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... so where is man's doing in any of it? We do not give our blood to defend ourselves from the wrath of God. It is Jesus who has purchased us, who has done all the work, who has left no loopholes or leaky excuses. However, from the Father’s viewpoint, He did give up His most precious Son to willingly remit His Son's blood for our sins.

All we are responsible for is to answer His call to seek His face. The proof of this statement is in John 3:19-21; and we are either walking in darkness or walking in the Light. Since God is doing all the work, why do we backslide? Why do professing Christians embrace the world's ways and continue to sin?

Hebrews 10:26-31 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

That is a frightful thought. We were once called enemies of God, before we believed and became Christians. We received the head knowledge and the heart knowledge. I know lots of folks that have received the head knowledge because I spoke it out loud to them, but not as many have received the heart knowledge. It is those who Jesus said are like the seeds sown in stony ground received the joy of the Gospel, but had no root (Matthew 13:20-21).

Hebrews 10:28 Anyone who rejected the Law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him,

How can the Spirit of grace be insulted unless the grace was offered in the first place? The insult is the rejection of the call to seek God’s face (Isaiah 55:6; 2 Chronicles 7:14) as we find in Isaiah 65:1-2 1 I, the LORD, was ready to answer even those who were not asking and to be found by those who were not searching. To a nation that refused to worship me, I said, "Here I am!" 2 All day long I have reached out to stubborn and sinful people going their own way. It would be against the nature of God if He rejected a true seeker, wouldn't it? And how could the Son of God possibly be trampled by anyone who rejects Him, unless His sacrifice paid for all sins? It doesn't make sense that Jesus is trampled and insulted if all sins have not been paid for in full. There is the insult to one who has purchased a priceless gift, offered it to a loved one who rejects it on sight; unopened and unknown what priceless treasure lies within the package.

Those who, along with rejecting the sacrifice, also rejecting the Defense Advocate at the Great White Throne have put themselves in that predicament. Those are the ones who have effectively committed eternal suicide and chosen the Lake of Fire as their eternal abode because Jesus paid the price for them, being the Kinsman Redeemer. Jesus was fully human, bone of our bone and flesh of our human flesh. He not only paid the bride price, but He also redeemed us from our masters—sin and death. He is the only one who has the legal right to redeem us.

To understand the kinsman redeemer theme, let’s look at the book of Ruth for a moment. In chapter three, Naomi says, “My daughter, do I not seek rest for you that it may be well with you?” We know she means seeking a husband for the next verses explain it that way. Boaz is winnowing the barley that night (having a feast for his laborers). Naomi tells Ruth to bathe and dress up beautifully, perfuming herself to be pleasing to the eye and to the nose. Then she is to wait until Boaz has finished with his supper and lays down to rest for the night. Naomi said, “And you shall go in and uncover his feet, and lie down. And he will tell you that which you are to do.”

In these few verses we have an illustration of a spiritual truth. Naomi guides Ruth in what to do, but it is Ruth’s choice to follow the advice. She is to trust Boaz to understand her surrendering of herself to him. She lays her virtue, her honor, her life at his feet. With this single act, she is choosing Boaz as her defender, protector, and sustainer as her Kinsman Redeemer.

When he discovers who she is, he says something strange. “Blessed be you of Jehovah, my daughter. You have shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, in that you did not follow young men, whether poor or rich.” Another version says, “He said, "GOD bless you, my dear daughter! What a splendid expression of love! And when you could have had your pick of any of the young men around.” Ruth chose well.

Boaz not only accepts her into his heart, but he also covers her with his cloak, and reminds her there is one kinsman closer to her than himself. For whatever reason, we are not told the name of this kinsman; however, Boaz gathered a full court of ten elders and men of the town to sit in judgment (being judge himself, he would not judge his own case) to determine this situation from the Law of Moses:

Deuteronomy 25:7 But if the man does not want to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, 'My husband's brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.' 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, 'I do not want to take her,' 9 then his brother's wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, 'So shall it be done to the man who will not build up his brother's house.'

That kinsman told Boaz he could not redeem the property and take Ruth as wife to perpetuate the lineage of Mahlon son of Elimelech. We don’t get any details of this either. Since the man said he couldn’t take Ruth as wife because it would ruin his inheritance, I’m thinking it was because Ruth was a Moabitess and would therefore be a foreign wife (Deuteronomy 23:3). Possibly it was because the relative was a priest and they were not to marry a woman who had already had sex (Leviticus 21:7), or mayhap it is as Matthew Henry asserts that it was his greed that forbade him to marry Ruth and produce offspring for Naomi’s property. Regardless of the reason, this illustrates the flimsy protection we receive from flesh and blood.

Boaz redeems his beloved Ruth. Not with blood, but with his will and his wealth. Interestingly, Boaz is mentioned in Jesus' lineage, not Mahlon or Elimelech. Oh what a huge blessing that relative missed.

Jesus set aside all the wealth and riches of Heaven and redeemed us with His precious blood, for without blood there can be no forgiveness of sin. His blood blots out all the sins we have or will have committed. There is no costlier thing in this world than the defense against God’s wrath. Ruth faced poverty, hunger, and loneliness which Boaz banished with the offering of himself. Our peril was far greater. Spiritual poverty, hunger and loneliness is eternal without the presence of God. We cannot go into His presence without the covering of the crimson cloak of Jesus’ righteousness. We are covered at great expense.

"The Way" from Kevin Pauley

The First Sin