Rehab’s Advent Hope
Advent 2024 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 5 viewsLead Pastor Wes Terry preaches on Advent Hope using the story of Rehab and the Jericho spies. This series looks at four of the mothers of Jesus mentioned in his genealogy in Matthew 1. The sermon was preached on December 1, 2024.
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION:
INTRODUCTION:
Today we’re kicking off our Advent season of Broadview which is the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Eve (which we will celebrate by lighting the Christ candle.)
The Advent candles represent core Christian virtues. Let me give us some working definitions for the following four weeks.
Hope: a confident expectation that something good will happen.
Peace: a wholistic state of harmony that settles opposition.
Joy: an inner, abiding, delight that satisfies our deepest longing.
Love: an active, selfless, commitment that seeks the good another.
What’s so unique about each of these four virtues is that they all require an object or grounds to have their intended affect.
A lover needs somebody to seek.
Joy needs an object to satisfy.
Peace needs opposition to settle.
Hope needs a reason to stay alive.
In this way, every single human celebrates advent but only certain people experience it as God meant it to be.
They’re looking for love but can’t seem to find it.
They’re looking for joy but their cravings never end.
They’re looking for peace but hostilities are still raging.
They’re looking for hope but it constantly disappoints.
Every worldview and world religion tries to address these human intuitions. As people made in the image of God we cannot help but feel them.
The Christian answer to these innate desires can be summarized in a single word: Jesus.
Jesus really is the REASON for the season of Advent. And when I say reason I mean it in the deepest kind of way.
He is the one who establishes a better future. (hope)
He is the one in whom hostilities cease. (peace)
He is the one who satisfies our deepest longings. (joy)
The is the one selflessly seeks our good. (love)
So it’s no surprise that we celebrate Advent every year at Broadview. It’s a way for us to reorient our hearts towards the one in whom we live and move and have our being.
This year, we’re going to explore these advent themes using the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1.
Set the Table
Set the Table
I got this idea while we were preaching through the book of Genesis and we came across the story of Tamar in Genesis 38.
She was a Canaanite woman who married Judah’s sons. God killed both men because they were evil in his sight.
Afraid of giving Tamar to his youngest, Judah sent her away with an empty promise.
That act of cowardice put Tamar in a desperate situation. Those desperate times called for desperate measures.
Judah was traveling through Tamar’s city after his wife had died. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Tamar dressed up like a prostitute and exchanged her body for pledge.
Judah pledged three items to Tamar that uniquely exposed his identity.
A deceptive act, no doubt, but effective nevertheless. Tamar got pregnant while unmarried through prostitution.
Confronted with these facts, Judah issued a severe punishment. On her way to be burned she made a plea to expose the father.
When she sent the message along with Judah’s pledge, he came under severe conviction.
Tamar deceptive act led to Judah’s repentance and the continuation of his lineage.
This is why Tamar becomes the first WOMAN mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy.
Remember, genealogies were like the CV or resume for the person under consideration.
With Tamar you have a GENTILE - Canaanite woman - who played the harlot but was used by God to advance his redemptive agenda.
Read the Text
Read the Text
There’s a fundamental truth in her story along with every other mother of Jesus.
With that in mind let’s pick up our passage in Matthew 1:1.
1 An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
2 Abraham fathered Isaac,
Isaac fathered Jacob,
Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar,
Perez fathered Hezron,
Hezron fathered Aram,
4 Aram fathered Amminadab,
Amminadab fathered Nahshon,
Nahshon fathered Salmon,
5 Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab,
Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth,
Obed fathered Jesse,
6 and Jesse fathered King David.
David fathered Solomon by Uriah’s wife,
WHEN HOPE VISITS A HOUSE:
WHEN HOPE VISITS A HOUSE:
Jesus - the son of David, son of Abraham. Two important mediators of two important covenants.
To Abraham, God promised a seed in whom every nation on earth would be blessed. (Gen 26:4) To David God promised a kingdom with no end. (2 Sam 7:8-16)
Both of these covenants are fulfilled through Jesus and unlocked incredible promises for the people of God.
Added to that glory are the stories of these four women. God chose some unlikely candidates to advance his redemptive plan.
Their lives are a reminder that true hope is universally offered.
It’s available to the lowliest of lows and the most marginalized among the outcasts. Even they can receive grace that is greater than their sin.
But true hope will only be enjoyed by those willing to receive it.
Tamar was faced with a hopeless situation but she did what was required to keep hope alive.
This morning we’re going to examine the second woman in Jesus genealogy: Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute of Jericho.
Shakes Status Quo
Shakes Status Quo
We pick up her story in Joshua 2. The Israelites were done wandering in the wilderness and preparing a military campaign to possess the Promised Land.
1 Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies from the Acacia Grove, saying, “Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.” So they left, and they came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there.
The first thing we learn about God’s hope in Jesus is that hope will shock us in the way it comes.
God’s hope comes to Jericho in the form of two enemy spies staying the night in the house of a well-known prostitute.
It’s a double shock! Shocking in HOW hope comes and shocking WHO it visits.
Tamar was merely playing the harlot, Rehab really was one!
Yet God chooses Tamar among all the other people in Canaan to show hospitality to men seeking to destroy her city.
Rehab was a Canaanite prostitute living in a Canaanite stronghold and accepts these Israelite spies into her home.
When Hope comes to visit it will shake up the status quo.
Embracing Courage
Embracing Courage
The king gets wind of this news and alerts Rehab of their intentions. Joshua 2:2-4
2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelite men have come here tonight to investigate the land.” 3 Then the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they came to investigate the entire land.”
Remember, Rehab was a prostitute. Seemingly she was a well known and easy to find because the King sends her a message right away.
She didn’t have any husband to defend/protect her. She had probably been used and abused by men her entire life.
We’re not told how the message came but you can imagine it was spoken with hint of scorn and judgment.
The craziest part about it, is the message wasn’t false. The men in her home really WERE spies who really DID come to investigate the land.
She had to make a decision whether that truth was sufficient to give the king what he wanted.
That’s the thing about hope when it shakes the status quo.
To receive hope you’ve got to reject a fearful spirit.
Rehab is putting herself in great danger for men she barely knows. But sometimes when hope decides to visit that kind of courage is in order.
Nobody else was willing to look beneath the surface of what else their visit entailed. Rehab had the bravery to look beneath the surface and discern what others wouldn’t.
Buying Time
Buying Time
Rehab does because she knows something deeper is going on.
4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from. 5 At nightfall, when the city gate was about to close, the men went out, and I don’t know where they were going. Chase after them quickly, and you can catch up with them!” 6 But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them among the stalks of flax that she had arranged on the roof. 7 The men pursued them along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they left to pursue them, the city gate was shut.
8 Before the men fell asleep, she went up on the roof
What a crafty little booger! We don’t yet know why Rehab covers for these spies but she intentionally deceives the king and sends his men on a wild goose chase.
Part of the reason Rehab does this is to buy herself some time.
She knows that something big is happening but she didn’t have enough knowledge to make an informed decision.
She does what every wise person does when they have a question they cannot answer. They buy themselves more time to discern what they should do.
Which is what receiving hope also requires in addition to personal courage.
Receiving hope requires us to reason with an open mind.
Rehab’s actions bought her that time and she uses it to engage her guests in conversation about the reason for their visit.
Strengthened By Faith
Strengthened By Faith
Verses 9-14 give us insight to that conversation.
8 Before the men fell asleep, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you.
Rehab’s response finally gives us some insight on why she’s tolerated such a risk to her well-being.
She didn’t just know that they were Israelite spies. She also knew, as Israelites, they had a special kind of favor from God.
We don’t know exactly how the news had spread to that area. There was no social media or newspapers like there is today.
However she got the news, she not only believed it but was also willing to risk her life so she could appeal to God’s mercy.
Which is another thing Rehab teaches us about hope. Hope is always secured by something trustworthy.
Hope - like Peace, Joy and Love - requires some kind of external ground or reason to be.
That’s why you cannot have hope without some kind of prior faith.
Hope against hope is just wishful thinking. That doesn’t inspire courage or action or even the least bit of confidence.
But if your hope rests upon something that is worthy of your trust then that kind of hope will change the way you live.
Hope MUST BE secured by something/someone worthy of truth or it isn’t a hope worth having at all.
Recognize God’s Love
Recognize God’s Love
Well how do you find that kind of faith? How you do exercise faith so that it secures a certain hope?
Rehab explains in the verses that follow.
10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you completely destroyed across the Jordan. 11 When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.
Rehab’s faith was informed by certain events in Israel’s history. She mentions three events specifically that motivated her response.
1. The miraculous drying up of the red sea. (Exodus 14:21-31; 15:14-16)
2. The defeats of two Amorite kings: Sihon and Og (Numbers 21:21-35; Deut 2:26-3:11)
We don’t have time to go into detail but all three events showed how God supernaturally intervened to give Israel victory over any force opposing their obedience to the Lord.
The much larger Egyptian army was swallowed up by the Red Sea.
The two larger Amorite armies were likewise defeated while Israel captured the land.
Not only were these three pagan armies destroyed by the LORD, they were also given a chance to for mercy if they allowed Israel to obey God unimpeded.
It was only when they refused that God allowed for their destruction.
The overarching point is that Rehab’s faith rested what she had come to see and hear about God’s activity in the world.
Faith requires a willingness to recognize God’s Love.
God was speaking in history through these particular events and Rehab was willing to listen to what God was saying about his love for this particular group of people.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by God’s word. (Rom 10:17) Jesus said let him who has ears to hear, Listen! (Mat 11:15) Paul prayed that the spiritual eyes of our heart might be able to see. (Eph 1:18)
Faith requires a willingness to look and listen to what God has revealed.
Request God’s Mercy
Request God’s Mercy
But Rehab doesn’t just recognize God’s activity in human history. She also makes appeal for God’s mercy.
12 Now please swear to me by the Lord that you will also show kindness to my father’s family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and save us from death.”
She asks these Israelite spies “swear to me by the LORD that you will also show kindness…”
Not only does she use the covenant name of God (Yahweh). She also appeals to God’s mercy through his “covenant love.” (hessed)
The Hebrew word “hessed” carries a ton of theological weight.
It was God’s “hessed love” that established all of his covenants. It was his loyal, lavish, unconditional love given to people who didn’t even deserve it.
In the words of the the Jesus Storybook Bible, it’s God’s “Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.”
It was this love from God that was poured out on sinners over and over again. That is the love that Rehab desires for herself and all of her family as well.
So faith doesn’t just require a willingness to recognize God’s love. It also requires a willingness to request God’s mercy.
Faith requires a willingness to request God’s mercy.
Respond to God’s Grace
Respond to God’s Grace
After recognizing God’s love and requesting divine mercy, the spies make Rehab an offer secure terms of peace.
14 The men answered her, “We will give our lives for yours. If you don’t report our mission, we will show kindness and faithfulness to you when the Lord gives us the land.”
15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, since she lived in a house that was built into the wall of the city. 16 “Go to the hill country so that the men pursuing you won’t find you,” she said to them. “Hide there for three days until they return; afterward, go on your way.”
Did you notice the language of substitution used by the Israelite spies? “We will give our lives in exchange for yours.”
In other words, what happens to us is what will happen to you. If you refuse our offer and rat us out to the authorities then you and your family will be destroyed in the battle.
If, however, you keep our mission to yourself and show your allegiance to God’s plan, we will spare not only your life but your entire family as well.
This would’ve been an extremely difficult ask for Rehab because she was trading a potential future deliverance for an immediate personal reward.
But that’s what hope always requires. That’s what genuine saving faith is.
You recognize God’s love.
You request God’s mercy.
You respond to God’s Offer.
Jesus said, “what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul. If anybody wants to save his life he must lose it. And in losing life you will save it.” (Matthew 16:25-26)
Shown by Scarlet
Shown by Scarlet
Rehab takes these men up on their offer and lets them through her window. After ensuring their safety the go on to share the report with Joshua.
Before they leave, however, she give Rehab a sign to demonstrate her hope remained with the LORD.
17 The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath you made us swear, 18 unless, when we enter the land, you tie this scarlet cord to the window through which you let us down. Bring your father, mother, brothers, and all your father’s family into your house. 19 If anyone goes out the doors of your house, his death will be his own fault, and we will be innocent. But if anyone with you in the house should be harmed, his death will be our fault. 20 And if you report our mission, we are free from the oath you made us swear.”
21 “Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window.
It’s interesting that these spies refuse to take Rehab at her word.
They knew that faith isn’t proven by what you’re willing to say. It’s proven by what you’re willing to do.
In a similar way, those who respond to God’s invitation in Jesus must demonstrate outwardly their commitment to his salvation.
In the case of Rehab this outward show of faith would be demonstrated by a scarlet cord.
It leads us to the third truth about Advent hope from the life of Rehab.
Advent hope is shown by our commitment to the scarlet cord.
Why scarlet? It’s not coincidental. It’s an intentional choice by the Israelite spies.
Scarlet is a shade of red often associated with blood. This was the same color of the lamb’s blood that was painted on certain doors during the Egyptian passover.
The death angel would come in judgment on Egypt and take the first born of every home. The only way to be delivered from death was to hide yourself underneath the blood of the lamb.
Divine mercy and deliverance was deeply embedded into the psyche of God’s people.
Now they’re extending that invitation to a Canaanite prostitute as well.
Redeeming the Guilty
Redeeming the Guilty
The scarlet thread in Rehab’s story symbolizes God’s universal offer of salvation. It’s not about genetics or human glory. It’s about God’s grace in making atonement.
And whether it was scarlet blood of the lamb in Passover or the scarlet thread outside of Rehab’s window - the atonement of the blood was pointing to a greater hope.
Their hope wasn’t in the blood of bulls and goats or a rope outside some window. Their hope was in God’s atoning grace through the giving of a substitute.
In that way, Jesus is our scarlet thread and Jesus became our substitute.
It was because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ that you and I can be delivered from sin and death.
The scarlet thread in Rehab’s story shows us two things about God’s grace in making atonement.
First, the scarlet thread redeems sinners from their guilt.
You see this in the comment by the Israelite spies that “we will not be guilty for your death if you refuse this scarlet thread.
The only reason they could say that is if Rehab and her family were indeed guilty before the Lord. The mere fact that Rehab showed some kindness to these spies was not nearly suffient to atone for her sins much less the sins of her entire family.
They couldn’t hide behind their good works they had to hind behind the scarlet thread.
Rescue All Who Hide
Rescue All Who Hide
But it’s more than mere redemption for the guilty.
The scarlet threat also had the power to rescue ANYONE who hides beneath it.
God’s offer of salvation a UNIVERSAL offer to anyone who would accept it. It wasn’t just for Rehab. It was for her Father, Mother, Brothers, Sisters and anybody else who would hide behind the cord.
This is exactly what happens to Rehab and her family.
Joshua 2 closes with the spies returning to Joshua and telling him the news. Not only was the city going to be easy to take the people of the city were already shaking in their boots.
Joshua plans out the military campaign and leads the Israelite army across the Jordan. (Joshua 3). He consecrates the people. Applies the sign of the covenant and meets an angel of the LORD right outside of Jericho.
He tells Joshua that the LORD has already delivered Jericho and all of its inhabitants to you. Just march around the fortified walls once a day for 6 days. On the seventh day they were to walk around it 7 times and then sound the trumpet.
That’s exactly what they did. The blew the ram’s horn, shouted and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. (Josh 6:20)
They completely destroyed everything in the city except for Rehab the prostitute and every person who was staying in the house with her.
22 Joshua said to the two men who had scouted the land, “Go to the prostitute’s house and bring the woman out of there, and all who are with her, just as you swore to her.” 23 So the young men who had scouted went in and brought out Rahab and her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel.
The scarlet thread redeems the guilty from their sin and death.
It also rescues all who hide beneath it.
What’s so amazing is that the faith of Rehab was also used to deliver her family from destruction as well.
Personal Application
Personal Application
The scarlet thread points to God’s atonement for sin through the giving of a substitute. Jesus is that substitute for us.
Are you hiding underneath the scarlet cord that Jesus has made available? Does your life demonstrate that you’re hope is resting in Jesus?
I’m not talking about what you SAY. I’m talking about what you DO. Remember, words are empty when it come to genuine hope.
Faith and hope is proven by what we DO not by what we say. You’ve got to hide in the only room that can save you from the fire.
This is why James uses Rehab as an illustration for how faith and works interact with each other.
24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
People sometime ask what’s the best way for you to have confidence that you’re really saved.
It’s by examining the fruit of faith in your life right now!
If there’s nothing in your life you could point to that shows people you’re resting in the cross of Jesus Christ then what confidence can you have that you will be rescued when judgment comes?
Don’t misunderstand me. The source of our salvation isn’t what we do.
The author Hebrews makes it clear that faith is what motivated Rehab’s Actions. Hebrews 11:31
31 By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.
Jesus said in John 3:16 that God so LOVED the world that he gave his one and only son that whosoever BELIEVES in him would not perish but have ever lasting life.
It’s not about what you do. It’s about in whom you’ve placed your ultimate hope.
Jesus Our Advent Hope
Jesus Our Advent Hope
Jesus is our Advent Hope. And when Jesus entered into this world he had the same kind of effect that these Israelite spies had on Rehab.
He was shocking in the way he made his way on the scene. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit (inconvenient!), born of a virgin into a manger & no place to lay his head.
What Herod saw as a dangerous threat Mary received as salvation from the LORD.
That’s not all. Jesus our Advent Hope also demonstrates why he’s worthy of our faith.
You cannot look at his life and not see the unique love of God.
Jesus is the only begotten son of God. The one with whom he is well pleased.
Not only do you see God’s love we are are also invited to receive God’s mercy. Anyone who will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But you must receive him by repenting of your sin and surrendering your life to him.
If you don’t, the judgement of God will one day come and the sword of wrath rests over your head.
Saved From Certain Judgment
Saved From Certain Judgment
Rehab responded to Israel’s invitation and as a result they were saved from judgment.
24 They burned the city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house. 25 However, Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family, and all who belonged to her, because she hid the messengers Joshua had sent to spy on Jericho, and she still lives in Israel today.
True Hope will save you from a certain judgment.
It’s a just judgment we deserve because of our sin and rebellion against a holy God. There’s only one way to be saved from judgment and that is the hope in Jesus.
Stop putting your hope in things that will never save you from the judgement of God.
Jesus has already demonstrated his willingness to save you from hell. He absorbed hell on the cross so that all you have to do is publically confess that your hiding beneath his scarlet cord.
Will that act of faith manifest in external works of obedience. Absolutely. But how could we not surrender everything to him given the reality of his great love towards us?
Don’t miss the gift of hope this Advent season. A living hope that will never disappoint because it’s rooted squarely in the life of Jesus Christ.
