Esther and Ruth. Oftentimes in Scripture, I think we overlook the women that God uses. Both of these women, Ruth and Esther, we are going to find, as we study, how they are pictures of Christ. Ruth, not even an Israelite, she follows a bitter mother-in-law after her own husband had died to go back to the Promised Land. Her mother-in-law even changes her name. And yet we see the tender, humble, submissive spirit of Ruth and how God uses her to be in the line of Christ. And then Esther. Who would have ever thought that a woman who was a Jew in a Jew-hating world would be allowed to become the queen of an arrogant, tenacious, violent king? And yet God used her to be able to do amazing things that most would have only been able to attribute to generals to turn the heart of a king, to be able to have the enemies of the Jews vanquished, and to be able to see the Jews rise to a point of prominence in a world that was led by greed and lust, and to see the presence of God once again. These two women are amazing pictures of Christ to us. And as we unpack these two books, we're going to find the characteristics that point us to Christ and show us how daily and intricately God uses these individuals in powerful ways in the history of our world.
