25 Hour Answer that Prostitute Rahab Experienced (Joshua 2:8-13) 4/2/2023
The 25 Hour Answer of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd RUTC:
25 Hour Answer that Prostitute Rahab Experienced (Joshua 2:8-13) 4/2/2023
The 25-hour answer if God’s absolute power, and the absolute blessings and answers that come from it. The world calls it miracles, and in theology, they call it supernatural providence. In other words, it is the evidence that God is alive. No matter how difficult the world is, or how weak and lacking my life may be, if we can enjoy the works of God, nothing will be a problem.
What is the miracle of all miracles? Many supernatural works are important, but the most important miracle is when a person goes through change. Can a person really change? No one can change on their own. However, it is possible when God works. This is not about the change is one’s personality or character. God changes the fate of a person, and everything thereafter.
The representative model from the passage is Rahab. Rahab was a woman that enjoyed at least three absolute blessings.
First, she was the only woman that received salvation when the city of Jericho was under complete destruction. We are within that. When Christ returns and the entire world faces judgement, we are the ones who received salvation.
Second, this woman had been ignored and oppressed by people but became a precious woman before God.
Prostitute means that she sold food and alcohol, as well as her body. A woman like this became one of the figures of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11. The lowest became the most precious, and the worthless became the worthiest. God desires to bless and use us who are lacking in this way even today.
Third, the world was changed through this woman. When the fate of one woman changed, through her descendants came King David, and later, Christ himself. Why did it have to be a woman like Rahab? That is the power of the gospel, and if we are inside the gospel, we can also be used this way. That is the blessing of the throne and the 25-hour answer.
- How were miracles like this possible? It was God’s absolute sovereignty that chose this woman and gave her grace.
The important thing is that God chose this woman, and when God gave her grace, it was her choice and her response.
1) Rahab chose salvation.
God surely gives us a chance to receive salvation. Then what is this salvation?
① It goes beyond merely going to church, receiving consolation, and going to heaven when we die. Salvation in simple words is changing our fate that we couldn’t ever escape. All the problems we face, failures, pain, tears are all part of our fate. If our fate does not change, all of that will be passed down to our children (Exodus 20:4-5). There are three reasons that cause our fate (original sin, sins of our ancestors, Satan that works in the background). If we do not meet God, we will suffer from these.
② The one who solved this curse is Christ. Because mankind cannot solve it, the Son had to come down himself, die and resurrect. He comes to us even today to give us that salvation that changes our fate through Christ (Revelation 3:20). Rahab was able to realize the way of salvation through the spies, and she accepted them (Hebrews 11:31). That is why that one evangelist is important. It changes one’s fate, as well as the future of the world.
③ How does Rahab’s fate change? We are no longer a part of the people that are under destruction. Our lives are no longer meant to be lived as a prostitute and end there. That woman is now a child of God (John 1:12), a people of God (Ephesians 2:19), and will be used as a witness in front of the world.
2) Rahab chose the covenant. Rahab asked the two spies for a certain proof the promise (12). That symbol was the scarlet cord (18, 21).
① What does this scarlet cord represent? It is the covenant of the blood of Christ that finished all curses. When Jericho fell, and all was under judgement, no one could touch Rahab and her family that hung the scarlet cord.
② When we hold onto this accurate covenant of Christ, our past, present, and future problems all end. It does not matter if we have an embarrassing past. It does not matter if we face hardships today. It does not matter if we face problems tomorrow. When we hold onto the covenant of the blood of Christ, no problem can oppress or destroy us. This is experiencing Mount Calvary. The Israelites experienced this in Egypt (Exodus 12:27), and they experienced this again while being circumcised during the war in Canaan (Joshua 5:9).
3) Rahab chose the future and eternity.
① In a way, Rahab becoming a person of God means she will be a traitor to the Canaanites. This is something that the 1st generation who received the gospel may go through. Only when they look to the future that God has prepared, can they overcome that.
② Although it may seem like a loss, like we are facing injustice, and we are being shamed, but that will undoubtedly come as fruitful blessings. Rahab becomes the ancestor of the royal family of David, and the fact that we was able to stand in the line of the most precious individuals was her choice and the fruit that came from it (Galatians 6:7-8). This is why we store up everything in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20), and look towards not earthly things, but things from above (throne) (Colossians 3:1-4).
- Now, what must we do with this blessing?
We must build a bartizan. A bartizan is a space and time for God to work in my life, problem, and field. Although it seemed coincidental, Rahab’s house was under Jericho’s bartizan. Rahab’s life became a bartizan.
1) We must build a bartizan that saves ourselves (bartizan of prayer).
Everything becomes a conflict and difficulty if there is no one-on-one time and space to meet with God. One crumble when problems come. The Triune God fulfills the three blessings that save me. God’s image becomes restored in me (Genesis 1:27), God’s power comes upon me (Genesis 2:7), and God’s government and blessing comes upon all things (Genesis 2:18). This needs to be set as my spiritual system in whatever problems that come, in my day to day, and even in during travel.
2) We must build a bartizan for my family, church, and posterity (bartizan of evangelism).
My household, church, and posterity are connected. My household is the church. When gathering, it becomes a temple church. The posterity is the future church. When a historical figure comes forth from a household, someone becomes a bartizan, and a watchman is raised there. When you pray looking upon the throne, an answer that transcends time and space comes, and doors of evangelism open as the power of light takes place.
3) We must build a bartizan for my region and the five thousand people groups (bartizan of missions).
Two spies went to Jericho and met a disciple like Rahab. David and Christ, who saved the world, came through her descendants. It said that Rahab kindly served the spies (verse 12). The blessing Rahab enjoyed was the fruit of kindly serving the evangelist (Matthew 10:40-42). This is why serving evangelists is important. Our posterity will arise as missionaries that look to the 237 this way.
Conclusion – We may be shameful and lowly people like Rahab, the prostitute. God raised Rahab and established a household and family line that saved the age and changed the world. May we be in that blessing and answer.