Our Guardian Redeemer - Ruth 4:13-15

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup

The communion meditation today is based on a passage of Scripture from the Old Testament, Ruth 4:13-15 (NIV). In this passage, we see how God made and kept His promise to give the Promised Land to His people and then ensured the promise would endure by providing a Guardian-Redeemer for their households. In like manner, God sent His Son, Jesus, to be our Guardian-Redeemer that His promise would be fulfilled to us. As we partake of the bread and drink the fruit of the vine from the cup, we remember Jesus and the price He willingly paid to redeem us. All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV) and are used with permission.

As you listen to the episode today, my hope is that you will be encouraged from the time spent meditating on what Jesus has done for you. You are a special person; the one Jesus died to save!

Transcript

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my communion meditation today is "Our Guardian-Redeemer" I read from Ruth 4:13-15 (NIV). All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version and are used with permission.

13 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.”

The story of Naomi and Ruth is more than just a feel-good story from the Old Testament that is often told at wedding ceremonies. The story is about a promise made by God to His chosen people and the means He put in place to ensure that families could hold on to this promise for generations. Without a redeemer, there would have been many whose promise would have been lost. When the Promised Land was subdivided among tribes and then by households, it was done by lot. The outcome of the lot was not by chance, but by God; it was His way to show how the land should be apportioned. Each household received exactly the land God wanted them to have. This act of providence from the Lord made the inheritance from the Lord very special. To preserve His promise, God enacted the kinsman-redeemer law in which a relative could buy back what had been sold by necessity. Even when that failed to occur, there was always the Year of Jubilee in which all lands reverted to their owners. If a husband died without leaving a male heir, the brother or nearest relative was obliged to marry the widow to raise up an heir so that the family name and their inheritance of land would not be lost among the tribes of Israel. This is a wonderful and heartwarming story that unfolds in Bethlehem between the Lord and Naomi and Boaz; a promise given and a promise preserved. This is who our God is and how He acts! In the beginning, man had fellowship with God in the garden of Eden. Sadly, man walked away from fellowship with God and chose to go his own way, the way of sin and death. As Adam and Eve were turned out of the Garden of Eden, God promised to send a Redeemer to save fallen man, offering forgiveness and life. In fulfillment of this redemption plan, Boaz and Ruth are the grandparents of King David, and the great grandparents of Jesus, our Redeemer. When we partake of the bread and drink the fruit of the vine from the cup, we acknowledge that our redemption was not just a real estate transaction, but Jesus giving His life on the cross that we might not die but have eternal life. Praise be to God who has raised up a Redeemer for us, Jesus, His Son. Let us pray.

Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. Abba, Father. How wonderful it is to know that we have a Redeemer! His name is Jesus. When we sinned against You and went our own way, the way of sin and death, You still loved us and provided a Redeemer for us that we might not die but have eternal life in heaven with You. As we partake of the bread and drink the fruit of the vine from the cup, we remember the terrible price He paid so that we might not die. Thank-you for Your promise and for Your redeemer, Jesus. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26:26-28 (NLT).

26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.

27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." Let us partake of the cup.

And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"

Until next time, from Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV), “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories, and I invite you to add my podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. There is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!