Jos 6:17 And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
This morning let's put ourselves inside the city of Jericho and attempt to see how this story that is thousands of years old has very much implication in the hour that we live.
We know that the people were under terrible anxiety about what was coming. Already Rahab, in chapter 2, had testified to the fact that fear had overcome her and all the city because they heard about the God of Israel and how He was going to take their world and give it to his people. They had shut up the city and were determined to hold out to the very end. Then from the wilderness appears a band of....Priest? Not with swords but with trumpets.
For seven days these priests march around blowing the trumpet. Can you imagine how annoying this must have been to the inhabitants of Jericho? They were doing their best to put out the thought of judgment and yet all day these priests are constantly blowing the trumpet. With every blast they know soon that their walls will fall, their city will burn and they will leave this world.
Jericho was filled with all different sorts of people. Soldiers, carpenters, blacksmiths, aristocrats, peasants, high society, and low but our verse today sorts all these people into just 2 categories, those in the harlot's house and those who were not. One day when we reach heaven I'd love to sit down and talk to Rahab and see how the events of those weeks unfolded, perhaps that is why God leaves so much unsaid, so that heaven will reveal the half that was not told. Until then speculation will have to do, I wonder if some at first were skeptical, but with every blast of the trumpet their heart was moved to trust in the message of salvation. I wonder if those who came in went and told others, I don't know, but I imagine it isn't too different from what we practice in the church today as we are living in a world on the brink of Judgment. We warn we love, we call, and want as many as will come in to come in before it is everlasting too late.
Can't you see all the beautiful illustrations this story gives us about the world we live in and the only thing that will be saved at the end of it all, The church that is, a house full of whosoever's? Are you a Harlot? Come in he will have you! Are you a peasant? Come in. Are you rich? Come in. Are you old? Come in. Are you young? Come in. "I will in no wise cast out," I remember the days that my heart was vexed with the anxiety of coming judgment, The preacher would stand and preach and warn and call and urge us to come to Jesus. My mother and father and many others in my family had come in and had found peace in a world of turmoil. Then one Thursday night I entered in and fear gave way to peace, anxiety gave way to joy, and I had a safe place to rest, and promises to pillow my head on.
Dear reader, our world is ripe for judgment, can't you see it? It seems that the whole world is gripped with anxiety and for thousands of years now God's gospel trumpet has been sounding. O hear it today! Come to Jesus, there is only one safe place when this current world crumbles. Come to the fellowship of believers, We are made up of all sorts, Harlots, murderers, thieves, self-righteous and unrighteous, at least this is what we were. Now our old occupation has given way to a new one, calling people into the house. Are you in Christ today, repent and turn to him and you will live. Receive the gospel message, that Jesus came into this world of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross in your place, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is coming back to this world again one day. This time his return will be for judgment, and on that day all people will be reduced to only 2 categories, In Christ or not. As the trumpet sounds one more time this morning run as fast as you can to the only place of salvation, Jesus Christ.
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