Brother Michael's Devotional

"Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance." Ruth 4:5

For whom did Christ die? Did He die for the sins of some men or for all men? Has God set His covenantal love on all men or the elect only? To discover the answers to these questions we must turn to the book of Ruth. Naomi and Elimelech have left Bethlehemjudah, the house of bread and praise, and gone to Moab, God's washpot, during a famine. They have left full but only Naomi will return, and that being empty, having lost her husband, two sons and land. And so Naomi returns, but not alone, Ruth the Moabitess follows Naomi.

After arriving in Bethlehemjudah, Ruth begins to glean in the field of a man called Boaz. After Naomi sees that Boaz is kindly affectionate to Ruth, Naomi attempts to get Boaz to perform the right of kinsman redeemer. Boaz could redeem Ruth, but first he would have to redeem the field that she was bound up with.

Now compare this to Mathew 13:44 where our Lord says "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." Here we have a man that finds a treasure in a field and goes and sells all that he has to purchase that field. As the man sold everything to purchase the field even so God gave everything to redeem this world. But why did God redeem the world? Was His heart set on this world? Friend, just as that man's heart was on the treasure and Boaz's heart was on Ruth, so was the Church on the heart and mind of Christ when he hung on the cross to redeem the world. And just as Boaz purchased the field for the love of a bride and the man in our Lord's parable sold all that he had for the joy of a treasure our Lord redeemed this world for the love of a bride He would call out of this world.

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Ephesians 5:25-27