Ruth 4:14-15. Kinsman Redeemer, part 5.

Sunday July 15, 2018

 

Title: Ruth 4:14-15. Kinsman Redeemer, part 5.

 

Qualifications for a kinsman redeemer:

Near kinsman - The Son of God became a man.

Able to redeem -Jesus remained impeccable.

Willing to redeem - He wilfully laid down His life.

 

We will look at each of these in turn. Redemption is one of the most significant doctrines in the Bible.

 

The first reason for Jesus’ death on the cross was to bring believers into a state of glory.

 

HEB 2:10 For it was fitting [eminent] for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect [complete the goal] the author [Prince Ruler] of their salvation through sufferings.

 

HEB 2:11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

 

HEB 2:12 saying [PSA 22:22],

"I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren,

In the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise."

 

HEB 2:13 And again [ISA 8:17],

"I will put My trust in Him."

And again [ISA 8:18],

"Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me."

 

Assyria destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The Assyrians made it as far south as the walls of Jerusalem as a warning to Judah. If they continued to follow the same pattern as the north in idol worship, then they too would be removed from the land, which they were two generations later.

 

Yet, Isaiah’s declaration, “I will put my trust in Him,” still delivered him and his children. The remnant will always be delivered because they know that they have been redeemed and so they know that they can trust in Him. 

 

When the Assyrians surrounded the walls of Jerusalem and shouted insults at the God of Israel, Isaiah stood alongside King Hezekiah within the walls. Both men prayed in the Temple. They were delivered and 185,000 Assyrian soldiers died in their sleep that night by the hand of the Angel of the Lord. Sennacherib ran back to Nineveh with his tail between his legs where soon after he was assassinated by his own son while worshipping his false god in his false temple. God so often reveals to us the powerlessness of arrogant men by ironical judgment.

 

Sennacherib (king of Assyria) claimed at the walls of Jerusalem that Yavah would not be able to protect His people from his wrath. It turns out that Nisroch, the chief god of the Assyrians, could not protect the king as his own son murdered him inside the walls of the god’s very temple.

 

Isaiah said to Hezekiah while the walls of the city were surrounded by Assyrian soldiers:

 

Isaiah said to Hezekiah:

2KI 19:31

‘For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord shall perform this.’

 

“Zeal” (quin’ah) means jealousy or zealousness. The word shows that God has deep desire and that He will accomplish it. This is why God is completely trustworthy. He has zeal for righteousness and the power to fulfil His desire. If through faith, by His mercy, I am God’s own child, made righteousness by His redemption, then I am a part of that zeal.

 

Here the remnant survived, but even when they die, and sometimes they do (as some in the Northern Kingdom likely will), they are delivered as martyrs into the hands of God in heaven and they die with grace and glory. “I will trust in Him.”

 

All men die, but not all men really live. Christ came to give us life, and to give it to us abundantly.

 

Look at Joh 10. We will return here to point out the willingness of our Kinsman Redeemer.

 

JOH 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.”

 

JOH 10:18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

 

All are born into this world as sinners. Those who deny the Lord Jesus as Savior deny that they need a Savior. They therefore deny that they commit sin worthy of death. They use phrases like “I’m human,” “It’s only a white lie,” “Everybody does it,” and convince themselves that whatever they do, none of it is worthy of death, “the wages of sin.” So they also say things like, “I didn’t kill anyone,” as if murder was the only sin worthy of judgment in death.

 

This is why John in his first epistle had to deal with false teachers who claimed not to sin and not to be sinners. John said that we are all sinners, but that God was righteous and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all sin.

 

We can openly acknowledge that we are sinners (1JO 1:9) and at the same time claim that we fellowship with a perfect God (life abundantly). Why? The blood of Christ.

 

All are “born” into this world as sinners. Your problem started long before you ventured out to commit your first sin (selfishness). 

 

We asked the question, what is man or what is a nation without the redemption of the Lord? He is alive and the nation exists, but not abundantly and not with truth and a love of the laws of righteousness. It is an existence, but a sad one. That’s life under the thief, but read again:

 

JOH 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.”

 

JOH 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

 

We noted that before God gave Israel one law to follow that He redeemed them from the land of Egypt. “Let My people go,” was the cry. God reminded them of this from Mt. Sinai just before He gave them the Ten Commandments.

 

Video

 

What is man without the redemption of the Lord? He is a slave to sin, death, and the devil. What is a nation without the redemption of the Lord? It becomes a despotic and dark land.

 

God gave the nations their existence and boundaries that they should seek Him. The One who would judge them Himself was raised from the dead, proof positive that He had power of death and sin. All who turn to Him and believe will be redeemed - set free.

 

Nations that violate the Ten Commandments do so to their own peril. When we toss aside the absolute truths concerning God, freedom, marriage, and family we destroy the nation from within.

 

The fact that a nation exists on a map, has boundaries, a government, and infrastructure doesn’t mean that it is a nation of freedom, liberty, and prosperity for individual people. People have to exist and they have to live somewhere. Totalitarian governments and dictatorships lack freedom and only have prosperity for a few. You can point to them on a map and say they are a nation by definition, but they are more like prisons that people are born into, most of whom live in poverty and oppression. Every one of them have removed the one true God from their society.

 

Again, the first reason for the death of Christ was to bring many sons to glory. They are the remnant in every generation.

 

HEB 2:10 For it was fitting [eminent] for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect [complete the goal] the author [Prince Ruler] of their salvation through sufferings.

 

HEB 2:11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

 

HEB 2:12 saying,

"I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren,

In the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise."

 

HEB 2:13 And again,

"I will put My trust in Him."

And again,

"Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me."

 

As Isaiah was delivered so would his children be, but they would grow to see the fulfilment of the meaning of their names. We who have trusted in Christ as our Savior will be delivered. We are redeemed. All we need to do now is trust in our Redeemer.

 

The second reason for His death was to overcome the prince of death.

 

HEB 2:14 Since then the children share [are partakers] in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil;