You're Spying on Us? We know about you...

Joshua 2

News travels fast. Especially in the information and technology driven world we live in today. It's easy to understand how news travels so quickly today. In fact, it would be more difficult today, to understand how someone would not know pertinent news. Media is everywhere and you only have to go as far as your cell phone (which is probably in your pocket, if not your hand), to connect to the Internet and know what is happening anywhere in the world. It's not difficult to understand even, how news traveled in the past century with television and newspapers so readily available. I never had considered how news traveled, though, in Biblical times.

I'm reading the book of Joshua. I find it interesting in Joshua chapter 2 that the inhabitants of Jericho not only knew the Isrealites were coming to spy on the land, but they also knew that God had dried up the Red Sea for them and completely destroyed the Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, east of the Jordan river. For some reason I find it especially interesting that Rahab knew of the crossing of the Red Sea, some 40 years before. I wonder, was Rahab alive then or did she learn about it from “world history.” I digress.

Rahab was not a Jew. She did not have to believe in the God of the Israelites. She believed because she had heard what God did. As she begged the spies to spare her life, she confessed the God of the Israelites, “the Lord, your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.” Now, Rahab was part of a multi-theistic society; they believed in many gods. So, it is possible that while Rahab believed in the God of the Israelites, she also believed in other gods, we don't know. Nevertheless, God used this prostitute to serve His ultimate purposes and ultimately allowed her to become part of His family. In fact, she even was a descendant to the King of Kings.
So these spies came into Rahab's house and she hid them from the king's officials, then sent them on their way. As they left, the spies told Rahab that anyone in her house would be safe as long as she tied a scarlet cord in the window of her home. The spies followed advice given to them by Rahab to hide in the woods for three days before returning to their camp. Rahab didn't know when the Israelites would be back, but she knew they would return—and she knew she had only 3 days to get her family and provisions for her family into her home.

Just as the scarlet cord in Rahab's window saved her family from a gruesome death, Jesus Christ shed his blood to save His family from eternal death. The hearts of those who have accepted Him are marked with His blood. When Jesus was crucified, he was dead for 3 days then he rose and went to be with Our Father in Heaven. We don't know when He will return, but I KNOW He will. Like the Israelite spies promised Rahab, my Jesus promised me that he will spare me from death as long as I have the scarlet mark of His blood on my heart.

Have you heard what God has done? God used the prostitute, Rahab, and blessed her because she heard and believed. Won't you trust Him to protect you? He can do so much more than you can imagine.