“Rahab”
[Hebrews 11:31]
December 15, 2013 Second Reformed Church
By faith we receive the Word of God
– we hear what God has said, and we believe it is true. We are assured that all the promises of God
will come to pass, and everything we have not seen that God has said is true,
we believe with steadfast confidence.
Faith is not based on guesswork and
whimsy; faith is the receiver of the Word of God – a Word that we can hear and
know and believe, because we have come to know Who God is – we have come to
know God’s character, and so we recognize His Word and receive it as true and
faithful.
We come to the last figure in
Hebrews chapter 11 who is spoken of “at length.” And she is different from all the other
figures we have looked at – she is a woman, she is a Gentile – not a Jew, and
she is a prostitute. Her inclusion in
this list could be seen as scandalous, because she is a woman, she is not one
of the chosen of Israel, and she made her livelihood in sin and encouraging
others to sin.
Yet, as we consider her history, as
we find it in the Word of God, we find:
God has chosen people from all
nations and graciously forgiven even great sins of the truly repentant.
Faith proves itself in action.
True faith is the reception of God’s
Word.
And, examples of faith are an encouragement
to faith.
Last week we considered Joshua and
the taking of Jericho. Today, we are
taking a step back – and we note that this is another difference with Rahab –
she is the only major figure in Hebrews 11 who is listed out of historical
order.
Why is she included in the list of
examples of the faithful for the Hebrews suffering under Rome?
One reason is surely to show them
that God’s plan has never changed. God
has chosen people from all nations and graciously forgiven even great sins of
the truly repentant.
Rahab was a Gentile; she was not a
Jew. The Jews – Israel – were the people
of God. And while it was true that God
did have a special relationship with the nation of Israel – above all other
nations – it is not true that God only chose Jews to be saved. Rahab is one example.
As
Paul wrote to the Romans, he wrestled with the heartache that not all
biological Israel would be saved – not all the biological descendants of
Abraham would be saved, and he explained how it could be that all Israel would
be saved, but not every Israelite would be saved, “But it is not as though the
word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to
Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but
‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This means that it is not the
children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the
promise are counted as offspring” (Romans 9:6-8, ESV).
Paul
explains that God did promise that all of the children of Israel would be
saved, but the Word of God has not failed – all of the children of Israel shall
be saved. However, just as Abraham’s son
Isaac inherited the promise, but Ishmael did not, so we are to understand that
being a child of Abraham is not a matter of biology – it is a matter of
faith. All those who believe God’s Word
are children of Abraham. One does not
need to be a biological descendant of Abraham to be a child of the Promise.
As
Paul explained, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God
for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is
written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (Romans 1:16-17, ESV).
The
Gospel was given to the Jews first, but it is also given to the Gentiles – to
every other person. The person who
receives the Word of God by faith and believes, is a child of Israel and
Abraham. Everyone who believes in the
Word of God and the Savior God promised in it are children of God.
So,
while not many non-Jews believed in the days of Rahab, she did believe, and God
adopted her as His daughter.
Yet,
when we hear that she was a prostitute, we bristle – just as the Pharisees bristled
when they accused Jesus of being a friend of prostitutes. Jesus explained to them at different points
that He hung out with prostitutes because they had the good sense to know that
they needed to be forgiven, whereas some religious types don’t.
And
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of
man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the
Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark
3:28-29, ESV).
All
sins are forgivable if a believer is truly repentant. Rahab was a prostitute, but she repented and
was forgiven. You have a penchant for
some sins over others, and you can be forgiven if you repent and believe.
And
then, she was also a woman. In a culture
where a woman’s word did not stand up in court, God has chosen to reveal
Himself through women, including Rahab.
God likes to use the downtrodden to reveal Himself. As Paul explains:
“For
consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly
standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose
what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the
world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world,
even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human
being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ
Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and
redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the
Lord’” (I Corinthians 1:26-31, ESV).
That’s
a good passage for us to keep before us both for when we deem someone as
unworthy of the Gospel and when we think that God is pretty lucky to have
us. No one is too low for us to bring
the Gospel, and we have no special merit in receiving the Word of God and
believing because faith and believe are gifts of God by His Grace.
So
let us remember – in the days of Joshua, in the days of the New Testament
Church, in the days of the 21st century Church – God has chosen
people from all nations and graciously forgiven even great sins of the truly penitent.
Rahab’s history takes place between
the death of the last of the Israelites God condemned in the forty year
wandering and before the conquest of Jericho.
Joshua took the people of Israel up to the eastern border of the Jordan
River, having defeated the kingdoms along the way. Now, Joshua was ready the lead the people
against the frontier town of Jericho and begin the conquering of Canaan
proper. But before they go in, Joshua
sends two spies. And we read:
“And
Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, ‘Go,
view the land, especially Jericho.’ And they went and came into the house of a
prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. And it was told to the king
of Jericho, ‘Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the
land.’ Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, ‘Bring out the men who
have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all
the land.’ But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, ‘True,
the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate
was about to be closed at dark, 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 hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in
order on the roof. So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as
far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out.”
The
two spies snuck into Jericho and went to the house of Rahab the
prostitute. Why did they go to her
house? Not for sinful reasons. Perhaps because men coming and going at her
house would not raise suspicion.
However, the people of Jericho – and the king of Jericho – knew that
Israel was on the march, and they recognized them when they arrived.
So
the King sent a message to Rahab, demanding that she hand over the spies. But Rahab lies and tells the kings men that
the spies made it out of the gate before they locked the door, so to run after
them. In reality, she had hidden them on
the roof of her house and covered them with roofing material so they would not
be found.
What
shall we say about this? Surely lying
is a sin, is it not? Aren’t we told to
submit to the government? Or is this an
exception because the government was engaged in sin? It would seem, in the face of such a
difficult moral question, the best we can say is that her lie was a sin, but
her saving of the spies was approved by God.
What
we can see more clearly is that Rahab proved her faith by rescuing the spies at
the risk of her own life. We see here
that faith proves itself in action.
Rahab believed in the Word of God – and we’ll talk more about that
shortly, and she acted on her faith and protected the spies God sent to
accomplish His Will in Jericho.
We’ve
talked about faith and action – or faith and works – quite a bit in our Sunday
morning Bible study. We have seen that salvation
is by grace alone through faith alone – our works do not merit anything towards
salvation – we can never do enough good to be right we God – we can only be
right with God because God chooses to give us His Grace and make us right with
God.
However,
James writes, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons
believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19,
ESV). James was writing to people who
had heard the Word of God and believed that the Word of God is true, yet it had
not changed their lives at all – there had been no proof of their faith through
action – through living it out. James
explained that it is a good thing to know the Word of God and to believe it is
true, but even the demons do that! The
proof of a true faith is that it is lived out in action – if we have received
the Word of God savingly, it must change the way we live and act. We must be different people.
Rahab
heard the Word of God and believed it – she received it by faith – and then,
when the opportunity came to save the spies, she acted and saved them – proving
her faith in action. And we must do
likewise – it is not enough to sit around knowing the truth – though we are not
saved by our works – if we have believed savingly, we must do good works – we
must bear fruit – we must live out our faith and all we have believed.
After
Paul explained to the Ephesians that salvation is by faith alone, he wrote, “For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10, ESV).
We
who have been saved by God through Jesus Christ, must now, as new creatures,
prove our faith by doing the good works He predestined us to do. Faith proves itself in action.
We
continue the history:
“Before
the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, ‘I know
that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon
us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt 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 devoted to destruction. And as soon as we
heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of
you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth
beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly
with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a sure
sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters,
and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.’ And the men said
to her, ‘Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of
ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully
with you.’
“Then
she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into
the city wall, so that she lived in the wall. And she said to them, ‘Go into
the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you, and hide there three days until
the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way.’ The men said
to her, ‘We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have
made us swear. Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet
cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into
your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father's
household. Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street,
his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is
laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head.
But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect
to your oath that you have made us swear.’ And she said, ‘According to your
words, so be it.’ Then she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the
scarlet cord in the window.”
Here
we see Rahab’s faith – and we see that true faith is a reception of God’s Word:
First,
Rahab reflected on the history of what God had done for the Jews. She confesses that she knew that the Lord God
had given Jericho into their hands, because they all knew that God had freed them
from slavery and parted the Red Sea so they could escape, and now they had
bested the nations on the east of the Jordan and taken the land for themselves.
Second,
Rahab confesses her faith in the God of Israel, as she confesses that God the
Lord God is the God of heaven and earth – the One True God – the One Who has prospered
Israel – this is the God she believed in.
And
third, she asked, in the name of that God, that she would be protected – she
and her family – as members of those who believe in that God – and she made the
spies swear that they would recognize her as a sister in the Lord and save her
and her family when they took Jericho.
It
is unlikely that Rahab had access to anything in the way of the Scripture –
only the books of Moses, and perhaps Job, would have existed – but she received
the Word of God by faith by hearing Who the God is Israel is and what He had
done for them, and she believed. Thus,
her faith was seen in believing the promises God made to Israel.
In
the same way, our faith is seen in believing the promises that God made to
Israel and all those in the Scripture.
True faith is a reception of God’s Word.
As Paul explains, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved” (Romans 10:9, ESV).
This
section of the history concludes in a way that shows us that examples of faith
are an encouragement to faith – that is why the author of Hebrews listed all
these figures and pointed to them as examples of faith that we would understand
what faith is and so we would be spurred on to faith – to receiving all that
God has said as true and sure – that we would be assured in the faith and
convicted of the truth – the reality of everything God has said and promised.
And
so we read:
“They
departed and went into the hills and remained there three days until the
pursuers returned, and the pursuers searched all along the way and found
nothing. Then the two men returned. They came down from the hills and passed
over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they told him all that had happened
to them. And they said to Joshua, ‘Truly the Lord has given all the land into
our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us’”
(Joshua 2:1-24, ESV).
The
spies went to the mountains and hid for the time that Rahab had encouraged them
to hide, and then they returned to Joshua and told Joshua about Rahab and what
she had done – their promise to her and her faith – both exemplified in
confession and action. The reaction was
that Joshua was encouraged and assured that God had given – not merely Jericho
– but all the land of Canaan into their hands.
In Rahab’s faith, Joshua saw God’s promise all the more clearly and held
to it with greater assurance – and, as we saw last week, went forward,
according to the instructions that God gave him, and conquered Jericho.
The
encouragement that Joshua received in hearing these words should encourage us
to read our Bibles and hear the history in it that our faith would be
encouraged as we see the faith of other saints of God. One of the more difficult texts to read is
the book of Revelation, but we need to read it keeping in mind that John wrote
the text to Christians suffering under the persecution of Nero that they would
be encouraged and assured that Christ is and was and will ever be victorious –
so they – and we who read it two thousand years later, would be encouraged,
that there is nothing in all the world that will stop Jesus from returning and
restoring the Creation – bringing about His Kingdom – fully – on earth.
After
the Bible, we find encouragement in reading good Christian biographies – let me
encourage us to read biographies of the saints of these latter years, who in
these last days have stood for their faith and lived lives proclaiming the
Gospel. They are an encouragement. You might want to consider beginning with
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, in which he
presents short accounts of the life and death of Christians in the early
Church.
If
there is a Christian figure you are interested in reading about – in addition
to reading your Bible – ask me, and I will help you find a good biography of
someone who may encourage you in your faith.
There
is yet one more reason that Rahab is important and worthy of inclusion in this
list, as we read in the genealogy given by Matthew:
“Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac
the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah
the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and
Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the
father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of
Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of
Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king” (Matthew 1:2-6, ESV).
Rahab
married Salmon, who father Boaz, who father Obed, who father Jesse, who
fathered King David – Rahab was the great, great grandmother of King David, who
was the ancestor of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.
It
is through this pagan, woman, prostitute, who came to faith in the God of
Israel, who saved the spies that Jericho could be conquered, that Jesus Christ
was born.
“By
faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient,
because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.”
So,
let us remember:
God
has chosen people from all nations and graciously forgiven even great sins of
the truly repentant.
Faith
proves itself in action.
True
faith is the reception of God’s Word.
Examples
of faith are an encouragement to faith.
We
may be nothing in the eyes of the world – we may have even lived scandalous
lives, but Jesus Christ makes us new creatures as God adopts us as sons and
daughters, making us His through faith, that we might do those good works that
God predestined us to do.
All
those who believe are being used to the Glory of God. Even me – and you.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, we bow humbly before Your Wisdom and Grace, that You would choose someone
like Rahab to be Your daughter, to continue Your promise to give Your people
the land of Canaan, and to be an ancestor of our Lord Jesus. May we be humble, urgently proclaiming Your
Gospel, and praying the You would use us to Your Glory. For this is our joy. And it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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