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30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. 31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. ~ Hebrews 11:30-31
Today we return to our study of Hebrews 11 where we have been considering the biblical definition of faith and what it looks like in our lives. Faith is "the confidence in what we hope for" and "the assurance in what we do not see." What we believe in is what we hope for and our faith gives hope a present reality, even though it may never come to fruition while we are on this earth. Due to the past demonstrations of God's faithfulness, faith is living in a hope that is so real it gives substance to the hope in the present.
In v.30 of today's text we read, "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days."
In this verse we are positioned at the walls of Jericho, the entryway into the Promised Land. Here, the writer of Hebrews establishes a point that he has been hammering since he began this letter that salvation that gets us into heaven (justification) is by faith alone. He did this because Judaism had evolved to the point that its leaders taught that salvation is earned by our good behavior, and by the keeping of the Old Testament ceremonies and rituals.
Today, we come to another real life illustration of faith in the God of the Bible. The aspect of faith that is being illustrated in today's passage is mature faith which is the type of faith that develops in our lives through the process of sanctification. Sanctification faith is different than justification faith. Justification faith gets us into heaven, whereas sanctification faith gets heaven into us now. Sanctification faith obeys God at all cost. It is mature to the point of demonstrating courage in the face of opposition, threat, and suffering. Mature faith does not draw back; it does not fold up; it does not collapse under pressure.
The wall of Jericho was massive and it surrounded the city of Jericho which, at the time of today's story, was tightly fortified. It was tightly fortified because this massive group of people, the Israelites, were advancing upon it and the people of the city were mortified. Israel was advancing upon Jericho because it had already been spied it out and the Lord had said, "I have given Jericho into your hand, but all the men of war must march around it once. And, do this each day for six days. And seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and you shall overtake it."
To take Jericho seemed to be impossible, but once the people obeyed the voice of the LORD, it fell exactly as God said it would. Perhaps the Israelites felt a little embarrassed while the watchmen up on top of the wall watched them walk around and then leave six days in a row. It appeared ridiculous. It didn’t seem like a right approach at all, but they obeyed the word of God. The people of Israel had learned, while in the wilderness, not to disobey because the consequences were so severe. Mature faith produces the courage to believe God in impossible situations. So, with ridiculous orders and incredible promises, the people obeyed. And, the experience at Jericho has long been known to be an illustration of what happens when we follow God's commands, even though it may seem ridiculous at the moment.
In v.31 of today's text we read, "By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace."
Joshua sent two men as spies into the land because according to Deuteronomy 19 by the mouths of two witnesses the word of the Lord shall be established. When the two spies entered the city, they entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab. Rahab was a Canaanite, but she believed in the God of the Bible. And, as a result of the condition of Rahab's heart toward God, He sent the two spies to her. Rahab hid the two spies thus she protected them from the men of the city who were hunting for them. Due to Rahab's actions, when the Lord gave Jericho to Israel, she and her father’s household and all she had was spared.
Historians tell us that the destruction of this Canaanite city and its culture created a great boon to the welfare of humanity because the Canaanites were so debased. But in the case of Rahab, she acknowledged faith in the true and living God. She believed and staked her life on the promises of the God of the Bible. She put herself in a dangerous position, hiding spies on her roof, and she ended up in the lineage of the Messiah.
Rahab had heard all the stories of how God worked among the Israelites who had fled Egypt. She concluded it made perfect sense to believe in the God of the Bible, and her faith grew quickly, so quickly she risked her life, her loved ones and her hotel. Her faith grew so rapidly, she was transformed from the house of shame to God's hall of fame. She went from someone who walked in the night to someone who walked in the light. I find it amazing that those who have the most outlandish faith come from contexts of the most outlandish lives.
