Like Ruth, we need to exercise our right to partake of the rich produce of Christ, the reality of the good land; we are part of God’s elect, we are joined to the Lord in our spirit, and we can pursue Christ to gain, possess, experience, and enjoy Him. Hallelujah!
The book of Ruth is quite marvellous – it has only four chapters, but it shows us how Ruth chose for her goal of being part of God’s people, exercised her right to partake of the good land, sought for her rest, and received a reward for God’s economy.
She was a Moabitess, an outsider, not part of God’s people; she was part of a heathen people, but she chose to be part of God’s people, to be with those of the people of God.
Because she chose this because she saw something concerning the God of Israel and chose to associate herself with the people of God, God blessed her, and she became part of the lineage that brought forth both King David and Christ, the real David.
We want to be like Ruth today, the normal Christians, even the overcoming ones, those who answer the Lord’s present calling. He has a calling today, even a need, and He wants to gain some like Ruth who chooses God, turn to God’s economy, and enter into the good land to enjoy its riches.
The Lord desires tog ain those who enter into the good land and marry themselves to Christ, so that Christ may be brought forth to meet the need of both God and man.
On such a dark background as the situation in the world and in Christianity today, which is very similar to the situation we see described in the book of Judges, the Lord wants to gain the Ruths of today who would choose to be with and part of God’s people, exercise their right to partake of the rich produce of Christ in the good land, and seek to have rest in Christ and with Christ; such ones will be rewarded by God with His very self.
May we choose to gain Christ and enjoy Christ; may we choose to gain Christ for Christ, and may we enjoy Christ as the good land today, for it is our right to enjoy Him.
Our enjoying, gaining, possessing, and experiencing Christ will make Him real to us, and He becomes in us what He should be – our Lord, our King, our Head, and our Husband.
May we be in this aromatic, sweet, and excellent divine-human romance between God and man; may we be like Ruth today, choosing to be with the Lord and His people, and associating ourselves with God’s elect so that we may exercise our right to partake of the rich produce of Christ for the building up of the church.
Against the dark night of the situation today, the Lord wants to gain shining stars, those who love Him, enjoy Him, and live in the divine and mystical realm to be one spirit with Him, living a life in the divine romance.
How Ruth Exercised her Right to Partake of the Rich Produce of the Inheritance of God’s Elect
Ruth was married to one of the sons of Naomi; when her husband died and Naomi decided to go back to the land of Israel, Ruth had a choice – either to go with Naomi and be a foreigner in that land or stay where she was in Moab.
Ruth chose to go to the land of Israel, probably because she heard much concerning the God of Israel and the promise of God concerning the blessing in the good land.
She made a choice to be with God’s people; she chose to leave everything behind and simply join Naomi to go back to Israel.
Then, when she arrived in the good land, she didn’t just sit and wait to enjoy the land, but she exercised her right to partake of the rich produce of the inheritance of God’s elect.
In Lev. 23:22, 19:9-10, and Deut. 24:19 God made a certain ordinance concerning the harvest and the reaping of the harvest.
If the children of Israel would leave the corners of their fields and the gleanings for the poor, the sojourners, the orphans, and the widows, God would bless them.
When they would reap the harvest in their land, they were to leave some corners of the field and not gather the gleanings of their harvest, but allow them to be for the poor, the sojourners, the foreigner, and the orphans and widows.
This really shows that God is so great, so fine, and so detailed, and His lovingkindness endures.
Also, this ordinance shows that the good land is so rich in its produce that, even though the people of Israel would leave some gleanings and corners of the fields there, not harvesting them, they would still have more than enough.
Such an ordinance worked very well for Ruth, who was a foreigner in the land, and she exercised her right to partake of the rich produce of the inheritance of God’s elect.
According to her threefold status as a sojourner, a poor one, and a widow, Ruth exercised her right to glean the harvest; her gleaning was not her begging but her right.
She had the right to gather the gleanings, for God made such a provision in the law just for people like her.
It is amazing to see what kind of God we have, who would ordain concerning the reaping of the harvest, that the people would leave some of the corners of their fields and the gleanings for the poor, the sojourners, the orphans, and the widows!
This is who we are, just like Ruth: we are the sojourning ones, the poor ones, and the widows; we have the right to enjoy the rich produce of the land.
Boaz obeyed such an ordinance, thereby testifying to his great faith in Jehovah; under God’s sovereignty, this ordinance seems to have been written for this one person – Ruth.
Ruth didn’t even know who Boaz was when she started doing this; she just asked Naomi to let her go and glean after the reapers, and she brought the grains home.
And so it happened that she went to Boaz’s field; that was God’s sovereignty.
In His sovereignty, God arranges all things for good, so that we as believers in Christ would exercise our right to partake of the rich produce of the land.
Christ is a rich land-owner, and He has immeasurable riches to give to us; we simply need to exercise our right to partake of the rich produce of Christ, the reality of the good land.
Thank You Father for qualifying us, the poor and sojourning ones, to partake of the riches of Christ! Hallelujah, we as believers in Christ can exercise our right to partake of the rich produce of the good land, which is the all-inclusive Christ. Amen, Lord, we come to You even as we are, and we want to glean and labor on You so that we may enjoy, partake, and possess the unsearchable riches of Christ. Thank You for giving us the right to partake of what You are. You qualified us, and we come to You to enjoy You and experience You!
We have the Right to Enjoy Christ as our Good Land in the Mingled Spirit by Gaining Christ!
![Not that I have already obtained or am already perfected, but I pursue, if even I may lay hold of that for which I also have been laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing [I do:] Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called [me] upward. Phil. 3:12-14](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Not-that-I-have-already-obtained-or-am-already-perfected-but-I-pursue-if-even-I-may-lay-hold-of-that-for-which-I-also-have-been-laid-hold-.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "Not that I have already obtained or am already perfected, but I pursue, if even I may lay hold of that for which I also have been laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing [I do:] Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called [me] upward. Phil. 3:12-14")
If we read the book of Ruth with our natural understanding, we may think that it is quite a nice, aromatic, and sweet love story, in which all things seemed to be working out for good for Ruth.
But if we read this book with the glasses of God’s economy on, we will realize that, just as Ruth did, so we can do today: she chose to be with God’s people, and so can we, and she exercised her right to partake of the land, and so can we.
Just as Ruth had the right to enjoy the produce of the good land after coming into the land, so we can today: we have the right to enjoy Christ as our good land after believing into Him.
After believing into the Lord, we are qualified by God to partake of the riches of the all-inclusive Christ (Col. 1:12).
Ruth’s exercising of her right to gain and possess the produce of the good land signifies that, after believing into Christ and being organically joined to Him in our “joined” spirit (Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17), we must begin to pursue Christ in order to gain Him, possess Him, experience Him, and enjoy Him (Phil. 3:7-16).
Through faith in Christ, we are joined to Him in one spirit; our spirit is a mingled spirit, and in this mingled spirit we have all the riches of Christ.
Now we can exercise our right to enjoy Christ as the reality of the good land by gaining Him, experiencing Him, and enjoying Him.
The good land is not something outside of us, something objective where we have to go and labor for a while and then reap the harvest; the good land is Christ in our spirit, and we are organically joined to the Lord as the good land.
We can exercise our right to gain Christ, enjoy Christ, and partake of Christ in the mingled spirit.
We have a “joined” spirit – the Spirit is joined to our spirit, and these two spirits are mingled together as one.
We must begin to pursue Christ in order gain, possess, experience, and enjoy Him. Amen! Paul was a pattern of such a one; he was not only converted from Judaism to Christianity by meeting Christ on the road to Damascus, but he started to pursue Christ.
Paul was the antithesis of a contented Christian; he was a Christian for many years, yet in Phil. 3 he testified that he is still pursuing Christ, still gaining Christ, and still experiencing Christ.
We need to count all things as refuse on account of Christ, realizing that He is the most precious and preeminent One.
Even our past experiences of Christ, these are not enough; we need to experience and enjoy Christ today, take Him as our everything, and exercise our right to enjoy Christ in the mingled spirit.
We have not yet obtained what Christ is; we have not yet been fully matured in Him, neither have we fully laid hold of Him, but we pursue.
We pursue Christ to gain Christ; we pursue Christ to know Him, enjoy Him, partake of Him, and “seize” Him, “grasp” Him, and “persecute” Him, for we want to gain Him!
At one point in our Christian life and church life, Christ seized us and grasped us, taking possession of us; now we seek to gain Him, obtain Him, and partake of Him.
May we do this one thing: forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to what is before, may we pursue toward the goal, to gain Christ as the prize of God.
May we forget about our situation, our condition, our problems, and our circumstances, and just exercise our right to partake of the rich produce of the good land, which is Christ.
By faith in Christ and by remaining in the organic union with Him in spirit, we have the right to partake of all that He is.
Amen, we have the right to enjoy Christ, partake of Christ, and be filled with Christ, so that we may express Him and represent Him on the earth!
Lord Jesus, we choose to forget what is behind and stretch forward to what is before so that we may gain Christ, partake of Christ, and enjoy and experience Christ! Hallelujah, Christ has seized us and grasped us, and now we want to lay hold of Him, grasp Him, and pursue to gain Him, enjoy Him, and experience Him. Thank You Father for qualifying us for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light. We exercise our right to partake of the rich produce of the good land, the all-inclusive Christ, together with all the saints! Amen, Lord, we stretch forward to gain Christ, enjoy Christ, and partake of Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ruth, msg. 3, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 10, Ruth’s Choosing for Her Goal, Exercising Her Right, Seeking for Her Rest, and Receiving a Reward for God’s Economy.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Our Brother’s inherited all / God made Him to rule His affairs / Appointed—this office He fills / And shares it with us, His joint-heirs. / Elected before earth was formed, / We’ve found that we are qualified / To share all His glory and worth. / How could men but for Christ decide? (Hymns #1292)
– We are washing all our robes the tree of life to eat; / “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!”—Jesus is so sweet! / We our spirits exercise, and thus experience Christ. / What a Christ have we! (Hymns #1151)
– Life is full of opportunities / Ordered by our Father’s hand: we see / Everything’s the best that it could be, / So let’s gain Christ! / Christ our content and reality / To shine out from us unceasingly: / He must have a way in you and me, / He must have a way. (Hymns #1178)
