Introduction
• A “person of peace” is someone in the city who welcomes God’s people and extends hospitality, so the Gospel can enter/spread in that city. In the Bible we have people of peace like Levi, the woman at the well, Cornelius, and Lydia. God has prepared unlikely persons of peace in every city, key people at significant moments who step up and show kindness and give help to God’s people.
• The spies met a person of peace inside Jericho. It is Rahab!
• Rahab gives the spies the following intelligence report:
Joshua 2:23 (NASB), Then the two men returned and ... reported to him all that had happened to them. 24 And they said to Joshua, “The Lord has indeed handed over to us all the land; furthermore, all the inhabitants of the land have despaired because of us.”
1. Rahab’s Help
Joshua 2:1, So they went and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and rested there. 2 But it was told to the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 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 spy out all the land.” 4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them... 6... up to the roof... in the stalks of flax.
• The two spies were also being spied on by Jericho’s King.
• The King’s men followed the spies to Rahab’s brothel.
• It’s clear that this meeting was meant to happen by the Lord.
• Rahab tells one truth and two lies.
• She thought nothing of lying to the King’s men.
• Her whole life was a lie, but now she is seeing the truth.
• She seems to know God has sent the spies to rescue her from this hell hole called Jericho.
2. Rahab’s Faith
Joshua 2:8, Now before the spies lay down, she came up to them on, the roof, 9 and 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 despaired because of you. 10 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. 11 When we heard these reports, our hearts melted and no courage remained in anyone any longer because of you...
Joshua 2:11, ...for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth below. 12 Now then, 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, 13 and spare my father and my mother, and my brothers and my sisters, and all who belong to them, and save our lives from death.” 14 So the men said to her, “Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the Lord gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.”
• Rahab is not only a person of peace in Jericho.
• She is a woman of faith, who cares about the truth.
• She believes in the God of Israel, even before she met the spies.
Look at her expression of faith:
• She feared the God of Israel. She knows...
• God is a God of miracles (who divided the Red Sea).
• God is a God of judgement (on His enemies).
• God is the true God of all heaven and earth.
• God is a God of mercy (who alone could save her and her family).
• “... spare my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, ... save our lives from death she pleads.”
• She rejects her gods and joins with Israel, and puts her faith in the true God of heaven and earth.
The NT celebrates Rahab’s faith.
Hebrews 11:31, “By faith the prostitute Rahab did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.”
• Rahab is NOT praised for her harlotry, or for her lies. These things are in the past.
• She is praised for her faith in God.
The NT celebrates Rahab’s works.
James 2:25, “In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”
• She saved the spies and worked for the salvation of her whole family.
• Tessa Afsahr, He wiped out Jericho, and He saved a harlot. What kind of God was this? He seemed at once impossibly holy and ridiculously merciful. How could you tie those two incongruities together? Rahab.
3. Rahab’s Salvation
Joshua 2:17, And the men said to her, “We shall be exempt from this oath to you which you have made us swear, 18 unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather into your house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.”
• The spies hand Rahab a scarlet rope.
• Robert Morgan, in Jordan River Rules said, “At the risk of her life, Rahab hid them. And at the risk of their lives, they promised to come back and rescue her and her family. But there was one condition—the crimson rope.
• The rope would save the spies by letting them escape through her window.
• The rope would save Rahab’s family, by protecting her house from destruction.
• The scarlet rope was to Rahab in Jericho, what the blood of the lamb was to the Israel in Egypt.
• The blood and the rope, protected those in the house.
• God’s judgement would pass over them.
• In the Bible there is a scarlet trail of blood, from the blood of Abel to Christ on the cross.
• The scarlet rope reminds us there is only one way of rescue from death, one way of salvation for us too.
• We are “justified by his blood” (Romans 5:9).
• We have “redemption through his blood” (Ephesians 1:7).
• The blood of Jesus cleanses “our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14).
4. Rahab’s Legacy
Matthew 1:4, “... Nahshon fathered Salmon. 5 Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, and Obed fathered Jesse. 6 Jesse fathered David the king.”
• Salmon married Rahab (He may have been one of the spies)
• Boaz – Ruth
• Obed
• Jesse
• King David
• From the royal line of King David, Christ was promised, and Christ born.
• Think if this... King David’s great-great grandmother, was Rahab!
CONCLUSION
Kevin Heath, “The gift of kindness may start as a small ripple that over time can turn into a tidal wave affecting the lives of many.”
• How is God using you as a person of peace?
