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Ruth's Resolution (Ruth 1:16) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. What happens to your oldest
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friendships when the people you used to sin with suddenly stop?
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Oh, that is a heavy question to start with.
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Right. But I mean, think about your own
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friend group right now. You know, just for a second.
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Yeah, you have your crew, the people who know well all your
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secrets, the ones who share your exact habits, your routines,
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your weekend plans. The people you are comfortable
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with. Yes, precisely.
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Then one day one of them completely changes directions.
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They just drop the old habits. They start talking about God,
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Yeah. And the entire dynamic you
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relied on is just shattered. You are left sitting there
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looking at someone you have known for years, realizing you
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no longer have anything in common.
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It is a massive shock to the system.
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It really is so. We have received this incredibly
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compelling stack of notes and historical sources from you, the
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listener, and our mission for this deep dive is to examine a
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specific, super intense historical doctrine document you
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sent our way. A very intense document.
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Oh, totally. We are looking at a sermon
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preached in April of 1735 by the New England theologian Jonathan
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Edwards. Yes, the title is Ruth's
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Resolution. Right, and it is built entirely
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around a single verse, which is Ruth 1.1 C.
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Just that one verse which is. Wild.
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So our goal today is to dissect Edwards central thesis.
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Which is a heavy thesis, yeah. It is the idea that when our
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friends and associates abandoned their old ways to turn to God,
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we must, firmly resolved, follow them.
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We have to unpack the intense social, psychological and, well,
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eternal consequences of spiritual conversion.
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Because he's presenting these ideas to his congregation right
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as a huge historical revival was kicking off in his town.
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Yeah. So to set the stage properly for
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you, we need to look at the historical context of
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Northampton, MA and the spring of 1735, which is crucial,
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right? And also we have to look at how
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Edwards reads the Bible. You cannot read this text
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without understanding his method.
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OK, lay that out for us. So he points out two specific
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reasons why the story of Ruth, you know, this ancient Moabite
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woman, is included in the biblical Canon.
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What is the first one? The first reason is
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genealogical. Ruth is the remote ancestor of
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Jesus Christ. OK, that makes sense.
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But the second reason is typological.
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Edwards views Ruth as a type. A type like a historical
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foreshadowing, yes. Precisely.
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Yeah. A historical foreshadowing of
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the Gentile Church and of every individual believer's
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conversion. I want to breakdown that idea of
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typology for anyone listening who might not be familiar with
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how an 18th century preacher approached the text.
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That's a good idea. Because typology is a
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theological concept where real historical events or persons in
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the Old Testament are, you know, designed by God to correspond to
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greater spiritual realities in the New Testament.
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Right, they foreshadow them. Yeah, and Edwards is convinced
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the Holy Spirit intentionally highlights minute, seemingly
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random occurrences because they remotely relate to Jesus.
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He really zeroes in on the details.
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He does because Edwards is looking at a grieving Moabite
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widow. She is standing at a literal
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crossroads in the dirt with her mother-in-law and Naomi.
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A terrible situation. It is awful.
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Her husband is dead, her brother-in-law is dead, her
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father-in-law is dead. She has nothing and.
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She has to make a choice. Right.
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And Ruth's decision to forsake her natural relations, her
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native land and her idols maps perfectly onto the Christian
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forsaking the world for God. He draws a Direct Line there.
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Yeah, Edwards takes this physical, geographical departure
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from the land of Moab and shows how it mirrors the spiritual
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departure A believer makes from the Kingdom of darkness.
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He even references Matthew 1250. Oh, right, where Christ says
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that whoever does the will of his father is his brother and
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sister and mother. Yes.
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By leaving her earthly family, Ruth gains a spot in the lineage
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of the Savior. Which points directly to how
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Christ becomes the new family for the converted believer.
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Now, from a secular historians perspective, a grieving widow
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from a Pagan nation deciding not to return to her parents house
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is well, it's statistically insignificant.
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Oh, completely. It would not even make a
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footnote. Right.
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It is a microscopic event in the grand scheme of ancient Near
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Eastern politics. It warrants 0 attention in a
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standard history book. But Edwards frames it
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differently. He frames it as a massive cosmic
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event. The entire history of redemption
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hinges on this invisible pivot point.
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Which is a crazy scale to think about.
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And if you understand the history of the Moabites, the
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tension becomes even thicker. Because they were enemies.
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Right, Yeah. Moab was a nation born out of
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incest between Lot and his daughter, as recorded in
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Genesis. They were historically hostile
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to Israel. God actually commanded the
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Israelites not to seek their peace or prosperity, right?
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Yes, a Moabite was forbidden from entering the assembly of
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the Lord down to the 10th generation.
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So for a woman from this specific cursed background to
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turn her back on her entire heritage and cling to the God of
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Israel is, I mean it is a staggering display of grace.
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Think of looking at a massive family tree and realizing the
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entire future of a royal bloodline hung on a single
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obscure conversation at a dusty crossroads.
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That is a great way to put it. Because if Ruth turns around and
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goes back to Moab with her sister-in-law, there is no King
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David. No, King Solomon.
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Right, The human lineage of the savior is completely altered.
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A secular observer just sees three crying women saying
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goodbye in the desert. But Edward sees the machinery of
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the universe turning. Exactly.
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I mean spot on. The macro level view of
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redemptive history is directly tied to the micro level
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interpersonal dynamic happening right there between Naomi, Orpa
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and Ruth. Naomi is heading back to Israel
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because the famine is over. And her two daughters in law
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have a choice to make. Do they stay in the comfort of
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their known culture, or do they risk everything for a God they
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barely know? And this interpersonal dynamic
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brings us to a psychological observation Edwards makes about
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the two younger women. OK, what is the observation He?
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Categorizes Naomi's two daughters in law, ORPA and Ruth,
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as two distinct categories of religious professors.
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And by professor, we mean someone who professes faith.
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Right, someone who verbally claims to be a follower of God.
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He is using them as archetypes for the people sitting in his
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own pews in Northampton. Making it local for them.
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Yes, ORPA represents the first category.
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She sets out well. She makes a fair profession
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initially. She actually starts walking with
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Naomi. She walks part of the way with
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Naomi, yeah, but when she is faced with the actual difficulty
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of the path, you know, when the emotional high wears off.
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And the reality of being a foreigner in Israel sets in.
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Yeah, she turns back. Ruth, on the other hand,
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represents the second category. He stays.
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She is sincere, steadfast, and inflexible in a resolution.
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What Edwards is doing here is analyzing the stark difference
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between outward emotional affection and genuine spiritual
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resolution. Because they both look the same
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at first. Right.
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Both women wept. Both women initially claimed
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they would go to Israel. If you are watching the scene
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unfold, you cannot tell the difference between them at first
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they. Look identical to an observer,
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yeah. And Edwards notes that natural
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men and women can seem to choose salvation.
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They can shed tears during a sad song at church.
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They can say all the right words.
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They can even change their behavior for a few weeks, but
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without a converted heart, they possess no genuine relish for
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God. That phrase, relish for God, is
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key for Edwards. I love that phrase.
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It means having an actual taste for the divine, a spiritual
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appetite. Yes, an appetite.
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And without that internal appetite, when the cost becomes
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clear, when the social friction begins, they will inevitably
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retreat. Which brings up the danger of
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temporary religious enthusiasm, which is a a massive theme for
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Edwards. Especially considering the time
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he is preaching this in 1735, Northampton was experiencing an
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unusual number of conversions. The start of the Great
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Awakening. Right.
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People were slocking to the church.
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Emotions were running high. Edwards knows human nature well
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enough to understand that people can easily be swept up in the
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momentum of a movement. They can be drawn to a
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charismatic figure. But if they lack the internal
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constitution to endure hardship, the enthusiasm fades.
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The dialogue in the biblical text illustrates this perfectly.
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Yeah, because Naomi actively discourages the two women.
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She repeatedly tells them to turn back to their gods and to
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their people. Wait, let's look at Naomi's
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behavior here critically. Isn't she actively trying to
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talk them out of salvation? It seems like it.
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She literally tells them to go back to their false gods.
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It feels like severe reverse psychology.
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She is testing them. Yeah, she is testing whether
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their faith is genuine or just a passing phase born out of grief.
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By making the prospect of going to Israel as unappealing and
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difficult as possible, she forces them to count the cost.
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She refuses to sell them a false bill of goods.
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If their attachment is just to her as a mother-in-law, that
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will not sustain them in a foreign.
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Land. They need something much
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stronger. Naomi is acting as a sieve.
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And Orpa falls through the sieve.
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Yes, the harsh reality of what she is signing up for is too
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much, so she kisses her mother-in-law and goes back to
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Moab. And Ruth is left alone with
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Naomi. Her resolution to stay despite
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the harsh warnings and the act of discouragement leads directly
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to the intense relational ruptures Edwards wants to
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address with his congregation. Which is the core of this whole
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thing. When companions turn to God, it
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creates a final parting from those who remain opposed to Him.
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Edwards says they may still physically dwell together under
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the same roof, but they now exist in entirely different
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spiritual kingdoms. This moves into the sheer
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relational cost of grace. I mean, if you think about an
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old friend who gets super into a strict diet or an intense
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fitness regimen, you probably know how awkward it gets.
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Oh, it changes everything. Suddenly you cannot go to the
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bar with them on Friday nights anymore.
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You cannot order the same. Food, the shared habits that
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formed the glue of your friendship, are gone.
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Exactly. Now take that mild social
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awkwardness and multiply it by Infinity.
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It's a totally different scale. Yeah, Edwards describes former
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friends who were together in darkness, bondage and misery.
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They were united in their fallen state.
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But suddenly one is enlightened. Their dispositions become
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totally contrary. One becomes a citizen of Zion,
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the heavenly city. The other remains condemned.
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Edwards calls it lamentable, awful and doleful to be part of
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this way. It is the agonizing reality of
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sitting across the dinner table from a spouse, a sibling, or a
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lifelong friend who is suddenly operating under a completely
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different master. All that shared history of
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worldliness and sinful vanity is severed.
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Yes, Edwards uses a very specific phrasing to capture
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this dynamic. He talks about two men who used
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to be of one mind in rebellion against God.
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They shared the same goals, the same complaints, the same
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worldview. Now they are separated, as if
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dwelling in different kingdoms. 1 is living in the land of
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Israel, the House of God? And the other, like Orpa, is
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living and dying in the land of Moab.
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They might be standing right next to each other in the town
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square. They might work the same plot of
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land, but spiritually a chasm has opened up between them.
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They are animated by entirely different principles.
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The converted friend now loves the holiness they both used to
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mock. The unconverted friend still
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loves the sin the converted friend now hates.
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It is like 2 soldiers fighting side by side in the same trench
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for years. OK, yeah.
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They have shared rations, they have faced enemy fire together,
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they know everything about each other.
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Then suddenly, one puts on the opposing army's uniform, climbs
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out of the trench and starts marching in the opposite
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direction. Wow, yes.
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You're still looking at the same person, but the fundamental
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allegiance has totally flipped. You cannot fight side by side
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anymore. You are now technically enemies
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in the broader conflict. And because the separation is so
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intensely painful, Edwards argues that the person left
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behind should desperately resolve to follow the converted
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friend. He gives the logical reasons for
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this. The first reason to follow them
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is the sheer superiority of what the converted friend has found.
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Edwards does not hold back on describing the superiority
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either. No, he asserts that the
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believers God is glorious, holy and merciful.
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Their society is excellent and happy.
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True happiness is found nowhere else.
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He draws a massive contrast between the infinite fountain of
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God's grace and the cruel spirits or idols that seek the
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ruin of souls. Notice the specific theological
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attributes he highlights too. He describes God as a strong
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rock, the Lord mighty in battle. He speaks of an excellent Savior
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who made his soul an offering for sin.
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He is painting a picture of absolute safety, supreme value
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and divine provision. He wants the listener to realize
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that what the converted friend has gained infinitely outweighs
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whatever earthly pleasures they left behind.
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He also expands on what other gods look like.
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He is not just talking about the literal wooden statues they
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worshipped in Moab. Right, Edwards mentions making
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gods of pleasures of Mammon or of supposed excellencies.
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Pursuing these alternative gods leaves the soul poor, wretched,
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and undone. Meanwhile, the believer is
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carried, as he says, on eagle's wings.
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I look at that phrase supposed excellencies and see how easily
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it maps onto our lives right now.
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Oh, for sure. Edwards is talking about the
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things we take pride in, the outward advantages we think make
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us superior to our neighbors status.
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Yeah, today we might not use the word mammon, but we certainly
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worship the hustle, The carefully curated social media
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aesthetic, the impressive resume, the obsession with self
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optimization. Those moderate obsessions
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function identically to the ancient idols.
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They really do. If you worship your career, your
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fitness routine, or your social status, those things become
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cruel masters. They demand constant sacrifice.
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Constant attention, constant anxiety.
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They offer no grace when you fail, and they provide no
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eternal security. They offer zero comfort on a
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deathbed, right? So Edwards is saying that seeing
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a friend abandoned those exhausting modern idols to find
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actual rest in a merciful God should act as a massive wake up
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call. It should provoke a crisis in
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the observer. He references Zechariah 8.23
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from the biblical text to illustrate this dynamic.
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Oh, where it describes 10 men taking hold of the skirt of a
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Jew because they have heard God is with you.
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Yes, they are drawn by the undeniable presence of the
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divine. And Edwards contrasts the safety
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of God's presence with the Kingdom of darkness, which he
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characterizes as blindfolded slaves being hurried along to
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eternal perdition. The contrast is meant to be
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jarring. If the believers God is
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infinitely superior then seeing a friend find this God shouldn't
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just make a person jealous or annoyed.
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It should act as a direct, undeniable summons.
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Edwards analyzes the logic of peer influence here, which I
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think is brilliant. It is a very astute
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psychological point. He says we gladly follow our
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associates into evil, into vanity, into unprofitable
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conversation. If a friend starts a bad habit,
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we usually pick it up. If they start complaining about
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someone, we join in. We copy our friends bad
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behaviors effortlessly. So, Edwards argues, if we gladly
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shared in their sin, it is highly irrational not to follow
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them when they make the wisest choice possible.
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He is tapping into the psychological mechanism of medic
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desire. Yes, human beings are
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fundamentally wired to mimic the desires of those around them.
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We want what our peers want. We value what our peers value.
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Edwards is taking this innate concept of peer pressure,
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flipping it on its head and utilizing it for the Kingdom of
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Heaven. God uses the visible, undeniable
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alteration in our associates as a megaphone.
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The change in their life becomes a tangible, localized proof of
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the gospels reality. Edwards points out that if a
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friend grows rich or gains some great earthly advantage, it
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awakens fierce ambition in their peers.
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Everyone wants to know their secret.
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They want to know what stocks they bought or what diet they're
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on. It is exactly like watching your
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next door neighbor strike oil in their backyard.
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You would not just sit there. No, you wouldn't just sit on
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your porch sipping lemonade, watching them get rich.
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You would immediately, immediately grab a shovel and
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start digging in your own yard. You would want in on that
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discovery. The ambition to share in their
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success would consume you. So, Edwards asks, how much more
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should eternal happiness stir up that exact same ambition?
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If your friend has found a way to secure peace with the Creator
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of the universe, why are you not frantically trying to secure the
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same thing? The logic is airtight, but
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Edwards is quick to point out that digging for this spiritual
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oil requires immense, almost agonizing effort.
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The resolution to fellow God must be fixed and strong because
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the difficulty is massive. It is not a casual addition to
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your current lifestyle. No, it requires mortifying
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lusts, crossing evil appetites, and giving dearest sins a bill
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of divorce. He calls it heart rending work
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and compares it to plucking out right eyes.
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A partial or temporary denial of sin is easy.
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Anyone can go on a moral diet for a few weeks to impress
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someone or to feel better about themselves.
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But utterly sending sin away requires a violent bend of mind.
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The soul must come to a thorough disposition to quit absolutely
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everything for God. The phrase bill of divorce
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carries so much weight. It is legal language.
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Right. It means severing the tie
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permanently and publicly. You cannot just casually
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distance yourself from your former lifestyle.
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You have to legally and completely separate from it.
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You cannot leave the door cracked open for a weekend
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visit, which brings up a massive theological tension in Edward's
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thought. Yes, this is a big one.
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He asserts that a natural man, someone who has not been born
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again, is wholly ignorant of spiritual value.
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A person in their natural state is a verse to God.
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They hate the light because their deeds are evil.
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Yet Edwards demands A thorough, universal use of means and a
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full determination of the whole soul to choose God.
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The mechanism of how this works is a core element of reformed
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theology. How can a spiritually dead
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person make a violent whole soul choice for God?
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The answer lies in the function of the command itself.
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God issues impossible commands so that through the desperate
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attempt to obey, He might grant the grace to fulfill them.
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The Sinner is commanded to strive to use the ordinances of
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the church like reading scripture, praying, and
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attending worship. Knowing full well they cannot
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regenerate their own hearts. The intense effort reveals their
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complete inability. It breaks their pride it.
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Drives them to despair of their own strength and forces them to
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rely entirely on the mercy of Christ.
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The striving does not earn salvation, but it is the typical
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environment where God chooses to grant it right.
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So telling a dead person to violently choose to breathe
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sounds absurd, unless the person issuing the command is the one
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supplying the breath. That is a great analogy.
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The command itself is the tool God uses to wake the dead person
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up. To illustrate this violent
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effort, Edward cites Matthew 11.12.
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The Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take
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it by force. He also brings up Abraham going
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to a strange unseen country, not knowing his destination to
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parallel Roof's massive leap of faith.
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Abraham had to physically leave everything behind based on a
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promise. Ruth had to physically leave
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Moab based on her attachment to Naomi's God.
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So Edwards is telling his listeners that their spiritual
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departure must be just as total and just as violently resolute.
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And this intense theological setup finds its climax in the
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highly specific, urgent pastoral application Edwards delivers to
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the people sitting right in front of him.
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He shifts gears. He shifts from talking about
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ancient historical figures and theological abstractions to
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direct piercing address. He cites the extraordinary time
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of mercy occurring in his town in April 1735.
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He speaks directly to distinct demographics in his
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congregation. Old sinners, old seekers, youth,
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and great sinners. He urges them not to be left
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behind while their peers convert.
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He notes that God has roused old, dull seekers into thorough
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endeavors. These are people who have been
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sitting in the pews for decades, half heartedly trying to be
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moral, going through the motions.
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And suddenly waking up to the reality of their danger.
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He also points out that young children are repenting, which
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must have been a shocking sight for the older congregants.
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Oh, absolutely. And he addresses the great
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sinners, those known publicly for their wicked practices.
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The town drunks. The Brawlers.
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He warns that the unconverted stand and absolute necessity of
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a Savior because their own righteousness, their own
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pathetic attempts at morality, is completely useless before a
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holy judge. If you are sitting in that room,
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you can feel the terror of the eternal separation Edwards is
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predicting. He makes it visceral.
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It is not just an earthly parting where someone moves to a
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different town and you slowly lose touch.
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No, it is a cosmic permanent divide.
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He paints a scene of the final judgement that is designed to
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shake them out of their complacency.
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He describes A terrifying picture where former drinking
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buddies or close family members are parted forever.
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One is standing with devils, sharing in their deformity, in
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their doom. The other is sitting on a throne
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as an assessor, with Christ openly judging the condemned
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friend. The Psychological the weight of
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that image is crushing. Imagine looking up from the
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crowd of the condemned and seeing your former best friends
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sitting on the judge's bench. Agreeing with the righteousness
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of your sentence. The shame and confusion he
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describes there are overwhelming.
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He references the great Gulf fixed from Luke 16, where the
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rich man in agony cannot crossover to Lazarus, who is in
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comfort. He also uses the imagery of the
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sheep and goats from Matthew 25 being separated to the right and
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the left by the king. And to counter that terror, he
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brings in a poignant Old Testament scene.
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Moses inviting his brother-in-law Hobab to leave
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the land of Midian to partake in the good God promised Israel.
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It is an earnest, desperate plea from a friend to a friend.
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Come with us and we will do you good.
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It is Edwards pleading with his people to grab hold of their
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converted friends and refuse to let go.
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But. He concludes with a haunting,
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terrifying image from Ezekiel 47.
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The miry places. He talks about the miry places
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that the healing waters never fix.
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While the river of life flows out from the temple, bringing
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multitudes of fish and healing wherever it goes.
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There are these stagnant, muddy swamps on the edge of the river
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that are given over to salt. They are left desolate forever.
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He is warning his listeners that even in the middle of a massive
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revival where the waters of grace are slowing everywhere.
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Where people are being saved left and right.
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It is entirely possible to remain a miry place.
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It is possible to sit right next to the flowing water to see your
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friends healed by it, and yet remain stagnant, given over to
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salt. Left behind in your stubborn
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refusal to submit to God. The urgency is palpable.
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He refuses to let his listeners remain comfortable in their
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indecision. The window of opportunity, he
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suggests, is rapidly closing. It is like a rescue helicopter
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dropping a ladder into a rapidly rising flood.
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Good analogy. Edwards is screaming at his
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congregation to grab the rungs because he can clearly see the
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water rising. He's watching some people just
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passively float away to their deaths, clinging to their
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furniture. While their friends are pulled
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to safety, he is trying to shock them into action before the
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water crusts. So bringing all these threads
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together, we see how redemptive history pivots on small human
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decisions. Like a young widow at a
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crossroads. We see the agonizing,
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unavoidable relational rupture that genuine conversion creates
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between old friends. We see the demand for a violent,
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whole souled rejection of former sins.
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Spurred on by the terrifying prospect of being left behind
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while your closest friends enter eternal glory.
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The text forces a decision. You cannot remain neutral when
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you see someone you know fundamentally altered by grace.
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Their conversion is a direct summons to your own soul.
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It is God using the fabric of your social network to issue a
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command to repent. The choice is either to sever
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the tie with your sin and follow them into the Kingdom of Light.
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Or to maintain your allegiance to the Kingdom of Darkness and
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watch them depart forever. It leaves a lot to process.
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It really does. If you have been listening and
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wondering where you stand in this ancient dynamic, I want to
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leave you with a thought to Mull over.
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Building on the tension Edwards created, what if the strongest,
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most undeniable proof of the gospel to the outside world
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isn't a brilliant philosophical argument?
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What if it isn't an airtight apologetic debate?
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Yeah, what if it is the sheer, inexplicable relational rupture
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that happens when someone utterly abandons their old life?
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When they walk away from the things they used to love without
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a second thought. It leaves the friends left
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behind with a haunting, unavoidable question.
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If this person found something real enough to leave me behind,
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am I the one who has been stranded in an unhealed, miry
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place? Keep thinking on that.