Joshua 2:1-12

The Scarlet Cord

Adapted for NIU UBF from Mother Barry’s Message delivered at the North American Staff Conference 2-18-10

Joshua 2:1-12 NIU UBF 2-21-10
Key verse 2:21

“’Agreed’, she replied. ‘Let it be as you say.’ So she sent them away and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.”

We just returned from the North American staff conference. At the conference, directors and their spouses and growing leaders, from the USA and Canada, gathered to newly discover the Gospel, the Power of God. The power of God is the power that raised Jesus from the dead, helped the Israelites to cross the Red Sea. It is the power that changes hearts and lives and enables us to do the work God wants us to do. Do you need the power of God? We all do. At the conference we heard a gripping message from Dr Scott Moreau, of Wheaton College, on contextualizing the Gospel. There were other tracks concerning ministry. I was in the co-working and networking track and Julie was in the counseling track. I learned that disciples of Jesus can not be raised up without networking and co-working. I also learned that the act of co-working together is one of the fruits of faith. We were glad to see the Triton UBF music team there, with Charisma, Tim, Ian and Andrew. Their Saturday morning praise and worship was very inspiring. Shp Teddy and Shp Liz, John Mike Pitts as well as Joseph and Charisma Magno were there for the entire conference. It was very inspiring and hopeful.

Part l: Rahab’s Faith

In this message we will think about the power of the gospel. We will continue to think about and pray for our house church ministry. It is the power of the Gospel that establishes house churches. And it is the Almighty God working in and through his church. Indeed he works through small house churches as well as though the larger, more organized churches to change and plant his kingdom in peoples’ hearts.

Today we want to think about a different kind of house church and a woman of great faith in God. Her name is Rahab and she became and ancestor of King David and of Jesus Christ. Look at verse 1, “Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute [a] named Rahab and stayed there.” At the time that our story begins Rahab was not married. She was a most unlikely person to be used in God’s history. She was a Gentile. She was a business woman and her business has been called the world’s oldest profession. She supported her parents and her extended family. Her house was conveniently part of the city wall (15). Her home was always open to travelers. Her Inn did good business. Travelers from all over the world came and stayed at her bread and breakfast Inn. So she heard stories and news about people and nations, about events that were happening from everywhere. It was the nearest thing to an international internet connection. Rahab also heard amazing stories about the God of Israel, whom they called the “Lord” (8-11) She heard about his amazing power and his mercy and his love. He rescued the Israelite people from slavery in Egypt. He dried up the waters of the Red Sea and allowed the people to cross over on dry land. She also heard that the Lord God had given the Israelites victory over powerful rulers on the east bank of the Jordan River. She realized that this God is the true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. In her heart, she wanted to know him and be one of his people. (6:25) Now the Israelites were there, right before her very eyes, encamped on the east side of the Jordan, just across the river from her city. They were there because Jericho was a strategic city. It was the first powerful walled city that the Israelites would encounter. It was the doorway to the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. It was the time for Rahab to act by faith and do so quickly.

Let’s think a little more deeply about the power of God that Rahab had heard about. The power of the gospel is the Power of the Almighty God. It is the power that parted the Read Sea and made the walls of Jericho come crashing down. (6:20) It is the power that raised Jesus from the dead. It is the power that changes human hearts. There are some people who are rendered powerless by feelings and emotions that entomb their hearts. They are so incapacitated that they can not co-work together. They can not even stand each so much that they may have a glimmer of glee when they see the other person suffer. There are many husbands and wives who should love and respect each other but can not. We have to realize that we can’t do anything to change another person’s heart. I can’t even change my own heart. For some people getting a degree seems to be a huge and vast Red Sea. Only God can dry up our “Red Seas” and help us to cross them as on dry ground. So many people are walking around with no life of God in them. They are like zombies because of their sins. But the power of the almighty God gives life. We need the power of the almighty God working in our lives, in our homes and in our ministry.

Part ll: Rahab’s Moment Of Decision

There was a high, strong wall around the city of Jericho. It has been said that they help chariot races on the walls of Jericho. But the two young Israelite spies slipped into the city like stealth ninja. These young men were sent to assess prospects for conquering the land. They entered the house of Rahab and found refuge there. (1b) the King of Jericho heard that the spies had come to Rahab’s inn. He demanded that she turn them over to him. This was the moment of decision for Rahab. It was reasonable and even morally right for her to be loyal to her own city and people. She should have turned in the spies. But something stopped her. She had come to believe that the God of Israel was the one true God. She made a decision to trust God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and protect the spies. She decided to cast her lot with the people of Israel. She wanted to save the spies and so she lied. She reported to the king, “Some suspicious men did indeed come into my house, but at dusk, the time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they left. They haven’t been gone long, so if you go after them quickly you can probably catch them.” (4,5) The Jericho soldiers were duped. They set out in pursuit of the spies. They guessed that they were closed behind them. In the meantime, Rahab had hidden the spies on her roof top by covering them with stalks of flax.

We can learn faith from her actions. Hebrews 11:29 reads, “By faith, the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” Why was it faith? She could have not trusted the men who came to her inn. She could have reported them to the king and identified with her own people. But she chose, by faith, to stand with God’s people, so she hid the spies. She chose to obey God because she believed that God is the true God, the owner of the heaven and the earth. She did a very dangerous thing. She put her life in jeopardy. God saw her faith through her decisions and her actions. God honored Rahab’s faith and adopted her into his own family.

Back in 1944 in Holland, Hitler was exterminating the Jews. A Christian watchmaker named Casper Ten Boom put himself and his family at great risk by rescuing, hiding and saving all the Jews that he could. Their house church became a hiding place. It cost him his life. It cost the lives of his family members. But the heavenly kingdom was planted in their hearts. Only one daughter survived to tell the story. She told her story of faith and courage, pain, death and forgiveness. Only the Almighty power of God could heal her wounded and bitter heart. Only God could enable her to forgive. Thousands of people have come to Jesus because of that story and that house church. God who forgives us through the blood of Jesus enables us to forgive and trust and love not only our enemies but our friends and co-workers in Christ as well.

Part lll: She Strengthened Their Faith

That night she went up on the roof where the spies were hiding and made a remarkable confession of faith to them. Look at verses 8-11a, “Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 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. 10 We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea [b] for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you,…” The people of Israel were the ones who had experienced the amazing power and love of God. But as they faced their first enemy and looked at the strong impregnable walls of the city of Jericho, fear came into their hearts. They were very quick to forget the almighty power of God. Rahab had greater faith than they had. They borrowed her faith and went back and told Joshua, “The Lord has given us this land.” This was the message that the Israelites needed to hear. In this way they could win the battle before it started. May God make each of us sources of encouragement and strength to the people of God.

God used this Gentile woman to plant faith in the hearts of his people. How important it is to strengthen one another’s’ faith! How important it is to confess our faith! How important it is to live by the faith that we confess! There is one woman, Monica Barry. She has pioneered many UBF chapters, including COD. Recently she drove from California, across the Rocky Mountains to come to Chicago. It was the dead of winter. There she received missionary training and by faith she went to Uganda to work as in the medical lab of Bethesda clinic in Uganda, joining Msn Joseph and Ester Kim there. She could have gone back to her family in the Philippines and took it easy enjoying the resources of her rich family. But she chose to spend her golden years serving Jesus, along with the people of God in Uganda. She chose to live by faith to the end. Her faith in action strengthens all of our faith.

Part lV: The Scarlet Rope.

Rahab was very sure of God’s victory. But she had one request. Look at verses 11b-13, “…for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. 12 Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death." The young men agreed in verse 14, “Our lives for your lives!" the men assured her. "If you don't tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land." She told them when and where to go, how to get back to the Jordan River crossing without getting caught. After waiting until the pursuers were gone, she let them down through the window that overlooked the city wall. The spies gave her a scarlet rope. She was to hang it on the window through which the spies escaped. Everyone in that house marked by the scarlet rope would be saved. By faith, Rahab hung the rope from the window of her house.

The fall of Jericho was one of the most amazing acts Almighty God. Joshua and the army of Israel won the victory by obeying God’s word in careful detail. The city was so protected that the city became a prison wall that kept anyone from going in or out. (6:1) Joshua and the people of Israel marched around the wall, obeying God’s instructions. For seven days they marched, than at Joshua’s command, the shouted, and the wall of Jericho fell down. The city and all who were in it were devoted to the Lord, completely destroyed. The one exception was Rahab the prostitute and those in her house which was marked by the scarlet rope. When Jericho was overthrown, the young spies rescued her. She married Salmon, (maybe he was one of the spies? That would make for a great romantic story.) And her house church became a source of blessing, for their son was Boaz who married Ruth. They are part of the genealogy of King David and Jesus.

We are sinners living in a world that is facing the judgment of the Almighty God. But God’s judgment is redemptive. God has given each of us a scarlet rope. It is the blood of Jesus that saves us. It is the blood of Jesus that forgives the sins of repentant sinners. It is the power of the Risen Christ, the power of the Gospel that changes lives. It is the power of this gospel that establishes and uses all kinds of people and all kind of house churches in God’s redemptive history. In Christ we have great hope for ourselves and our families and for those we love. Jesus and his blood shed on the cross is our scarlet rope.

Let’s give thanks to the Almighty God for his saving grace! Let us worship him and him alone. May he send us his Holy Spirit and work mightily among us this spring and summer. May he use us to bring the good news of the kingdom of God to the campus’ of America and the world, starting at NIU and then to the D.E.A.R area of western Chicagoland.