Christ, our near kinsman

Here's an outtake from this past Sunday's main service at my church and will have a new article tomorrow:

Everybody’s worrying about women preachers and they aren’t legitimate; that’s rebellion against the structure God gave. But the work of the ministry couldn’t work without the ladies.

In the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ, the lineage of the Messiah, there are five women and two of them were Gentiles.

How did Tamar get there? She got there because of her sinfulness, the wickedness she engaged in to trick her way into the genealogy. There’s God forgiving sinners, including sinners.

Every time you see Rahab in the Bible she’s called Rahab the Harlot. There’s God accepting Believers no matter who they are.

Then there’s Ruth, the Moabitess. Ruth 1:4: [4] And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.

Ruth 1:16: [16] And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

That’s not a marriage vow, as people have been told through the years. That’s a daughter-in-law telling her mother-in-law, “I want to go with you because your god is the God of gods; the God of Israel.”

So she’s going to claim status as a Moabite. Lot’s two girls commit incest with their father and have children and the Ammonites and the Moabites come from Lot’s incest with his daughters.

Deuteronomy 23:3: [3] An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:

The law says Ruth can’t have a possession in the land for 10 generations. So, Ruth goes back into the land with Naomi, understanding the limitations; the encumbrances on her.

Ruth 2: [1] And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.

Now, Boaz is a kinsman of Ruth’s husband. Naomi says, “He can help you.”

Ruth 2: [19] And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz.
[20] And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.

That term “kinsman redeemer”--Leviticus 25 says that in Israel if you had land and its been put in jeopardy . . . God’s justice set up some requirements to redeem that land from the jeopardy.

A kinsman redeemer had to have three qualifications. He had to be your nearest kinfolk. No. 2 he had to be wealthy, he had to be able to redeem the land and No. 3, he had to be willing to do it.

Boaz is wealthy, he’s got the money, but then there’s somebody else who is a nearer kin. Boaz is second in line. In chapter 4 he goes and talks to the guy and says, “Here, you’ve got to redeem this,” and the guy says, “I can’t; I’m not able. It’s going to mar my inheritance.”

Now Boaz is No. 1. Paul says in Ephesians 1: [7] In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Jesus Christ as the Redeemer is our kinsman redeemer. He is our near kinsman; that’s why Hebrews 2 says: [16] For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
[17] Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

Hebrews 1, talking about the Lord Jesus: [3] Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
[4] Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Jesus Christ is God but He’s also a man. He became our near kinsman. He’s both God and man in one person.  He can take God by the hand and you by the hand and He’s the connection. He’s able, because what did He do? You know the blood Jesus shed was God’s blood because He is God.

Acts 20:28: [28] Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

You know what, Boaz takes the curse of the law away and provides redemption for Ruth. It’s amazing.

In Ruth 4 Pharez is their son: [17] And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
[18] Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron,
[19] And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab,
[20] And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon,
[21] And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed,
[22] And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.

If you count from Pharez to David you know how many generations that is? 10. There goes the curse of the law off of that line and it was Boaz, the kinsman redeemer, who took the curse away and let Ruth be in the lineage.

Romans 8: [3] For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
[4] That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Jesus Christ took all the demands of the law and took them out of the way because He did them—perfectly, completely fulfilled them. He was without sin.