Rahab's Red Rope

Read Joshua 1-5
 
Joshua 2:18 When we come into the land, you must leave this scarlet rope hanging from the window through which you let us down. And all your family members—your father, mother, brothers, and all your relatives—must be here inside the house.
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Hebrews 11:31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. 
 
RAHAB’S story is one of faith, rescue and redemption. Very appropriately, the scarlet rope symbolizes her salvation.
   We meet Rahab in pagan Jericho when Joshua sent two spies to investigate Jericho’s strength and weaknesses before Israel attacked. God directed the spies to Rahab, a woman he had chosen to become a link to your salvation.
   As we know, El Shaddai does not wait for one to be perfect before calling us to him. Rahab is another example. She is everything God’s law commanded the Jews to reject. Rahab was a Gentile in a city so corrupt it needed to be destroyed and rebuilt. She was a prostitute who lived in a form of sexual depravity that pointed to Baal worship. What was good about Rahab?
   As the Hebrews passage tells us, God had chosen this not-good person for his good. He did that with Abraham, too, didn’t he? And Jacob was infected with sin. As he did with the patriarchs, the LORD gave Rahab a true, vibrant faith in him to confess God’s sovereign power. Joshua 2:10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. Knowing God’s actions for his people, she acted in faith against her old way of life and for God. Her faith was so strong and active, both Hebrews and James put her alongside Abraham as an example of faith in action: James 2:25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 
   The spies gave Rahab instructions to keep a scarlet cord out her window as a sign that she and her family were to be saved from Israel’s absolute destruction. She obeyed, and all were saved.
   Rahab, in essence, was born again into the kingdom of God. By faith Rahab’s life became new. Her walk with God had just begun. She would become a citizen of Israel and marry into the tribe of Judah. One of her descendants is Obed, who married Ruth – another pagan woman God called to faith. From Obed and Ruth’s marriage came a grandson named David. The generations of the scarlet cord continued to Jesus Christ. (Mathew 1)
   Rahab’s red cord has become a symbol of Jesus’ saving blood tying together God’s grace with the law and the prophets to the gospels. We praise God that he has made us safe from sin’s destruction when the scarlet cord of Jesus’ blood identifies us as the LORD’s own. Thank God! He has rescued us from Satan’s assaults.