A Heart of Good Soil

A Deeper Dive Into the Book of Revelation - Part 31

Ruth’s Passover Experience

Ruth’s first meeting with Boaz is symbolic of the salvation experience. Ruth’s redeemer has forgiven all of her past. It has been brought to his attention that she comes from a line of unclean Moabite sinners, but all of that is forgiven as if it never happened.

In this way, Ruth experiences her personal Passover.

God gave three main feasts to His people. (See Deuteronomy 16:16.) These three feast are:

1. Passover

2. Pentecost

3. Tabernacles

Passover symbolizes salvation. We see this also represented in the Outer Court of the Tabernacle of Moses. The Outer Court has two pieces of furniture: the bronze altar and the bronze laver.

The bronze altar was used to offer sacrifices to atone for sins. This symbolizes God’s forgiveness that we receive when we trust in the sacrifice that Jesus made for us when He died in our place on the cross.

After receiving God’s forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus, the next step in the salvation experience is water baptism, which is symbolized by the bronze laver, which was basically a giant washing bowl full of water.

Symbolically, Ruth has met her redeemer and experienced salvation in her personal Passover experience in the Outer Court, but there is much more ahead of her! She will move on into her personal Pentecostal experience in the Holy Place, and from there she will press on into the Holy of Holies to experience the ultimate Feast of Tabernacles, coming into union with her redeemer.

A Heart of Good Soil

Ruth has captured the attention of Boaz, her redeemer. He has shown her kindness and favored her with special privileges.

Ruth wants to know why.

“Then she kneeled face downward, bowing to the ground, and said to him, ‘Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should notice me, when I am a foreigner?’

“Boaz answered her, ‘I have been made fully aware of everything that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for your kindness, and may your reward be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.’—Ruth 2:10-12 (AMP)

Ruth represents the believers with hearts of “good soil” in Jesus’ parable of the Sower. Unlike Naomi, who is one of God’s people but does not live out the virtues that God’s Word teaches, Ruth lives the life of a true Christian with a good heart. The Truth of God has found good soil in her heart. She is not just “talking the talk,” but she is “walking the walk.” Her faith is demonstrated by her actions. She is living the life of a godly woman in true sincerity. She’s the real deal. And she is blessed and rewarded for it by her redeemer.

Redeeming the Bloodline

Boaz shows favor to Ruth because she is a woman with a good heart, but I believe there is more to the favor that Boaz shows to Ruth. Boaz is a Jew. He is well aware of the law that firmly declares that Moabites are unclean and are not welcome in the company of respectable Jews.

So, why does Boaz shower Ruth with favor and special privileges?

I believe we can find the answer in the first chapter of Matthew.

The first chapter of Matthew contains the genealogy of Jesus Christ. It is a part of the Bible that people often skip over when they read, but this genealogy may hold a real key that will help us understand what motivates Boaz to favor Ruth so highly.

“Salmon was the father of Boaz. (Boaz’s mother was Rahab.)”—Matthew 1:5 (ICB)

Boaz’s mother was Rahab the harlot!

Knowing this, it’s no wonder that Boaz is motivated to give special treatment to a woman like Ruth who is a foreigner looked upon as unclean by the people of Israel. In this way, Ruth is exactly like his own mother!

Can you imagine all of the ridicule, gossip, and rejection that Rahab must have faced, living among the Israelites as a former Gentile prostitute? Can you imagine what Boaz’s childhood must have been like having to watch his mother endure all of that ridicule—and probably enduring a lot of it himself as the son of a prostitute!

No wonder Boaz has a heart for this foreigner who is considered unclean by those who were born into privilege as God’s chosen people!

This is the heart of our Redeemer! His heart reaches out to the outcast, the rejected, the heartbroken, the poor, the forsaken, the lost. This is our Good Shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine that are well-fed and cared for and goes to seek the one who has lost its way. This is our Jesus who leaves the marble halls of the righteous to seek out the company of unclean sinners, and when He is questioned about it, responds, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners” (Mark 2:17 CEB).

Just look at the compassion Jesus demonstrated to the despised Zaccheus!

“When Jesus reached the place, He looked up and said to him, ‘Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.’

“So Zaccheus hurried and came down, and welcomed Jesus with joy.

“When the people saw it, they all began muttering [in discontent], ‘He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a [notorious] sinner.’

“Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, ‘See, Lord, I am [now] giving half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone out of anything, I will give back four times as much.’

“Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this household, because he, too, is a [spiritual] son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”—Luke 19:5-10 (AMP)

Because of his own family history, Boaz understood that a person is more than where they came from. Boaz was able to see beyond Ruth’s past and to see her as God saw her.

“The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”—1 Samuel 16:7 (NLT)

But God did even more than this for Rahab and for Ruth.

We learn from the genealogy in the first chapter of Matthew that the family line of the Lord Jesus Himself can be traced back to these two women!

God rewarded these two women who had been judged and looked down on because of their shameful family histories. He took these two unclean sinners and redeemed their bloodlines by putting them into the family line of His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Take a moment to think about what God did for these two women.

God redeemed both Ruth and Rahab, but He didn’t stop there. He redeemed and purified their bloodlines by grafting these two formerly unclean sinners into His own family line, cleansing and purifying their bloodlines forever, placing them into the family line of his own dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In doing so, God removed all the shame of their past. Old things were past away, and all things were made new for them!

This is what God does for you, too, when you accept Him. He not only cleanses you, but He frees you from your past and anything negative that you may have inherited through your bloodline. You are completely free of the old life. You are a new creature now, born into the pure, royal bloodline of the Lord Jesus Christ!

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come.”—2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMP)

Reference: Cummins, D. (2021). I Am Ruth Thy Handmaid. Capitol Worship.