Son of Redemption
Notes
Transcript
Cut off By Sin
Cut off By Sin
From the first exile from the Garden we have been cut off — excluded, separated, alienated from GOD… And once he established a relationship again with Abraham and his descendants, they too stood apart from the rest of the world who was cut off from God’s people - from God...
Their relationship with God was marked off by certain laws and specific practices, one of which was circumcision...
Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
Covenant breakers, those cut off are strangers to the blessings of the covenant - they are strangers to God, even enemies of God. To be cut off is a curse for unfaithfulness throughout the law books of the OT. Leviticus chapter 7 threatens it at least 4 times.
So when we read of the conquest of Canaan - where after the Exodus the Lord brings His people into the promised land, they are coming into a land with people who are cut off from God - living lives of rebellion and sin and deserving His judgement and wrath...
In Joshua we are told of Rahab - and what do you know about Rahab? She is mentioned 5 times in the Bible - twice in Joshua, once in Matthew our text, once in Hebrews and once in James.... And she is generally referred to as Rahab the Prostitute…
Joshua tells us that the people are on the edge of the promised and, after spying out the land they learn of Jericho with its high seemingly impregnable walls, but within this town they have discovered an unlikely ally. NOW it makes sense for the spies to go to her place… apparently a place frequented by visitors, a house of il repute as it were...
AND there they found RAHAB a prostitute… Our spies were not that talented as they were spotted and eventually officials come looking for them…
IN this pagan city - surrounded by people cut off from the Lord, lived this prostitute who because of her sinful lifestyle would be doubly cut off - considered wicked and evil…
As we read through the text, we see God’s people having plundered the Egyptians in the Exodus and having moved through the wilderness and through at least two cities who opposed them - again the Israelites being victorious… God’s people prospering as His holy people unstoppable in their movement toward their promised land. Jericho stands as a fortress of a city, but a city at enmity with the LORD - cut off - and we know it will fall… And in this city is a woman - while valued as an image bearer, not the one they would choose to go to for help… Especially a woman who was a prostitute… Even if she survived the coming attack - she would be outside of the camp, cut off, and their law even forbids the marrying of a prostitute and yet here she is in the genealogy of Jesus...
She lived a life of sinful rebellion, dwelling in a city of sinful rebellion… Rahab was living a life of sexual immorality - prospering by it - a life that epitomizes the wanton pursuit of pleasure/desires, disregarding the will of the Lord.
As easy as it would be to look down on her, to consider themselves better than her - their own religion could even prompt that kind of pride - not only a pagan.. but a prostitute! Sin can be a funny thing… we tend to minimize our sin even as we maximize others...
Israel would become guilty of this moral racism… and yet the Lord wouldn’t let them get away with it. The Psalmist describes their own sinfulness even as they came into the promised land…
They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. Thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the whore in their deeds.
Ezekiel will especially condemn the people for acting like a prostitute and a whore by their sin… BUT even after the rebukes of the prophets, the people generally maintained an identity of superiority… SO MATTHEW confronts it with his genealogy - for here is Rahab - a perfect type of the pagan sinner that Israel so looked down upon..
Rahab - a message to us that GOD rescues, forgives, restores, includes even pagan sinners like you and me…
Saved through Judgment
Saved through Judgment
Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 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 devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”
YES, Rahab was living under the holy wrath and coming judgment of the LORD… She had heard of the victories of Israel as they were heading toward Jericho and she heard of the Lord - and we see her faith here as she uses the covenant name for God - LORD - and she believes He is the true God…
When she was confronted with the reality, the truth that judgment was near, she responded with a hope and a trust that the LORD would have mercy on her, that the LORD would rescue her even through the coming judgment...
and so He did...
But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
Rahab’s family was not only saved from the destruction of Jericho, they were brought into the covenant community and became “people of God” through faith...
See Rahab is mentioned in Hebrews:
By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
And in James:
And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
Rahab’s faith moved her to act, to hide the spies and do what she could to help their mission. As James reminds us - she put her faith on display, it was “justified” before people, and not only was she rescued but she was included in the genealogy of Christ...
This theme of salvation through judgment runs through the Bible…
- judgment fell on the world and Noah was spared…
- judgment fell on Egypt and Israel was delivered…
- judgment fell on Jericho and Rahab was spared…
like the scarlet cord Rahab hung out of her window, this theme runs throughout the scripture and is present in the advent of Jesus Christ - that baby in the manger…
The coming of Christ is an act of judgment, a reckoning… Jesus came to save YES.. to save from WHAT and the save HOW… His very presence is a reminder that God’s holy wrath and judgment remains on those who are cut off from Him...
We celebrate the birth of Christ - we send Christmas cards, give to the salvation army, wish others merry Christmas, we sing carols and give gifts…
BUT WE ARE ONLY HUMMING ALONG WITH THE TUNE OF AN OPERA THAT WE DON’T REALLY UNDERSTAND OR CONNECT WITH IF WE DON’T FIND IN JESUS SALVATION THROUGH JUDGMENT!
THEN We celebrate as Noah did when the Ark came to rest after the flood… we sing and rejoice as Moses and the Jews did after they crossed the red sea… We celebrate as the Israelites did after Jericho fell - with Rahab’s family joining in...
We celebrate because in this child - in this KING - we too know salvation through judgment…
HIS birth is a reminder that judgment is coming… it is an act of judgment as this SON will bear the wrath of GOD for sin…
IN HIM WE can REJOICE as he is the SON who brings redemption to a people formally cut off...
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.