Dec. 16: The Kinsman-Redeemer

Ruth in Boaz's Field, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1828. Oil on canvas, 59 × 70 cm. The National Gallery, London, England. Public domain.

“Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus” from the album Glory In The Highest: Christmas Songs of Worship. Performed by Christy Nockels and Chris Tomlin. Lyrics: Charles Wesley; Music: Rowland Prichard.

Poetry:

“The Day of Judgment”
by Isaac Watts

When the fierce north wind with his airy forces
Rears up the Baltic to a foaming fury,
And the red lightning with a storm of hail comes
Rushing amain down,

How the poor sailors stand amazed and tremble,
While the hoarse thunder, like a bloody trumpet,
Roars a loud onset to the gaping waters,
Quick to devour them!

Such shall the noise be and the wild disorder,
(If things eternal may be like these earthly)
Such the dire terror, when the great Archangel
Shakes the creation,

Tears the strong pillars of the vault of heaven,
Breaks up old marble, the repose of princes;
See the graves open, and the bones arising,
Flames all around ’em!

Hark, the shrill outcries of the guilty wretches!
Lively bright horror and amazing anguish
Stare through their eyelids, while the living worm lies
Gnawing within them.

Thoughts like old vultures prey upon their heart-strings,
And the smart twinges, when the eye beholds the
Lofty Judge frowning, and a flood of vengeance
Rolling afore him.

Hopeless immortals! how they scream and shiver,
While devils push them to the pit wide-yawning
Hideous and gloomy, to receive them headlong
Down to the center.

Stop here, my fancy: (all away ye horrid
Doleful ideas); come, arise to Jesus;
How He sits God-like! and the saints around him
Throned, yet adoring!

Oh may I sit there when he comes triumphant
Dooming the nations! then ascend to glory
While our hosannas all along the passage
Shout the Redeemer.

THE KINSMAN-REDEEMER

The story of Boaz and Ruth is a foreshadowing of the coming of Messiah as well as a beautiful reminder of the true meaning of Christmas. After her husband’s death, Ruth left her homeland of Moab to follow her mother-in-law, Naomi, back to Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem and pledged to Naomi, “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.” (Ruth 1:16). God provided for Ruth through Boaz, a Kinsman-Redeemer. The painting shows how Ruth caught the eye of her husband’s relative Boaz as she gleaned among the sheaves in his fields. Boaz married Ruth, and miraculously they had a child, Obed, who became the grandfather of David and a direct ancestor of Jesus. Through Ruth, Jesus was part of the royal line of the house of Israel. The prophets foretold that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, the town of his own ancestors. (Micah 5:2).

The focus of Christmas is often on the incarnation, the beautiful miracle of God becoming a tiny baby. Our lovely creches symbolize the truth of Emmanuel, God with us. These nativity scenes sometimes obscure a deeper truth, that Jesus came to be our Kinsman-Redeemer due to the desperate situation that we are in––darkened in our understanding by sin and destined for eternal judgment as Isaac Watts so eloquently describes in “Day of Judgment.” Without Christ, we are “guilty wretches” with a “living worm…gnawing” within us and subject to demons pushing us into a “pit wide-yawning, hideous and gloomy,” and destined to be filled with “dire terror, when the great Archangel shakes the creation…” Watts’ poem proclaims our only hope of redemption through Jesus Christ, the great truth of John 3:16-17. We cannot save ourselves but can only cry out to Jesus in repentance and faith for salvation. Charles Wesley’s great hymn expresses the deepest longings of those called by God, “Come, Thou long expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free; from our fears and sins release us. Let us find our rest in Thee.” It is only through His “all sufficient merit” that we have any hope of salvation from our wretched destiny. May we meditate this Christmas not only on the miracle of the incarnation but also the great miracle of redemption and recognize the depths from which Jesus Christ can “raise us to [His] glorious throne.”

Prayer:
Lord, during this Christmas season as we contemplate the incarnation and the coming of Emmanuel, let us also praise you that He came as our Redeemer!

Dr. Alicia M. Dewey
Professor of History
Biola University

For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, please visit our website via the link in our bio.