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Joshua 2: 21
The Scarlet Cord
One of the most
fascinating and well-known stories in the Bible is found in Joshua
chapter two. It is the story of Rahab….a Canaanite and a
prostitute. I find the fact that
it is so well known, fascinating, because in many ways Rahab's story is
superfluous to the book of Joshua.
This strange and lovely story of Rahab doesn't appear to
contribute in any significant way to the ongoing historical story of
Joshua. Then, why is the second chapter there at all? (Explain…book of Joshua is
picture of gospel….gen.3:15….Kingdom of light pitted against
kingdom of darkness…seed of the woman vs. seed of the serpent.
Joshua chapter 2 …is that salvation comes by grace and mercy of
God…even to those who are a part of the kingdom of darkness, which
we once were.)
Do you want to know
something interesting? If you turn
to Hebrews chapter eleven, called the Hall of Faith. It lists all the great men of faith
Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph etc….do you know the two women
who are mentioned? One is Sara, the wife of Abraham. The other is Rahab.
Do you want to know
something even more interesting Rahab is mentioned in the great chapter
of faith, Joshua isn't. When the apostle James develops the insight that
faith without works is dead faith, he illustrates the point by using two
characters. He chooses Abraham and Rahab.
If you're still not
convinced of Rahab's significance, turn to Matthew chapter one and read
the Genealogy of Jesus Christ. You'll discover that Rahab is an ancestor
of Jesus Christ Himself. She was
the great grandmother to King David. So, what is the significance of her
intriguing story? Why is her story in the Bible…why do the New
Testament writers point us toward her life?
Well lets begin with
some background. Moses has
died…Joshua is now ready to lead the people of God into the
promised land. Jericho was a strategic city in God's
plan to conquer the land of Canaan. When we think of a city, we
think of a big city. Jericho covered a space of approximately
nine acres. People lived in Jericho in 8,000 BC, and it is the
oldest known city in the world. It is the earliest fortified city that
archeologists have ever discovered. In Joshua's day, the city was
surrounded by two casement walls, 15 feet thick. People lived in the
space between the two walls. Rahab was one of them.
The Canaanites in Jericho were pagans. The inhabitants were immoral,
offered child sacrifices, priestesses were temple prostitutes, Sodomites
were male temple prostitutes, etc. Baal was the principal god of the
Canaanites. The worship of these Canaanite gods consisted of extravagant
orgies in their temples.
Before Joshua enters the
land of Canaan he sends two spies with these
instructions 'Go, view the land,
especially Jericho.' So, they enter Jericho, but they need a place where
they could hide. So, they went to the house of a prostitute. Why to the house of a prostitute, we
don’t know, but perhaps because that is where all the local gossip
was taking place and therefore a strategic place for two spies to
locate. But that’s not the
only reason. God was also at work
in Rahab’s heart
I. God at work in Rahab's
heart.
God
was at work in this pagan woman's life. God's grace always takes us right
where we are in whatever condition it finds us. God does not tell us to
get our life straightened up and then He will accept us. He doesn't say
clean up your act and then I will save you. God comes into our sinful
lives and changes us from the inside out. God's grace is for those who
need it. Sinners qualify. Self-righteous people need not apply.
The
king of Jericho also had his spies around Rahab's place (vv.
2-7). The people of Jericho can see Israel off in the distance camped across the Jordan.
It was told the
king of Jericho, saying, "Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the
land." And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, "Bring
out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they
have come to search out all the land."
Do you know what Rahab did?
she said,
"Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
It came about when it was time to shut the gate at dark, that the
men went out; I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for
you will overtake them." But she had brought them up to the roof and
hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the
roof. So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan to the fords; and as soon as those who were
pursuing them had gone out, they shut the gate.
Do you know what Rahab
did? Rahab became a spy herself!
The
king of Jericho and the people did not want to serve the LORD
God….their allegiance was to the kingdom of darkness. Rahab was different. She had heard
about the God of Israel (vv. 9-11). Rahab's conclusion was God had given Israel the land of Canaan. Listen
to the reasoning of her faith in vv. 8-12. She said to the men,
"I know
that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has
fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away
before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red
Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two
kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you
utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted and no
courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your
God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath."
In
hiding the spies she turned her back on her gods, her king, her city, and
her people. In hiding the spies she committed an act of treason. This was
a dangerous thing to do for if she had been caught there was only one
punishment: death.
W.
E. Sangster said, "The very craving after God, is in itself, a
signal mark of His presence, for these desires are not generated in our
hearts by ourselves."
Rahab
concludes: "the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on
earth beneath. Now therefore, please swear to me by the Lord, since I
have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my
father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth" (vv.
11b-12).Here Rahab committs her soul to the true and living God of
Israel.
God
was at work in the heart of this pagan woman before the spies arrived! God
strangely moved her heart. Where was God at work in Canaan? Right here in Rahab's heart. He set up His
camp in the heart of a prostitute. That is what God's grace does. There
is nothing strange here. God chose Rahab!
And in the face of the
coming destruction, Rahab requests salvation for herself and her
family. In Rahab we ought to see a
picture of ourselves. We know that we, like Jericho, are deserving of God's wrath against our
disobedience.
On this Lord's Supper
Sunday, Rahab's request becomes our request, her prayer our prayer, her
cry our cry: Lord God of heaven
above and earth below, show kindness and grace to us; please save us and
our loved ones.
Rahab knew that without
that intervention, she and her family were doomed. That's why she made
her request: "show kindness to me and my family." And we are
exactly the same way. That's why we pray to the Lord: Lord God of heaven
above and earth below, show kindness and grace to us; please save us and
our loved ones.
II Rahab Saved by Grace
The two spies swore an oath to Rahab. She and her family would be kept
safe if she tied a scarlet cord in her window. (v. 17-21)
Why a scarlet cord? The scarlet
cord is a symbol for salvation.
All believers are
protected and sheltered from the wrath of God by God's scarlet cord that
symbolizes the blood of Jesus.
There is cleaning power in the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse
every sin (I John 1:7-9). Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away our
sins (John 1:29, 31), and
not only our sins but also the sins of the whole world.
Romans 10:9-10 sounds like Rahab in
Joshua. Paul wrote, "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as
Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you
will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in
righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in
salvation."
Rahab committed her soul to the LORD.
Trusting in Jesus Christ alone saves you. You confess because you already
believe. How do we know she was saved by grace through faith? Rahab exhibited
her faith in the LORD to save her and her family. It was demonstrated by
the fact she tied the rope in the window, hid the spies, and helped them
escape. It is faith in action. She acted on what she knew to be true. The
scarlet rope in the window anticipates the blood of Jesus Christ shed on
the cross to atone for the sins of the world.
In the same way, the
Lord passed over those houses in Egypt that had the blood of the lamb sprinkled on
their door post …so now when the Lord visits destruction and
judgment upon Jericho, He would pass over the home with the stripe of
scarlet, with the scarlet cord in the window. If Rahab would only trust
in the salvation of the Lord, she and her household will be saved.
What we have here, congregation,
is another instance of God's wonderful, marvelous grace. God didn't have
to save anyone in wicked Jericho – especially not the prostitute Rahab and
her family. There was nothing about Rahab that made her worthy of
salvation. Yet, God saved her anyway. How marvelous and wondrous He is.
By grace, by a scarlet cord in the window, He saved Rahab and her family.
This morning we are invited to the
Lord's Table to eat and to drink. And, we are reminded in this Supper
that there is a scarlet cord for us as well. What is this cord of
scarlet? It is not a red rope handing from a window. Nor is it the blood
of a lamb sprinkled on the door post. Our scarlet cord is the blood of
Jesus upon the cross.
Because of this stripe of scarlet God, by grace, passes over our sins and
saves us. And, like Rahab, none of us deserves to be saved. Rahab was a
wicked prostitute. And our sins, though they are different, aren't they
as great as hers? Yet, by His grace God saves us anyway.
Christina
lives in a poor small dusty village in Brazil. Her heart was empty and she felt like society
had cheated her of its joys. She longed for the excitement of the big
city of Rio. One morning her mother Maria found Christina's
bed empty.
Maria knew
immediately where her daughter had gone. She also knew immediately what
she must do find her. She quickly threw some clothes in a bag, gathered
up all her money, and ran out of the house.
On her way to
the bus stop she entered a drug-store to get one last thing. Pictures.
She sat in the photograph booth, closed the curtain, and spent all she
could on pictures of herself. With her purse full of small
black-and-white photos, she boarded the next bus to Rio de Janeiro.
Maria knew
Christina had no way to earn money. She also knew that her daughter was
too stubborn to give up. When pride meets hunger, a human will do things
that were before unthinkable. Knowing this, Maria began her search. Bars,
hotels, nightclubs, any place with the reputation for streetwalkers or
prostitutes. She went to them all. And at each place she left her
picture--taped on a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board,
fastened to a corner phone booth . . . .
It wasn't too
long before both the money and the pictures ran out, and Maria had to go
home. The weary mother wept as the bus began its long journey back to her
small village.
It was a few
weeks later that young Christina descended the hotel stairs. Her young
face was tired. Her brown eyes no longer danced with youth but spoke of
pain and fear. Her laughter was broken. Her dream had become a nightmare.
A thousand times over she had longed to trade these countless beds for
her secure pallet. Yet the little village was, in too many ways, too far
away.
As she reached
the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She looked
again, and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother.
Christina's eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the
room and removed the small photo. Written on the back was this compelling
invitation. "Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it
doesn't matter. Please come home."
She did.
The message of the Lord's Supper is
that because of the scarlet cord, because Christ spilled His blood upon
the cross, we can come home. The message of the Lord's Supper is that we,
like Rahab, we can move from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of
light by grace through faith. As we eat and as we drink, then, let us
remember and believe that God redeems us because of the scarlet
cord…even Jesus our Savior.
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