Wouldn't you want something more easily seen and identified
than a scarlet cord as the sign not to kill you and your family? Such a small thing could be either missed or
mistaken, but that was the agreed upon sign that this house was Rahab's house
and all who were in it would be saved from the massacre of the city of
Jericho. Do you see the echo of Passover
in this obedience? She and her family
were gathered in her house and this insignificant sign meant that they would be
safe if these men, these spies, returned and were faithful to their word. The Israelites, on the night of Passover, had
to trust the scarlet blood on the doorposts of their homes for their own safety
and now this Gentile prostitute obediently believes and gathers her family to
this place of safety in the midst of death.
The spies return with a simple message, “Truly the Lord has given all
the land into our hands. And also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away
because of us.” In today's parlance,
"Let's roll."
Do you realize that all you have, your gifts, talents,
friends, family, house, cars, job, everything, is a gift from God? Without His provision you would have none of
those things. In this parable, Jesus tells
of three servants who were given stewardship over their master's possessions
and two are commended for increasing the value of his assets in his absence
while one hoarded what was entrusted to him and refused to risk it at any level
and was called wicked and slothful by the master. What are you doing with all the Lord has
given you? Are you investing these
things for your own benefit of for the kingdom?
Are you perhaps afraid of Him and therefore doing nothing lest you fail? Let today be the day you, like Rahab, begin
to risk everything for the sake of Him who gives all things. Come out of selfishness and fear and into
faith.
Rahab, a Gentile, was the first person we know of who was
grafted into Israel after the covenant at Sinai when the nation was truly
constituted. She was grafted in by
faith, the faith that led her to harbor these Israelite spies, the faith in
their God that led her to confess their fear, and the faith to hang that
scarlet cord in the window of her home.
Paul writes with obvious love for his fellow Israelites who have
rejected Messiah, Jesus. He knows that
once he was one of them not only in the covenant but also in rejection. He knows too that covenants with God are
irrevocable and everlasting and that the Gentiles are coming in as part of the
same covenant and they are coming through faith in God who sent His Son for redemption
of the world. His words are to not
become proud and to take nothing for granted.
God's severity in rejecting those covenant partners who will not believe
has become kindness to the Gentiles but both His severity and His merciful
lovingkindness must always be borne in tension.
Let us give thanks to the One who has loved us enough to save us
eternally.
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