Jesus: Our Kinsman Redeemer

The subject tonight is redeemed, our Redeemer.

! And we're going to move from the New Testament into the Old Testament.! And so if you want to take your Bibles and find the book of Ruth, the little book of Ruth, comes right after Judges, just in case you need a little direction.

You know, we're not near as familiar with the Old Testament books as we ought to be, and so I thought I'd help you out a little bit, Ruth, right after Judges. Now, we'll get to that in just a minute, but I'm going to read another passage to you out of the New Testament.

You don't need to turn to it, but to get us started, I'm going to read from Luke chapter 24 and verse 27. And just to kind of set this passage up, this is that encounter Jesus had with those two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

It was after the resurrection, and they were distraught and so forth because, you know, their Savior had died, and I guess they thought He was still dead.

So their dreams were dashed in a sense. And so Jesus preaches a little sermon. I don't know how long it was, but He took in the whole of Scripture because the Bible says, this is what He did.

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. I've always been intrigued by that passage.

And as an expository preacher, one who really believes in expository preaching, I think there's an endorsement of preaching through books of the Bible.

And Jesus, you know, in a very rapid way, very quick way, took the whole Old Testament and preached all the way through it as they were walking. Now, I guess it was quite a journey, so maybe He had plenty of time to do it.

And He had all the Bible memorized anyway, so He didn't have to. Yes, so I start with that passage because I want to point out something that you should already know.

That is, all throughout the Old Testament, we have, among other things, we have living illustrations of God's redemptive purposes in Christ for mankind.

We have it all throughout the Bible, and they really are so clear, many of them, that you could literally, just like Jesus did, literally preach or take the Old Testament, Scriptures, just the Old Testament, and preach Jesus.

You really could, though most preachers today, your pastor included, preach primarily out of the New Testament. You could take the Old Testament and preach Jesus because He's there.

For example, you take the story, some of the beloved stories like Noah and the Ark. That's Jesus. That's Jesus, our salvation. Or you take the story of Abraham and His willingness to sacrifice His only son Isaac, His son of promise, and that's Jesus there.

That's what that story's all about. Jesus, our sacrifice. And you take Israel's deliverance out of Egypt, and where every family, you know, sacrifices a lamb and sheds the blood of the lamb, and the blood of the lamb is sprinkled on the doorpost.

That's Jesus, the lamb that was slain. And you take the wilderness tabernacle that Moses, you know, received from God the exact instructions on, how to build it in every part of it.

And they built it just exactly according to God's instructions. You take the wilderness tabernacle, and that's Jesus. Every part of it is Him. Jonah and the whale, who does not love that story, especially our kids.

And guess what? That's Jesus. That's Jesus, our salvation. And so we can find God's plan to save the world through His son Jesus, and we can find it all throughout the Old Testament, can't we?

And so Jesus said, you might remember, on one occasion, He said to the unbelieving Pharisees, He said, search the Scriptures. They thought they were the, you know, the protectors and the guardians of Scripture, and Jesus challenges them, says, you take the Scriptures, search them.

Search them. You think, He said, you think in them you have eternal life. In the sense because they were such guardians of Scripture, just the very possession of it, they thought, was the source of their eternal life.

You think in them you have eternal life. But they are they which testify of me. And He was speaking about the Old Testament, see, because that's all they had at that time.

And so every book of the Bible, Old Testament, every book teaches, preaches, reveals God's plan of redemption through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Someone has said, if you read a book of the Old Testament and you don't find Jesus there, then read it again because you missed Him. He's there.

He's in every book of the Bible. And I would say that He is the principal character of the entire Bible. Principal character in every book of the Bible.

Including this little book that goes by the name of Ruth. This wonderful little book there in the Old Testament.

Now, from a kind of literary perspective, Ruth is the principal character in the book. The title of it goes by her name. From that perspective, and yet spiritually speaking, the principal character, the key person in the book of Ruth, Ruth, rather, is Jesus.

He's there. Now, in Ruth, in the book of Ruth, Jesus is represented by a man by the name of Boaz. And really, it is in what Boaz did for Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi.

And you know the story quite well, I'm sure. It's in that that we see Jesus here. And it's really quite amazing. We see redemption here.

Now, let me remind you of the story. Because we're not going to read very much of the book of Ruth. Because the story is so familiar. And it is the narrative that we need to kind of get squarely in our minds.

Reacquaint ourselves with the story here. It took place in the days of the judges. The book follows the book of Judges. And indeed, the event that is narrated here took place during that period.

The period of the judges. In fact, the Bible, it opens up telling us that. Look at verse 1 in the book of Ruth. Now, it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled.

So, it's in the time of the judges. And what came to pass? That there was a famine in the land. Do you see that? And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab.

He and his wife and his two sons. Now, that's the introduction into the book. So, it's during the time of the judges. And God had done something.

As a part of his chastisement of his people because they had disobeyed him, had turned from him. God sent a mighty famine to the land of Judah.

And some of the people, some of God's people, apparently, in order to escape the famine, what did they do? They left Judah, left their country. And traveled across the border into a neighboring country.

In this case, Moab. Some left and settled in Moab. And the book of Ruth is a story of one such family. Right? We know that, don't we?

You have Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons, Machlon. That's hard to say. Machlon and Kilion.

Their two sons. Now, soon after they had settled in Moab, what happened? It's a quiz. Elimelech died.

Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died. Sorry, leaving his wife Naomi and their two sons alone in a strange pagan country, the land of Moab.

Now, Machlon and Kilion married a couple of Moabite women, which was quite a no-no for a Jew to do that. Orpah and Ruth.

Okay? Ruth. Ten years later, Machlon and Kilion, they also died. And so now you have Naomi and her two daughter-in-laws.

And they're alone in this foreign pagan country. And so Naomi then decides to return to the land of Judah because the famine is now over.

And the Bible says that Ruth returned with her. And it's beautiful how it words it. If you look at verse 14 there in chapter 1, the last part of it, that last phrase of verse 14, but Ruth clung to her, to Naomi.

Clung to her. And she said, now listen to this. Or Naomi said, look, your sister-in-law has gone back. Orpah has gone back to her people and to her gods.

Return after her, sister-in-law. But Ruth said, entreat me not to leave you or to turn back from following after you. For wherever you go, I will go.

And wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God. I just love that. All right. So Ruth travels back with Naomi back to Bethlehem.

That's their Naomi's hometown. So they go back to Bethlehem. But there's just one problem. We have two women all alone.

No husbands. No jobs. No money. No home. Nothing. That's a desperate situation for women in any country in any time, but especially in Old Testament days.

Terrible situation. And so what happens? Well, chapter 2, verse 1. There was a relative. The King James, I think, uses the word kinsman.

A kinsman of Naomi's husband. That's Elimelech. A man of great wealth of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz. All right.

So here's the answer. Naomi discovers that she has a relative living there in Bethlehem. He is most likely a cousin or a cousin of her dead husband, Elimelech.

And he is a kinsman. Kinsman. And the Bible says he is a mighty man of great wealth. And his name is Boaz. And so the balance of the story, the book of Ruth, tells us how Ruth and Boaz got together, came together, and became husband and wife.

And this is where we find Jesus here. All right. So, you see, the Jews had a law.

It was given to them by Moses. You can read about it back in Genesis chapter 38, verse 8. Deuteronomy also. Deuteronomy chapter 25.

And this law was called the Leveret Law. The Leveret Law. Which was a set of laws that God allowed for family members near kinsmen to redeem another family member.

Maybe out of slavery. Maybe for whatever reason. Their family member sold himself or herself into slavery.

And the near kinsmen could buy them out of slavery. There were laws governing that under the Leveret Law. Also, was included in that laws to govern the avenger.

Avenger, avenging the blood of a relative. That was also a part of it. Also, a part of the law was the repurchasing of property that had been lost or sold.

Or had been, you know, sold to pay a debt or whatever it may be. And so the near kinsmen was allowed by the law to do that. And there was also, within this law, the Leveret Marriage.

The Leveret Marriage. In the case of the untimely death of a husband who had no sons to receive his inheritance. And to carry on the family name.

When that happened, and that was the case of Naomi and Ruth. Well, the case of Naomi was both Naomi and Ruth. The deceased husband's brother or some other near of kin would be allowed then to, by law, to marry the widow and produce a son.

And to carry on the line. And that's the Leveret Marriage. And that's our story here. That's what Boaz did. Now, he did not marry Naomi.

She was older and past childbearing age. And so he married Ruth, ultimately. According to the Leveret Marriage.

Carry on the line. All right. Now, I just want to get all this straight in our mind. Because it's going to be pretty significant when we get into it. All right. So this near of kin was called in the Hebrew the goel.

Goel. It comes from the Hebrew galal. To redeem. The goel is the redeemer. That's the idea.

See, we use that word redeem and redemption. And that great, rich, theological word, doctrinal word. We use that. And little do we really understand the background of that.

The roots of that. In Judaism. That carries on into Christianity. And we'll see how that's connected. So this is rich.

So here is Boaz. He is going to, in our story, going to become the goel. The redeemer. And so the book of Ruth is all about redemption.

That's what it's about. That's why the Holy Spirit included this little book. That to some seems kind of insignificant. That's why the Holy Spirit included it here.

Because, you see, Naomi and Ruth needed a redeemer. That was their need. And God's law required that the redeemer be a kinsman.

Close relative. And so our story reveals then Boaz as that kinsman. He is the kinsman redeemer.

There we are. I told you we would get there. Kinsman redeemer. And really, the book of Ruth is a beautiful story. It's a love story. By the way.

Boaz redeemed the Moabitess. Not a Jew. The Moabitess. Ruth. By the way, the Bible later tells us at the end of this book.

The book of Ruth. But also, more significantly, in Matthew chapter 1. In the genealogies. The Bible reveals to us that Boaz and Ruth, after they married, they had a son.

His name was Obed. To carry on the line. And that was the intent of the kinsman redeemer. So that the line would not be broken. And it's a good thing. Because their son, Obed, was the father of Jesse.

The grandfather of King David. From whose line came what significant person? Jesus. Jesus. Y'all are so good.

So aren't you glad that Boaz redeemed Ruth? So that Jesus could and would redeem us. Alright, so the book of Ruth really is a story of redemption.

It's a beautiful love story in and of itself. And you ought to read it sometime. But if that's all you see. If all you see is this love story. And it is that. Then you've missed the best part of it.

Because the book of Ruth is a living illustration of our redemption. Because you see just as Boaz was Ruth's kinsman redeemer.

Jesus is our kinsman redeemer. And so I want us to see tonight real quickly how. How Jesus could be our kinsman redeemer.

And we're going to do that by seeing the qualifications for kinsman redeemer. According to the law. That was given to Moses. And inspired by God.

Well given directly by direct revelation to Moses. We're going to look at those qualifications. Alright now. So to qualify as a kinsman redeemer.

You must first of all be the right person. That is you had to be a near kin. In order to be a part of this. And that's obvious isn't it?

You must be a near kin. Now Boaz was a blood relative of Elimelech. We've already established that. It's very clear from scripture. He was a blood relative of Elimelech.

Probably a cousin. And so he's related to Naomi. In that sense. And so Boaz then qualifies doesn't he?

He qualifies. He's the right person. To be the kinsman redeemer. Now what about our kinsman redeemer? What about Jesus? What about him? God is the only one who can redeem a lost sinner.

Right? God's the only one who can do that. But how could God be my near of kin? He's my creator. But how can he be in that sense a near kin?

He's God. He's deity. I'm man. He's eternal. I'm temporal. You know I'm. He's infinite. I'm finite. He's God.

I'm man. He's spirit. I'm flesh. How could he be my near kin? How could God be the right person? Well simple. Well not simple. The answer is simple. God must become a man.

And that's what he did. That's the truth about the incarnation. And that's why I have to believe and gladly believe in the virgin birth of the son of God.

Of Jesus. Without the virgin birth there would be no incarnation. God becoming a man. And without the incarnation there would be no redemption. God had to become a man.

He had to become a near kin to me. Jesus had to come to me. Through the incarnation. I could not go to him. We could not go to him.

We could not reach him. He came to me. John said in John chapter 1. The word was made flesh. And dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory.

The glory as of the only begotten of the father. Full of grace and truth. Paul said in Galatians chapter 4. And verse 5. But when the fullness of time was come.

God sent forth his son. Made of a woman. Made of a woman. Made under the law. To do what? You know that verse? To redeem them that were under the law.

That we might receive the adoption of sons. Alright. So Jesus. The right person. To be our redeemer. He became our near kin.

That was the only way it would work. By the way. Second. The kinsman redeemer. Had to act according to the right purpose. Or so. Had to be the right person.

A near kin. And his. He had to act according to the right purpose. The right purpose. And that purpose of course. Is to redeem. Redeem something that is lost.

And that's. That's what we were. Lost. Alright. So. That means. He had to purchase. Here's the purpose. Had to purchase. A near kin.

Out of some kind of bondage. That. That. That near kin. Might be in right. Then. Be placed back. In right standing.

As heir. Of the family estate. Or the inheritance. Which is what Naomi. Had lost. You see. And so. She needed the near kin. To. To. Redeem.

All of that back. And that's what Boaz did for Naomi and Ruth. They were destitute. Hopeless. Outside of the family.

No hope of any inheritance. No share in the family estate. They had. That. All that had been forfeited. When Naomi and Elimelech.

And her two sons left Judah. In the first place. And so. Boaz. The near kin. Redeemed them. And he did so. Through buying back. The estate. For them.

Their property. And then also. He had to marry Ruth. Now that's exactly. What Jesus did for us. That. We might.

Then. Partake. Or be partakers. Of the inheritance. As members. Of God's eternal family. What was the motivation.

Behind the near kin. Becoming a redeemer. Do you think? Why would Boaz. Want to do such a thing? Was he forced. By the law.

To act. Upon this. To perform this act. No. Was this something. That. He felt. Duty bound. To do.

Well I can't. Speak. To that. Or his heart. But the law. And there was nothing. In the culture. That. Would force. The kinsman.

To be. Duty bound. To. To do this. For a destitute. Family member. That was not it. By law. The kinsman. Redeemer. Must be free.

Free. To do it. Willingly. Now that's important. Here. I said. Earlier. That the book of Ruth. Is a love story. And it is. And yet. Did you know. That the word love.

Does not appear. Anywhere in the book. That's interesting. So where do we get the idea. Or maybe you say. Where did you get the idea. Pastor. That love. Had anything to do.

With Boaz. Becoming the kinsman. Redeemer. Well. The Bible tells us here. That there was a. Nearer. Kin. Than Boaz. If you remember. The story. Possibly.

Elimelech's. Brother. We don't really know. For sure. But if you look at. Chapter 3. And verse 12. You find out about that. Now. Verse 12.

Now. It is true. That I am. A close relative. A kinsman. However. There is a relative. Closer than I. Stay this night.

He's speaking to Ruth. Stay this night. And in the morning. It shall be. That if he will. Perform the duty. Of. A close relative. A kinsman. For you. Good.

Let him do it. But if he does not want. To perform the duty. For you. Then I will perform. The duty for you. As the Lord lives. Lie down until morning. All right.

So there's a nearer kin. And by law. By the lever at law. The. The opportunity. To become the. Redeemer. The kinsman. Redeemer. Falls to the one.

Who is the nearest. Of kin. Boaz. Boaz. Could not then. Be the redeemer. Unless. The nearer of kin. Was unwilling. To fulfill. The.

The. That role. So Boaz. In accordance. To the law. He. Gave. The near kin. First choice. As he should. Chapter. Four. Verse three.

Tells us what happened. Then he said. To the close relative. Kinsman. Naomi. Who has come back. From the country. Of Moab. Sold the piece of land.

Which belonged. To our brother. Elimelech. They sold it. When they left. And I thought. To inform you. Saying. Buy it back. In the presence. Of the inhabitants. Of the elders. Of my people.

If you will redeem it. That is. Buy back this property. According to the law. You will redeem it. Then tell me. That I may know. For then. Or there.

Is no one. But you. To redeem it. And I am next. After you. And he said. I will redeem it. All right. So this nearer of kin. Said. I'll do it. I'll do it.

Ah. But. Boaz said. On the day. You buy the field. From the land of Naomi. You must also. Buy it. From Ruth. The Moabitess.

I need to emphasize. How. How important. It is. That. Boaz. Identified.

Ruth. As the Moabitess. In fact. You can almost. Sense. The disgust. Not.

Not. Not. At Boaz. Toward. Ruth. But the disgust. That the Jews. Had. Toward the Moab.

Moabites. The Moabitess. So he's saying. Here's the property. You got to buy the property. You're the nearer of kin. It's yours. You won't pay for it.

He said. I'll do it. All right. Good. I'll pay the money for that. I'll bet. You must also marry Ruth. The Moabitess. Hmm.

The wife of the dead. To perpetuate the name of the dead. Through his inheritance. Had to do that too. And. Notice verse 6. And the close relative said. I cannot redeem it.

For myself. Lest I ruin. My own inheritance. Somehow him marrying. A Moabitess. Would put his own inheritance.

In jeopardy. Because he had married. A Moabitess. That's all he's saying to. Boaz. I can't do it. You. Then he says. You redeem.

You redeem. My right. Of redemption. For yourself. For I cannot. Redeem it. Cannot. Why? Because he didn't have the money. No. He was ready to pay the money. For the property.

Wasn't a matter of money. The problem was. Ruth. The Moabitess. See. All right. So. Then.

Let me ask you then. Why would. Boaz. Desire the role. Of the Goel. The Redeemer. When the nearer of kin.

Refused. Why would Boaz. Want to do that? Why would Boaz. Be willing to risk. His inheritance. Risk his reputation. That's really what it comes down to.

By marrying a Moabite. When the nearer of kin. Was not willing to do that. Well. Only one reason I can think of. Love.

He loved Ruth. And I think it's very clear. That he did. See. This redemption. Was not some cold business deal.

Not for Boaz anyway. Not in this case. It was not motivated by the law. Because the law made no. No requirement. That. That the kinsmen. Perform the duty.

It was not motivated by greed. Or gain. Certainly was not motivated by self praise. Or the praise of man. Because no one was going to praise him. For marrying a Moabitess.

It was motivated by love. Now. Here is where the story. I think includes you and I. So profoundly. Ruth. Ruth. Was not a Jew.

Was she? This book. About her life. You know. This book. Tucked here in. The Old Testament. Was not a picture.

Of God's. Purposes. God's program for the Jews. That's not what it's about. Because Ruth. Was a Moabite.

She was a Gentile. Not a Jew. And as a Gentile. She represents you. And me. She represents.

The Gentile church. You see. I really believe. That the book of Ruth. Is a glimpse. A. Kind of a.

Little peephole. Of revelation. A glimpse. Of the church. The New Testament church. A glimpse of it. In the Old Testament.

Represented by Ruth. So Ruth. Became the bride of Boaz. Her loving redeemer. The church. Is the bride of Christ. Our loving.

Redeemer. Do you see. The connection. Paul said in Ephesians. 525. Speaking of. The motivation of love. He says.

Husbands. Love your wives. Even as Christ. Also loved the church. And gave himself for it. 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 would be. Holy. Without blemish. Alright. So. The right person. Near of kin. Right purpose. Willingly. Lovingly. Redeemed.

Third. The right power. Boaz. The Bible says. Was a mighty man of wealth. And. He was. Naomi and Ruth's.

Only hope. Really. Only hope. The nearer of kin. Had refused. See. He was either unable. And I don't think that was it. I think he was unwilling.

To be the redeemer. So. Boaz is their only help. Only hope. And. Because. You see. This redemption. Required a couple of things. Not only.

Did the redeemer. Have to be in the right position. To redeem. And Boaz certainly was. And we've already talked about that. But second. He had to have. The financial ability. To purchase the property.

That once belonged to his. His cousin. Elimelech. And Naomi. That had been lost. When they left. Judy. Had to. Had to have the resources. In order to do that.

And Boaz. Apparently did. He was a man of wealth. And so he had the power. To be the kinsman redeemer. Now what about Jesus?

Does he qualify there as well? Of course. Of course. And yet I would say. That Jesus was a mightier. Redeemer.

Than was Boaz. Mightier than any man. Because Jesus. Was able to redeem. A world. Of lost sinners.

Think about that. Jesus has. The power. To redeem us. No matter how far down. Jesus has to go. To get you. He's able. To bring you. All the way.

To redemption. If you will. Come to God. Through him. Let's put this together. And I'll give you one more. He had to be the right person. Near kin. The right purpose.

To redeem. Willingly. Freely. He had to have the right power. Had to have the resources. To do it. And then. One more. He had to pay the right price.

And I guess this. Is perhaps. The most important. The kinsman. Redeemer. Had to pay. The legal price. For the property.

And he had to pay it in full. And this. He had. Had to be done. Before the transaction. Would be complete. And so. Boaz. A mighty man. Of wealth. The Bible says.

Evidently. Had no problem. Paying the necessary amount. I don't know how much it was. I don't know if it was. A lot. Or a little. And maybe it was. A very insignificant. Amount of money.

From his perspective. I don't know. His ability. To pay the price. Is never ever questioned. In the story. So we assume.

It wasn't a hard thing. For him to do. And I think. Even the nearer kin. Evidently. Was able to pay. The purchase price. He's willing to do it. He just was.

Not. He was able. But not willing. To do it. So the price. Is not. Not the issue here. And maybe. It's at this point. That the comparison. Kind of breaks down. Because you see. With Jesus.

The redemption. Price. Was high. Quite high. Wasn't it? In fact. Essentially. The price. My redeemer.

Paid for me. Literally. Bankrupt. Heaven. For a time. Bankrupt. And. Don't misunderstand. Jesus. Could pay the price.

And Jesus. Was well able. To pay. The price. But what. A price. To be my. Kinsman. Redeemer. Paul said.

In 2nd. Corinthians. 8. 9. For you know. The grace. Of our Lord. Jesus Christ. That though. He was rich. Yet. For your sake. Became poor.

That. You. Through his poverty. Might be rich. And so. What was the price? What did it cost. For our. Kinsman. Redeemer.

Well. Just everything. Everything he had. That's why I say. It bankrupt. Heaven. For a time.

He paid it all. Peter said. For as much as you know. That you were not redeemed. With corruptible things. Of silver and gold. But with the precious blood. Of Christ. See. He paid.

The right price. Jesus paid. It all. All. To him. To him. I owe. You know. You know.

That. Little. Hymn. Sin had left. A crimson stain. He washed. White. As. White. Our kinsman.

Redeemer.