Joshua 2:1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there.
In our verse today there are some things that we would like to extract concerning New Testament truth. New Testament truth is often, if not always foreshadowed or typified in The Old Testament. If all you ever concern yourself with is the New Testament you are doing your self a great disservice. Their are those that ignorantly think that some how the NT nullified or did away with the OT, this could not be further from the truth. The NT fulfilled the OT. Some of my favorite times of study is when God reveals to me a NT truth that He so beautifully foreshadowed in the OT. Think of it like this. A artist portrays some real scene and with skill and strokes of a brush he shows us what he seen on top of some mountain or sitting by the seashore or whatever it was that he thought so beautiful that he wanted to share with the world. We all look at his work in amazement and say what a beautiful scene this man has painted and what a beautiful place it was that inspired such a work of art.
Now apply that idea to the scripture. The NT is the top of the mountain God saw, mount Calvary. The redemption of sinful man, Jewish and otherwise. So if the NT is the scene, the real place the artist saw. Then the OT pictures or types are where you find the beautiful brush strokes of God to illustrate what He had already seen. God seen the sacrifice of Christ for the salvation of sinful men. He seen that it would be to all men and not only the Jewish nation and you'll find these truths typified in the OT. Look to the preaching of the apostles, they had no New Testament to preach from but rather they relied on the Old Testament scriptures to clearly and powerfully preach New Testament truth.
One note of caution in this line of thinking. We are not to build our doctrines on types but rather should build our doctrines from New Testament truths and allow the types and pictures of the OT to come behind and support and strengthen those truths.
Now to our verse."And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there.". This wasn't the first time that spies where sent into the land of Canaan to scope out the situation. You remember Deuteronomy, they did the same thing but instead of returning with faith, they returned with fear and refused to go into the land of Canaan. Now that is a horrible thing that they did and it cost them a 40 year stay in the wilderness and the death of that generation that rebelled, but like always God had a plan. Even through their disobedience God was bringing about something good. You say what good could have come from their rejection of God's plan. Consider Rahab, had they went in the first time Rahab would have never been given the opportunity to put her faith in the God of Israel. Now let's talk about that New Testament truth that God has so beautifully illustrated here. Jesus came to Israel first, He came preaching and witnessing and performing miracles to convince them that He was their Messiah. Some believed but for the most part the nation rejected Him, hung him on a cross and cursed Him. Now God knew this would happened, even purposed this would happen all because through their disobedience and rejection the Gospel would in turn be given to the gentiles. Yes what they did was horrible, yes they didn't obey the plan Of God. They like the children of Israel responded in fear instead of faith the 1st time around but through their rejection we found redemption. Can you see the truth illustrated in our verse? The truth that through Israels horrible rejection that God included the Gentiles. Now we now that this wasn't a plan B and that God knew all along that Israel would reject Christ and He would use it as a means to give the Gospel the rest of the world. Just like He knew that Israel wouldn't cross over Jordan the first time around and through that He use it as a means to save Rahab. You mean to tell me that God would do all that for some Canaanite harlot. You better believe He would. He did a greater thing for us. He allowed His only son to be beaten and mocked and rejected by His own people because He would use it as a means to rescue and save us. Dear friend God has given us something that came at a great price to Him self and also to the ones who rejected it. God did for Rahab what he did for us. Her rescue was rooted in Israels rejection and our rescue is rooted in the horrible rejection of Christ that ended in His Death and Resurrection. I'm reminded of a verse in Luke 15:2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. I'm so glad He included the Harlots and sinners, had He not there would be no hope for you and me!!!
Thank God He came for the sinners!!
Onward Christian Soldier!!
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