Rahab, the Surprise Guest in the Promised Land

No matter who you are, no matter what you have done, no matter what you have followed, no matter what shame wraps around you: this morning, God opens his arms to you. That is how Loic Richard opens this message on Rahab, the second sermon in the Promised Land series at Nouvelle Vie Church.

The people of Israel stand before the promised land. They are almost there. Moses has died, Joshua has been established as his successor, God has encouraged him, the people have encouraged him, and everyone is ready for the conquest. And right in the middle of this mood of conquest and excitement, it feels like a parenthesis opens. The camera leaves Joshua and the people, and zooms in on a city, on a house, on a woman. That parenthesis has a name: Rahab.

Often, when God opens parentheses in our lives, it is because he wants to speak to us. Joshua 2 is one of those parentheses, and the story of Rahab powerfully illustrates the grace of God.

Article Outline

1. The context: a parenthesis in the conquest
2. A radical grace for the last person you would have chosen
3. Rahab's simple faith in three parts
4. A grace that puts you into action
5. Staying in the house when your knees are shaking
6. A grace whose impact crosses generations

1. The context: a parenthesis in the conquest

The people of God are camped at Shittim, about 5 miles from the Jordan. There are two fords in the Jordan, two strategic crossings for trade and for military forces. Across the river stands the city of Jericho, a lush, fertile city, full of palm trees.

Joshua sends two spies to explore the land. Joshua himself had been part of a team of spies forty years earlier: there were twelve of them, two encouraged the people and ten discouraged them by talking about giants. The people listened to them, and entering the promised land was delayed by a generation. Sometimes you are better off trusting two spies who point you to God than ten spies who listen to their feelings. Sometimes you are better off having two people in your life who tell you the truth than ten who pull you away from the reality of God.

The two spies Joshua sends end up in the house of a prostitute named Rahab. We do not know exactly why they went there: some say inns at the time often doubled as brothels, others say it was the most discreet place to spy on a country, still others say it was strategic for gathering information. We do not know their intentions, but whatever the case, God had an appointment with Rahab that day. God can use human imperfection to accomplish his plan.

2. A radical grace for the last person you would have chosen

The first point in this text is a radical grace. Look at who Rahab is.

First, Rahab is not Jewish. She is not part of God's people. She is part of an idolatrous people. Worse, she is an enemy: a citizen of Jericho, she belongs to the people of Canaan, a people at war with Israel. Second, Rahab is a prostitute. We have no context for why: necessity, rejection, a series of choices, we do not know. But we know her position was not an honorable one.

Rahab is the last person you would have imagined joining the people entering the promised land. If Joshua had to choose one single outsider to bring into the people, it probably would not have been her. And yet she is the one God chooses.

Some of you reading this today may have experienced rejection. Rejection because of things you have done, rejection because of things you have not done, rejection from your family, your friends, at your job. The message for you is that God chose Rahab. No matter who you are, no matter what you have done, no matter what shame wraps around you, God opens his arms to you. God welcomes you into his family. God wants to bring you into the promised land in the joy and peace of his presence.

As a paraphrase of Charles Spurgeon puts it: "The bridge of grace will bear your weight, brother. Thousands of the biggest sinners have gone across that bridge. Yes, tens of thousands. And it has never once given way under their weight." The bridge of grace is solid. It is not going to break today.

Loic also shares a story his wife, a special education teacher, lived through. During a school sports day, each group had to award a participation prize. In her group, it was hard to tell who had participated best, so they drew lots. The prize fell on the student who had done nothing all day but stir up trouble. That is exactly what grace is: we have all received a prize we absolutely did not deserve. Grace is not fair. Grace is a scandal. But the scandal of grace is good news for you this morning.

3. Rahab's simple faith in three parts

Grace is offered to Rahab freely, but she still has to accept it. How does Rahab accept this gift? With a simple faith, made up of three elements.

First, God exists and he is God. Rahab declares: "The LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below." This is almost word for word the declaration of faith the Israelites recited (Deuteronomy 4). Rahab, who had only heard about God, had a faith more solid than many Israelites who had seen God at work and still doubted.

Second, I am unworthy and unable to save myself. "Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you." She pleads because she realizes this is her only chance. Without God's kindness, she can neither stand nor hope to be saved.

Third, God will show grace. The word Rahab uses for "kindness" is the Hebrew word hesed, God's loyal love, his covenant love toward his people. A radical love. By using this word, Rahab is asking, "Include me in the covenant God made with his people." She asks because she trusts that God is good, and that he will show her grace.

4. A grace that puts you into action

Grace has found Rahab, but it does not stop there. Grace puts her into action. According to the paraphrase often attributed to Saint Augustine: "God loves us too much to leave us as we are." God's grace comes to seek Rahab out, transforms her, and produces in her a faith that moves.

Rahab's faith translates into action. She hides the spies, she betrays her king, she betrays her people, she misleads the king's messengers to protect these two strangers. She risks her life. If her faith were not real, she would never take that risk.

Thousands of years later, James picks up the example: "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?" (James 2). Faith without action is not real faith. If you say you believe the building is on fire but you stay seated, that means you do not really believe it. Knowing everything about the history of the light bulb will change nothing if you never turn on the lamp. Faith always produces action.

Rahab's faith also reaches beyond herself. She asks for grace for her father, her mother, her brothers and sisters, and all the members of their family. Faith that has no impact on the people around you does not exist.

5. Staying in the house when your knees are shaking

The deal was simple: Rahab's family had to stay in the house to be saved. Now, if you work out the timeline in Joshua 6, the people march around Jericho once a day for six days, and the walls fall on the seventh day. So the family stayed shut inside a house built into the city wall, a wall that was about to collapse, for at least seven days.

It is easy to imagine the doubts of the father, the mother, the brothers and sisters: "Rahab, are you sure this is a good plan? We are in the house that is right on top of the wall. We would be better off going back home." These are spies, not our friends. They may have had doubts, but they were saved because they stayed in the house.

The key to your faith is not your feelings. The key to your faith is where you are standing. If you have doubts, keep praying. If you have doubts, keep coming to church. If you have doubts, keep believing. What matters is not how steady your knees are, it is where you plant your foot. The weakest faith in Jesus still saves. The strongest faith in anything else does not save. Even if your knees are shaking, what matters is where you are sitting. Stay in the house.

6. A grace whose impact crosses generations

The impact begins with Rahab's family. After the fall of Jericho, Joshua sends the two spies to bring out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, her possessions, and all her relatives. They all come out, and Rahab lives in the midst of Israel (Joshua 6).

The impact then touches the spies themselves. When they return to Joshua, they report her words almost word for word: "The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us." Unlike their predecessors forty years earlier, these two spies come back encouraged, and they encourage Joshua and the people. Rahab's transformation served the entire conquest.

The impact then carries on through Scripture. Hebrews 11 lists the heroes of faith, and Rahab is among them: "By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient" (v. 31). King David himself is not named there, but Rahab is.

Finally, Matthew 1 tells us, in the genealogy of Jesus, that Rahab is the mother of Boaz, the husband of Ruth, which makes her the great-grandmother of King David and an ancestor of the Messiah. Of the five women named in that genealogy, you will not find Sarah, Rebekah, or Rachel. But Rahab is there. Not because she was perfect, and not because she had earned it, but because she was touched by God's grace and welcomed it with a simple faith.

Key Takeaways

• God's grace is radical: it reaches the most unlikely person, like Rahab, a prostitute from an enemy nation.
• This grace is a scandal, but a scandal that becomes good news for you this morning.
• The faith that receives grace rests on three things: God is God, I cannot save myself, God will show grace.
• A living faith always produces action, and it also reaches the people around you.
• What saves you is not how steady your knees are, it is where you plant your foot. Stay in the house.

Personal Application

1. What "parenthesis" is God opening right now in your life, and what might he want to tell you through it?
2. Where are you at with the three parts of Rahab's faith: God is God, I am unable to save myself, God will show grace?
3. Does your faith produce concrete action, or does it stay an idea you only pay lip service to?
4. Does your faith have an impact on the people around you: family, work, friends, neighborhood? Who could "stay in the house" with you?
5. When your knees are shaking, what are you really leaning on to hold steady: your feelings, or the person of Jesus?

Verses Cited

• Joshua 2 - The two spies, Rahab, and the pact of the scarlet cord.
• Joshua 6 - The fall of Jericho and Rahab's family being brought to safety.
• Deuteronomy 4 - "The LORD alone is God in heaven above and on the earth below."
• James 2 - Rahab's faith justified by works.
• Hebrews 11 - Rahab among the heroes of faith (v. 31).
• Matthew 1 - Rahab in the genealogy of Jesus (v. 5).

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do Joshua's spies go to a prostitute's house?

The text does not say explicitly. Opinions differ: some inns of the time were also brothels, this location was especially discreet for spying without having to reveal who they were, and it was a place where many men, and therefore a lot of information, passed through. We do not know their intentions, but God had an appointment with Rahab that day.

Rahab lied to the king's messengers. Does the Bible approve of her lie?

The message does not address the moral question of her lie. What it highlights is the risk she takes, a real and concrete one: she hides the spies and betrays her king and her people. That risk is proof that her faith is real. James 2 and Hebrews 11 cite her as a model of faith that turns into action.

How do we reconcile "saved by faith" (Paul) with "justified by works" (James, regarding Rahab)?

Loic explains that James is not saying we are saved by works, but that Rahab's actions show that her faith was real. Faith without action is not real faith, just as a lamp you never turn on proves nothing about your knowledge of electricity.

What should I do when I have doubts or my emotions waver?

The key is not your feelings, it is where you are standing. Keep praying, keep coming to church, keep believing. The weakest faith in Jesus still saves; the strongest faith in anything else does not save. Stay in the house.

How can I receive this grace in my life today?

At the end of the message, Loic invites anyone who wants to welcome Jesus to pray a simple prayer: acknowledging that we have sinned, that we are unable to save ourselves, and asking God's grace to come and transform our life. He then encourages people to connect with a Christian community to be supported along the way.