The Promise between Rahab and Israel pt. 3

Rahab's Promise: Don’t break your promise with the Lord

Joshua 2:10–21 NASB95

“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. “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. “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, 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.” 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.” Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall. She said to them, “Go to the hill country, so that the pursuers will not happen upon you, and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward, you may go on your way.” The men said to her, “We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household. “It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. “But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be free from the oath which you have made us swear.” She said, “According to your words, so be it.” So she sent them away, and they departed; and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

Joshua 2:15–18 “Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, so that she was living on the wall. She said to them, “Go to the hill country, so that the pursuers will not happen upon you, and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward, you may go on your way.” The men said to her, “We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household.”

Last week, we had the opportunity to see what Rahab saw through promises:

God is all-powerful; no one or thing can come against God.

God is truth; God is a promise keeper and means what He says

God is Kind and Faithful to His people; God is kind, which does not mean nice, for God desires to be affectionate and loving, but not someone who gives you what you want under His will. For the desires of a believer's heart is the “will of God.”

God is on the move; God’s will is unstoppable. When God moves, nations will know his presence.

Rahab had a critical task that she had to accomplish. With her ability to discern and understand what was going on, she knew the best thing for her to do was to be obedient to God, not to anyone else, including herself. Her life hung in the balance of what we would know now as being obedient to the Lord’s will. As we venture into these verses, we must recognize the “why” we must not break our promise with the Lord:

We must give God access.

God not only moves by Himself, but He also moves through believers

After taking in the spies, Rahab assisted them through her window by escape by way of a rope. She lived on the city wall; she lived on the edge.

We must be hearers of God.

We must maintain our commitment we have made to the Lord

In obedience, we know we are safe with the Lord by our side