Amazing Grace

Rahab a prostitute in Jericho had heard of the many miracles that God did for the children of Israel. So had all the people of the city of Jericho. Their hearts were melting with fear. Her inn was built right into the impregnable wall of the city.She provided a place to stay and certain special favors to those who lodged with her. It was the grace of God that led the Israelites to Rahab and protected them from the wrath of the King of Jericho. Rahab had taken a considerable risk by protecting the Israelite spies. She had faith in the God of the children of Israel and expressed it by hiding them in her inn. God gave her the faith to live through that pressure. There is much to be understood in the faith of Rahab.

Rahab displayed courage to house the enemies of her nation in her home. She may have got killed for her crime if she had been found out. A prostitute that ran a brothel or an inn for travelers, a totally weak and unlikely person was the one that God used to protect the Israelites. It goes to prove that God can use anybody He wills to accomplish His plans. Isn’t this a sign of great hope to the whole world? God will use anyone who is willing to trust in Him.

The Israelites led a procession around the city of Jericho hoping to bring the walls down and attack. Interesting enough the house of Rahab was on the walls of Jericho and she was unharmed. When the walls came down was it only Rahab’s wall that did not come down? The same scarlet rope that was used to let the spies escape was hung from her window to protect her from the wrath of God and the Israelites. Does the scarlet rope over her window remind us of the sacrificial blood over the doorpost of the children of Israel in Egypt? Does the blood on the door post remind us of Christ’s sacrificial blood shed for us?

Rahab displayed great faith in the living God (Hebrews 11:31). James also commends her along with Abraham as one who believed in the living God with a life that reflected it in deeds of faith (James 2:25). She had a faith that expressed “No Fear.” Thus we see that "belief and deeds" are two different sides of the same coin of faith. They have to be together for us to know, experience, or understand God. Further it was the grace of God that spared the life of Rahab and her relatives. Out of the ruins of the wall of Jericho emerged the House of Rahab unharmed. She was not one of the Israelites but was grafted in. Was this not an experience of rebirth for Rahab? To be born again into the household of God. Here was Rahab a reject in Jericho, being given the royal treatment by the children of Israel and the living God. Do you see many centuries’ later history repeats, where one of her own descendents is rejected by the world? From Rahab’s line will be born the Savior of the world. Isn’t this a sure sign of the grace of God at work?

She is later named in the “Who begat who” in the Bible. She is one of the few women mentioned in the genealogy of Christ. Have you wondered why they felt it important that her name was listed? Was it to clear any doubts that might question the genealogy of Christ? She becomes the mother of Boaz, who, with Ruth another alien, links King David. Who would have imagined a reformed prostitute to be the great grandmother of King David? Who would have imagined that a woman of her reputation would ever go through such a transformation? Do you think the children of Israel would have accepted her and treated her like royalty if she had not changed her ways? Do you know how they treat women with such tendencies? How would you treat a prostitute who comes to church and wants to know more about Christ? Would you be repulsed or compassionate? Do you see members in church today who lead and advocate libertine lives?

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, so goes one of the classic hymns of the last three centuries. John Newton a godless slave trader, when he was lost in a storm and feared for his life, he cried out, “Lord have mercy upon us.” This cry had a major impact on him. Later on reflection, he wrote this hymn. He began to treat his slaves more humanly after his conversion. The day of his rebirth when he converted from an infidel and libertine to a servant of the living God was always remembered by him. He said that was the day he humbled himself and submitted his life into the hands of his lord and savior Jesus Christ. Later he became a pastor of a congregation and wrote more than 200 hymns. When I was confirmed at “The Kirk” which was built 200 years ago to serve the Scottish Community in Chennai, my parents wrote these words in my Bible that was presented to me at the ceremony, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).”