Here in Joshua chapter two we find the well-known story of the harlot Rahab. It is a beautiful story, and it has featured in many a sermon and gospel message, but what has it got to do with our crossing Jordan to enter into our inheritance? Let us see this matter also.
“And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho.” Joshua is still referred to in this chapter as Joshua the son of Nun because he is not yet fully into his role of portraying Jesus the Saviour of God’s people. We know from earlier books that Moses made the ark of testimony and all from Shittim wood because shittim wood was peculiar to the Cross of Christ, and Joshua here sends out his two spies from Shittim. It is from the Cross of Calvary therefore that the two spies go out to view the land. Jesus on the Cross is lifting up His eyes to look beyond death, to see beyond this Jordan to the inheritance of the people of God. “Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.” What was the view from the Cross on the hill of Calvary? Was it not Jerusalem, the harlot’s house? But our Lord is seeing beyond death, past the three day journey into death, seeing the scarlet line in the window of the harlot’s house, knowing that His blood is the scarlet line that runs throughout all scripture, and knowing that the harlot has accepted that sign. Let the city fall, the harlot and all her house has accepted Him. Now Rahab means a whore for a very long time.
“And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither tonight of the children of Israel to search out the country.” Darkness has fallen over the land, and still the two spies are lodged in the harlot’s house. They cannot view the land any longer, but there they have lodged, there they are fixed in the darkness, while the scarlet line grows longer. Men came to the Cross to put out the spies, but the Man of Sorrows was dead already and the spies were hidden in the flax of the rooftop. They came to dispel that deep fixed gaze, but they found no gaze, for the dead body hid it, the flax covered it, and they were forced to return. And they set a watch for three days yet they found no gaze, no steadfast spies, nor did they ever see that gaze again. But in the window of Rahab’s house appeared the scarlet line of our salvation, and the spies have informed the Overcomer that the inheritance is ours.
Thus we are to view the land also. We are to fix our gaze earnestly on the inheritance, searching out its strongholds before we enter in. We go in, so to speak, with our eyes open, being resolved to claim the land of promise as our own, but in no way blind to the forces opposing us. Yet God will give us the victory, for we follow Jesus all the way, and indeed if we be crucified with Him our spies will confirm what He first learned—“Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hand al the land.” Let us view the land from His own standpoint, let us see it from the hill Calvary, and the Jordan will be dry ground under our feet, and all the inhabitants of that country will faint because of us.
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Joshua Chapter 2
December 16, 2010 — RonHere in Joshua chapter two we find the well-known story of the harlot Rahab. It is a beautiful story, and it has featured in many a sermon and gospel message, but what has it got to do with our crossing Jordan to enter into our inheritance? Let us see this matter also.
“And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho.” Joshua is still referred to in this chapter as Joshua the son of Nun because he is not yet fully into his role of portraying Jesus the Saviour of God’s people. We know from earlier books that Moses made the ark of testimony and all from Shittim wood because shittim wood was peculiar to the Cross of Christ, and Joshua here sends out his two spies from Shittim. It is from the Cross of Calvary therefore that the two spies go out to view the land. Jesus on the Cross is lifting up His eyes to look beyond death, to see beyond this Jordan to the inheritance of the people of God. “Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.” What was the view from the Cross on the hill of Calvary? Was it not Jerusalem, the harlot’s house? But our Lord is seeing beyond death, past the three day journey into death, seeing the scarlet line in the window of the harlot’s house, knowing that His blood is the scarlet line that runs throughout all scripture, and knowing that the harlot has accepted that sign. Let the city fall, the harlot and all her house has accepted Him. Now Rahab means a whore for a very long time.
“And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither tonight of the children of Israel to search out the country.” Darkness has fallen over the land, and still the two spies are lodged in the harlot’s house. They cannot view the land any longer, but there they have lodged, there they are fixed in the darkness, while the scarlet line grows longer. Men came to the Cross to put out the spies, but the Man of Sorrows was dead already and the spies were hidden in the flax of the rooftop. They came to dispel that deep fixed gaze, but they found no gaze, for the dead body hid it, the flax covered it, and they were forced to return. And they set a watch for three days yet they found no gaze, no steadfast spies, nor did they ever see that gaze again. But in the window of Rahab’s house appeared the scarlet line of our salvation, and the spies have informed the Overcomer that the inheritance is ours.
Thus we are to view the land also. We are to fix our gaze earnestly on the inheritance, searching out its strongholds before we enter in. We go in, so to speak, with our eyes open, being resolved to claim the land of promise as our own, but in no way blind to the forces opposing us. Yet God will give us the victory, for we follow Jesus all the way, and indeed if we be crucified with Him our spies will confirm what He first learned—“Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hand al the land.” Let us view the land from His own standpoint, let us see it from the hill Calvary, and the Jordan will be dry ground under our feet, and all the inhabitants of that country will faint because of us.
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