Ruth 2:19, “Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou?”

The passage above  from the book of  Ruth is in the context of Naomi asking Ruth in which field she had worked to gather their food for the day. Today, we might also ask the same question of ourselves, “Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou” in the service of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

WHERE HAST THOU GLEANED TODAY? (Area). It is said in real estate the three most important factors are location, location, location. The location of our work for Jesus has been designated for us.  In Mark 16:15-16, New Testament Christians are instructed to, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Christians are to go into the world and spread the soul saving message of Christ. Where have we gone within our part of the world? Have we taught family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, even strangers who we can encourage to discuss the Bible?

WHERE HAST THOU GLEANED TODAY? (Accountability) This speaks of personal responsibility. It has been accurately said “Go Ye” means “Go Me”! 2 Timothy 2:2 teaches us, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” Men in this verse is a generic term meaning a human being, whether male or female. We are accountable to God to “tell the old, old, story”. We are also warned in Acts 20:26-27, “Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.”

WHERE HAST THOU GLEANED TODAY? (Action) Christians are to be active in the spread of the Gospel. The passage we are considering we see the words “gleaned” (i.e. gathered) and “wrought” (i.e. worked). This is describing diligent effort, and certainly we are to be industrious in serving God and Christ. In Matthew 13 it is described as “sowing the seed of the Kingdom”, just like the song we sing “Are You Sowing the Seed of the Kingdom, Brother?” We must remember that  Christians today are priests, 1 Peter 2:9. In the Old Testament, priests were to be teachers of the Law, Deuteronomy 33:10, “They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law”. God has graciously given us the Gospel and we are to be active in spreading it to those around us.

WHERE HAST THOU GLEANED TODAY? (Admonition) In spreading the Gospel, we see in the Bible an urgency in getting the message out now, because people need to obey the Gospel now. 2 Corinthians 6:2, says “… behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation”. Don’t wait. Either death will claim us, James 4:13-14, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” Or the Lord will return, 2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” We should be spreading the Gospel, warning people of the urgency of obeying before it is too late. Also not only warning the sinner, but exhorting the Christian to continued obedience as well, see Hebrews 3:7-19.

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad”, 2 Corinthians 5:10. Our accountability, as our service, is personal. (Romans 14:12).

We must ask ourselves, “What have I done?” and “Have I been willing to work?”

– Jerry D. Sturgill

Pilate asked Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?” (John 18:33). The way Jesus is king was alien to Pilate’s concern over kingship; it was even alien to what the Jews who brought Jesus to Pilate had in their minds regarding a king. Thus, Jesus could not simply answer “yes” or “no” to this question, but instead asked, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?” (John 18:34).

The Jews thought of a king in the sense of the Davidic dynasty. David ruled in the golden years of Israel’s history when their wealth was immense and their influence over the world stage was far-reaching. Since the deportation into Babylon, no one in the lineage of David had ruled as king over the Jews. Unlike today, there were still complete genealogical records in the days of Jesus where one’s lineage could be traced back to David (cf. Matthew 1:1-17). However, the political landscape in Judea was different when Jesus was on earth than when His physical forefathers reigned. For centuries the Jews had been subjugated under foreign powers. Rome was ruling then. The reason Jesus was brought to Pilate was that capital punishment could only take place under Roman sanction. The Jews looked for a time when Messiah, the anointed king, also called Christ would come. Isaiah 9:6-7 is one of the scriptures that pointed toward this king. While Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Messiah, He did not fit the mold Judaism had constructed for their coming king. Of course, Pilate knew nothing of the Messiah. He asked Jesus, ““Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” (John 18:35). Pilate wanted to know why Jesus had made these people so angry as to be dead set on crucifying Him.

Pilate’s idea of a Jewish king would immediately be perceived as a threat to Caesar’s authority. Pilate likely knew from history of uprisings by the Jewish people to overthrow their Gentile rulers. The Maccabean Revolt was one such time when some Jews engaged in guerrilla warfare tactics to rebel against the Seleucid empire and recapture Jerusalem. The Jews used this fear of uprising to ensure that Jesus would be crucified. Later when Pilate wanted to release Jesus, they said, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar” (John 19:12). Jesus, however, was not a rival king to Caesar in the sense of an earthly, military campaign. To Pilate He replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36).

When Pilate asked Jesus again if He was a king Jesus showed the nature of His kingship, saying, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37). God is king in the sense that He created all of us and is the rightful center of the universe. When people sin, however, they put themselves on the throne as the center of the universe. Many today act as if God should serve them, and if He doesn’t they will find a new god. Jesus is God’s Son. This truth was rejected by those who brought Him to be crucified. Nevertheless, He is king in the sense of the truth of the Gospel breaking through and reigning in the hearts of those who respond to Him in obedience. Thus, the kingdom of Jesus is not observable with the physical eye, but rather is in the hearts of those who believe and practice the truth (Luke 17:20-21). Does Jesus reign in your heart? Is He king of your life?

-Mark Day

“Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land’” (Ezekiel 8:12). In this second vision of the book, Ezekiel witnessed the leaders of God’s people worshipping idols in secret. They thought that God was somehow limited like humans. Because God had forsaken the land, they thought He would no longer be present to witness their doings (Ezekiel 9:9). But nothing could be further from the truth.

David by inspiration extolled the Lord’s omnipresent knowledge of man, when he wrote, “Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You” (Psa. 139:12). This is comforting for those who follow God. Jesus instructed, “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Mt. 6:5, 6).

However, for those who are disobedient, it is unsettling to be told God sees all. Isaiah 29:15 warns, “Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the LORD, And their works are in the dark; They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us? ”. Men love darkness when their deeds are evil for they think it will hide them from God (Jn. 3:19). But it is not God who is blind; those who sin secretly are really the ones who are unable to discern the truth (2 Cor. 4:4; 1 Jn. 2:11). The wicked man says that the Lord does not see (Psa. 10:11; 94:7).  But God is able to judge through the deep darkness (Job 22:13). Indeed, “there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13). As the old song goes, “There’s an all-seeing eye watching you.”

God took Ezekiel to see what was done in secret. The prophet initially was outside the wall of the outer court of the temple and dug through into a room which was inside the wall. God asked Ezekiel, “Have you seen what they do in the dark?” to reveal to him the behind-the-scenes sins of men. Do not be deceived by sin (Heb. 3:13). Keep yourself from “secret” sins for no sin is really hidden from the Great Judge (1 Cor. 4:5). Come to the light and live a life of integrity before God (John 3:19-21; Eph. 5:13-15).

-Mark Day

Considerable discussion has occurred in secular society in the last 50 years concerning gender – from the Feminist Movement of the 1960s to the more recent attention to transgenderism. The Bible speaks very precisely and definitively on the matter of gender. The phenomenon of gender is the result of God’s own divine determination when He created the first human beings on the sixth day of Creation week: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).

When God created gender, He clearly intended to set the stage for all of human history. He sought to convey for all time the interrelationship between men and women. In the New Testament, this interrelationship is discussed in considerable detail in 1 Timothy 2 where Paul explains gender roles as they relate to worship. However, Paul also discussed gender in one of his letters to the church at Corinth. His pronouncements on gender are clearly tied to how men and women in the church are to interact with each other. The respective roles of male and female in the church are affected and informed by gender.

Paul’s remarks demonstrate that gender, as it relates to role function in the church, is a matter of Creation – not culture (as some have alleged). He explains the origin of gender as it was instigated by God at Creation:

For man is not from woman, but woman from man…. Nevertheless, neither is man independent of the woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord.  For as the woman was from the man, even so the man also is through the woman; but all things are from God (1 Corinthians 11:8,11-12).

The bolded words represent prepositions in the original language. The term rendered “from” is the Greek preposition “ek” which means “out of.” The man was not “out of” the woman, but rather, the woman was “out of” the man. He is referring very specifically – and literally – to the origin of the first woman on Earth. Her body was constructed from a portion of the man’s body. Her physical origin was literally dependent on having been taken “out of” the man’s body. No wonder Adam declared: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23). In Hebrew, the word for man is “ish.” Adam employed a play on words by building on the word for man to indicate a woman: “ish-ah.”

Three verses later, Paul further clarifies gender by stating that though the woman was “from/out of” man, nevertheless, the man is also “through” the woman. Here the Greek preposition is dia meaning “by/through.” Once again, Paul is speaking very literally. All men throughout human history (except for Adam) have come into this world through a woman. Women are the designated child bearers. Men have no reason to consider themselves – or their role – to be superior to women. God intends for the male to fulfill very precise responsibilities in and out of the church, and He likewise has created the female to do the same. Their respective roles are, indeed, rooted in the creation of gender by God at the very beginning of time.¹

-by Dave Miller as submitted by Jerry D. Sturgill

¹ For a discussion of gender roles in the church, see Dave Miller (2014), “Male and Female Roles: Gender in the Bible,” Apologetics Press, http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=7&article=5007&topic=389