The Day of New Beginnings
Thy Sons Shall Marry Thee
Beyond Christianity
As we enter into the realm of Zion a new relationship with the Lord begins to open.
1 ¶ For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem's sake I will not keep quiet, Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, And her salvation like a torch that is burning.
2 The nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.
3 You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 It will no longer be said to you, "Forsaken," Nor to your land will it any longer be said, "Desolate"; But you will be called, "My delight is in her," And your land, "Married"; For the LORD delights in you, And to Him your land will be married.
5 For as a young man marries a virgin, So your sons will marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you.
It is in the spiritual realm of Zion that sonship is manifested. It is in this realm that we also enter into the Bride relationship with the Lord. When we begin to walk in this realm, we find God deals with us in a different way. Everything changes. We cannot compare the realm of Zion with anything we have known or experienced in Christianity. It’s leaving behind one realm to enter into another.
In this new relationship with the Lord that opens, there is an intimacy beyond anything we have known. That’s because this is the relationship between the Lord and His bride. Contrary to most teaching within Christianity, the bride of Christ is not everyone who happens to be a Christian. Rev. 19:9 states those are blessed who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Mat. 22:1-14 tells the parable of the wedding feast and how those who were first invited were not worthy. These passages end with the statement, “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
“Many are called, but few are chosen” implies the opportunity is there for as many who have ears to hear and are hungry for a closer walk with the Lord. It is not speaking about an exclusive relationship with the Lord where others are shut out and those who have it stand and boast.
The book of Ruth opens up this relationship to us. We will read the entire first chapter as it lays the foundation for the rest of this revelation of a bride relationship with the Lord.
1* ¶ Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.
2* The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. Now they entered the land of Moab and remained there.
3* Then Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left with her two sons.
4* They took for themselves Moabite women as wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.
5* Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was bereft of her two children and her husband.
6* ¶ Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the land of Moab, for she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people in giving them food.
7 So she departed from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the LORD deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
9 "May the LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband." Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.
10 And they said to her, "No, but we will surely return with you to your people."
11* But Naomi said, "Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
12 "Return, my daughters! Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons,
13 would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; for it is harder for me than for you, for the hand of the LORD has gone forth against me."
14* And they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15* Then she said, "Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law."
16* But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.
17* "Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me."
18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.
19* ¶ So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and the women said, "Is this Naomi?"
20* She said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
21* "I went out full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?"
22* So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
Naomi told both of her daughters-in-law to go back to their mother’s house (vs.8). This is significant. Mystically, their mother’s house represents the spiritual realm that gave them birth. In Gal. 1 Paul speaks of how God set him apart from his mother’s womb and called him through grace to reveal Jesus Christ through him. Paul was not referring as much to his natural mother’s womb as he was the womb of Judaism. God called him out of the Jewish religion into a spiritual realm, a realm all together different from what he had known. In Gal. 4 Paul teaches how the then present Jerusalem was likened to Hagar in Mt. Sinai as they were still under the bondage of the Jewish law. He reminds the Galatians how Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman, and one by the free woman through the promise. Paul then states, “But the Jerusalem above is free, she is our mother.” We will return later to this concept of the Jerusalem above being our mother, but for now we just want to establish that spiritually speaking, Naomi was sending her daughters-in-law back to their spiritual roots. This is confirmed in verse 15 where she tells Ruth, "Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law."
But Ruth is of a different spirit than her sister-in-law. She makes a different choice.
16* But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.
17* "Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me."
In Ruth 2:10-11 we also find:
10* Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?"
11 Boaz replied to her, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know.
Something was stirred in Ruth’s heart. She was choosing a new lineage; her former spiritual roots were pulled up as she entered a new realm. So it is with us. When we come to the realm of Zion, we find that we have the prerogative to choose our lineage, to choose what realm we are going to dwell in. We have the capacity by God’s grace to choose what kind of relationship we are going to have with the Lord.
It’s also significant that they came to Bethlehem at the time of the harvest. This is prophetic of the present hour. It is at the time of the “end time harvest” that the Lord establishes the means by which the fruitfulness of Zion comes forth. We will see this more clearly later. Right now though, we want to notice that all Boaz’s maids are working in the harvest.
Ruth 2:
8* Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids.
9* "Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw."
Boaz is a type of the Lord. His maids that are laboring in the harvest are a type of present day Christianity. Notice verse 5:
5* Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, "Whose young woman is this?"
Verses 8 and 9 establish that Boaz’s maids are the reapers in the harvest. In verse 5 the one identified as being in charge of the reapers is called his servant. This is the relationship of present day Christianity with the Lord. It is His servant. The various ministries given to the church are functioning in His harvest and His work is being accomplished. But Ruth is not among His maids. She is not one serving Him in the harvest. She represents a different relationship with the Lord all together. Notice what Ruth says of herself in the following verses:
Ruth 2:
12* "May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge."
13* Then she said, "I have found favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants."
Ruth was different from Boaz’s maids. She seemed to be on the side lines. She was not laboring in his harvest. While Ruth was not put into service by the master of the harvest, a far greater destiny awaited her. She was to become Boaz’s wife! Ruth is a type of the Bride of Christ and the Bride relationship with the Lord is far different than the one He has with his maidservants.
It’s interesting that while Ruth is never put into service to earn wages for herself and Naomi, Boaz sees to it that she is well provided for. Back in verse 9 Boaz commands the servants not to touch her or mistreat her in any way. They are to draw water for her when she is thirsty. Boaz also commands his servants to make special provisions for her.
Ruth 2:
14* At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar." So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left.
15* When she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his servants, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her.
16 "Also you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles and leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her."
All these passages speak of the ministry of grace that comes from the Lord to bring forth His bride. She is sustained by His ministry of grace to her. Notice in verse 14 how Boaz serves Ruth. This reminds us of how Jesus girded Himself and served His disciples by washing their feet. He was preparing them for a new relationship with Himself that would come by the Holy Spirit after He ascended to the Father.
The Song of Solomon gives a similar picture of the distinction between the maidens and the bride.
SO 6:9:
8 "There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, And maidens without number;
9 But my dove, my perfect one, is unique: She is her mother's only daughter; She is the pure child of the one who bore her. The maidens saw her and called her blessed, The queens and the concubines also, and they praised her, saying,
10 'Who is this that grows like the dawn, As beautiful as the full moon, As pure as the sun, As awesome as an army with banners?'
Solomon’s bride is called her mother’s only daughter. Spiritually, she is born of Zion, the Jerusalem from above. She is from a different realm than the maidens. She is called unique, the pure child of the one who bore her. These passages in the Song of Solomon are very similar to the ones in Ruth. They are both conveying the same spiritual truth.
As Solomon’s bride is among the various maidens and concubines, so too Ruth gleaned and mingled among Boaz’s maidens. She was among them, but of a different realm. She didn’t fit in with the maidens because her relationship with Boaz was different. This is important to realize. Many times those who are entering into this Bride relationship with the Lord cannot understand why they seem different. They don’t seem to fit with what is happening in most of Christianity. It’s because the relationship is different.
All through the Song of Solomon the bride is praised by the bridegroom. Similar praises come from Boaz concerning Ruth.
Ruth 3:
10* Then he said, "May you be blessed of the LORD, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich.
11 "Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence.
It was stated earlier that this Bride relationship with the Lord is not an exclusive circle but open to as many who hunger to enter in. How do we make the transition from one realm into another? The key is found in Ruth 3.
1* ¶ Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you?
2* "Now is not Boaz our kinsman, with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight.
3* "Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
4* "It shall be when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you shall do."
5 She said to her, "All that you say I will do."
6 ¶ So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her.
7* When Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain; and she came secretly, and uncovered his feet and lay down.
8* It happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward; and behold, a woman was lying at his feet.
9* He said, "Who are you?" And she answered, "I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative."
Ruth is told to go and uncover Boaz’s feet and lie down. This is a type of our submission to Christ’s Lordship. When we began to submit to His Lordship over our lives, it opens the door for His dealings to bring us into another realm. It’s interesting that it is at the threshing floor that Ruth lies down at Boaz’s feet. It’s only as we submit to the Lord at the threshing floor is His Lordship established over us (Heb.12:1-13). It’s also significant that Ruth comes to the threshing floor in secret. We are to bear the chastening and discipline of the Lord that purifies us “outside the camp” (Heb. 13:12-13). This means there is no glory to be had for our dying flesh nature.
It was stated earlier that the time of the harvest establishes the means by which the fruitfulness of Zion comes forth. Zion’s fruitfulness flows from the relationship between the Lord and His bride.
Ruth 4:
9 ¶ Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, "You are witnesses today that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon.
10 "Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased will not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birth place; you are witnesses today."
11* All the people who were in the court, and the elders, said, "We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel; and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem.
12* "Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the offspring which the LORD will give you by this young woman."
The elders prophesied that Ruth was to become like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel. The fruitfulness that was prophesied was to be the result of the union between Ruth and Boaz. Until Ruth married Boaz, she had no offspring. In the natural, Ruth found herself grafted right into the lineage of Christ. King David, and all the kings after him right down to Jesus, were the products of Ruth and Boaz’s marriage. So it is with spiritual Zion. It is the Bride relationship with the Lord that produces the great fruitfulness described throughout the Scriptures concerning Zion.