Joshua – Lesson 18

Rahab’s home was the safe place that the spies found in Jericho. She lived in a space in the huge wall which encircled the city. It was 90 feet high and 30 feet thick.

Did you notice the instructions that the spies gave her? In order for her family to be safe she was to hang a red rope out of her window of her house when the Israelites attack the city. The spies would inform Joshua of the promise they had made to her and they would leave her place safe.

Did you get the connection of the red rope and the Passover in Egypt? The red rope protected her family just as the blood on the doorposts protected the eldest son among the Israelites in Egypt.

· Joshua 6:25, But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho-and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

God’s grace overshadowed all of her sins and when she is mentioned in the Scriptures she is referred to as “Rahab the harlot”, which emphasizes the kind of sinner she was; but God’s grace was sufficient. Her salvation from certain death in Jericho and from her sinful life is a type of our salvation, if we just dare to believe God.

The Bible tells us that Rahab became the wife of an Israelite and the great grandmother of David, the family line from which Jesus came!!! The grace of God leads to victory and it was so in the case of Israel going into Canaan. We, too, can be conquerors in the power of Jesus.

Rahab triumphed because she recognized what the true situation was. She knew that the Canaanites had no strength because they had heard about God delivering the Israelites from Egypt and the Red Sea incident along with the defeat of the two kings east of the Jordan.

This was truly good news to the spies who reported to Joshua.

· Joshua 2:24, “The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us."

Any Christian who really believes God and who will pray in Jesus name will bring fear into the powers that would defeat us. They are already defeated.

· 1 Peter 5:6-9, Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

We are told that Satan goes around like a roaring lion but this should not frighten the Christian. Peter goes on to say:

· 1 Peter 5:10, And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

So we have the assurance that we have One with us who is vastly superior in strength to Satan.

James emphasizes this fact as well.

· James 4:6-7, But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Maybe we should have said in the beginning that the Book of Joshua can be divided into three parts. The first has to do with Israel’s entrance into the Promised Land. This is covered in the first five chapters. The second section has to do with Israel’s conquest of the land and is covered in chapters 6 through 12. The third section deals with possessing the land and includes chapters 13 through 24.

This is a true historical record but it is part of God’s Word and is included to provide more than just historical events. They were recorded here for our benefit as believers so that we can learn spiritual truths that will assist us in our spiritual growth.

Crossing Over By Faith

· 3:1 Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. 2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it." 5 Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you." 6 Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people." So they took it up and went ahead of them. 7 And the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. 8 Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: 'When you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go and stand in the river.'" 9 Joshua said to the Israelites, "Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. 10 This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. 11 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. 12 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD-the Lord of all the earth-set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap." 14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

We know that there was a definite point in time when the Israelites entered Canaan. As we have said, entering into Canaan does not represent the first part of the Christian life, nor does it represent heaven. Entering Canaan represents the decision of a Christian to become involved in spiritual warfare. In the case of Israel, 40 years elapsed between these two experiences, that is, leaving Egypt and entering Canaan.

Many Christians experience a time lapse between accepting Jesus as their Savior and entering the warfare. Unfortunately, the time lapse is often great.

This book does not deal with the new birth either in type or symbolically. Israel’s experience here represents the life of the regenerated person, a born-again person in his spiritual warfare. It deals with the more abundant life that we are promised. But all must understand that before there can be an entrance into Canaan, there must be an exit from Egypt.

Some Contrasts:

Israel’s experience in Canaan represents the life of the regenerated person in his spiritual warfare. It covers the more abundant life.

It will be helpful if we look at some contrasts between the exodus from Egypt under Moses and the entrance under Joshua.

An exodus, of course, speaks of “going out”. An entrance speaks of that which “leads in”. The exodus for Israel was a going out from bondage and slavery. The entrance was to conquer and possess.

In the Christian life the exodus speaks of release from the world and from sin and from Satan. The entrance into Canaan speaks of the overcoming life in which the believer learns to possess that which Jesus has procured for him.

Now if there is a time element between these two events, then it is because we lack the faith necessary to enter the spiritual warfare, though we may not recognize it as such. As we discuss the following, think about how this is related to our own lives.

While the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt there was a period of time between the time Moses came to deliver them and the time they left Egypt. They endured some hardships during this time. There were the plagues, the forced labor put on them by the Egyptians, and other testings, not all designed to cause Pharaoh to let them go free, but to cause them to come to a point where they wanted to be free of the bondage and wanted to leave Egypt.

It is so with regard to people who are not concerned about their salvation and who are satisfied in their sinful life. In many cases God allows trials and difficulties in the lives of such people until they are ready to “leave their spiritual Egypt”.

When the people were ready to come out of Egypt, God sent one more judgment. That was the slaying of the firstborn male in each home. This was a night of death and is a picture of the judgment that sin brings on the unrepentant.

But God provided a way of escape and that involved death and blood. It involved the death of a sacrificial animal and its blood spread on the doorposts of each home. Now it is common for us to think that the blood was only put on the doorposts of Israelite homes, but one has to wonder if some of the Egyptians didn’t also perform this sacrificial practice and therefore the oldest son in those households were saved as well.

Why would we make such a speculative conclusion? Because the type here represents the blood of Jesus that was shed as a sacrifice that each of us could escape the judgment of sin, and not just for Jewish people.