Part of a Larger Story

The best thing about Facebook for me is connecting with family.  And before there was Facebook there was Naomi. 

The neighbor ladies say, “There is a son born to Naomi.”

They give him a name. And they called him Obed. 

Now Obed is the father of Jesse, the father of David. 

Life will not be all sunshine and lollipops.

But we can know peace.  We can know love.

And we can know we’re part of a larger story.

For Naomi, just having Obed as grandson is beyond her wildest dreams.  She hasn't seen anything yet. 

Remember Perez?[i]  It’s all connected.  This is the genealogy of Perez: 

ü  Perez had Hezron;

ü  Hezron had Ram;

ü  Ram had Amminadab;

ü  Amminadab had Nahshon, and

ü  Nahshon had Salmon;

ü  Salmon had Boaz;

ü  Boaz had Obed;

ü  Obed had Jesse; and

ü  Jesse had David. 

That’s David of David and Goliath fame.  David, the man after God’s own heart.  David, whom Samuel promised would never fail to have an heir on the throne.  David who committed adultery.  The story continues three more generations to David.    

Naomi’s heartache and bitterness is rewarded well beyond her grave.  That’s the irony of the Christian hope.  No, life will not be all sunshine and lollipops.  But we can know peace.  We can know love.  And we can know we’re part of a larger story. 

Our Sovereign Lord rewards the faithfulness

of his people far more gloriously than

any of us could possibly dream.

As overwhelmed a Naomi was with Obed, her head would spin at the prospect of mothering the line of David.  But that barely scratches the surface.  You see, the Ruth genealogy doesn’t end with David.  The book of Ruth ends a thousand years later in the gospel of Matthew, where we find that Naomi's greatest descendant is not David, but the son of David, Jesus. 

And the Lord brought Abram outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And Abram believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.  (Genesis 15:5-6)

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.

Our line, because of Ruth's faithfulness, traces to Christ himself.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

And God, the Father of you, and Christ your brother. 

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12)

A day is coming that will be far better than anything we can imagine.  Look at Naomi's reward.  Ours is greater still.  Naomi's line went to David.  Our line, because of Ruth's faithfulness, traces to the Christ himself, and to you.  And to generations as yet unborn.  

Just as Naomi could never have dreamt of a redeemer who would lead to the King of Israel, our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the Son of David, is King of Kings, and so a day is coming that will be far better than anything we can imagine.

Are you ready to heal? 

Are you willing to be one whose nobility is shown, not by what you have, but by who you are?    May Almighty God make it so. 

The End and The Beginning

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[i] Perez, the son of another ethnic outsider, Tamar, who herself took the initiative to ensure an offspring.  In Genesis 38, after Judah refused to fulfill his kinsman-redeemer responsibility to Tamar, she role-played a prostitute in order to trick Judah into preserving the family line.  The book of Ruth is not the first time in Scripture where it is the women who take reproductive initiative in order to preserve a family line.