Under the Scarlet Cord
"But Joshua
spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who
belonged to her . . ." (Josh 6:25)
Joshua and the
entire Israelite army have just finished walking around
Jericho once a day for six days, and now, on the seventh
day, after walking around the city seven more times, they
give a mighty shout to the Lord, and the walls of the city
come tumbling down. The Israelite army rush into the
now-unprotected city and burn it do the ground, destroying
all of its inhabitants, all of its cattle, all of its
spoils, taking only the gold, silver and bronze vessels
into the treasury of the Lord. Why would they so totally
destroy a city? Even its cattle and it's women and
children? Because the entire city was devoted to the
Lord! Jericho was the first fruit of the Canaan conquest,
and the first fruits of everything were for the Lord!
(see Josh 6:21)
But there is just
one little exception . . . There is this matter of the
prostitute, Rahab . . . "Joshua spared Rahab the
prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her .
. ." (Josh 6:25).
Why? Joshua 6:25
says its because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies
to Jericho!
But let's take a
look back at the story as it is recorded in
Joshua 2.
Rahab already knows
about the God of Israel and all the He has done for His
people, and she already knows there is no hope for her own
people against such a powerful God! As a result, she
takes in the spies, lies to her own people to protect
their lives, then pleads with them to spare her and her
family from the wrath that she is sure will come. The men
promise to spare her life and the lives of her family
because of the kindness she showed them, and she proceeds
to let them down over the city wall with a cord of
scarlet. Just before fleeing to the hills, the two spies
turn around and say: "This oath you made us swear will
not be binding on us unless, when we
enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in
the window through which you let us down, and
unless you have brought your father and mother,
your brothers and all your family into your house."
(Josh 2:17-19).
In other words,
Rahab and her family are only safe in Rahab's house
under the scarlet cord!
My friends, at the
end of times, when the Earth is destroyed and all of its
inhabitants are given their just reward, there will also
be a few who will be spared! Who? Just as the ones
spared from Jericho had to be covered by a scarlet cord,
the ones spared in the end of times will be the ones that
are also covered in scarlet -- covered by the scarlet
blood of the lamb!
Are you "covered in
scarlet", my friends? Have you accepted Jesus into your
life? If you have, then you have nothing to fear on the
day of Judgment. But if you are not, then just like the
rest of Jericho's inhabitants, you will have no
protection. But if you have accepted Jesus into your
life, then just like Rahab and her family, you already lie
covered by the Scarlet Cord, by the blood of the lamb.
And just like Rahab, you will have nothing to fear!
If you've never
accepted Jesus into your life, my friend, why not do so
today? Just Answer
the Savior's Call. Don't wait another day! To
do so,
Click here (http://answers2prayer.org/saviours_call.html)
and
enjoy assurance of life eternal!
Don't wait
another day, my friends, to find yourself safely under the
"Scarlet Cord"!
Love in Christ,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart,
Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets (
www.sermonillustrator.org/minisermons/ ), Answers2Prayer Ministries,
www.Answers2Prayer.org ,