Conversion, such as Scripture speaks of, is not a mere change of religion, nor is it simply orthodoxy, even though of the severest description. Conversion is a work divinely wrought in the soul, whereby a man is led to face the fact of his sins in humble repentance, and then to cast himself upon a Savior-God. Inasmuch as we have all sprung from a corrupt stock, and have gone astray from birth, conversion is vital for all who would escape the wrath to come.
Most persons experience this mighty change as the result of quiet attention to the gospel of Christ. In some cases, however, conversion takes place under such extraordinary circumstances that public attention is necessarily attracted. Rahab, the harlot of Jericho, may well be said to have had a most remarkable conversion (Josh. 2:66But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. (Joshua 2:6)). She was of Canaanite birth, thus a member of that race which had become such a grievous moral ulcer in the earth by reason of its frightful abominations that God, after centuries of long-suffering, had been constrained to pass sentence of utter extermination upon it. To the stain of her nationality must be added the infamy of her own vicious means of livelihood. Yet such as she obtained mercy! With Rahab's story on record, no contrite sinner need despair.
Dread was the beginning of the good work in her soul. The sentence of extermination had reached her ears. While those around her hardened their hearts, and prepared themselves to fight out the matter to the last, she humbled herself at the feet of the Almighty Judge, owning that He was righteous. To His servants the Israelite spies, she said: "I know that Jehovah hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us... Jehovah your God, He is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.”
Such a confession as this involved the complete renunciation of all the false deities of her people, while she sheltered herself, like Ruth in a later day, under the wings of Jehovah. Had she volunteered this confession after Israel's victories, it might have been mere dissimulation; but spoken as it was before Israel met any of Canaan's disciplined hosts, it was simple genuine faith. Indeed, the Spirit of God Himself assures us of this in Heb. 11:3131By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. (Hebrews 11:31). She believed God's word concerning the approaching doom, she sought refuge in God Himself before the stroke fell. Happy woman! Divinely wise! Many in this day of skeptical foolhardiness would do well to follow in her steps.
Rahab desired a token of security, and was told to bind in her window the scarlet cord by which she had let down the spies over the city wall. This, in the day of Jericho's overthrow, would preserve both herself and all her house. The executors of God's judgment would respect the token when they saw it. Not a drop of blood should be shed where the scarlet cord was. Thus when the awful crash of the city walls burst upon her ears, Rahab could sit at home calmly and in peace, in the consciousness that she and all with her were saved of the Lord.
What a lesson is here! What a picture of "the gospel of God concerning His Son"! The scarlet cord speaks to us of the precious blood of Christ. This, shed on earth as an atonement for human guilt, suffices to screen from judgment all who place themselves in faith beneath its shelter. Amid the crashing of worlds by and by, no alarm will be experienced by those whose trust is in the Savior and in the precious blood He shed.
The name of the woman who was thus saved from the destruction of Jericho is found later in the royal genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:55And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; (Matthew 1:5)). What a beautiful picture this is of the grace which will give every saved one part with Christ in all the glory of the age to come!