Summary: This was a visible assurance to Israel of God's continued presence and protection.

SS~ #20~Joshua Heb. 11: 30 -31 ~~ Joshua 5:1 11-2-14

Heb. 11: -- "the hall of faith chapter" as it's often called.

@Let me remind us that during the day's that this epistle was written there were Jewish believers in Christ that had become discouraged from various persecutions from the none believing Jews, and many of them were considering on going back to their former religion, back to Judaism, back to the law of works, leaving this amazing grace that we as believers have in Christ Jesus.

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@ ~~ So the writer of Hebrews was reminding these Jewish Christians of their ancestor's faith, he goes all the way back to Abel, trying to get these Jewish Christian to realize that the Christian walk is not always an easy road so to speak, but that it was and still is the only way to heaven. --- The people mentioned in this chapter kept their faith in the things of God often under enormous persecution, so the writer was trying to encourage his readers, and also you and me today as well, to stand fast in our faith in Christ.

@> Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

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In the closing verses of chapter 10: - he writes to these discouraged Jewish Christians;

@Hebrews 10:36-39 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. -- promised reward.

@37For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

@--- When the set time for Him to return comes about, He'll return, nothing can stop it.

@38Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

@ 39But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

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Listen as I read today's text found in Heb.11: 30-31.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.

31By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

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In chapter 6: we'll see what happens to Rehab and her family because of her covenant with the two Jewish's scouts back in Joshua chapter 2: --

Rehab is in our text in Hebrews 11: 31, so letfs read chapter 2 of Joshua in order to bring us up to date.

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JOSHUA 2:

1And 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fs house, named Rahab, and lodged there.

2And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country.

3And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country. -- But before that happened we read in --

4And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, (too the king's soldiers) "There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:

5And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them."

6But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. -- Laid the flax out to dry-

7And the men (king's soldiers) pursued after them (or so they thought) the way to Jordan unto the fords: (crossing place) and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate. (Gate keepers shut the gate)

@@8And before they were laid down, (the two scouts) she came up unto them upon the roof;

@@ 9And she said unto the men, LISTEN-- "I know that the LORD hath given you the land, (all of Jericho) and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. -- 10For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. --11And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath. -- 12Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my fatherfs house, and give me a true token: (a guarantee) -- 13And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death."

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@@14And the men answered her, "Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee." -- (they have given her their word)

@@15Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.

@@16And she said unto them, "Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way."

@@ 17And the men said unto her, "We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear. -- 18Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread (a Red cord or rope, because it was strong enough for them to climb down by" in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy fatherfs household, home unto thee. --- 19And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him. --- 20And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear."

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@@21And she said, "According unto your words, so be it." And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

22And they went, (the 2 scouts) and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.

23So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, (back over the Jordan River) and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them:

24And they said unto Joshua, "Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us."

Rahab and her family were the only people through out the land of Jericho that showed their faith in the True and Living God, all the other inhabitants had heard what God had done for His people, but they would not put their faith in Him. --- And nothing has changed, today people have heard but they will not believe in Him, to their own destruction.

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Now let's read from Joshua chapter 5:

1And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.

~ This was a visible assurance to Israel of God's continued presence and protection -- evidence that He would work for them through Joshua as He had worked for them through Moses. -- The Lord had declared to Joshua earlier, before they ever crossed the Jordan River in;

>Joshua 3:7 --- This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.

~ Also God had promised earlier to put fear in the hearts of Israel's enemies.

>Exodus 23:27 I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.

~Listen, the reason God does not do these things for Israel today is because of their rejection of their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus is the only hope for all man-kind to be saved, Jews, and gentiles the world over.

~ For about fifteen hundred years the Lord God attempted to cultivate the nation of Israel in preparation for the first advent of their Messiah the Lord Jesus.

@ ~ In the O.T. they grossly violated the law, frequently went after gstrange gods,h and they persecuted and killed the prophets that Jehovah sent to call them to repentance.

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@>Jeremiah 32: 21-23 And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror;

@ 22And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;

@23And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them:

@~ The coming 7 year tribulation is primarily to cause His people Israel to call upon Him once again. -- It is called "Jacobs trouble" -- Israel's trouble.

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@~ Listen -- Jeremiah 30:1-10

@The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.

@3For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.

@4And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

@5For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.

@~ Today all the Arab countries, hate the Jews, and all of these Muslim countries want to see Israel wiped from the face of the earth. --- This war has been going on ever since the days of Ishmael.

@ >Genesis 16: 12And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every manfs hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

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@~ Back to Jer.30:

@ 6Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? --- Because of fear.

@~The picture here is presented in terms of a man with a contorted and paling face like that of a woman travailing with labor pains. -- When the mother to be is truly having labor pains, the pains will not stop until she gives birth.

@~ Likewise when the tribulation starts it will increase in never before seen horrors, and it will end when the Lord Jesus returns in Rev. 19: with what is known as Armageddon.

@~Jeremiah sees the great Day of the Lord coming of which the other prophets, including Isaiah, also spoke. --- They said it is to be a day of darkness and not of light, that the people will go through the night of the Great Tribulation period before they will see the brightness of day.

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@ 7Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacobfs trouble; ---- but he shall be saved out of it.

@~ Israel and all nations the world over will see this day, the people of the nations that was left behind when all the believers were caught away, the rapture.

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Listen; there will be 2/3rds. Of Israel destroyed in the tribulation.

@>Zechariah 13:8 - 9 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

@ 9And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

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@~The worst is still to come for His people Israel, but when it's all said and done a remnant will come back to Him, but what a price their going to pay.

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~ There are many Christians in the land of Israel today, but for the most part the people are lost, they have religion but lost, and many don't believe any thing at all to do with God, many are atheists, how sad it is, that Gods chosen people are now blinded, as the Holy Spirit is busy calling and convicting sinners to believe on the Lord Jesus, He is calling out the Lord Jesus Christ Church, thatfs been going on since Pentecost, over 2000 years now.

~ LISTEN; because God is God, He knows the exact number of believers that will be in the Lords Church, the Lords Bride, and when that number is complete He will call the Church out of the world, and then the tribulation begins, but not until then.

>Romans 11: 7What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, (the Jews that will be saved) and the rest were blinded.

-- 25 - 26 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

26And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

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~ Never the less; we are commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem in;

>Psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.