photo #9269423

"AND RAHAB PERISHED NOT WITH THE UNBELIEVERS" "And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath." (Joshua 2:11)This profession of faith comes from the lips of one of the most unlikely characters in the Bible, Rahab. She was a harlot, a heathen, and a citizen of an enemy nation to God’s people. But it is exactly the unexpectedness of her faith which makes her such a source of Biblical comfort.Rahab shows us there is no valid excuse for unbelief in the one true God. Her faith in God was the reason she did not perish with the unbelieving heathen who surrounded her in Jericho. In James 2:25, we read where Rahab is as an example of one whose genuine faith is shown by undeniable acts of obedience and sacrifice. We also find in Hebrews 11 where Rahab was inducted into the Believer's Hall of Faith.When Rahab heard the report of all that God had done for His people by delivering them out of Egypt, drying up the Jordan, and destroying powerful kings, she trusted that this was the one true God in Heaven and on Earth. Now, if Rahab could come out of such a hateful and hostile society and show an unyielding faith, then it proves no former calloused belief, or cultural barrier is strong enough to overcome genuine faith when placed in the one true God.There is also great comfort in the story of Rahab, particularly for those who are saved out of sinful lifestyles. Here was a promiscuous woman, with a nasty past involving pagan customers, who was used of the Lord to deliver His people and eventually even usher in the Christ (Matthew 1:5). Friends, what a powerful witness Rahab was then, and still is today, for anyone who trusts God’s ability to convert and cleanse all who come to God by faith in Jesus Christ. For they will never perish.