SPEAKER_01: 0:05

Welcome friends to Preach It Girl Podcast, where we aren't just sitting around waiting for Jesus' second coming and skinny pop to make us skinny. I mean those things are bound to happen, but while we wait, join me, Auntie Lala, for a jaunt through the scriptures so lively, you'll think they were written just yesterday, not thousands of years ago. Now put on your listening ears for a somewhat sassy retelling of stories from the Bible. Today we're jumping in to Joshua chapter 2. But make sure you stay tuned to the end, as I have a special guest on with me today, and I can't wait for you to hear her story. Y'all, Rahab was bold, courageous, and sassy. Not only that, but she went against her king in a savvy display of clever misdirection. Today we're jumping into Joshua chapter 2, but make sure you stay tuned till the end because I have a special guest on with me today, and I can't wait for you to hear her story. And this is when the Israelites, they'd spent 40 years in the wilderness and were ready to cross over into the land of milk and honey, which was the Canaanite territory, and the Lord was leading them, and they were parked right outside of Jericho. So they had already taken like multiple armies by storm and just won every battle because the Lord was with them. So let's read Joshua chapter 2. And Joshua, who was leading the charge, the son of Nun, sent two men secretly from Shittim. I'm not making that up, as spies saying, Go view the land, especially Jericho. And they went and came into the house of a prostitute named Rahab, who lodged there, and it was told to the king of Jericho, Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land. Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land. But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, True the men came to me, but I did not know from where they came, and when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them for sure. She had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords, and the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out. Before the men lay down she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you, for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you, and went when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond that Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is the God of heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord, that as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death. And the men said, Our life for yours even to death. If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land, we will deal kindly and faithfully with you. Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall, and she said to them, Go into the hills or the pursuers will encounter you and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned, then afterward you may go on your way. The men said to her, We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear, behold, when we come into the land you shall tie the scarlet cord in the window through which you led us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother and brothers and all of your father's household. Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head. But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us swear, and she said, According to your words, so be it. Then she sent them away and they departed as she tied the scarlet cord to the window. Rahab was bold. Not only that, much like the spies scoping out the land, she crafted a plan that in my humble opinion would impress any double agent. And although Rahab was a working woman of the night, she was sure one smart cookie. Well, maybe a smart tart might be more accurate. But seriously, she and the rest of Jericho had all heard about the Israelites' exploits across the land and how they had defeated much stronger armies than their own. Why was Rahab and her family the only living survivors of Jericho? Because she recognized the move of God behind the Israelites' success. She realized the end of one era had come and the beginning of the new had arrived. She saw the writing on the wall and discerned the difference between her false gods of stone, silver, and gold and the one true God. This God intervened in the affairs of men and women. Unlike everyone in her town, she chose to act on what she'd heard. This is called faith. She was saved by believing that this God would defeat her king. And she acted on that belief, helping the Israelite spies. She made them promise to save her and her entire family in exchange for their lives. Y'all, it is nearly an exact template of what Jesus does for us. His kingdom is coming. Just like that Israelite army was headed to Jericho, Jesus is coming back and he is going to defeat evil when he comes. That's why he's coming. So before he comes in wrath to destroy evil, everyone gets a choice. You can ask God for a trade, just like Rahab asked the spies. She risked her life to save the spies. And in return, she received new life in the community of the Jews. She let go of her life, is a way to say it. She risked her life to save the spies. And in return, she received a husband. They grafted her into their Jewish life, their heritage, their family. And so she married salmon, and with salmon they birthed Boaz. So you can trade your sinful life for the new life in Jesus, who willingly sacrificed his life for you. Dear friend, enjoy it says he went to the cross. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, which means when he pictured you being restored to him in a right relationship, in a good, healthy relationship, body, soul, spirit, physical, spiritual, emotional, all of that being restored as a child of God, he saw that in the future. And that's why it says, for the joy set before him, that joy is him picturing you with him in relationship, restored to a good life with him. So this is the most remarkable exchange known to man. You can trade your broken, sinful, doomed to death life for a healed, renewed, friend of God life that lasts forever. And it's free. It's totally free. You can plainly see all around you darkness, brokenness, and death. I mean, it is yelling from the rooftops at this point, right? We can't turn your TV on without seeing a tragedy and evil being displayed. But also, you've heard of the goodness of God. I know you have in the lives of believers, testimony after testimony, good things that God has done for his people. Now, just like those in Jericho who had also heard, not just Rahab, but all of Jericho, she said, had heard of what God had done for the Israelites, but they didn't do anything with it. So they perished. So don't wait. Act now while his grace is extended, because a time is coming when it will be too late to choose his mercy. And we don't know when that is. God is perfectly just and perfectly loving. Love cannot exist without justice. So he has to completely eradicate the world of evil. He's going to destroy it. And the only way we survive this is to accept the exchange of our sinful lives for his perfect life. We get to call his perfect life ours. I mean, that's a miracle right there. I get it that plenty of people, including myself, have been hurt by church people. But that isn't going to give you a free pass. Don't let someone else's brokenness rob you of the best life that you could ever have. A life with God. In one chapter of the Bible, it describes it like this: A pearl hunter discovered, found the most beautiful, the most exquisite pearl, bigger than anything he's ever seen, and more valuable. So he buried it in a field. And then he went and sold everything he had so he could buy the field that he buried it in. So that that's the kind of goodness, the kind of life that you're going to get in exchange for your sinful, broken toll up from the floor up life. Okay. It's not like a like, oh, I don't know if it's going to be worth it. It's going to be worth it. Beyond what you could even think or imagine worth it. Especially when you consider how short this life is compared to eternity. Rahab's life is a beautiful picture of what all our lives look like before God. And how after we exchange our sin-sick lives for his, I'm so thankful that this story, this woman, is not just included, but celebrated in the Bible and celebrated in the Jewish faith. It's celebrated in the early church. It is mentioned twice in the New Testament, which is why I invited Rahab to chat with us today. So please welcome the woman formally known as a Canaanite prostitute. Thank you, Rahab, for coming on today. We're going to do a little interview segment with you. Rahab, because you hid the spies and helped them safely return to camp by misleading your king and his soldiers, you and your family were the only survivors of Jericho. What was that like? And what in the world gave you the courage to go against your Canaanite king and city?

SPEAKER_00: 12:22

Well, I had heard about the Israelites escaping through the Red Sea, the actual Red Sea. Since my establishment is at the city gates and a gathering place for visitors all over the known world, I'd heard of the deeds of their god. No other gods performed miracles for people, so I knew their god was different. When they told me to tie the scarlet cord to my window, I did it, and even sent soldiers away from the spies. Let me tell you how scary it was for my family when we heard the trumpets blast, everything shook. The entire wall came down except the smallest portion of my house. It sounded as if the entire world was crashing down around us. Later, I learned about the blood that was applied to the doors in Egypt that caused the plague to pass over their firstborn. I thought, wow, that's what God did for us.

SPEAKER_01: 13:10

Archaeologists have now found the ancient site of Jericho, and you're right, that one portion of the wall still stands. Rahab, some people might judge you because of your past profession as a working woman. But we know from Matthew's genealogy that not only were you spared Jericho's fate, you eventually married Salmon, who would give birth to Boaz, the kinsman redeemer, and the grandfather King David. And in the lineage, bloodline of Jesus, what would you say to those who might judge you for your past?

SPEAKER_00: 13:47

I suppose I could understand why they might think that, but here's where they're wrong. This God, although holy, I've learned what pleases him most is faith, and he rewards those who put their trust in him. We'd all heard of the great victories, but I threw my lot in with Israel by protecting the spies. I believe these days you all call it faith with works, because we all know faith without works is dead.

SPEAKER_01: 14:10

That's right. You are even mentioned in the great hall of faith in the book of Hebrews, by faith the prostitute Rahab. And then again in James 2.25, in the same way was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous. Was there any other mention of you in the New Testament?

SPEAKER_00: 14:29

I'm so grateful to be adopted into the family of God. Some would say I was a forerunner of the Gentiles being grafted into the kingdom of God through faith. I'm honored that God saw fit to use me, a prostitute, to help his people cross over into the promised land. Even I was a part of God's plan. Although my name is not mentioned again. I've heard that some Bible scholars suggest that when the Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus to stone, when he knelt down and wrote in the sand, he might have written my name, to remind them that God used a prostitute to preserve the spies and then place her in the royal family of God. I don't know if that's true, but it chokes me up even to imagine it.

SPEAKER_01: 15:11

Here I have, here's the Kleenex.

SPEAKER_00: 15:15

Thank you. I often wonder why God chose me to be in the royal bloodline, grandmother to King David and the great, great, great, great, great grandmother of Jesus. The only thing I can think of is that God wants every woman who hears my name to know he is always willing, never ashamed to receive broken, rejected, or despised women into his welcoming arms. Not only that, but in a dynamic display of his grace turns us into healed, restored, and beloved women, sowing us into his beautiful tapestry of the family and children of God.

SPEAKER_01: 15:49

Remember, you are invited to be a child of God no matter what. No matter your past, no matter what's going on, it doesn't even matter. To be a part of God's family, all you have to do is say these words. God, I believe you are real. Forgive all my wrongdoings. I would like to exchange this life for the perfect life of Jesus. I invite you, Jesus, into my heart. Amen. That's it. And jump up and down, sister, because there's a party in heaven if you just said those words. Now get your butt to church because you're going to want those roots to grow deep into the community of faith and your new life with God. I love you. I look forward to our next time together on Preacher Girl.