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Overcoming discouragement: The Elijah Syndrome

1 Kings 18-19, 1 Kings 19:9-12, 1 Kings 15-16, 2 Kings 1-2

In 1 Kings we see the victorious bold Elijah and we see the opposite extreme when Elijah faced discouragement. The background comes from long years of drought in Israel. Elijah made a prophecy that there would be no dew or rain in Israel. This drought was extremely severe.

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” (1 Kings 17:1)

Because of the prophecy Elijah was a wanted man. The King, Ahab hunted for Elijah but was unsuccessful to find him and kill him. When Elijah showed himself the King blamed Elijah for the drought when the blame was with the king himself. The drought was the result of King Ahab forsaking the Lord and following Baal gods.

Then came the famous showdown at Mount Carmel between Elijah and 950 prophets. There were 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah.

Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” (1 Kings 18:19)

When the showdown began the people said nothing in support of Elijah. Elijah asked them how long they would waver between two options.

Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing. ²² Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. (1 Kings 18:21-22)

Elijah was already showing an indication that discouragement was coming. He already was missing the big picture. In his moment of discouragement, he said he was the only prophet. Elijah was not seeing the whole picture. Elijah saw only the negative when he was discouraged. Yes, Ahab was a wicked king, but Obadiah was in charge of Ahab’s palace and Obadiah was a devout believer.

(Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. ⁴ While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) (1 Kings 18:3-4)

There was going to be a clear choice. There were two altars. There were two offerings. The result would be proved by fire. The Baal gods did not answer, even when the Baal prophets cut themselves to call them to respond. There was absolutely no response from the Baal gods, who it became evident were useless.

Elijah poured water on the alter many times. It left no doubt that Almighty God is all powerful. Fire fell and consumed the sacrifice. The people who had been before silent fell on their face before God.

Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. ³⁹ When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” (1 Kings 38-39)

The people were transformed when they saw and experienced the power of God. There was no room for doubting the hand of the Lord. Everyone saw the power of God. At this Elijah commanded them to seize the prophets of Baal and killed them with the sword.

Still the rain had not come. Elijah went to the top of Mount Carmel and prayed. His prayer posture was to bend down on the ground with his head between his knees. He asked his servant to look toward the sea. There is nothing came the reply. Elijah prayed and prayed, and seven times asked if there is any sign of rain. On the seventh time there was a small cloud rising on the sea.

The heavy rain came. Ahab went to Jezreel by chariot and the power of the Lord came upon Elijah and he ran a marathon in record time, reaching Jezreel before Ahab. Jezebel the wife of Ahab heard what happened and vowed that by this time the next day Elijah would be killed the same way he killed the Baal prophets.

After the bold confrontation and his experience with a miracle and experiencing the power of God and answered prayer Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. Elijah said, “ I have had enough. Take my life Lord.” He fell asleep and an angel touched him, woke him up and prepared food to strengthen him. Elijah traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Mount Horeb the place where Moses encountered God and received the ten commandments.

At Mount Horeb the Lord asked Elijah, “What are you doing here?” Elijah replied, “I am left alone”.

Discouragement can come at any time. There is a certain discouragement that comes after seeing the power of God. There is the experience of feeling all alone when we reach the place of discouragement. Elijah was to stand on the Mountain and the Lord would pass by him.

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. (1 Kings 19:11)

The wind ripped the rocks apart. The earthquake shook the place. The Lord was not in the powerful wind or the earthquake. Then came the fire. The Lord was not in the fire either.

After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. (1 Kings 19:12)

The Lord was in the gentle whisper. Elijah thought he was all alone. The Lord had Obadiah in the palace of Ahab and Jezebel. The Lord had one hundred prophets hidden in a cave. Now Elijah finds out there are 7,000 faithful to the Lord God that Elijah did not know about.

Elijah had experienced the power of God. He just experienced one of the most powerful miracles of the Bible. Now in his discouragement he did not need God to speak in the powerful wind, earthquake or fire. The still small voice is what Elijah needed.

I was in Asia and just received word about an assessment of the status of the church. I was informed that the assessment was coming back to lead us to a conclusion the gospel had not spread anywhere near what we had assumed. I was discouraged and began to wonder if this area was not seeing the growth of the church among the unreached than was there anywhere where there was spread of the gospel like we see in the book of Acts.

I was in a 23 story hotel when I was discouraged at the call I received. I waited for the elevator to go to my room but every time the elevator was full. Someone explained why the elevator was so full. There was a Christian youth conference in this city in Asia and all the young people were using this hotel. I was discouraged there were no Christians, and I was surrounded by hoards of them. I had no idea. Elijah did not know there was 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal. He could not see past his own discouragement.  

It was the still small voice of God that returned Elijah back to his most powerful prophet self again. Elijah was given a new vision and a renewed zeal for his ministry. He would be appointing Elisha as his successor.

In second kings 1:10 we read he called fire from the sky to consume 50 soldiers who confronted him then another 50 were killed by fire falling from the sky in verse 12. Elijah told the new king of Israel, Ahaziah who replaced Ahab that he would die for consulting false gods, and at this word from Elijah he suddenly died. (2 Kings 1:16)

The powerful man of God, Elijah took his cloak and hit the Jordan river with his cloak. The water parted and he and Elisha walked across the Jordan on dry ground (2 Kings 2:8). After they crossed the Jordan a chariot of fire came and took Elijah to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11).  

When Elijah departed Elisha had the spirit of Elijah. Elisha took the cloak of Elijah struck the water and again it divided. The prophets searched for Elijah but never found him. We do not hear from Elijah again until He appeared along with Moses when Jesus transfigured in radiant glory (Matthew 17:1–8, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36).

It is not uncommon to go from the mountaintop experience to a discouraged low. For youth we call this the after camp spiritual dive. But it is not limited to youth. It happened to the greatest prophet, Elijah. 

For a book on listening to God you should read the little booklet God Guides (order here: God Guides by Mary Geegh – Listening to God for His Guidance (god-guides.com)

Let me give you the description from the book here: “While serving as a missionary, Mary Geegh learned the practice of “Listening to God” for his guidance during her daily quiet times. This book is a compilation of her journal entries and gives evidence that God has the answers to all of life’s circumstances. Her foundational belief is that, “Where God Guides, He Provides” trusting that everything can be taken to the Lord for his direct answers. This book can be used as a daily devotional or for Bible study.”

Are you discouraged? Listen for the gentle whisper of the Lord. Elijah was transformed by the still small voice of God. You can be too.

Jesus tells Nicodemus the most essential teaching in the Bible. That essential teaching is the new birth in Christ. There will be a lot of things demanding your attention, but this, being born again, you cannot afford to neglect.

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John 3:1-7

When John Wesley began a series of evangelistic meetings, he preached from John Chapter 3, You Must be Born Again. As the meetings went on people realized he was preaching that same message over and over. Someone asked him, when are you going to move on to something different? His answer, as soon as you are born again.

There is no use moving on to the “deeper truths” until you have experienced the most essential teaching in the Bible. That essential teaching is the new birth in Christ. There will be a lot of things demanding your attention, but this, being born again, you cannot afford to neglect.

If you neglect, or reject, the spiritual birth you will regret it. Not a regret just for the rest of your life, but for eternity. This life passes all too quickly. The spiritual birth is simple, but deeply profound. It is of utmost importance and urgency.

The phrase “Born Again” was spoke often in the 1970’s. One person who made the term well known was Chuck Colson who had a spiritual experience with Christ and then pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for his role in the Watergate scandal. He went to prison and wrote the book, Born Again in 1974.

On the heels of Colson’s book there was another high-profile focus on the phrase “born again” when Jimmy Carter described himself as a born-again Christian in his 1976 US presidential election campaign.

John Wesley did not originate the term “born again” nor did Chuck Colson. The term “born again” originated with Jesus and his fascinating conversation with one of the high-ranking religious leaders of his day, Nicodemus.

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ (John 3:1-7)

Jesus’ teaching on the new birth takes place in the context of a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. There was a contrast in who these two were. Jesus was a man with humble beginnings. Think of the Christmas story. No room in the inn for him, born in a stable among the animals. Yet in all these humble circumstances we know Jesus was Emmanuel, God with us. There was the angel’s announcement from heaven that a savior was born. There was the star in the sky that brought magi bringing gifts including gifts of gold to Jesus.

Jesus was not joining the establishment but starting something different. He gathered disciples, preached to crowds, performed miracles, and healed the sick. Jesus claimed to be the unique Son of God, equal with God. The Jews were waiting for the Messiah and Jesus claimed to be that Messiah.

With Jesus he did not leave a lot of room for neutrality. If you believed Jesus was the Son of God, you loved him. You would give up all to follow him. If you did not believe he was the son of God, you hated him. You might like many pick up stones to stone him because, if you thought he was a mere man that made himself out to be God, that is offensive. 

The religious leaders of the day could not accept Jesus’ claim. He claimed to be the Son of God. He claimed to have power from God. He seemed to work miracles that proved his claims. But the religious leaders had an answer for that.

They said his miraculous power came from the devil. Jesus confronted and condemned the religious leaders. He called them snakes and whitewashed tombs. These are harsh words of denunciation in that time, in this time, in any time.

Now contrast Nicodemus. He is called a man of the Pharisees. These were the religious leaders that had important positions and they loved to publicly receive the praise of men. Nicodemus was among them.

Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews and a teacher of Israel. This term ruler of the Jews was another term for the “Sanhedrin”. This was the ruling council of 70 members. Nicodemus was at the top of the Jewish social ladder in terms of power and position. 

There was something different about Nicodemus view of Jesus than the rest of his ruling colleagues. Nicodemus could not so easily attribute Jesus’ miracles to the devil. Nicodemus needed to know more. He went at night not fully ready to make known his true stance that he was favorable toward Jesus. 

Nicodemus says to Jesus, we know you are a teacher that has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” There you have it. They knew deep down Jesus was not doing his miracles based on the power of the devil. Jesus is from God. Nicodemus knows much truth. He needs to come at night, to save his reputation.

Jesus then gives Nicodemus the greatest teaching he had ever heard. You cannot see the kingdom of God unless you are born again. Keep in mind that Jesus is talking to one of the foremost religious leaders of the day. Nicodemus had devoted his life to become a teacher of religion.

All the self-effort of religious activity will not be enough to reach God. The problem for us is our sin. God is holy. God is like the pure snow on the top of the highest mountains. God created us in his own image for fellowship. Adam and Eve had a relationship with God until they disobeyed God and just one small sin separated them from God. Me, you and Nicodemus all inherited the sin nature from Adam.

When we sin, we are like the mud in the mud puddle. You cannot mix the pure with the mud. I am sure Nicodemus was not as mucky as some people were, but he still was dirty mud, and he was talking to Jesus who never sinned. Jesus was from God. Jesus is God in the flesh.

The New Birth is in Jesus. Nicodemus is totally perplexed by what Jesus tells him.  He responds by questioning the literal meaning of what Jesus says. How can I climb into the womb and be born a second time, is Nicodemus’ question.

Nicodemus has been referred to as “Nicco the Thicko”. He is a thick or a thicko because he is not getting the spiritual application. Here is the great religious leader. He is one of the most theologically trained men on the planet. He was an intellect and had enormous head knowledge.

There were times, many times actually, that Jesus disciples did not understand the spiritual application for something Jesus said. But the disciples were uneducated men. They were fisherman, like James, Peter, John and Andrew or Matthew was a tax collector. None of the other disciples were trained experts in the law like Nicodemus was.  

We know what intellectual quotient is, we call the someone’s IQ.  We also have the term emotional quotient EQ the ability to understand your own emotions and in short keep from doing dumb things.

We could say that Nicodemus was low on his SQ, spiritual quotient. He was slow to understand the spiritual meaning behind the literal analogy. To Nicodemus credit he was in the upper percentile of SQ among his Sanhedrin peers. He was way ahead of the group and only one other member, Joseph of Arimathea (Mark 15:43, Matthew 27:57) was even close to the spiritual understanding Nicodemus had of Jesus.

Some of the most intellectually elite to this day reject what Jesus was saying here. There are some very simple people who grasp and accept what Jesus is saying here. When it comes to spiritual understanding we could say, the times they are not changing. People accept or deny Jesus much the same today as they did at the time Jesus was born, when he taught, when he died and even when he rose again.

Jesus is talking about a spiritual birth. You must come to grips with the fact that no matter how good you are, no matter how much religion you practice, that your sin separates you from God. Anyone Nicodemus or whoever are lost and headed for eternal damnation without the new birth in Christ.

The New birth that Jesus was talking about is more than believing facts about Jesus. The new birth is more than joining a church. Being born again is a spiritual experience of faith in Jesus Christ that gives you a relationship with God. You must confess that you are helpless to reach God on your own and you need the savior Jesus Christ.

You need to realize you cannot make it, in a personal relationship with God, without the spiritual birth. All of us have sinned and our sin separates us from God. Jesus came to die the just for the unjust to bring us back to God. The wages of sin is death. Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, but we must put our faith in Jesus. We must ask God that Jesus death on the cross be counted as the payment for our sin.

Accept Jesus as your savior. Place your faith in Jesus and be born again. There is nothing more wonderful that can ever happen to you. When you are born again you are redeemed. You will be in heaven when you die. Your have a pardon granted for your sins. You are found not guilty in the eyes of God.

Jesus used birth as an illustration of the new birth. This time you are not born from a womb but born spiritually from above. Place your faith and trust in Jesus.

I was very surprised when a young man from my Sunday school class in seminary, preparing for high level theological studies said he had never truly been born again. His father was a pastor and still he had not put his faith in Christ. He had something in common with Nicodemus. He was a teacher yet did not understand the spiritual truth. He said up to that point everything he had done was from a sense of duty and now he was ready to put his faith in Christ and experience the spiritual birth. That day this young man was born again.  

It is misguided for so many people who think they will go to heaven because according to them they have tried to be a good person. I would say you will never be as good as Nicodemus. You must be born again. Like Nicodemus anyone who thinks they will go to heaven by being a good person has missed the point. Unless you are born again you have missed the point. Only when you experience spiritual birth, and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ counts for you, then will you experience salvation.

Nicodemus took Jesus’ message to heart. Later he was born again. He became such a born-again disciple of Jesus that he anointed and buried Jesus body after his death on the cross. There are too many stories of people who dismiss the spiritual birth to run their own life. They have lived a wasted life when they do not experience the spiritual birth in Christ.

Do you believe the Bible is God’s truth?

Do you believe Jesus is God’s son?

Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins?

Do you desire to be born again?

Come to faith in Jesus Christ. Here is a prayer you can pray now to have the spiritual birth:

Dear God, I thank you that you loved me and desire a relationship with me. I acknowledge that I have sinned and broken my relationship with you. I ask that Jesus Christ death on the cross count for my sins. I ask Jesus to come into my heart and make me a new person. I want to follow Jesus with my whole heart. I thank you God that our relationship is restored through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Did you sincerely pray this prayer of faith? If yes, you have been born again. Welcome to the family of God!

You should write in your Bible the day you put your faith in Christ and experienced the new birth. This will be your spiritual birth certificate.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Mark 2:13-17

Jesus Dines with Sinners

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There is something very gratifying about being accepted by people of high social status. If I am ever with someone with high social standing or if they have lots of clout, I am right away taken in. If my friends could see me now, I am thinking. I am easily starstruck by anyone with even a little bit of fame.

It is all too easy to relish mixing with the social elite who will boost our own status and so we try to be accepted by them. But Jesus did not pursue the social elite. It did not bother Jesus if he was overlooked to a society event.

Jesus did not seek after status or position. As a matter of fact, Jesus spent his time with social outcasts. His friends included shady characters like Zacchaeus who was despised by many. There were a lot of people muttering under their breath when they saw that Jesus spent time with this kind of people.  

Jesus showed mercy to lepers, prostitutes, adulterers and associated with people society treated as people to be avoided. Jesus sought out those who were down and out. When they met Jesus, their lives were transformed. Those who have reached a low point in life often are the ones who recognize their need for God.

He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ¹⁴ And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. ¹⁵ And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eatwith tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:13-17)

Jesus left Capernaum for one of his favorite activities, teaching to the crowds along the sea of Galilee. As Jesus walked along, he saw Levi the son of Alpheaus in the tax collector’s booth. Jesus simply said, “follow me.”

We know Levi by his more common name, Matthew. We know him as one of the twelve disciples. We know him as the author of the first book we find in the New Testament, the gospel of Matthew.

When Jesus met Matthew here at the Sea of Galilee, he was a social outcast. He was a despised tax collector. It was not just that people hate to pay taxes. There was much more to it than that. The Jews viewed the tax collectors as traitors because they were selling out to the Roman government for personal gain. They collected taxes on a commission bases from their own fellow Jewish people to pay to the Roman government.  

There was Levi, (Matthew) in a tax collector booth. He was a disliked man in a reviled profession. Jesus said to this despised tax collector, follow me.  Jesus called men and women from every walk of life.

Jesus called Matthew and transforms him from a despised social outcast into an apostle, evangelist, and writer of the most read gospel. He will become a hero of the faith. Jesus was not concerned about how this would play out in terms of public relations.

Jesus turns away respectable men like Nicodemus and the Rich Young ruler, and he calls the publicans to follow him. We see Jesus’ attitude toward sinners. He loves them. He hates the sin, and he loves the sinner.

In Luke chapter 7 there is the story of Jesus being anointed by a sinful woman. People begin to talk that he is associated with a woman of bad reputation. There is the story he told of the money lender. One owed 50 pieces of silver and the other owed 500 pieces of silver and neither could pay back their debt. Both debts are cancelled, and he asks which one would love him more. It is the one with the bigger debt cancelled.

Matthew had a large debt of sin cancelled and his love for Jesus was great. He was so grateful to Jesus that he threw a banquet in his honor.

Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.  (Luke 5:29).

Matthew invited all his friends who were tax collectors and sinners. He wanted all of them to meet Jesus. That is why new believers are more likely to start movements. New believers can share so effectively with all their friends. Their friends are sinners, and they have a new joy and transformed life that has the attention of their friends and family.

This is how Matthew himself tells us what Jesus said, Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13)

Guess who was watching all of this and were not approving at all? It was the Pharisees and the scribes who saw this. They asked Jesus disciples why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?

Their charge was true that Jesus received sinners. He did and he still does. I’m thankful for that. According to the Pharisees there was no hope for these social renegades. But Jesus calls sinners who do not rely on their own righteousness. God is holy and pure like the snow on the Himalayan mountains. We are all sinful and impure like the mud on the mud puddle on the road. We never become good enough to reach God. He reached us. That is why Jesus has come.

Jesus calls the sinners who cannot rely on their own righteousness for salvation. They have a massive moral debt, and they know they need salvation. Everyone who ever sinned is alienated from God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

Salvation is for all. It is for the social elite and the social outcast. It is more often the social outcast that recognizes their need.

The banquet that Matthew held was not attended by people who follow the accepted religious practices. The Pharisees who thought they were on the moral high ground needed to recognize they are sinners too. The true definition of a sinner is not an outcast. It is anyone alienated from God who falls short of the Glory of God. In short all of them and all of us.

You can’t escape the influence of sin. Wherever you go there you are. Just coming to church does not change you. What does change you? It is recognizing your spiritual need and putting your faith in Christ.

When Jesus heard the conversation he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus clearly states his mission and his purpose. He came to call sinners, show mercy to sinners and offer salvation to sinners.

Jesus was not at this banquet because he admired their respectable professions. It was because he was offering the hope of a transformed life. We know that Matthew was transformed. We know that later another tax collector Zacchaeus was transformed. We know the others too have the invitation to follow Jesus.

This invitation to follow Jesus is for the sinners, like us, like the publicans and Matthew’s banquet that Jesus endured the cross. It is why he died the just for the unjust to bring us to God.

A doctor does not hang around the hospital because he enjoys sickness. You find a doctor at the hospital because he wants to use medical knowledge to bring healing. It is the sick who need a doctor not the well.

The Pharisees would have you believe as a sinner there is no hope for you. But there is good news of great joy. Is your life a mess? Have you lived your life full of regret about what you have done. You are just the person Jesus loves and cares for. Jesus loves you. Jesus died for you.

Jesus’ mission was to go to the sinners. That is why evangelism is so urgent. We need to reach out to the sinners. The ones we need to reach are out there in a tax collectors booth somewhere. They need to know that they can turn to Christ and be forgiven of dishonesty and Ill repute and put that behind them.

They will be forgiven a big debt like Matthew was. They are the ones who become the greatest servant. They know they have been forgiven a great debt. You have sunk really low? This is the time for you to recognize a need for Christ.

Jesus said he did not call the righteous but the sinners. The Pharisees were not righteous, but they thought they were. They did not see a need for Jesus and Matthew the tax collector and sinner did. A high social standing can dull our spiritual sensitivity.

As a sinner we can receive God’s mercy. Jesus came to call the sinners to repentance. Jesus is the great physician who desires to heal the spiritually sick. Come to Christ and let Jesus transform your life. 

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2 Peter 1:1-21

The sixties were very turbulent times. I was born in 1961, but I am not talking about those sixties. I am talking about AD 61 to AD 70. It is the context, and it sets the stage for what Peter wrote and to whom Peter wrote in his books. Peter wrote his first book 1 Peter in about 63AD and this book 2 Peter about 66AD and Peter tells us he is about to die. We are reading Peter’s swan song. From what we know from historians from this period, Peter was executed just months after he wrote this book.

Peter wrote to the scattered and persecuted Christians throughout a vast area. He mentioned these areas in 1 Peter 1:1 and now he is writing to these same scattered Christians a few years later. Peter is writing as a fellow sufferer. Peter probably wrote this book from Roman imprisonment.

In approximately this time Paul was in Prison in Rome and also Aristarchus, a key partner of Paul was in prison in Rome too. Epaphras was in prison in Rome at this time too. It was sort of a who’s who list of Apostles and key Christian leaders in prison in Rome. There was Paul, Peter, Aristarchus, Epaphras  in prison and then others there like John-Mark, Tychicus, Timothy, Titus, Luke the doctor and Onesimus ministering to them in prison. John the beloved disciple did not follow the trend, being in prison in Patmos and writing much later than Peter and Paul.

There was a fire in Rome that burned a section of the city in AD 64 and Nero, who probably ordered the fire himself to build his palace and a statue to himself there, blamed the Christians. The persecution following that fire was intense. So, the persecution that was taking place when Peter wrote 2 Peter surpassed even what Christians faced when Peter wrote his first book.

Your Standing In Christ (2 Peter 1:1-2)

We know that Peter was such a key figure in the early church. He was an Apostle of Christ. He was on the mountain with Jesus at the transfiguration. Peter is the man who walked on water. He preached the Pentecost sermon when the Holy Spirit fell on the Jews on the day of Pentecost. Peter was there when the Holy Spirit came upon the Samaritans in the same way. He was also there when the Holy Spirit came on the gentiles. Peter and John told the lame man to get up and walk and after the miracle many more thousand came to Christ in Jerusalem.

Peter is writing to those scattered believers who have the same standing that he had. This is a big deal because there were all these spiritual mountaintop experiences Peter had. Yet, the greatest was to be a believer in Christ. He was writing to those who obtained equal standing as himself.

Simeon Peter, a servant^] and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: ² May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Peter 1:1-2)

Peter was equal standing to the scattered Christians because his standing is based on the righteousness of God and being saved by Jesus Christ. It was not based on his fantastic experiences, even though he had many. His standing was based on being made righteous in Christ. The same as the scattered persecuted Christians who were kicked around and abused across Asia. They were brothers and sisters with equal standing in Christ.

Those scattered Christians were, all of them, a child of the king. I am sure Peter knew they needed this reminder of their standing. It would be easy for them to look at their hardships in their isolated situation and have a skewed view of reality and need this reminder of who they are in Christ. 

Peter is a hero of our faith, yet so is every scattered Christian in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, all are just like Peter struggling and persecuted. Yes, those scattered persecuted believers needed a reminder. We all need to be reminded from time to time.

How many times do we need to be reminded that who we are in Christ is our identity and not our accomplishments. Have you walked on water, so to speak? Did you have a mountain top spiritual experience that could rival what Peter experienced at the transfiguration? Well, if you have great, but that is not why you are who you are in Christ.  We all have the same standing before God as Peter because of the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.  

His Divine Power for Us.  (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Peter is reminded the scattered believers that they have everything they need to escape the situation. Not the situation of persecution, even Peter is not expecting to escape that personally. There is something more important. They have everything to escape the power of sinful corruption. 

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, ⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.  (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Do you want to live your life pleasing to God? You have everything you need. All the scattered Christians undergoing persecution have received the best invitation to receive the great promises of God.

Peter spells out how we build on our Christian faith. There is one character after another to deepen our walk with Christ. What does Peter tell the suffering Christians? Focus on your character. Build on your calling in Christ.

Our walk with Christ as effective and fruitful (2 Peter 1:5-9)

In earlier days Peter was put in prison in Jerusalem. At that time when Peter was seemingly going to be executed like James the brother of John had just been. As Peter awaited his trial he was sleeping between two guards. An angel appeared, the light flooded the prison cell and Peter’s chains fell off and he walked out of the prison. That is powerful! Now he is talking about the spiritual power of God manifested in a different way. Not an outward manifestation, but the power of God in inward transformation.

Our faith in Christ is the beginning of our journey. Here are the building blocks of Christian character that strengthen your faith. You can be faithful and fruitful no matter what your situation. Peter is in prison in Rome. Now that Peter is in prison he is not able to speak and lead the Jerusalem council like he did in earlier times, but from his prison cell he can abide in Christ. He can pray. He can trust God.

⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. (2 Peter 1:5-9)

You do these eight things, and you will be effective and fruitful. It is said clearly here that if we don’t apply these characteristics in our life, we won’t be effective and fruitful. With them you keep from being ineffective.

The first thing you add to your faith is good character. Yes, your character matters. Our New Testament has a major portion written from spiritual leaders who were in prison and lived their lives by faith and Godly Character. We add to this our spiritual understanding that comes from prayer and study of the Bible. We are glorifying Christ when we are generous and compassionate people who serve others. Our calling means we persevere through hard times.

If you don’t have these qualities, faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love then you are spiritually near sighted. We lose sight of these and we become spiritually blind. This was what Peter was burdened for as he was awaiting execution. That all believers have these characteristics and walk with Christ in turbulent times. When we know and apply this then we too will walk with Christ in our own very turbulent times.

Confirm your calling (2 Peter 1:10-11)

Peter is giving them a playbook to follow so that in the midst of persecution come what may they will never fall.

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. ¹¹ For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:10-11)

Peter is shifting the focus from the hardship and circumstances they are facing to the spiritual. These are the eternal kingdom principles that will take them through anything and everything. This is what Peter is going to have to do. He is aware that his execution is coming soon.  

Purpose and coming death (2 Peter 1:12-15)

Even though Peter’s death is not recorded in scripture, there are some reliable historical accounts of how and when he died. The “when” is shortly after he wrote this letter. The “how” of his death is by crucifixion. The historians say that when Peter was to be crucified, he requested to be crucified upside down on an inverted cross. This would symbolize he was not worthy to die in the same way as Jesus. To this day the symbol for Peter is the upside down cross.

Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. (2 Peter 1:12-15)

Peter is really living up to his name, the rock that Jesus gave him. He is rock solid. He was not always that way. Peter was the one who had highs and lows.  It has been a long time since Peter was with Jesus and him trying to understand what Jesus was telling him before his own death. Now here is Peter strengthening believers before his death.

Peter’s last letter is not to give some new teaching. It is to remind the Christians of the truth that was already established. This is the basic truth Peter wants to leave behind after his death. He will depart and be with Christ, but if he can leave fruitful and effective Christians behind his purpose is fulfilled.

Peter was looking toward heaven. He is remembering the glimpse of future glory he received at the transfiguration. It all relates to establishing the scattered Christians before he departs. Peter giving them a reminder of how to walk with Christ will be there for them after Peter is dead and gone. It is there for us too.  

Transfiguration Experience (2 Peter 1: 16-18)

Peter is recounting one of his most profound experiences, the transfiguration. There was Peter James and John standing with glorified Lord Jesus, Moses and Elijah on the mountain.

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. (2 Peter 1: 16-18)

We did not make this up. This is a story that we have from God. The whole of the prophetic word in extraordinary ways take us to creation to the fall of man to the inability of the law to save us to the coming messiah to the birth of Jesus, to his death and resurrection, to the ascension to the coming of the Holy Spirit to the good news going to the ends of the earth to the return of Christ it is the Word of God.

Completely reliable prophetic message (2 Peter 1: 19-21)

This is the prophetic word, and this comes from God, not from man. This is the shining light in piercing the darkness.

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, ²⁰ knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. ²¹ For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1: 19-21)

We have the sure word from the Holy Spirit. This is the word of God from heaven. We will do well to keep focused on the Word.

When you put your faith in Christ you are part of God’s royal family. We still live in turbulent times. We apply all of these basic teaching to our life and we will walk with Christ in turbulent times. It is the reminder Peter gave to the scattered Christians. It his reminder to you.

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Ruth 4:1-22

Why is it so important for us that we have a book of the Bible named Ruth? Why are the last verses of the book of Ruth almost the first ones opening the New Testament?

The first three chapters of Ruth start to answer these questions, but chapter 4 gives us clarity on the reasons why. The Book of Ruth begins by introducing us to Elimelech from Bethlehem. His name means the Lord is my king. The story takes place during the time of the Judges when there is a famine in Bethlehem.

Elimelech and his wife Naomi go to Moab because there is no food for them in Bethlehem. Naomi has bitter experiences in Moab. Her husband dies. Her two sons marry Moabite women and then both of her sons die. Naomi says, “The Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.” (Ruth 1:20)

Naomi has experienced bitter tragedy with the death of her husband and two sons, but there is a bright spot in her daughter-in-law, Ruth. She is an unlikely person to be the heroine of this story. She is a Moabite woman. The Moabite women and their Moabite idols have been a stumbling block for Israel in the past. Because of this Ruth and her people are cursed to the tenth generation.

Ruth remains faithful to Naomi. Ruth puts her faith in the God of Israel and returns to Bethlehem with Naomi. Her vow of faithfulness has become a proverbial saying for faithfulness several thousand years later to this day.

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” (Ruth 1:16-17)

We also find out at the very end of chapter 1 that Ruth and Naomi arrive to Bethlehem at the time of Barley harvest. This is going to change their lives. This is the story of Ruth’s redemption unfolding. The Lord is directing the steps of Ruth and Naomi.

We by now have already seen just how unlikely Ruth is to become the hero. But God uses the unlikely. We see grace and kindness from Ruth, Boaz and most of all from God.  It says that Ruth “happened” to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz. By “happened” we understand that God is orchestrating everything.

Boaz made arrangements that Ruth get exceedingly more grain that would ordinarily come from gleaning. He fed her and provided water for her. Naomi was overwhelmed by what was unfolding. Now Naomi is asking God to bless Boaz who has shown them such kindness.  (Ruth 2:20). 

Naomi has a plan to bring even more blessing, to all of them, from the kindness of Boaz. She sees a way for Boaz and Ruth to get married. Naomi knows that Boaz is the kinsman redeemer for their family. He has a right and even a responsibility to redeem the property of Naomi. In this case it means he would need to marry Ruth also. Boaz is all in, but there is another man who is first in line to be the kinsman redeemer.  

Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. ² Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so. ³ Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. ⁴ I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.” “I will redeem it,” he said. (Ruth 4:1-4)

It all went according to how Naomi told Ruth this would go. Boaz has gone right away to the Bethlehem town gate to settle this matter. He had the first in line kinsman redeemer and the ten Bethlehem elders all gathered together to settle this matter of Naomi’s property. The first in line is ready to redeem the property.

But wait. There is more to this kinsman redeemer transaction than just property. You are also needing to marry Ruth the Moabite woman, the widow of the man who would have legally owned this property, but he is dead now.

Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.” 6 At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.” (Ruth 4:5-6)

Once this man hears what all is involved to be the kinsman redeemer for this property, he is not willing to do this. This might bring some harm to his own estate if he brought Ruth into his family line. He tells Boaz he should be the kinsman redeemer.

The last domino falls here. Boaz will be the kinsman redeemer for Ruth.   

⁷ (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.) 8 So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal. (Ruth 4:7-8)

This was the official seal to the arrangement. Boaz had done everything to be completely legal to go forward with his kinsman redeemer duties. Ruth and Boaz are going to the chapel. They are going to get married.

⁹ Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰ I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!” (Ruth 4:9-10)

It was all done properly and in order. The townspeople of Bethlehem is giving them some powerful blessings.

Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. ¹² Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” (Ruth 4:11-12)

Let Ruth be like Rachel. She was. Jacob loved Rachel so much that seven years were like days because of the love that he loved her. Rachel became the mother of Joseph and Benjamin and she was buried in Bethlehem.

Let Ruth be like Leah. She was. Leah was not overlooked by God. She was loved by God and became the mother of Judah of whom the awaited Messiah would come. Judah became the father of Perez. 

Let your family be like that of Perez. The family was. Both Perez and Obed are listed by name in the genealogy of Jesus. The mother of Perez who is Tamar and the mother of Obed, Ruth are in the genealogy of King David and listed by name in the genealogy of Jesus opening the new testament.

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

Naomi has been blessed. She told the women of Bethlehem to call her Mara, the bitter one. It is back to pleasant. How the faith of Ruth has blessed her life. Ruth’s faith in God touched everyone’s life.

16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Obed was born. His name means servant of God. He became the grandfather of King David.

The next verses of Ruth become the basis of Matthew 1:3-6.

This, then, is the family line of Perez:

Perez was the father of Hezron,

19 Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,

20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

21 Salmon the father of Boaz,

Boaz the father of Obed,

22 Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of David. (Ruth 4:18-22)

So why is it so important that we have a book of the Bible named Ruth? Because of the redemption story. It parallels our own redemption story. Ruth was cursed as a Moabite. We are cursed as children of Adam. Ruth was redeemed by her kinsman redeemer. We are redeemed in Christ by his death on the cross. Ruth put her faith in God. By grace we are saved by faith.

In Matthews gospel, the most read gospel, he mentions the Moabite woman Ruth by name. It could be because Matthew himself had a redemption story that paralleled Ruth. Do you remember that the Pharisees asked why Jesus ate with publicans and sinners? Well, they were referring to Matthew and his friends when Jesus came over to Matthew’s house for dinner.  

Why were the last four verses of Ruth the opening verses of the New Testament. It shows the hand of God throughout our redemption story. It is all to the glory of God.

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Ruth 3:1-18

My friend has written a book with this title; His story in our story for his glory. That could be the theme for the life of Ruth. Ruth is from the worst family line in the Bible. She is a Moabite cursed to the tenth generation. Ruth places her faith in the God of Israel, and she is about to undergo epic transformation to the glory of God. She is about to enter the most important family line in the history of Israel. She becomes the great-grandmother of King David.

Ruth the Moabite woman is one of the first names mentioned in the New Testament (Matthew 1:6). How did this happen? What is her story? In Ruth chapter 3 the story is unfolding. The story of her redemption is revealed.

The Book of Ruth begins introducing Elimelech from Bethlehem.  It takes place during the time of the Judges and there is a famine in Bethlehem. Elimelech and his wife Naomi go to Moab because there is no food for them in Bethlehem. Naomi has bitter experiences in Moab. Her husband dies. Her two sons marry Moabite women and then both of her sons die. Naomi says, “The Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.” (1:20)

But there is a bright spot in Ruth chapter 1. It is this Moabite woman, Ruth. She remains faithful to Naomi, puts her faith in the God of Israel and returns to Bethlehem with Naomi. We also find out in chapter 1 that Ruth and Naomi arrive to Bethlehem at the time of Barley harvest. This is going to change their lives. This is the story of Ruth’s redemption unfolding.

In Ruth Chapter 2 we see how God uses the unlikely. We see grace, we see kindness.  It says that Ruth “happened” to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz. By “happened” we understand that God is orchestrating everything. Now Naomi is asking God to bless Boaz who has shown them such kindness.  (2:20). 

Boaz made arrangements that Ruth get exceedingly more grain that would ordinarily come from gleaning. He fed her and provided water for her. Naomi was overwhelmed by what was unfolding. Naomi has a plan to bring even more blessing to all from the kindness of Boaz. Naomi was alive with hope. Her faith is strong, and she is ready for action.  

One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.” (Ruth 3:1-4)

The plan Ruth has will provide a home for Ruth. Boaz is their relative. He is what is called their kinsman redeemer. Already there was a law in Leviticus called the laws of gleaning that provided for the poor and destitute. That is why Ruth was gleaning, but Boaz in his kindness had provided way beyond the law.

Now again there is a law in Leviticus that will be part of the story of Ruth’s redemption. “If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold” (Leviticus 25:25). Naomi and Boaz are relatives. Not only is Boaz the one to redeem their property, but this would make him the eligible husband for Ruth.

Naomi lays out the plan. Ruth is to prepare herself. Naomi tells Ruth to put on her best clothes, perfume and go to Boaz’s threshing floor. When he lies down uncover his feet and do whatever he tells you to do.  

5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do. 7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet! 9 “Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.”

Ruth is going to do everything Naomi has told her to do. It is a bold step, to uncover Boaz feet in the middle of the night while he is sleeping, but she trusts her mother-in-law completely. When he awakes and asks who it is she tells him. I am Ruth and you are my kinsman redeemer. Boaz may not have thought this through the way Naomi had. The kinsman redeemer concept is begun. The story is unfolding to the glory of God.  

“The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.” 14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.” 15 He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he went back to town.

In the movie Chariots of Fire the star British athlete Abrahams asks Sam Mussabini to coach him. Mussabini is taken back by Abrahams question. The coach asks Abrahams how he would feel if the right girl came along and then she popped the question of marriage. It seems that is what happened to Boaz. He noticed young Ruth gleaning grain and was taken in by her. Now she is popping the question. Boaz and the whole of Bethlehem know that Ruth is a woman of noble character. To act on his kinsman redeemer duty is to marry Ruth.

Yes, Boaz is the near relative, but someone is closer. There is someone else who can redeem the property and marry Ruth. Boaz has responded and will take action. He gave her grain as an act of his intentions, but this will have to work out. We will again have to wait for the Lord to orchestrate this marriage.

16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”

Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”

18 Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”

The story of Ruth is unfolding in Ruth chapter 3 and so is the story of our own redemption. The story of Ruth and Boaz unfolds it is a redemption story. It is a picture of our redemption story. This story is the historical account of our awaited Messiah.

Ruth represents one of the great redemption stories of the Bible. From cursed outsider, to redeemed. Ruth came from the cursed Moabite family line. What about us. What about our line in Adam. He disobeyed God. He was cursed and banished from the garden of Eden.

But God had a plan of redemption for all of us. To send his son Jesus Christ. God planned for our redemption to come from the line of Ruth and Boaz. Through our redeemer in Jesus Christ, we have been seated in the heavenly places. We are part of the royal family of God.

That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:7)

It is by grace you have been saved. Has His story in your story unfolded for his glory? Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ? When we are redeemed in Christ it is more kindness than Ruth showed Naomi or Boaz showed Ruth. Now you who were far away from God are brought near by the bold of Christ.

Ruth 2:1-23

The Lord is using all the circumstances to bring forth his salvation history. Through the hand of God Boaz, a “worthy man” is brought into Ruth’s life.

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Ruth 2:1-23

The Lord uses the unlikely. In Corinth Paul told the believers not many of you were influential or of noble birth when you were called. That was true for Ruth also. She was the furthest thing from nobility, and she had no influence. She was a cursed Moabite woman. Being one of the unlikely ones was even true of her great grandson King David. He was so unlikely to be King that even his father had ruled him out.

My how God uses the unlikely. He used King David, and he used Ruth. He uses us too, no matter how unlikely we may seem. He chooses the foolish to confound the wise and weak things to shame the strong.

Ruth goes to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi. It was all in the midst of a series of tragic circumstances filled with grief and anguish. It put Ruth in a place where she would need to put her total dependence on God. The hand of God was guiding Ruth and Naomi. It is seen from our perspective now. But for Ruth it was a matter of faith and obedience.

Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”  3 So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. (Ruth 2:1-3)

Ruth made a commitment that the God of her mother-in law Naomi would be her God. Ruth had put her faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Ruth and Naomi arrive in Bethlehem destitute. Ruth is going to the barley fields to pick the leftover grain. She is vulnerable and must hope that she is not harmed by someone who would pray on the downtrodden.

The first person we are introduced to in the book of Ruth Chapter 1 was Elimelek whose wife is Naomi. He has died and left Naomi a widow. Elimelech was from Bethlehem and now here in chapter 2 we are introduced to his relative in Bethlehem, Boaz. It says that Ruth “happened” to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz. By “happened” we understand that God is orchestrating everything.

Every tragic event in the life of Naomi was being used to bring glory to God. The famine in her town of Bethlehem. The death of her husband Elimelech. The death of her two sons. Becoming a destitute widow in a foreign land. Naomi went from having a pleasant life to a bitter life. But all will be redeemed by the Lord. This man Boaz is the kinsman-redeemer for Naomi and her family.       

We see all though the Bible how the Lord is using all the circumstances to bring forth his salvation history. God is orchestrating events for his glory. Through the hand of God Boaz, a “worthy man” is brought into Ruth’s life. Ruth was destitute and outcast, and Boaz was just the opposite. He had standing in Bethlehem. Both Ruth and Boaz had faith in God. 

There is hope for redemption in the worst of circumstances. In Moab Ruth trusted God. Now God is guiding Ruth to be in the right place at the right time, even when everything in her life felt forgotten and bitter. God is guiding Ruth and Naomi though the difficult circumstances.

Think about the events of your life, the good and the bad. They did not just happen. Are you having the eyes to see the hand of God in your life?

And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.” ⁵ Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” ⁶ And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. ⁷ She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.” (Ruth 2:4-7)

Ruth has come to glean in Boaz field and now Boaz comes where Ruth is gleaning and sees her for the first time. There is a law found in Leviticus 19:9-10 which is referred to as the laws of gleaning. Those who harvest the fields are to leave some left in the fields to take care of the poor and the destitute. God has made a provision through the law to care for those of the poor and for the alien. This is just the situation of Ruth and Naomi.

Now Boaz has taken notice of Ruth. It is a little surprising that a well-off landowner like Boaz would take notice of a destitute woman gleaning in his field. But everything about the story of Ruth is surprising. This is not a predictable love story where you already know how it will end from the very beginning. Nothing like this has ever happened before.   

Now the man in charge of harvesting Boaz’s barley crop explains to him who Ruth is and her background. It seems like Ruth’s faithfulness and the kindness she showed to Naomi was already known by many in Bethlehem. Ruth had already attracted the attention of Boaz, but now with the story of how he treated the widow of his own family member he is very interested and going to talk to Ruth himself.

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. ⁹ Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.” (Ruth 2:8-9)

Now Boaz is showing the kindness to Ruth that she showed Naomi. Boaz is going beyond what he is required by law to provide. Boaz is going from law to grace. He is caring for her wellbeing and even letting her drink from their own water from their vessels.  

Boaz falls for Ruth at first sight. There is something attractive about her. He is all the more attracted to Ruth in the unique way she stayed with Naomi and made the Israelite God her God. This is different to Samson’s attraction to Deliliah. That was a case were Samson was following beauty to the detriment of his own faithfulness and calling to God. Ruth must have been a beautiful young woman, but she is more attractive by her godly character. As the story unfolds, we see that Boaz is trusting God the way Ruth had trusted God.  

Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” ¹¹ But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. ¹² The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!” ¹³ Then she said, “I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.” (Ruth 2:10-13)

Ruth cannot herself believe her good fortune after all that has happened. Ruth’s motive to showed kindness to Naomi and put her faith in the God of Israel was never because she was expecting to gain such favor. It was faith in God alone. In response to the kindness of Boaz Ruth fell on her face at the overwhelming favor she has found.

We need to follow the example of Ruth. We need to put our faith in God and follow him come what may. We follow God not for materiel gain or because there will be no storms in our life, but we follow God because he takes us through the storms. Whatever God has for us we need to be overwhelmed like Ruth when she responded by falling down with gratitude. God has shown kindness to us by providing our salvation. We should fall on our face in gratitude.

When there are storms in our life and God seems far away, He may be orchestrating wonderful things to come through our circumstances. He may be growing us to trust him more. 

And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. ¹⁵ When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. ¹⁶ And also pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.” ¹⁷ So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.  (Ruth 2:14-17)

Boaz had gone beyond the law and shown grace to Ruth. This is overflowing grace.  They are leaving bundles of grain for her that would normally be harvested. Ruth was able to glean more than ten times the amount of grain that would have come by harvesting based on the laws of gleaning.

Ruth had a thanksgiving harvest meal with Boaz. He gave her roasted grain meal. He made provisions to protect her and to provide for her and Naomi. The Lord had led Ruth to this field in fulfillment of his ultimate plan of redemption. The grace of God is poured out on Ruth. 

Ruth would be gathering grain at subsistence level, but now she is gathering an overflowing abundance portion. Something extraordinary is happening to Ruth. When she returns to Naomi, she confirms this. Ruth has been blessed through Boaz and ultimately through the provision of God.

And she took it up and went into the city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what food she had left over after being satisfied. ¹⁹ And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” (Ruth 2:18-19)

When Naomi saw all that Ruth had received through gleaning she said, bless the man who took notice of Ruth”. It was the provision of God through the kindness of this man.

By law she could glean grain, but by grace Boaz goes way beyond the law. He provided 30 pounds of grain. Naomi, whose field were you in? Ruth told her who it was. It was Boaz.

The remaining two chapters are going to paint a beautiful picture of our redemption. Ruth is redeemed by her kinsman redeemer. For us the curse of sin is broken by the grace of God.  

And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” ²¹ And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” ²² And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” ²³ So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law. (Ruth 2:17-23)

God is working behind the scenes. Every circumstance in the life of Ruth and Naomi are working out for good. God is working in your life. We need to see it. We can feel sometimes like our lives have gone from pleasant and bitter and we do not realize how God is using our situation, even the difficulties, to his glory.

God is using the unlikely. Paul said in Romans 5:20 where sin increased grace increased all the more. Ruth was a Moabite cursed to the tenth generation. Where the Moabite curse increased, grace increased all the more. Ruth changed history.  Ruth has a Bible book named after her. Ruth is in the Genealogy of Jesus.

What is happening in your life? Are you unlikely to be used mightily by God? Do you know that God uses the unlikely? Are you able to see that God is guiding everything to His glory in your life?  

Ruth 1:1-22

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You can’t make this story up. The story of Ruth is way too far-fetched to be manmade. The likely author of the book of Ruth is Samuel, who was a contemporary with Ruth as both lived in the days when judges ruled. There is just no way Samuel would come up with the idea on his own to include Ruth the Moabite as the hero of Jewish history.

Matthew underscores the importance of Ruth. The story of Ruth practically opens the New Testament when Matthew 1:3-6 cover the genealogy from Ruth’s story and mention Ruth by name.   

Samuel’s own sons who were set up to be the likely heroes for Israel, failed and Ruth was shining like the brightest star.  No way would Samuel or any other Jewish writer “write in” a Moabite woman like Ruth to be King David’s great grandmother, when Moabites were cursed to the tenth generation.

Samuel would not have come up with the idea that Ruth the Moabite woman would become the great grandmother to king David, the greatest and most important king in the history of Israel. He would not have been able to “win friends and influenced people” by writing that Ruth would become in the linage of the awaited Messiah. Ruth is the heritage for all the cursed of the earth to be redeemed by Jesus Christ. This story and all these events are all orchestrated by the hand of God.

This book of the Bible, Ruth underscores the providence of God. Ruth stands alongside, Tamar, Rehab and Bathsheba as unlikely ancestors of Jesus. The book of Ruth is a redemption story of Ruth and, her mother-in-law Naomi. Even beyond that the story of Ruth is an account of the redemption of ultimately our entire human race.

The setting of the book of Ruth is the period of the Judges. There was a famine and that is why this landowner Elimelek of Bethlehem traveled to Moab with his family.

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. ² The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. (Ruth 1:1-2)

The book of Ruth begins by introducing Elimelek from Bethlehem. His name means the Lord is my king. Elimelek was married to Naomi. Her name means pleasant. This couple are referred to as Ephrathites. This term for distinguishing Bethlehem was used by Micah in foretelling where the Messiah would be born. It was from Bethlehem-Ephrata that the Messiah was to come (see Micah 5:2) Ephrath (Bethlehem) is mentioned in Genesis as the place they were on the way to from Bethel when Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin.

Elimelek and Naomi left Bethlehem for Moab with their two sons because there was a famine in the land.  They went to Moab east of the Dead Sea to escape the famine.

Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴ They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, ⁵ both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. (Ruth 1:4-5)

Tragedy struck for Naomi in Moab. First of all, her husband Elimelek died. Both of her sons married Moabite women. That is where Ruth comes into the story of salvation history.

Then after the death of Elimelek both of her sons died. She became a destitute widow in a foreign land. By that time Naomi had been in Moab for ten years and the famine was over in Bethlehem. Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem.   

It is important to know that Ruth was a Moabite, and that Moabites were a cursed people to the Israelites and Naomi’s people in Bethlehem. Why were the Moabites cursed? They descended from Moab who was the son of Lot (Abraham’s cousin). Moab was born after Lot escaped the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and his daughters got him drunk to have a union of Lot and his daughter. (Genesis 19:30-37) The descendants of Moab lived east of the dead sea.

In Numbers 22-25 there is an account of how the king of Moab, Balak, paid Balam to curse Israel then seduced the Israelites to marry Moabite women and worship Moabite gods. The Moabites were not to enter the assembly of the Lord to the tenth generation. (Deuteronomy 23:3-6)

We see the sovereignty of God in difficulties. The reason we see the Lord at work in Naomi’s difficult situation that made her a broken woman in despair is because we are looking back on them. We know the whole story of how this was the hand of God working beautifully in the life of Naomi. Think of Naomi in her situation leaving Moab to return home and you could understand that at the time Naomi could only see the bitter circumstances.

When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. ⁷ With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. (Ruth 1:6-7)

There was a glimmer of hope for Naomi. The famine in Bethlehem that took Naomi to Moab is over and she heard the Lord was providing food for her people. The story of redemption is quietly unfolding without a lot of fanfare. She made the preparations to return to Bethlehem. With her two daughters she set out to return to her own people.

Naomi tells the two daughters-in-law to return or stay in Moab and remarry there. Both Orpah and Ruth had shown kindness to Naomi, but she knows they must do what is best for them. Returning home to Moab is the only practical way Ruth and Orpha can get on with their lives.

Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye, and they wept aloud ¹⁰ and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” (Ruth 1:8-10)

Naomi tells Orpha and Ruth why they should return to Moab and not journey on to Bethlehem with her. There is seemingly no future for these young women if they go on to Bethlehem with Naomi. There was a tearful goodbye. They had been through so much together and become family, but it was best for them to return home.

But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? ¹² Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— ¹³ would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” (Ruth 1:11-13)

Soon after they set out for Bethlehem Naomi tells her two daughters-in-law to return to Moab and remarry there. Orpah kissed her mother-in law goodbye. Naomi was right. It made sense to return to their home and remarry in Moab and begin their life again there.

¹⁴ At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. ¹⁵ “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” (Ruth 1:14-15)

Ruth was going to do something extraordinary. She was going to faithfully stay beside Naomi come what may. This Moabite woman said that the God of Ruth, who was the God of Elimeleck and yes the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would be her God. The Israelites would now be her people. She is faithful to the very end.  

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” ¹⁸ When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. (Ruth 1:16-18)

Ruth shows kindness to Naomi. Naomi felt the bitterness of the loss of her husband and two sons. She had the faithful support of Ruth. Naomi would never have to experience her bitterness alone. Not as long as Ruth lived.

Last night two groups were going to go for carol singing. As the one group divided into two one of the carolers jokingly told the leader of the second group, we will go with your group, were you go I will go and your people will be my people. He loosely quoted Ruth in a humorous way, and everyone knew it was from the story from the book of Ruth. This verse of faithfulness is immediately the recognizable line from the story of Ruth. This saying of Ruth has become the proverbial saying of faithfulness.   

So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” ²⁰ “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. ²¹ I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” ²² So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. (Ruth 1:19-22)

Naomi’s name meant pleasant or blessed, but now as she returns to Bethlehem after the famine, death of her husband and two sons she asked her people of Bethlehem to call her Mara, which means bitter. Naomi has been through extreme grief and suffering. She can only say the Lord Almighty has afflicted her. She can’t yet see what we can see reading the story in the context of the whole Bible and how she is a blessed person.

As they arrived from Moab to Bethlehem it was barley harvest. Ruth did not know all that would mean. Yes, the famine was over, but much more. It was the providence of God. It was what would take her afflicted and empty life and make it full. Something amazing was about to happen in the lives of Ruth and Naomi.

As the next chapters unfold, we will see that not only did Ruth show kindness to Naomi and faith in God, but Ruth will experience the grace of God. Ruth’s life is about to become an object lesson of how God can redeem anyone.

Ruth was a cursed Moabite woman who was redeemed and became most blessed. Her son born in Bethlehem became the great-great-great grandson of Abraham. She became the great grandmother of King David. She was in the family genealogy of Mary and Jesus. She experienced personal redemption and was part of the greatest redemption story of all history.

We were all cursed to the tenth generation and experienced redemption through the cross, having faith in Jesus Christ. No one could make up the story of our redemption. It is only possible through the sovereign hand of God.

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Ezekiel 37:1-14

Sing it with me:

The foot bone connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone connected to the knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the back bone,
The back bone connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone connected to the head bone,
Ezekiel cried, “Dem dry bones!”
Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroun’

Oh, hear the word of the Lord!

If we are going to jump into dem dry bones in this prophecy of Ezekiel, then we should start with the context and some background to the prophet and his book.

The book begins with Ezekiel letting us know he is a priest who is thirty years old and goes into one of the fantastic visions of living creatures of what is simply put as a vision of the glory of God (Ezekiel 1:28). In the Levitical priesthood priests become of age at thirty years old. I don’t see anywhere that this has been suggested, but I am wondering if Ezekiel had this fantastic vision on his first day as a priest.

It at least had to be in his first year as a priest otherwise he would be 31 years old or more when he had his Chapter 1 vision. So maybe Ezekiel became a priest and a prophet all in one day.

Ezekiel’s ministry came in the context of hardship. He was living in Babylon because Nebuchadnezzar had conquered his people and exiled some Israelites including Ezekiel. God used the enemy of Israel to punish them and destroy their temple. It was a disgrace for the nation, and such were the days of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel also was a widower since his wife already died (Ezekiel 28:15-18). He was instructed not to shed a tear as part of the difficult series of prophetic messages of hopelessness Ezekiel proclaimed to his nation.

The life of Ezekiel was an object lesson for the nation that had become a dead people. A people that had become a nation of dry bones. There is no hope for this disgraced, disobedient and defeated nation. No hope outside God almighty doing something like had never been done before.

God’s question to Ezekiel. Can dry bones live?

The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. ³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” (Ezekiel 37:1-3)

When God asked Ezekiel if dry bones can live his answer is you alone know Lord.

Already God had made a dry stick, Aaron’s staff blossom. (Numbers 17:5-8) “Aaron’s staff sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds.” Of course, God can give life to Aaron’s staff and to the dry bones.

Aaron’s rod blooming was the demonstration of the power of God. They were not to forget this, and Moses placed Aaron’s staff in the Ark of the Covenant to serve as testimony to the power of God, and as a warning to rebelling against God.

Speak to the dry bones.

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” (Ezekiel 37:4-6)

Almighty God is the only one who could breathe into the dust and create man. Only God can bring life to these dry bones. But they come alive when Ezekiel preached to them.

For anyone who has new life in Christ you surely remember that you were once dead. You were a pile of dry bones. You were dead in your transgressions and sins (Ephesians 1:1)

I myself was also once a pile of dead bones. But because of his great love God made us alive in Christ. It is by grace these dry bones came to life. It is by grace you are saved, and God seated us up with Christ and seated us in the heavenly realms.

It is that 1 Corinthians 1 foolishness of preaching that the prophet was to speak to these dry bones. We have no power; Ezekiel has no power. It is the power of God, and our Lord uses us to bring life to the spiritually dead. He uses us to preach to the dead.

Bones come together.

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. (Ezekiel 37:7-8)

When these bones come alive Ezekiel will know Jehovah is the Lord God almighty. We are God’s handiwork created to do good works in Jesus Christ.

Not only have we seen dry bones come to life, we ourselves are dead bones who came to life. We are the rod of Aaron that blossomed. We have experienced spiritual birth, and we know that the Lord is God Almighty and what is impossible for man is possible with God.

God can restore everyone.

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. (Ezekiel 37:9-10)

With man it is impossible, but with God, everything is possible. All ministry is impossible. We cannot make dry bones live. Only God can. We can plant a seed, but God causes the life.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)

You have hope.

Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. (Ezekiel 37:11-13)

Isael is restored in this prophecy. The was the darkest moment of the Lord’s people. There is hope. God can do anything. His plan cannot be stopped. Abraham will have spiritual decedents like the stars of the sky. The rock will grow into a mountain as Daniel said in Daniel chapter 2. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as he water covers the sea. 

Do you have no hope? Then you can identify with Ezekiel’s situation. To sing the blues you have to experienced hard times. This goes beyond that. To identify with the prophets, you have to be hopeless and look so bleak that it seems all hope is cut off. But the Lord says, I am going to open your graves. I will bring you back to the land of Israel.

When God brings hope to the hopeless situation, we know he is Almighty God. 

God’s Spirit God’s breath.

I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’” (Ezekiel 37:14)

The Lord can do it. Nothing is impossible.

The Main point is that Israel will be restored.

The application is that this gospel will be preached throughout the whole earth and then the end shall come. God can save even the chief of sinners and use them to proclaim his glory throughout the whole earth.  

Aaron’s rod can bloom!

God breathed into the dust for Adam to live!

We are born again. We experience the resurrection of Christ when we put our faith in Jesus Christ.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

Dem bones gonna walk aroun’

Oh, hear the word of the Lord!

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Matthew 7:13-29

One of the elements of a sermon is the invitation. A sermon is more than information preached. In the invitation there is a call to action. What are you going to do with what you heard? How will you respond to how God has spoken to you?

Jesus has just preached the greatest sermon in all of history in Matthew 5-6. It is known as the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew Chapter 7 is the greatest invitation of all times that concludes Jesus’ sermon. What will you do about what Jesus has said? This is the call to commitment. This is the time for responding to Jesus’s message and committing to action.  

There are two ways to respond. Which will it be.

The narrow gate or the broad road?

The good fruit or the evil fruit?

Follow a religion or have a relationship with God?

Have a foundation of rocks or a foundation of sand?

Jesus did not pull any punches. The Christian life is not easy. Part of sharing the gospel is telling it like it is. Following Christ is the difficult way. Jesus is asking you to come and die to self. We don’t need to gloss over this part of becoming a Christian.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

What will it be? Only a few find the narrow gate. The road is narrow, and the path is difficult to follow. It will mean following Christ even when persecution comes for being a faithful follower of Jesus. It means staying faithful when it requires sacrifice.

This kind of faithfulness doesn’t just happen. There is a deliberate act of the will to die to self and live for Christ. The way is narrow to enter, but the invitation extends to all. We enter into God’s kingdom, the kingdom of God through Jesus. Only a few find this way. But for those who do this path leads to life.

Christian life may be hard, but worth it. There is eternal life, heaven, a crown of righteousness. These are what lay waiting for the one who finds the narrow way. This is what is in store for the ones that run the race with endurance.

Then there is the broad road that is the easy way to find. It is the path of least resistance. It is the road you will end up on if you are drifting along. This road has a wide entry gate. It is the road that is for the many. The destruction on this road is separation from God.

Think about how an animal trap works. The animal is lured in with bait and enters a wide easily accessible entry. But it can’t get out. Nothing is left for the animal but to wait for destruction. You stand at a crossroad of the wide and narrow road and Jesus calls for a decision.

There are two gates. There are two roads. There are two destinations. The narrow way is only found by a few, and the broad road is traveled by many.

There are two trees with two kinds of fruit. There is the bad tree with bad fruit. Then there is the good tree with good fruit.  

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:15-20)

How do you know if someone is a prophet or a pretender. You know be their fruit. By their fruit is how you recognize who they really are. You can find the worst-case situations where a false prophet led people to do horrible things. How come people did not know. False prophets appear as lambs when they are really wolves in sheep’s clothes.

It is not good to have a wolf in charge of feeding the sheep. Because these false prophets are bad by nature, they can only produce bad fruit. You don’t get grapes from a thornbush. False prophets speak wonderful words, but their lives do not match up with their words.

In contrast to a false prophet a true prophet with produce good spiritual fruit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

So, Jesus said that it is by their fruit you will know who a false prophet is and who is a true prophet.  A bad prophet cannot produce good fruit.

There are two kinds of followers. There is a contrast between those who have religion and those who have a relationship with God.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:22-23)

Simply claiming allegiance to Jesus doesn’t gain entrance to heaven. It is about more than words. Jesus tells us that on the day of judgement something shocking is going to happen. There will be those who call Jesus Lord, who did flashy miracles and cast out demons and yet Jesus will say, away from me, I never knew you.

There are those who a producing a religious sham and not a relationship with God. As an example, you could hire someone to do a job for you. One of them flatters you and tells you have wonderful you are but does not do the work. The other says little but gets the work done. The words are not enough. This is the fluff. This is the chaff. The work is the wheat. That is why our worship must be accompanied by our obedience.

On that day, the day of the Lord, the judgement day many may find they expected salvation and merely had a religion and not a relationship with God.  

There are two builders of a house. There is a wise builder and a foolish builder.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” ²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. (Matthew 7:24-29)

The book of James is considered the book of practical Christianity. James’s message is that we are to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. James was the younger brother of Jesus. His brother, or half-brother, Jesus was the first to give the practical message repeated by James. Don’t be hearers only but be doers of the Word of God. We must do what the Bible says.

There are two builders. One built their house upon a rock and has a solid foundation. The other builder built their house on the sand and has no real foundation at all. The house build on the sand will not withstand a storm.

If you hear and obey the word, then you have built your house on the rock. It is going to stand. If all you do is hear the word and you never apply what you hear then you are going to crumble under the storms that come.

God told Noah to build an ark. Suppose that Noa says OK sure thing Amen preach it. Then he never actually builds the ark. When it rains, he will get washed away. He needed to do more than hear. If he does not build it he sinks. He needed to obey the word of God. Since he built the ark, he and his family survived the storm. Do we just hear of do we hear and obey?

Noah stood at the crossroads and shoes obedience-based action. What about you. How will you respond to the invitation of Jesus?

Will it be the narrow road or the broad road? You need to put your faith in Christ to be on this narrow road that leads to life.

Will you have religion or a relationship with God? Trusting in Christ and asking God that Jesus death on the cross be the payment for your sin is the beginning of the relationship with God. That is what it means to be born again. The gate is your salvation in Christ. That is the road to life.