Chapter 2:1
We now come to the wonderful story of Rahab and the destruction of Jericho, or mercy triumphing in the midst of terrible judgment.
Jericho, situated in the beautiful plains of the Jordan, was, we are told, indeed a “place of fragrance.” It was a city of great strength in a position of exceeding loveliness. But it was the seat of the enemy’s power, and a figure of this world devoted to judgment by the word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven with all His saints, and in flaming fire will execute judgment on the peoples of this earth who know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:8). He will overthrow the strength and overturn the foundations of this world, and after that He will set up His kingdom and reign.
We see in Rahab a poor Gentile, dwelling in the doomed city, yet nevertheless an object of the rich display of the grace of God. Like us, she belonged to that large company we read of in Ephesians 2:11, 12: “Ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”
But degraded though she was, God was going to save Rahab. He had marked her out for blessing beforehand, and we who are debtors to His mercy alone, saved by sovereign grace, were chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” (Eph. 1:4).
Joshua sent out two men to spy out Jericho. Perhaps he thought only of judgment, but God had thoughts of mercy, and the two spies became evangelists. Thus in the story of Rahab the harlot we see the riches of the grace of God shining out and showing that, no matter how degraded and sunk in sin, no one is beyond the mercy of God. The men of this world like to display their power and wealth in material things, but God finds His delight in revealing Himself as God “Who is rich in mercy.” In the coming day He will display “the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:7).
The two spies were directed by God to the very house in the city where His grace had prepared a heart. Perhaps there was no better place in Jericho where they could lodge, for who can tell the moral condition of the cities of Canaan? Even in Abraham’s day long before the iniquity of the Amorite was marked before God. For four hundred years He had borne with the ever-increasing corruptions of the inhabitants of the land, and now that the iniquity of the Amorite was come to the full, His judgment was about to fall.
How solemn to think the world’s judgment is so near and that we are to be taken out of it before the judgment falls! “What manner of persons ought [we] to be in all holy conversation and godliness.” (2 Pet. 3:11.) Like Rahab who busied herself in bringing her family under the shelter of the scarlet line, may we earnestly warn sinners of the doom that awaits them and urge them to seek the shelter of the blood of Christ.
God’s house is filling fast—
“Yet there is room!”
Some guest will be the last—
“Yet there is room!”
ML-02/27/1977