The Mystery of the Ribband of Blue Pt.2
RUTH 2:11-12
11 And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: (Ruth’s first husband is a type of our first nature that was married to unbelief of the word – but her second husband (Boaz) represented Christ the word – Abigale also had two husbands (Nabal and David), it’s the same thing) and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. (Sometimes you have to leave things that are dear to you in order to follow the Lord)
12 The LORD recompense thy work (her faith was expressed by her works), and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.
This event is taking place at harvest time, of where this gentile woman Ruth “happened” (by the providence of God) upon the field of Boaz.
And Boaz was a near kinsman to Ruth of which he had the means to be able to redeem everything of what the entire family of Elimelech’s had lost.
And we know that Elimelech’s lost inheritance in the book of Ruth represents Adam’s lost inherence of the entire world of which Christ at this end time age and at this harvest time is about to restore back – and so this story is a very accurate prophecy and account of this end time dispensation that we are now living in.
RUTH 3:8-9
8 And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. (this is now later on in the story)
9 And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid (notice how that she doesn’t just stop at just answering Boaz’s question, but she speaks on further to make known her reason for being with him there in the darkness of that midnight hour): spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman. (This word “skirt” in the Hebrew is the word - kanaph {kaw-nawf'} of which is also interpreted as the word “wings” or, the outer edges of the garment - and this terminology is traditionally understood to be in connection as a request for marriage and protection)
MATTHEW 9:20-22
20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years (12 is 2X6, and 6 is the number of man’s suffering, because man has been suffering on the earth for 6 thousand years), came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. (Touching the hem of his garments is to touch these wings – the outer edges of the skirt of where these 4 ribbands of blue were tied)
22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
The Mystery of the Ribband of Blue Pt.2
The English writer and poet Christina Rossetti once wrote – “Were there no God, we would be in this glorious world with grateful hearts, and no one to thank.”
*Life is the greatest thing that there is, and we are all grateful for life, and we are all in our own ways constantly striving to improve our quality of life, because there is something in us that knows deep down that there is a much higher level of life to be had then what we have right now of having to live in a fallen world of sin and sickness and sorrow.
And so this woman with this blood issue was a woman that was also thirsting for life, for a better quality of life than that of what she had been living for the past 12 years – a life of which she could be freed from the slavery of her condition. And all the doctors of the known world at that time had not been able to cure her and to improve her quality of life – just like all the politicians of the world, no matter how many new ones we vote in, the condition of the world only gets worse.
*And so when we study about this story of this woman with the blood issue, we find that it is told of in three of the 4 gospels - Mathew Ch: 9, Mark Ch: 5, and Luke Ch: 8 – but it is omitted in St John.
And so we can know for sure, that out of all the miracles and healings of what could have been written of in the bible, that because of the account of this woman was repeated in these three gospels, that this is no doubt a story that is of special importance to the Holy Spirit of who inspired these three gospels to record this same event followed by the resurrection of Jairus’s daughter, because straight after this woman is healed of her blood issue comes the resurrection of a sleeping saint.
**The fact was that this woman had been bleeding constantly for 12 years, and that meant that for this entire time that she had been ritually unclean, and so because of this, she was forbidden by the law of Moses to be among the people, because all that touched her while she was in this state of uncleanliness would have become unclean themselves until the evening of that same day.
*And so we know that at this time of when this event of her healing takes place, that she should have been keeping herself separated from people, but we find that she is actually moving among the crowds, and so she is in effect illegally mixing among the people of which the law of Moses forbad her to do.
LEVITICUS 15:25
25 And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean.
**And so notice here - that not only should she not even be there, but she is now seeking to touch Jesus’ garment, of which according to the law would have made him unclean also, but when she finally did get to touch His garment, instead of Jesus becoming unclean, she became clean – and so there is something going on here about this story that is deeper than what it appears to be on the surface.
MARK 5:25-30
25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
26 And had suffered many things of many physicians (Physicians tried to improve her life by curing her of her sickness, just like politicians keep trying to improve our lives, but they have also failed), and had spent all that she had (Her economic condition had worsened to the point that she had gone broke – just like this world has come to the same condition of economic hardship in this hour because of corrupt politics), and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
*The scripture is being specific here about how that she had only touched his clothes, and that she had not actually touched his body physically, but when we read the same account in Luke 8, Jesus asked the question – “Who touched me?” And so we know for sure that the bible is not confused here.
LUKE 8:43-45
43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
44 Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
45 And Jesus said, Who touched me?
**The bible makes it clear that she only touched the border of his garment, but Jesus said “who touched me?” **And so there was something about this border of his garment that was also connected to him – in other words, when she touched the area of his garment that was connected to this ribband of blue, she also touched him.
**May we suggest that there is a mystery here of how to touch Christ in this hour also, because none of us get to touch the physical body Jesus in this hour, but we have received a message that has come to us in this day that is a revelation that is directly connected to Christ – in other words, when you make contact with the revelation of this hour (the ribband of blue), then you make contact with the person.
***When Ruth asked for Boaz to spread his skirt over her, she didn’t ask to touch him in a physical way, or even for him to touch her, all she had to do was to made contact with the skirt of his garment, because by doing that, then there was an agreement of a marriage covenant that took place – and the redemption of all that had been lost of what Elimelech and his family had lost could now be restored because of Ruth’s contact with this ribband of blue.
*All the suffering of what Adam lost in Eden and of what the family of Adam (the human race) has suffered for 6000 years because of a blood sin that took place in Eden, was to end at that instance of when a gentile woman at harvest time made contact with Boaz’s skirt and these ribbands of blue.
The old hymn written by William Cushing that goes…
“Under His wings, my soul shall abide, safely abide, forever”
Under His wings I am safely abiding;
Though the night deepens and tempests are wild,
Still I can trust Him; I know He will keep me;
he has redeemed me, and I am His child.
Under His wings, under His wings,
Who from His love can sever?
Under His wings, my soul shall abide,
Safely abide forever.
LUKE 6:19
19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.
*Notice, In the Old Testament - All that looked upon the brass serpent in the wilderness were healed of the serpent’s bite.
*In the New Testament - all that touched Jesus were healed.
*And all that touch Him in this hour will be healed also.
NUMBERS 15:37-42
37 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
38 Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue:
39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them (Notice – when you look upon this ribband of blue, it will cause you to remember – and so this ribband of blue was to be associated by the way that it had an effect on a person’s thoughts); and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: (whoring is a sensual sin – illicit relations. It is no coincidence that we find ourselves living in such an evil age of where it is so easy for our eyes to wonder. And so God was giving the children of Israel a ribband to blue to look at so that it would cause them to remember that they were a people that were called to obey the word of the Lord as they were sojourning through the land of the heathen, and so this was to be like a protection of like frontlets for their wondering eyes – and this is also why the devil in this hour wants to keep giving the people something to look at in order to keep reminding them of the temptation of sin – it’s God verses Satan)
40 That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.
41 I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God.
*We introduced this subject last week by speaking about how that the hem of the garment was where they were instructed to wear these blue tassels of twisted wool (called the tzitzit) of which they would attach these string like tassels of blue to the four corners of their prayer shawl or undergarment.
*Last week we showed a little of how that the dye that made this special blue came from a specific sea snail called the Chilazon, and that there was a special process of how they exposed this dye to light in order to change it’s colour from purple to blue. The dye itself is actually yellow, but out of that yellow come this amazing blue colour.
**And we also found out that the hem of the garment was also referred to as the wings of the garment – the bible talks about this in Malichi 4 about there being “healing in his wings” of healing power being associated with the hem of his garment (of where these ribbands of blue were attached) – and this skirt or wings of his garment is also associated with marriage and redemption as we saw in the story of Ruth.
***And so there is a lot of symbolism and revelation in the shadows and types of these scriptures of what this widow woman’s faith would have been stirred up by all this symbolic power that was represented by the hem of his garment, in that she believed that if she could only but touch these “wings” of His garment, because she knew that there was healing in His wings according to Malachi 4, because she knew that He was the son of righteousness that had arisen for that hour, and the healing was in HIS wings. And the healing in this hour is also in HIS wings.
MALACHI 4:2
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; (in these ribbands of blue)
**And so this woman with the blood issue knew for sure that if she could only touch the hem of His garment, that it would bring healing to her blood issue condition of which we now know was linked to the curse that came upon all women because of the original sin that took place in Eden.
To be continued - the Lord willing...