The First Sight of Him

Barclay F. Buxton was the father of Alfred Buxton, one of C. T. Studd's son-in-laws who went with him to the heart of Africa as a missionary. Barclay Buxton was cofounder, with A. Paget Wilkes, of the Japan Evangelistic Band, that remarkable group of missionaries that saw such wonderful works of God in Japan. The following is from chapter eight of Buxton's booklet The Book of Ruth: Its Message for Christians to-day:

"So she [Ruth] is gleaning, and as she gleans she has her first sight of Boaz. Mark those two words in your Bible 'Behold Boaz', verse 4. Her first sight of Him. She had been gleaning in His field as it were by chance, and as she was gleaning there 'Behold Boaz'. Did Andrew ever forget that first sight of the Lord Jesus, when John pointed Him out as the Lamb of God (John i. 36)? Did not Peter always remember his first sight of Him (John i. 42)? And Nathaniel could not have forgotten the impression it made on him (John i. 49).

"You remember that day when you had your first sight of Him. It may be when you were alone in your room over God's Word, and God's Word was lit up by the Holy Spirit to you, and you knew the Lord was there. Or it may be in some Convention when the Word of the Lord came to you. You were gleaning as it were in the Harvest field; and suddenly the Lord was there, and the Lord revealed Himself to you. It was your 'hap' to light upon the field that belonged to Him, and He revealed Himself to you, and 'Behold Boaz'.

"And she sees something of the spirit of Boaz as he greets his people. Boaz came and said unto the reapers 'The Lord be with you', and they answered him, 'The Lord bless thee'.

"She is come into the land where God is known, and she feels something of the spirit there. She has never seen or heard anything like that in Moab. She had never felt that spirit, but here she feels the wonderful spirit of love, and hears the words of grace that fall from the lips of Boaz, and the willing and glad response from those who belong to him. She feels the wonderful atmosphere, and rejoices in Boaz.

"She is partaking of his grace, but as yet she knows practically nothing of his relationship to her. She sees him in the field with his workers. But she has no realization that she has a claim upon him, and that he is ready to answer that claim. She looks upon him as their master, the lord of the harvest. She rejoices that she is in his field. But there is far more for her than that. She will find a real redemption and moreover a union of love with him, because he has a legal responsibility towards her, and she has a legal claim upon him.

"How many Christians there are who come into the Kingdom of God, and glean in His field; but after all they have not realized their claim upon Him, and His love to them, and all that they may have in redemption."