Ruth: 3:1-9; a study on chesed – the substance of all things, God’s glory.

Title: Ruth: 3:1-9; a study on chesed - the substance of all things, God’s glory.

 

We continue in the substance of relationships. It is mercy and love. Also:

The substance is spontaneous kindness, patience, graciousness, forgiveness, shared truth, endurance, compassion, support, faithfulness, and more. All of these are invisible and immeasurable.

 

Kindness, patience, graciousness, forgiveness, shared truth, endurance, compassion, support, faithfulness, goodness, self-control, virtue, sacrifice, and on and on; all of these are invisible and immeasurable and they cannot be taken from you. They are the treasure of heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy.

 

When you and I come to a full knowledge of them and share them with others we inherit and possess them, and since they are the true substance of all things on this earth, we inherit the earth that we lost at the fall.

 

The material aspect of all things on this earth is temporary and destined for destruction. Our bodies are tainted, the earth is cursed, and everything on it in infected. Yet, through the grace and mercy of God, His glory is within them, whether for judgment or redemption, and this we can behold if our eye is singular.

 

The meek see the glory of God in all things and he is a beholder and owner of that glory. He will have chesed.

 

God must take us by the hand and show it to us. We must be humble to receive this truth. This is one of the things that Jesus prayed for in His last quiet moments.

 

JOH 17:15 "I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

 

“evil one” - ponhro/v$ [poneros] = evil, wickedness. Can refer to the “evil one” but certainly it is the devil’s evil way that we must be kept from.

 

JOH 17:16 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 

JOH 17:17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.

 

JOH 17:18 "As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

 

Sent into the world clearly means that we are no longer a part of it. Every Christian is sent into the world as a witness of Christ and of the truth. It would be ridiculous for the Christian to attempt to become a part of the world.  

 

Hence, the next line in His prayer is for our sanctification, being set apart from the world and unto Him as witnesses of Him. For this to be true we must see the glory of God in all things.

 

To some, sanctification was interpreted as getting out of the world, i.e. monasticism. This is also ridiculous, since if we were sent into the world, we shouldn’t be hiding in it.  The monastic mindset still exists although most don’t go off to live in monasteries. Some Christians won’t set foot in an establishment because there are sinners in it. Sanctification means that though we are in the world and in the midst of its people, we live and conduct ourselves in the way, the truth, and the life of Christ and therefore of heaven.  We don’t partake of the sin, but we go to the sinner, and we reveal the glory of God that is in this world; we reveal Christ. 

 

JOH 17:16 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 

JOH 17:17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.

 

JOH 17:18 "As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

 

JOH 17:19 "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

 

Everything He asks us to do, He has done first. In all things He is our Forerunner. And remember, He is a man. He is unique and we do not become Him, but we are conformed to His image.

 

JOH 17:20 "I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;

 

He prays for all in the church.

 

JOH 17:21 that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.

 

“be one as We are” - in union with Christ, regenerated, having eternal life, and seeing with the eye that They share.

 

Union with Christ, regeneration, and having eternal life are positional. We receive all of them at the moment of salvation when we believed in Christ as our Savior. These gifts enable us to see if we are humble students of His word, learning, applying, forging ahead in faith, thirsting and hungering for righteousness.

 

JOH 17:22 "And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one;

 

Seeing the glory of God together is unity.

 

COL 3:14-15

And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

 

When you and I can see the glory of God in the people and things of this world then we share a very unique bond. We see the real substance of things.

 

JOH 17:23 I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.

 

JOH 17:24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world.

 

It’s wonderful to hear our Lord speak to the Father about what He desires. This is a man who is God and therefore a man who has everything. It is amazing to think that He deeply desires something.What is more amazing is what it is.

 

JOH 17:25 "O righteous Father, although the world has not known Thee, yet I have known Thee; and these have known that Thou didst send Me;

 

JOH 17:26 and I have made Thy name known to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them."

 

These things that we share with Christ are infinitely higher than the material things in this world, and yet in some way, some aspect of the glory of God is in those things. If we can see that glory in them, then we truly own or inherit them. If the meek one was to lose his land, even fraudulently, he would not lose the glory of God that was in it, and in fact, there was another aspect of God’s glory in losing it, so therefore, he has not lost it, but has gained something more.

 

When Jesus lost His outer garment, did He actually lose something or gain something? After all it was just some woven linen, but its substance was something much more.

 

“To inherit the earth is to grow ever more alive to the presence, in it and in all its parts, of Him who is the life of men.” [MacDonald]

 

Paul gives us a wonderful example of people not seeing the glory of God in their relationships and in this case it was the Corinthian believers and their relationships with their various teachers. But then Paul hands them to the key to this vision and invites them to step out of their blindness.  

 

1CO 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ.

 

1CO 3:2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able,

 

1CO 3:3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

 

1CO 3:4 For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not mere men?

 

The Corinthians saw the glory of their teacher relationship to be their own status of importance.