Being Rich in the Enjoyment of Christ and taking care of Others’ Birthright of Christ

We thank and praise the Lord for coming as our kinsman to redeem us and recover us to the enjoyment of Christ, our birthright; we also need to cooperate with the Lord to recover others’ birthright of Christ, to bring them back to the enjoyment of Christ. Amen!

This week in our morning revival we come to the second week in the Crystallization-study of Ruth, on the topic of, Boaz and Ruth typifying Christ and the Church.

Such a title seems to be simple, and we may think that we understand it, but we need the entire Bible to unpack it and show us how Christ is the real Boaz and the church is the reality of Ruth.

It is not that straightforward to simply say that Boaz typifies Christ and Ruth typifies the church; in what way do they do this, and how can we see this in the Bible and in our own experience?

There is the need of the unpacking and unveiling of the divine revelation in order to see how Boaz and Ruth typify Christ and the church.

The Old Testament presents us with a number of men to typify Christ; some of these men are Adam, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Boaz, and David.

These are some of the most prominent men in the Old Testament to typify Christ. Correspondingly, their wives are used to typify the church.

Eve, Adam’s wife, typifies the producing of the church and the nature of the church. Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, typifies the church being chosen from the world.

Asenath, Joseph’s wife, typifies the church gained from the world. Zipporah, Moses’ wife, typifies the church in the wilderness, where Moses spent forty years.

Ruth, Boaz’s wife, typifies the church being redeemed. Abigail, David’s wife, typifies the warring church in the midst of suffering.

All these men and women in the Old Testament are used by the Lord to typify Christ and the church; they are rich types of Christ.

We could say even more, with Boaz and Ruth we see the riches and the most profound of these types.

This week we want to enjoy the Lord in His word and allow His light to shine on His word to reveal to us what is hidden in His word for us so that we may enter into the experience and reality contained in the Word of God concerning Ruth and Boaz.

Such a small book, Ruth, with only four chapters, is so rich in meaning and implications, and it needs the entire Bible to unpack it and show us its true meaning.

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 (Josh. 1:1; Ruth 4:21-22).

In the beginning, Joshua typifies Christ in bringing God’s chosen people into God’s ordained blessings.

As typified by Joshua, Christ has brought us into the good land, has taken possession of the land for us, and has allotted the land to us as our inheritance for our enjoyment.

Hallelujah, Christ has gained the good land for us and, eventually, He is the good land for us to enjoy! At the end, we see Boaz, who typifies Christ as our Husband for our satisfaction and enjoyment in rest with Him.

Christ, who is Rich and Bountiful, Redeemed us and our Birthright to bring us back to the Enjoyment of God

Boaz is a type of Christ; as a man who is rich in wealth and generous in giving (Ruth 2:1, 14-16; 3:15), Boaz typifies Christ, whose divine riches are unsearchable and who bountifully cares for us (Eph. 3:8; Luke 10:33-35; Phil. 1:19).

Boaz was extremely wealthy, and he was also generous; he is the right one to typify our Christ, who is so unsearchably rich and bountifully caring for His people!

He is the real good Samaritan who takes all-inclusive, tender care of His people, bountifully caring for us and spending what He is and has to restore us and bring us back to God.

Christ is not only wealthy and rich in His unsearchable riches, but He is also willing and full of compassion to render the care of God’s needy people. Hallelujah!

Boaz also typifies Christ in his redeeming the lost right of Mahlon’s property and taking Mahlon’s widow, Ruth, as his wife for the producing of the heirs (Ruth. 2:3; 3:9, 12; 4:9-10, 13).

Christ is our kinsman who redeemed the church and made the church His counterpart as His increase (Eph. 5:23-32; John 3:29-30).

A kinsman refers to someone of the same source, the same kind, the same line of life as we are; we need a kinsman to redeem our property and redeem our birthright, and Christ is our kinsman who did just that. Boaz typifies Christ who was God coming to become a man, to become like kind as us in order to redeem us.

We lost our property – we lost God as our possession for our inheritance, and we lost our birthright – we lost the right to enjoy God.

So Christ became our kinsman by becoming a man, and He came to redeem our lost property and our lost birthright so that we may be brought back to God and be given the right to enjoy Him as our possession.

According to the book of Ruth, Boaz redeemed Ruth and also redeemed her birthright; hence, he became a notable forefather of Christ (Ruth 4:1-17, 21-22; Matt. 1:5-6).

He was truly a wonderful person, rich and willing, caring and generous; as such a one, Boaz redeemed not only her possessions but also her birthright in God’s people to enjoy God.

To redeem someone’s property is one thing, but to redeem that person’s wife to become your wife is another thing; the other kinsman, who was closer to them, did not want to “mar” his inheritance by taking Ruth as his wife.

Ruth was a Moabitess, from a gentile source, which was actually forbidden to enter into God’s house for ten generations; to take her as your wife in those days was to mar your inheritance and inheritors, so the kinsman that was closer to Naomi did not want to do that.

He was selfish, he thought it was too bothersome to do this, so he refused to do it, for too much is involved.

But praise the Lord for Boaz, who redeemed her property and her birthright.

Our old man is not qualified and too bothersome to redeem our birthright before God, but Christ is more than willing to redeem us and our birthright so that we may be brought back to God.

Christ is not selfish; He didn’t care for His own interest but rather, he was kind, compassionate, caring, selfless, and as such a One, He disregarded our pitiful source and paid the price to redeem us.

How we thank the Lord for redeeming our possession and our birthright! How we thank Him that He redeemed us and He even married us to be His counterpart so that we may have the birthright to enjoy God and bring forth Christ!

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for becoming a man, in like kind as us, to redeem us and bring us back to our birthright to enjoy God as our possession! Thank You Lord for being so rich, so generous, so kind, so caring, and so willing to redeem us and our birthright! Praise You Lord Jesus for being our kinsman, partaking of blood and flesh so that You may redeem us and even marry us to make us Your counterpart to enjoy all Your riches! How we love You, dear Lord Jesus! We love being in the Father’s house enjoying all the riches of God! We love being here with all the saints partaking of the allotted portion of the saints in the light!

Being those who Take Care of Others’ Birthright to bring them back to the Enjoyment of Christ

We not only thank and praise the Lord that He has redeemed us and our birthright, and now we can enjoy God with Christ; we also want to be those who take care of others’ birthright and bring them back to the enjoyment of Christ.

As a brother and a Boaz, we should take care of others’ birthright of Christ and not only our own; in other words, we shouldn’t only take care of our own enjoyment of Christ but also others’ enjoyment of Christ (Eph. 3:2; 1 Pet. 4:10-11; Matt. 24:45-47). Amen!

Boaz is a wonderful type of Christ, and we need to be like him in the church life today.

There are many Ruths among us, many who have lost their husband, their dependence, their birthright, and the enjoyment of their birthright.

For Ruth to lose her husband means that she lost the enjoyment of her birthright.

If we look around us in the church life, we can see and remember many saints who once had the enjoyment of Christ in the church life in the Lord’s recovery, but at a certain point, they may have been offended by a certain person or troubled by a particular situation.

They may have been stumbled, and they may not come to the meeting for a long time.

The Lord needs to raise up many Boazes today who have some amount of the riches of Christ constituted into them and are willing to redeem others and their birthright.

We need to be such ones today, those who do not only enjoy our birthright of Christ but also are more than willing to redeem the birthright of those who have lost the enjoyment of Christ.

In Rom. 15:1-3 Paul encourages us that, if we are strong, we should bear the weaknesses of those who are weak, and we should not please ourselves.

May each one of us please his neighbour with a view to what is good for building up, for Christ also didn’t please Himself but rather, He took upon Himself the reproaches that should have fallen on us.

Each one of us, as we have received a gift, should minister it among ourselves as good ministers of Christ by the strength which God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in the church.

Especially as we come toward the consummation of the age and are burdened for the Lord to increase and spread, we should be the Boaz of today who not only preach the gospel to save sinners but also are willing to redeem others’ birthright of Christ for them to be brought back to the enjoyment of Christ.

There are many sinners around us who need to be saved and be brought to salvation, and there are also some dormant saints, some who are backslidden, who are just stranded and lying there.

Who is willing to redeem their birthright? How can we restore these ones? The Lord has entrusted us with a stewardship, which is to us for others; we have been given such a rich ministry not only for us to enjoy it and partake of it, but also to bring others into its enjoyment.

The riches that the Lord has given to us in His recovery are not only for ourselves; we need to enjoy them, grow in life, have the maturity in life, and be rich in Christ so that we can redeem others’ birthright of Christ also.

We need to remember that all the riches of Christ that we enjoy and partake of are not just for us – they should not stop with us.

We need to learn to be good ministers of Christ Jesus, those who give Christ to others; we need to learn to shepherd others and redeem their birthright of Christ so that they also may be brought into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ.

There are many that grew up with us in the church life, and some of them are no longer here; it is good for us to enjoy Christ with His riches, but we also need to redeem others’ birthright of Christ.

Suppose some dear ones in the church life become like Ruth, losing the enjoyment of their birthright, their enjoyment of Christ; we need to have a number of Boazes in the church life to bring these dear saints back into the enjoyment of Christ.

We shouldn’t be selfish, caring only for our inheritance and not being willing to redeem others’ inheritance and birthright of Christ; rather, we need to be willing to be one with Christ as the real Boaz to redeem their birthright of Christ.

We need to practice the church life in the principle of incarnation, realizing that God moves through us to reach out to those who are stumbled or dormant.

He wants to reach out to others through us. Someone who is a real Boaz is rich in the enjoyment of Christ will pray the price to bring the dormant and backslidden saints into the full enjoyment of Christ.

Such a one shepherds others and he still has more enjoyment of Christ, even the greatest enjoyment of Christ; day by day we should be those who take care of others’ enjoyment of Christ (Prov. 11:25; Acts 20:35; 1 Pet. 5:1-4).

If many would be like Boaz today in the church life, there will be a revival among us, for we will have the mutual shepherding for the recovery of others’ birthright.

Lord Jesus, thank You for redeeming our birthright of Christ; thank You for bringing us into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as our portion! Make us those who are rich in the enjoyment of Christ, those who pay the price to bring the saints into the birthright of Christ. Save us from being selfish. Save us from caring only for our enjoyment of Christ. May we pray for and learn to care for those who are backslidden and dormant so that they may return to the enjoyment of Christ. We want to be rich in the enjoyment of Christ and pay the price to bring many others into the full enjoyment of Christ by shepherding them according to God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Matthew, 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 11, Boaz and Ruth Typifying Christ and the Church.
  Hymns on this topic:
  – The birthright God has giv’n to us / Must be our goal, our highest prize, / For we’re the church of the first-born— / Let us our portion realize! … / The promise, Lord, ’twas giv’n to us, / Oh, let us ne’er this right despise; / Enflame us, Lord, to gain Thyself, / And Thee, our birthright realize. (Hymns #1272)
  – In Him dwelleth all God’s fulness, / In Him thou art made complete; / Rise, and claim thy heavenly birthright, / Kneeling at thy Father’s feet. / He will never disappoint thee, / Praise Him that the gift is thine; / Then go forth to live each moment / On sufficiency divine. (Hymns #641)
  – Oh, what a sweet church life have we! / Built up in Him, His bride to be! / In Him steadfast, you help me be; / Encouraged by Christ whom I see. / Your faith in Christ helps me pursue; / My progress depends upon you! / As I seek Christ, with you in view, / My heart, full of prayers, is for you. (Song on, I’m thankful that God has placed me)