Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Ruth 4:13, 17 Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and when he went in to her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son . . . And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
LET'S GO TO BETHLEHEM -- WITH RUTH
She wasn't born and raised in Bethlehem, but she came to call it home. Ruth was a gentile from Moab. She came to be married to one of Naomi's sons when they moved to Moab to escape a famine. Even though she was encouraged to stay in her homeland and remarry, Ruth showed herself a woman of integrity and love. She determined to stay and support her mother-in-law.
When Ruth came to Bethlehem, she was a stranger in a strange land. If we visited Bethlehem today, we would probably feel like she did when she arrived. She didn't fit in. She was different.
God blessed Ruth with faith to trust in Him and His promises of a Savior -- and with a god-fearing husband, Boaz. God also blessed her with a son, Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David.
This may seem, at first glance, little more than an ordinary event in a mildly interesting history. But this is more than that. This is the ongoing story of God keeping his promise of a Savior. Notice that the Savior's family tree includes a gentile, a non-Jew like us.
Do you ever feel like you don't belong? I mean, when you hear the promises that God made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah, do you think, "Well, I'm not of this ethnic background, how do these promises, made to the Jews, apply to me? I'm not Jewish!"
While some of the Jews of Jesus' day thought that the Christ would come only for them, the truth had been revealed centuries before. The account of Ruth, a gentile, reminds us of this fact.
Many of us are German or Norwegian or Scottish or English. Still the promises that God made to and through His Old Testament people concerned us all. The announcement of the Savior's birth was not meant just for a few, but for us all. We are children of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26) with all rights and privileges. Didn't God's messenger say so? "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11).
Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing God has done for us.
