Someone wrote, somewhat crassly, life begins with a slap on the bottom and ends with a shovel full of dirt in your face. And there isn't much in between except bumps and bruises. Well, I think that that's something of the attitude of heart and mind of Naomi when she returns to Bethlehem having spent a decade or more in Moab. She returns home a bitter woman. She returns home an empty woman. She returns home a poverty-stricken woman. Everything that she had hoped for, all those dreams of preservation of life and of their wealth, had been dashed to pieces. Her husband has died, her two sons likewise have perished. The wealth that they had when they left has been lost and she returns to her friends with bitterness in her heart. The bumps and the bruises are all too evident upon her face. Her friends scarcely are able to recognise her. Is this Naomi? they ask. So changed is she. She's not the woman who had left a decade earlier. So full of hope, so full of confidence, so strong and happy in her husband and her sons. She's come back bruised and broken. And yet at the same time, there's reason for hope. And there's reason for some excitement. You can imagine the grapevine is hard at work in these hours immediately after Naomi's return to Bethlehem. You know, Naomi's returned. Did you know? Have you heard? Naomi's returned. And so soon the whole town is aware that Naomi has returned. This is good. An Israelite has returned from exile. One who had wandered away. has come back home. As we consider these last few verses of the first chapter of the Book of Ruth, verses 19 through 22, I want you to firstly think about Naomi's own acknowledgement of her circumstances. She acknowledges her bitterness Don't call me Naomi. Don't call me pleasant. For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. This is my testimony. She says this is the story of this past decade. The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. she's lost her husband that would be cause enough to be somewhat bitter about her circumstances but more than that she's lost her sons as well the hope of her old age and she's alone in the world well there's there's Ruth who has shown such devotion and loyalty to her and has returned to Bethlehem alongside her But she's returned an empty woman, a woman who by her own testimony went away full. She had everything and really there was no reason to go. But go she did, along with her husband and her two sons. So she suffered loss, great loss, tragic loss and that would be reason enough for the bitterness of her heart. But I think that she's saying more here. As we listen to Naomi and her words through the chapters of the Book of Ruth, we see a change taking place in her outlook, in her understanding of life, in her interpretation of her own circumstances. And I think in the midst of the obvious bitterness that she has due to the loss that she's experienced, I think there's a bitterness of regret here as well. Regret about herself and her own choices. There's a bitterness because she left God when she left God's people, when she left her home, when she left Bethlehem in Judah and went to Moab. She turned her back on God. She lost her faith in God. She set all of that aside in the pursuit of life, in the pursuit of security. And I believe that at least an element of her bitterness is the recognition of what she's done. She's bitter that she wasn't more wise than she had been. She had chosen the fool's way. She's bitter that she hadn't stood up and argued with her husband when he suggested that they should leave and go back, go to Moab and escape the famine there. How do I know she didn't argue with him? Well, because she made no attempt to return as soon as he was dead and out of the way and she no longer had someone to whom she had to submit. Ten long years passed before she eventually came back to Bethlehem. Had her heart been in Bethlehem? Had her concern been for the honour of God and his name? Had her desire been that her son should grow up to be men who worshipped the God of Israel in the land of his promise, then she would have returned when she had the freedom to return, even if she hadn't had the freedom to go. There's no doubt in my mind that she made no attempt when Elimelech said, let's go from here, there's food in Moab, let's go to Moab. I don't think she made any attempt to say, well, my dear, don't you understand why there's no food in Israel? Do you not understand why this famine has come upon our land? Have you forgotten that God promised us as an inheritance a land flowing with milk and honey if we obeyed him and remained loyal to him? and do you not see that the solution to our crisis now is to return to our God in repentance and ask him to save us from our enemies but she doesn't do any of that because she's as caught up in the waywardness of the Israelites as all the other Israelites around her are and they obviously have the means to escape the famine brought on by the Midian attacks upon their lands, whereas others around them in Bethlehem perhaps didn't have the means to do so. And they make their journey and now Naomi returns empty and bitter. Bitter because she hadn't stood firm. Bitter because she hadn't made a wise choice. Bitter because after her husband's passing, she still didn't return. Bitter that she had allowed her sons to marry Moabite women rather than following the example of her great ancestor, Abraham, who sent back to his own people from among his own relatives for a wife for his son. She didn't come back to Israel. She didn't come back to Judah. She didn't come back to Bethlehem seeking wives for her sons from among her own people who would not lead them astray to worship other gods. And so she's bitter in her heart because of those foolish choices that she's made. Those unwise decisions that have governed her life and have brought her this misery. And I don't think that I'm speculating in any of that either. For having acknowledged her own bitterness of heart, Naomi acknowledges her sin. She says, why call me Naomi when the Lord has testified against me? In that statement, she's acknowledging her sin. God who is righteous in all his ways and true in all of his judgments has in his actions testified against Naomi. And she is now acknowledging her sin, her waywardness, her folly. She also acknowledges God's sovereign chastisement The Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me. The Almighty has afflicted me. The Almighty has chastened me. By the end of the story she's rejoicing that out of the poor choices, the foolish decisions, the sinful experiences that she has gone through, God has brought good. He's brought life and a fullness to her own life once again, but here she is acknowledging her bitterness because of her sin and God's chastening. I'm not sure that Naomi is in any way complaining about God's treatment of her or blaming God. It seems to me more of an acknowledgement of the justice of God in what has taken place. After all, if she blamed God, if she was complaining about God, she would not have returned to be among the people of the God who has unjustly brought bitterness into her life. And she's stating the facts. This is where she's at as she walks through the gates of the city of Bethlehem and trudges up the streets to the home that she left a decade earlier. She is acknowledging the facts. I am a bitter and broken woman and it's because of my sin and God's justice towards me. These things should never have been so. She knows that, but they are so, and they are so because of the choices that she made. But that's not where the chapter ends, is it? We don't finish at verse 21, and thankfully we don't, because that would be a very sad note to end on. There's encouragement for Naomi here as she returns, as she comes home. Her condition certainly seems pathetic, doesn't it? Her future appears bleak. She's come home empty. She has nothing. And if we were to stop there, it would be a sorry ending to the chapter. But the last sentence of this chapter is not verse 21. But it's a simple statement that we can just brush over or maybe think that it belongs to chapter two. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. That sentence stands out as a sentence of hope. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. And it's a message of hope, not only because it means that they've come at harvest time, a time of prospering, of in-gathering, of seeing the richness of God's grace in his provision for the physical needs of the people in blessing their seed time with a harvest. Yes, there's all of that. And of course, we know the story. We're so familiar with it. We know that soon Ruth is going to be out in those harvest fields. And if it weren't for those harvest fields, what hope would Ruth and Naomi have? How would they sustain their lives? How would they make it from day to day? Where would their bread come from? And we know all of that, of course, but there's something more in this, in this simple statement. than the fact that everything's being set up for Ruth to be able to go and lean in the fields. For barley was the first crop of a series of crops, the first harvest among a number of harvests. But more than that, this being the first crop, the first harvest. It forms part of a trio of feasts that are significant. It begins with Passover. We know about the Passover. The Passover was that great feast that was the beginning of the exodus for the Israelites, wasn't it? It was the day on which the angel of death would come through the land of Egypt where the people of Israel were enslaved. and the Passover was for them a means of salvation. As that angel of death passed over their homes, why did he pass over their homes? Because they'd followed the instructions of the Lord God who had made provision for them. You sacrifice a lamb and you put the blood of the lamb on the lintels and the doorposts of your homes. and that will be a covering for you and when the angel of death sees the blood he will pass over. And so the Israelites were spared the death that raged through every home in Egypt and brought so much sorrow. It was their salvation. Of course, their salvation is given greater expression in that they then left the land of Egypt. They left the place of slavery and they were brought eventually into their own land, into the land of promise, into the land of their inheritance, into the land in which they would be free to worship their God and serve him and be blessed by him for as long as they were loyal to him. And so this Passover feast commemorates that great event, that Passover, that salvation. But immediately after the Passover was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And as part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, an offering was made and it was called the Offering of Firstfruits. it took place at the beginning of the barley harvest. And so as Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest, They're not just returning to see the men and women of the city going out into the fields to cut down the barley and to gather it into stands and to take it to be winnowed and prepare for their future. They're coming at a time of feasting. They're coming at a time of rejoicing. They're coming at a time of remembering. They're coming at a time of celebrating God's grace and God's salvation for them and God's provision and the thanksgiving that they are to give in this in-gathering of the first harvest. And then in seven weeks time, they'll be celebrating another feast, the Feast of Weeks. a feast of consecration as well as a thanksgiving to God. And the interesting thing is that while one of these feasts took place in Egypt and was immediately followed by the exodus from Egypt and the journey towards the promised land, the other feasts didn't take place for another 40 years. But they did take place. And they didn't take place for another 40 years because of the rebellion of the people of Israel in the wilderness. When they came to the borders of the promised land, and the 10 unbelieving spies came back saying, oh, it's a great land, it's certainly a land flowing with milk and honey, but it's also a land populated by giants and fortified cities that we can't conquer. And despite the urging of the two believing spies, the people listened to the unbelieving spies. And they would not believe that God could deliver the land into their hands. And they were sentenced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until that generation had died. And it wasn't until the next generation, led by Joshua, entered the promised land that these other feasts actually took place. They were feasts for the inheritance. They were feasts for the land. When you enter the land, these feasts are to become a part of your annual routine, to remember and give thanks to God for the salvation that he has made. and the provision that he has brought. And it's at this time that Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem from Moab as the people are filled with joy in remembering what God did for their fathers and in his provision for them. The famine is over. The Midianites have been conquered by Gideon. There is peace once more, as God has heard the cries of his people and has shown them mercy. They've been saved. And in that sense, they've repeated the reality of Passover and the first fruits. These are the feasts of hope for the hopeless. And imagine then what it would have meant for Naomi to arrive at this time. Not only to have seen the harvests, the fields ripe for harvest, but to participate in these feasts and to remember where she belongs and to know that there is a God who saves, saves sinners. A God who provides. provides for the needs of those who don't deserve, but who come to him in humility. And this is the situation into which Naomi returns. And it may be that in your own life you see some resemblance to Naomi in choices that you've made, foolish decisions that have affected your lives. Perhaps you have a sense of bitterness. Bitterness over what has befallen you. Bitterness over losses that have come. But perhaps even more so bitterness over the foolishness of your life. Over the harm that you have done to yourself and to others through your own sins. But Naomi's encouragement on her return is encouragement that you can have. For the Passover speaks to us of the death of Jesus Christ, the final and ultimate Passover lamb, who gave his life to redeem those who would otherwise remain dead in their sins. And as the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the offering of firstfruits took place immediately after the Passover, so we find the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead described for us by the Apostle Paul as a kind of firstfruits. He won the victory. He paid the price for sin. And it was accepted by God. And as the weeks passed and eventually Naomi would celebrate the Feast of Weeks, it speaks to us of God's gracious gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and the sealing of the salvation of those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. See, here is hope for the hopeless. When the folly of our own choices And the bitterness of what we've reaped from those choices seems to almost overwhelm us. There's one place we can go for hope and for comfort, and that's to Jesus Christ. He is the Lamb that was slain. He is the first fruits of a resurrected people. And we have the promise of the Spirit. as a down payment for all riches of glory that will one day be ours. Now before we bring this to a conclusion I want to just focus in on this offering of first fruits in the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It really is the focal point of this particular verse, the fact that they have returned to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest and therefore with the feast of firstfruits. It was a time of life and vitality. Winters passed, spring has gone, seed time has given way to ripened crops and the ingathering of the harvest. It's a reminder to us of the fact that the gospel age has dawned. Today is a day of salvation, the Bible tells us. The winter of ignorance has passed. To use the language of the Apostle Paul, God overlooked the ignorance of the people, but now, in this day, He calls all men everywhere to repent. And so there is hope today through the Lord Jesus Christ. This bringing in of the harvest of barley and the offering of first fruits to God was also a symbol of God's acceptance. Israel had been brought into the Promised Land after years of wandering in the wilderness, despite their waywardness. And it wasn't just the waywardness of that first generation of Israelites who had escaped in the Exodus. The generation that came from them was as equally rebellious. How many times they complained during those years of wandering. How many times they grumbled about God's way and God's work among them. How many times they criticized Moses, even his brother and sister in doing so. And yet Israel has been brought into the promised land. because God is faithful, and his word is true. And despite their unworthiness, God would do this, and he would do it because he had a purpose, not just for Israel, and not just for that generation, but he had a purpose for future generations, and he had a purpose for the whole world, a purpose to bring a savior into the world, a messiah, deliverer who was to come through Israel through the seed of Abraham and so they were brought into the promised land and they were established in the promised land and they continued in the promised land because of God's favor towards them not because they deserved his favor but because he was faithful And so Christ came into the world, the promised seed of Abraham, at the right time. And he gave his life as the lamb who was to be sacrificed. And God raised him on the third day. And he sealed their justification, the justification of all who would trust in him. As Paul writes to the church in Rome, in Romans chapter four and verses 24 and 25, It will be counted to us who believe in him who was raised from the dead, Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Jesus Christ was raised to seal the forgiveness of sins and justification before God. It's nothing to do with us and our deserving it, it's all to do with him. And His righteousness, His holiness, His obedience is counted to us when we trust in Him. That's all that's required. It was the faith of Abraham in the Word of God that was counted to him as righteousness and Paul is saying that's true for everyone. It is faith in the Word of God, in the provision of God, in the promises of God in Christ. And so the promise of God in Christ is not only to raise Christ from the dead, but to raise all who are in him from the dead. As he writes later to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, he says there in verses 20 to 23, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the first fruits, then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. And Paul is speaking here, of course, of the final resurrection. He's not speaking of the resurrection that we have in Christ in his death and resurrection but he's speaking of the resurrection of Christ from the dead as the first harvest of real life that we will all experience if we are in him. The resurrection of our physical bodies from the dead to enter into new heavens and a new earth. You see, the first fruits implies more fruits, doesn't it? It implies that there's a bounty to come. This is the first in gathering and there's more. And we see this in Christ, that what we have in Christ now is but a small part of what we will possess if we are in Christ. And so we have in him Redemption. The forgiveness of sins. The assurance of salvation. And it gives us hope. It gives us hope to face tomorrow, doesn't it? We may be bitter. So sorry for all that has befallen us because of our sinful folly. And that may be well true. But we have hope. as Naomi had hope when she came into Bethlehem at the barley harvest and was reminded of all of the grace and the goodness and love and provision of God. But you know, two women came back to Bethlehem on this occasion. The narrator is very emphatic for us that Naomi came and Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, with her. Ruth came also at this time of barley harvest. This Moabite came and she entered into Bethlehem when all of the focus is on Naomi, on this woman marked by bitterness so that she was barely recognisable, this woman who testified to her sins and to the Almighty's chastening of her, this woman who came at a season of hope, and Ruth is with her. And we've already observed Ruth's loyalty to her and her desire to unite with her and with her people and with her God. And as she comes at this time of barley harvest, this time of Passover, this time of first fruits, this time of Pentecost, all of these feasts are meaningful to her as well. For though she's a foreigner, foreigners were blessed in the exodus as well. There was a mixed multitude that came out with the Israelites desiring to identify with the Israelites. And as Naomi hopes in God, her creator, and her redeemer, Ruth too must hope in him, for he's the only hope that she can have. There is no one else. And the savior who can save and transform Naomi's life can transform her life too. And we'll see that that's exactly what happens as the story of Ruth unfolds. God is a God who today offers salvation. Salvation from sins that we ought not to have committed. that we ought to have known better than to commit, as well as salvation from sins of ignorance. God is a God who today offers mercy and offers hope. So let's come to him and find hope in our troubles and in our bitterness, a hope that will not be put to shame because God is faithful. Let's pray. My Father, we acknowledge before you that all too often in our lives we make choices that go against what you have revealed in your Word. We get caught up in everything that's going on in the busyness of our lives and in the circumstances of our lives and we're in so much of a hurry to fix the problems that we forget to look to you. and we make foolish, sinful choices. Choices that are meant to secure our future and to give us joy and peace and yet we make such a mess of our lives so often and we end up being bitter. We thank you that you're a God who doesn't forsake your people, though they may forsake you, who doesn't forget your people, though they may forget you, and who deals with your people as a father deals with a wayward son. You chasten us in order to restore us, in order to teach us the right way, in order to show us your love, in order to pour out your grace into our lives. We thank you for these realities. We thank you for the reminders that you bring to us as we study your word. So many great and blessed promises are there for us, so that we needn't dwell on our foolishness, but we can rest in your faithfulness. And we thank you, our Father, that you are patient with us and long-suffering. And we thank you that you have given us every hope, every reason to return to you and to confess our sins, that we might receive forgiveness and cleansing through Jesus Christ, the Saviour. Help us to keep him before our eyes, we pray. Help us to look to him in the midst of the busyness of our circumstances. Help us to seek your wisdom and not to trust in our own. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.