And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:13-14).

Since the beginning of creation, the Holy Spirit has been always a backstage being whose work was not recognized or praised at all.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light (Gen 1:2-3).

The Holy Spirit himself was the power to produce light, but he was not the light itself. He was the living water that watered the Garden of Eden, and caused everything that had life to grow and produce fruit, and was the breath of life that made Adam a living being, but he himself was not the life. Adam, when he sinned, was driven out of the garden, and went to live in the wilderness far from the source of the living water—spiritual death and separation from the Holy Spirit.

The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them (Isa 41:17).

Yet, the people of Israel came to learn that their God was the source of water when they saw a rock split and water gushing out of it. God created them, and his spirit was again living and working among them, which was the proof that they were heirs of God. This truth about the role of the Holy Spirit is the theme in the book of Ruth. Elimelech with his wife and two sons went to live in the land of Moab because of a famine, which signified the spiritual condition of Israel during the period of Judges: they began to worship idols following the way of the Canaanites whom they had not driven out. The death of Elimelech and that of his two sons were a prophecy that the people and their kingdom, which would be divided into two, would come to an end. Naomi was left behind alone with the converted gentile widow of one of her two sons. What became at stake was the land of Elimelech—the inheritance which was now lost into the hand of a stranger. In their time, a land which was abandoned for as long as ten years could not be returned to the original owner: what made worse in the case of Naomi's family was that no heirs had survived. The last thread of hope was the existence of Naomi. Boaz, who had been mysteriously guided by Naomi, said to the kinsman-redeemer, Mr. so and so:

Concerning the land of our brother, of Elimelech, Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is the price for it, and here I say, speaking to your ears, "Buy in front of the seated ones and the elders of my people." If you redeem, redeem, but if you wish not to, tell me so, so that I will know: because you are the only one who can redeem, and I am after you (Ruth 4:3-4, Translation mine).

Note that unlike the case of Abraham who purchased a piece of land with 400 shekels of silver from the Hittites, no money was involved in this transaction (Acts 8:18). The price was Naomi herself: whoever adopted her as his mother would get the land. This is exactly the role of the Holy Spirit as "a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance." Thus, John, representing the church, received and took the mother of Jesus into his home as his own mother.

When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home (John 19:26-27).