Rahab’s Window
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Read Joshua 2
Windows are functional as well as spiritual examples. In a functional sense, Windows during biblical times provided ventilation and light during the day. there are exchanges that place in a window whether its light or air. There was no glass, but the consistent exchange of natural elements wether in or out of the home.
Many of us have alot of interactions with our windows. We get neighborhood gossip from the window, We drip water bombs from the window, we interact with our neighborhood, our community from the window. In my home, you had to prop open the window using a stick. We watch cars ride down the street, look at fireworks, see crimes committed, and even at times need windows as a way of escape from hurt, harm or danger.
Windows could be opportunities open or lost opportunities (shut)
but there is one window we will look at today, Rahab’s Window
Through Rahab's Window
Through Rahab's Window
Bible Passage: Joshua 2
Bible Passage: Joshua 2
Summary: The story of Rahab in Joshua 2 showcases God's faithfulness and mercy towards unlikely individuals who demonstrate faith and courage in Him.
Application: This passage reminds us that God can use anyone, regardless of their past or background, for His purposes. It encourages believers to step out in faith and trust God's plan even in the midst of uncertainty and difficulty.
Teaching: The story of Rahab teaches us about the power of faith and the importance of taking risks for God. It also emphasizes God's sovereignty and how He can work through unexpected circumstances to fulfill His promises.
How this passage could point to Christ: Rahab's act of faith and her inclusion in the lineage of Christ (Matthew 1:5) point to Jesus as the ultimate Savior who welcomes all who believe in Him.
Big Idea: God uses unlikely individuals who demonstrate faith and courage for His purposes, showcasing His sovereignty and faithfulness.
Recommended Study: In your Logos library, you may want to explore the cultural context of Rahab's profession as a harlot in the ancient Near East and how it shaped her interactions with the spies. Additionally, you could delve into the theological implications of Rahab's inclusion in the line of Christ and what it reveals about God's redemptive plan throughout history.
1. Window of Faith
1. Window of Faith
Joshua 2:1-7.
The courageous decision of Rahab to protect the spies is now dramatized for the reader (vv.3–7). What Rahab now does is a clear picture of forsaking her former life, of turning to the Lord and becoming identified with the people of God. The king immediately sent an armed guard to Rahab’s house and ordered her to identify the spies (v.3). But note her courage and her first signs of faith in God (vv.4–6):
⇒ She hid the spies (v.4).
⇒ She admitted the strangers had come, but she denied knowing that they were spies (v.4).
⇒ She stated that they had left the city before nightfall and before the closing of the gate; however, she did not know where they were going (v.5).
⇒ She suggested that they might be caught if the armed guards pursued them quickly (v.5).
⇒ She had actually hidden the spies on her roof under some stalks of flax (v.6).
Flax was used to make yarn and linen cloth. After being harvested, it was often stacked high on the rooftops of houses to dry out.
Thought 1. Rahab risked her life to save the two Israelite spies. But this was not all: she was committing treason against her own people. Why? What would make her forsake her former life and turn to the Lord, becoming identified with the people of God? She made a courageous decision to turn away from the evil and corruption of the Canaanites, a courageous decision to turn to God and become identified with the people of God.
The window Faith (spiritual) will make you forsake this world. It takes courage to look through the windows of faith to identify with something or someone different that what you know.
24 By faith, when he grew up, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be ill-treated with the people of God than to enjoy sin’s fleeting pleasure. 26 He regarded abuse suffered for Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for his eyes were fixed on the reward.
Real faith requires action. You cannot let this window close on you today!
2226We believe that men are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith which is alone. They are saved by faith without works, but not by a faith which is without works.—21.25, 26
Charles SpurgeonJames 2:14 (NET)
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith save him?
We can talk about it(faith) but we have to be about it. Faith changes us. It makes us do the unusual.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
The prostitute who was every mans woman uncommitted to no one has made a commitment to the God of Israel.
The prostitute saw the window of faith and walked through that window.
Question: What have you been a prostitute to in your life that you need to believe in Jesus for?
31 Throw away from yourselves all of your transgressions that you committed, and make for yourselves a new heart and new spirit, and so why will you die, house of Israel?
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 53:6 (NASB 95)
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
Some who is gone and turned to his own way have a lifestyle committed to evil.
The window of faith leads to a changed life and commit you to Jesus.
Do you want to change your prostiting ways and turn to Jesus . Rahab the prostitute did , by walking through the window of faith, so can you.
2. Window of Mercy
2. Window of Mercy
12 So now, promise me this with an oath sworn in the Lord’s name. Because I have shown allegiance to you, show allegiance to my family. Give me a solemn pledge13 that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and rescue us from death.” 14 The men said to her, “If you die, may we die too! If you do not report what we’ve been up to, then, when the Lord hands the land over to us, we will show unswerving allegiance to you.”
Grace is shown to the undeserving; mercy is compassion to the miserable. Thus the synonym for mercy is compassion. Mercy, however, is not simply feeling compassion. Mercy exists when something is done to alleviate distress.
R. Kent Hughes
Joshua 2:8-14
Rahab is testifying about why she acted the way she did. The fear of the Lord traveled through the grapevine of some thing called a testimony.
God has a testimony. this special revelation chronicles for us historically some of the things God has done.
8 Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof,
9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.
10 “For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.
11 “When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
They( the people of Jericho was demoralized in v9
In v11, They have lost their will to fight!
We need to look at the hand of God in our world and see what He is doing.
Rahab believed the testimony about God, believed exactly what she had heard about the living and true God.
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Rahab believed God, and knew her life was in danger.
There is a potential word play within the text.
Joshua 2:12–14 (NASB95)
12 “Now therefore, please swear to me by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth,
13 and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”
14 So the men said to her, “Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the Lord gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.”
Rahab knew that Jericho was doomed for destruction. I believe that Rahab actions had already secured her salvation because she believed by covering the spies. She’s asking for more.
Rahab is asking for an oath! a covenant of sorts. Why because she wants the spies to swear by the Lord’s name for kindness since she has already demonstrated faith in Israel’s God by covering you ( the spies)
6 (Now she had taken them up to the roof and had hidden them in the stalks of flax she had spread out on the roof.)
20 And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.
Rahab is playing chess not checkers. I covered you , now you cover me and my fathers’s household!
hesed means loving kindness, loyal love. She showed her love for Yahwah by covering the spies, and now she wants the spies to cover her from the impeding destruction.
she knows that the rain of God’s Judgement has fallen on Jericho, but now she is asking for an unbrella for her fathers household,
13 that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and rescue us from death.”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”
8 Crispus, the president of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard about it believed and were baptized.
If God can take a whore like Rahab and cover her, he can cover you! You and I need to not just believe for salvation in eternity, but confess him down here on earth so He can cover us from the raqin of hell thats falling right now.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
9 because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
I need his mercy
For the concept of **"the mercy of God"** in the Bible, an acronym could be:
**M.E.R.C.Y.** – *Majestic, Everlasting, Redeeming, Compassionate, Yahweh.*
- **Majestic**: God's mercy is powerful and glorious.
- **Everlasting**: His mercy endures forever (Psalm 136.1
1 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good:
For his mercy endureth for ever.
- **Redeeming**: God's mercy brings redemption (Titus 3:5
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
- **Compassionate**: He is full of compassion and grace (Exodus 34:6
6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;
- **Yahweh**: The personal name of God, representing His eternal and faithful nature.
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
This week I’m looking through he windows of faith and mercy. I need you Lord ! Im living on the wall of shame right now! but Lord Save me from the trouble of this world.
I see your hand of Mercy reaching down to the prostitutes, the hookers, liars, and thieves. I see your hand of mercy keeping people alive who live so foul, their sin smells like a filthy rag!
Amazing Grace How sweet the sound that saved a wretch , prostitute, fornicator, idolater, effeminate, homosexuals, abusers of themselves, thieves, covetous, drunk, reviler, extortioner…..like me!
Look through Rahab’s window and see the Lord by faith ; See his mercy, see his son Jesus
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