the gospel according to ruth, intro

The ladies of Grace Covenant Church are now having a Monday night Bible study :) By the grace of God, I've been given the privilege (for now) of teaching the study. We've decided, thanks to the suggestion of Chris Canuel, that we should blog through our study. So, here's what I basically covered the first week, in case you missed it or in case you're of the male gender and can't come (no boys allowed!) or in case you're just a random cool person who reads my blog and loves Jesus :) Stay tuned because we're going to probably make Mrs. Michele teach/blog too! I figured that a good place to start would be to answer the question: "why should I even study the Bible to begin with?" The book of Ruth is part of a bigger book and a bigger picture. So, I wanted to start with a general answer as to why we should study the Bible. Then I'll narrow it down to the book of Ruth specifically.

Why should we study the Bible?
1) We believe it is true: 

• It has stood the test of time, and is the most printed book of all time. 
• While it’s been challenged throughout history, it has never been disproved. In fact, it is historically accurate. Archeology and science actually confirm much of the Bible. (Personally, I think answersingenesis.org is a good place to check out, if you're interested in all this. I'm sure there are plenty of other great resources we could find as well.) The people in the Bible were real people, taking part in real historical events. 
• There were unique prophecies made and foretold, that were fulfilled. This gives it credibility.
• Even though it was written over a period of 2000 years, by 40 or more different authors, it has a clear and consistent storyline. It doesn't contradict itself, and it actually builds on itself.

2) We believe it to not only be a true historical account, but to be the inspired, inerrant Word of God: 

• We believe the truth of the Bible historically, so we also believe the Bible when it claims to be the inspired Word of God. 
• The character of the Bible itself is unique. It is widespread and long-standing. It has a clear purpose and consistency. It answers the "hard questions" of life, death, suffering, etc. It makes unique prophecies which have been fulfilled. It warns us of the end of time and foretells the future. There is no other book that does all this. 
• It is not specific to one time/nation/people/race, etc. While it tells the story of a certain nation in history, it opens up to bring in people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. It is just as true today as it ever has been. It can apply to anyone, anywhere, at any time. 
• It was carefully chosen and approved in church history. As the Bible was formed and being put together, there were strict criteria for what was considered to be the Word of God and should be put in the Bible. The book had to be written by an apostle, textually coherent and agree with other Scripture, and accepted overall by the church and the councils. The Old Testament was a bit different, but the point is that the criteria are strict and God worked through man to create the Bible. We believe it is inerrant and perfect-God would not let it be corrupted.

3) It has a crucial effect on your life! 

• It is the power of salvation (Romans 1:16): Hearing the message of the gospel is the first step into the Christian life. 
• It is not only the first step into the Christian life, but it IS the Christian life. It is God’s law, God’s expectations, God’s mind and heart. It reveals God’s character, and His plan of salvation. It reveals God’s love for His children and His hatred of sin. It reveals everything we need to know in order to live a Godly life. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever." The Bible teaches us how to do this in the best possible way.

The Bible itself actually speaks on the importance of studying the Bible:

"I have stored up Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You." -Psalm 119:11

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the Word of Truth." -2 Tim. 2:15

"You shall therefore lay up these words of Mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise...." -Deut. 11:18-19

"Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." -Acts 17:11

"Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" -Romans 15:4

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." -2 Timothy 3:16-17

It's clear that we should be eagerly studying and seeking to know more about the Bible! This can mean, and should include, prayerful reading, memorizing, meditating, discussing, listening to preaching and teaching, etc.

This might be a bad example, but it's almost like preparing for a test in school. You study and re-read and memorize. You want to know the material inside and out, in order to be prepared and confident. And, I mean, God's not going to have us sit down and answer some essay questions before we enter Heaven...but your faith will be tested while on earth, in many ways. The Bible tells us to be prepared to always defend what we believe. It’s hard to defend something you don’t know anything about. Not only that, but we will need to have Scripture stored up in our hearts and minds to encourage us and give us hope in suffering. Also, to simply follow Christ and love Him better. Basically, this is bigger than any test. It’s your life.

Another way to think of it is to compare it to love letters. I know people hardly write letters anymore, which I find really sad. But I've had boyfriends write me letters in the past, and when I would get one I could hardly wait to get it opened. And I would sit and read the entire thing over and over, and practically memorize it and think about it even when I wasn't staring at the letter itself. Or, hey, think of those cute old women who have old letters they've saved since the 1930's when their husbands were off at war. They've probably read those letters hundreds of times over the years. Because when you love someone, messages from them are so sweet. You can't get enough of it. In situations like that, it's not about the letters themselves, but it's about who they are from! The sender makes the letter special. So when you have the Bible, a message from the greatest love of Your life, it only makes sense that the Bible be precious to you. Plus, God is infinitely greater than any man, and loves you eternally and far more than any man will ever dream of loving you, and His message to you is perfect and incredible. And the more you read it, the sweeter it becomes.

So, I think now is a good point to move on to the book of Ruth!

Date, setting, and author: 

We are not sure of the exact date or the author of the book of Ruth. Don't let that be discouraging, however. There are reasons for any ambiguity in the Bible. Knowing the author may be distracting or may take away from the point of the book, or may just not be important. But God doesn’t mess up, or just accidentally leave important things out.

So, there is a lot we do know. We know that it is written around 1010 B.C or later. The book took place during the period of the judges. After the Israelites left Egypt and wandered through the wilderness, they made it to the land God had promised to them, which was Israel. There was no king of Israel, so judges were appointed. They weren’t traditional judges like we have today. They handled some judicial matters, but they were more like warriors who lead battles, and dealt with neighboring nations and foreign peoples.

The whole period of the judges was a time of social, spiritual, and political unrest. Everyone in Israel basically did whatever they wanted, and sinned against God. During this time a pattern emerged in Israel of sin, servitude, supplication, and salvation: Israel would sin, their sin would bring them into servant hood and subjection to people they once controlled (One of these nations was Moab. Remember this.), Israel would cry out to God, and God would raise up someone to save them and deliver them. This pattern of events happened over and over during this period. Overall, it was a dark time for Israel, yet God was sovereign and at work through it all.

Key Themes:

Some of the major themes include: · God’s sovereign control · God’s wisdom · God’s covenant kindness/benevolence · Redemption · Faith and Obedience · Jesus! This is the only one I'm going to expand on right now, because it's the one people probably have the most problem with/objection to. It might seem a little off, because you can read through Ruth and not find Jesus’ name anywhere. But Jesus is everywhere in the Bible. In the same way that the New Testament points people back to Jesus, so the Old Testament points people forward to Him. Augustine explained it by saying The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed,the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.” The difference is that the Old Testament uses types and shadows to point to the Messiah they are awaiting ("concealed"), while the New Testament points to the Christ that has already been revealed. The entire Bible is one big story, in which God the Father is the director and Jesus is center stage.

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27 ESV)

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44 ESV)

These verses are Jesus talking. And Jesus is saying “Hey, all the Old Testament Scriptures? They are about ME!”

It isn’t always easy to see or understand how the Old Testament is about Jesus. That’s why the disciples needed Jesus to explain it to them, and why we are going to study Ruth. The book of Ruth is just one small part of the unfolding Biblical drama, which stars Jesus Christ!

With that being said, I want you to be looking for something more in this book. Ruth has often been viewed as a simple love story. A romantic tale, with a moral to grab hold of. And while it is a lovely story, it is so much more than a quaint and charming tale. It is literally the Gospel according to Ruth.

The Gospel (to try and sum it up) is basically the message of God’s plan. Before the beginning of time, He created a plan to save us. He then created mankind, and mankind sinned against a Holy God. And according to His plan, God sent His son to suffer in our place, redeem us, and fulfill all the laws that we couldn’t fulfill. Our sins were placed on Jesus, and Jesus’ perfect righteousness was placed on us. And now we have access to God through Jesus Christ, and have the Holy Spirit in us to help live according to God’s will.

So, you might be wondering how this is going to be seen in a book that was written 1000 years before Jesus was born. But, we know this is possible, considering God’s plan of salvation was in place before we were ever created. And God was revealing that plan to us even in the Old Testament through events such as those we will be looking at in Ruth. So, as I said before, keep on the lookout. Don’t settle for what you see at face value of this book. Be on the lookout for Jesus and salvation, and see what it means when we say "The Gospel According to Ruth."

7 Reasons to Study the Book of Ruth:

  In preparing for this study, I read a book by John Piper in which he gave 7 reasons he believes it is important to study for the book of Ruth. We've kind of mentioned some of them already, but John Piper says everything better than I do, so I think this is a good way to sum it up:

1) The Word of God Jesus loved the Scriptures, and gave them full authority. His teachings were in harmony with Scripture. Basically, Scripture is a big deal. We talked about it before but I will just reiterate that the Scriptures are the Word of God, and give us hope, encouragement, and instruction.

2) A Love Story The book of Ruth is one of the most beautiful love stories! As far as girls go, I think we all love a good, romantic story. We will all feel the pain and loneliness of Ruth and Naomi. We will feel the sting of her likely lifelong widowhood. We will feel the hint of hope when we encounter Boaz. We feel all of their ups and downs, and cheer for their happy ending. And remember, this is a true story. We can be encouraged and uplifted. This stuff really happens, because God is good and sovereign and in control of our love and our lives.

3) Manhood and Womanhood The book of Ruth is a perfect picture of noble and virtuous manhood and womanhood. Of Godly manhood and womanhood. This is more than sex, and more than a romance or love story. Men and women are created in beautifully different ways, with specific roles to play. Ruth and Boaz exemplify extraordinary faith, patient obedience, and Godly wisdom in each of their roles. This is a stark contrast to the mixed up manhood, womanhood, and sexuality portrayed in the culture today.

4) Ethnocentrism The book of Ruth addresses ethnocentrism. Or we can just call it "racism," or a feeling of superiority over other nations, races, and cultures. Judging other nations and peoples by your own standards, rather than theirs. Ruth is considered an “unclean” foreigner. But we will see two things: 1) An interracial marriage, where Ruth is brought into a covenant with an Israelite. 2) God’s extension of salvation to every tribe, tongue and nation. There is no room for racism or self-superiority among God’s people.

5) The Sovereignty of God One of the most obvious purposes in the book of Ruth is to show God’s sovereignty over suffering, and that His purposes are good. It is true that God dealt bitterly with Naomi (Ruth 1:20-21). But God’s bitter providence is never His last Word. As Romans 8:28 says, He is always working together all things for good for His children. Sometimes we are dealt a painful hand, but God is in control of it all. Whether it is discipline to teach us or suffering to grow us, God is in control of it. Not only is He in control, but He loves you, and will use His authority to bring about good for You. He will never forget you, or sit by idly. No harm will come to You that God is not sovereignly using for Your good. He is in control of Your life and Your suffering. The good times and bad are part of God's miraculous plan for Your life.

6) Risk-Taking Love One thing we are to take from the book of Ruth is inspiration to be radically different. We will see how Ruth risks everything for Naomi, leaving behind her whole life. Once we learn to hope in God and trust His providence, our life will start producing actions such as this. Things like this are there to teach and inspire us to be a whole new kind of person—to take risks and make sacrifices to help those hurting and in need. We can do this because we trust in God’s goodness and God’s control over every situation. We know we have nothing to lose, because God is our all in all.

7) The Glory of Christ And again, Jesus. The book of Ruth shows that all of history—the ups and the downs—serve to magnify the glory of God’s grace. 1000 years before Jesus is born, this little book serves to glorify His saving work on the cross. Ruth is about the work of God in the darkest of times to prepare the world for the glories of Christ.

And if you aren't convinced of this just yet, just wait til the end of the book. The book closes with a tiny little genealogy that you almost overlook. But as we are going to see, this little tag on at the end reveals to us that Ruth is the grandmother of David. Yep, that's King David! The guy that was called “a man after God’s own heart.” This in itself is really cool. We see that she is not only blessed with an heir, but it’s an heir who becomes the greatest king of Israel.

But, as if that’s not enough, this has a whole other level of meaning. This genealogy is pointing to David, yes. But it is also pointing 1000 years down the line, to a woman named Mary. Mary…the mother of Jesus. Yes! Ruth was the great great great great (etc.) grandmother of Jesus!

So, as great as things are going to end up for Ruth and Naomi and Boaz, greater things are yet to come. Although they could only see the foreshadows of salvation, we see something even greater on the horizon. This is a prime example of how the Old Testament is pointing to Jesus, and leading up to His redeeming Sacrifice!

And this is where week one ends. So, you should hang around and wait for week 2. Better yet, if you are a girl, you should come next Monday night at 6:15. Eat some pizza, play with the dog, talk about Jesus, and hang with some real cool gals.

Time for me to go to sleep. :)