The Picture of Rahab’s Faith –
Before the two spies left Rahab’s house, they told her to mark her house by hanging a scarlet cord out of her window and to gather all of her family members into her house.
- The word “cord” refers to a “rope” – many cords of flax woven together into one long length.
- The word “scarlet” pictures several things:
- Rahab’s past – scarlet has always been associated with sin, evil, immorality, and wickedness.
- Blood – that which God required for the remission of sin,
- That “scarlet thread” runs all the way through the Bible from the first animal God slew to provide loin coverings for Adam and Eve to the cross of Calvary where God sacrificed His Son to cover for our sins.
- Isaiah 1:18 – “Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’”
For that scarlet rope to be effective in protecting Rahab and her family, she had to place her faith in it by:
- Her obedience – she had to tie the rope to her house and hang it out the window.
- Her urgency – she did not know when the Israelites would invade, so she immediately hung that scarlet rope out her window and waited.
- Her commitment – she was making a statement to all who saw it that she was choosing the God of Israel over the gods of her own people.
Each time the Israelites marched around those walls, they saw that scarlet rope hanging out of Rahab’s window.
- Rahab waited by faith in the promise of God that she and her family would be saved.
- The Israelites walked by faith in the promise of God that He would flatten the walls of Jericho.
- That scarlet rope was a picture of the cross of Christ; that in the midst of His final judgment of the sinful world, God has extended His love, His mercy, and His grace toward those who put their faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ.
- Rahab went from a harlot to a heroine simply by her faith in the God of Israel, and God will do the same for anyone who followers her pattern of faith.
- Rahab shows us that no past is too bad for God’s grace, for out of that relationship came Boaz, who married Ruth.