15. Rahab’s Faith

Posted on Posted in Sermon Notes, Prayer Meeting Tagged with , , , ,

Hymns: RHC 178 At the Cross, 333 Yesterday, Today, Forever, 334 Sweet Peace, the Gift of God’s Love

Hebrews 11:31 (KJV)

 31  By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

Rahab’s Faith

OUTLINE

(1) Fearfully Confessed the True God

(2) Courageously Followed the True God

 

INTRODUCTION

Paul commented Rahab similarly in Hebrews 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

Rahab can hardly be called a role model of faith for who she is, a harlot, a prostitute. A woman of particular low morals, she sold her body for filthy lucre, she sold herself without regard to reputation, without regard to personal dignity. She was an immoral woman. This woman lived in the gutter or the back streets of society. She was undeniably a guilty sinner, rebellious, unclean and wicked.

But she is one of the two women personally named in Hebrews 11 Hall of Faith? Sarah, the wife of Abraham is the other woman.

Sarah was a godly woman, the wife of the founder of the Hebrew race and God used her to bring forth Issac at her old age. But Rahab was ungodly Gentile who worshipped heathen gods and sold her body for money. If you look at them socially speaking, they have nothing common. But from God’s viewpoint, Sarah and Rahab shared the most important thing in life. They both exercised saving faith in the living and true God. Rahab was called “the woman God took from the dunghill”.

Not only does the Bible associate Rahab with Sarah, but in the epistle of James chapter 2:21-26 associated her with Abraham. James used both Abraham and Rahab to illustrate the fact that true saving faith always proves herself by good works.[1]

James 2:25-26 (KJV) 25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

But there is more to be said of Rahab. As we search the Scriptures further, we will discover that the Bible associated Rahab with the Messiah. When you read the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 1, you will find Rahab’s name listed there in verse 5. “Rachab” the Greek translation. She was the mother of Boaz, husband of Ruth, the great, great, grandmother of David, she was in the line of Christ. God found her in Jericho, a guilty sinner, condemned to be destroyed with the rest of the Cannanite, but God opened her spiritual eyes, convicted her of her sins, converted her and God exalted her. She feared God and believed God. God gave to her an inheritance among the sanctified, the wild olive grafted into the main branch to partake of her richness and fatness.

James 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

 God did not despise her past, but God chose to save this one woman out of the entire city of Jericho before the axe of His judgment would fall upon it. She was special in God’s sight. Why was Rahab special?

Two thoughts:

(1) Fearfully Confessed the True God

(2) Courageously Followed the True God

(1) Fearfully Confessed the True God

31  By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not …

 The fear of God overwhelmed her heart when she heard of the motions of omnipotence drawing near by the stories of conquest of the Israelites’ God.

Moses had died. The children of Israel had spent 40 years in the wilderness afyer their exodus out of Eghyt and is now ready to enter the Promised Land. God had raised Joshua to receive the baton from Moses to lead Israel to possess the Promised Land.

Jericho is a strategic city at the bank of the Jordan River. It is a city that cuts or divides the Promised Land into two, the north and the south. Jericho will be the first fruit. Joshua sent two spies to get information about Jericho. Joshua wanted to know how the people of Jericho were responding to the arrival of the people of Israel.

Providentially, the spies came to Rahab’s house. We must recognize that Jericho is a wholly pagan city and yet God was able to direct the spies to the only person in Jericho who trusted the God of Israel. Nothing happens by accident. God sovereignly directs and guides our lives.

Joshua 2:1 (KJV) 1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.

The Lord let the two spies to Rahab’s house. God sent them there because here is a woman with a ready heart to receive the truth. And it is interesting that  they were being led there because the house was located in such a place at the city wall so that there will be an escape route for them if they have been discovered.

Remember when Eliezer was asked by Abraham to find a wife amongst his kindred for his son Isaac? He committed the matter to the Lord and he was led directly to Rebekah. He testified in Genesis 24:27 (KJV) 27 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren. You would notice in many instances how he would worship the Lord and thank Him for direction and leading.

This was also the story of Philip the deacon who was directed to explained the gospel to the Ethopian Eunuch, Finance Minister from the continent of Africa, and how he believed, the first convert in the African continent (Acts 8:26).

Rahab was awakened to God’s judgment to come. She confessed to the two spies that came to her house. The first and only convert in the city! They were spot on!

Joshua 2:9-11 (KJV) 9 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. 10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

 The fear of God came to her heart to respond in faith that this is the God in heaven above and in earth beneath. She recognized Israel’s God to be the living and true God. Of course, God’s judgment was averted as a result of her faith. Whilst she believed, the people of Jericho believed not.

As we think of it, Rahab had no more knowledge of God than the rest of the people in Jericho, yet, she believed while the others believed not.

And our text tells us that act of faith in believing justifies her so that she herself perished not. The emphasis in the text is the “middle voice” on Rahab herself that she truly did not die, she was saved from the judgment because she believed.

The beggar Lazarus, our Lord Jesus told us, believed God, and when he died, he was ushered to heaven, in Abraham’s bosom whereas the rich man, who fared sumptuously in his life time, had all the good things of this life, but believed not, found himself in the torments of hell fire.

The Bible tells us that there is a chasm, a gulf fixed between heaven and hell, death is the separation, and living faith determines that separation.

Luke 16:25-26 (KJV) 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

As we study Rahab’s life, we see the life of a sinner saved by faith. It was the grace of God that came upon her. Does she deserve it? No. She was a sinner. This is the power of God’s love demonstrated in Rahab’s life. What an encouragement to see that there is no sin too great and God cannot pardon if we would only repent and believe.

And God used her mightily to save the spies to be a part of His redemption plan for mankind. Is she worthy? Not in man’s eyes. We echo what Paul would say.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Here is the life of Rahab is the marvelous testimony of God’s salvation, salvation grace through faith that Rahab received through the line the hope of eternal life by the scarlet thread, of Jesus blood, the perfect atonement for our sins.

And her faith was tested when she braved all odds to receive the Jewish spies.

(2) Courageously Folloewed the True God

… when she had received the spies with peace.

Rahab staked her life on the fact that God had said He would save and protect His people, Israel, and she wanted to be on His side. Her faith gave her courage to receive the spies. The text emphasis of a deliberate action by Rahab herself. She herself exercised faith.

Rahab’s faith was a living and true faith. She lived out her faith by her courage to obey the will of God concering the judgment of Jericho.

James 2:14-20 (KJV) 14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

 Joshua 2:12-15 (KJV) 12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token: 13 And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. 14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. 15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.

Rahab has a deep concern for the salvation of others. This is another mark of true faith. With the shadow of death and destruction over Jericho, Rahab extracted a psomise from Joshua’s spies only only to spare her, but also all those bound to her by family ties. While her life was a life of sin and shame that has estranged her from her family, self was not her sole consideration in her request for their safety. She desired her loved ones to share her preservation.

Joshua 2:16-18 (KJV) 16 And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way. 17 And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear. 18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee.

 One writer puts it well, “Literally the word “line” comes from the Hebrew verb “to hope”, it means “a hope, a cord that expresses a hope, a figure of speech, literally, hang your hope on the window, as you hand this hope on the window, this scarlet thread on the window, she binds her hope in the window. Her faith was placed in the promise that was given to her, a promise from God. That was enough. The red cord becomes a sign, in a sense, of Rahab’s faith, just as the red stream of Christ’s blood is the only thing that God recognizes for the cleansing of sin and salvation, so the soldiers would recognize that the red cord and the fact that she would be spared.

Do we see also a remarkable parallel between the cord that marked her house and the blood of the lamb during the night that began the exodus when Israel as asked to kill the Passover lamb?! The blood of the lamb saved the Israelites.”

Joshua 2:19-24 (KJV) 19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him. 20 And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear. 21 And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window. 22 And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not. 23 So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them: 24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.

Here is the life of Rahab, a marvelous testimony of God’s salvation, salvation grace through faith that Rahab received through the line of hope of eternal life by the scarlet thread, of Jesus’ blood, the perfect atonement for our sins.

Romans 5:1-5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

 What an apt description of the dynamics of Rahab’s faith by the Apostle Paul in Romans 5:1-5. He tells us being justified by faith, we have peace with God. This peace enables to herself receive the spies with peace. She did not treat them as enemies to report them to the king of Jericho but she would rather obey God.

Truly, she stood to find favour with God and rejoice to see the salvation of her family when God will destroy her city. She was willing to risk all to shield th spies, trusting God to protect her. She was able to trust God through the trial of receiving and protecting the spies.

CONCLUSION

This was Rahab’s faith, she fearfully confessed the true God, courageously followed the true God. Like the beggar Lazarus, she received the rewards of faith, in the preservation of her family and her inclusion in the lineage of the Messiah. May we take courage to walk with God regardless of our past, the blood of Jesus Christ washes us from all sin. May we couragely served Him. Amen.

 

[1] Warren Wiersbe, Be Strong, David and Cook, 1993, 45.