God's Program for This Age

Open your Bibles, please, to the book of Ruth, keeping in mind that we have been studying the book of Ruth for quite some time. At the present time, we are studying the book of Ruth from the standpoint of eschatology. "Eschatology" is a term that may need an explanation for some. It simply means "the study of last things," the things that are connected with the end of the age. We have suggested to you that this is a unique approach to the book of Ruth. We have studied it from the standpoint of analogy,drawing spiritual lessons. We studied it from the standpoint of soteriology, which is the most common approach to the book of Ruth, presenting to us our Kinsman-Redeemer in the Lord Jesus Christ. There were lessons as well in the field of eschatology that should not be neglected. We gave you a series of typical incidents in the book of Ruth and compared them to incidents related to the nation of Israel.

You can understand that time would not permit us a review of the things which we have already covered, so we began by suggesting to you that in the book of Ruth a Gentile bride was acquired for Boaz during the sojourn in Moab. That is a simple statement of fact from the book of Ruth.

You will recall that the little family of Elimelech, under the chastening hand of God, went to Moab and sojourned there ten years. During that time, a Gentile bride was acquired for Boaz. That fact is a type of a very important truth--a Gentile bride acquired for Christ while the Jews are dispersed among the nations. The incident in the book of Ruth is an illustration of a fact which is going on at the present time.

I think it would be wise for us to look together at the type as it is seen in the book of Ruth so that we might relate it to the truth that is emphasized in the Word of God. We are going to call to your attention a few passages of Scripture which will delineate the type for you. We ask you to turn, first, to Ruth, chapter 1, verse 4:

RUTH 1

These two girls were Moabites. Being Moabites, they were Gentiles. So get fixed in your minds that the Jewish boys in Moab made possible the selection of a Gentile bride. Notice, please, verse 16, which represents the decision of the Gentile bride to return to the homeland, because if the decision were not made, then nothing would have come of the invitation that was extended. The words, familiar, beautiful, tell the story. Ruth said to Naomi:

RUTH 1

Then you will notice in verse 1 of chapter 2:

RUTH 2

We introduce Boaz here because Ruth historically, factually, actually was the bride of Boaz. Boaz, you will recall, is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Turn over to chapter 4 of the book of Ruth, verse 13, and read the words:

RUTH 4

So you have the complete story in type. A Gentile woman became the bride of the Jewish redeemer. What are we saying? We are saying that God permitted the family of Elimelech to sojourn in Moab in order that a Gentile bride might be secured for Boaz. We say to you, and we will show you from the Word of God that this is true, that in the providence of God that nation of Israel has been scattered to the far corners of the world in order that a Gentile bride might be secured for the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have looked at the type. We want you to notice with us the truth as it is seen in chapter 15 of the Acts of the Apostles, where the first Church council that ever was, was held, the first ecumenical council that was ever held after the birth of the Church. All of it was related to whether or not the Gentiles would be included in the Church, the Body, the Bride. Quite a lengthy discussion was held. Then in verse 13 of chapter 15, you read:

ACTS 15

Notice particularly the phrase, "God did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name." I want you to notice that statement because it is the simplest statement of God's program for this age that you will find anywhere in the Word. What is God's program for this age? A socialistic program? No! What is God's program for this age? Making the world a better place to live? No! What is God's program for this age? Bring in the kingdom? No! What is God's program for this age? His program is to visit the Gentiles to take out of them, the Gentiles, a people for His name. You will notice in verse 15, James calls to your attention proof of why He said what He said. There we read:

ACTS 15

Let me say right here at the outset that James, to bolster his statement of God's program for this age, made an appeal to prophecy. We are not only going to make an appeal to prophecy, but we are going to take three approaches, if time permits. We are going to approach God's program for this age from the standpoint of prophecy, from the standpoint of parables, and from the standpoint of picture. Because in prophecy, in parables and in picture, God declares His program for this age so that no individual needs to be mistaken about what the program is.

It is tremendously important to know what the program is lest you expend your energy in the wrong direction. For example, if, as we can show from the Word of God without fear of contradiction, the program for this age is not to bring in the Kingdom, then anyone who is expending his energy to bring in the Kingdom is obviously spinning his wheels. Obviously he is wasting his time. The sad, sad thing we have to recognize is that the vast majority of Christendom--sincere, good, in many cases born-again believers--are wasting their time trying to bring in the Kingdom. That is not what God had planned, as is very definitely stated in prophecy.

We will notice first what James had to say as he quotes from the book of Acts, chapter 15, verse 16:

ACTS 15

When James was making this reference to prophecy, he was quoting from the book of Amos, chapter 9. I would like for you to turn there, please, and notice how the Spirit of God takes one passage of Scripture from one portion of the Word of God and makes application of it in other portions of the Word, emphasizing the truths which need to be emphasized. In Amos, chapter 9, will you notice, please, the paragraph which begins with verse 11. Now, previous to verse 11, God is talking about the end of the age, so in verse 11, you read:

AMOS 9

Let's stop and recognize that the tabernacle of David here is not the church to which David went. It is the house of David. You see, David wanted to build God a house; and Nathan, the prophet, thought it was a good thing to do. He told David so. He was like a lot of preachers who make decisions without praying about them. Then when he went and talked to God about it, God said, "Nathan, you made a mistake. I don't want David to build Me a house. He is a bloody man. He has had too much war. You go tell David he cannot build my house. Tell him you were wrong."

I have always thought that was a bitter pill for Nathan to swallow. Always he had been right, you know; he was a prophet, but now he had to go and say, "David, I was wrong. God doesn't want you to build that house." But He gave David his promise: "David, God is going to build you a house." Solomon was born. Solomon was the greatest king that Israel knew, and then the kingdom of Israel fell into oblivion, but God made David a promise that He would build him a house. You will find it in II Samuel, chapter 7, and Solomon would not be the house that He had in mind nor the king that He would set upon the throne. So the house of David, the tabernacle of David, had fallen into disrepair and Amos gives the promise:

AMOS 9

God said, "One day, at the end of the period of time that the Gentiles are being called out to make a people for the name of Christ--the bride of Christ--Christ will return and the tabernacle of David will be raised up again."

I would like for you to turn with me to the book of Romans, chapter 9, and notice how the Apostle Paul makes his statement and then quotes from prophecy to verify what he said. He is talking about the rejection of the nation of Israel and the reception of the Gentiles--the sidetracking of the nation of Israel, if you want to put it that way, and the reception of the Gentiles. You remember when James made his speech in that first church council, Israel had been scattered to the farthest corners of the world. He said, "Now that Israel is no longer the channel through which God is working, He is taking out a people for His name." Paul said the same thing, and to prove it in verse 25, he said:

ROMANS 9

The word "O'see" may not be particularly familiar to you. I suggest that it is a reference to the prophet Hosea. Turn, please, to the book of Hosea and notice how the Apostle Paul refers to the prophet Hosea to prove his point. In Hosea, chapter 2, you will notice, please, verse 23, where we read:

HOSEA 2

The people who had never been recognized nor claimed by God were the Gentiles. So Hosea said, "There is going to become a time when God will say to people who were not His people, 'Thou art My people,' and they will be able to say, 'Thou art my God'." This passage of Scripture is a reference to you. It is a reference to me, because one time we were not the people of God, but now we are the people of God and we are able to so declare.

Go back, please, to Hosea, chapter 1, verse 10, for the rest of the prophecy.

HOSEA 1

This passage of Scripture recognizes the eventual reclamation of Israel, the return to the land as did Naomi, as did Ruth, her Gentile acquisition returned to the land.

Go back to Romans with me, please, and notice chapter 10 of the book of Romans as Paul brings to our attention another truth concerning the calling out of a people for His name. In Romans, chapter 10, verse 19, we read:

ROMANS 10

That is, didn't Israel know what God's plan was? That is the gist of the whole chapter, and Paul says, "Of course, they did."

ROMANS 10

Here the Apostle Paul is quoting from the book of Romans. If you will turn to Romans with me, please, and notice what is represented in this passage of Scripture.

ROMANS 10

Get fixed in your mind that until Christ died on the Cross, the only people who had any right to call upon God were the Jews, and the only way that an individual could call upon God if he were not a Jew was to become what we refer to as a "Jewish proselyte." But the Apostle Paul said, in Romans, chapter 10, verses 12-13, that the Scriptures said that a day would come when all men everywhere, regardless of who they were, would be able to call upon the name of the Lord.

You read in Joel, chapter 2, verse 28:

JOEL 2

You need to think carefully about this passage of Scripture in the book of Joel. Remember that the Apostle Peter made reference to it on the day of Pentecost, saying that it had a twofold fulfillment. It has a partial fulfillment in this Age of Grace, for anywhere men can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. But this passage of Scripture will not be fulfilled in its entirety until that period of time described when the wonders of Heaven, blood and fire, and pillars of smoke transpire. That period of time is known as the Tribulation. In the Tribulation the greatest revival that this world has ever seen will occur. Multitudes of people from every tribe, kindred, tongue and nation will call upon the name of the Lord.

Go back to Romans, chapter 10, with me, and reread the passage of Scripture that I read:

ROMANS 10

Here Paul quotes from the books of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. You will keep in mind that our Bibles make the distinction in the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; but the Scriptures do not make that distinction. They call the first five books of the Bible the "books of Moses." So Paul said in the book of Moses, chapter 32, verse 21:

DEUTERONOMY 32

These phrases may not mean much to you, but if you will keep in mind that in the eyes of the Jews, the Gentiles were nothing. They were dogs. In the eyes of the Jews, the Gentiles were a foolish people. Way back here when Moses was speaking to the nation of Israel he said, "You are going to disobey God, and when you do, God is going to move you out of the land, set you on a sidetrack and bring in a people that is no people and bring in a foolish people to make you jealous, to make you realize how very much you have missed by being disobedient to God." There can be no question but what this age is the age of the Gentiles when God is calling out a people for His name.

Let us let Paul speak to us one more time from chapter 10 of the book of Romans, verse 20, where he said:

ROMANS 10

Paul is quoting from the book of Isaiah. "Esaias" is the Greek form of the Hebrew word "Isaiah." In Isaiah, chapter 65, the Apostle Paul, being very familiar with Old Testament Scriptures, having sat at the foot of Gamaliel, one of the greatest Hebrew scholars there was, was able by the Spirit of God to take the Scriptures with which he was familiar and make application of them to the truth of the hour. You will notice in verse 1 of Isaiah, chapter 65, practically the same words:

ISAIAH 65

Israel was called by the name of God. God turned His back on the nation of Israel and extended His arms to a nation that had not been called by His name, the nation of the Gentiles. Ruth, a Gentile, became the bride of Boaz, typifying the fact that during this Age of Grace in which we live God is making up a Ruth for a Boaz. He is making a Bride for Christ. This we said is emphasized in the Word of God not only from prophecy, but from parable as well.

We ask you to turn with us to the Gospel according to Matthew and notice two of many parables that we might consider together. This parable at which we are going to look first, we would suggest to you, has survived a great deal of poor exposition, a great deal of poor preaching. As I have said to you before, one reason we know that the Bible is the Word of God is that it has survived so much poor interpretation; it has survived so much poor preaching. If I were to ask you to think with me of the many different kinds of sermons which you have heard from this particular parable without the interpretation, I am quite sure that we could take the rest of the time to hear what you have to say. But listen carefully to the parable. We read in verse 33:

MATTHEW 21

The householder in this verse is God. The vineyard which He planted was the land that flowed with milk and honey into which He brought the nation of Israel, who are the husbandmen in this particular parable, and then he went away and left them to themselves, so to speak.

MATTHEW 21

Here we have a reference to the Spiritual leaders of Israel who came to draw the people back to God and collect the fruit that was rightfully God's because He was the owner of the vineyard. No specific men are in mind, save the early men who followed Moses and Joshua, men not well known, men such as Nathan, the prophet, and women such as Deborah. They were the leaders who were mistreated by the nation of Israel.

MATTHEW 21

They sawed Jeremiah asunder. They put Israel in the stocks.

MATTHEW 21

He was slain outside the city wall on a hill called Golgotha.

MATTHEW 21

There it is in parable. This parable doesn't teach that if you don't do what you ought to do with the talent you have God will take it away from you and give it to someone else. It is teaching that God set the nation of Israel to one side and gave the Gentiles the opportunity and the privilege of declaring the whole council of God.

Notice another parable in chapter 22. Here again we have one that is much misapplied, and it is misunderstood and has become the basis of warped theology because they have not interpreted it in the light of the context.

MATTHEW 22

That is what John the Baptist declared: "The kingdom of Heaven is at hand."

MATTHEW 22

You see the problem you have right here of making this parable represent the Gospel invitation. You have heard this parable used as a basis, I am sure, for a sermon on the Gospel invitation: "Come to the wedding," and then you have heard some remarks about the excuses people made. "They made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise." But have you ever heard anyone use the excuse that the remnant took his servants and treated them spitefully and slew them? You never heard that because it just doesn't apply to this Gospel Age. This refers to what the Jews did. What did they do? They took John the Baptist and slew him. Oh, yes, I know Herod was responsible, but Herod was but the tool.

MATTHEW 22

Why were they called His armies? Because God uses armies of the world to accomplish His purpose. Cyrus, the Persian, is called the "servant of God." God even named him several hundred years before he was born. Cyrus was a heathen of the worst kind, yet God called him His servant. That is, He used him--his armies, the armies of Rome--and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city.

Titus completely laid waste the city of Jerusalem. Then said He to His servants, Peter and James and John and Paul and the others:

MATTHEW 22

They don't have to be members of the commonwealth of Israel. Anyone will do.

MATTHEW 22

The invitation was universal. Before it had only been the the Jews. Now it was universal. But that is not all the parable. Here is where the Gospel comes in.

MATTHEW 22

You say, "That's a strange thing. What did He mean?" It was the custom in that day when folk were invited to weddings for them to wear a wedding garment provided by the host. They didn't have to buy it themselves. It was provided by the host. When anyone would go to the wedding and not wear the garment provided by the host, it was an open insult to the host. So the host came in in verse 12, and he said:

MATTHEW 22

"How come you don't have on a wedding garment?" He was speechless, speechless because there wasn't anything he could say. He couldn't say, "I didn't have one; I couldn't afford one."

MATTHEW 22

That does not mean that you lose your salvation. It is very plain. If you don't have on the wedding garment, you can have no place at the wedding feast. You get your garment before the feast actually begins.

Our time is nearly gone, but I would like to take just a few moments to suggest that we look at this truth, God taking a people out of the Gentiles for His name, as it is illustrated by some pictures that might fix themselves more firmly in your mind. Turn to Romans, chapter 11, and notice what the Apostle Paul has to say in the paragraph which begins with verse 17. He brings to your mind an olive tree that had borne fruit, a tame olive tree, a cultivated olive tree, but it got to where it wasn't bearing any fruit. Something had to be done. So in verse 17, some of the branches were broken off. That is, Israel, representing the branches of the tame olive tree, were broken off. Paul said:

ROMANS 11

You see, our religion, Beloved, even though we call it "Christianity," is a Judaistic religion. It has its roots in the Old Testament, which is very definitely a Jewish book. It has its fatness in the New Testament, which is primarily a Jewish book in the sense that it was written in the majority by Jewish authors. So Paul said, "You Gentiles, wild olive branches, were grafted in; but the fruit that you bear, you are actually bearing because you are grafted in to the root and the fatness of the olive tree." Then he offers the advice:

ROMANS 11

Don't talk critically of the Jews. You are forgetting that you are but a branch.

ROMANS 11

This is what every person who says God is through with the Jews is actually saying. "Those tame branches were broken off and we have been grafted in. God is through with them. Don't talk about the second coming of Christ. Don't talk about the establishment of the kingdom. Don't talk about the Jews returning to Palestine. They were all broken off the tree. We Gentiles were grafted in." Notice what Paul says in verse 20:

ROMANS 11

He is not talking to individuals. He is talking to the Gentiles as a whole. Israel lost her place of privilege. Gentile, you are going to lose your place of privilege, too.

ROMANS 11

Then having given the picture, he makes the statement:

ROMANS 11

Another way of explaining it is "until the Gentile bride is fully acquired." Individuals make up the bride of Christ, and when the last person--God knows who that person is--who is to make up the Bride of Christ is saved, then the fullness of the Gentiles will have reached its peak, and Israel will be put back on the main line again.

When you have time, read what is recorded in I Peter, chapter 2. There you are told that you are stones which God is very carefully fitting together in this age to prepare a temple for Himself. You are told that you are a nation of kings and of priests who offer our praises unto God.

Beloved, Naomi found time to go home, and when she did, she took with her a bride for Boaz. In our next lesson, we are going to learn how Naomi's return to Bethlehem is an illustration of the Jews return to their homeland and eventually to their king.

Grant, Father, that ministry of the word by the Holy Spirit that will be effective. That which may have represented the vain vaporizings of men, may it be dismissed and the truth be held. For we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.