Rahab: Getting Serious About Faith

Forgiveness is available for each one of us, but it isn’t cheap, it was bought at a great price. Jesus paid that price when He died upon the cross; paying the price for our sins and thus offering forgiveness to all who grab hold of it by faith.

It’s like Jesus is saying, “Take hold of the forgiveness I have for you and use it to set yourself free from the sin, pain, and shame that keeps you bound in despair and disillusionment. I paid the price, and I am offering it to you.”

And so, let’s grab hold of God’s forgiveness, and we do so by faith believing in what Jesus did for us upon the cross, as He died the death we deserve for our sin, and He took our place. Therefore, by faith grab hold of it.

And so the first lesson is that God takes us just as we are.

Take Our Place in God’s Plan

Rahab took hold of God’s forgiveness and used it. This is what the Apostle James alludes to when He uses Rahab to make this point.

“Was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:25-26 NKJV)

Rahab acted by faith and made a commitment and became a follower of God. Faith is useless unless it is acted upon and leads to a commitment to God.

I absolutely love the balance between what the writer of Hebrews and the Apostle James tells us about Rahab. The writer of Hebrews praises her faith, while James praises her actions. The argument of James is that faith when it is not accompanied by action is dead.

Rahab believed, she had the words right, she understood who God was, and then she acted in accordance with her belief. When she was offered forgiveness, she acted and made the change. She abandoned the way she was, left her home, and moved in with the people of God. She took her place as one of God’s children.

There is a lesson from the life of Rahab here for all of us. And that is, our lives need to match our words.

There is a story about four preachers who were discussing the merits of the various Bible translations. One preacher like the King James Version the best because of the poetry of the language. Another liked the American Revised Standard Version because of its being closer to the original Hebrew and Greek language. The third preacher like the New International Version because of its up-to-date vocabulary. But the fourth preacher was silent for a moment and then said, “You know, I like my mother’s translation best. She translated it into life, and it was the most convincing translation I ever saw.”

It has been said, and rightly so, that our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read. And so, how well are we translating the words of the Bible in how we live our lives?

God was so pleased with Rahab’s faith that He placed her in the genealogy of the Messiah. She was the great-great-grandmother of King David.

“Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.” (Matthew 1:5-6a NIV)