The Providence Of God 1

You have your Bible with you, open to Ruth Chapter four, Ruth chapter four, And if you've been following, you know that we've spent all of our time in Ruth chapter one and chapter two. We have not dealt with chapter three. This is unless some things change. This will be my last opportunity for this year. So we're gonna go ahead and go to chapter four. But if we can work something out and I have another opportunity before the years out, I will come back to chapter three. All right, okay, all right. Some of you are out there like, no, we have to do chapter three. We just let's do chapter three and chapter four and then we you know, but trust me, we need to do chapter chapter number four. In chapter three, and the reason that we are so interested in what happens there, Chapter three has some of the most difficult to understand and interpret cultural expressions that we find. The whole thing of Naomi telling Ruth to go and lay at his feet and laying down our hair and all, what does this mean? What happened? What didn't happen. Let me just say that there was no impropriety there. But what you see is a combination of some cultural traditions and some biblical norms that lead us to where we are. Ultimately, this is all about leave right marriage, but live right marriage doesn't. It isn't spelled out exactly, so things were handled slightly differently from place to place. But ultimately this is about the fact that these women cannot inherit this land and that the name of the deceased is about to end. So leave right marriage is ultimately about redeeming and reclaiming the land and re establishing the line of the deceased so that there can be a male heir to carry on in their stead, and so that the land stays not only with the nation, but also with the particular clan. And this is why it's important that Boaz is not just from the right town, not just from the right area, but he is part of the right clan as well, because the land has to stay there. But we also find out is that there is an another redeemer who is actually in line before him. So in chapter four we're about to see is him approaching the other? Here we come back, No, that's just okay, is him approaching the redeemer? So let's see that here in chapter four they've both declared their interest Ruth has declared her interest in her availability. Boaz has declared his interest and desire to marry her, to redeem her Naomi the land. And now we go to the other redeemer. Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there, and behold the redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, turn aside, friend, sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said sit down here. So they sat. Then he said to the redeemer, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moad, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought I would tell you of it and say by it in the presence of those sitting here, and in the presence of the elders of my people, if you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not tell me, then I may know, for there is no one to redeem it, sorry, no one besides you to redeem it. And I come after you, and he said, I will redeem it. Then Boas said, the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance. Then the Redeemer said, I I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it. Now here's another one of those customs. Now, this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming, redeeming and exchanging. Now let's let you know that it wasn't a law, but merely a custom. Because the author is apparently saying it's not a custom anymore, But it was a custom at the time. If it was a law, it would have still been obeyed at the time of the writing. But it wasn't a law. It was a custom. This was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging. To confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other. And this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the Redeemer said to Boaz, buy it for your he draw off his sandal, And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belongs to Alimelech, and all that belongs to Chilean and to Milan. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mielan, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. But you are witnesses this day. Then, all the people who were at the gate, and the elders said, we are witnesses. May the Lord make this woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthy of Iphratha and be renowned in Bethlehem, and be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar borre to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman. So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, blessed be the Lord. Now I remember we've seen the women earlier. When Naomi comes back, the women, right, we don't get any names. Is just this group. They come in and they go out, the women. And you remember the last time the women came and said something that Naomi. She said, don't don't don't call me that, call me, call me ma, call me bitter, because the Lord has dealt so heartily with me. You remember, that's where Naomi was at the time. That's where her soul was at the time. God doesn't love me, God doesn't like me. God is mistrue me. I don't even want to be called that anymore because that's not true of me anymore, because of how God is dealing with me so harshly. So now we see the women again. Then the women said to Naomi, blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel. He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age. For your daughter in law, who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him. Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse, and the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying a son has been born to Naomi. They called him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now these are the generations of Paris. Paris fathered has run, fathered, Ram, Ram fathered a Menadab, a Menadab fathered, Nashon fathered, Salmon, Salmon fathered, Boas, Boas fathered, Obed oh Bad fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David. Amen. And so as we come to the end of the narrative, the end of what is arguably the greatest love story ever told, there are some things that are absent normally when we think about love stories and fairy tales and things of this nature. We would think about Ruth in a beautiful gown, in a room filled with people who to see her in her beautiful gown on her beautiful day. But there is no wedding here. There's something more important than that here. And what is it that could possibly be so important? We ask, And we ask that because if we're honest in our day and really all over the world, there is nothing more important than weddings. We love weddings how much so according to one bridal magazine, And this is just weddings in the US, right, it's the epicenter, the capital of the we love weddings world. Right, the average cost of a wedding has now topped thirty five thousand US dollars. Yeah, just let that wash over you for a moment. Thirty five thousand US dollars. Some of you all saying, I'd be a lot of people with quatcho, right, But it's thirty five thousand US dollars. Why Because we love weddings not only in the United States, but we love weddings all over the world. The recent wedding of the so called American Princess Megan Markle to her prince in the UK, Harry, costs forty five million dollars. It was viewed by twenty nine million people just in the US alone. Now, listen, we fought a war with Britain in order to not have or recognize a game, and yet twenty nine million dollars US Twenty nine million Americans are so in love with the monarchy that they'll get up in the middle of the night to watch the princess get married and become a part of the monarchy that we rejected in order to become the free the United States of America. We love weddings. Listen to what one commentator has said about weddings in an article entitled stop looking for a wife, you won't find one. Wf price for women. A wedding is not a beginning, but an end. It is a culmination of years of longing and preparation to be a bride and marks a triumph and achievement. To understand this from a masculine perspective, listen, man, if you want to understand what a wedding means. To understand this from a masculine perspective, think of the athlete who spends years training, dreaming, and striving for victory. After all those years of struggle and discipline, practice and sweat, he finally gets the chance to compete in a stadium full of spectators. If he is the victor, he stands on the podium in front of the crowd and is given his medal to his national anthem. This is a very emotional experience for many athletes and a great joy. The bride standing at the altar is experiencing the same thing. It is her triumph, her reef of Laurels. The wedding is everything everything, that's what we live for, what many women in our world today absolutely live for. They've been planning it since they were girls. And some of the most devastating arguments, disagreements and fights that a couple has they have coming up to the wedding. In fact, it is one of the most stressful days that the couple will experience because of the desire to see everything go absolutely perfect. And most of the everything that we want to see go absolutely perfect, you can't find anywhere in scripture nowhere. We're absolutely committed to it with every fiber of our being, as though it were holy writ but you can't find it anywhere. Why because it comes from fairy tale. It's actually a combination of fairy tales and the weddings that we find there, the royal family and the weddings that we find there, and whatever traditions we come from, and there's all. It's all there. Now, let me hasten to say I am not immune from this. Myself was not immune from this myself. When my wife and I got married, there were things that we had to do because people had been dreaming about it and thinking about it and wanting it and yearning it. For example, when we got married, we jumped the broom, and a lot of people were like, what are y'all doing getting married? Why is the broom was? What did you Why? Well, because hundreds of years ago, when slaves weren't allowed to have weddings, what they did to symbolize that two of them getting married was that gathered up some witnesses and then they jumped over a broom in order to solemnize their relationship. Now, all these years later, we've been free a long time, y'all. I'm jumping over brooms in nineteen eighty nine. So we all have some of that. But here is the problem. The problem is that we live in a time where we don't love marriage, but we love weddings. In fact, in many ways we disparage the marriage, but we're absolutely committed to the wedding, so committed to the wedding that we actually walk around with this kind of cognitive dissonance. I can't tell you how many times I've talked to a young couple, you know, and all of a sudden starting to talk about children, and they're having this agreements about children. They're fighting over whether or not it's time to get pregnant, and what's the answer. The answer is, well, we can't get pregnant right now. Why because we can't afford it right now. Like, wait a minute, y'all just spent thirty thousand dollars on a wedding. Maybe if you backed up off of that, you could afford to have a baby right now. Amen, somebody, isn't it amazing that we come into a marriage broke because we're all about the wedding. But there's something far more important at stink, something far more significant at stink. And I've told you. I may have told you this before. I don't know, but as a pastor, and you just have to know, you just have to know me to understand this, I'd much rather do a funeral than a wedding. Don't like for people to die. I don't, but I understand that saints are gonna die and they're going to go off the glory. But here's the difference. When somebody comes and says, pastor, there's been a death, what they do is they sit and allow a pastor to be a pastor and to shepherd the family through this event. When there's a wedding pastor we've hired somebody else to be in charge. They're gonna tell you where to stand, when to speak, when to stop speaking, and you, I don't have time for that. Call me when somebody dies, because again, oftentimes God is the last thing on our minds when it's time for a wedding. This is all about the family displaying status and wealth, the bribe, saying yes to the dress, and everybody seeing the dress. Folks, how many ways can we do a long white gown? You can't say amen? You ought to say ouch. This is all about people proving status and competing with one another from beginning to end, and completely missing that which is most significant. Oftentimes, as Christians we get derailed and run over because even if this is not our commitment, well, our family members want it, so will bow and bend to it, because, after all, why stand up for what God says is right when you might have to face your extended family much easier to face God than the aunties. Again, if you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch. But there are things that are far more important. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have weddings. What I'm saying is we have to make sure that we're not, as they say in the news business, burying the lead. There are things that are far more significant than that ceremony. And here in this text we see some of those things. What are they? Number one, first and foremost, the picture of redemption that marriage paints is far more significant than a wedding. The picture of redemption that marriage paints. Boaz is not seeking his own interest. He's seeking the interests of others. Notice that he wants what's better for the other kinsman. He wants what's better for Ruth. He wants what's better for Naomi. He wants what's better for Maelon and Killon. We see that in the text over and over again. What does he say that he is doing this for Ruth, He is doing this for Naomi, He is doing this for his deceased relatives. In fact, the other Redeemer does not want to buy the land because he understands the right of leaving right marriage. And in the right of leaving right marriage, what happens is your firstborn is not your legal heir. Your firstborn is the legal heir ofc and killion, So that your first born is the one who has right to that and not you, which is why initially he says, oh more land, Yes, I'll take it, And then he says, wait, marry Ruth and her firstborn son inherits the land, and I don't. Yeah, if it's not for me, I'm not interested. But Boaz is not doing this for him. He's doing it this to redeem Naomi, to redeem Ruth, and to redeem the name and the line of Alimelech and Maylon and Killon. This is not about him. This is about a picture of redemption. And marriage is always a picture of redemption. That's why Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter five, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her. Christ laid down his life for his bride the Church. This was not a selfish act. It was a selfless one. And when we see marriage, we see a picture of this selfless, redeeming act. So whatever it is that we decide and determine to do to commemorate that, it must first and foremost point to the picture of redemption that is in Christ, because that's far more significant than any other tradition that we try to hold on to. Secondly, Not only is this picture of redemption more important, but also the source of comfort, aid, and protection that marriage provides is more important. Some of this from Martin Luther. Some thoughtful people have turned their own experience into a fine and noble proverb and have said, early to rise and early to take a wife, a man will not regret throughout his life. Why well, this mode of life makes for people who keep a healthy body, a good conscience, possessions, honor, and friends. In other words, marriage is good for you. All marriage people in here should have just said, amen, right there, let me try it out again. Marriage is good for you. Amen, Marriage is good for you. Marriage is not just good for you. Marriage is good for everybody. Listen. Marriage here in chapter four we see is good for boys and for Ruth. It's good for boys and for Ruth. And there are opportunities that we have to help people understand this, even to help our family and friends understand this, to help our children understand this. When people disparage the very concept of marriage, the very idea of marriage, I see that as an opportunity not just to defend marriage, but to defend what marriage points to. Marriage is about the redemption that we have in Christ and people talk about marriage in ahe marriage ah, the old ah, the old ball and chain all marriage. Oh yeah, you were free and then you got married, so and so I wish I was born married. It's good. It's good. I'm in my thirtieth year of it. It gets better. It's good. My worst day married to bridget it's better than my best day without her. Marriage is good. Amen, it's good. It was good for Ruth and Boaz. It was a blessing to Ruth and Boaz. Even in creation. Listen, before the fall, before sin had entered into the world. What does God say, It's not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him. That's good. Marriage is good. It's good for the people who get married. But not only was it good Truth and Boas. Marriage was also good for Naomi. Marriage was good for Naomi because the wedding, the marriage of Ruth and Boaz, was not just a blessing to them, because marriage is not just about the two people who get married. Amen. That's one thing I love about marriage here, the idea that is ingrained thoroughly in this culture, that says, you know what y'all can get married. That's fine, but this is not about you. It's about all of us, Amen, somebody. Marriage is definitely a blessing to the people who get married, but it's a blessing to the people that they're attached to as well. It's a blessing to Naomi. When the women come, what do the women say? The women talk about the blessing that this is to Naomi, not to Ruth, that's understood, amen. But they talk about the blessing that this is to Naomi. Because marriage doesn't happen in isolation, and it's not just a blessing to the two who get married. Not only that, it's a blessing to the community at large. In verse two, and then in verses nine through twelve, we see that it's a blessing to the elders. Look at verse two. He took ten men of the elders of the city and said sit here. So they sat down. Not only in verse two, but look in verses nine through twelve. Look Guinnia of verse nine. Then Boss said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to a limellect, and all that belonged to to Killean and to Maelan. Also Ruth the Morbite, the widow of Mielan, I have bought to be my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses, then all the people who were at the gate, and the elders said, we are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephratha and be renowned in Bethlehem. And may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah. Because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman, the elders are encouraged by this. Why Why would the elders be encouraged by this, Because here they understand that marriage is not just about the two individuals getting married. Marriage is also not just about the two families coming together. Marriage impacts the entire culture at large. It is actually foundation upon which civilization, as we know it is built. They see this marriage as a blessing to their entire culture. And not only that, but this is a godly marriage. God has established leverright marriage in order to protect women and in order to perpetuate the name of those who have been deceased. This has to do with the entire community. So the elders come together and see a godly man obeying the word of God, a godly man, being a kinsman, redeemer, taking into his home and sheltering these women who need that sheltering and having a desire to perpetuate the name of their fallen brethren. And they are encouraged by this. This is a blessing to them. Marriage benefits all of society. I have opposed this absolute, blasphemous, destructive notion of so called same sex marriage for probably the last decade in the strongest terms that I can oppose it, and in every venue that I can oppose it. And the greatest argument that people have is the individual argument. Well, if two people love each other, marriage is not just about two people who love each other. Marriage is a bedrock in society and of civilization, and same sex marriage is no marriage at all. When we defile and redefine marriage. We defile and redefine the family, and we defile and redefine the society as a whole. There is much at stake. This is even for people who are not part of the church. It's good. That's why we can be happy even when non believers get married, or even when people have nothing to get married get married. Marriage is from God. Amen. Have you ever wondered, for example, why it is that as Christians, if a couple comes to the church, they were previously married, and they were married as unbelievers, they come to repentance and faith, they're born again, they come to join the church. Here's what we don't do. We don't say, well, now we're going to give you the right hand of the fellowship, but you guys also need to schedule another wedding, because only the weddings of Christians are legitimate. Why don't we do that? Because marriage is for everybody, not just for believers. This is part of God's common grace. Amen, part of God's common grace. It is a blessing. Now, believers not to be married to an unbeliever. We've already talked about that. Go listen to the rest of the series. But marriage is not just for us. It's a benefit to everyone. When marriage breaks down in a culture, the culture breaks down everywhere else. It is a blessing to the individuals being married, it's a blessing to the families that are coming together. It's a blessing to the society and the community at large. It is important and ought to be celebrated. Thirdly, and lastly, again, I'm talking about what's more important than a wedding. Not that weddings are unimportant, but there are things that are more important. So even if we do or when we do have weddings, these things need to be highlighted. Number one, the redemption to which it points. Secondly, the comfort and aid and protection that it brings. And let me say a wordy about that protection before we move on to this third and final point. There are some words here that make us uncomfortable. He says, I've bought the land, and I've also, you know, bought naomi. Uh. The buying of brides not a practice in Israel, not condoned in scripture. The idea here is that in leave the right marriage, when you become the next person in line as the position yesser of this estate, you take on the obligation of one brother to another to marry and to perpetuate the line. That's what he means here. This is not about the fact that you can just go out and say, yeah, I want to buy that one. It's not what's happening here. The transaction is about the estate. But when the transaction occurs for the estate, the obligation to marry comes in. Now, By the way, two things you need to see that dispels the idea that this is just about someone going in buying a bride. In chapter three, she initiates first and lets him know of her interest and availability. Amen. Secondly, he comes and goes to the next redeemer because he is obeying the law. He is protecting her. I love this part of the story, this protection that you find here. He's not abusing this woman, he's protecting her. Think about this because here's what we think. We think that you know love, true love is when you just have to have someone against all odds, and no matter what, you will have them. I talk to you about this song, the popular song a while back called marry Her Anyway, Right, I'm gonna marry her anyway. I don't care. I don't care what anybody says. I want her and I'm going to marry her. That's not love, that's selfishness. That's narcissism. You know what love is. Love is boass saying I love this woman and I want what's best for her, and I love God, and I believe God wants what's best for me and for her. And if me obeying God means that the other redeemer gets to marry her, then I accept that because her being protected and taken care of is more important than me having her because I want her. Don't miss that. Don't miss that, young ladies, don't miss that. If this man is willing to disobey God because he loves you so much that he doesn't love God enough, run run, get away from him. Because if he will disobey the law of God, dishonor the law of God because his passions are so great for you, what happens when his passions are so great for something else? That is God dishonoring. That is not love, that is not godliness. You want to see a picture of a man who loves a woman. Boaz is a man who loves a woman. He loves her enough to say if God's best for you does not include me, I will gladly resign and step aside, because my desire is for your best, not mine. That's love, that's protection. And it's not just the protection that Boaz is offering to Ruth. This is the protection that God is offering to both Ruth and Boaz. They are both being protected by the law of God. God's law is always what's best. Amen. Now we can look at this last one, the redemption to which it points, the comfort, aid and protection that it brings. And finally, the offspring that marriage produces, the offspring that marriage produces. And this is another thing that we have come to despise really across the world, the idea that children are a blessing and an inheritance from God, and having children is a good thing. Told you, I'd rather do a funeral than a wedding, But if I do a wedding, I'm always pointing to this, even in the public proclamation, the public prayer mentioning and extolling the virtues of having a whole lot of babies. Amen, Hallelujah, praise the Lord. Have a lot of babies. It's good, It's a blessing. It's a blessing. And then ironic that you have sometimes Christian people who say things like, well, you know, I just don't know if I would want to bring children into this world the way it is now. And here's a story that takes place during the worst days that Israel had ever experienced, and God blesses them during their society's lowest point through what the birth of a child. The birth of a child, even when they go into exile. And Jeremiah twenty nine, what does he say to them while they're in exile again, we say, oh, with the economy like this, Oh with the culture like this, Oh, as bad as things are. God says, you're going into exile in Babylon under Nebukanezar. And what does he say in Jeremiah twenty nine, is it six or seven? Be fruitful there and multiple Why even when you're in exile, be fruitful and multiply? Why? Because that's with people who have hope. Do people who have hope, people who have faith, people who trust that God is in control, that God is sovereign, they're not afraid to receive his blessing and his good gift of children. Listen to this from Albert Moehler, A great deal of cultural capital is required in order to encourage young men to marry and men of all ages to fulfill responsibilities as husbands and fathers. The normative picture of the good life for men, at least as presented in the dominant media culture, does not include the comprehensive responsibilities of fatherhood. When men are not stigmatized for failure to be faithful as husbands and fathers, young men will take marriage and parenthood with little significance, as many will avoid marriage and fatherhood altogether. Don't want to grow up, and fatherhood means having to grow up. Fatherhood means having to accept responsibility. Fatherhood means having to put somebody else's needs in front of yours. Fatherhood means you don't get to buy everything you want whenever you want it. Fatherhood means you don't get to go everywhere you want whenever you want to go. Fatherhood means that you have to say no and deny your flesh and so many A young man doesn't want to be a father. Oh, they want a woman. And if they can find a woman who will give them the benefits of marriage without having to marry them, they'll take that. If they find a woman who demands marriage in order for her to give him the benefits of marriage, well they'll do that. But even in that, they want all the benefits and none of the responsibilities. So it's yeah, we can be married right now, but no babies. That's ungodly. It's ungodly. Where is your hope? Where is your God in whom you trust? Do you recognize that you won't be here forever and there are very few things that you will leave? Do you recognize that our gospel responsibility is not yet finished, that the world hasn't been reached yet? Is your desire for the next generation to be populated with godly men and women? Is that your desire? If it's your desire, are you asking everyone else to take care of that while you enjoy your so called freedom. And here's the thing. We have the gospel. We have the Gospel. What a privilege it is to have the gospel and then to have children brought into your home where they will be inundated with the Gospel constantly. Do you not want this? Do you not desire this? Is this not a passion of yours? And if it's not, why not? What is more significant. What is more important than the nations, the generations, and our opportunity to raise children in the and instruction of the Lord. What an incredible blessing, What an incredible blessing. This is one of the great hopes that we have. Now. Let me hurry to talk about the other side of this, because we know that one of the significant pains in marriage is people who desire to have children and are not able to. Ironically, many of them do everything they can to prevent pregnancy early on in marriage, and then think they can just turn it on one day and have a child at the drop of a hat. And oftentimes when their prime childbearing years have passed them by, the opportunity is gone and they're discouraged and almost broken over it. Or maybe it's not even that. Maybe it's that couple who gets married and they get pregnant and everyone is excited, and then there's a miscarriage, which happens far more frequently than you think. Two things I want to say to you. Number one, you don't need children to be a family. A married couple that has children expand their family. They don't become a family. Do you hear me? Let me say that again. A married couple that has children does not become a family. They merely expand their family. When you get married, you're a family. You're a family, and you're as complete as you need to be by God's grace. If God gives you children, that's a bonus. Amen, it's a bonus, and it's a blessing. Receive it and rejoice in it. But you're a family. Here's a second thing. Here's a second thing. Having children does not put you in a more elite status as a Christian couple. We praise God for children, we praise God for the blessing, but that doesn't put you in a more elite status because, as is evident by what we talked about, just a moment ago that is in the hands of God, you're not able to do that. There are thousands and thousands of couples. Right around the corner here, there's a fertility clinic. Do you know what I'm talking about? Right around the corner up the street here. Why do we have fertility clinics? Because thousands upon thousands of couples are not able to have children. That's not something you can do just because you want to, which means that when you do it. It's not because you're great, It's because God is good. Amen. But even if you don't, God is good. God is good. You know why because your marriage still points to the picture of redemption that we have in Christ. And your marriage still brings hope and comfort and protection. Your marriage is still all of those things. Even if this third piece of the puzzle never comes. God is still good. Marriage is still meaningful, and it still brings glory and honor to our God. It is still vitally important to us, to our extended family, to our society, the culture at large, and the entire world. And it is still an opportunity to scream from the rooftops. There is a Redeemer. He is the bridegroom. And everything that we are that is good in marriage is a mere, frail reflection of the ultimate good that will be revealed when Christ redeems his bride. And there is the wedding to end all weddings. Let's pray God, how we thank you, and how we rejoice in You and your goodness and kindness and mercy toward us. How we rejoice in our Redeemer, our Redeemer who was a descendant of Boaz m oh how we rejoice in your kindness to us, the kindness that you showed to this outsider from Moab, by bringing lots sinful descendants back into the circle through the marriage of Ruth and Boaz. Oh, how you remind us of your redemption of the unworthy, by remembering even Tamar in this text, and by reminding us that you redeem unworthy outsiders and make them your own grant, by your grace, that no matter what else we see, whole dear from this book that we see, and the whole deer the picture of Christ, our redeemer, in whose name we pray and ask all these things amen.