Encouragement

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EVEN RAHAB IS WORTHY

Mathew 1:1-16 conspicuously mentions and expressly so, 4 women in the genealogy of Jesus. The naming is deliberate. The 4 women collectively have a uniqueness that could not escape history. First there comes Rahab, wife to Salmon and mother to Boaz; then there is Ruth wife to Boaz and mother to Obed; then follows Bathsheba, wife to David and mother to Solomon; last comes Mary, wife to Joseph and mother to Jesus
Bottom up, Mary is ‘impregnated by the Holy Spirit just when she was betrothed to Joseph and a few steps to marriage. Bathsheba and David’s union was an adulterous one, with David having killed her husband. Ruth, at the direction of her mother-in-law waited for the fall of darkness, crept to Boaz’s feet (A rich relative) and lay down-she proposed to him! Rahab was a harlot; a foreigner that would later by God’s design fall into the genealogy of Jesus. All these women did and or experienced the unconventional in their time. The subject of this sermon is Rahab. Now, harlotry, prostitution, ‘ukahaba’ are words that are not synonymous with any good thing or good people for that matter.
Joshua 2:1 “And Joshua son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, go view the land even Jericho. And they went, and came into a harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.” In the time that Rahab lived, harlotry was not a one off thing but a business as well as a profession. Those who ventured into it did it to their best. So we can say Rahab was in the profession, and she even had a lodge! It’s what you would call high-tech or digital prostitution in this age. Oh and the cunning nature of a harlot does not fail her too. In verse 4, after the king of Jericho sends for the men, she hides the soldiers and gives a white lie to the home soldiers sent- Not sure why they call it white, it should be a dark, pitch black lie. I guess we’re now getting to discover that we share something with; there’s more coming. She gives a testimony in verse 9-“I know that the Lord has
given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because. For we have heard...” Now, how on earth could she come to such a conclusion only by hearing what had been said? - And trust me she heard a lot, because hers was all, even spying soldiers could visit. What better answer than that the Lord had revealed it to her. You get to confirm this because the two spies take that very message to Joshua. She even declares that the Lord of Israel is “God in heaven above and in earth beneath”. Amazing! But she’s still a prostitute, right?
Then she makes a covenant with the spies and this mark you is a covenant with the Lord because it is God who had given the land into the Israelite’s hands and only He had the power to spare anything else. Take note that in chapter 5:17 only the harlot Rahab and her household were to live. Every other thing was accursed. She prayed for kindness, for mercy, not just to the spies but to the Lord who was able to save her. Most of the time when we quote the Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11 we often overlook verse 31 that talks of Rahab who by faith perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace. This was after she made a covenant with God to save her from the accursed city. How then did Rahab, the harlot fall into the Royal line? Seen through the eyes of man, she was not worthy to be the great-grandmother of a sinless, blameless baby, a light to the gentiles and King of the Jews. But guess what? That was and still is the Lord’s design; that where much sin abounds, grace much more abounds also (Romans 5:20). We may look at Rahab and see a sinful, dirty and unworthy woman, but so are we brethren, so are we. Our righteousness is as filthy rags before the Lord (Isaiah 64:6). Our case is no different from ‘sister Rahab’ if I may call her that. Deep in the miry bog, David says, we are.
But just like Rahab, God does not want us to remain where we are: He wants to make a COVENANT with us, the everlasting covenant of grace and mercy through Jesus. He calls unto us in Isaiah 1:18 to come and reason together with Him, though our sins may be read as scarlet (And yes they are, look keenly enough). He is willing to wash us to be as white as snow. This semester’s theme is right on point. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, old things are passed away;

BEHOLD, all things are become new! Oh Rahab knew where the victory lay, with God of the heaven above and of the earth beneath. Similarly, we also should identify with whom victory over sin lies-with Jesus Christ who overcame the law and the power of sin. Isaiah 43:18 resounds this:”Remember not the former things; neither consider the things of old. BEHOLD I will do a new thing...”
If Rahab was worth of the Lord’s kindness...so are you. The Lord loves you and is willing to spend eternity with you; He in fact WANTS to spend eternity with you. Will you allow Him to? He just needs to you to ‘COME’. You might look at your sins and see an ocean before you but there’s more than a sea of grace and love waiting to pick you up, cleanse you and make you whole. The Greek transliteration for the word ‘former’ (in Isaiah 43:18) is ‘qadamoni’-having existed for a long time. ‘New’ is ‘kainos meaning ‘fresh’. The Lord is ready to turn the staleness to freshness, the old nature to newness, and the filthy rags to an array of Glory. He is beckoning. Behold He stands at the door and knocks. Will you open out your heart to Him this moment? Just to let Him fill you with His love, a love that is ever so much abounding? In Hebrew, ‘doing’ (I will do a new thing) translates to- ‘fashion, accomplish, make, deal, act, effect, produce, to make new in a way that adds or replaces something’. Whichever applies to you, He is ready to do that. To replace what needs replacing, to make NEW. Rahab is given a powerful generation after her. She isn’t given REGENERATION but a GENERATION. A Regeneration is made from something existent. Generation just springs forth-as if nothing ever existed. When He wipes sins away, He remembers them not.....setting them away from Him as far as the east is from the west! Eish! Just AMAZING!
Even those in salvation, Matthew 9:16-17 talking of new and old wineskins; “Neither do men put new wine into old wineskins” We are subject to wear and tear, but the creator has a remedy for that. The inner man needs to be renewed day by day in order for the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto good works. How the Lord, the Holy one of Israel, El-Hakkadosh wants to reconcile us to Himself-Romans 6:4-6. Your sins are not too dark for His light to shine through.
Indeed there is nothing impossible with God. He turned Rahab, the HARLOT and FOREIGNER into a legitimate ancestor of Christ. He likewise can turn you, however sinful you think you are; and for those who haven’t realized it yet, He wants to make you His. For the saved, He wants you to confess your sins and have a repentant heart. It is never too late for Him. A righteous man may fall seven times but the Lord still uplifts him. He wants to cleanse us, to make us His sons and daughters so that “when He shall appear, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.” (1John 3:1-3), for we are worthy of His grace because EVEN RAHAB IS WORTHY

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