A Deeper Dive Into the Book of Revelation - Part 44
“So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he had relations with her. And the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.”—Ruth 4:13 (NASB)
Ruth represents the Bride of Christ. Her wedding to Boaz looks forward to the glorious wedding of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Bride He has been waiting for and purifying for centuries.
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”—Ephesians 5:25-27 (NKJV)
“‘Let’s rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself.’ It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”—Revelation 19:7-8 (NASB)
But Ruth does not represent the whole Church. Ruth represents the believers in the parable of the Sower whose hearts are good soil for the Word of God. To get a full picture of the whole Church, we have to include Naomi, who represents the “thorny ground” believers, and Orpah, who represents the “stony ground” believers.
This is very important to see because only Ruth becomes the bride of the redeemer. Naomi and Orpah do not. The whole Church will *not *become the Bride of Christ. That honor is only for those who overcome. “Thorny ground” believers and “stony ground” believers will not be included in the Bride of Christ because they do not meet the conditions. Like the foolish virgins in Matthew 25, they have not prepared themselves to meet the bridegroom, and they will be locked out of the wedding celebration. They have not cooperated with the work of the Holy Spirit in being conformed to the image of Christ and washed in the Word of God to become pure, spotless, and without blemish in the eyes of their Redeemer.
Ruth represents the wise virgins who prepared themselves to meet the Bridegroom and will be called to come inside the open door to participate in the wedding celebration.
Ruth is like Esther who cooperated with the purification process that prepared her to be presented to her king.
Ruth is like that Shulamite maiden in the Song of Solomon who pursued an intimate relationship with her king with single heart and single focus.
In pursuing the heart of her redeemer, Ruth was invited into her redeemer’s inner circle, just as Peter, James, and John were brought into Jesus’ inner circle.
This journey took Ruth from the Outer Court experience in the field, to the Holy Place experience of the threshing floor, and finally, beyond the veil into the glorious Holy of Holies experience of a face-to-face, intimate, abiding relationship with her redeemer.
Ruth moved beyond the Feast of Passover experience of being saved from the death and hopelessness of her life in Moab, and beyond her Feast of Pentecost experience of purification and anointing to meet her redeemer on the threshing floor. Finally, Ruth entered into the ultimate Feast of Tabernacles experience of becoming one with her redeemer in the intimate relationship of marriage.
As Dan Cummins points out, Ruth’s life story represents the three phases of salvation—justification, sanctification, and glorification. (Cummins, p.141)
Ruth experienced justification when she left Moab and declared to Naomi, “Your God shall be my God.” Symbolically, this represents the salvation of her *spirit. *
Ruth experienced sanctification when she was cleansed, anointed, and prepared for presentation to her redeemer. In that moment, she declared, “I am Ruth, your maidservant.” This represents the transformation of the soul to be conformed to the image of Christ, as in Romans 12:2, Romans 8:29, and James 1:21.
Finally, Ruth experienced glorification. She was no longer in the position of just a servant. Ruth entered into the intimate relationship of marriage with her redeemer in which they became one, as a husband and wife become one flesh—one in body. Ruth carried the life of her redeemer in her own body and gave birth to the fruit of that union—their son, Obed.
Ruth represents the Firstfruits of God’s harvest (the barley harvest). The firstfruits were taken from the field to the house of the Redeemer, as we are told in Exodus 23:19 and Exodus 34:26.
Ruth represents the group of believers in Revelation chapter 14:1-5, who are standing with their Redeemer on Mount Zion in Heaven *before *the Great Tribulation.
“These have been redeemed from mankind as **firstfruits **for God and the Lamb”—Revelation 14:4 (ESV)
In contrast, Naomi represents the main harvest of believers (the wheat harvest) who will be gathered *after *the Great Tribulation, as we see in Revelation 14:14-16.
Orpah represents the gleanings which are not harvested at all, but are left in the field.
Ruth had declared herself to be the *maidservant *of her redeemer in chapter 3, but in the next chapter, she became the *bride *of her redeemer. She was promoted to a higher position of importance and responsibility.
In this way, Ruth is like the trusted and faithful bondservants in the parable of the talents who were promoted to greater levels of authority and responsibility.
We see this symbolically in Ruth’s life, but we will see the ultimate fulfillment of this when the overcoming Bride of Christ takes her place beside her King, ruling and reigning alongside Him for 1,000 years after this age comes to a close.
“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”—Revelation 3:21 (NKJV)
“And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—
‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—
as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”—Revelation 2:26-29 (NKJV)
**Reference: **
Cummins, D. (2021). I Am Ruth Thy Handmaid. Capitol Worship.
