Here Is A True Story To Touch Your Heart

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JOSHUA AND THE SCARLET THREAD OF REDEMPTION

The Bible is full of pictures which depict the blood of Jesus. Some are hidden and you need to dig them out. They contain some of the most precious nuggets in the Bible.

Rahab had lived in the protection of big rocks for years. Her house was built on a wall and it would be pretty difficult for anyone to scale the wall to attack. So you could say she lived in reasonable safety. Just like everyone else in Jericho, Rahab had put her trust in those big walls of rock to discourage roaming bands of outlaws and also the walls were there to protect against foreign armies.

For hundreds of years the walls of Jericho had proven to be impenetrable and there was no reason to doubt their invincibility. Or was there? For weeks, the people of Jericho had been talking about and hearing about a roving band of Hebrews who apparently were approaching Jericho with take over in mind. The story told was that they had an invincible God looking out for them. He had apparently already dried up the red sea so they could just march straight across when they left Egypt.

This same God had given them victory over Sihon, the King of the Amorites and over Og the King of Bashan. It was reported that both tribes had been utterly destroyed. Now the fear of Israel and its God was gripping the people of Jericho so the news was intensifying. When Joshua sent two spies into the city of Jericho, Rahab had already made up her mind that the walls of Jericho could not be trusted anymore.

So, Rahab hid the two spies out of sight of the soldiers of Jericho and when the coast was clear she helped the two Israelites escape through her window which was on the wall. She lowered them down to the ground by means of a scarlet rope.

It was interesting to see that Rahab became a believer and that when she did, she ‘confessed with her mouth’ that God was God. Joshua 2: 11 says, . . .for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above, and in earth below.” She confessed her new found faith in God to the spies  and then struck a deal with them. This deal would ultimately write her name in history with the likes of Abraham Moses and Samson, David and others in the heroes of faith found in Hebrews 11.

So, the spies instructed Rahab, “Take this scarlet rope,” put it in your window so it can be seen from outside the city. When we see the scarlet cord, we will spare everyone who is in your house. We all know the typology behind this but it bears repeating. When Christ sees the blood covering us, He will spare us from the wrath to come. When the people were instructed to sprinkle the blood on the lintel’s and doorposts, the death angel was to pass over the house and spare all in side.

I also like to think this is a picture of the world looking in on a Christian. When they look at us from the outside, do they see the blood of Christ or is it hidden.  Do we exhibit Christ in our lives to the point that the bloodline shows through us for others to see just as the scarlet cord was hanging out her window for all to see. Signifying there were believers inside? Rahab’s faith led to her obedience.

She placed the scarlet cord in her window, called her relatives to her house and waited for deliverance. Here is a lesson. We are saved, we cover ourselves in the blood of the lamb and then we call all into our belief who will come and then we wait for the deliverer. The spies looked for the scarlet cord in Rahab’s window and rescued Rahab and her family from Jericho’s destruction. Rahab’s deliverance is a beautiful picture of redemption through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.

God redeemed this Canaanite harlot and the New Testament apostle Matthew tells us that she went on to marry Salmon (Matthew 1:4 & 5). Out of this marriage was born Boaz who married Ruth and became the father of Obed. And Obed was the father of Jesse, the father of none other than King David. So, Rahab is one of only four women to be mentioned by name in the genealogy of Jesus.

Rahab’s salvation was just an inkling of Jesus’ death for people of every race and creed. Rahab’s deliverance through the scarlet cord is just one of many pictures of Jesus in this wonderful action packed book of Joshua. Even before the Israelites victory at Jericho, we can see Jesus in the lives of the Jews. The book of John gives us the name of the place where the Jordan rolled back and the Jews crossed over into the promised land: Bethabara. It is the same place where John the Baptist baptized Jesus (John 1:28). Beth means ‘house’ and ‘abara’ means passage; therefore Bethabara literally means ‘the house of passage.’

Jesus is our ‘house of passage.’ He is the way into all the promises of God: “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Through Christ we cross over into the promises of the kingdom of God. The waters of the Jordan were rolled back all the way to a city called Adam (Joshua 3:16). What a beautiful picture! Jesus not only takes our sins away but He also cleanses us from all sin all the way back to Adam. Sin started with Adam in the garden of Eden, but Jesus is the ‘last Adam’ who did away with all sin. (I Corinthians 15:45).

That’s why Paul tells us to forget those things which are behind us and reach for those things before us (Philippians 3:13). So, how far back are we to forget those things which are behind? All the way back to Adam! So don’t say my grandfather was this or my great grandmother did that,  Jesus is your passage into the promises of God and He has cleansed you all the way back to Adam.

The book of Joshua is powerful. Even the name Joshua, (in Hebrew Yeshua) means, “Jehovah (or Yahweh) is salvation.”  In the Greek “Jesus” means Yeshua. In Hebrews 4:8 Joshua is directly contrasted to Jesus.  Joshua was the conqueror who led the Israelites into their inheritance, while Jesus is the captain of our salvation, bringing us into glory. (Hebrews 2:10)

Every rope that is in the British Navy has a red line running through the middle of it. It denotes their faith in God and His ability to protect them from harm. Similarly there is a scarlet thread of redemption that runs through every book of the Bible and it identifies each book as belonging to God’s great plan of redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. I do not think that red thread is more visible than in the pages of Joshua. This book has tremendous lessons for today and it also has tremendous pictures of Jesus life work and death on our behalf.

The scarlet thread of redemption brings life wherever it goes. As we read through the pages of Joshua we should allow God to speak life to our spirits and to make us more than conquerors through the blood of Christ.

Who Is Christ? He Is Your Life That Is Who He Is.

This is taken from Colossians 3:

 

 So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.

Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It’s because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn’t long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.

 Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

That is who Christ is in you.

Have a blessed day.

Pastor Robert Coutts