“I know that the LORD has given you the land…For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water… and what you did to the two kings…whom you utterly destroyed…and as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted…for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.” Joshua 2:9-11.
Meet Rahab the prostitute of Jericho. I don’t introduce her that way to shame her but I’m repeating the Bible’s introduction of her. Her home is located and built into the wall of Jericho with a watch area where she can see everything. We know several things about her…she is a sinner looking for a way out… she lives among people who do not follow God exclusively but allow many gods into their lives…she has heard of the miracles that God has performed for His chosen people…she is confident in God’s favor among His children. Lastly, she wants what they have…the power of God within them and the victory of freedom among them. But Rahab knew something that we need to know today. She knew that life apart from God would lead to death. She knew that in order to have God she would have to watch for God and His movement in her life. She fully understood that by choosing to help the people of God she would have to risk the very life she had fashioned for her family. On that day she made a choice between the old and the new…she made a choice between being a leader of faith or a passive pawn…she made a choice to risk everything to gain everything. She hung a scarlet cord in the window as a sign of promise and protection once Jericho was attacked. “‘…when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window…and whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him’…and she bound the scarlet cord in the window.” Joshua 2:18-21.
How different are we all these years later living in our own self-made Jericho’s? We have a list of sins for which we too feel shame. We want a new way…a new focus…a rescue and a new life from our past circumstances. We also live in a culture where so many false gods are exalted, and the One true God is forgotten. We look at those devoted Christians who give their lives over to Christ and put His will ahead of their own. We see the miracles that God has performed for others and we want the same for our own lives. How can we have the same level of intimacy and favor that the people in our passage this morning had so many years ago? We can boldly stand on our own watch towers looking for the movement of God. Through the sacrifice of Jesus and the blood He shed for us we have a scarlet cord that runs through each of us once we have asked Him to come into our hearts. If we want to find the favor of God, we must set aside daily time to fellowship with Him.
We are God’s blessed children because His first born made a way for us to receive our abundant inheritance on earth and later in Heaven. May we boldly choose to display our ‘scarlet cord’ for all to see as we live out God’s best for us. If we want a life of freedom we must let go of the cord of this world and take hold of the scarlet cord of Christ.
“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life…” De 30:19-20
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