Our Kinsman-Redeemer

Part 2

By Winston Pannell

Ruth 3-4

Today we continue in the study of our Kinsman-Redeemer from the Book of Ruth. As with all the other books of the Bible, the subject of this book is that of our Savior’s Person and work in the redemption of his people.

Let me review with you the parallels we examined in lesson one between Boaz, the Kinsman-Redeemer of Ruth and those of our Kinsman-Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We saw, in the predestinating purpose of God, the circumstance that brought Ruth and Boaz together. With a famine in Judea, Naomi and her family went to Moab to find relief. In time Naomi’s husband died and her sons married Moabite women. One of these women was Ruth, who is herself a type of the lost Elect of God. At the death of her two sons, Naomi returned with Ruth to Bethlehem at the end of the famine. It was here Ruth was brought providentially to experience redemption by her Kinsman-Redeemer, Boaz.

Last time we looked at our Kinsman-Redeemer as Lord of the harvest. We saw this title describes our Kinsman-Redeemer as THE GOD WHO:

Purposed to save. (2: 3) “Her hap was to light on Boaz’s’ field.” We saw how it was not by chance but by choice (God’s choice) Ruth was brought face to face with her Kinsman-Redeemer. We saw how salvation is not by chance but by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God who “works all things after the counsel of his own will and none can stay his hand.” (Daniel 4:5) God purposed to save Ruth.

Prepared the soil. From the parable of the Seed and the Sower in Matthew 13, we saw how God the Holy Spirit prepared the heart of Ruth to receive the message of grace. We saw the utter impossibility of “seeing or entering” the Kingdom of Heaven unless and until the Holy Spirit of God, in regeneration and conversion, under the gospel, quickens the Elect of God to receive the gospel of free grace. God prepared her heart.

Planted the seed. In the conversion of Ruth we saw how Naomi sowed the seed of the gospel when she told Ruth how a Just God and Savior would send his Son in time to satisfy all the demands of God’s law against her by his substitutionary death on the cross for her. She was so convinced of Naomi’s testimony of her God that Ruth insisted on returning with her to Bethlehem, Judea and embraced Naomi’s God as her own. (1:15-17) God planted the seed.

Provided the Savior. We saw many comparisons between Boaz, Ruth’s Kinsman-Redeemer and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Kinsman-Redeemer of God’s people.

A. We saw Boaz to be of the family of Elimelech and Naomi, a near Kinsman. We saw that Christ is the near kinsman of his people. Hebrews 2:11say’s this of Christ; “For both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.”

B. We saw Boaz to be a wealthy man. So is our Kinsman-Redeemer. He has all the resources necessary and accomplished our full, free, eternal salvation.

We saw Boaz to be from Bethlehem, Judea. So with Christ. (Micah 5:2)

D. Boaz owned a field. He was Lord of that field. Christ defined the field in Matthew 13 as the world. Christ owns this field. As Lord of the harvest He decides when to plant, what to plant: (He even allows tares to be planted in His field) dig and dung and reap the harvest. As lord of his field, Boaz planted the seed. By contrast, we saw Christ himself to be the Seed sown in the world. Remember the parable in John 12:24 about the planting of the seed. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit.” He is here speaking of his death and its relationship to the harvest. Without his death, there would be nothing to plant. Without his death, there would be no gospel. Without his death there would be no harvest. The seed of His death, burial and resurrection to establish righteousness, based on satisfaction to Law and Justice, which the Father freely imputed to all his sheep at the cross, which accomplished the harvest, is the gospel we declare. As Lord of the harvest, God provided the Savior. Christ is that Savior.

(5). Last of all, we saw how God perfected the saints. By Christ’s one sacrifice for sin, He successfully put away the sins of his people and established them in an unchangeable, unchargable standing of justification before a Holy God. “By one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:14)

So, we saw in the first study, our Kinsman-Redeemer as Lord of the harvest.

Today our focus will be on our Kinsman-Redeemer as Lord of the righteous. In this study we will look at Christ, who, as “The Lord our Righteousness:”

(1) Reveals the Standard of Judgment. 3:4; He will tell thee what thou shalt do.”

(2) Rendered satisfaction to Law and Justice. 3:18; “the man will not be in rest until he have finished the thing this day.”

(3) Redeemed the Sons of Jacob. 4:9-10; “Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife.” Christ purchased His church.

As Lord of the righteous:

1 He reveals the standard of judgment- Ruth 3: 1-4.

What a blessing to have a friend like Naomi. A lost sinner can have no better friend than one who is interested in his or her peace and well being before the Lord. (3:1) There is no greater friend than one who can point sinners to the One help for them, their Kinsman-Redeemer, who is the sinners best friend and their only peace and rest. The problem with most in religion is they are deceived as to the way of peace and rest. By nature, we all are ignorant of God’s standard of judgment. (Romans 10:1-4) Nomi was a friend to Ruth, pointing her to her Kinsman-Redeemer. Jesus defines for us who is a true friend in John 15:13. “ Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Here he speaks of his impending death on the cross to save his people. Here he speaks of his sacrifice for sin freely given for his sheep. He “laid down his life,” it was not taken from him. This is the truest of friends.

What more can a sinner like Naomi do but point Ruth to the only One who can help her? Naomi couldn’t save her; Naomi couldn’t give her peace and rest. Naomi was destitute herself. She needed a Redeemer. Only a Kinsman-Redeemer could help. A true friend always points sinners to Christ.

V-4 gives us the reason sinners should look to the Kinsman-Redeemer? “He will tell thee what thou shalt do.” He will reveal to his people the standard of God’s judgment. He will reveal to every sinner for whom Christ is Redeemer that they shall bow to that standard. He cannot fail to bring every Elect sinner to faith and repentance. When God’s people “lay down at the feet of the redeemer,”(V-4) in submission to Christ they shall be told what to do. Our Kinsman-Redeemer will always “guide us into all truth.” It’s good to listen to a friend like Naomi who points us to Christ, but when we follow the counsel of sinners, we must be sure their instructions to us are consistent with those of Christ. The Prophet Isaiah said in 8:20; “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Why- because the law and the testimony speak only of Christ and his finished work to save his people. Paul the Apostle said this in 1 Corinthians 11:1; “Be ye followers of me, even as I also follow Christ.” When Jesus asked his disciples in John 6:68 if they would go away also, “Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” Naomi simply pointed Ruth to her Kinsman-Redeemer for the words of eternal life. All I can do today is point you to Christ. He will tell his people what they shall do. And his instructions will be consistent with his Word, which says in Matthew 5:8;“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In Matthew 6:33, Christ warns sinners that their righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisee’s or they will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Why? Because the righteousness sinners by nature plead is a righteousness that was completed and is complemented by their personal faith. He reveals to his people that His righteousness is the standard by which God will judge all men. As Lord of the righteous, he is the standard of judgment.

Christ has told His Elect what they shall do. God’s instruction to Abram in Genesis 17:1 was this; “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

How are sinners going to be perfect before the Lord? Micah 6:8; “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Simply stated, Christ is telling us what all the Elect shall do; plead his righteousness imputed at the cross as all their salvation. That’s what all his Elect shall do.

V-11 addresses this issue. God’s ministers point sinners to Christ because He alone can “do to thee all that thou requirest.”(V-11) What did Ruth want, what did she request of Boaz? Simply to be redeemed by him. She was a woman in dire straits. She was penniless and a stranger in Judea. She was a Moabite, a heathen, an idolater. She was, according to Ephesians 2:12; “at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” She was at the mercy of God. She needed someone to plead her cause and relieve her poverty. God directed her to Boaz, (a type of Christ) the one who could fill her needs.

God’s people see Christ as the one who can “do to us all that we require” of him. What do God’s people require of Christ? What do sinners who see themselves destitute before a Holy God require of Him? Do they cry; “Lord help me to be a better person, do they plead for a more loving spirit, do they ask for a missionary heart? Do they cry, Lord, give me that holy nature which will enable me to live above sin? NO. Like the publican in Luke 18, they cry; “Lord, be merciful to me the sinner.”

You see, we who are justified by the blood of Christ and his righteousness imputed are just like Ruth. We forfeited our heritage when we fell in Adam. We were at peace with God, in fellowship with Him and well pleasing to him. When Adam disobeyed, we did also and were cast from the fellowship of his presence. (Roman’s 5:12) We were at that moment under the sentence of eternal death, subject to the wrath of God and utterly helpless to rescue ourselves. Where we, before the fall, rendered acceptable obedience to God, now our best obedience to Him is dead works and fruit unto death. This is so because as sinners, everything we do is sinful. Nothing we do can recommend us to God. We must look to a Redeemer for help.

What shall God’s people do? Read 3:5-9. God’s people shall bow to the Lordship of their Redeemer. (V-5, 6) They shall be brought to the feet of Christ and shall be shown what to do. And that will be simply to plead the mercy of God. They shall be shown the standard of God’s judgment and see the utter impossibility of being justified based on any thing but the covering of His righteousness imputed freely and received by faith. Their plea will be also; “Lord be merciful to me the sinner.” Ruth acted as all sinners who are convinced that the total of their salvation is secured and applied by the one work of their Kinsman-Redeemer. Read Ezekiel 16:6-8. Ruth desired to be covered in the robe of her redeemer. That’s what God’s Redeemer “tells sinners they shall do.” That’s what all the redeemed of the Lord gladly ask for. That’s what Christ has done for all his sheep. Their plea is that of Paul the Apostle in Titus 3:5, who said; “ Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost,”

And Jesus tells us in John 14;“If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. Read Ruth 3:11. “I will do to thee all thou requirest.”

Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus in 3:20 this encouragement; “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

Jesus himself promised; “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” He reveals God’s standard of judgment to be his righteousness imputed and makes his people willing to submit to it.

In 1901 the Congress established the National Bureau of Standards within the U.S. Commerce Department. The purpose of this Bureau was to promote industrial competitiveness by setting universal standards for weights and measures. This was done to set a level playing field for business to compete fairly in the market place.

Can you imagine the chaos and confusion before this department was established? A person could set the standard high when he bought and lower it when he sold a product. He could demand 20 ounces a pound when he bought and sell it at 10 ounces a pound. That’s what men by nature do with God’s standard of judgment. God describes the chaos of such a standards system in Judges 17:6. “In those days there was no king in Israel, (no standard bearer) but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

Aren’t you glad God has set a standard of judgment? Aren’t you glad he has revealed to us that standard? Aren’t you glad he has met that standard in the Person and work of His dear Son for all he represented? Aren’t you glad we meet the standard as we are in Christ? This is what God’s people require of their Redeemer.

Acts 17:31 declares “He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”

As Lord of the righteous, he reveals the standard of judgment and there his people bow.

2 He rendered satisfaction to divine Justice. Read Ruth 3:11-18.

Not only is Christ able to “do exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think,” He also does for us all that is required of us before we even know to ask for it. He does for us all that is required of us by God. (V-18)

Boaz was the standard in Israel to be Kinsman-Redeemer. He was a blood relative and he was able and willing to perform the duties of that office, but he could not redeem Ruth apart from the law of Israel being satisfied. There was a procedure to follow and a price to pay in order for him to “buy back” the land of Elimalech. (Read 3:12-13, 4:1-9) ref. Deuteronomy 25:5-9

When Elimelech left Judea and died in Moab he forfeited his inheritance and left his family in poverty. The land he forsook was given his family in the distribution at the conquest of Canaan but God was specific to Israel that the land belonged to God (Leviticus 25:23), and must remain in the family. Only a near kinsman could redeem it. Before his land could be redeemed, there was a procedure to follow and a price to pay. The laws of Israel must be satisfied and a redemption price paid. That is true of God’s people who lost their inheritance in the fall. Law must be honored and satisfied before we could be redeemed. There was a procedure to follow and a price to be paid. Perfect obedience to the law had to be rendered by a capable and willing Redeemer who could also minister perfect satisfaction to its breach. Christ, the God-Man, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners acted in the stead of his sheep and did for them what they could not do for themselves. He obeyed, he suffered, he died and was raised again “because of our justification.” What he accomplished in his obedience unto death provided righteousness for us, imputed there at the cross, as our justification before a Holy God. V-18; He would not rest until he finished that work of redemption.

Christ fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law in his offices as Prophet, Priest and King. As the Kinsman-Redeemer of his people, he is the standard of judgment and the fulfillment of that standard for all his people.

When he commands us in Matthew 5:48; “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” He is declaring the standard to which God judges all men. So, how can ungodly sinners be perfect before God- only by His satisfaction to Law and Justice.

Men are perfect before God only as they are “in Christ” by election, representation, satisfaction, imputation, justification, adoption, regeneration and faith. None of these qualifications are performed by the sinner to merit favor with God. We can’t be perfect by heritage, (by birth) by “deeds of law” (obedience to the Law), by dedication and zeal or even giving our body to be burned. The only perfection a sinner has is that of Christ, who “would not rest until he finished the work” by his obedience unto death and satisfied God’s Law and Justice against all for whom he died. He has alone redeemed his people when he died on the cross. He bought us back by satisfying law and justice and bringing in an everlasting righteousness, which honored every attribute of God’s redemptive character and established his sheep in an unchangeable standing of justification at the cross. Hebrews 10:14 say’s; “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”

That’s what Ruth was acknowledging when she, in 3: 9 asked Boaz to spread his skirt over her.

Read 3:18.

To tell a lost sinner to “sit still,” (in other words) there is nothing he can do to secure his salvation or even in any way influence God in saving him is, in his mind ludicrous. To preach a finished work at the cross to accomplish my salvation is, to the natural mind, foreign. The “natural mind receiveth not the things of God” because they are spiritually discerned. God must “tell a sinner what he shall do.” He must and will accept God’s standard of judgment and the satisfaction Christ made to God’s law and justice as all his salvation.

Ruth’s acceptance with Boaz was not merited. She had nothing to offer. She had nothing to contribute to her redemption. As a matter of fact, she was not even present when her redemption was performed. (Read 4: 10) Neither were we. She, as an Old Testament Elect, died before her Redeemer performed the obedience necessary to her salvation. Our Redeemer died before we were born. We were both justified together when Christ shed his blood on the cross as payment for our sins and the establishment of righteousness was, in a once for all transaction imputed to our account. He did “all for us” that God requires of us. 4:1-10.

In 4:1-10, we see the process of redemption worked out by Boaz the type. In 3:12-13, Ruth’s nearest of kin, under the Law, had the right of first refusal in her redemption. In 4: 6 her first of Kin refused to redeem her,” lest he mar his inheritance.” (V-6)

I believe the two kinsmen here are types of the two representative heads of us all- Adam or Christ. The nearer kinsman is who we are in Adam-flesh of his flesh-bone of his bone by nature. This kinsman, to whom Boaz deferred, cannot redeem, (4:6), “lest he mar his own inheritance.” Adam as our nearest kinsman, could not redeem anyone, he needed redemption himself. To think anyone could be redeemed by anything but the righteousness of Christ imputed is to mar (forfeit) his own inheritance. Therefore Christ, typified by Boaz, is our Kinsman-Redeemer by God’s appointment, and in satisfaction to God’s Law and Justice has willingly done all that is necessary to satisfy all the demands of Law and Justice against us and has delivered, adopted and united us to Himself. Where the first Adam would not and could not fulfill his responsibility and selfishly disobeyed God and left his entire race in a state of condemnation, the Last Adam, Christ has unselfishly submitted himself to God’s wrath and redeemed us back to God.

As Lord of the righteous, Christ reveals the standard of judgment, he rendered satisfaction to divine justice and thirdly:

3 He redeemed the Sons of Jacob.

God promised the Old Testament saints salvation in Malachi 3:6; “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” He declares to New Testament saints a finished salvation, a redemption bought and paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ. This redemption is not conditioned on the sinner in any way to any degree. It is all of grace. “Jacob have I loved.”

Jacob was a supplanter, a cheater and a liar. He stole the birthright of his brother Esau. He had nothing with which to recommend himself to God. So with Ruth and with all God’s elect. We all have to agree with the Apostle Paul when he said of himself in Romans 7:18; “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.” Yet God saw in his People trophies of his grace and had compassion on us, evidenced by his wrath poured out, not on us but on his only begotten and well beloved Son. We see this in that righteousness he established by his obedience unto death, which, by virtue of its very nature, demanded full, free eternal justification the moment it was established for all for whom it was established.

Boaz bought the field of Elimelech. (3:9) As wife of Mahlon, Boaz bought Ruth also. (V-10) She became his “purchased possession,” (Ephesians 1:14) and became the ancestress of our blessed Savior. Read 4:11-12. Jacob, (whom God loved) was the husband of Leah and Rachael. (V-11) God changed his name to Israel. Through this woman Ruth, God “built the house of Israel” (spiritual Israel) (V-11), “through the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman.” (V-12) The bride of Boaz became the bride of Christ, the church. Christ, of the seed of Boaz and Ruth became the Bridegroom of the church, the Lord of the righteous.

As Lord of the righteous, Christ revealed the standard of judgment, He rendered satisfaction to divine justice and He redeemed the sons of Jacob.

Such is our Kinsman-Redeemer. Thank God for Him.

Next time we’ll look at our Kinsman-Redeemer as Lord of Lords. As such, he is the (1) Seed of woman, (2) Son of man and (3) Sovereign God.

By Winston Pannell