Sermon Tone Analysis

1)Waiting is Not Passive

Dictionary of Bible Themes: Waiting

Being in readiness for service or for some future appointment or event.

waiting

Being in readiness for service or for some future appointment or event.

Wild animals and the wicked lie in wait to ambush the unsuspecting; servants wait on their masters; believers and the whole creation wait for their renewal by God.

God, too, waits for sinners to repent.

wait = “QWH” - qui-we’-tiy

wait “HKH” - hik-ki’-tiy = wait, await (look forward), wait for

hope = “QWH”

wait = QW - qua-weh = Wait in faith

2) I Should Be Active While Waiting

3) Waiting In Expectation and Obedience Brings Rescue and Reward

I. [קָוָה] vb.

wait for — Qal wait for.

Pi. 1. wait, or look eagerly, for, c. ל rei; c. acc.

rei; obj.

rei om.; sq.

inf.; abs.; c. acc.

ˊי‍, (+ inf.

abs.), acc.

om., acc.

שִׁמְךָ; c. ל of ˊי‍; c. אֶל־אֱלֹהִים.

2. lie in wait fort, sq.

נַפְשִׁי; sq.

ל pers.

(+ inf.

purpose).

3. wait (linger) for c. ל of man (|| יְיַחֵל).

II.

קַו n.m. line — measuring-line; for marking off a possession in land (fig.);

esp.

עַל ˊנָטָה ק‍, in building, (fig. of earth); of designing idol; marking off for destruction.

Rahab was an innkeeper who, sadly, found other ways of bringing in revenue.

According to the Bible, she was a prostitute.

Of course, the Canaanites were infamous for cultic prostitution related to idolatrous worship.

It may very well have been that Rahab was "a religious prostitute” in pagan practices.

We only know what the Bible reveals.

But there's more to the story of Rahab — so much more.

Rahab recognized the God of Israel.

She trusted in him for the righteousness she could not produce in her own life:

“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” (Joshua 2:9-11 ESV).

Whatever Rahab was before Israel crossed into the land of the Canaanites she became someone new in the promised land.

For Rahab believed.

She not only believed in God but she also acted.

For Rahab trusted in God who fulfilled the covenantal promise to Abraham that he would be given land from which would bring a nation, and a descendant, who would bless the earth.

And we must always remember that this woman, rehab, was chosen by Almighty God to be a chosen instrument in bringing about salvation to the ends of the earth.

Rehab became a central strategic figure of incomparable courage as she helped Israel to enter the promised land and subdue her own people.

Whenever the Army of Israel entered Canaan, Rahab acted according to a prearranged plan and hung out a scarlet cord from the window of her establishment.

Thus, she and her family were saved.

How interesting that a scarlet cord, likely, an emblem of ill-repute, became a sign of salvation.

How very beautiful to think that it is a scarlet cord of the covenant of God's grace that binds all of the Word of God together.

And in Christ Jesus, the blood-stained crimson cross of shame became the gleaming symbol of salvation.

Rahab’s faith in God engrafted her into a new family.

Even more, Rahab was, soon, engrafted into the physical family of Israel as she became the wife of Salmon, one of the leaders of Israel who supported Moses when they left Egypt.

Rahab’s husband is chronicled in both the Old and New Testaments (1 Chronicles 2:10-11, Ruth 4:20-21, Matthew 1:4-5 and Luke 3:32).

A Woman Saved by Faith

The woman who had been called a harlot became a godly wife and mother in Israel.

She and her husband became the parents of a boy named Boaz.

And that boy would one day marry a widow woman by the name of Ruth (Ruth 4:5, 10).

Thus, as God worked all things together for the good, using the humble and the most unlikely, God raised up a harlot to become the great-great-grandmother of King David.

From the line of Rahab came the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world, our God and King, the Lord Jesus Christ.

4) Actively Waiting Brings Strength into My Weakness

Illustration - Meeting the Manager at Panera

5) God is Actively Waiting for You

Who can look back and see the hand of God ACTIVE in your life PRIOR to your salvation?

God was actively waiting on you.

And so if you ask me, "How could God possibly use me?

How could Almighty God, the holy God of heaven, use such a sinner like me?" Then I will introduce you to the woman of the scarlet cord, the greater grandmother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

She is not remembered for her sin.

She is remembered for the remarkable transformation.

The word "harlot" is undoubtedly repeated so that you and I will know that whatever we have done God will forgive us if we come to him by faith.

Rahab is the ever-present message of God to you: