Rev. Steve Webb - Sept 7, 2025

Pastor Matthew Trott Sept 7, 2025

Dr. Barclay is on Vacation

 

Dr. Barclay has taken a well-deserved rest so there will be no Something to Think About or Bible Study this week or next.

He will be back with us in two weeks.

Jasmine Trott Aug 31 2025

A Gentle Reminder

 

Please remember to bring your payment for the retreat to church this Sunday or you can pay before then by e-transfer at mhmgive@gmail.com

Thank you

Dr. Barclays Bible Study - The Gospel of Mark Part 11

Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - RUTH

RUTH*

The Bible is itself a love story in which there are a number of other love stories included. One of these is the story of Ruth in the book by the same name. On the surface it seems as if that is really all there is - a story of a family who leave Bethlehem due to famine and go to Moab. There the husband, Elimelech and the sons die and leave Naomi with a daughter-in-law, Ruth, to go back to Bethlehem where Ruth eventually meets and marries a Jewish man named Boaz. Ruth and Boaz start a family whose lineage eventually leads to Jesus.

But the story is also an allegory of what would take place between the Jewish and Gentile worlds long before the actual events would occur.

Naomi, Elimelech, and their sons represent the Jewish nation forced into exile and Ruth, the Gentile nation, that came to the knowledge of God by means of the involvement with the Jewish people. In fact, the word Elimelech apparently means My God is King.

Therefore, because of the Jewish people living in exile, many Gentiles came to knowledge of the true God. So, as Ruth came to know and accept the God of Naomi…

 

…For wherever you go, I will go;

And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;

Your people shall be my people,

and your God, my God. 

(Ruth 1:16)

So, have many additional Gentiles come to know and accept God and as a result, have become the church.

Thus, as Naomi brought blessings to Ruth, so later did Ruth bring blessings to Naomi as she married Boaz and brought forth a child. In the same way, the Jewish nation in exile brought blessings to the Gentile people and eventually the church may return those blessings to the Jewish nation. It is put this way in Romans regarding the rejection of Christ and the exile of Israel:

I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall?

Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy,

salvation has come to the Gentiles.

Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles,

how much more their fullness!

For I speak to you Gentiles… 

(Romans 11:11-13)

So the essence is this: As the Gentiles [ourselves] were brought to redemption by the Jewish nation [Naomi} so will the Jewish nation eventually be blessed through the Gentiles as Ruth brought blessings to Naomi through childbirth and ultimately Jesus.

Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom…

…And they called his name Obed. 

He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. 

(Ruth 4:16,17)

It’s another aspect of the story of Ruth. Only when the redemptive blessings that the Jewish people bestowed upon the Gentiles are reciprocated on the Jewish nation by the Gentiles will the story really be complete. As Naomi initially blessed Ruth so eventually did Ruth give a blessing to Naomi.

And that in turn should give us something to think about.

*Adapted from The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn, p.g. 161