Joshua: God's Power at Work in Your Life

 #2 - Rahab: God’s Secret Agent

Joshua 2:1-24

By Rev. John R. Hannem, Calvary Baptist Church, North Sydney, NS – July 20^th 2008

_______________________________________________________________________________________

   One of the new movies in theatres this summer is a remake of the old TV show Get Smart. I enjoyed that TV show in my younger years and couldn’t wait to see it on the big screen. Sure enough there was Agents 86 using his shoe phone and forcing his boss to employ "the cone of silence," something that as always ended in comedic disaster and usually culminated with Don Adams famous line … “Sorry ‘bout that chief”.

   I guess we all like spies. I think many of us secretly wish we could be one, because television and movies tell us that the life of a spy is full of excitement and glamour. Plus they always have those amazing gadgets and disguises that take them on adventures where they save the world on a regular basis.

   Well, this morning we are going to be looking at a spy story. Our story contains all the thrills of your typical spy novel. But this story is not a work of fiction. It's not a TV show or a movie or a best-selling novel. No, this spy story really happened and it is recorded, not in some sealed top secret CISIS file, but in the Bible.

Turn to Joshua 2, and read this true story with me.

READ JOSHUA 2:1-24

   This story takes place where we left off last week in our study of the book of Joshua. Moses has died and Joshua is now in charge. He's about to lead the people of Israel across the Jordan river and enter the land of Canaan. Five hundred years earlier God had promised Abraham that He would establish his descendants in this land, which is why it is referred to as "the Promised Land" and the people of Israel are finally about to  lay claim to this land that God had said all along would be theirs.  And, like any good commander, before the invasion begins Joshua wanted to gather information about the enemy. So, as it says in verse 1, "Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. [He told them] 'Go, look over the land-especially Jericho.'" 

   Now the Hebrew nation was camped about seven miles east of the Jordan. Jericho was located about seven miles west of the Jordan almost directly opposite them. And Joshua specifically mentioned this city as the focus of this particular mission because it was a fortress city guarding the pass leading westward into the mountainous regions of Canaan. Conquering Jericho would give Israel an important foothold into the Promised land, which is no doubt the reason Jericho was so fortified in the first place.

   And in Joshua's mind it was important to find out as much as possible about it's defensive capabilities before they mounted an attack. No doubt Joshua wanted these spies to bring him information about Jericho's walls and gates, its state of preparation, the number of inhabitants, the size of its army, etc.

   Well, the time had now come. The Amorites had used their God-given freedom of choice to sin, to turn away from God, such that their culture had degenerated past the point of no return, degenerated to the point that it had reached God's maximum tolerance level. Understand: our Heavenly Father didn't cause this to happen but He knew it would, so He had promised this land to the people of Israel.

   I also want you to note that the activities of these spies were absolutely top secret. Unlike the 12 spies who had entered Canaan 40 years ago, the work of these two was known only to Joshua. Not even the Israelites knew of their assignment. Verses 23-24 tell us they were to report back to Joshua and Joshua only.

And understand: He wasn't asking them for feedback, just to gather the information and get it back to him. So only Joshua knew they were going, and only he would hear their report when they returned.

   So these two men probably left camp under the cover of darkness in the wee hours of the morning while everyone was asleep, and they were able to enter Jericho undetected. It was a large city with people coming and going all the time. Perhaps they posed as traveling merchants or traders.

   Verse 1 says that once they were within the city's thick walls, they entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and they stayed there. Now that sounds like something James Bond would do, but not two Jewish spies. So why would two members of God's chosen nation enter a house of ill repute?

   Well, there are several potential reasons. First, the presence of strangers in this kind of establishment would not arouse undue suspicion. I mean foreigners, travelers, were common there so they wouldn't stand out. Plus, someone in Rahab's line of work would be knowledgeable of what was happening in the city. I mean a house of ill repute would be a good place to gather information.

   And then, the fact that the house was located on the top of the wall would make it a great place to complete their assignment. They could look out over the city and monitor troop movements and defenses.

   Another reason to choose her house was that it offered a method of escape since it was located on the exterior city wall which meant it's windows faced outward.

   But I think the main reason they went to Rahab's house was that God led them there. We'll talk more about this later but for now suffice it to say that God sent them there because He knew the desires of Rahab’s heart. He knew she yearned to know Him and serve Him.

   Well, unfortunately the spies failed in their efforts to remain undetected. Perhaps their disguises weren't good enough or maybe someone overheard as they identified themselves to Rahab. But someone found them out and told the king. The king immediately dispatched soldiers to Rahab's house, no doubt expecting Rahab to do her patriotic duty and turn the spies in. But instead she hid the men under stalks of flax.

   Well, when the guards came looking for these spies Rahab said they weren't there and sent the soldiers on a wild goose chase. Now, in my study I found that commentary writers argue over whether or not Rahab sinned by lying to these soldiers. And I'm no scholar but I for one would say no, she did not sin. I mean, many people have been honored for deceiving the enemy in war time, and this was a time of war. In my mind, she was simply resisting an evil, corrupt government to protect people who were serving God.

   Plus, the Bible does teach that it's okay to lie in order to deceive a godless government. Exodus 1 tells of the time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt and their nation grew so that the Pharaoh told the midwives to kill any baby boys that were born. But verse 17 says that the midwives feared God and did not do what the Pharaoh had asked. When he summoned them to ask why, they lied and said, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women. They are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive." And verse 20 tells how God felt about their deception. It says, "So God was kind to the midwives..."

   A more modern day example of this can be found in the life experiences of Corrie Ten Boom. In her book The Hiding Place Corrie tells of her father, a devout Christian man who hid Jews in his home and helped smuggle them out of the country. His pastor came by and urged him not to do these things, saying, "Christians must obey the law." But, Father Ten Boom responded by saying that Christians are to obey God first, above any human law that conflicts with His laws.

   Well, after the soldiers left, Rahab asked the spies to spare her life and the lives of her family when the city was destroyed. And the spies agreed. As a secret code, they instructed her to leave a scarlet rope hanging in the window of her home so that the Jewish army would know not to destroy it and then she helped them escape via a rope from a window on the wall giving them instructions so that they could avoid capture and return to Joshua and the rest of the army.

   Okay, that is basically the story. Now what can we learn from it, or, in keeping with our spy theme: What vital information did these Israeli agents uncover in their operation?

(1) First, they discovered that lost people notice when God is at work in His people.

   After the soldiers left on their wild goose chase, Rahab spoke to the two spies. She told them that she had heard of the miracles that God had been doing for the people of Israel. Somehow this lost, pagan woman had heard about the mighty works of God and it made her believe in His power. In fact she spoke of the takeover of Canaan by the Hebrews as if it were already an accomplished fact. Look at verse 9 of chapter 2 where she says to them, "I know that the Lord has given this land to you." Rahab also said that all of Jericho was afraid of the people of Israel. Listen to her words: "...a great fear has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you."

   In short, Rahab and her countrymen saw God at work in and through His people! And unlike her fellow Amorites, Rahab's response was to leave her sinful lifestyle and embrace a personal faith in God. In essence Rahab said, I believe "the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below."

   And this reminds us that, even today, when people like Rahab see things happening in the lives of other people that can only be explained by their relationship with God, well it makes them yearn to have that kind of relationship with God as well. They believe that God really is God because they see His people doing things that could only be explained by His presence and power. Rahab heard with her own ears and then saw with her own eyes the power of God working in and through His people. This made her long to know Him. So, the investigative work of these spies helps us to see that a genuine, deep, faith-relationship with God involves an individual or group of individuals trusting God enough to allow Him to use them to do things, things they could not do on their own. When we foster this kind of co-laborer relationship with God the world pays attention. And it makes them hunger to know God as well.

   Now, how many of you have heard someone say, "God will never ask me to do something I can't do?" I have. I have even said it myself a time or two. And I wish I hadn't-because that statement is simply not true! If I have real faith in God, He will ask me to do things I can't do! Throughout Scripture we see God continually giving people tasks that they could not accomplish on their own strength.

   He ordered Gideon to reduce the size of his army from 32,000 to 300 so that it would be obvious that this great victory had God's power as it's source.

   He empowered Samson to defeat an entire Philistine army using only the jaw bone of a mule as a weapon.

   Jesus commissioned His first followers, a handful of men and women, to turn the world upside down and then empowered them to do exactly that. 2 Corinthians 4:7 says God does this, "to show that the power is from Him and not from us."

Henry Blackaby writes, "The kind of assignments God gives are always God-sized. They are always beyond what people can do, because He wants to demonstrate His nature, His strength, His provision, and His kindness to His people and to a watching world."

   Well, people are watching. And when they see you and I doing things that can only be explained by the power of God, it awakens their hunger for faith as it did in the heart of Rahab. The world pays attention when we let God use us to accomplish God-sized tasks. Maybe it’s the way you respond to an illness or a hardship or the death of a loved one with an incomprehensible faith-fueled hope. I mean a genuine faith relationship with our living God is one in which people look at the way you live your life and say, "God is in that. God is doing something in that person's life."

   Now think about it. What kind of faith relationship do you have with God? Rahab's faith story shows that if we lift God up by allowing Him to do impossible things through us, our peers will notice, and they will be drawn to Jesus! Romans 10:17 says that "faith comes by hearing..." Well, what are people hearing about you and your faith? What God-sized thing is God doing in your life?

(2) The second thing these spies discovered is that God reveals Himself to people who seek Him.

  I mean, they learned the amazing fact that God's love wasn't limited to the Hebrew people. They learned-even before Peter penned these words-that "God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

   They saw that God loved even the Amorites, that it was they who rejected Him, not the other way around. They discovered this because when this Amorite woman sought God, He answered. When she reached out to God, she found Him reaching back to her! These spies learned that as God says in Jeremiah 29:13, "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart." They found that as Isaiah 30:18 says, "The Lord longs to be gracious...He rises to show compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him."

   God knew that Joshua didn't really need to know all about the city's defenses. God knew how He was going to enable them to conquer that fortified city. But He didn't stop Joshua from sending the spies, did He? Well, why did he let Joshua send those men on an unnecessary and potentially dangerous mission?

   God did it because their mission (unbeknownst to even them) was not to scout the city's defenses but rather to get to Rahab, this woman that God knew longed to know Him.

   The situation here is similar to that in John 4:4 where we are told that Jesus, "had to go through Samaria." Well, Jesus didn't have to take the Samaritan road because it was the only road to Galilee; it was not. Usually another way was taken. No, He had to take that road because there was a seeker, a lonely woman thirsty for God, residing there. And so Jesus entered Samaria to save that woman and the rest of her village who would respond to His message. Well, in a similar way these two spies were sent to Jericho to save Rahab. That is why they had to go to Jericho.

   At this point, let me remind you of a very important principle, something all Christians should never forget. In a very real sense you are a stranger here on this fallen world! You live in a dangerous, fallen world as an alien behind enemy lines. This isn't your real home; you're just here on temporary assignment. You may think you are here to make a living. You may think you are here to enjoy your leisure time. But the real reason you are here is to make an eternal difference in the lives of lost people by telling them about the love of Jesus.

And the best agents-the most mature Christians-know this. So they are always listening for the Spirit's call to go and witness to a seeker. They know that they could get orders at any moment-orders to minister to a friend, or a co-worker or a neighbor-someone who yearns to know God. So, as Peter puts it, they are always prepared, "to give an answer to everyone who asks them to give the reason for the hope that they have."(1 Peter 3:15)

   Do you get my drift here? We don't have to wish we were secret agents, because in a very real sense, we already are! So, be ready, be attentive, because you could get orders any day and every day because this world is full of Rahabs, lost people, people who have heard of God and want to know Him but don't know how.

(3) And then one final thing this spy adventure can teach us is that our salvation is based on the grace alone.

   Think of it. Rahab had nothing going for her, humanly speaking. She didn't deserve to know God. She was a gentile-a foreigner to the covenant between God and the Hebrew people. She was an Amorite, part of a corrupt and vile nation that had been marked for destruction, people who sacrificed children in their depraved religious practices. She was a prostitute, someone who made their living by breaking God's law.

   Yet when she reached out to God, in His amazing grace our Heavenly Father reached back and not only saved her but used her life in a powerful way. You see, after the literal fall of Jericho, Rahab was taken back to live with the people of Israel. She married a Jewish man named Salmon whom tradition says was one of those two spies (this is the romance aspect of this spy story) and together they had a son named Boaz. Boaz was the husband of Ruth and the father of Obed which would make him Rahab's grandson. And Obed was the father of Jesse, who was her great grandson. And Jesse was the father of King David- which makes David Rahab’s great, great grandson. And not only that, but as Matthew Chapter 1 reminds us, out of the line and lineage of David and his great great grandmom, came Jesus, the Christ, the only Son of God.

   So in His amazing grace God used Rahab, in spite of her sin. She's a perfect example of the principle of grace that we find in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 where Paul says, "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; .and the base things of the world and the things which are despised. "

So, Rahab's life shows that we don't receive God's gift because we deserve it. We aren't given eternal, abundant life because of what we do, but because of our faith in what He has done we are saved because of our faith in His grace, His power.

   Do you remember the secret code that the spies gave Rahab to prevent her home from destruction when the city fell? She was to hang a scarlet chord out her window, and if she did her life would be spared. In my mind this is a symbol of the fact that we too are saved from destruction by our faith in the crimson blood of Jesus. As 1 John 1:7 says, "The blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin."

   This morning if you've never responded to God's grace. If you've never confessed your faith in Jesus, then do so. Come, just as you are and ask God to forgive you of your sin and help you start over in life. Rahab would tell you that God longs to do that for you!

   Maybe you are a Christian here and you want to start over in your walk with God. You realize that you've been playing it safe and now you want to have enough faith to let God do God-sized tasks through your life. Why not make that commitment right now by saying, "God I want people to look at my life and see You at work. Give me the faith I need to make this happen."

#336 – Jesus I Come