Prophetic Marriage Seminar: Building Philadelphia Saints, Homes and Churches 3
(week 04/07)
Olubi Johnson
Last week we saw that to build a ‘Philadelphia’ home there must be at least one saint there who is a single Philadelphia’ saint, like Rahab, who being in covenant with God and His messengers can save their entire house hold.
In fact, as these saints ‘wash the feet’ of members of their households regularly and so walk in love towards them they will gradually win them over to the Lord even without talking and cleanse them with the washing of water by the Word.
1 Peter 3:1-2 (NIV): 3:1 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.
Ephesians 5:25-26 (NIV): 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
Now, even though these scriptures refer to husbands and wives they can be applied to people we live with in the same home.
This week we will see how Ruth, through her covenant with God and Naomi, builds a home with Boaz that ultimately births David and the Christ into the earth.
Ruth typifies the end-time Christian who will build a ‘Philadelphia’ home, that will produce or manifest the fullness of Christ. A study of Ruth is instructive and essential if we want to birth or manifest the perfection and fullness of Christ as individuals and through our homes, in this 3rd. day.
Naomi typifies our spiritual fathers that teach us by precept and example to bring us to the perfection and fullness of Christ:
1 Corinthians 11:1; Phil 4:8-9 (NIV): 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Your ‘Naomi’, through the teaching, example and practice of the revelation knowledge of God’s Word will take you from ‘Moab’, the place where the sin nature in the flesh dominates you (Galatians. 5. 17), to ‘Bethlehem’, the house of the bread of life, where you can experience the perfection and fullness of Christ.
Ruth’s covenant with God came through her relationship with Naomi:
Ruth 1:16-17 (NKJV): 16 But Ruth said: Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.”
By being faithful to her covenant with God and Naomi, Ruth was led by God to Boaz:
Ruth 2:1-3 (NKJV): 2:1 There was a relative of Naomi’s husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech; his name was Boaz. 2 So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favour.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” 3 Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
Ruth 2:19-23 (NKJV): 19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead!” And Naomi said to her, “This man is a relation of ours, one of our close relatives.” 21 Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also said to me, ‘You shall stay close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’ ” 22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, and that people do not meet you in any other field.” 23 So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz, to glean until the end of barley harvest and wheat harvest; and she dwelt with her mother-in-law.
It is instructive to note that Ruth stays in Boaz’s field until the end of the harvest:
Matthew 24:12-13 (NIV): 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
In this end-time because of abounding iniquity and lawlessness it is vital to keep your love ‘hot’ (1Pet. 4.7-8) by the law of spirit of life in Christ Jesus as a ‘Philadelphia’ saint so that you will be faithful unto the end and so fulfill the fullness of your destiny like Ruth did.
In our article next week we will see how Ruth obeys Naomi and so marries Boaz.
