Crystallization-Study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth
Message Ten
Ruth’s Choosing for Her Goal,
Exercising Her Right, Seeking for Her Rest,
and Receiving a Reward for God’s Economy
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Heb. 4:9 So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
Ruth 1:16 But Ruth said, Do not entreat me to leave you…. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you dwell, I will dwell; and your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.
Ruth 3:1 And Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, I must seek some resting place for you, that it may go well with you.
Word of Appetizer
Ruth is a book of rest; what’s the way for us to have rest?
The only way for us to have rest is to take Christ as our Husband; we must know Him as our Husband and take Him as our Husband, living in the closest and most intimate contact with Him.
Christ as our Husband and the church as our home are a complete unit for us to have a proper and adequate rest; this kind of rest could come only through marriage; although we may be saved and love the Lord, in order to have a home for our rest we must marry the Lord Jesus, taking Him as our Husband, and live together with Him in the church as our home.
Spiritual Burden
To be a normal Christian, to be one of today’s overcomers, to answer the Lord’s present calling, and to meet His present need in His recovery, we need to be today’s Ruths to turn to God’s economy, to enter into the land of Immanuel, and to marry ourselves to Christ that we may bring forth Christ to meet today’s need of both God and men.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Judges is a book of Israel’s miserable history, dark and foul; Ruth, as an appendix to the book of Judges, is the record of a couple’s excellent story, bright and aromatic; the main character in this story, Ruth, is like a lily growing out of brambles and a bright star in the dark night.
Chapter 1 of the book of Ruth speaks of Elimelech’s swerving from the rest in God’s economy, Naomi’s returning to the rest in God’s economy , and Ruth’s choosing for her goal.
Chapter 2 of the book of Ruth speaks of Ruth, as one who had returned to God from her heathen background, exercising her right to partake of the rich produce of the inheritance of God’s elect.
Chapter 3 of the book of Ruth speaks of Ruth’s seeking for her rest.
Chapter 4 of the book of Ruth speaks of Ruth’s receiving a reward for God’s economy.
The Experience of Life
The heavenly Christ, the One who has expressed, represented, and satisfied God and who rests from His work and sits at the right hand of God in the heavens, is the rest to us in our spirit; as our rest, He is our perfect peace and full satisfaction.
Christ is the redeeming Husband of the believers; now as believers in Christ, we have a Husband who is our eternal, present, and daily Redeemer, rescuing us, saving us, delivering us, from all our troubles.
Practice and Application
We must know Him as our Husband and take Him as our Husband, living in the closest and most intimate contact with Him; we must have a wife’s fidelity, and we will learn how to enjoy Christ as our life and our person, walking and behaving in oneness with Him.
Every day of our Christian life should be a continuation of Christ’s incarnation, with Christ being brought forth in order to be born into others through our ministering Christ as the Spirit into them; we all need to speak for Christ, to speak forth Christ, and to speak Christ into others.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: This matter of rest is the key to the book of Ruth (Gen. 2:2).
(Please explain that the book of Ruth speaks of Christ being brought into mankind through incarnation; this is the real rest.)
T2: As long as man expresses God and deals with God’s enemy, God is satisfied and can rest (Gen. 1:26; Rev. 21:11).
(Please explain that the consummation of rest is the rest of the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem.)
Day 2
T1: Elimelech swerved from Bethlehem in Judah to Moab (Ruth 1:1-2).
(Please explain that Elimelech’s mistake was to swerve from the ground, the standing, which gave him the opportunity to enjoy the rest in the good land.)
T2: Ruth’s choosing for her goal (Ruth 1:16; Matt. 1:5-6).
(Please explain that Ruth chose God and His kingdom for the carrying out of God’s economy concerning Christ.)
Day 3
T1: Ruth exercised her right to partake of the rich produce of the inheritance of God’s elect (Lev. 23:22).
(Please explain that God’s ordinance concerning the reaping of the harvest seems to have been written for one person—Ruth.)
T2: God is sovereign (Ruth 2:2-3, 4-7).
(Please explain that God in His sovereignty brought Ruth from Moab to the city of Bethlehem to allow Boaz to became acquainted with Ruth.)
Day 4
T1: Ruth’s threefold status as a sojourner, a poor one, and a widow (Deut. 24:19).
(According to which threefold status, Ruth exercised her right to glean the harvest?)
T2: In chapter 2 of the book of Ruth, four types are implied (Ruth 2:1-3, 23).
(Which four types are implied in chapter 2 of the book of Ruth?)
Day 5
T1: Ruth’s seeking for her rest (Ruth 3:1; 2 Cor. 11:2).
(Please explain that in order to have rest, we surely need a home. )
T2: Christ is the Husband in the church (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:32).
(Please explain that to have a husband is not sufficient; we must also have a home.)
Day 6
T1: As part of her reward, Ruth gained a redeeming husband (Ruth 3:12).
(What’s the spiritual significance of the first kinsman of Ruth’s husband and the second kinsman?)
T2: Another aspect of Ruth’s reward (Ruth 4:13b-22; Matt. 1:5-16).
(Please explain that Ruth became a crucial ancestor in the genealogy to bring in the royal house of David for the producing of Christ.)
