The Hall of Faith (Israelites, Walls of Jericho, Rahab)

Introduction

Introduction: Who am I… Name, born in Bremerton, moved and lived in VA & NM, graduated CK in ‘94 and then OC in ‘96… moved to CA then Europe and back to here in 2001 and been here ever since … family, church where I pastor,… how long I’ve been connected to Thrive (5-7yrs).

Tell me your name and then any instances where you had to put your faith in someone or some thing?

How did that make you feel?

What was the outcome?

onw of the main intents of the book is to encourage those who are Hebrews, following Jesus… that He is the great and better covenant… that all of what we read in chp 11 were looking forward to.

You all have been in chapter 11 for a little bit… what is faith? What are some of the takeaways you have been getting from your time in Hebrews 11?

Hebrews 11:1-2 “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. For by this our ancestors were approved.”

They were approved...

It starts with God creating the universe

Abel

Enoch (Hebrews 11:6- super special verse to me)

Noah

Abraham (in leaving Ur… offering up Isaac)

Sarah

Jacob

Joseph

Moses

Children of Israel and Rahab (this is us tonight!)

I want to suggest that faith is NOT ONLY belief… but it would be something closer to our word of allegiance.

It is a belief mixed with a loyalty, faithfulness, and an obedience. It is not just an intellectual comprehension but there is a value of action and obedience associated with it.

Let’s read our text this evening- Hebrews 11:29-31 “By faith they crossed the Red Sea as though they were on dry land. When the Egyptians attempted to do this, they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after being marched around by the Israelites for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.”

Abrahamic Righteousness

In Gen 12:1-3 “The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Gen 15:1-6 “After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great. But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.” Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”

Abrahamic righteousness

“But now apart from the law (Moses) the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets (Abraham/Torah) testify.” -Romans 3:21

Dimensions of Abrahamic Righteousness

1) Loyalty (Hesed) to the LORD (Josh. 24:2; Gen. 12:1-8)

2) Trust (Amen) the LORD even when it makes no sense (Gen. 15:1-6)

3) Keep (Shama) the LORD's way of righteousness (Tsedekah) and justice (Mishpat) Job 31

4) Look to the LORD’s provision (Yireh) in Messiah (Gen. 22:1-14)

The sin pattern is “see—take”. The blessing pattern is “hear—follow” (also the pattern of faith)

This is the pattern of faith that we see the Pastor of Hebrews talking to us about.

Israelites and the Red Sea

It’s a powerful story: you may or may not be familiar with what happened… but what we see in our text in Hebrews is that they walked through the sea on dry ground!

Exodus 14:10–31 (CSB)

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them! The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you must be quiet.”

The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to break camp. As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. As for me, I am going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh, all his army, and his chariots and horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I receive glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

Then the angel of God, who was going in front of the Israelite forces, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and stood behind them. It came between the Egyptian and Israelite forces. There was cloud and darkness, it lit up the night, and neither group came near the other all night long.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.

The Egyptians set out in pursuit—all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen—and went into the sea after them. During the morning watch, the Lord looked down at the Egyptian forces from the pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the Egyptian forces into confusion. He caused their chariot wheels to swerve and made them drive with difficulty. “Let’s get away from Israel,” the Egyptians said, “because the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt!”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the water may come back on the Egyptians, on their chariots and horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal depth. While the Egyptians were trying to escape from it, the Lord threw them into the sea. The water came back and covered the chariots and horsemen, plus the entire army of Pharaoh that had gone after them into the sea. Not even one of them survived.

But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. When Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and believed in him and in his servant Moses.

Waters in the Bible are more often than not communicate chaos. Gen 1:2 “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”

The Hebrew people were not a seafaring people… it speaks to chaos, disorder, disaster…

They had an army on one end that was going to crush them and the waters on the other side where they would be swallowed up… and God does the impossible. He parts the water and they move in-between chaos, disorder, and disaster on DRY GROUND.

The LORD fights for you.

They weren’t just fleeing Egypt… but they were moving from captivity, oppression, and inevitable destruction to a land of promise. A land that God speaks through Moses and says in Deut 11:10-12 “For the land you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated by hand as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are entering to possess is a land of mountains and valleys, watered by rain from the sky. It is a land the Lord your God cares for. He is always watching over it from the beginning to the end of the year.”

It’s a place where God’s provision is abundant and His excess overflows… what was the call… obedience, move through the chaos waters on dry ground.

Isaiah 43:1-5 “Now this is what the Lord says— the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel— “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and the rivers will not overwhelm you, When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched and the flame will not burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior. I have given Egypt as a ransom for you, Cush and Seba in your place. Because you are precious in my sight and honored, and I love you, I will give people in exchange for you and nations instead of your life. Do not fear, for I am with you;”

Loyalty to YWHW 2. Trust when it doesn’t make sense 3. Keep the Lord’s way of righteousness and justice 4. Look for the Lord’s provision

The Walls of Jericho

By the time they got to Jericho they had wandered the dessert for 40 years because the last time they came to the promised land, the people freaked out and didn’t want to go in… they didn’t believe God.

They didn’t remember what God had done, how God met them and fought for them. How God led them through the chaos waters on dry ground.

Numbers 13:1-2 “The Lord spoke to Moses: “Send men to scout out the land of Canaan I am giving to the Israelites. Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes.””

Numbers 13:30-33 “Then Caleb quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, “Let’s go up now and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!” But the men who had gone up with him responded, “We can’t attack the people because they are stronger than we are!” So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted: “The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size. We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim! To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.””

Numbers 14:1-4 “Then the whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to die by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.””

Numbers 14:33-34 “Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years and bear the penalty for your acts of unfaithfulness until all your corpses lie scattered in the wilderness. You will bear the consequences of your iniquities forty years based on the number of the forty days that you scouted the land, a year for each day. You will know my displeasure.”

So none but Joshua and Caleb would enter into the land. 40 years they wandered.

Moses had died and Joshua was leading them into the promised land.

God gives Joshua specific instructions… unlike any battle plan I have read about or seen since.

Joshua 6:3-5 “March around the city with all the men of war, circling the city one time. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets in front of the ark. But on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the rams’ horns. When there is a prolonged blast of the horn and you hear its sound, have all the troops give a mighty shout. Then the city wall will collapse, and the troops will advance, each man straight ahead.””

Loyalty to YWHW 2. Trust when it doesn’t make sense 3. Keep the Lord’s way of righteousness and justice 4. Look for the Lord’s provision

Rahab

Out of allegiance to YHWH and not her own people do we see that Rahab was spared.

She hid spies that had come out of the Israelites.

She helps them escape and then ties a scarlet cord/rope to the window so when Joshua and the army come to attack, they will see the red rope and know to leave all in that space alone. For they helped the spies as they spied out the land.

It is no coincidence that it is red… but it should bring us back to the passover and the exodus… pointing us forward to the cross.

Joshua 6:21-25 “They completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword—every man and woman, both young and old, and every ox, sheep, and donkey. Joshua said to the two men who had scouted the land, “Go to the prostitute’s house and bring the woman out of there, and all who are with her, just as you swore to her.” So the young men who had scouted went in and brought out Rahab and her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel. They burned the city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. However, Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family, and all who belonged to her, because she hid the messengers Joshua had sent to spy on Jericho, and she still lives in Israel today.”

Loyalty to YWHW 2. Trust when it doesn’t make sense 3. Keep the Lord’s way of righteousness and justice 4. Look for the Lord’s provision