The Faith Of Rahab

Recently we looked at an unusual hero, in a man called Samson. He was listed in what we call the “Faith Hall of Fame”

There is another unusual hero listed there…

Her name is Rahab and she was not what we might choose to be a hero type for our kids or even ourselves.

In Joshua chapter 2 we meet this lady by the name of Rahab and what we find out about her is rather shocking and you might even ask…”How can such a person be placed in this list, along with men like Abraham!?”

Rahab was an innkeeper of a different kind…She was a harlot and we know that that is.

What was it that gave Rahab “Hall of Fame” status? FAITH…REAL FAITH

I want to look at four things about the faith of Rahab…

1. Faith is confidence in unconfirmed reality:

Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.”

Rahab faced an uncertain future…Everyone has heard of these strange people and how they walked across the Red Sea on dry ground and how they have destroyed every nation that rose up against them.

She must have wrestled with the question…”What if Jericho doesn’t fall to the Israelites?

Jericho was know for her massive walls…It was a fortified city, unlike any the Israelites had faced. Jericho was well stocked…well defended…Israel had no siege warfare training and Jericho could survive a lengthy siege.

Israel had no weapons cable of taking down a city like Jericho, so why did Rahab believe they would?

Rahab had faith in an unconfirmed reality

2. Faith is relying upon knowledge, yet to be proven:

Rahab said that she had HEARD about the amazing things that God had done for the Israelites.

Every bit of Rahab’s knowledge was based on hearsay. She had no direct knowledge of any of the things she had been told. Her faith was based on the reports of others.

What if they were wrong?

My faith works in much the same way and so does yours…

I depend on indirect knowledge…the reports from others. Reports that are recorded in the Bible.

We can’t literally put God in a test tube and come up with some formula to prove or disprove His reality.

The Bible tells me that God loved me so much that He gave His Son to die on a cross and that if I just believe on Him I can be saved…I wasn’t there to see the cross Where Jesus Died. I only have the testimonies of those who witnessed it.[say they did]

The Bible says that Jesus is coming back to receive all those who call on His Name and take us to heaven. It also tells me in John 14cthat Jesus is preparing a place for me to live with Him forever…YET I have never been to heaven to see the construction.

I believe that Jesus lived…that He died on a cross…that He was buried and a borrowed tomb…that He rose from the dead and is sitting at the right hand of God the Father right BUT I have never seen the risen Christ.

Christian writer, William Ward said, “Faith is knowing there is an ocean when all you have seen is the brook.”

All Rahab saw was the brook but she believed in the God of that brook and was saved.

You and I have been given a glimpse of the brook and must by faith believe in the ocean exist…

Faith is relying in unproven knowledge.

3. Faith is having an allegiance to an unverified relationship:

In v. 11 Rahab refers to God as “The Lord YOUR God”

I wonder if she may have been thinking that the God of Israel may not like her…maybe He wouldn’t accept her.

After all look at her background. She is not only pagan but she is a pagan prostitute…

All relationship in this world are based on verification…birth certificate…marriage license…baptismal certificate…pass ports…

We will even issue you a death certificate as soon as we can verify that you’re really dead.

Where is my verification for a relationship with God?

Heb 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God…We are also told that anyone who comes to God MUST believe that He exist.

On a basement wall of a completely destroyed building in Germany, some soldiers came across an etching.

There scratched into the wall was the Star of David…below were these words…

“I believe in the sun, even when it does not shine. I believe in love, even when it is not given.

I believe in God, even when he does not speak.”

The only way, I can verify my relationship with an unseen God is to show you the change in my life…

I believe…Do you?