Overview
Rahab survived the fall of Jericho because she believed God when the entire city around her refused to. In this Faith 2020 conference teaching on Hebrews 11:31 and Joshua 2, the speaker shows that faith cometh by hearing: Rahab had heard the same report of the Red Sea and of the defeat of Sihon and Og that everyone else had heard, but where the rest of Jericho melted in fear, she said, I know that the Lord hath given you the land. She recognized the source, took what God was offering her with peace, hid the two spies, and rose up to the word despite her culture. That one decision placed her in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
Transcript
Faith Cometh by Hearing: God Is the Initiator, Not Man
Bless your hearts, I love you. Turn to Hebrews 11. We’re looking at the topic of faith and we know from Romans 10:17 it says, so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
God has to supply something for man to believe. God is the initiator, man is not. It doesn’t start with man, it starts with God.
I mean think about it, right? Moses didn’t go, hmm, let’s see today, I’d like to part the Red Sea. It didn’t come from him. He didn’t stress and strain and believe for it.
He responded back to God and there are so many people that do this. We’re looking at historical examples of people who believed God, what God told that person they accepted and embraced and responded to it. We’re in Hebrews 11 verse 31.
Hebrews 11:31 — By Faith the Harlot Rahab Perished Not
It says, by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace. The harlot Rahab, she perished not with them. She was in Jericho and everybody in the city basically died.
They basically died and it shows us why. It says she perished not with them that believed not. That phrase believe not, it means not to allow oneself to be persuaded, not to comply, to refuse to believe and obey.
In other words, it’s an active disobedience. Others had heard the same report but they perished because they refused, they disobeyed, they did not want what God was offering. And we read on, when she had received the spies, and we’re going to go through this record, she received the spies.
What It Means to Receive the Spies, and to Receive With Peace
When it says that, when she received the spies, it means to take to oneself what is presented or brought by another. To take to oneself what is presented or brought by another. It implies a subjective reception, showing a decision of the will.
In other words, she took what God was offering to her and to do this she had to recognize the source, that it was God, that it was God that was offering it to her. It wasn’t this stress and strain Olympic mental challenge. God offered it to her and she goes, all right, I’ll take that.
It was so simple. And you know why there wasn’t stress and strain? How do you know that? Because the last two words of this verse says, it’s with peace. With peace.
God is the God of peace. They package together. That’s one of the ways that you can recognize that it’s coming from God, because you have peace.
Joshua 2 and the Question of Who Rahab Was
Let’s go to Joshua chapter 2. And this is the story of Rahab from the Old Testament. Joshua, Judges. Oh, I’m in Judges.
I have to go back. Joshua chapter 2. So Joshua lived after Moses as a timeline. We’re in Joshua chapter 2, verse 1. It says, and Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, go view the land, even Jericho.
And they went and they came into an harlot’s house named Rahab and lodged there. It’s interesting what biblical scholars think. I, however, will not shock you.
I am not a biblical scholar. Some biblical scholars believe that Rahab was an innkeeper, like Josephus, like a man named Bishop Pillai. Others believe that from that word harlot, that she was actually a prostitute, like Bullinger and Thayers.
They believe that she was actually a prostitute. But that word is also used metaphorically in the Bible. It’s a figure of speech, and it often is used in the context of idolatry, of idolatry.
The King of Jericho Sends Men to Seize the Spies
So here you have Rahab, and this is her background, something that’s not godly. Verse 2, and it says, and it was told the king of Jericho, saying, behold, there came men in hither tonight of the children of Israel to search out the country. And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, bring forth the men that are come into thee, which are entered into thine house, for they be come to search out all the country.
And all the women, and the woman took the two men and hid them and said thus, there came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were. And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out. Whither the men went, I wot not.
I don’t know. Pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them. So it’s coming to be about night time.
The king’s guys, you know, there’s always a tattletale. The king’s men come and say, well, okay, well, we heard that there’s these two guys in your place, and they’re coming to spy out our city, and we want to take them. And so she says, well, you know, the gate’s getting ready to close.
When the gates, the cities were encompassed about, when the gates closed, no one could go in or out. They closed the gate for security reasons, and so the wild animals were out there, robbers were out there. So if you were traveling, you wanted to get in the gate before nightfall.
So she told them, I don’t know. So if you go after them, then you’re going to be able to overtake them. Verse 6, but she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.
Hidden Under the Stalks of Flax on the Roof
And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan, unto the fords. That’s the way that they had come. As soon as they, which pursued after them, were gone out, they shut the gate.
And before they were laid down, she came up unto the roof. So on the roof, the roofs were flat, and they would, it was harvest season, and so they had flax. They may have had other, what do you call those things? Vegetables.
They’re green and leafy. Had other things that are there to dry out on the roof, because that’s how they did it in that culture, and she’d hidden them underneath there. Verse 9, and she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
I Know That the Lord Hath Given You the Land
She said, I know. How did she know? I know. She didn’t question.
She didn’t doubt. She was convinced, and she knew that it wasn’t only God. Don’t you know that every nation had a God? They had tons of gods.
She knew the Lord. It uses the word Lord, indicating Jehovah is the word, indicating that she had a relationship. She understood that God had a relationship with His people and His creation.
I know that the Lord hath given you the land. It wasn’t some political, military strategy. She recognized the source, that it had come from God.
Exodus 15: The Song That Carried the Report of the Red Sea
Look at verse 10, for we have heard, faith cometh by hearing. You have to hear. 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 unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side, Jordan and Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
Look at Exodus. Keep your finger here. We’re going to be back.
Look at Exodus, chapter 15. So the children of Israel had left Egypt. Right? They go through the Red Sea, the Red Sea parts, which is a remarkable, remarkable demonstration of God’s sovereignty, His power, and His care for people.
Remarkable, right? And so after they go through the Red Sea, we’re in Exodus 15, and I want to show you this. Verse 1, it says, Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown in the sea.
Now verse 15, And the dukes of Edom shall be amazed, and mighty men of Moab trembling shall take hold upon them. All the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. This is the song.
Melt away, yeah. So they made a song about it. After this happened, how did they hear it? There was a song about it.
Forty Years Later, the Whole City Still Knew
This is an incredible event, right? It happened 40 years for Rahab, 40 years ago. I don’t know about you, but I don’t really remember things that happened 40 years ago. I mean, I might have like, I don’t know.
I don’t know. I’d have to really think about it. But this was something that was so remarkable, so spectacular, that she said, we know.
The whole city knew what God had done for the children of Israel. And that was 3,500 years ago. And you know what? Every little kid that’s been in Sunday school, they know the same record, because it’s such a magnificent record showing God’s care.
Numbers 21: Sihon Refuses Israel Passage Through His Land
Of course they knew it. He’s the God of the heavens and the earth. Now look at Numbers 21, because who’s Sihon and Og, right? The Red Sea I’ve heard of.
These other guys I hadn’t heard of. So we’re in Numbers 21, verse 21. And so what happens is now the children of Israel are starting to move towards the promised land, the promised land of Canaan.
This is the land that God had promised to them. It was their land. It was the will of God for them to have that land.
And the Canaanites and the Moabites had infiltrated the area. The Ammonites, the hydrogen sulfites, they were there too. And they didn’t belong there, because it was God’s land.
He had promised it. Verse 21, and Israel sent messengers unto Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, Let me pass through thy land, and we will not turn into the fields and into the vineyards, and we will not drink of the water of the well, but we will go along by the king’s highway until we be past thy borders. Seems like a reasonable request.
When Opposition Is Not Personal, It Is Spiritual
Look, we’re just going to walk through, we’re going to be on the highway, we won’t make a mess, and then we’ll be on the other side. And Sihon would not suffer or allow Israel to pass through his border. But Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel into the wilderness.
And he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon, for the border of the children of Ammon was strong. And Israel took all these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites in Heshbon and in all the villages thereof.
For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon. So these guys, bad guys one, the Ammonites, they came in under the Moabites, and they took their land. So now here comes Moses with all the children of Israel, and they’re like, we’re just going to walk through.
And he attacks them. He attacks them. And you know what? It wasn’t personal, it was spiritual.
Life is not so much personal, it’s spiritual. It was an attack against God and against His promise and His sovereignty and care for His people. Well, they keep walking.
The Proverb of Heshbon and the Defeat of Og
We’ll keep reading. Verse 27, Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come unto Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared. And there was a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon.
It hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab. That’s kind of fun.
Woe unto thee, Moab. Thou art undone, O people of Chemosh. He hath given his sons that escaped and his daughters into captivity unto Sihon, king of the Amorites.
We have shot at them. Heshbon is perished, even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba. And thus the children, and thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.
And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there. And they turned and went up the way of Bashan and Og, there he is, the king of Bashan, and went out against them, he and all his people, to the battle of Edrei. And the Lord said unto Moses, Fear him not, for I have delivered him into thine hand, and all his people, and his land, and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon, king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon.
So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there were none left him alive, and they possessed the land. Back to Joshua. So this was a spectacular demonstration.
Every Kingdom Heard the Same Report and Had to Decide
Now they’re at the southern part. All they have to do is cross the border over into Jericho. And these mighty kingdoms that stood against God’s purposes, antagonistic, disregarding to God’s purposes, disrupting God’s purposes, they heard about it.
They had their gods, and then they heard about God, and there was a decision that they had to make, a decision to be able to believe God or not. So here we are back in verse 10. For 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 unto the kings of the Amorites that were on the other side, Jordan, Sihon, and Og, whom he utterly destroyed.
And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. Wow. It’s interesting.
Spiritual Weakness Saturated the City and They Melted
It was prophesied back in Moses’ song that they would take this land. And it uses the same terminology, that when they came in the presence and the power of God, they melted. They melted, and they were afraid.
But Rahab is quoting the word. She had heard the same things, and she’s quoting. She’s saying exactly what God said.
Interesting. Spiritual weakness had saturated the city, and they melted. And you have to think about that.
What Melting Feels Like: A Childhood Fight Over the Television
I don’t know if you can relate to that. I’m sure you can. I can relate to what it’s like to melt.
When I was about seven or eight, I’m one of three children, and my parents both worked. So after school we would come home, and the rule was the first one in the living room got to pick the television show. And so I was watching television with my brother, and it was like Thursday or Friday, and he had picked the channels all week.
And we were watching Green Hornet again. And I wanted to watch the Flintstones because they weren’t going to be on later. And there was no negotiation.
We talked, we bickered, and back and forth, and he wouldn’t change the channel. So I changed the channel, channel seven. He gets mad and changes his back to channel two.
I changed it to channel seven, which had a dial. Click, click, click, click, click. Which is why our parents said, who’s ever in the room first gets to pick the channel? Back to two, click, click, click.
And he said, you don’t touch that television again. If you do, I’m going to beat you up. So my brother is five years older than me.
Trapped in the Bedroom With Nowhere to Go
So I go up to the channel, I go up to the TV, I flip it back to my channel, and I race up to the stairs. I go up to the stairs towards my bedroom. And he’s yelling at me, and I stop middle of the stairs, and we’re going back and forth.
I said, well, if you follow me, I’m going to spit on you. And he says, go ahead, go ahead, spit on me. So I took a deep breath, got all the water in my mouth.
And then time stopped. And I suddenly realized I had chosen poorly. And as this water globules going down, my legs will not move.
It’s so heavy. And I start running up the stairs. By the way, I don’t know if I hit him or not.
I start running up the stairs, and my heart’s beating. And I could hear him coming up. He’s yelling at me.
And I go in my bedroom, and I slam the door. Another poor decision. It’s only the bathroom that has a lock.
The Moment I Melted, and What Caused It
So I’m trapped. There’s nowhere to go. And it’s quiet.
And for a split second, I thought, this is great. And then the door swings open. The thing comes in, and it’s clobbering time.
And as my brother comes in, I just melted. I fell to the floor and got ready for impact. Because I knew what was coming.
And it was like that. There was no strength left. Which, really, he didn’t do that hard.
It wasn’t that bad. But the sensation of melting, where there’s nowhere for me to go, right? I made a wrong choice. And it all stemmed back to one thing.
Disobedience Was the Root, Then and Now
Disobedience to my parents. Disobedience to what was right. I knew what was right, and I did something else.
That’s what these people did, except for they did it on steroids. They rejected what God was offering to them. They rejected him.
They rejected his people. So if somebody rejects you, maybe it’s not personal. Maybe it’s spiritual.
Knowing About God Versus Actually Knowing Him
Maybe there’s a bigger picture than somebody doesn’t like me. Maybe it’s in terms of a receptivity to God and his way. Because a lot of people believe in God, right? They know about him.
Oh, he’s all-knowing, all-powerful, everywhere present. They can give you his resume, but they don’t know him. They don’t have a relationship with him.
They can’t recognize him as he makes himself plain, and he makes himself known. But Rahab did. She said, I know that God has given you this land.
And she said in verse 11, for the Lord your God, he is God. He is the God in heaven above and earth beneath. Now therefore I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord since I have shown you kindness that you will also show kindness unto my father’s house and give me a true token.
Rahab Rose Up to the Word Despite Her Culture
See, Rahab did something very unique. She rose up to the word despite her culture. She didn’t allow her culture to define her choices.
She embraced the truth. Spiritual weakness had saturated that city, and it was disobedience to not believe. And whenever people adapt to the stance of the world, they become afraid.
They become afraid. People get infected with pessimism. They put on the fashion of negativity.
Just leave that dress on the hanger. You don’t have to put it on. You don’t have to let those worldly concepts take up rent in your mind.
You Can Be the Only One in the City Who Believes God
We don’t allow the world to define our response to God. You know what? This is a whole city. Jericho, she’s the only one.
Have you ever felt like you’re the only one? You can be the only one. If nobody else does it, you can do it. You can be the only one to make that response to what you hear from God, that faith, that believing God, that holding him in his proper position of who he is.
And then you know what happens? All those negative expectations, they just fall off. Rahab understood these things. She said, I know.
The Oath, and Coming to the Point Where You Need God
She knew that you needed to have God involved. And look what happens. Let’s go in verse 13.
And that ye shall save alive my father and my mother and my brother and my sister and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. And the man answered her, our life for yours, If you utter not this, our business.
And it shall be when the Lord hath given us the land that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. You come to a point in life when you realize that your ability, your knowledge, your experience, your personality is not enough and that you need God. And that God can be in your life as a lifestyle.
James 2: Faith Without Works Is Dead
I mean, he’ll take the crisis situations, you know, your near death experiences, but you can call on him in an ordinary day, in an ordinary day. Let’s look at James chapter 2. James chapter 2, verse 25. It says, likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way.
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead. In other words, she demonstrated that she believed God and she was right before God. And faith without works is dead.
If you don’t do something with it, have you ever had that happen to you? You know God is telling you to do something and you justify why you shouldn’t do it. It’s dead. Except walking out and involving him.
Matthew 1: Rahab in the Genealogy of Jesus Christ
Look at Matthew chapter 1. It is a big deal and your lives are a big deal. It’s not humble to minimize the importance of what God placed inside you. This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
Here in Matthew chapter 1, verse 5. It says, and Salmon begat Boaz of Rachab, which is Rahab. And Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. And Obed begat Jesse.
And Jesse begat David. And David, Solomon, and on and on. In other words, what happened? Here you have a woman who’s outside of the children of Israel.
And yet she is part of the Christ line. She saved the spies because that’s what God told her to do. And that lineage went on.
Her son married Ruth. Ruth is called the virtuous woman. She probably helped him pick her.
And then David, a man after God’s own heart. And then Solomon, the wisest man and the richest man that ever was. And then it goes on and on.
One Decision That Changed All of Eternity
And Mary, the mother of Jesus and Jesus Christ. She’s in that lineage. How could you underestimate the value of being obedient to God? That one decision, that one day changed all of eternity.
What she did changed your life and my life because Jesus Christ did that. And she’s part of that heritage. The walls of Jericho, they fell in a day.
But the results of Rahab’s faith reverberate and harmonize throughout all eternity because of her response to God. She loved God. So, what’s the goal? The goal is to put away our own works and to recognize afresh that God, he’s real.
Learning to Recognize God’s Voice
Our God is real and he will and he does talk to you. And as you learn and you respond, he’ll show you again and again. Maybe you don’t even know how to recognize God’s voice.
And you know what you can do? Tell him, I don’t really know how to recognize your voice. Can you teach me? Feed me. Guide me.
And he’ll do it. He’ll show you what it means to be one with his heart because his love is huge. Take off all the barriers, all the restraints, anything that hold you back from being who you really are in God’s sight and what he’s called you to do and never minimize it.
Anytime You’re With Our God, It’s a Big Deal
Maybe you won’t be the one that parts the Red Sea. It’s already been done. But maybe you’ll do something that maybe somebody would rationalize and say, well, that’s no big deal to hide two spies.
Oh yeah, it changed all of eternity. Whether it’s little or big, by man’s estimation, makes no difference. Anytime you’re with our God, it’s a big deal.
God is real and he will work within you. God bless you. I love you.
Key Takeaways
- Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. God has to supply something for man to believe. God is the initiator, man is not. It doesn’t start with man, it starts with God.
- To believe not, in Hebrews 11:31, means not to allow oneself to be persuaded, not to comply, to refuse to believe and obey. Others had heard the same report but they perished because they refused.
- Receiving the spies means to take to oneself what is presented or brought by another, a subjective reception showing a decision of the will. Rahab had to recognize the source, that it was God offering it to her.
- The last two words of Hebrews 11:31 are with peace. God is the God of peace, and that is one of the ways you can recognize that something is coming from God, because you have peace.
- Rahab rose up to the word despite her culture. She didn’t allow her culture to define her choices. Jericho was a whole city and she was the only one, so you can be the only one too.
- What she did changed all of eternity: she is in the Christ line through Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David and Solomon, down to Mary and Jesus Christ. Anytime you’re with our God, it’s a big deal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Rahab survive when the rest of Jericho perished?
Because she believed God and they did not. Hebrews 11:31 says she perished not with them that believed not, and that phrase believe not means not to allow oneself to be persuaded, not to comply, to refuse to believe and obey. It is an active disobedience. Others had heard the same report but they perished because they refused, they disobeyed, they did not want what God was offering.
What does it mean that Rahab received the spies with peace?
To receive means to take to oneself what is presented or brought by another. It implies a subjective reception, showing a decision of the will. She took what God was offering to her, and to do this she had to recognize the source, that it was God offering it to her. It wasn’t this stress and strain Olympic mental challenge, and you know there wasn’t stress and strain because the last two words of the verse are with peace.
How did Rahab end up in the genealogy of Jesus Christ?
Matthew 1:5 says Salmon begat Boaz of Rachab, which is Rahab. Here you have a woman who’s outside of the children of Israel, and yet she is part of the Christ line. She saved the spies because that’s what God told her to do, and that lineage went on to Obed, Jesse, David, Solomon, and on and on to Mary and Jesus Christ.
Scripture References
Hebrews 11; Romans 10:17; Hebrews 11:31; Joshua 2:1; Joshua 2:2; Joshua 2:3; Joshua 2:4; Joshua 2:5; Joshua 2:6; Joshua 2:7; Joshua 2:8; Joshua 2:9; Joshua 2:10; Exodus 15:1; Exodus 15:15; Numbers 21:21-26; Numbers 21:27-35; Joshua 2:11; Joshua 2:13; Joshua 2:14; James 2:25; James 2:26; Matthew 1:5; Matthew 1:6
This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
