BOAZ --RUTH 2:1

I. Introduction

A. Boaz is a foreshadowing in Scripture of Christ

1. Naomi had a kinsman a mighty man - Boaz
2. Naomi the poorest person in Isreal had for her kinsman one of the wealthiest men in the land

a, As we first read the story she did not see the connection betweem the wealth of Boaz and her great need as a poverty stricken person
b. However ignorant, according to the law of Moses she had a claim on this great person
c. Lev. 25:25, Ä according to this law a kinsman had the right to redeem for his relative any of the estate which had been lost.
d. In Deut. 25:5Ä10, Ä The kinsman has a responsibility to take his brothers widow and raise up seed for his brother
e. Such a person was known in Hebrew as a GOEL
f. This was the position of Boaz in our story

B. I am sure God wants us to see in the goel a picture of the Lord Jeus who has shown Himself to be the redeemer of lost sinners and the Restorer of hopeless situations.

1. Here we come to the heart of Bible teaching on redemption

a. It is based on the law of the goel - the right to redeem
b. Redemption is an 0.T. word upon which the N.T. word is based.

2. In order for a person to redeem (be a goel) three things were necessary

II. First - he had to be a Near Kinsman

A. None else had the right to insist that the purchaser sell the land back.

1. In most places the book of Ruth the word for KINSMAN is goel however er it is not true everywhere

a. In three places words are used which mean an ordinary family relation
b. Ruth 2:1 - word used is not goel but MODA the same word is used in Ruth 3:2. Moda speaks of family relationships - brothers, sisters, uncles, etc.
c. Third place is Ruth 3 Ä here the word is QAROB means virtually the same thing as moda.

2 If a man was to be GOEL he had to be a MODA first

B. In the same way if the Lord Jesus is to redeem on behalf of sinners. He must acquire the right to do so by becoming the Kinsman. Their brother or Moda.

1. This is precisely what has happened. The eternal God became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:14)

a This is the whole meaning of the passage (Hebrews 2:10Ä18)
b. Here He calls us brethren and to qualify Himslef to do so He partakes of our humanity

2. There is a definate allusion to the goel in this passage

a. He is to annul Him who had power of death
b. He delivers those from bondage who previously have lived in fear of death.

B. The Incarnation which made Him our near Kinsman has not made him mear enough if he is to redeem us from our sin.

1. The reason for this is, we are in the predicament that we are in due to our own fault. We are to blame
2 The Incarnation of Christ in and of itself has no answer to our sin.

a. In order for Him to aquire the right to redeem us, the one who had partaken of our humanity had to carry a rugged cross to a hill called calvary and die on it.
b. On that Cross He accepted our culpability as His own and died
c. This means that by His blood He forgives and cleanses the sin that separates us from God.
d. In other words the cross makes Him the sinners nearest Kinsman (incarnation made Him a Kinsman)

C, What a moment it must have been for Naomi when she realized that the one who was so well known in Bethlehem was really her goel.

1. Jesus Christ is known so well in our country but rare it is that people know Him as their redeemer
2. Jesus not only became one of us (Moda) but He is our Goel

III. Secondly - It was necessary that He who was going to redeem have the Means to do so.

A. It is one thing to have the right to redeem it is quite another thing to have the power to do it.

1. A goel would be no help at all if he was as poor as the one who needed tobe redeemed

a. This was not the case with Boaz - he was a might man of wealth
b. In the case of Jesus He not only had the right to redeem (Lncarnation) He had the power to redeem. He was sinless - free of the very thing that is the cause for our need of redemption
c. He has power on earth to make good the results of our sin, fact is that the realm of redeeming what man has lost is the realm where Jesus excels.

Jesus can solve every problem,
The tangles of life can undo;
There is nothing too hard for Jesus,
There is nothing-that He cannot do.

d. Our one responsibility1in the matter is to repent and admit we are sinners and desire with all our hearts to turn the control of our lives to Lord Jesus.
e. At that moment the mess we have made of our lives is no longer our responsibility but it now His.
f. It then becomes the raw material from which He shows His power to make a new thing
g. Bill Gather put it this way:

Something beautiful, something good,
All my confusion He understood;
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife,
But He made somrthing beautiful of my life.

h. Yes, He has the power to redeem

IV. Thirdly - It was necessary that He have the Willingness to Redeem .

A. He must not only have the right to redeem and the power to redeem, but He must be willing to redeem.

1. All goels were not willing to redeem. That was the case in chapter 3:12,13 - Ruth 4:6

a. The nearest kinsman had the power to redeem but not the willingness Ä He did not want to mar his inheritance

2. Boaz was more than willing to take this alien and rejected Gentile girl to be his wife. She was a real attraction to Him.
3. Jesus like Boaz is mere than willing to redeem

a. He is willing for the same reason as Boaz. He has lost His heart to you. You are His attraction
b. He is not worried about associateing with sinners, He is not concerned about marring His inheritance
c. He is concerned about you and not what people will think of Him for identifying with you

4. The thing that makes Calvary and redemption so attractive to Him - is it means possessing you

a. Titus 2:1.4 who gave Himself for us, that HE MIGHT REDEEM US FROM EVERY LAWLESS DEED AND PURIFY FOR HIMSELF. A PEOPLE FOR HIS OWN POSSESSION, zealous for good deeds.

5. When Jesus comes to be our goel He does not expect to find things right in our lives

a. If nothing had gone wrong then there is no thing for Him to redeem
b. Very word redeemer should help us here
c, It begins with the prefix "re" and ends with the suffix "er"
d. Many words end this way Ä worker, driver, etc.
e. A worker is not a man who works once but one who continually works
f. A driver is one who habitually drives
g. So with a redeemer, He is not one who redeems once but One who continaully redeems
h. Whenever things go wrong, He is there as our Redeemer
i. The prefix "re" indicates something that is done again.
j. Both prefix and suffix speak of a continual redmeption

B. Fear of Sin is Gone

1. We are no longer to be afraid of sin. It is a healty thing to be afraid, To sin. But here I am speaking of being afraid of sin.
2. Some people are so afraid they will fall, that the continue to hold out.

a. We need not be like that. We know what to do with sin - we know the One who has the answer to our failure.
b. Songwriter has it:' Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power.
c. Confidence in the blood of Jesus does not give us a license to sin, rather it gives me the desire to say No to temptations that would lure me into sin.
d. If a person feels that everythingg depends on him walking the knife edge of victory and that if he falls everyhting is finished - indeed he is finished
e. But things are never finished for the one who knows the power of his nearest Kinsman to redeen again.