Willingness of God to Save

The Willingness of God to Save

The Bible records the history of real people doing real things. And God blesses those who believe in Him.

"By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace." Hebrews 11:31

"Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." James 2:25-26

1. Who was Rahab?

Rahab was the Great-grandmother of King David. She was a Canaanite. Josephus said she was an innkeeper. Certainly God directed the spies to her house. She acted on her faith. She risked her life by protecting the Jewish spies. Think what would have happened if the spies had been found hiding in her house. She and her family became part of the Jewish Nation.

"Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king." Matt 1:5-6

a) God ordered the destruction of Jericho.

"Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there." Josh 2:1

"And the men of Reuben, the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. About forty thousand prepared for war crossed over before the Lord for battle, to the plains of Jericho." Josh 4:12-13

b) Rahab protected the spies.

"Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and said to the men: "I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath."

Joshua 2:8-11

c) God saved Rahab and all her family.

"But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, "Go into the harlot's house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her." And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel." Josh 6:22-23

2. God uses tribulation in ways we cannot understand.

"But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows."

Mark 13:7-8

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33

"Erastus stayed in Corinth, but Trophimus I have left in Miletus sick." 2 Tim 4:20

"It makes no sense to claim that God could have created life without suffering if suffering of some form or another, to some degree or another, is built-in to life itself. Think, for example, of aging--all of us are aging, we are in a process that ultimately leads to a total physical and maybe even breakdown of our mind. Thus, the dimension of suffering is present throughout our lives." Sobrino

"We too must look at each trial by itself, instead of taking it in connection with the whole plan of our salvation, as if a traveller were to complain of the steepness and roughness of one turn in the path, without considering that it led him into green pastures, on the direct road to the city of habitation." —Jamieson- Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary