Prophetically, I believe we are entering into a time
pictured in the Book of Ruth.
Because there was famine in the land
of Israel, Elimelech, who was from the
area around Bethlehem, (the House of Bread), and
Naomi traveled to Moab
to live. While in Moab, their two
sons married Moabite women. After a
time, Elimelech and both of Naomi’s sons died.
Naomi decided to move back to Israel because she heard that the famine
had ended. As she was on the way, she
encouraged her daughters-in-law to return to their father’s houses and marry
again. Ruth, who is a picture of the
Gentile Church today, refused to take the easy route. She loved Naomi and said, “Where you go, I
will go. Where you stay, I will
stay. Your people shall be my people and
your God shall be my God. Where you die,
I will die, and there I will be buried.
May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death
separates you and me.”
Ruth, a Gentile, was binding herself in covenantal love to Naomi and her
people. She was a comfort to Naomi who
was grieving, and now wanted to be called “Mara,” which means “bitter.” The
circumstances of Naomi’s life, losing her husband and two sons, had become devastating to her. Ruth and Naomi returned to the same area in Israel where
Naomi had formerly resided. They returned
at the time of the barley harvest. They
returned because they heard the famine was over. The “House of Bread” was beginning to have
life again.
There are beginning to be signs of life again in
Israel. The remnant has returned from
the nations. The native born Messianic believers, which numbered in handfuls in
the early seventies, is growing quickly.
This is the first time in since the early days of the movement, that
young, native born Israelis are being positioned for leadership in the
Messianic community. Formerly, leaders
were individuals who had been born in another nation and had made Aliya to Israel and set
up or oversaw congregations. There are
now Sabras, native born Israelis, who will step into leadership within the next
5 years. They have served in the
military, speak Hebrew, and are Israeli in every way. This is the time to align with what God is
doing in Israel, just like Ruth did for Naomi.
You are probably familiar with the story. Ruth gleaned in the fields so that she and
Naomi would have provision. As she was
faithful to support and diligently worked in the fields, the owner, Boaz, noticed
her. She gained his favor and he said,
“I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law, how you
left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people
you did not know before. May the Lord
repay you for what you have done. May
you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you
have come to take refuge.” Boaz then
invited her to eat with him and instructed his workers to leave even more grain
for her on purpose, as she was gleaning in the fields.
As we selflessly serve the Jewish people, God notices. The favor of the Lord begins to come on our
lives and His provision begins to manifest in wondrous ways for what He has
called us to do. It is nothing short of
a miracle that I have been able to go to Israel 5 times in the last 5 years
to pray and encourage God’s people. Most
of those times, we did not have the money ourselves. I have come to believe that it is God who ordains
and values my time there, and the contribution I want to make in the spirit.
The last phase of this prophetic story involves Ruth being
instructed by Naomi to wash herself and put on her best clothes and go to the
threshing floor when she knows Boaz will be sleeping there, guarding his
harvest from thieves. She obeys, and
lies down at his feet. In the
middle of the night, Boaz wakes up and notices her. Her act is a request for marriage or redemption,
and the restoration of the name of her husband.
Boaz is a kinsman redeemer. He
puts his cloak over her to signify that he has taken responsibility for
covering her, and will work out all the details the next day.
This prophetic act of lying at the feet of Yeshua, is what
Yeshua is awaiting from His Church. When
the Gentile Church is willing to come to the place
of identification with the longings of His heart, He will cover her and pledge
himself to her. Just as Ruth became a
crucial link in the lineage of King David, the Church will then be positioned,
along with the Messianic community, to bring forth the desire of his heart, the
Maschiach Nagid; Messiah, the King.
As Ruth brought forth a son so that the name of Elimelech
would not disappear from among his family or the town records, so the Gentile Church
must make sure that we do everything we can to ensure that there is a Jewish
remnant on the earth. In a sense, we
must give birth through intercession and loving acts led by the Spirit, so that
the ones like Obed, Ruth’s son, will grow
into servants of the Lord. Then Israel,
just like it was said of Naomi, will be renewed in life and be sustained in her
old age.
There is so much more symbolism to the story. It can be taken in many ways, but for now,
this is the portion that I believe we need to connect with as a prophetic
people. If we begin to sow into the
Messianic community sacrificially, and stand together with them, offering
ourselves as vessels for His prophetic purpose to be birthed through us, He
will put His protective covering over us and provide all that we need to help His
people come into the fullness of their inheritance. We will then also have the privilege and joy
of being the beneficiaries of that fulfillment of promise.
