Ruths-Prophetic-Pattern-Gospel-Church-and-the-Hope-of-Redemption.pptx

Ruth's prophetic pattern

1. Ruth's Prophetic Pattern: Gospel, Church, and the Hope of Redemption The book of Ruth reveals profound patterns that illuminate the gospel, sketch the church's calling, and point toward the blessed hope of redemption. This simple narrative between Judges and Samuel discloses God's purposes through what Hosea calls "similitudes" - acted parables of divine truth.

2. Setting the Typological Stage Days of Chaos Ruth opens "in the days when the judges ruled," when there was no king in Israel and everyone did what seemed right in their own eyes. This chaotic season foreshadows a time of tribulation before public restoration. Famine and Exile A famine strikes, recalling Joseph's seven-year famine yet prefiguring Israel's spiritual famine under judgment. Naomi leaves Bethlehem for Moab, representing movement from covenant blessing to Gentile territory.

3. Three Women, Three Destinies Naomi From Bethlehem, stands for Israel in bereavement yet not forgotten by God's covenant promises. Ruth The Moabite pictures the church drawn from the nations and brought near by faith in Israel's God. Orpah Represents the unbelieving world that turns back, preferring familiar gods and securities of Moab.

4. The Law of Divine Mercy Back in Bethlehem, Ruth asks to glean in the fields to sustain Naomi and herself. God had commanded Israel's landowners to leave the edges of their fields and fallen sheaves for the poor and the foreigner. Ruth, a Gentile, is welcomed under that mercy. This anticipates the inclusion of outsiders who trust the God of Israel and resonates with Jesus' end-time teaching about caring for his brothers during distress.

5. Providence Leads to the Redeemer Providence leads Ruth to Boaz, a worthy man and relative of Naomi's late husband. As a potential kinsman-redeemer, he embodies the covenant mechanism by which a family's name and inheritance are restored. Biblical prophecy is more than foretelling - it is God's habit of preparing and patterning history so that earlier acts foreshadow later fulfillments. Ruth has long been read this way in Jewish tradition.

6. Sacred Harvest Calendar 1 Barley Harvest Coincides with Passover and Firstfruits, when a sheaf is waved before the Lord. Paul identifies Christ's resurrection as the true Firstfruits. 2 Wheat Harvest Culminates at Pentecost, when Israel presented two leavened loaves - an image of people gathered from Jew and Gentile in one body. 3 Ruth's Gleaning Her steady work through these harvests mirrors the church age - a season of gathering from the nations until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.

7. The Threshing Floor Encounter After the harvest feast, Ruth quietly approaches Boaz at night on the threshing floor and asks, "Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer." The word for wings can also denote the garment's corner, a symbol of covenant covering. God speaks of his own covenant embrace with the same image, and the tassels at the garment's corners were to remind Israel of that covenant.

8. Covenant Symbolism Revealed "Malachi promises that the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. When the woman with a hemorrhage touched the fringe of Jesus' garment, she reached for that covenant sign and was healed by faith." The threshing floor, a place of separation, becomes the place where a Gentile petitioner is covered and promised rest. Boaz notes a legal complication - there is a nearer kinsman.

9. Six Measures of Promise The Gift of Assurance Before dawn, Boaz sends Ruth home with six measures of barley. Naomi reads the sign correctly - six evokes labor awaiting rest on the seventh. The gift pledges that the work of redemption is underway and will be promptly completed.

10. Public Redemption at the Gate At the city gate, Boaz lawfully redeems the land and takes Ruth as his wife. The nearer kinsman yields, unwilling to impair his own inheritance. The law is holy and just, yet it cannot save - grace must do what law cannot accomplish. Revelation portrays a sealed scroll that only the Lamb can open because he was slain and by his blood purchased a people for God from every tribe and language and nation.

11. The Perfect Redeemer 01 Related By taking on true humanity, the eternal Son became our kinsman 02 Able By his obedient life and atoning death, he paid the price 03 Willing He chose to redeem us out of love 04 Worthy By his deity, his work has infinite sufficiency

12. From Outsider to Heir Ruth the outsider is lifted into David's line and ultimately into Messiah's genealogy, anticipating the unveiled mystery that Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. This transformation from Moabite gleaner to covenant heir demonstrates God's grace extending beyond ethnic boundaries to embrace all who trust in Him.

13. A Glimpse of the Blessed Hope Private Then Public The intimate pledge on the threshing floor occurs at night, before the watching world is aware. Only later comes the public legal act at the gate. This pattern resembles the church's hope to be caught up to the Lord before the day of the Lord unfolds in open judgment. Divine Timing Ruth is taken as bride near the close of the wheat season as the time of new wine begins, pointing to joy that follows labor and rest that follows finished work. The Lord promised to drink the fruit of the vine new with his own in the Father's kingdom.

14. Discipleship for the Present Receiving Gifts Ruth first knows Boaz through his gifts - many receive common grace and providence Trusting His Word At his feet, she entrusts herself to his word - true faith believes and receives the Son Covenant Union All that belongs to Boaz becomes hers by covenant - sealed with the Holy Spirit as our inheritance This calls for Ruth-like steadfastness and mercy in action, remembering how the King will judge the nations by their treatment of his brothers.

15. The Pattern Complete What looks like a simple love story is a crafted window into God's redeeming design. From famine to fullness, from Moab to Bethlehem, from gleaning to union, Ruth narrates the gospel in miniature. It honors Israel's story, enfolds the nations, and directs hope toward the redeemer who finishes what he begins. The church does not chase dates but learns to read the patterns God has set in Scripture, keeps her eyes on the bridegroom, and labors with a settled heart until he calls.