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a kinsman, and though he is willing, we see that his hands are
tied. He can only go so far.

The third step is appropriation. Ruth must appropriate Boaz.
Ruth must reach out and take that mantle and pull it over
herself, and say, “All you are and all you have I claim as mine.”
The simplicity of faith is that she just had to claim it. That is
what springs God into action and allows Him to create out of
her an oasis in the desert.

The fourth step is grace. Grace is what God does. Law is what
man does. Right from the beginning of the book, Ruth was a
doer. She was doing, doing, doing, and doing. Boaz had to tell
her that he would do for her. Ruth 3:11,“And 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.” Ruth needed to learn about rest.

That brings us to the final stage. What can the last stage be
except marriage and union and the fruit of that relationship?
And so Boaz marries Ruth. I love Ruth 4:10. “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.”

Since this is the consummation and everything has been moving
toward this marriage, let me speak of the consummation and the
fruit of that relationship. Ruth 4:13, “So Boaz took Ruth, and
she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the Lord
enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.” Ruth
blessed the world by giving birth to Obed; to give the world
Jesse; to give the world David; to give the world Psalms through
David and to give the world a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fruit is always the outworking of a relationship. It is the result
of union. Christians need to learn that fruit is something that is
produced naturally through a very personal and intimate