The Story of Rahab – Grace in action!
Joshua Chapter 2 – “…So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.” “So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rehab: Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.” “But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them.” “I don’t know which way they went.” “Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them. I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.” “Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family because I have shown kindness to you.” “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land.” Joshua 6:17b “Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.” Matthew 1:5 “Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab.” Hebrews 11:31 “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.”
God NEVER ceases to amaze me! He takes the unusable and cleans them up and makes them shine with Light from Heaven! He did it for me and He has done it for you too if you are saved!
This is what happened in the life of Rahab the Prostitute in the Old Testament. There are GREAT lessons to be learned from this portion of Scripture that are VERY relevant today.
© There was ‘history’ that came to the knowledge of the most unworthy – the town prostitute. Rahab was cast out of the city and lived by herself on the city wall of Jericho. She made a living by being a prostitute and even though she was ‘unworthy’ she KNEW the story of ISRAEL and recognized it when confronted. She had ‘heard’ the stories of how God brought the Israelites out of Egypt by His Mighty Hand. She had heard of how God parted the Red Sea and brought them across and then closed the sea on the Egyptians. She knew the history. I am sure when the spies came to her house; they introduced themselves as the spies in God’s Army and she did not doubt them. In our lives today – we KNOW the history of the Lord. We have to keep passing down through our generations what God has done in our lives so that when one of our own ‘unworthy’ hears of it they will recognize the Lord in their own life! It is so important to tell the wonderful story of Jesus to our loved ones! ALL of us were as ‘unworthy’ as Rahab before we found the Lord!
© When Rahab Found Salavation, she wanted her family to find it too – Rahab’s heart had found the Lord and BELIEVED Him! Since she believed in God she wanted her family to see the truth too. ONLY God could have made her make such a statement! Her life had not reflected this kind of love for her family. She had radically changed in a matter of hours! God moves that quickly! After finding the Lord, her heart immediately began to grow love and she desired more than life the Salvation of her family! Aren’t we the same way? Once we begin to let God grow in our hearts – our minds turn immediately to our families? Our thoughts are to help them find God also! This is how God works! His GRACE flows over us and onto others. I am thanking God for Rahab today because she represents the Gentile people through time. She loved God enough to risk her life to change! No turning back. We see that she did not turn back either! She stayed faithful to God all the way through the Bible. How far is our faithfulness going to take us? Will we stay faithful until we see Salvation come to all of our house and beyond?
© God spares the family of Rahab in Jericho because of Faithfulness – God is ALWAYS FAITHFUL to give us the desires of our heart when we are seeking Him and remain faithful to Him. This is what took place in the life of Rahab. She remained faithful. The spies asked her to tie the scarlet cord in the window that she had let them down into the city with and when the Israel army saw the cord she and everyone in her house would be spared. Rahab remained faithful to that task and her family was spared! In our lives – God requires the same action that Rahab took. God wants us to remain faithful to Him in what He asks. There should not be an option in our lives. God desires that we live by His Word and have a personal relationship with Him. There is no telling how many lives will be spared because of our faithfulness. Sometimes in this life we need to have a desire to see the bigger picture!
© In the History of Life our record will show up – We see so clearly that Rahab was in the lineage of Jesus in Matthew Chapter 1. Rahab’s faithfulness was not lost! Hundreds of years later her name is recorded! The same is true in our lives. Many generations later our love for Jesus will be what comes through. Our loved ones won’t remember what we fixed for Sunday dinner in 100 years; but they WILL remember what we did for Jesus! It is so important that we live our lives out for God – the history of that will show up one day!
© Rahab did the best she knew to do out of Faith – and God calls her faithful! She hid the spies and lied to the King’s men about it. Rahab did what she had to do to guard the Salvation of the Lord that day in history. She did the best she could do. She trusted the Lord and closed her eyes and believed that He would save her in the face of the unknown. She had no idea how they would respond when she told the King’s men that the spies were not there. Can you imagine how scared she must have been? Alone – outcast to the city wall – and now following the call of God on her life. We are the same in our lives. We are unworthy of the call – but we need to do the best we can do and God will do the rest! When we don’t know the answers we need to close our eyes and plunge forward in life believing God will help us.
This story is really amazing and there is no accident it is in the Bible and that the thread of the story carries all the way through and ends up in the famous Chapter 11 of Hebrews!
Our story should be about Faith also. There are no accidents in this life. God is playing out the story of Salvation in all of our lives. We just have to have the faith like Rahab did and reach for what God is offering. Finding strength in the small things of life rather than waiting for the ‘big one’ to come along. Faithfulness is dug out in the everyday life around us; making choices that are based on the lovingkindness of God instead of selfish ambition. Start today to live out the faith that God has put in your heart. Take that leap that separates us from the everyday world and live out what God gave us.
We are just as unworthy as Rahab was and yet God remembered her all through Scripture for her faithfulness. Don’t you want the same said of you in this life?
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