Crystallization-Study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth
Message Eleven
Boaz and Ruth
Typifying Christ and the Church
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Ruth 4:9-10 And Boaz said…, You are witnesses today, that I buy from Naomi’s hand all that was…Mahlon’s. Furthermore Ruth the Moabitess I acquire as my own wife so that I may raise up the dead man’s name upon his inheritance…
Rom. 7:4 So then, my brothers, you also have been made dead to the law through the body of Christ so that you might be joined to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit to God.
Word of Appetizer
In how many ways does Ruth typify the church?
The church, before her salvation, is men in God’s creation and sinners in man’s fall being.
Ruth, being the widow of the dead husband, redeemed by Boaz typifies the church redeemed by Christ.
Ruth, after being redeemed by Boaz, becoming a new wife to him typifies the church, after being saved, through the regeneration of the church’s natural man, becoming the counterpart of Christ.
Ruth, choosing to follow Naomi to the land of Israel and being united to Boaz, typifies the Gentile sinners being attached to Christ that they may partake of the inheritance of God’s promise.
Spiritual Burden
The picture of Boaz (typifying Christ as our new Husband) and Ruth (typifying the church with her old man as her crucified husband) is spoken of by Paul in Romans 7:1-6; our old man, our old husband, has been crucified with Christ, so that we “might be joined to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit to God”; as the regenerated new man and the wife to Christ, everything we are and do is now related to God, and God is brought forth by us as the fruit, the overflow, of our life; we are now joined to the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit; this is the joining of “the Spirit …with our spirit” (8:16) as “one spirit” .
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
At the beginning and at the end of the portion of Israel’s history from Joshua to Ruth are two prominent persons typifying Christ; these persons are Joshua and Boaz, who signify two aspects of one person.
In the book of Ruth, Boaz typifies Christ in the following aspects.
In this bright and aromatic story, Ruth typifies the church in the following ways.
The picture of Boaz (typifying Christ as our new Husband) and Ruth (typifying the church with her old man as her crucified husband) is spoken of by Paul in Romans 7:1-6.
The Experience of Life
On the one hand, we were buried; on the other hand, we were married; we were made dead according to our old status that we might marry another according to our new status; we no longer have the old status of the husband, for we have been crucified; we now have only the new status of the proper wife, in which we take Christ as our Husband, and should no longer live according to the old man.
Through the crossing out of the network and the restriction of the chain work, we can live a pure, simple life of trusting in God to express the riches of the divine life of Christ.
Practice and Application
We need to have a number of Boazes in the church life, to take care of ones who are like poor “Ruths” in the church life to bring these dear saints back into the enjoyment of Christ; day by day we should take care of others’ enjoyment of Christ.
We are now joined to the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit; we should have our whole being turned to and set on this joined spirit; when we thus live in this joined spirit, we can live out the Body of Christ to become the corporate expression of Christ for the glory of the Triune God.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: From Joshua to Ruth are two prominent persons typifying Christ (Josh. 1:1; Ruth 4:21).
(Please explain that these persons are Joshua and Boaz, who signify two aspects of Christ.)
T2: In the church life today we need to have a number of Boazes (Ruth 2:1, 3).
(Please explain that in the book of Ruth, Boaz typifies Christ in what aspects.)
Day 2
T1: In 1 Kings chapter 7 the names of these two pillars were Jachin and Boaz (1 Kings 7:21, 15).
(What’s the spiritual significance of the two pillars being made of bronze?)
T2: The experience of bronze (1 Cor. 15:10; Gal. 2:20).
(Please explain that we must be under God’s judgment and judge ourselves as being nothing and as being only qualified to be
crucified.)
Day 3
T1: On the capitals of the pillars in the temple, there were “nets of checker work [like a trellis] with wreaths of chain work” (1 Kings 7:17).
(Please explain that the nets of checker work and wreaths of chain work signify an intermixed and complicated situation.)
T2: We must be a lily existing by what God is to us (Matt. 6:28-30).
(How can we possibly bear the responsibility in the intermixed and complicated church life? )
Day 4
T1: Ruth, after being redeemed by Boaz, became a new wife to him (Rom. 7:4b).
(Please explain that this typifies the church, after being saved, through the regeneration of the church’s natural man, becoming the counterpart of Christ.)
T2: Ruth’s status (Gen. 1:27; Rom. 6:6; Deut. 23:3).
(Please give a brief introduction of Ruth’s status.)
Day 5
T1: The man created by God was a wife; the fallen man became a husband (Rom. 6:6-8).
(Please explain that regeneration restores us to our original position as wife.)
T2: We, the believers, after being saved, have two statuses—the old and the new (Rom. 6:6-8).
(Please explain that as the old man we were the husband; as the new man we are the wife.)
Day 6
T1: Christ is our new husband (Rom. 7:4; 2 Cor. 11:2).
(Please explain that in Romans 7:4 Paul puts together a funeral and a wedding. )
T2: Christ lives in us and for us (Gal. 2:20).
(Please explain that Christ is our husband, our head, our person, and our life.)
