My Kinsman Redeemer, Ruth 4:14
A classic fairy tale: A poor young girl with only rags for clothes, two mean stepsisters, and a stepmother who did not like her. They were all dressed up for the ball but poor Cinderella had to stay home with her cat and wash dishes, that is until the fairy showed up with her magic wand and everything changed in a moment of time. In a flash, she was arrayed in a beautiful new dress, a pumpkin that turned into a coach and seven mice that turned into a coachman with six white horses. Wow, and off to the ball they went. The Charming Prince asked Cinderella for a dance and it was love at first sight. In haste trying to get home before midnight, she lost a slipper. The Prince found the slipper and found Cinderella…the slipper fit perfectly! He presented to her an engagement ring and they lived happily ever after. And the cat said: Meow!
The Book of Ruth is the Cinderella story of the Bible; however, this is no fairy tale. It is a story scripted under the divine providence of God. A story of famine, bankruptcy, heartache, and death. A story also filled with faith, trust, courage, and romance. And miraculously so, one that in time gave us and the world Jesus Christ. Were it not for Jesus’ birth into the world, no one would have ever heard about this poor young woman who was swept off her feet by God’s Prince Charming with a beautiful ending that most would-be-brides could only dream about. It is the story of Ruth and a Kinsman Redeemer—Boaz!
Ruth was the daughter-in-law to Naomi; once part of a family of six now reduced to just two. They went out full but they came home empty. Returning home with Naomi broke, bereaved, and embarrassed, Ruth is forced to work in the fields as a common laborer. But not just any field, but in the fields of a kinsman to Naomi, Boaz. Because of Boaz, Ruth came home with handfuls of grain on purpose. It was love at first sight for Boaz and through the process of law; he purchased all the rights of this family and purchased Ruth to be his wife also. Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. Through Ruth and her Kinsman Redeemer/Boaz came a son Obed, who the father of Jesse, who was the father of David and ultimately whose son was Jesus Christ!
A Kinsman Redeemer was one who was next of kin to a family in dire need, doing what another family member would not or could not do. One who was willing to sacrifice all he had without regret in order another may profit. One who could not only do this for one, but who could do this for an entire world. That Kinsman Redeemer is Jesus Christ. Because of His incarnation, he took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and became our next of kin. He who was rich became poor that we might be made rich. We who have come to him, humbling ourselves at his feet, seeking his grace and favor, now have been made one in him. Having lost all to the world, we now have the abundance in him. My Kinsman Redeemer—Jesus Christ has come into the slave market of sin where I was chained in my sin. He paid the ransom for my sin by his suffering and shedding his own blood on the cross for my eternal redemption. He has brought me out, set my feet on an established rock and has made me free. We now are heirs of God and joint heirs of Jesus Christ. Had it not been for My Kinsman Redeemer, no one would have ever heard of or cared about me. Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, and his name is famous through out the world!
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