Shalom, Boker-Tov ( good morning ),

A group of Jewish religious leaders posed a question to Jesus to trap Him on the question of the resurrection. The Sadduccees asked Him about a man who died without children and his wife had to be married off to his younger brothers and one by one they all died including the seventh and youngest brother and yet the woman could not bear any children for the first husband. The Sadduccees wanted to know whose wife this woman would be when they all get to Heaven ( read Matthew 22: 23 - 33 ). And Jesus, knowing their intentions, chose not to answer their question directly but chose to focus their attention on Himself by reminding them that their God is a living God.

The Sadduccees were quoting from the Old Testament in Deut. 25: 5 - 6: -

5. If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.
6. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.

That law was given by Moses to ensure the perpetuity of the family line and was widely practised in Israel. Should the brother refuses to marry his sister-in-law, she will then go before the elders of the city and take out one of his sandals. She will spit on his face and proclaimed in the hearing of all the elders that the brother's family line would be known in Israel as "The Family of the Unsandaled". It is a big dishonor when that happens. ( Deut 25: 7 - 10 )

If the brother accepts the responsibility and marries the sister-in-law, she will then call him her kinsman redeemer. He will redeem the honor of the dead brother and provide for the widow because in Israel, in those days, it is extremely difficult for a childless widow to survive especially when she does not have a son to care and provide for her.
The kinsman redeemer ( or Goel in Hebrew ) has three distinct characteristics: -

1. He must be a relative and even among the relatives, he must be the closest ( or sometimes known as the 'next-in-line' ).
2. He must be able to be the redeemer; that is, he must have the means to provide for her.
3. He must be willing to step into that role.

In the Book of Ruth, we have a very clear and good example of a kinsman redeemer in Boaz. Boaz ( who was the great grandfather of King David ) was a close relative of the widow Ruth's late husband Kilion ( maybe first cousin? the Bible did not specify ) and Boaz was a very rich man and he was more than willing to take Ruth as his wife. And they got married and became the ancestors of King David and later became the ancestors of Jesus when He walked this Earth.

Mankind was under the curse of sin and badly in need of a kinsman redeemer. Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ came and took that role with joy and fulfilled every requirement thereof.
1. He came as a human being so that He can be of the same species and understand our problems and limitations. If He had come as something else, then the principle of the kinsman redeemer could not hold water. He is not one of our kind and therefore, there could not be any relationship between that "something" and us. Jesus had to come as a man so that He can claim relationship with us. The Earth is badly in need of a savior and Jesus came as one of us so that He can deliver us from our predicament.

2. Jesus, being the Son of God, is more than sufficient to provide for us. All the resources are in His hands. He was there with the Father during the creation and you might even say, Jesus is the Creator Himself. God spoke the Word and the Word created.
3. As to the requirement of willingness to redeem, Jesus was elated when the opportunity to do so was presented to Him. He left His throne in Heaven, gave up everything and took on the form of a human being so that He could fulfill the most important requirement - to redeem the world from the curse of sin. He did not shirk His responsibility but went all the way to Calvary so that He could die for us and redeem us. Mind you, along the way, Jesus had numerous opportunity to back away and return to Heaven without shedding His blood for us. Thank God He did not bow to those temptation but purposed in His heart that He would fulfill every requirement of the law of the kinsman redeemer and as a result, we are now redeemed of the Lord and we are also provided for.

Every need that we have is now met in Jesus. If God did not spare His Son but loves us so much that He allowed Jesus to go through with the redemption plan, then rest assured, He will also supply every need that we have. Ruth was provided grain each day when she first came back to Bethlehem, Israel with her mother-in-law Naomi. She went to Boaz's barley fields and glean ( picked up those grains that fell off the reapers' hands ) and gathered enough for Naomi and herself. Later she married the owner of the fields, Boaz himself and all her needs were supplied.

My friend, you too can have your needs provided for. Like Ruth in the story, you can also "marry" the owner and lack nothing. All you need to do is to accept God's redemption plan and believe on Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. When He comes into your heart, the Supplier will meet every want and every need of yours. Have you done that? If not, why not pray this prayer from your heart and invite Jesus into your life.
Our Heaven Father, thank you that You saw our need of a Savior and out of Your great love for us, You sent Your precious Son Jesus Christ into this world to die for our sins. Thank you that Jesus came with joy and took our place, die for all our sins and redeemed us from the curse. Lord Jesus, thank you that You took our curse so that we are no longer under the curse but can now enjoy Your eternal Presence.

Lord Jesus, come into my life and live in my heart from this moment forth. Be my Lord and Savior. Lead me in every decision that comes my way and teach me to walk in Your ways. Thank you Lord that I am now forever forgiven, greatly blessed, highly favored, deeply loved and completely protected because of what You have accomplished for me on the cross. Thank you in Jesus most lovely and precious Name. Amen.

If you have prayed the prayer for the first time, welcome to the universal family of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are now saved forever although you may not feel it or act it but your redemption is complete. The Lord has promised that He will send you a Helper, His Holy Spirit, who will come into your life to lead and guide you and teach you all things from the Bible, the Word of God. As I mentioned last week, your spirit is now redeemed and soon your body will be redeemed as well ( and that will be when Jesus returns to take the Church back to Heaven to be with Him forever ).

Be ready for your blessings to come into your life. Spend time to read the Bible and learn more about this Savior who loves you so much that He came to die for you and I. Also, please try and find a good local church to attend and find encouragement. There are blessings that can only come about when the whole Body of believers meet together for worship and encouragement. Tell a friend what happened in your life and see the change coming over your life.
The Lord blesses you and keeps you,
The Lord makes His face shine upon you and be gracious to you and all your loved ones,
The Lord lifts up His countenance upon you and gives you His shalom peace.
Numbers 6: 24 - 26

Have a blessed week ahead, shavrou-tov
Shalom,

Andrew L W Lee
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