The House on the Wall that Could Not Fall

Take your Bibles tonight and open them to where?

Well, that was almost in unison. You all need to be in the choir. I think most of you are. Okay. At least we've got the choir here tonight.

And others. Yeah, I am. Joshua chapter 6, our text for tonight is going to be relatively short. Short, we're not because I want to get out of here or anything like that.

But just because of, well, the subject of these few verses is what I want to take on tonight. Verses 20 through 25. By the way, I'm still disappointed.

And maybe Jonathan will work this out next week. We can work in Joshua fit the battle of Jericho into our singing, into our worship service. Probably don't even need the words for that, do you?

Okay. Yeah. I do want to apologize also for a mistake that I made, an error I made in my sermon last Sunday night. It was not blueberries.

It was English peas hopping around on top of the wall there in... Huh? I stand corrected once again. You can tell...

You can tell that I'm not a VeggieTale fan. I could show that movie one night.

I could have done that in lieu of preaching on Jericho and... You don't want to get me off on the VeggieTales. All right.

What they do, some of it is good. Some of it... Let's go on. Verse 20. Did I say 20?

I meant 22. All right. But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house and from there bring out the woman and all that she has as you swore to her.

And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel.

But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire, only the silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.

And Joshua spared Rahab, the harlot, her father's household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Now, I know I'm not finishing the chapter because what comes next, in fact, really a part of what I read a moment ago, alludes to something that's going to come next in chapter 7.

But our focus tonight is going to be, of course, on Rahab. And we've already covered those passages in Luke. I'm still in Luke.

In Joshua chapter 2 that describes Jericho and Rahab and her house and the spies, and we've kind of covered that material. But we want to focus again on Rahab and learn, I think, a very important lesson from her life, from what God did in her behalf.

And that will be our focus tonight. So kind of bring us up to speed. Of course, Moses is dead, and Joshua is now the certified leader of God's chosen people. And with a mighty miracle, the children of Israel crossed over the Jordan River, covered all that ground.

And they have, after 40 years of wilderness wandering, they've now crossed over into the promised land, the land of Canaan. And their first conquest, and we covered this last time, Jericho.

Perhaps the largest city. Some would speculate the largest city, the most populous city of the region, of the land. Most prosperous, it has been said, and who am I to doubt?

The scholars. Most prosperous. Certainly, I think it's a proven fact, the most thoroughly fortified city in the land of Canaan.

And so this first conquest of the land was important. And from God's perspective, even strategic, really from anyone's perspective.

And strategic. But it was, of course, a city that was marked for destruction. Not any specific word said about that. But it was, as all the cities in Canaan were, it was an idolatrous city.

Wicked city. Perverted. Part of the Canaanite religion. Very full of perversion. And God had already pronounced judgment upon the cities of the land of Canaan.

He said in Exodus chapter 23 and verse 27. I will send my fear before you. He's talking about into the promised land. I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come.

And will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. Not turn their backs snubbing them. But turning their backs because they will not have the courage to fight. Will not have the courage.

And I will send hornets before you. We don't need to go into that. But he's not talking about real life hornets. Alright. But basically fear.

Terror. Will go before you. And that will be God's doing. And which shall drive out. And then he lists several of the names of the peoples of the land.

Now Jericho would be included in that. So this is something that God had already determined he was going to do. By the way. And let's just remember that these cities and the Canaanite people were evil, wicked, perverted people.

So this is not just simply God giving the people of God, Israel, a land. But it is also God's judgment.

And it always seems to be twofold. Even when God's people were in captivity in Egypt. And God, of course, is working with a mighty hand to deliver his people from Egypt.

Now God could have done it very easily. But he had a twofold purpose. It was not just to deliver God's people out of Egypt. It was to judge Egypt's gods.

Judge their idolatry. And so this is what God is doing in the land of Canaan. And so Jericho, their days were numbered. God was going to judge them. And then you remember, of course, that even before the people crossed over into the Jordan, over the Jordan into the land of promise, they sent two spies into Jericho to find out, you know, about their fortifications, I would suppose, and other logistical information and so forth.

And so they sent in two spies. And we studied about them back there in chapter 2, verses 1 through 20. That's the passage that deals with the spies and Jericho and Rahab and God's promise.

Really, God's promise given through the spies. God's promise to Rahab. And, of course, here's the point. What God promised to Rahab in chapter 2, he fulfilled here in chapter 6, the latter part of chapter 6, at the close of the narration dealing with the defeat and destruction of the walls of Jericho, indeed the destruction of the city itself.

And so Jericho has been conquered, and I would say without even a battle taking place. All right, we talk about the battle of Jericho and so forth. There really was no battle, per se, although there was something for the people to do once the city walls came down.

But it was no real battle. It was completed even before they went into the city. And God did all of this.

The walls fell down flat, and the people of Israel, remember, walked straight into Jericho. That's kind of a paraphrase of what the Bible says.

That is, they did not have to climb over anything or walk around things. The wall was so devastated, so totally destroyed that they just walked straight in.

And all they did was obey God, right? That's all they did. Obeyed Him in their preparation for the, quote, battle of Jericho, and obeyed Him in what God instructed that they do there at the, again, so-called battle of Jericho.

So all they did was obey God. All they did was walk around the city, the city walls, once a day for six days, and seven times on the seventh day. And all they did was blow seven horns, and all they did was shout with a loud shout, and God did the rest.

And the walls, of course, fell down flat. Now, we already know that part of the story. But I'm reciting that because I want you to notice that something here in the passage that we read is peculiar.

Given all of this that I've just said, all that has transpired, and God's total defeat of Jericho, there's something peculiar. According to chapter 2 and verse 15, Rahab's house was on the city wall.

I'm just quoting that passage. Her house was on the city wall. She dwelt on the wall. It was connected. Remember, she let the spies out the window, out to safety.

And so her house, or apartment, we might call it, her abode, was a part of the wall. And one of the windows was, apparently you could reach the outside of the wall through that window.

But what according to chapter 6 and verse 20, I read it, I didn't read it this time, but I'll read it here in just a minute. What, according to that passage, happened to the wall?

Well, verse 20 says, So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets, and it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpets, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat.

And then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. All right, again, what happened to the walls? They fell down flat.

All right, yet. And yet. According to what I read here in verse 22, Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's, what?

House. Go into her house. And from there, bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her.

And verse 23 says, And the young men who had been spies went in, in where? To the house. And brought out, brought out Rahab and her family and all she had, brought out, out from where?

The house. It's kind of redundant. I mean, it's clear to see. And so if we are to take this literally, and I always think that's the best way to go, unless it's very clear that the Bible's being symbolic, or figurative, or something like that, if we're to take this literally.

And if we are to, then to take this according to just the plain reading of it, and that's always the best way to go. All right. Nothing wrong with commentaries, nothing wrong with word studies, nothing wrong with getting a little education, learning some of the language and history, and looking at archaeology, nothing wrong with that, to bring that into play, when we study God's word.

But if we just take Scripture at its face value, according to the plain reading of it, there then, we must conclude that there was one small section of the wall, that did not fall down.

Right? I mean, it's just logical. And it is because there was a house on that section of the wall, that could not fall down.

It could not. Not because it could not physically. It could not because of God's promise. God's promise. It could not fall down.

That's why I borrowed this title from someone, I thought it was pretty good. In fact, what was the title? Not over here. You don't get titles because I don't have the bulletin.

A house on the wall that could not fall. It kind of rhymes. I should have remembered it. The house on the wall that could not fall. So you can remember it that way. All right? There was a house on the wall, Rahab's house, that could not fall.

Could not fall. And so, though all of Jericho was utterly destroyed, and though all of Jericho fell under the fierce but just wrath of God because of their sin, the house of Rahab, the harlot, the harlot did not fall, indeed could not fall.

That's the point I want to make. And the reason why this is so important is because I think it's very clear that this passage, this whole part of the narrative concerning Rahab is a picture of salvation.

It's a picture of salvation in a host of different ways. It's a picture of salvation because salvation is something that's all God. God does all of this. All right, so let's just see how.

I'll give you three reasons why Rahab's house could not fall. And why, by the way, and I'll go ahead and make the connection, why our house cannot fall in the spiritual sense.

Our salvation, our relationship with God, it cannot fall, it cannot fail. Just as Rahab's house could not fall, even though the walls of Jericho fell down flat because of the judgment of God, there's no way that the people of Jericho were going to be able to stand against the judgment of God and the fierce judgment of God and the power of God.

But Rahab's house stood and it could not fall. And here they are. First of all, the house of Rahab could not fall because of the sovereign purpose of God.

We need to think about that in terms of our salvation. Even in our coming to salvation and in our security as God's saved, redeemed children, it cannot fail, cannot fall because of God's sovereign purpose, the sovereign purpose of God.

And I think Rahab is such a vivid picture. I can't keep this thing on my ear. It's such a vivid picture of God's sovereign purpose. And we can see that, I think, very clearly.

We see clearly God's mercy and grace. Now, who was Rahab? And again, you've just got to take Scripture at its kind of plain, obvious reading.

I know scholars said, and I even mentioned this, I think, back when we were looking at chapter 2, looking at Rahab, mentioned some of the other thoughts about who Rahab was morally and so forth.

And yet, if you just take Scripture at its face, then, well, first Rahab was a Gentile, we don't have to dispute that. Not part of God's chosen people, Israel.

Outside of the covenant, she was a sinner, as we all are, born a sinner, but specifically, a harlot.

And by the way, the Bible is very careful to always mention that. Every time she appears in Scripture, she's always mentioned as the harlot.

Now, we probably could make a case, as some have, with the Hebrew word, that it could be that she was an innkeeper. And yet, I was reading again this past week that historians have discovered that, you know, yeah, the word might refer to that vocation, an innkeeper, but the problem was, culturally, in the Gentile world, women innkeepers were prostitutes.

And the inn was a house of ill repute. All right. You can call it what you want. And so she was a harlot, a sinner, by choice and by practice.

And as a harlot, though we don't want to put, try to force too much of our culture back into this culture, certainly today, she would have been a notorious sinner.

All right. one of those big sinners. And that's who Rahab was. And yet, think about God's sovereign purpose in our life. It's really kind of amazing.

We think it's very simple, very logical, when you just kind of read the passage and think about how things transpired. For one thing, how did the spies happen to find Rahab? Well, we don't know, do we?

No, she was one of thousands. We don't know how many were in the city of Jericho, but we're talking about multiplied thousands of a large city. And because the Bible says it was shut up, no one coming in, no one going out, that means, as was the custom of the day, that when there was the threat of war or attack, then the people who lived outside the walls would come into the city.

And so how many were in there? I don't know, but Rahab was just one of thousands of people. How did these spies happen to run across her?

I think that's rather interesting. Well, the only answer we have is that God led them to her. It was a divine appointment. We could apply that to our lives as God's people and there are times when God just brings us and where our life intersects the life of another person and we have an opportunity to be a witness in maybe multiple different ways.

And that intersection of a believer and an unbeliever dramatically and forever, sometimes by the grace of God, changes the direction of that unbeliever.

A person comes to Christ. And so this was all orchestrated by God. I mean, He led them to her. And God is still doing that today.

We're talking about the sovereign purpose of God. It's clear from the very beginning that God had been moving her and directing her and allowing her to learn things and hear things and come to certain conclusions about things.

And she met the spies and God orchestrated all of that. Now, why did Rahab help the spies? I mean, they may have run into, you know, could have run into somebody else and maybe they would not have been as willing to be helpful and to hide the spies, to keep them secret and to help them in their escape and so forth.

But Rahab did. She was, you know, drawn to them. She understood their purpose.

You see, God had opened her heart to the truth. The truth about herself, her people. I mean, they were idol worshipers.

And yet, God had allowed her heart to be open to the truth. In chapter 2, verse 10, and I know we're not in chapter 2, we've got to learn these things about Rahab from chapter 2.

In chapter 2, verse 10, she said, For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you. And as soon as we had heard these things, our heart did melt.

So she had heard about the mighty works of God. God had allowed her to hear those things and allowed her heart to be open to respond in the proper way, the right way, almost in a worshipful way to what she had heard about Yahweh God and what He had done for the people.

Now remember, she also heard about the Jordan River, but what she said here was before the Jordan was part of it. This was before they crossed over the Jordan River.

So she was going all the way back to the Red Sea and she had heard about that. And so, you know, why did she help the spies? Because God had opened her heart to the truth.

And then, thirdly, why did God spare Rahab? And see, we're just, it's just, God is in charge here. He's moving her. And why did God then ultimately spare her?

Because Rahab believed what she heard. All right, so she, God led her to these spies who were, who were believers in Yahweh, the one true God.

And God had opened her heart to the truth about Yahweh God and His people. And then, Rahab believed what she heard.

this is the sovereign purpose of God for Rahab and not only for her, but for her family as well. Chapter 2, verse 9, she said, I know that the Lord has given you the land.

She believed it. And in verse 11 of chapter 2, for the Lord your God, He is God. He is God in heaven above and in earth beneath.

That's a pretty good case for the truth, the reality that Rahab had become a true believer. God had led her to that point, you see.

And we know she believed because of the testimony of Hebrews 11, 31. Remember, by faith, the harlot, Rahab, did not perish with those who did not believe.

It was by faith that God spared her. So, or through faith, by grace, God moved in her life, brought her in contact with the spies, allowed her to hear the truth of Yahweh God and to believe that truth, and she put her faith in all that she knew, the light that she had at the time, and by faith she hid the spies, and so forth.

And we know it was true faith also because of James 2, 25. James 2, verse 25, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

That doesn't mean she was saved by works. We're going through James, by the way, on Wednesday nights, so if you're not involved in Awana or youth, you ought to come be a part of it. This is the very issue that we're going to have to deal with in the book of James.

He's not talking about being saved by works, he's talking about what kind of faith it is. Is it real faith, true faith? And Rahab's faith was true and her faith was justified by the works that she did.

She received the messengers and sent them out another way for as the body, James goes on to say, as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. It's not a real faith, it's worthless faith.

And so here's the sovereign purpose of God, God in Rahab's life. Second, the house of Rahab could not fall because of the saving provision of God.

We have a symbol of that in the story of Rahab, the saving provision of God. In terms of our salvation, God's provision is blood, the blood of Christ.

God's provision and that's the only way God will grant forgiveness is through the shedding of blood. Hebrews 9, 22, without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

And so it is the blood of Jesus Christ that saves us. And the testimony of that is all throughout the New Testament. 1 Peter 1, 18, for example, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.

The blood of Christ. Revelation 5, 9, and they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for Thou was slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, the blood of Jesus.

And there are many, many other passages that deal with it. Now, this, of course, was symbolized in the story of Rahab by what?

The scarlet cord. The scarlet cord that was hanging in the window. That was God's requirement. He required that. And, of course, He spoke through the spies to instruct her in this way.

And God required that and she put the scarlet cord there and so forth. And very much, by the way, like God required Israel to splash the blood of the lambs on the doorposts.

He said, When I see the blood, I will pass over you. I've got to ask you, do you think the cord had any special power? I mean, God's people, Israel, as they are walking around the city, and maybe the two spies are there and they look and say, Well, there's that red cord, so we want to make sure we bypass that.

Well, they didn't have anything to do with knocking down that wall. God did. And so, the cord was something that God saw. And it was attached to her obedience, of course, because she was instructed to do that, but it's symbolic of the blood of Jesus Christ.

And Rahab obeyed God in this. Her house, therefore, could not fall. And that leads to one final thing. Her house could not fall because of, number one, the sovereign purpose of God, number two, the saving provision of God, and then finally, the house of Rahab could not fall because of the securing promise of God.

I mean, there was just no way that house was going to fall because God had promised. She was safe and sound and secure, safe in that home where God said she must stay.

Now, through the spies, then, God made this solemn promise to Rahab, and God does not break his promises. Peter calls them exceedingly great and precious promises.

Praise the Lord. You see, Rahab's faith was real. It was a real faith. And the proof, again, was in her obedient work. She hid the spies.

She let them down to safety down from her window. She did not give them away to the authorities. She stayed in her house as she was instructed.

She tied the scarlet cord to the window. And so because of the promise of God, her house could not fall. Her salvation was secure. And it's symbolic of her salvation and symbolic of ours as well.

And, you know, we have so many securing promises in the Bible, just like we have the scriptures that deal with the precious and the power of the blood of Jesus Christ.

In John chapter 10, verse 28, Romans 8, 38, For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That is a statement of secure, security. These are securing promises in regard to our salvation. Philippians 1, 6, Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5, 24, Faithful is he that called you who also will do it. He will do it. 1 John 5, 11, And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.

These are all securing promises. Rahab's house was the house on the wall that could not fall. Say that with me. Her house was the house on the wall that could not fall.

And your house can't fall either. And you might have troubles with your house. Your house might fall apart. You might have a limb that falls on its roof. But I'm talking about the house of your salvation.

Your relationship with God in Christ cannot fail, cannot fall. And so when you just put this all together, this passage ends with verse 25. And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's household, and all that she had.

So she dwells in Israel to this day. Now not this day, today, but when this was written. She dwells in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

That is, she became a member of God's holy family, God's covenant people. And she did so because of God's sovereign purpose, His saving provision, His securing promise.

And in Christ, of course, we too have these things as well, don't we?