The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Sixteen - N Jul 21, 2019 by: John Herbert | Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T002_20190721.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Hey 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. Today we will begin to look at events concerning Rahab and the destruction of Jericho. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday July 21st 2019 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 16N ‘Let Us Go On’ 1). Heb 11:29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. 31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. Hebrews 11:29-31 set out a complete prophetic panorama of events that take us from the resurrection of the nation of Israel following the end of the Tribulation to the cusp of the Millennial Kingdom through a series of types. a). The Red Sea passage in v29 has to do with death and resurrection with respect to the rights of the firstborn and rulership of the earth and presents a foundational type. b). God’s adopted firstborn son, Israel, died vicariously on the night of Passover and subsequently found himself buried in the place of death within the waters of the Red Sea – Ex 14:22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. But because God accepted the substitutionary death of the Passover lambs in the place of His adopted son, they were delivered from death and the place of death could not hold them, hence they ‘went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground’ and subsequently found themselves standing figuratively in resurrection on the Eastern bank with their inheritance in view. c). The same could not be said of course for Satan’s ‘firstborn son’, Egypt. Satan’s ‘firstborn son’, Egypt, had also died the night of Passover and he also found himself buried in the Red Sea, but he had no part in the substitutionary death God had provided for His son. d). And consequently, Egypt could not be delivered from death and had no hope of resurrection – Ex 14:28 Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. 29 But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 30 So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Now this is not to say that all those Egyptians who died in the Red Sea will not experience bodily resurrection, because they surely must. But with regards to God’s purpose for rulership over the earth, Egypt’s position of preeminence ended in death at the Passover and it could never return. And in this sense, there was no resurrection for them, they could only remain dead with respect to rulership because of the type they form. e). And all of this looks prophetically to that future day when God once again delivers His people from the Gentile nations, typified by Egypt, the nation that is always used to picture the ‘world’ under satanic control, into which they will have been scattered at the mid-point of the Tribulation. f). And in that coming day Israel will be removed from the place of death, taken out of the Gentile nations, and resurrected to newness of life in the antitype of the raising of Lazarus seen in John’s Gospel; in the antitype of that seen through the land raised from the sea on the 3rd day in Genesis Chapter 1 and the nation singing the victor’s song on the Eastern bank of the Red Sea in Exodus. g). That pictured in Hebrews 11:29 through the destruction of Egypt in the Red Sea is also seen in Hebrews 11:30 through the destruction of Jericho. But as we saw last time, the destruction of Jericho does not just simply repeat that seen through the destruction of Egypt but adds significantly to the detail from the foundational type. h). The destruction of Jericho then concerns the second generation of Israel to come out of Egypt, led by Joshua. The entire first generation, except for Caleb and Joshua, had perished in the wilderness because of their disobedience and Moses also had passed from the scene – Jos 1: 2 “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. i). Now, in Moses and the first generation we find a picture of the Christ at His first advent, when He came as Prophet in the antitype of Moses – Acts 7:37 “This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’ And just as Israel refused to go into the land at Kadesh Barnea under Moses so Israel refused to enter the Kingdom of the Heavens under Jesus at the Lord’s first advent. And the entire generation alive at the Lord’s first advent, except for those who had believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who rejected the Kingdom of the Heavens, all perished in the wilderness, so to speak. Eternally saved but woefully short of their inheritance. And it was at this time, following the nation’s rejection of the Kingdom of the Heavens, that God set Israel aside in order to deal with those called out of the Gentiles to be a people for His name. Those who would be the recipients of that which Israel had rejected, devoting 2 days, 2000 years, to this purpose. j). And so, from God’s perspective, when He again begins to deal with Israel, during the Tribulation, continuing the dispensation allotted to them, those Jews alive at that time will be the generation who are seen to follow on directly from the generation who rejected the Kingdom of the Heavens and crucified their Messiah, in effect making the Tribulation generation a parallel with the second generation to come out of Egypt under Joshua. The consecutive nature of these 2 generations without the 2000 years that separate them can be seen in the prophecy given to Daniel of the 70 ‘weeks’ – Da 9:24 “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. 25 “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. 26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. And it’s no coincidence that Joshua is the Hebrew version of the Greek name Jesus and that it is Joshua who led Israel into the land covenanted to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, destroying Jericho, anticipating the day when his name sake will bring the remnant of Israel into their land to receive the promised inheritance, destroying Gentile world power, fulfilling the type seen through Joshua. k). We had also seen last time that the second generation under Joshua, passed through the Jordan ‘on dry ground’, were circumcised and also kept the Passover. l). The passage through the Jordan once again takes us to Israel in resurrection, referring back to all the examples that we have previously noted. The Passover again takes us to the substitutionary death that makes resurrection for them possible, and circumcision deals with the cleansing of the nation through the circumcision of the heart and the new covenant that will be established with Israel on the basis of their circumcised hearts – Jer 31: 31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” As circumcision was given to Abraham as a sign of God’s covenant with him, so Israel’s circumcision of the heart will be a sign of the Lord’s new covenant with them, allowing the original covenant made with Abraham to come to fulfillment – Deu 30:3 that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5 Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. All of this will take place in that future day before Gentile power is overthrown, as typified through the destruction of Jericho. m). Now if we go back to Hebrews 11:31 we find that one of the inhabitants of the city, therefore a Gentile, did not perish with the others in the destruction of the city, because of her faith. And her faith is seen in connection with her receiving the 2 spies sent into the land, ‘with peace’. 2). We will remember that having arrived at Kadesh Barnea, God had instructed Moses to send 12 spies into the land in anticipation of Israel entering the land to receive their inheritance within it, as God had promised them. a). In like manner Joshua sent 2 spies into the land prior to Jericho’s destruction – Jos 2:1a Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” These were also sent with a view to spy out the land, with a particular focus on Jericho. b). What we then see as we continue with the account in Joshua, is that the men found themselves in a hostile city where the king was earnestly seeking to kill them. And consequently, their only means of safety rested with Rahab the harlot, one of the Gentile inhabitants of the city, – Jos 2:1b So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there. 2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country.”3 So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.”4 Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.” 6 (But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.) 7 Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords. And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. And I am sure that it has not escaped us that Rahab also put her own life at risk by concealing the spies and deceiving the king. c). So, our question would be, why did she do that? What caused her to risk her own life for the sake of 2 Jewish men, the forerunners of those who were about to take all she knew into their own hands? Well, we don’t need to wonder as the scripture tells us – Jos 2: 8 Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 9 and said to the men: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. 12 Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token, 13 and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.” This is a most extraordinary statement of faith. And what we see from it is that Rahab believed that God had given the land into Israel’s hand; she had believed that which God had previously done for the nation on the other side of the Jordan and believed it was about to happen at Jericho. She had come to know that ‘the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath’. b). And having believed these things, the certainty of what God would bring to pass was greater than the fear she had of the king of Jericho. And in this we may see a parallel with the faith of Moses’ parents and Moses himself, who did not fear the Pharaoh or his command, trusting in the faithfulness of God instead. c). And such faithfulness will always be rewarded – Jos 2:14 So the men answered her, “Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.” As Rahab orchestrated the escape of the spies, so they gave certain instructions to her that are fraught with significance – Jos 2:15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. 16 And she said to them, “Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way.” 17 So the men said to her: “We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, 18 unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household to your own home. 19 So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. 20 And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear.” 21 Then she said, “According to your words, so be it.” And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window. We can see then from the spies’ instructions to Rahab that deliverance had to do with those who comprised one household, those who had to remain in the confines of this one house, who were not to be found in the midst of Jericho. And that which was to identify those of the household who would be delivered was ‘a scarlet cord’. Jos 6:22 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.” 23 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. 24 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. 25 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. Mt 1:5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, 6 and Jesse begot David the king……………. 16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. Not only then do we see Rahab and her family who remained in the house delivered from Jericho as the rest of the city was burned with fire, but we also see the connection with regality, Rahab being David the king’s great grandmother, and her placement within the lineage of Christ, the One appointed heir of all things, making the connection to the time of the Millennial Kingdom. And that which is at the heart of the deliverance of Rahab and those with her was her treatment of the spies who came to her house – treatment coming out of her faith. What she had believed concerning the spies’ mission determined the actions she then took. d). And needless to say, what we see with the account of Rahab concerning the spies and the destruction of Jericho forms a prophetic type for that future day when that pictured through Joshua and the second generation is brought to fulfillment through Christ and resurrected Israel following the end of the Tribulation. 3). Jos 6:3 You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. 4 And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.” As we have seen previously, the 6 circuits around the city of Jericho point us to the 6 days comprising Man’s Day, the 6000 year time period that precedes the Lord’s Day, and so the timeframe for that seen through the account of Rahab takes us to the end of the 6000 years of Man’s Day. A time immediately preceding the Millennial Kingdom. a). Consequently, although Rahab is a Gentile and we are dealing with issues surrounding deliverance and the Millennial Kingdom, we are not dealing with Gentiles from this present dispensation. From a chronological standpoint that pictured through Rahab and Jericho will come about after the resurrection/rapture of the Church, after the events at the Judgment Seat and after the completion of the 7 years of the Tribulation. All that to say that Rahab and her family and what takes place with them has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit’s present work among Christians and has nothing to do with the formation of the Bride for Christ. b). Again, within the chronology the Bride of Christ will have already been identified at least 7 years before the events seen through Rahab. c). Rahab then and those with her in the house picture for us Gentiles going through and coming out of the Great Tribulation. But the picture is not of all Gentiles alive at the end of this time. Rather we are dealing with those Gentiles seen in connection with the line of ‘scarlet cord’. d). And the line ‘of scarlet cord’ is emblematic of death and shed blood, the means of eternal salvation. e). What we see in this whole picture then is not only the means of eternal salvation through the scarlet cord, but also the purpose for that salvation – inheritance in the Millennial Kingdom. And most particularly as it pertains to eternally saved Gentiles coming out of the Great Tribulation. f). Now let’s remember that within the type deliverance from the destruction of Jericho was not guaranteed solely on the basis of being a part of Rahab’s household, but also on not being found outside of the house in the streets of Jericho as well. In other words, remaining separated from Gentile world power and the process of its overthrow. g). We have seen this same idea of separation from a Christian perspective pictured through Abraham and Lot, where Lot’s involvement with the governance of Sodom is exactly what is in view through the idea of being outside Rahab’s house in the streets of Jericho. h). And again, within the type, remaining in Rahab’s house forms an association with the protection of the 2 Jewish spies, whereas being outside the house would separate that person from that association. i). And if we then bring this over into the antitype, this is what we find – Mt 24:3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”……………….. 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ 41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me………. We will need to continue with this next time though – if the Lord is willing. The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Sixteen - N Jul 21, 2019 Speaker: John Herbert Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T002_20190721.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Hey 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. Today we will begin to look at events concerning Rahab and the destruction of Jericho. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday July 21st 2019 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 16N ‘Let Us Go On’ 1). Heb 11:29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. 31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. Hebrews 11:29-31 set out a complete prophetic panorama of events that take us from the resurrection of the nation of Israel following the end of the Tribulation to the cusp of the Millennial Kingdom through a series of types. a). The Red Sea passage in v29 has to do with death and resurrection with respect to the rights of the firstborn and rulership of the earth and presents a foundational type. b). God’s adopted firstborn son, Israel, died vicariously on the night of Passover and subsequently found himself buried in the place of death within the waters of the Red Sea – Ex 14:22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. But because God accepted the substitutionary death of the Passover lambs in the place of His adopted son, they were delivered from death and the place of death could not hold them, hence they ‘went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground’ and subsequently found themselves standing figuratively in resurrection on the Eastern bank with their inheritance in view. c). The same could not be said of course for Satan’s ‘firstborn son’, Egypt. Satan’s ‘firstborn son’, Egypt, had also died the night of Passover and he also found himself buried in the Red Sea, but he had no part in the substitutionary death God had provided for His son. d). And consequently, Egypt could not be delivered from death and had no hope of resurrection – Ex 14:28 Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. 29 But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 30 So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Now this is not to say that all those Egyptians who died in the Red Sea will not experience bodily resurrection, because they surely must. But with regards to God’s purpose for rulership over the earth, Egypt’s position of preeminence ended in death at the Passover and it could never return. And in this sense, there was no resurrection for them, they could only remain dead with respect to rulership because of the type they form. e). And all of this looks prophetically to that future day when God once again delivers His people from the Gentile nations, typified by Egypt, the nation that is always used to picture the ‘world’ under satanic control, into which they will have been scattered at the mid-point of the Tribulation. f). And in that coming day Israel will be removed from the place of death, taken out of the Gentile nations, and resurrected to newness of life in the antitype of the raising of Lazarus seen in John’s Gospel; in the antitype of that seen through the land raised from the sea on the 3rd day in Genesis Chapter 1 and the nation singing the victor’s song on the Eastern bank of the Red Sea in Exodus. g). That pictured in Hebrews 11:29 through the destruction of Egypt in the Red Sea is also seen in Hebrews 11:30 through the destruction of Jericho. But as we saw last time, the destruction of Jericho does not just simply repeat that seen through the destruction of Egypt but adds significantly to the detail from the foundational type. h). The destruction of Jericho then concerns the second generation of Israel to come out of Egypt, led by Joshua. The entire first generation, except for Caleb and Joshua, had perished in the wilderness because of their disobedience and Moses also had passed from the scene – Jos 1: 2 “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. i). Now, in Moses and the first generation we find a picture of the Christ at His first advent, when He came as Prophet in the antitype of Moses – Acts 7:37 “This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’ And just as Israel refused to go into the land at Kadesh Barnea under Moses so Israel refused to enter the Kingdom of the Heavens under Jesus at the Lord’s first advent. And the entire generation alive at the Lord’s first advent, except for those who had believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who rejected the Kingdom of the Heavens, all perished in the wilderness, so to speak. Eternally saved but woefully short of their inheritance. And it was at this time, following the nation’s rejection of the Kingdom of the Heavens, that God set Israel aside in order to deal with those called out of the Gentiles to be a people for His name. Those who would be the recipients of that which Israel had rejected, devoting 2 days, 2000 years, to this purpose. j). And so, from God’s perspective, when He again begins to deal with Israel, during the Tribulation, continuing the dispensation allotted to them, those Jews alive at that time will be the generation who are seen to follow on directly from the generation who rejected the Kingdom of the Heavens and crucified their Messiah, in effect making the Tribulation generation a parallel with the second generation to come out of Egypt under Joshua. The consecutive nature of these 2 generations without the 2000 years that separate them can be seen in the prophecy given to Daniel of the 70 ‘weeks’ – Da 9:24 “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. 25 “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. 26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. And it’s no coincidence that Joshua is the Hebrew version of the Greek name Jesus and that it is Joshua who led Israel into the land covenanted to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, destroying Jericho, anticipating the day when his name sake will bring the remnant of Israel into their land to receive the promised inheritance, destroying Gentile world power, fulfilling the type seen through Joshua. k). We had also seen last time that the second generation under Joshua, passed through the Jordan ‘on dry ground’, were circumcised and also kept the Passover. l). The passage through the Jordan once again takes us to Israel in resurrection, referring back to all the examples that we have previously noted. The Passover again takes us to the substitutionary death that makes resurrection for them possible, and circumcision deals with the cleansing of the nation through the circumcision of the heart and the new covenant that will be established with Israel on the basis of their circumcised hearts – Jer 31: 31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” As circumcision was given to Abraham as a sign of God’s covenant with him, so Israel’s circumcision of the heart will be a sign of the Lord’s new covenant with them, allowing the original covenant made with Abraham to come to fulfillment – Deu 30:3 that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5 Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. All of this will take place in that future day before Gentile power is overthrown, as typified through the destruction of Jericho. m). Now if we go back to Hebrews 11:31 we find that one of the inhabitants of the city, therefore a Gentile, did not perish with the others in the destruction of the city, because of her faith. And her faith is seen in connection with her receiving the 2 spies sent into the land, ‘with peace’. 2). We will remember that having arrived at Kadesh Barnea, God had instructed Moses to send 12 spies into the land in anticipation of Israel entering the land to receive their inheritance within it, as God had promised them. a). In like manner Joshua sent 2 spies into the land prior to Jericho’s destruction – Jos 2:1a Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” These were also sent with a view to spy out the land, with a particular focus on Jericho. b). What we then see as we continue with the account in Joshua, is that the men found themselves in a hostile city where the king was earnestly seeking to kill them. And consequently, their only means of safety rested with Rahab the harlot, one of the Gentile inhabitants of the city, – Jos 2:1b So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there. 2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country.”3 So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.”4 Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.” 6 (But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.) 7 Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords. And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. And I am sure that it has not escaped us that Rahab also put her own life at risk by concealing the spies and deceiving the king. c). So, our question would be, why did she do that? What caused her to risk her own life for the sake of 2 Jewish men, the forerunners of those who were about to take all she knew into their own hands? Well, we don’t need to wonder as the scripture tells us – Jos 2: 8 Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 9 and said to the men: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. 12 Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token, 13 and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.” This is a most extraordinary statement of faith. And what we see from it is that Rahab believed that God had given the land into Israel’s hand; she had believed that which God had previously done for the nation on the other side of the Jordan and believed it was about to happen at Jericho. She had come to know that ‘the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath’. b). And having believed these things, the certainty of what God would bring to pass was greater than the fear she had of the king of Jericho. And in this we may see a parallel with the faith of Moses’ parents and Moses himself, who did not fear the Pharaoh or his command, trusting in the faithfulness of God instead. c). And such faithfulness will always be rewarded – Jos 2:14 So the men answered her, “Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.” As Rahab orchestrated the escape of the spies, so they gave certain instructions to her that are fraught with significance – Jos 2:15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. 16 And she said to them, “Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way.” 17 So the men said to her: “We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, 18 unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household to your own home. 19 So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. 20 And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear.” 21 Then she said, “According to your words, so be it.” And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window. We can see then from the spies’ instructions to Rahab that deliverance had to do with those who comprised one household, those who had to remain in the confines of this one house, who were not to be found in the midst of Jericho. And that which was to identify those of the household who would be delivered was ‘a scarlet cord’. Jos 6:22 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.” 23 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. 24 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. 25 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. Mt 1:5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, 6 and Jesse begot David the king……………. 16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. Not only then do we see Rahab and her family who remained in the house delivered from Jericho as the rest of the city was burned with fire, but we also see the connection with regality, Rahab being David the king’s great grandmother, and her placement within the lineage of Christ, the One appointed heir of all things, making the connection to the time of the Millennial Kingdom. And that which is at the heart of the deliverance of Rahab and those with her was her treatment of the spies who came to her house – treatment coming out of her faith. What she had believed concerning the spies’ mission determined the actions she then took. d). And needless to say, what we see with the account of Rahab concerning the spies and the destruction of Jericho forms a prophetic type for that future day when that pictured through Joshua and the second generation is brought to fulfillment through Christ and resurrected Israel following the end of the Tribulation. 3). Jos 6:3 You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. 4 And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.” As we have seen previously, the 6 circuits around the city of Jericho point us to the 6 days comprising Man’s Day, the 6000 year time period that precedes the Lord’s Day, and so the timeframe for that seen through the account of Rahab takes us to the end of the 6000 years of Man’s Day. A time immediately preceding the Millennial Kingdom. a). Consequently, although Rahab is a Gentile and we are dealing with issues surrounding deliverance and the Millennial Kingdom, we are not dealing with Gentiles from this present dispensation. From a chronological standpoint that pictured through Rahab and Jericho will come about after the resurrection/rapture of the Church, after the events at the Judgment Seat and after the completion of the 7 years of the Tribulation. All that to say that Rahab and her family and what takes place with them has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit’s present work among Christians and has nothing to do with the formation of the Bride for Christ. b). Again, within the chronology the Bride of Christ will have already been identified at least 7 years before the events seen through Rahab. c). Rahab then and those with her in the house picture for us Gentiles going through and coming out of the Great Tribulation. But the picture is not of all Gentiles alive at the end of this time. Rather we are dealing with those Gentiles seen in connection with the line of ‘scarlet cord’. d). And the line ‘of scarlet cord’ is emblematic of death and shed blood, the means of eternal salvation. e). What we see in this whole picture then is not only the means of eternal salvation through the scarlet cord, but also the purpose for that salvation – inheritance in the Millennial Kingdom. And most particularly as it pertains to eternally saved Gentiles coming out of the Great Tribulation. f). Now let’s remember that within the type deliverance from the destruction of Jericho was not guaranteed solely on the basis of being a part of Rahab’s household, but also on not being found outside of the house in the streets of Jericho as well. In other words, remaining separated from Gentile world power and the process of its overthrow. g). We have seen this same idea of separation from a Christian perspective pictured through Abraham and Lot, where Lot’s involvement with the governance of Sodom is exactly what is in view through the idea of being outside Rahab’s house in the streets of Jericho. h). And again, within the type, remaining in Rahab’s house forms an association with the protection of the 2 Jewish spies, whereas being outside the house would separate that person from that association. i). And if we then bring this over into the antitype, this is what we find – Mt 24:3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”……………….. 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ 41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me………. We will need to continue with this next time though – if the Lord is willing.