Ruth 3:

7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.

8 In the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet

9 “Who are you?”He asked.

“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me since you are a kinsman-redeemer.”

Ruth is obeying the instructions of her mother. The drama of the night is symbolic: Spread the corner of your garment over me means be the lord over me: it means be my husband, or lord or king or master. And she’s speaking to her kinsman-redeemer. This drama demonstrates the mystery of marriage which is an eternal symbol, a mystery. In the first verse it’s explained that Naomi decided and said: “My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? The thought behind this in the passage is to find a provision of rest for the young woman, as a shepherd finds a place of content for the sheep. Man’s longing, his thirst and hunger, is for a provision of rest, though he hardly knows this. This is what God has been bringing to him all through ages. God says, In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you will have none of it (Isaiah 30:15). This rest, though offered by God, proved tough and impossible to be accepted because man was and is yet married to a husband well and alive, called the Law. The husband had to die before he was able to look at the husband called Grace which is her true rest and salvation. Grace says you are accepted to God just as you are; Christ has been sacrificed to provide the saving grace. Man has always wanted to run the course of his life and has always has the constant reminder from God that  he’s just incapable of solving the question of death which means separation between man and God without without divine provision; man wants to solve this problem by himself. He’s seeking a way to rest, to finding a caring husband. Yet, like Ruth, he must come the way of accepting his weakness and obey the God -given instruction and come through the way of Christ. Finally and in this age, God has succeeded in removing the stumbling blocks from and away from him.

The longing of God for man’s love is expressed by Leah in her life struggle to hold the love of Jakob, her husband. After she gave birth to Levi, she fetched a deep sigh, Now at last my husband will be attached to me…. (Genesis 29:34). This is the story of all the ages: God’s longing for man’s love; man’s seeking rest This is the mystery of marriage; it expresses the deep love between God and man; it’s expressed all over the scripture and it’s enacted in symbol in marriage: flesh to flesh; soul to soul! Human experience is all about coming into this estate with God. This is the rest of man: this is the rest of God.

In Israel, a woman is first a wife before becoming a bride! This is certainly an arrangement different from the most culture of the world. We are not waiting to explain this. But it is the truth. God by the Holy Spirit espoused a wife to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the wife is on the way becoming a bride. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride for her husband (Revelation 21:2). The Holy City is the victorious church, the wife of Christ. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery – but I am talking about Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31-32). Marriage is the profound mystery to express what the relationship between Christ and man should be. It’s unfortunate, though that man has touched this deep spiritual meaning with carnality and many marriages hardly express the thought and meaning of this mystery.

In the final analysis, the mystery springs alive in the end of time as the age wraps off. God gets His end in the Lord Jesus Christ as the redeemed stream in to the presence of God who sits on the throne; He spreads His tent over them. This is rest: God’s rest; man’s rest. ….and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them…. For the Lamb upon the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 7:15-17). This is provision of the husband-shepherd. Another name among several descriptive others also is: kinsman-redeemer. 

 

Thank you Lord for being our kinsman-redeemer. Thank You for wiping away our tears and making us serve forever before the presence of Your Father Who sits upon the throne.

 

Thank You Lord