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Audio Transcript
Morning, everyone. Thank you. I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas.
All right. This morning we’re going to continue in our study of Hebrews. I know it’s been a few weeks. Before I get started, just as a reminder, I believe we do have the TV downstairs set up and ready. If your kiddos get restless and need to walk around for a little bit, you’re free to take them down there. Or you could keep them at your seat, and I could play an away game. That’s fine, too. So it’s good practice either way.
But let’s start out with a word of prayer.
Father, Lord, what a joy for us to be back here together. Lord, what a joy to dig into your word this morning. May it refresh our souls. Father, I pray that your words would long be remembered by your people and that my words would quickly be forgotten. Father, I pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Aslan. Aslan, dear. Aslan saw Lucy at last. The great beast rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell half sitting, half lying between his front paws. He bent forward and just touched her nose with his tongue. His warm breath came all around her, and she gazed up into the large, wise face.
“Welcome, child,” he said.
“Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.”
“That is because you are older, little one,” answered he. “Not because you are. I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”
For a time, she was so happy that she did not want to speak.
This beautiful exchange between Lucy and Aslan in Prince Caspian definitely portrays our Christian journey as we continue in our walk, quickening our conscience by the holiness of God, feeding our minds with the truth of God, purging our imaginations by the beauty of God, and opening our hearts to the love of God. As William Temple would say, God appears larger to us not because he has grown, but because we, in our imperfect, corruptible, sinful ways, see just a tiny bit clearer.
That is exactly what the writer of Hebrews is encouraging of his audience this morning as we continue our study in Hebrews. But since it’s been a few weeks, let’s remind ourselves of the context. The theme of Hebrews is the supremacy and the finality of Christ. No one knows who wrote the book. Some say Paul, Peter, Barnabas, Apollos. But what we do know is that Christian writers as early as 200 A.D. hold the author of Hebrews as unknown.
Hebrews was written by an author with immense vocabulary and vast knowledge of the Greek. Old Testament scholars agree that Hebrews was written somewhere between 60 and 69 A.D., very likely somewhere around 65. The book is written to a suffering, persecuted group of Jewish believers. And though debated, most scholars believe that it was somewhere outside of Israel, most likely in or around Rome.
New Testament scholar William Lane, who holds to a Roman audience, says the following: “Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish Christians whose faith is falling apart.” Their Italian locus, Lane says, is most probable because in the closing paragraph of Hebrews, the author conveys the greeting of several Italian Christians who were with him, thus supporting the idea that the harried little church was on Italian soil, very likely in or around Rome.
The Roman audience also makes sense in historical context. The small group of Christians around Rome had experienced increased persecution, first from the Romans as Jews and second from the Jews as Christians. In A.D. 49, Roman Emperor Claudius had begun persecuting and expelling Jews and Jewish Christians alike. And now, under the new emperor Nero, the persecution only intensified.
We are at least 15 years into Claudian and now Neronian persecution, and the author of Hebrews is writing to encourage and admonish his beloved brothers and sisters.
“Keep going, keep going. You can do it. Christ is worth it. Christ is everything. Trust Him.”
These believers see their world crumbling all around them. Pressured to issue public denials, they’re asking tough questions. “Does God see us? Does he care? Why is he allowing this?”
Perhaps these are questions that you may have been asking over the last two weeks. Unlike early Christians in Jerusalem or Galilee, these believers had never met Jesus. Everything they knew they heard from early traveling apostles. They were some of the original second-generation Christians, and their belief in Jesus had not been to their worldly advantage.
Just as they had given up hope, thought they could stand no longer, a letter arrives. Kent Hughes paints the scene: “Word was sent out. The congregation gathered. Perhaps no more than 15 or 20 were seated around the house. Candlelight flickered. All were quiet. The reader began what is called the most sonorous piece of Greek in the whole New Testament. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. And in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son.”
Through these magnificent words, the beleaguered church was brought face to face with the God who speaks the eloquence of God. God spoke in the past, and he speaks in the present in His Son. And this eloquence, the ultimate eloquence of the final work in God’s Son, would bring them comfort in the midst of life’s troubles.
Hebrews is structured into four parts:
1. The supremacy of Christ.
2. Jesus’ superiority to Mosaic law.
3. A call to faith and endurance.
4. Concluding exhortations and remarks.
This morning we find ourselves amid the sweet call to faith and endurance. The writer has highlighted the full assurance of faith in Hebrews 10:19-39. And now he encourages his fellow believers with a roll call of the great heroes of faith and great acts of faithfulness.
Turn with me, if you would, to Hebrews 11. And this morning we’re going to look at three verses: 29 to 31, starting in verse 29.
“By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.”
You know, it is said of Southern Baptist preachers that they will try and make three points out of any text, irregardless of what it is they’re looking at. But this morning I actually get a text that is a Southern Baptist preacher’s dream, because it’s three verses that are three stories that can be broken down into three parts.
So let’s look first at verse 29.
“By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.”
So turn with me, if you would, to the second book of the law. That would be Exodus, chapter 14. And let’s read some of the context of this amazing story together. As we go through the context of these three verses, I’m going to summarize some parts in order to save time, but I’ll read others in the text for clarity. But I highly encourage you to read all of these texts completely this week.
So in Exodus 14, let’s start with verse 10.
“When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, ‘Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.’
And Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not. Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians, whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you
Audio Transcript
Morning, everyone. Thank you. I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas.
All right. This morning, we’re going to continue our study of Hebrews. I know it’s been a few weeks. Before I get started, just as a reminder, I believe we do have the TV downstairs set up and ready. If your kiddos get restless and need to walk around for a little bit, you’re free to take them down there. Or you could keep them at your seat, and I could play an away game. That’s fine, too. So it’s good practice either way.
But let’s start out with a word of prayer.
Father, Lord, what a joy for us to be back here together. Lord, what a joy to dig into your word this morning. May it refresh our souls. Father, I pray that your words would long be remembered by your people and that my words would quickly be forgotten. Father, I pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Aslan. Aslan, dear. Aslan saw Lucy at last. The great beast rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell half sitting, half lying between his front paws. He bent forward and just touched her nose with his tongue. His warm breath came all around her, and she gazed up into the large, wise face.
“Welcome, child,” he said.
“Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.”
“That is because you are older, little one,” answered he. “Not because you are. I am not. But every year you grow. You will find me bigger.”
For a time, she was so happy that she did not want to speak.
This beautiful exchange between Lucy and Aslan in Prince Caspian definitely portrays our Christian journey as we continue in our walk, quickening our conscience by the holiness of God, feeding our minds with the truth of God, purging our imaginations by the beauty of God, and opening our hearts to the love of God. As William Temple would say, God appears larger to us not because he has grown, but because we, in our imperfect, corruptible, sinful ways, see just a tiny bit clearer.
That is exactly what the writer of Hebrews is encouraging of his audience this morning as we continue our study in Hebrews. But since it’s been a few weeks, let’s remind ourselves of the context. The theme of Hebrews is the supremacy and the finality of Christ. No one knows who wrote the book. Some say Paul, Peter, Barnabas, Apollos. But what we do know is that Christian writers as early as 200 A.D. hold the author of Hebrews as unknown.
Hebrews was written by an author with immense vocabulary and vast knowledge of the Greek. Old Testament scholars agree that Hebrews was written somewhere between 60 and 69 A.D., very likely around 65. The book is written to a suffering, persecuted group of Jewish believers. And though debated, most scholars believe that it was somewhere outside of Israel, most likely in or around Rome.
New Testament scholar William Lane, who holds to a Roman audience, says the following: “Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish Christians whose faith is falling apart.” Their Italian locus, Lane says, is most probable because, in the closing paragraph of Hebrews, the author conveys the greeting of several Italian Christians who were with him, thus supporting the idea that the harried little church was on Italian soil, very likely in or around Rome.
The Roman audience also makes sense in historical context. The small group of Christians around Rome had experienced increased persecution, first from the Romans as Jews and second from the Jews as Christians. In A.D. 49, Roman Emperor Claudius began persecuting and expelling Jews and Jewish Christians alike. And now, under the new emperor Nero, the persecution only intensified. We are at least 15 years into Claudian and now Neronian persecution, and the author of Hebrews is writing to encourage and admonish his beloved brothers and sisters.
“Keep going, keep going. You can do it. Christ is worth it. Christ is everything. Trust Him.”
These believers see their world crumbling all around them. Pressured to issue public denials, they’re asking tough questions. “Does God see us? Does he care? Why is he allowing this?” Perhaps these are questions that you may have been asking over the last two weeks.
Unlike early Christians in Jerusalem or Galilee, these believers had never met Jesus. Everything they knew, they heard from early traveling apostles. They were some of the original second-generation Christians, and their belief in Jesus had not been to their worldly advantage. Just as they had given up hope, thought they could stand no longer, a letter arrives.
Kent Hughes paints the scene. “Word was sent out. The congregation gathered. Perhaps no more than 15 or 20 were seated around the house. Candlelight flickered. All were quiet. The reader began what is called the most sonorous piece of Greek in the whole New Testament. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. And in these last days, he has spoken to us by His Son.”
Through these magnificent words, the beleaguered church was brought face to face with the God who speaks—the eloquence of God. God spoke in the past, and he speaks in the present in His Son. And this eloquence, the ultimate eloquence of the final work in God’s Son, would bring them comfort in the midst of life’s troubles.
Hebrews is structured into four parts: 1. The supremacy of Christ, 2. Jesus’ superiority to Mosaic law, 3. A call to faith and endurance, and 4. Concluding exhortations and remarks.
This morning, we find ourselves amid the sweet call to faith and endurance. The writer has highlighted the full assurance of faith in Hebrews 10:19-39. And now he encourages his fellow believers with a roll call of the great heroes of faith and great acts of faithfulness.
Turn with me, if you would, to Hebrews 11. This morning, we’re going to look at three verses: 29 to 31, starting in verse 29.
“By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.”
You know, it is said of Southern Baptist preachers that they will try and make three points out of any text, irregardless of what it is they’re looking at. But this morning, I actually get a text that is a Southern Baptist preacher’s dream because it’s three verses that are three stories that can be broken down into three parts.
So let’s look first at verse 29. “By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.”
So turn with me, if you would, to the second book of the law. That would be Exodus, chapter 14. And let’s read some of the context of this amazing story together. As we go through the context of these three verses, I’m going to summarize some parts for the sake of time, but I’ll read others in the text for clarity. But I highly encourage you to read all of these texts completely this week.
So in Exodus 14, let’s start with verse 10.
“When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, ‘Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.'”
And Moses said to the people, “Fear not. Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians, whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
God tells Moses to stretch out his staff, and he would drive the sea back, providing a path for the Israelites to escape directly through the sea.
Verse 22: “And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the water being a wall to them on the right hand and on their left.”
Wow, amazing. Pharaoh’s army pursued them until God instructed Moses to stretch out his hand once more. And God collapsed the sea on the Egyptians, destroying them completely.
It’s an incredible scene, but I wonder if any of you had the same question I did reading it. Let’s hold on a second. Let’s go back to Hebrews 11:29.
Again, “By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.”
Back to Exodus 14:10.
“When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, ‘Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is it not what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.'”
What? Does anyone else see an issue here? Hebrews 11:29 seems to be a complete whitewashing, or charitably overly romanticized view of Israel’s faith. They didn’t have faith. They were faithless. Their faith is corroborated by the fact that all of them, besides Joshua and Caleb, later died in the desert because of their lack of faith.
So let me ask you in the text, who has faith? Moses did. It was his faith that saved his people. His faith rallied his people across the Red Sea and secured their deliverance, not Israel’s. Moses says in verse 13, “Fear not. Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today.”
Perhaps that’s one of the beautiful elements of Hebrews 11:29. One person’s faith can be so authentic, so powerful that it can elevate an entire people and secure their deliverance.
The history of the Church is littered with examples. Of course, you have huge names in history: Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Edwards, Bonhoeffer, Lewis, just to name a few.
French historian Elia Levy said at the time of the French Revolution, “English society might also have easily lapsed into anarchy and chaos had it not been for one man, John Wesley.”
George Mueller is credited with caring for 10,000 orphans. David Wilkerson preached the gospel to the gangs of New York City, leading hundreds and thousands of gang members and drug addicts to Christ.
When we read about the great heroes of the faith, their deeds can so often seem incomprehensible, so far out of our reach. But you know what? Maybe they’re not.
George Mueller began his ministry by simply opening his home once a week and inviting street children in for breakfast and Bible stories. God called him, and he was faithful. Caring for 10,000 orphans seems impossible, but opening your home once a week for breakfast and Bible stories, we can do that.
David Wilkerson began his ministry feeling convicted that his two hours of TV a night could be better spent. That’s how he started. And so he committed to spending those two hours a night in prayer instead. God called him, and he was faithful, ministering to gang bangers and leading countless gangsters and drug addicts to Jesus.
Jesus seems impossible, but taking some of our screen time and replacing it with prayer, we can do that.
This truth holds great promise for us. Active, authentic faith can elevate our families, our churches, and our communities. Never underestimate how God can use you if you will simply be faithful. God does not call you to change the world. He does that. He calls you to faith.
Be faithful in what and where he has put you. And if you look around you and all you see is an Egyptian army on one side and the sea on the other, pray and have faith, for it’s God’s battle, and he will fight it. He asks you to have faith.
Let’s go to our next verse, verse 30. “By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.”
So turn with me, if you would, to the first of the history books in the Old Testament, the book of Joshua, chapter six. And let’s familiarize ourselves with exactly what happened here, starting in verse six.
“Now, Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram’s horns before the ark. On the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.'”
Joshua, upon hearing this message, calls the priests and leaders and gives them the Lord’s instructions. All of Israel followed God’s commands. And on the seventh day, when all the people shouted, God collapsed the walls and delivered Jericho into their hands.
Backing up just a bit, Israel had spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness. Now, under the leadership of Joshua, this new generation had crossed the Jordan and was ready to begin their campaign to conquer Canaan and take possession of the Promised Land. Behind Israel, the Jordan River blocked all retreat. And like Cortez burning his own ships, the only way was forward.
Almost none of them had ever seen a fortified city before. And here is what they saw. Archaeologists who excavated the wall in the 1950s described Jericho’s fortification: the mound, or tell of Jericho, was surrounded by a great earthen rampart or embankment with a stone retaining wall at its base. The retaining wall was some 4 or 5 meters, or 12 to 15 feet high. On top of that was a mud brick wall 2 meters, or 6 feet thick and about 6 to 8 meters, or 20 to 26 feet high. At the crest of the embankment was a similar mud brick wall whose base was roughly 14 meters, or 46 feet above the ground level outside the retaining wall.
We can see why the walls are described in Deuteronomy 1:28 as stretching up to heaven. Humanly speaking, breaching the wall was impossible.
In Joshua 5, Joshua goes out alone in the dark of night to scout Jericho, knowing the battle was upon them. Can you imagine the scene that night? What Joshua must have been thinking and feeling? How he must have longed for Moses to talk to him, to ask him for guidance. But Moses wasn’t there. He probably brooded, thinking, planning, finding his courage, knowing his people were fearful, understanding that they would need him to be strong and steadfast.
And suddenly, in the darkness, he detects movement.
Chapter 5, verse 13: “When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his sword drawn in his hand.”
I imagine Joshua’s heart pounding. A lesser man runs, but not Joshua. And Joshua went to him and said, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?”
And he said, “No, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord, and I have come.”
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped him and said to him, “What does my Lord say to his servant?”
And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
The general consensus among commentators believes this commander to be a theophany, which is an appearance of Jehovah in the form of an angelic messenger. Kent Hughes says the following, and he is convinced for several reasons. First, Joshua was told to take off his sandals. The very same command had been given to Moses by God in the burning bush. Second, the commander who spoke to Joshua is identified as the Lord in Joshua 6:2,5. Third, as Origen said in his sixth homily on Joshua, Joshua knew not only that he was of God but that he was God, for he would not have worshiped him had he not recognized him to be God.
These details are important for us because they show Joshua’s frame of mind and how his encounter with God steeled his resolve, knowing that God was with him and fighting on their behalf. In other words, he had a bedrock faith in the Lord and what he would do.
Again, we see how one person’s faith can make all the difference for God’s people. If we would live a life of that same steely resolve, with energetic certainty of God through His word, we too will lift others up to greater faith.
And so it was for Israel. Joshua had been given specific instructions. The army would march in a procession around Jericho. The order: soldiers, seven priests carrying seven ram’s horns called shofars, then the ark, then the people, then more soldiers. The first six days they were to march once around the walls in silence, while the priests blared intermittently on their horns.
On the seventh day, they were to march in silence around the city seven times until Joshua gave the command to shout.
We see these building blocks to Joshua and Israel’s faith overcoming absurdity: belief and obedience. Just natural human skepticism would say, “What? You want us to conquer? How again? We’re going to walk around the city all week and then it’ll fall down? Cool. Okay, it’s wildly absurd.”
And God loves to confound the wisdom of the wise. Obedience to these instructions is certainly an act of faith. As hard as that first day was, can you imagine the second, third, fourth, and so on? Were they close enough, you think, to hear the laughter of the Canaanites? Possibly. How stupid did they feel? How embarrassed they must have felt? Ridiculous. Did they grumble? Probable.
But were they able to overcome the seeming absurdity of their task and believe God’s word, even if reluctantly, and obey? Yes, I think for three reasons.
One, they had a clear message from God.
Two, they had a bold and unwavering example in Joshua.
And three, they had a community in it.
Together, we have advantages that Joshua and the Israelites never had. They may have watched walls crumble, but they never knew that God would love us so much that he would send his Son to be born in a manger, to live a perfect life, to die on a cross, to take our sins on himself and make us acceptable before a holy God and conquer death on the third day.
We have everything we need for belief. We have a much clearer message if we would only read it.
How do we overcome absurdity and develop belief and obedience?
First, by knowing God’s word and having God’s written revelation be our constant and everything else be the variable.
Two, we have a bold and unwavering example in Jesus Christ. Describing Jesus, Scottish theologian James Stewart says this: “He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men. Yet he spoke of coming in the clouds of heaven with the glory of God. He was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at his coming. Yet he was so genial and winsome and approachable that the children loved to play with him and the little ones nestled in his arms. His presence at the innocent gaiety of a village wedding was like the presence of sunshine. No one was half so compassionate to sinners. Yet no one ever spoke such hot scorching words about sin. A bruised reed he would not break. His entire life was love. Yet on one occasion he demanded of the Pharisees how they ever expected to escape the damnation of hell. He was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions. Yet for sheer stark realism, he is all our stark realists. Soundly beaten, he was a servant of all, washing his disciples’ feet. Yet masterfully he strode into the temple, and the hucksters and money changers fell over one another to get away from the madman and the fire they saw blazing in his eyes. He saved others, yet at last he did not save himself. There is nothing in history like the union of contrast which confronts us in the Gospels. The mystery of Jesus is the mystery of divine personality.”
Jesus gives us the ultimate example, the perfect balance of tenderness and strength, of patience and resistance, forgiveness and holiness. Jesus calls us to love one another, have patience with one another, forgive one another, but call each other to radically cut out sin in our lives and to tolerate nothing short.
The only way that we have a fighting chance is if we, third, submit to authentic community—the church.
This body of believers—and how we make sure that our community is authentic—is to work to rid ourselves of the opposite of authenticity: pride.
C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, said he thought pride was the great sin. He’s not alone in that judgment. St. Augustine, in his commentary of Psalm 19, also said he thought pride was the great sin.
I remember a speaker at a men’s conference I attended years ago talking about pride, saying, “When I’m talking about pride, I’m not talking about pride of a job well done or pride you take in your kids when they do something that’s noteworthy. I’m talking about that form of pride that exhibits itself in pretense. We make ourselves look better than we are.”
I think our evangelical subculture can fall into this pattern easily enough. Inadvertently, we may marginalize the struggler in our midst with words like out of fellowship, carnal, backslidden, and so on. While no one says it implicitly, the implication is that you have to be perfect in the community. And since none of us are perfect, we begin to put forth a face that is maybe a little bit better than the reality.
Pretense can set in. “How are you?” “Oh, I’m fine. I’m fine.” Becomes kind of a grace-denying construct.
Anne Lamott, in her book All New People, which is the coming-of-age story of a young girl, has the mother, who is a Christian—kind of a crusty one, but she is a Christian. The girl is caught between her Christian mother and her father, who is an unfaithful father. One day in the book, they are talking about the theme of grace, and the mother says, “To ask about grace and what sound grace might make in a life is like asking, ‘What sound does a one-hand clap make?'”
The daughter says, “Oh, the Japanese have a proverb like that. They ask, ‘What sound does rain make?’ And their answer is, ‘It doesn’t make any sound until it hits something—a hat, an umbrella, a puddle,’ and so on.”
And they don’t complete the loop. You’re left as the reader to say, “Wow, they’re talking about this in the context of grace.”
“What sound does grace make?” Grace doesn’t make any sound until it hits something—a broken heart, an estranged relationship, a life that’s unraveling—honesty.
Ridding ourselves of pride and pretense is imperative if we want to grow in community together. Growing together in community, knowing our failings, acknowledging our brokenness, allows us to spur each other on towards holiness, to fight sin, and to make Jesus known in our communities.
Like Moses, like Joshua, the writer of Hebrews is extolling us. “Go on, keep going. You can do it. You have nothing to fear. Trust God. Follow him.”
Joshua led his people with steadfast faith, faith that metastasized to his people. They marched around Jericho for seven days, and when they shouted, the walls of the mighty city of Jericho fell, and the city was delivered into their hands.
How is your faith? Overcome the awkwardness the world wants you to feel about the commands of God. Grow your faith in God through God’s word with His Spirit, and submit yourself in obedience to God and to the accountability of authentic community.
Lastly, Hebrews 11, verse 31: “By faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.”
We have seen the amazing faith of Joshua and the Israelites as they followed God’s commands, watching as the wall crumbled to them. But not all the wall collapsed, for there was a small portion left standing, a small section connected to the house of a prostitute, a prostitute named Rahab.
To learn why her house was left standing, let’s turn back a few chapters in Joshua to chapter two. Joshua sent out his men to scout the land. Two men had been sent in an especially perilous mission to the city of Jericho. The Amorites of Jericho would have been told of the massing presence of Israel at the Jordan, and they would have been on alert. The spies would have carefully disguised themselves to enter the city, probably doing their best to appear Canaanite Amorite in every way they could.
John Davis, in his book Conquest and Crisis, studying Israel’s conquest, suggests the following: “The Jordan was flooding, so they probably traveled to the north where the fords were easier, then turned southwest to enter Jericho from the west side, the side away from Israel’s growing body. This was advantageous because they would have the cover of the caves in the mountains west of Jericho, and the king would be less likely to detect infiltration from that side.”
Apparently, they were able to enter the city and planned to stay in the house of a prostitute. This was actually a sound plan for a couple of reasons. One, it was commonplace for traveling merchants to lodge at a place like that, and two, it would be uncharacteristic for Jews to be there.
The two spies enter Jericho and arrive at the house of the prostitute. However, obviously their strategy had failed. The text says the king was alerted, which means that someone saw them enter the house, and the prostitute Rahab recognized them immediately.
By all human reasoning, they were doomed. But God had other plans. Rahab, a gentile Canaanite prostitute, would show such active living faith that she would immediately put her own life and the lives of her family on the line and hide the spies. And say this when confronted by the king:
Verse 4: “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, and I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.”
The king sends men out to look for the spies, and Rahab returns to where she had hidden them and says,
Verse 9: “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 two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sion 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 will also 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.”
The spies instruct Rahab to gather her household and tie a scarlet cord to her window as a sign. Rahab helps the spies escape, and the men eventually return to Joshua and report everything that had happened.
So significant was her act of faith that she is one of the final mentions in the hall of faith in Hebrews. Alistair Begg comments on this, saying, “How in the world did Rahab get on the list? I mean, we go through the list. We go, ‘Well, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Noah.’ I say, ‘So far, so good.’ And then it goes, ‘Rahab the prostitute.’ That’s embarrassing. No, it’s not. It’s fantastic. How did you get your name on the list, huh? Because you were such a righteous person? You think God looked down and said, ‘Now there’s a beauty. I’d like him on the team. Wow, there’s a fine girl. Come on, honey, that’s just the kind I’m looking for.’ No. He looked down and found mean, wretched, rebellious scumbags. And you see, the reason that some of us are never going to get our names on the team is because we’re not prepared to admit that we are mean, wretched scumbags. And if you don’t like the name scumbag, I apologize. Why don’t I change it to bag of dirt? Because the fact of the matter is, the very agenda of the late 20th century that reinforces how wonderful I am and how I am this and I am that is the very thing that stands against me discovering the wonder of God, having made me in his image.”
Rahab’s faith had three stages of development: faith’s demonstration, faith’s formation, and faith’s reward.
The first demonstration of Rahab’s faith is complicated because her first act of faith was through a lie—four lies, by my count. She said she didn’t know where they came from. She did. She said they hadn’t. She said they had left. They hadn’t. She said she did not know where they were. She did. She said the guards would surely overtake them. They wouldn’t.
This leads us to a difficult question. Is there such a thing as a noble lie? Plato thought so, and many very respected theologians think so too. Inevitably, when you reason through questions like that, you end up with questions like, “If you were hiding Jews from the Nazis and they come to your door, do you lie?” These are important questions, and they’re hard to answer. And if you think I’m going to be able to answer that question this morning, I’m sorry, I’m not.
Scripture records many such instances—Abram in Egypt in Genesis 12, Jacob in Genesis 27, just to name a few. But you know what? I never see Scripture condone deception. I like the way John Calvin talks about this passage. He says, “As to the falsehood, we must admit that though it was done for a good purpose, it was not free from fault. For those who hold what is called a dutiful lie to be altogether excusable do not sufficiently consider how precious truth is in the sight of God. Therefore, although our purpose may be to assist our brethren, to consult for their safety and relieve them, it can never be lawful to lie, because that cannot be right which is contrary to the nature of God. And God is truth.”
On the whole, it was the will of God that the spies should be delivered, but he did not approve of saving their lives by falsehood. Our Lord never, ever lies. So as his body, we are obligated to live a life according to his example.
The other important distinction of Rahab’s first demonstration of faith is that though she sins, God still uses it for his glory. Rahab’s faith was bold but also new. Her faith walk was still in its infantile stages. As a church, we need to be patient and sympathetic with new believers. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:2, “I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it, and even now you are not ready.”
John Newton, the early father of the evangelical movement in England and author of the famous hymn “Amazing Grace,” continued in the slave trade for over a year after his dramatic conversion. Often, faith is salted with sin. It does not excuse sin, but it does not condemn faith. Be slow to condemn and quick to recognize faith when you see it, especially with new believers. And together we can work towards holiness.
Rahab’s second stage of faith development was her faith formation. The classic symbol that is revealed as the formation of Rahab’s faith is the scarlet cord that she hung from her window. As we read, the two spies promised safety for her household if she would display the red cord in her window.
According to Hughes, recent scholarship has suggested that the scarlet cord may have been the mark of a prostitute and that Rahab lived, so to speak, in the red rope district. It is also noted that since the Hebrew word for rope is the same as the word for hope and most often means hope, there may be an intentional pun here. Her scarlet rope signified a new hope of deliverance by God.
It’s also hard to ignore the strong symbolism of the Passover. Some 40 years before, just as the Israelites had put blood over their doorposts to protect their family from death, so Rahab did for hers. Francis Schaeffer says, “When the children of Israel were about to leave Egypt, they were given the blood of the Passover lamb, under which to be safe. When the people were about to enter the Promised Land, they were met by a different but parallel sign—a red cord hanging from the window of a believer.”
Rahab’s words show that she was completely trusting. In verse 21, she said, “According to your words, so be it.” Then she sent them away, and they departed. She tied the scarlet cord in the window. She had absolute trust in God and the messengers that he had sent into her home. She believed that judgment was coming and that salvation awaited her.
How would our faith change and grow if we had absolute confirmation of God’s judgment and absolute conviction in our own salvation? Rahab also shows us that no one is outside God’s reach. She did not let her past convince her that she was disqualified from faith. Anyone can come to faith.
And God calls many who we would look at and say, “Really? Him, huh?” He can and will call that deadbeat dad, that drug addict, that prostitute. Her story means there is hope for all sinners. And better yet, it means there’s hope for you.
Can you believe that God called you with all of your baggage? He called you and set you apart for his glory. Hallelujah. Praise God.
As the hymn says, “Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father. There is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not; thy compassions they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.”
Lastly, Rahab’s faith reaped three rewards. First, she saved two Israeli spies who brought back a message of encouragement to the people. This positive report uplifted and strengthened the faith and resolve of those hearing the report.
Verse 24: “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.'”
Second, God secured her salvation for her faith. Joshua 6:25: “But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.”
Rahab’s faith not only saved her in the physical sense but also in the spiritual sense as she was grafted into God’s covenant. People speaking of that.
Lastly, she was given one of the greatest honors of all. Matthew 1 records that Rahab would go on to marry an Israelite by the name of Salmon. Together they had a son named Boaz. Yes, that Boaz, the godly, faithful man known for his kindness, compassion, and generosity. Rahab’s son would marry Ruth. Rahab’s grandson would be named Obed. Her great-grandson Jesse would. And her great-great-grandson would be called David, the King.
Of course, that is not the greatest king in her line, as some 28 generations after King David, we find ourselves where we were Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.'”
There is no greater honor than to be written into the genealogy of Christ. While that is not possible for us, this great honor does teach us an important lesson. Think of the brokenness that Rahab had experienced in her life that led her to a life of prostitution. Amorite culture was said to be one of the most sinful, debauched, evil cultures in history. What must it have been like to be a prostitute in that culture?
Yet God got a hold of her and did a work in that woman’s heart. And the brokenness that she had experienced, perhaps for generations, stopped with her, and faithfulness would flow for generations. You are not saddled with your brokenness. Some of you come from godly parents. You’re in the middle of the line, like Boaz or Obed or Jesse. You’re in the middle of a great line of faith. Rejoice in that; determine and earnestly pray for that line of faith to continue.
But some of you, like me, are from brokenness. Some of you, perhaps great brokenness. This should be great news for you. It can stop with you. Be the wedge that severs the chain of generational pain. Be Rahab, whose active, all-consuming faith was used by God to save her and her family, end her enslavement to a former life, and set up her new identity in Christ to not only follow him but for many generations to come.
Hebrews encourages its readers to consider the supremacy of Christ. He encourages our faith to be steadfast, to have endurance, to trust him. Hebrews gives us examples of great heroes of the faith to help spur us on to vibrantly live for Christ.
The example of Moses: his faith saved his people. His faith rallied his people across the Red Sea and secured their deliverance. He shows us that one person’s faith can be so authentic, so powerful that it can elevate an entire generation.
The example of Joshua and the fall of Jericho: God’s word is our constant. The wisdom of the world is ever-changing. Sometimes that means that we look foolish in the eyes of the world. Be prepared for that. Remain steadfast in what the Bible says to be true.
In the example of Rahab, our faith should be vibrant. God has called us to himself. He has saved us and given us faith to live for him. Living that faith will always be messy and imperfect. But we persevere. We take that living faith into our home, into our church, into our community. And with the Lord’s help and with much prayer, it will stand as a century for faithful generations to come.
Let’s pray together.
Father, Lord, we are humbled by your examples to us. Father, we are so grateful that you have given us your word that we can read from not only these great examples but the example of Christ. Father, I pray that we would have faith, that it would be vibrant, that it would lead us to compassion, to obedience, and that we would love you so much that we just can’t possibly keep it to ourselves.
Lord, may that spur us on to evangelize in our communities and to be steadfast for our families. That, Lord, under your mercy, there may be generations of faith that follow. I pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.