In the New Testament, Rahab in the Book of Joshua is mentioned as an example of a person of faith. Scripture tells us, "By faith - because she believed in God and his power - Rahab the harlot did not die with all the others in her city when they refused to obey God, for she gave a friendly welcome to the spies" (Hebrews 11:31).
As we survey this narrative, there is one thing I want you to take to heart, regardless of your past, God can use you. You know your past, you can't run away from it, but the learning from the mistakes of the past, can lead to a brighter future. Please understand me, there is no sin so disgraceful that you can't come back to God and be forgiven. For us today, Jesus Christ died on that rugged cross and our sins were nailed to that cross. Scripture reminds us, "Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious ideal; yet now God declares us 'not guilty' of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his kindness freely takes away our sins" (Romans 3:23-24). We must therefore conclude that we are justified by faith.
This word faith, is the key that unlocks the divine door and allows us to walk into it. It took faith in the Old Testament to come to God and it is that same faith that we can enter into His divine kingdom today.
After Moses' death, God appointed Joshua as the new leader of the people of Israel. After wandering in the desert for forty years, Joshua prepares them to enter into the Promised Land. Joshua sent two spies from the camp to cross the river and check out the situation on the other side, especially Jericho. They arrived at an inn that was operated by Rahab, who was a prostitute. They were planning to spend the night at the inn, but someone informed the king of Jericho that the two spies had arrived in the city. So the king sent a messenger to Rahab and said, "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land" (Joshua 2:3). But she hid them and told the king's messenger, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from" (Joshua 2:4).
Before I go any further let me clarify something to you. There was a woman whose name was Rehab. She was a gentile. She was not under the Abrahamic Covenant. She lived in Jericho. She was a prostitute. She ran a house of ill-repute. She was not respected in the community. She gave refuge to two spies and by doing so, her faith save not just herself, but the members of her household.
The first mention of the word "faith" can be found in the Book of Deuteronomy. "And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be; for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith" (Deuteronomy 32:20). But the word "believe," as believing in the Lord, can be found in the Book of Exodus: "That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee" (Exodus 4:5). These two words, faith and believe, are synonymous when expressing the same idea, but if we go to Genesis 12, the call of Abraham, we see that Abraham's faith was the key to him leaving and following after the promises of God. So Hebrews 11:8-9 states, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise." When reading Hebrews 11, the story of the Old Testament characters of faith, it were "by faith" that they were obedient to the things pertaining to God, although they were not without fault, Hebrews tells us, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Habakkuk 2:4 says, "...But the just shall live by his faith." Which is a New Testament truth. Jesus said to the disciples, "O ye of little faith" (Matthew 8:26). Paul writes, "For we walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Corinthians 4:13). But James states it clearly, "...So faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26).
It is James' statement of faith that we are able to see Rahab's faith. I would like to express this point, Moses the servant of the Lord is denied entry into the land of promise, so God calls Moses and tells him why he will not be permited to enter. Scripture tells us that the Lord told Moses, "This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel" (Deuteronomy 32:51-52).
So God charged Joshua to lead the children of Israel across the Jordan into their new homeland. God told Joshua to be "strong and of good courage." In preparation to go forth, Joshua sent two men into the land as a forward strategy. They were not to spy out the land as before. Remember they had to spy out the land and report back to Moses, but because of their disobedience, they wandered into the wilderness for forty years. They went as Joshua commanded and came to the house of Rahab, a seemingly and unlikely place, but if they wanted to know what was happening in the city, they went to the right place. Going to the house of such a person would not excite such suspicion, but the king still got the word that the spies were seen there and sent men to search for them. When they approached Rahab about the men, she told them a lie, for she had hid them on the roof. Later that night she helped them escaped over the city wall, but before they left, she said to them, "I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you" (Joshua 2:9). She had heard how God had delivered them in that He dried up the Red Sea and they crossed on dry land as they were delivered from Egypt. How they had fought many battles with a rag tag band of untrained soldiers, and that they defeated the King of Sihon and Og, whom they utterly destroyed.
Although Rahab didn't know the God of the Israelites at first hand, she had heard enough about the Lord God that she wanted no part of the Israelites in battle. In her confession of faith, the God she feared, was the capital G.O.D., not the small gods. Her request was, "Please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you" (Joshua 2:12). When they came across the Jordan into Jericho that they would spare her and her family. In her confession of faith, she did not just want to live, but she wanted her household to experience salvation, and so the spies promised to spare Rahab and her family if she hung a scarlet cord in the window of her home and if her household remained indoors during the attack against Jericho. The scarlet cord reminds us of the blood that protected the houses of the Israelites at the first passover.
To further my point about Rahab's Confession of Faith, you must understand that Rahab did not know God personally, but she had heard of the marvelous victories of this awesome God and she wanted no part of a war against Him.
Rahab concluded, from what she had heard about this God, that He had to be more powerful than of the other gods of her fathers.
Rahab, after assessing the miraculous victories of the Israelites people, concluded that it was best to serve this God than to be destroyed.
Rahab placed her faith in a God she barely knew.
In reference to Rahab, the Book of Hebrews says this about her, "By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace" (Hebrews 11:31).
Rahab's "works" and not her "words" justified her. James says, "In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way" (James 2:25). The Bible does not commend her deceit, but it does commend her faith (see Hebrews 11:31). James also calls her deeds a work of faith. Rahab risked her life to save the lives of the spies, because she believed in the power and sovereignty of their God.
So in our Lord's day, some outside of the commonwealth of Israel showed more faith than those who were eyewitnesses of His glory (see Luke 7:2-9, about the centurion's servant healed). Great faith, wherever it is found, is always rewarded, for it is pleasing to God.
Furthermore, Rahab is listed among the women in the genealogy of Jesus. Rahab and Salmon were the mother and father of Boaz. Boaz married Ruth and they had a son named Obed. Obed is the father of Jesse. Jesse is the father of King David. Through King David's ancestry line, comes Jesus. According to the prophecies in the Old Testament, the Messiah must be a descendant of David. It is affirmed through the New Testament. Paul starts his letter to the church in Rome by saying, "Paul, A servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God - the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David..." (Romans 1:1-3). My, my, my, what a little faith can do for a Believer.