years, and the women of the town were shocked when they saw her.

Their question “Is this Naomi?” suggests both surprise and bewilderment.

The name Naomi means “pleasant,” but she was not living up to her name.

She was not the Naomi whom they had known a decade before.

Her ten difficult years in Moab, and the sorrows they had brought, had taken their toll on Naomi’s appearance and personality.

Instead of making her better, the trials of life had made her bitter, which is the meaning of the word mara.

We can’t control the circumstances of life, but we can control how we respond to them.

That’s what faith is all about, daring to believe that God is working everything for our good even when we don’t feel like it or see it happening.

The Scottish preacher George H. Morrison said, “Nine-tenths of our unhappiness is selfishness, and is an insult cast in the face of God.”

Because Naomi was imprisoned by selfishness, she was bitter against God.

To begin with, she accused the Lord of dealing very bitterly with her (Ruth 1:20).

She had left Bethlehem with a husband and two sons and had come home without them.

She had gone to Moab possessing the necessities of life, but now she had returned home having nothing.

She was a woman with empty hands, an empty home, and an empty heart.

Because she didn’t surrender to the Lord and accept His loving chastening, she did not experience “the peaceful fruit of righteousness”

Hebrews 12:11 ESV

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Twice Naomi called God “the Almighty,” which is the Hebrew name El Shaddai, “the All-powerful One” (vv. 20–21).

It’s one thing to know God’s name and quite something else to trust that name and allow God to work in the difficult situations of life.

Psalm 9:10 ESV

And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

But was Naomi really that poor and empty?

For one thing, she had life; and this in itself is a precious gift from God—a gift we too often take for granted

Naomi not only had life, but she also had opportunity.

One of Naomi’s richest resources was her daughter-in-law Ruth.

In fact, it is Ruth whom God used and blessed throughout the rest of this book

But most of all, Naomi still had Jehovah, the God of Israel.

The Lord is mentioned about twenty-five times in this brief book, for He is the Chief Actor in this drama whether Naomi realized it or not

Romans 8:31 ESV

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

It was barley harvest when the two widows arrived in Bethlehem, a time when the community expressed joy and praise to God for His goodness.

It was spring, a time of new life and new beginning.

Naomi was about to make a new beginning; for with God, it’s never too late to start over again.

Are you trusting God for your new beginning?

After all, with God at your side, your resources are far greater than your burdens.