Later today, I will be traveling with several of the college students from our church to New Orleans, where we will be working through the weekend with a home missions outreach. I'm very excited about the prospect of sharing Jesus in this way. I'm told that we will be talking with many people who do not know Jesus and indeed are living in desperate conditions. By this, I mean, they do not have a personal relationship with Jesus and therefore are living in diametric opposition to everything He stands for. That is a desperate condition. They are living in spiritual poverty, in addition to the physical poverty that they face.
I'm wondering what to say to those folks...how to convey the blessed hope that lies in knowing Jesus. I'm sure that some of them have "heard it all before", while some of them have not. Please pray with me about this - - - that God will open their ears, because there is hearing and then there is "hearing".
It is so hard for many of us to accept the love of God, not because He is insufficient, but because we do not see ourselves as lovable, as "worthy"!
Will you go back with me this morning to the genealogy of Jesus Christ, in Matthew 1? In verse 5, we see the name Rahab, and we are told that she was the mother of Boaz, and mother-in-law of Ruth, both of whom I mentioned in yesterday's blog. Looking further down the line, we see that she was the great great-grandmother of King David. But, just who was Rahab?
Her story is recorded in Joshua 2, and it is an amazing one!
The two spies mentioned in the story are not named, but I have wondered if one of them was Salmon, the Jewish man who eventually married Rahab. Both of those men had to have been impressed with her. Rahab was an astute businesswoman, even though the nature of her business was ungodly. Her house was part of the city's wall. This is how she was able to help the two Hebrew spies escape.
I am simply amazed at how Rahab, when she HEARD the truth of the one God Jehovah, threw herself "all in". God opened her ears, and she switched her allegiance. She was obviously a talented, passionate woman before switching sides. No doubt God used those talents in her new life as well. He saw fit, in His amazing grace and redemption, to weave her into the ancestry of his Son. Y'all, are you "getting" that she was a "madame"? She ran a whorehouse, for goodness sake! Such is the unfathomable grace of our God!
This is one of my favorite parts of the story: in verses 15-18 of Joshua 2, Rahab lowers the spies down the city wall by a red cord. It's no mistake that the cord is red, folks. The spies go on to say that the red cord is a symbol by which Rahab and her family will be spared, as long as they stay inside her house during the upcoming raid and conquest. The red cord represents the blood of Jesus Christ. It is a foreshadowing of what God will do for anyone today who comes under the blood sacrifice of Jesus for forgiveness of sin and protection. When we accept Jesus' blood sacrifice for our sins, we are "in God's House" of protection. Spiritual destruction will never come near us again.
Notice that it was not Rahab's own merits that saved her; in that Jewish culture, she would have been stoned for her sins of harlotry. It was her obedience and acceptance of the gift, the grace of the Hebrew God that saved her. The same revolutionary, redemptive offer is available today!
A few weeks ago, I attended an event where a former prostitute spoke. She told us about the hopelessness of The Life, as those in the sex trade call it, how she felt forever trapped and unable to escape. That was, until a Christ follower told her about the red rope, the saving blood of Jesus. All she had to do was accept it. Now, she is free, and has been for 10 years. Additionally, as He did for Rahab, He has given this woman a loving husband, children and a successful career. Praise His name!
He took my feet from the miry clay, yes He did, yes He did,
And placed them on The Rock to stay, yes He did, yes He did.
I can tell the world about this.
I can tell the nations that I'm blessed,
Tell them how Jesus made me whole
And He brought joy, JOY to my soul!"
Traditional Spiritual, based on Psalm 40:2
Just about anytime you hear a Christian talk about Rahab, they refer to her as Rahab the Harlot. Well, I understand why they do that; it's because they want to illustrate just how awesome the saving power of GOD is. But, because her story does not stop with her left in her sin, it is more appropriate to refer to her as Rahab the Marvelously Redeemed, or Rahab the Great Great-Grandmother of King David. When we come to Christ, God obliterates the sin debt of our past. We become a new creation in Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17 - - - If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation: old things are passed away; look! all things have become new!)
And, don't miss this: sin is sin is sin. Rahab's sin, the sin of those people I will meet in New Orleans - - - it is no worse than mine. All sin separates us from our God, and He hates it - - - all of it: the pride, the lying, the cheating, the slander, the hatred of people, the immorality....all of it separates us from Him. This is why we need a Savior! Yes, after we accept Jesus, all of our sins (past, present, future) are forgiven; but, we still need to come to Him for cleansing (confession, repentance, forgiveness) every day (and usually all during the day!)
Well, don't forget about the red rope. Pray for opportunities, Christian, to share Jesus with someone today!
Father, thank you for the sacrifice of Your precious Son, for me, to save me from my filthy, dirty sin. I am incredulous that You opened my ears as a nine-year old girl, but miraculously, You did. "Thank you" does not begin to cover it. I know that it will be not my choice of words that resonate with the people I will minister to these next 3 days. It will be your Holy Spirit. So, please, fill me Lord, to the brim, with You! Let Your love rain down and be seen and heard by everyone whom I am privileged to serve today and each day going forward. Your grace is amazing!" In Jesus' name, amen.
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