Joshua, Judges and Ruth

Joshua, Judges and Ruth

Assingment

BI - 3302

Prof. Dr. Bruce W.H. Ulrich

Aluno: Evandro Chaves.

Jesus Christ Centered Scriptures and history of the world!!

Regarding the relational teachings and most important divine truth we can see on those three books, I believe we could start talking about the importance of the Holy scriptures and also about it’s fundamental point, which is not much a set of detached stories each one with a little lesson on how to live a life, but mostly, one unique story, that explains, on its big picture, on its essence, about what is wrong with the human race, and what God has done, still doing and will accomplish in the future thru Jesus Christ, and at the very end, how that will transform the history of the world with all the promises related to the world and humanity.

That said, we easily notice everything is centered in Christ, and on his redemptive work towards the human race, which has the ultimate purpose of bringing them, back to their creator, providing thru Christ, everything needed to be accepted by God.

Jesus justifies everyone that believes in him and have faith, that he is the son of God, and that is the most important understanding we all should have when we open the Holy book, keep always in our minds, everything is about Him, all of it points to Him and all will end and be restored according to him, is essential!!!!

And on these three books, we can see that relation interlaced between them, giving us in a nutshell just what we was mentioned above, starting with Joshua, and the conquering of the promise land, going into Judges which were raised by God to correct and guide the people to live according to his commandments, and them to Ruth story, giving to all of it a contrast, showing a moabite descended woman, who was not from the jewish despondency, to become a part of the genealogy of Christ and show that his redemptive work to save the humanity is based on his works, thats is on what he did on the cross, mediates the acceptability we receive from God, and nothing else, neither genetic descendent, nor being a law keeper, but only, trusting and having faith in the Lord!!

Moses failure on leading the people and Joshua chosen by God to accomplish the mission!!!

Moses, had failed, drastically speaking, and was by God kept from not only leading His people into the promised land, but also from seeing it himself, because the way he did dealt with the rock, attempted to take Gods glory upon himself, which the scripture teaches, should never be done, because God will never divide his glory, and for that, Joshua was called to finish the job, and the words to him, from the Lord were very powerful and promising as they were to Moses, he said: “ After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses ' assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you..” And as we see thru the book, God had many important lessons for his people in general, including us today; everything God did thru history on this book, and all people lives he had chosen and used to fulfill his promises and lead his people to the promised land, are greatly important and essential to God’s people at all times.

Having all of the happenings centered on himself, showing he is God, and is the one that keep his promises and the one that works and deliver his people to victory and success, should give us the understanding that, truly, at the end of the day, if it wasn 't because him, they would never be able to live those promises, and that was an amazing true for them and, it is, thru all times, for all of us.

Therefore, today we need to understand, more than ever, that only because the divine power of God was in action favoring them, thru all the events and challenges they had to face, they could experience his plans and purposes for them, didn 't change, and this fact works the same way for us, His plans and promises, will never be frustrated, if we keep our obedience and faith, believing his sovereignty, there will be events, like The walls of Jericho, the stopping of the sun in the middle of the sky, and people he chose, being full of the Holy Spirit like Joshua, Gideon, Asa, and others, are the ultimate prove of our dependency on God thru our lives!!!

Joshua, is a prefiguring of Jesus Christ and his redemptive work , when he was chose by God, to lead Israel into the promised land, we can clearly see that this event points exactly to what Jesus will do to all the believers that day, lead us to the promised land, giving us the right to be glorified and reign like sons and daughters with him forever!!!!

The human weakness of heart, lack of faith and trust and it 's consequences as God"s people!!! But, unfortunately, Gods people thru the history of their existence, have shown a weak heart, as part of human nature, and a tendency to become idolaters and always a lack of trust in God, relating to what He had done in the past to them directly and to theirs ancestor.

Gods people history of lack of thrust and faith is repeated, and after God had established his people, divinely delivering them and operating many miracles, giving them more them certainty about his power and love to them, just like the 2 millions people that died on the desert, this new generation, lead by Joshua into the the promised land, now, starts to forget, like the older generation forgot, how they were lead out of the hands of Pharaoh, from Egypt, and walked thru the red sea on dry feet, what God had done for them, leading them to victory when they conquered the land, thru the power of the Lord on defeating the enemies and establishing them on the land, and that made God starting to raise Judges to come to them and remembering them about all he did, and the importance of being faithful and obedient to him was, and how unacceptable idolatry and living a depraved life not only individually but as God people would not lead them to anything but being corrected and coursed by God, like the prophecy was said by Moses in deuteronomy 28 when he said oppression form other nations would come upon them if they abandoned the covenant with Him, which unfortunately ended up being the fulfilling of that prophecy for them!!

Basically, thru this book we can see that, even when we are not good enough, God never changes and never leaves us without any care or love, he is always there when we truly repent and straight our ways according to his will, and that is exactly what he wants to show us when he raises people and fill them with the Holy Spirit, empowering them to be leaders to teach his people to be submissive and obedient, thru their on lives.

Thats why in acts, Jesus said to the disciples, stay in Jerusalem, and you will receive power to be my witness in the world, and that power is being filled with the holy Spirit to speak about the good news, Jesus and all he has done to humanity which like was said in the beginning, is the reason of life, the absolute truth about our existence, what we were created for, to be his witnesses thru the whole world, bringing them to the promised land Thru his blood and his justifying and redemptive work on the cross, and that should be what we live for!!!!

Culturally, this book has an amazing approaching to the true of the relativist pos modern world we live in today, when we can see on chapter 21 verse 25 that the israelites, lacking the understand that God was their ultimate King and they should live their lives submitting and understanding this truth, instead, ...” and everyone did what they thought was right.” which is exactly they way our modern society thinks, the only way we experience freedom, comes for being able to create your own true and not being restricted or have to obey any rules in life, just like they thought back there, misunderstanding that having restrictions and rules is the only way that would lead us to the freedom of living a life free not only in this world but for all eternity, because the restrictions and rules that apply to Gods people, according to the absolute truth they were created to be and live, will lead them to the ultimate freedom, and that is one of the most important aspect of human existence, the understanding that He is our King, our Preacher, our Redeemer, our Life, our Everything not only back there , but at all times, and that is the definition of Freedom!!!!!!

The redemptive work of God thru the justifying Christ is for all that have faith and believe!!!!

And the book of Ruth in the sequence, comes to show just that, everything, all the promises, all the love, all mercy, and the ultimate freedom, the promised land, the salvation that rest in Jesus Christ alone, is not only for a certain Group of people, or nation, but for anyone that is lead by God, thru the Holy Spirit to accept Jesus as lord and savior in their lives!!!

Which by the way is a great contrast with the moment that Israel was living as a nation, as God’s people, they were experiencing social, spiritual and moral declining, completely far from God and his commandments, which easily clarify that it wasn 't about who they were, but who they could become after the might work of the holy spirit in their lives were real, which would lead to faith, to obedience and submission without the oppression feeling, leading you to serve Him freely, transforming duties into choice, and that 's how it works with God"s people at all times, nothing have changed at all and we need to live that truth today as Christians!!!!

And the fact that Ruth, became Jesus decedent, and the historical fact that the story happened on the harvest celebration time, on pentecost time, give as a wonderful teaching about the ultimate purpose of God with humanity, showing that His redemption plan was inclusive when referring to the gentiles based on faith, and not only on race or anything else!!!

Thats why we see in Jerusalem, luke describing Jesus saying to the disciples to stay and wait for the promise of the Lord regarding the power of the Holy Spirit coming down and being poured into their lives, and giving them extraordinary power to become The Lord’s whiteness around Judea, Samaria and around the world!!

And in the big picture, for this book, Boaz is a prefigure of Christ, being the mediator, making a moabite to become part of the Gods kingdom, is the essence of this book, the salvation thru faith alone is extended to Ruth, thru Boaz using his right to marry her and make her become part of the genealogy of Christ, even being a descendent from enemies of God!

Amazingly, the main idea, the main essence of these three books, in a nutshell is the love of God, thru Jesus Christ, which would lead to the promise land, and like mentioned in the beginning, that is the most and more valuable story of the bible, and where everything is centered around it, the gospel, what God did to save and redeem the world an human race!!!!

And nothing has changed, faith and obedience to God, and believing on the justification and redeeming work of Jesus Christ, the mediator, between human race and God, brings back the right for men to relate again with the creator, and God, by writing himself into the history of the world, became the way that will lead people, gentiles and jews, to the promise land, the new heaven and new earth, the kingdom of God that will be established that day and will last forever and ever, making us resurrected and glorified creatures just like Him!!!

Bibliography
Pentecostal study bible, 2005 edition, revised and corrected;
N I V International study bible, 2000 edition.

Bibliography: Pentecostal study bible, 2005 edition, revised and corrected; N I V International study bible, 2000 edition.