If you would, please take your Scriptures and turn once again to the book of Ruth. We turn once again to the final chapter in this saga of God's redemptive plan and purposes among His people, the book of Ruth, chapter 4. I'll be reading the first 13 verses of this chapter, but we'll be focusing on verses 11 through 13 this morning. before we come to the reading and preaching of God's Word, we are to have just reminded as we've sung this sweet hour of prayer, let us once again go to our Lord in prayer, seeking His help to open up His Word, that it might become that fruitful bough by which we, again, might be fed and nourished, that we might bring forth much fruit unto the glory of our Lord. Let us pray. Gracious Father, God of Ruth and Boaz, Naomi, the people of Bethlehem, the elders, the townspeople. women, Lord, these different groups and various individuals that we read about here. We pray, Lord, that we would glean from their own experience and their lives and your working through them and in them and that you bringing forth your covenant promises through them. Lord, we do pray that their lives as they are again laid out and described and highlighted and emphasized, and as they are used by you and by your Spirit, that they would become, again, vessels of blessing unto us this day. Even as we, again, we live so many thousands of years apart from them, that you continue to work through them, through your written Word, and the blessing of our Savior Jesus Christ, through the power of your Spirit, to bring to fruition and continue to bear fruit through their lives, that their lives may cause us to become, be prepared, be ready, and be used as blessings of honor as well. For your house, for the building of your kingdom, for the blessed house that you would bless, we thank you, Father, and we pray all these things again. In our Savior's name. Amen. I'd ask that you please now stand once again for the reading of God's Holy Word. It comes to us from Ruth chapter 4, beginning in verse 1. I do remind you, Knox Orthodox Presbyterian Church, these are the words of your God. Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, Come aside, friend, sit down here. So he came aside and sat down, and he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit down here. So they sat down. Then he said to the close relative, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. And I thought to inform you, saying, Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know. For there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you. and he said, I will redeem it. Then Boaz said, on the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance. And the close relative said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging to confirm anything. One man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel. Therefore the close relative said to Boaz, buy it for yourself. So he took off his sandal. And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was a limalex and all that was kilians and malons from the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Malon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day. And all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel, and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman. So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And when he went into her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the words of our God, they remain forever. Please be seated. To the bride and the groom. This phrase usually concludes a toast that is often heard at a wedding reception, blessing the new couple in a long and happy marriage. But such blessings in a wedding toast unfortunately do not carry much hope or weight of being fulfilled and are often simply wishful thinking. And we would like to think that a Christian wedding would be more hopeful. until we hear the statistics of marriages even within Christian circles. But why are these blessings so often simply wishful thoughts expressed publicly? It is because they are so often not blessings which have their origin and source from God Himself, but one whose blessings are sure to be fulfilled because He alone is the guarantor of them. That is, when we bless others, we must direct these blessings to the Lord like prayer. to be fulfilled at His holy sovereign will and for the purpose of His glory. And that is what we find in our passage today. The community of Bethlehem bless Boaz and Ruth's marital union by directing their blessings to them like prayers toward the Lord God of Israel, to Yahweh that makes and keeps His promises, to the One who keeps covenant with His people. The people and the elders at the gate of the city understand, as does the psalmist that we heard from earlier, that unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who seek to build it. We saw that in the life of Abraham, didn't we? When Sarah and Abram tried to take Hagar and build the house of Abraham through her. and it came to nothing. It's only as the Lord builds a house. And so as we come to verses 11 and 13 of Ruth, chapter 4 this morning, we have the community response to Boaz and Ruth's marital union here at the court of Bethlehem, and it is one of blessed approval. Then we read of the Lord's almost immediate confirmation of his blessing upon the couple in verse 13. And so let us take a moment today to consider these prayer blessings and the Lord's response to them and what it means and how it applies to our lives as God's people today. And so this brings us to our purpose statement for our message today, which is the Lord blesses the house that He chooses to build up for His glorious ends. The Lord Himself blesses the house that He chooses to build up for His glorious ends. And we'll consider this truth under three points this morning, and our first point is a threefold blessing invoked. A threefold blessing invoked. Well, let us first consider that there is a threefold blessing invoked by the community toward Boaz and Ruth, their marital union first everyone present at the gate respond to Boaz at the end of verse 10 and And all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. They're responding to what Boaz calls them to be witnesses. Notice that the two groups from verse nine are now mentioned in reverse order. In verse nine, we read, and Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day. And he repeats himself for emphasis at the end of verse 10, you are witnesses this day. But now in verse 11, the order of the two groups is reversed. And all the people who were at the gate and elders said, we are witnesses." Again, it's very important that you take note of these very specific details. We need to be very discerning readers and pick up on these subtleties in the text. This chiastic or bookend type structure, again, as we have the elders and then the people and the people and the elders, that's like a bookend or what is called by scholars a chiastic structure that we often see in the Hebrew, is for the purpose of emphasis. And what is the emphasis? The emphasis is indeed everyone who had seen firsthand the official matter set forth between Boas and the near kinsmen, that whatever his name is, that Poloni Almoni, that Mr. Joe Schmoe, Mr. so-and-so, and that Boas has acted legally, officially, and honorably, they now bear fully as witnesses to these proceedings. They give witness to them. And the response of the community in the original language is literally only one word. You'll notice it says, we are is in the italics. That means it's not in the original text. All they say is witnesses, which again conveys the idea that we are. That's what we are. So that it is as if they are all speaking in unison. This underscores the unity of the people in their response. All are in agreement so that the two groups act as a single chorus as they speak. The two groups act as a single chorus. Although two groups, they act as one together. The elders and the people, the people and the elders, they are a chorus. They are in unison. They are together. And isn't this a wonderful picture of how the church ought to function? We are to be united together in our unity in Christ as our head and we are his body. Christ the husband and his bride the church in perfect unity. They come together in beautiful chorus making melody together to the glory of God, the elders and the people. We do not always see, or perhaps even often see this presently in this world because of sin. Division appears all around us, but when we do see the unity of Christ's church acting together in unison, then we begin to hear the melody of the one chorus of the house of the Lord, the family of God worshipping, working, and serving together. We get a wonderful picture of this right here in this little caption in Ruth chapter 4 verse 11. And in it, it is as if we hear the voice of God himself from the midst of the elders and people of Bethlehem. But then following their acknowledgement as being witnesses, they continue in chorus proclaiming this threefold blessing. And the first blessing is that Ruth becomes the Lord's vessel to bless His people. that the first blessing is that Ruth would be made or becomes the Lord's vessel to bless His people. This is the heart of what the people and elders pronounce. But again, the particular language is poignant. Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, make the woman who is coming to your house, like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel. In blessing, they put forth an analogy that Yahweh caused Ruth to become like Rachel and Leah, the matriarchs of Israel. These two sisters both married Jacob, and along with their two handmaidens, or maidservants, Bilhah and Zilpah, brought forth the twelve sons of Jacob, otherwise known as the twelve tribes of Israel." That is what the community here means by the two who built the house of Israel. The house here can refer to the family of faith, God's covenant people, or even the nation of Israel. Many commentators and scholars make much of the order of Rachel first than Leah. They have all kinds of various arguments why. One is because Rachel was Jacob's favorite wife. That's why she precedes Leah, her older sister. Second, because Rachel was buried traditionally at Bethlehem We see that in Genesis chapter 35 verse 19. Third, because Rachel experienced a lengthy barrenness at first, just as it seems Ruth had in her earlier marriage to Malon for some almost 10 years. She did not bear a child. And fourth, because Ruth is the second to be named in chapter 1 verse 4 after Orpah and was apparently married to the younger of the two sons, like Rachel who was married to the younger of the two sons, Jacob. Thus Ruth, the least in rank of the story's characters, is now to receive the reward of her faithfulness. Yet another commentator says that the witnesses named Rachel before Leah is striking not only because Leah is the senior and dominant wife, but especially because Bethlehem, the home of Elimelech and Boaz, belonged to the tribe of Judah, who was one of Leah's sons, not Rachel's. Moreover, by elevating Rachel, who was frustrated by barrenness, they seemed to express hope that Ruth, too, would one day shut off her barrenness and bear children. Remarkably, this blessing concerned with a particular womanly issue of barrenness came from the lips of men, specifically, here at the gate. Yet another scholar observes this may be a case in which the more important person is named second. Kind of like we have Adam and the second Adam. Who's more important? The second. We see that as the elevation comes secondly. Again, we see that as far as Ruth. She follows Orpah in chapter 1, verse 4 and 14, and Malon follows Killian in chapter 4, verse 9. Also, Leah, as the mother of Judah and her descendants, are in view implicitly, as we shall see in the third blessing in verse 12. But the point the people and the elders are making is that the Lord Himself used these two sisters, these two wives of Jacob, these two women, to bring forth the whole family nation, or as here, the two who built the house of Israel. The people and elders realize the magnitude of Boaz's faith and action here at the gate. they could see that they were witnessing a divine moment. People, even God's people, rarely act this way, especially in the dark days of the judges. But Boaz's action was different, was unique, and the townspeople sensed, discerned, that God was up to something here. He was working. That is why they refer to Rachel and Leah, the mothers of Jacob's sons. Again, God used them in a particular messiness of their own context to fulfill the patriarchal promise of descendants and advance his redemptive purposes. However, these sisters may have feuded and competed with each other, even using their handmaids and their maidservants. They were patriarchal wives and the mothers of Israel. The witnesses here accept Ruth into the covenant community and hope that she too might take her place among the mother and matriarchs of Israel to build up and restore the nation during this deplorable time, dark days of the judges. The second blessing is invoked at the end of verse 11, and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Or, may Boaz's life and actions speak well of him. May Boaz's life and actions speak well of him even to generations to come. More literally, they proclaim, may you, Boaz, act worthily in Ephrathah and have your name called, proclaimed in Bethlehem. This is a poetic parallelism that we often see in the Psalms or in poetic literature. The first phrase is that word that has been used to introduce Boaz and describe him. It is the word ha'il. And it is a call for him to continue to act valiantly, to have a standing in the community. And Ephrathah means that place, that county, if you were, within where Bethlehem resides, means to be fruitful or fruitfulness. Thus the translators render it, may you prosper or be successful or fruitful. Boaz is our Ishgibor Haiel in this story, our mighty man of valor, worth and standing. He shows himself to be standing not only on behalf of these two widows, but on behalf of the whole community. So they pronounce that he may continue, they bless him that he might continue through the strength and the power of him by whom he is named. That is the Lord to continue to act valiantly worthily and bear much fruit Then that is his name To be renowned that his name would be renowned or as we have it here be made famous in Bethlehem that is the house of bread and Boy is Boaz's name famous in Bethlehem and from Bethlehem even to Jerusalem where stands the house of the Lord. For one of the pillars of the temple in Jerusalem is named after this man. This blessing is literally set in contrast in our passage in this chapter to the unnamed kinsman, Poloni Almoni, he who is unnamed and unshewed. But the reuse of the Hebrew word name that is the word literally Shem in Hebrew, in this blessing must also recall Boaz's sworn desire and oath to raise up the name, the Shem of the dead. from verses 5 and 10. Because Boaz is an Ishkibor Haiel, a mighty man of valor, worth and standing on behalf of his house, his family, and his community, his name and life will be renowned in Bethlehem and Ephrathah. He is both a man of the Lord and a man of the Lord's people. both a man of God and the man God has sent on behalf to bless His people. He sought not this honor to himself, no. He sought to raise up the name of the dead through his actions and sacrifice. In this he demonstrates his most honorable character and worth toward his community in building up the family, the clan, and the tribe of the people. And so by doing so, they bless him in this way. The third blessing is upon Boaz's house, that is his house will be elevated among his brethren. Boaz's house will be elevated among his brethren. But specifically through the offspring produced through Ruth in verse 12. But it is upon hearing this third blessing that we might be taken back. If we truly understand the historical reference, again the townspeople of Bethlehem use another analogy and liken Boaz's house to be like the house of Perez. But what does this mean? Well again, the context is a time of excitement and celebration here in Ruth. Naomi has gotten her land redeemed back. Boaz has married Ruth. It's an upbeat time, right? Now if... You were marrying Ruth and I was at the reception party and I gave a toast. May the woman who's coming into your house be like Rachel and Leah who built the house of Israel." You'd say, yes, great word, amen. It's a wonderful blessing. But then another stands and says, and may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah. Now if you are ignorant of this historical reference, you may think this sounds pretty good until you go back and learn the background. And when you learn the reference, you may be tempted to respond the same to you, buddy. Because this refers back to the rather sordid affair between Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar who seduced her father-in-law into having relations with her in order to raise up the seat on behalf of her dead husband, Judah's firstborn son. And Perez is one of the twin boys born to Judah and Tamar. This then is the historical reference invoked in this blessing recorded for us in Genesis 38. So how can this be considered a positive blessing for Boaz and Ruth's house? Well, one scholar writes this, the account recorded for us in Genesis 38 is admittedly more unsavory than the rivalry between Rachel and Leah Here was an instance when Levite marriage went bad. Tamar's first husband, Judah's son Ur, died without fathering a son and heir. Tamar then was given to Onan, Judah's second son, married him to have a child for Ur on his behalf, to raise up his name. So like Mr. So-and-so here in Ruth, Onan refused to help Tamar become pregnant to raise up an heir for his dead brother. And Onan died prematurely because of Yahweh's anger. his selfishness in this. Apparently thinking that Tamar would bring misfortune on a third husband, Judah withheld, hesitated, withheld his third son, Shelah. Again, he feigned that he was just holding him back till he was older. But again, she saw that in time, he was never given to her, she was never given to him. Since his sons were dropping like flies every time they seemed to have contact with this woman, later, again masquerading as a prostitute, Tamar eventually lured Judah into sleeping with her, and twin boys, Perez and Zerah, came from their union. And the positive point is that Judah himself, here's the positive point in this, Judah himself through the Tamar episode became a changed man. If you again map out the chronology of the narrative of Judah and his character as he relates to Joseph and his father, and then also see this inserted episode and then see Judah's response and his reaction after this, this man is transformed by what happens in this episode. He went from being a very selfishly self-centered individual to becoming selfless. When do we see this change in Judah in the Joseph narrative? It's when Joseph disguises himself so his brothers cannot see who he truly is, much like Tamar. But he requires them to leave Benjamin. Remember, they don't know who Joseph is. They just think that he is the Grand Vizier of Egypt, the right-hand man next to Pharaoh himself. And he began because there is this feigned stolen silver cup, this divining cup, and it's found in Benjamin's sack, and so Benjamin must be left. Jacob's favorite younger son by Rachel. Again, because Jacob had seemingly lost Joseph years before. But Judah offers himself in Benjamin's place, the very opposite of what he did with Joseph. It was Judah's, he was the one that stepped up to the plate. He was the one that instigated the selling Joseph into slavery, that they might gain money, at least, by his loss, rather than killing him as some of the other brothers had postulated. So Judah was at the head of the game there, and he had sold his brother into slavery again years before. But here, after this change, after this episode, Judah himself finally again offers himself to be taken into slavery himself on behalf of his brother, to not hurt his father. Judah finally learned what it meant to be a servant leader. Boaz, too, is here portrayed as a servant leader, like his father Judah. And it is Judah who receives the blessing of kingship from his father Jacob on his deathbed in Genesis chapter 49 verse 10. But interestingly, the witnesses do not make reference to the house of Judah here in the blessing, but to the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah. So the comparison, there is a comparison between Judah and Boaz, I think, implicitly, but not explicitly. The comparison explicitly is made between the son that Ruth herself will bear to Boaz and Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah. Both mothers hardly seemed to be likely candidates to advance God's plan of redemption in a deteriorating circumstances that they found themselves in the days of the judges. Nevertheless, God used specifically Gentile women and their children to be a blessing to Israel and to the Gentile nations. Not only were Gentiles blessed by their contact with Israelites, but Gentiles participated in the accomplishment of God's purposes. The witnesses were hopeful that Yahweh would be pleased again to fulfill his promises through the offspring of an Israelite man and a Gentile woman. What had just happened in their midst made them recall the past, and they could not help but wonder if God was moving in this mysterious way once again. After years of apostasy and its deplorable effects, they certainly hoped so. The people of Bethlehem were witnessing the gracious blessing of God who had worked before in their tribal history and even origin. Both Tamar, a Canaanite, and Ruth, a Moabite, are foreigners who came into Israel, how? Through marriage. But again, their husbands died. Both resort to the Leverite law to continue the lines of dissent for their deceased husbands. Both put forth bold advances toward another man to fulfill this role, another in different ways. Like the story of Boaz and Ruth, that of Judah and Tamar is a story of family continuity that is achieved by the bold determination of a foreign woman. And yet, both perpetuate the family line in the tribe of Judah. The people of Bethlehem are from this tribe, and largely descend through the line of Perez, therefore they have an invested interest in their blessing, and the reference here is specifically relevant to them. Here then is the threefold blessing invoked, but let's consider the same blessings from a slightly different angle, which brings us to our second point. A threefold petition prayed. A threefold petition prayed. That is, these are not merely blessings declared by the people and elders to Boaz and Ruth in their house, but they are prayers. of blessing toward the Lord, acknowledging only by way of His will and graciousness to bestow them." Notice how the Lord is appealed to in verses 11 and 12. The Lord is appealed to. The Lord make. The Lord give. Only the Lord can grant and bestow these blessings invoked by the people of Bethlehem, these witnesses at the gate. Only the Lord can bring this about. So in one sense, only the Lord can bless. Only He can bring a blessing to pass, but what we see here is that we too can be used by Him as instruments of His blessing to bless others. And that is exactly what the people are praying that both Boaz and Ruth will be and continue to be in Bethlehem, Ephrathah and to all of Israel and even to the nations. These threefold blessings can and should be understood and read as petitions prayed to Yahweh toward this couple. In the first petition, they asked the Lord to make Ruth like Rachel and Leah, Jacob's wives, because they know it was the Lord who brought the sons to them in their anguish and their suffering. Leah was suffering because of her being unloved, feeling unloved by Jacob. And Rachel, again, in her suffering of barrenness. It was the Lord who gave issue. As Rachel came and said, give me children, lest I die to Jacob. Am I the Lord, Jacob said? Only the Lord Himself can grant children to you. He's the one who, through these women, built the house of Israel. In the second petition, they ask the Lord to grant Boaz strength to continue to act worthily in Ephrathah, be a high eel, and that his name be renowned to be called in Bethlehem." The Lord is Boaz's strength, which is his namesake. His name means, in him is strength, and it doesn't mean there's strength in Boaz himself. It implies the fact that in him, in Yahweh, is strength. That's where Boaz got his strength, his integrity, why he was Ishgibor Haiel. Because he drew strength from the Lord and only the Lord can cause Boaz's name to become famous, to be exalted. And third and finally they pray that Ruth's seed will make Boaz's house like the house of Perez. These three blessings are at the same time petitions prayed by the community to Yahweh on behalf of Boaz and Ruth and yet for the benefit of not only the whole house of Israel, but also for the Gentile nations. for the benefit of the whole house of Israel, but also for the nations. That they, the nations, like Tamar and Ruth, from where they came, might no longer be outsiders and strangers to Yahweh's covenant promises, but become partakers with them, that they too, by faith, might enter into the covenant community of Yahweh to worship, honor, and serve Him by serving His people. This is why the Lord built up Israel and elevated the house of Perez, that his people and the royal line might bring forth the one who would bring in the nations. and bless them. It again goes back to the patriarchal blessing to Father Abraham that through you and your seed all the families and nations of the earth shall be blessed. And remember that part of this promise is that God would make his name great In order what? For what purpose will he make Abraham's name great? That he may become a blessing to others. That's the whole point. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. That's the purpose of him making his name great. The whole point of making his name great is not so he can glory in his great name, but that he would become a blessing to bless others. This is again completely consistent with the greatness principle of the Kingdom of God that Jesus teaches to His disciples. If you will be truly great, then you must become the lowest of the low to serve and bless others. Then and only then will you become great in the Kingdom of God. It is again that extraordinary role-reversing dynamic that we hear taught by Jesus in His ministry to His disciples. If you would be great, then you must become servant of all. Become a vessel of blessing. These three blessings, these three petitions or prayers signal that the community is completely on board and supports Boaz in his marriage of Ruth the Moabite. who is no longer referred to as a Moabite, as Boaz explicitly refers to in verses 5 and 10, but now she's referred to by the people, the elders, the community, as the woman, as this young woman, and one scholar makes the connection here. The overwhelming majority of biblical occurrences of the word seed, that the Lord make the seed that comes from this woman, the majority of occurrences of the word seed refers to the human progeny attributing to the seed of the men, of men. The seed comes from the man, biologically. To many, a woman's womb was thought to function as the bed in which the seed of the male germinated and grew. Remarkably, this blessing treats the seed as the gift that only Yahweh can plant and grants Boaz the seed through Ruth. This identification of progeny as seed not only links this blessing generally to the blessings in Genesis to the patriarchs as we have considered, but specifically coming from Ruth casts her in a role of another Eve who herself would bring forth the seed of the woman. She follows in the same line, not just back to Tamar, And not just back to Rachel and Leah, but all the way back to the beginning, to the mother of the living, Eve herself. When Moses records and speaks of the seed of the woman. Well, this then inevitably leads us to our third and final point. The blessing confirmed and the prayer fulfilled. The blessing confirmed and the prayer fulfilled. And we find this point coming immediately upon the heels of this blessing, these blessings in verse 13. So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And when he went into her, the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son. This verse certainly seems to put to rest any and all who think that Boaz and Ruth had former relations at the threshing floor. I would argue that this verse argues against that idea vehemently. But for only the second time in the entire book, Are we explicitly told by the narrator that God intervenes directly? He's obviously at work in a hidden way all the way through. But only here for a second time does God intervene, God intervenes directly. The first time was when the Lord had visited his people in Bethlehem by giving them bread in chapter one, verse six. The Lord had provided seed to the famine-stricken little town of Bethlehem, which sparked Naomi and Ruth's return. But now we've come full return in the end, and now the second explicitly direct intervention of God enables this seemingly barren-stricken Ruth to conceive and bear a seed, a child, in truth, a son. So here we find the blessing of the community being confirmed and their prayers being fulfilled by none other than Yahweh Himself. El Shaddai, the Almighty, the Lord God of Israel. Because only He can do so. He's the only one that can. He's the Resolver. He's the Finisher. He's the one who answers from Heaven. who confirms and fulfills according to his will, his timing, his favor and pleasure. But not only this, but we see him here fulfilling Naomi's blessing and prayer. Naomi's blessing and prayer that Ruth would find rest and security in the house of another husband. Naomi prays this in chapter 1 verse 9 and in her desire when she sends Ruth to the threshing floor in chapter 3 verse 1. But verse 13 also answers Boaz's blessing and prayer. Boaz's blessing and prayer that the Lord richly receive Ruth for her words and acts of chesed, that is covenant faithfulness and kindness. We see that in chapter 2 verse 12. that the Lord would richly, again, bless you under whose wings you come for refuge. And in chapter 3, verse 10, blessed are you from the Lord, my daughter. Here we see the answer of that blessing. The Lord blessed her with a son. So they also, again, these words also fulfill the community's blessing and prayer. Again, not the fullness of it, but the initial guarantee of it. the community's blessing and prayer here for Ruth, Boaz, and Ruth by way of children, especially a son and heir. So this should make us think. God is anything but stingy toward his people, as revealed here. Let us never think so of our God. He is not stingy. This is the lie of the enemy, the whisperings of the serpent who tells us that our God is holding back the best of His blessings from us. Hardly. May it never be. God forbid. The Apostle Paul silences this falsehood finally in his argument in Romans chapter 8 verse 32. If God has not withheld his only begotten beloved Son from us, then how will he not with him freely give us all things, all good things, all blessings? So brothers and sisters, please never think of God as being stingy, of holding back from you. No, He has bestowed every spiritual blessing in and through Christ Jesus our Lord. No, His grace and mercy endures forever and His mercies are new every morning. His grace abounds, grace upon grace toward us and His Son. And brothers and sisters, if you understand and realize that you, in Christ, united to Him by faith, are the heir of the world as Abraham was, of all things, of the very cosmos, of the new heavens and the new earth, of riches upon riches, of the life of the world to come, then you don't have to run to and fro going after all these things of this world. because you're already the heir of them in Christ. We can willingly humble ourselves and even suffer to the point that the apostle did, understanding that he can be content in any situation, because he realizes in Christ he has all things. And that's why he counted all other things lost as rubbish, that he may gain Christ, because through him he gains all. He not only gains the stuff, of this creation, but most of all, he gains his God, which is at the heart of the covenant blessing. You see, God answers every prayer by the end of this book. Every prayer that's uttered, he answers. We'll consider this more fully and completely next time regarding Naomi's emptiness at the beginning and now her fullness at the end. God answers the prayers of his people as he promised he would through the one he has sent and given him the name that is above every other name that if we pray in his name not just verbally but as we believe and have faith in him then by his will and for his glory in his good timing he will answer us and he will grant and he will fulfill not merely sometimes the pettiness of our prayers, sometimes the weakness of our prayers because they're not done with great faith, yet our God is great and He's merciful and He's gracious and He will bring us to the full realization of them. So we see here in our passage that the Lord blesses the house that He chooses to build up for His glorious ends. And how does He do so? How does He bless it? by the word of blessing from His people. That's how. That's the means. The Lord God uses your words, brothers and sisters, and gives them power. As you go forth in the name of His Son and in the power of His Spirit, you too are enabled to speak the words of life and death when you share the gospel when you proclaim the law of God, the word of God, so desire to be instruments, vessels of blessing for His glory toward one another and toward others outside. Here the common townsfolk take part in the work of the blessing that the Lord would fulfill in and through Boaz and Ruth and the son that would come from their union. The community benefits from this blessing of the Lord, that they themselves are the instruments of bringing forth that blessing. They are reaping what they sow, and they, again, benefit from it. And let me ask you some questions. Are you in your house a part of this heritage? Have you committed yourself to serving Christ in your house? Is your house an extension of God's house from where all blessings flow? Does the Lord rule and reign over your house and family, and does he pour out his blessings from your house through your acts of chesed, covenant, faithfulness, kindness, and love toward others? We see here that the Lord blesses the house of Boaz because he himself has chosen to build up his house. Again, the Lord himself has chosen to build up his house, Boaz's house, for his own glorious ends. That doesn't merely end with David, but that continues all the way to the Christ, to the Messianic King, and beyond to you and your homes as well. He continues to build up the house of Israel through the influx of Gentile outsiders such as Ruth. Are not all we here Gentile outsiders who were at one time separated from the covenant, covenants of promise, from the stock of Israel, from the household of faith? And yet God has shown the mercy of Christ to us through the word of the blessing of others sharing the gospel. and or praying that we too would enter into this inheritance, this heritage of faith and love. Well, I want to close our morning's message with only one point of application, an extension really, and that is the power of blessing. The power of blessing. From within the context of our own angry litigious world, Ruth testifies, the story of Ruth testifies gloriously to the power of blessing. In contrast to the world of the judges in which these events are set, and our own environment and culture, where people are driven by self-interest and willing to damn anyone, curse anyone who opposes them, this little book shows a refreshing alternative way, a way for the people of God. What is fascinating about the blessings in Ruth is not only their form and their substance as we've considered, but especially that they seem to flow so freely from the people's lips. That is anyone's lips within the covenant community. Naomi blesses even in her sorrow and despair. Boaz blesses. The field workers bless. The people of Bethlehem bless. The women of Bethlehem bless. The men of Bethlehem bless. To be sure, Yahweh had specifically charged Aaron and his sons to bless the descendants of Jacob, Numbers chapter 6. That was one of their duties. And the Levitical priests to bless the people in Yahweh's name. But this is not a vocation, a calling, reserved only for the official minister. It is a gift given to all of God's people. Israel's past history with the Moabites casts the blessings upon Ruth throughout this book as particularly impressive and amazing. Herein, we may find the seeds of the New Testament treatment of blessing as an extension of the call for love, demanding that the followers and disciples of Jesus go beyond blessing merely their friends and relatives, those they have a relevant relationship to, to blessing their enemies who curse them. Bless and do not curse, we're commanded. Indeed, this is the Christian's vocation. This is the Christian's call. Ruth testifies not only to the propensity of the people of Bethlehem to bless, but also to the power of the word of blessing that they bring. Why? Because this is the word of Yahweh, the God of the covenant. The final scenes here in Ruth depict the fruit of the prayers, the blessings that have been invoked from the beginning as we've already noted. Number one, Yahweh has treated Ruth with chesed and granted her rest and security in the house of her own husband. Secondly, Yahweh has rewarded Ruth fully by providing secure refuge under his wings, the means of Boaz. Third, Yahweh has blessed Boaz for his acts of chesed toward the living and the dead by adding Elimelech's property to his own estate, granting him Ruth as his wife and giving him a son, Obed. Fourth, Yahweh has rewarded Ruth's acts of chesed and guided the legal procedures here in chapter four in such a way that Ruth's demand that Boaz fulfill his obligations and take her to wife. are fulfilled. Fifth, while the characters in this drama did not live to see the fulfillment of the blessing of the elders, the author of the book certainly did. And that's why he writes it. By then, as the ancestor of Israel's divinely chosen royal house, Ruth had taken her place alongside Rachel and Leah as a foremost matriarch of Israelite history and tradition. She became the mother of King David and ultimately of the Messiah himself. Inasmuch as a blessing is a form of prayer, Ruth testifies to the power of prayer. As James himself, the Lord's brother, testifies in chapter 5 of his epistle, the effective, fervent prayer of the righteous avails much. So may your prayers, my friends, be used mightily by the Lord to bless His holy house, the house of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, so that His name might be exalted through them and His people blessed. And through it all, the Father will be glorified. Amen. Let us pray. Our gracious and heavenly Father, we thank You that You do not hold back the revelation of Your will. but you reveal it through the blessings of your people, that you take pleasure in fulfilling those things that your people utter according to your word and your will and for your glory. May you do so now and forever through the one whom you have sent, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.