Spring 2000
The Threshing Floor of Jesus
The Book of Ruth
Mary Depoe

Ruth, at the threshing floor of Boaz, is a picture of the Bride of Christ as she prepares to meet her Lord in these last days.

Picture Ruth as she follows after the God of Naomi, her mother-in-law, rejecting the pagan Moabite god of fire, Molech. She drinks of the well of Naomi’s faith, and discovers Living Waters as her heart responds to the God she had not known.

At the cross roads of decision, each person must make his own choice, and Ruth, unaware that the Holy Spirit is wooing her through Naomi’s desire to return to her own people, chooses to go with her.

The mercy of God frees those who desire to serve Him. Faith sweeps aside troubling fears, and so we journey, not knowing where we are going, but, like Abraham, looking for that city built by God.

Because the Lord provides for our needs, by His grace, we come to a field belonging to Boaz. Even though under Mosaic law the poor had the right to glean in the harvest, the “key” is to be in the right field. By divine arrangement, Ruth chose to glean in the field belonging to Boaz, who noticed her.

As she gleans in the field of His Word, she hungers to eat; but not yet, the grain must be beaten with a flail. Ruth’s love for Naomi causes her to thresh out the impurities, and Naomi moves to secure a kinsman redeemer for Ruth by sending her to the house of Boaz (the house of cleansing).

She must wash herself, to be attractive to her Lord, with sweet fragrance of anointing oil (the Holy Spirit). She must “pay the price” to buy the best grade of oil. The perfume we wear must be of a compound favored by Boaz (the Lord), and only those called by His name can wear it.

We must never go to the threshing floor with the aroma of the world clinging to us. Rather, we must humble ourselves, open our heart and presumptuously declare our love for Him. Then we must go down to Kanah, the place of humiliation, where Boaz will be found.

Go down, for we are yet in Samah, the Judean Hills. We are yet too high - not conducive to betrothal. Go down, until our pride lies in dust. Go down, until we are willing to be thought of as naught, by those who spy us going down the path to His threshing floor, clothed in our finest.

Go down, until we become willing to be exposed to shame and reproach as was the Virgin who would bear the Messiah. Ruth, destined to become the great-grandmother of David, cast her life into the hand of Boaz. Is there no other way? Must I drink of “that Cup?”

Fear not to descend the path to Boaz in humiliation and lowliness, if you want Him who alone can bring you rest.

That night, Boaz had slain a lamb, blessed the feast, and shared both lamb and cup, that all might partake before lying down in sleep on the threshing floor.

Before Jesus could be betrothed to His Bride, He ate the last supper with His disciples, and proceeded to the cruel threshing floor of the Cross. That trampled place where flailing instruments of torture did their dreadful work.

The grain was bruised, forcing the Seed out of its protective covering. Then our Heavenly Boaz lay Himself down in the sleep of death. Only then could the Bride lay herself at His feet, to await His awakening morn.

As Ruth lay at the feet of Boaz, she presented her body as a living sacrifice. Down at the threshing floor of Kanah would Jesus, our Redeemer, freely accept the love of His Bride.

Only at His feet can we discover the hidden marks of love. Here, on our threshing floor, make an altar to the Lord.