There is probably no case in Scripture that (in type) illustrates the riches of God’s grace more fully than Rahab’s history. Her history begins in Jericho, a type of this world, and like this world, it was marked out for judgment. Jesus, when about to go to the cross, said, “Now is the judgment of this world,” adding, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die” (John 12:31-32). The doom of the world was sealed at the cross.
Rahab tells us what testimony of God was used to bring faith to her soul. She says in Joshua 2:10 that they had heard what Jehovah had done at the Red Sea, which was the place where the power of God was displayed — a type of the death and resurrection of Christ. Many in Jericho heard it besides Rahab, and how many there are now that know of the historical fact of the resurrection of Christ. But there was faith in Rahab, and “faith cometh by hearing.” Whereas on the part of them that believed not, “the word ... did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it” (Heb. 4:2).
Safety
Her home, Jericho, seemed secure. To all appearances it was impregnable, just as the world today boasts of progress, while going on to judgment. But “faith is the . . . evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1), and so Rahab says, “I know that the Lord hath given you the land” (Josh. 2:9). What then? She wants a place of safety for herself and her father’s house when the judgment falls. She wants a token that if she acts on the word spoken, their lives will be spared. She is told to “bind this line of scarlet thread in the window.” The “scarlet line” is a type of “the precious blood of Christ”; and God says, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7), like Israel in Exodus 12, where Jehovah says, “And the blood shall be to you for a token... and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.”
Rahab also thought of the blessing of others, but there must be a test for them. “Thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee” (Josh. 2:18). What, must they come under the roof of one who had been a disgrace to the family? Yes, for “there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22-23). Pride in the heart and utter ignorance of the awful havoc that sin has made have led many to reject God’s way of being saved. Simon, the Pharisee in Luke 7, and the elder brother in Luke 15 are illustrations of this.
The Scarlet Line
Joshua 6:23 shows us that Rahab’s family availed themselves of God’s way of safety from the judgment about to fall. Though safe under the shelter of the “scarlet line,” the power of God had not yet acted on their behalf. We are told “the gospel . . . is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom. 1:16), showing that salvation (or “deliverance”) is connected with the display of power. In Exodus 12 we get the blood of the lamb as the ground of security, but when we come to Exodus 14 we find God’s power displayed against the enemies of God’s people and in their favor, placing them on the other side of the Red Sea.
Salvation
God displayed His power in resurrection (Rom. 1:4; 2 Cor. 13:4). Paul desired that the saints might know that they stand before God according to the display of His power which was put forth when He raised Jesus from the dead (Eph. 1:19-20; 2:6). Only after the power of God had been displayed against the enemy on Rahab’s behalf, is it said, “And Joshua saved Rahab,” bringing her out of what had been judged and putting her into an entirely different place. So it is now with the believer before God. He is no longer seen as “in Adam,” where death holds universal sway, but “in Christ,” where there is “no condemnation.” (Rom. 8:1). Rahab was safe when she bound the scarlet line in the window, but she was not “saved” until the action in Joshua 6:25 had taken place.
Citizenship
God’s grace to Rahab goes beyond her salvation from Jericho’s fall. We read, “And she dwelleth in Israel” (Josh. 6:25). Now, instead of being a dweller in Jericho, she becomes a dweller in Israel; her citizenship is entirely of a new country. When we turn to the New Testament, we find that we who were once “dead in trespasses and sins ... [and] walked according to the course of this world,” not only have peace and are saved (by grace), but we are “no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19). We belong to an entirely new order of things, as it is written, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [or, ‘it is a new creation’]: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). We are “strangers and pilgrims” (1 Pet. 2:11) as to this world, and “our conversation [or ‘citizenship’] is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20).
Union
But Rahab’s blessing does not end with her new citizenship. In 1 Chronicles 2 we get the genealogical register of Judah, the royal tribe. Comparing verse 11 with Ruth 4:21 and Matthew 1:5, we find that she was married to Salma (or Salmon), the prince of the royal tribe. In Romans 7:4 and 1 Corinthians 6:17, 19-20, what wondrous and precious truth is brought before us! As believers we are not only safe and saved, but are citizens of heaven, “joined unto the Lord,” “married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” When we see the contrast between the “harlot of Jericho” and the “wife of the prince of the royal tribe,” we see a wonderful picture of what grace has done for believers today!
Mannerism
What manner of person ought Rahab to be now, and how ought she to conduct herself? Not only were old things passed away and all things become new, but she was a wife; her affections had been won. How would she prove that her heart had been won? Surely by seeking to please the one who had won it! Has Jesus won our heart? Then He gives you and me an opportunity of proving it in this scene where He was once rejected and cast out. Among the “all things new” is the motive of the heart, for it says, “The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14-15). It is thus, having been united to the One who has been raised from the dead, and the affections of the heart being exercised, that we “bring forth fruit unto God” (Rom. 7:4).
“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him” (Col. 3:17).
Christian Truth, Vol. 34 (adapted)