Joshua 2:1-2 | Episode #1216

June 15, 2026

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Joshua 2:1-2

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for over 25 years. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word verse-by-verse and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Hope Alive where we apply

God's Word to our daily life. My name is Chad Harrison. I'm first a husband, a father and a grandfather. I'm also the teaching pastor at Lake Community Church in Dadeville, Alabama on beautiful Lake Martin. I've been serving as a pastor for over 30 years. I also serve as the Tallapoosa County District Judge. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word verse by verse through the Bible and to find his purpose and will for your daily life. If you would like sponsor this podcast, go to the Show Notes where there's a link where you can make a donation. I pray in the name of Jesus that God would open his word to you, allow you to see him and to know him, so that you would know his will and his way for your life that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today.

Word of God, please speak to the

hearers of your voice today in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Well, good morning.

Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in Joshua chapter two and we are dealing with the spies sent in to spy out the land. And by the way, it says in here specifically Jericho, God is sending them to spy Jericho. Now we're going to get into some detail about the significance of Jericho and the importance of Jericho. But as is the case in the New Testament and as is the case in the Spirit filled life, the locations and the times and the seasons are not as important as the people. The people are the most important thing. And that is true in the New Testament for sure. No doubt about is the key to the Spirit filled Christian life. The people are the most important thing, not the times and the seasons and the location. They're not, they're, they're secondary. The tertiary, they, they come, they come after they are, they have some importance, but they're not as important as the people. The people are always important. Now the figure that we're going to see here, because by the way, we don't, we don't have, we don't have, we don't have the names of these that are going in yet. We don't have, we don't have the names of the spies because all it says in verse one is now Joshua, son of nun, sent out two men from the acacia grove to spy, secretly saying go view the land, especially Jericho. So he sent them out to go spy out the land. All right, we don't know their names, but we do know the name of the person that they met with in Jericho who really in all possible ways brokered the whole arrangement of them being able to spy out Jericho, them being not being able to be caught by the king, and then being able to escape back to Joshua and give him the information that he was, was seeking as sending out the spies. And that person's name is Rahab. And it says at the end of verse one, it says, so they went and came to the house of the harlot named Rahab and they lodged there or they stayed there. Now this is important, I don't know if you noticed that, but there was a descriptive word used to describe who this woman Rahab is. And she is described a woman of ill repute. That's who she, that's who she is described as. But that's not the whole story. The whole story is, is that this woman named Rahab in the end, and I'm going to the end at the first, so that when we get to the end, you see the fullness of God's story. And, and that's going to take a couple of Bible studies. Because she's an important figure. She's a real important figure in a lot of ways. But one of the ways she's a real important figure is she's in the line of Jesus. She is, she is a great. One of the great grandmothers of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rahab the harlot is in the line of Jesus. And she's not just mentioned in the line of Jesus like in Matthew chapter one in the, she's not just mentioned in the, in the genealogy. She's, that's, that's not just where she's mentioned. By the way, the book of Hebrews mentions, mentions rahab in chapter 11. That is the main theological book of the New Testament that is written to the Jewish people. The book of Hebrews mentions Rahab in that book as an explanation of a spiritual truth. Why? Because she is a huge spiritual truth. And then she's also mentioned in the book of James and rightfully so she'd be mentioned in the book of James because James was the brother of Jesus. James gonna mention her for sure. Not for sure, but would have been had no qualms about mentioning her because she was one of his great grandmothers and so he mentions her in his book. And I mention all this because she's an important figure in scripture and she's an important figure in the story of God's entering into the Promised Land. In fact, other than Joshua, she's the second figure that's like mentioned by name in A major role. She's the second one to come to the stage. If you're seeing this as a play on the stage of history that's given us instructions and showing us things, she's instruction and notice it doesn't matter her background, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter where she comes from. No longer is it about, is it about family lines. No longer is it about prestige and position. No longer is it about power and place. It's not that God uses those who no one would think he would use in powerful ways and they become spirit filled believers who change the world. And that truth is a important truth that we need to deal with. At the very start of talking about entering God's rest and entering the spirit filled Christian life, you never know who you're dealing with and who they are becoming because of the work of God in their life. Because they are willing to hear God, believe God, trust God and walk in what God has for them. You never know who those people are. And so when you're in the business of living out and taking the promise land, you never know who's God God's going to send on the trail of, of your life. You never know who, what character God's going to put in the, in the morality play of, of your walk that is going to play a huge role, a giant role, a massive role in the, in the well, the presentation of, of your, your story in history which would be the story of you trusting in God and doing the, the big things, the, the powerful things, the, the, the promise, taking things in life. They went there and it was told to the king of Jericho saying behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out out the country. Now she's, she's, she's received them and they are guests to her and she is in a bad, bad position. She's in a position where she's going to have to either give these people up and perhaps when they attack the city, her be destroyed or she not give them up and be found out. And the King killer, she's in a terrible tight, in this position now, Now I can't move on past this because, because one of the things that's for sure true about the spirit filled Christian life is there's going to be a lot of positions that seem like tight positions. Going to be a lot of situations seem like oh, I don't know how

we're going to get out of this situation.

I don't know how we're going to make this situation work. I don't know how we're going to. It is for sure a cliffhanger situation. It is intensely and well, implicitly a situation where the outcome is unknown. And that's the cool thing about the spirit filled Christian life, is the outcome. Now we know what the promises are, we know the end result is, but how it plays out on the stage of history. And I say that, I keep saying that because your life is being played out on the stage of history. Your name's written in the Lamb's Book of Life. In fact, your story is in the Lamb's Book of life. And by the way, the angels are watching this play of history and they're watching in amazement and wonder because how could something so broken as you be able to do and be and see and walk in the things of God the way you do? And even if you don't think you do, I'm going to tell you from the position that you are actually in, which is nothing lost, separated, broken, no chance, from the position that you start to the position you are now, even if you're just now hearing the voice of God is so profoundly amazing that God could take you and actually speak to you in a way that you

would actually hear Him.

It's so profoundly amazing that God can

do that for you.

That you should be you, you should be in awe that God would even trust entrusting you anything that he would ever even, even recognize you. You are, you are so infinitely insignificant in a, in a, in a world universe view and yet so infinitely important to God. And you are on the stage of history. You are, every person listening to this Bible study is on the stage of history. And you're playing out your role in a play. And let me tell you something, your role in that play is always, is always a world changing, amazing role that you would be able to do anything that would even remotely identify you with the eternal God who is full of holiness and righteousness. It's amazing that you would be. And so for this woman, this woman who is, you know, a woman of ill reputation, for her to not only play a role in Joshua chapter two, but then be mentioned later on in Joshua chapter six, and then, and then, and then find out that she is in the line of Jesus in the genealogy that Matthew gives us, in the line of Joshua, not in Joshua, in the line of Joseph, Jesus's father. That's an amazing idea. And then that she'd be mentioned in literally one of the great books of faith, Hebrews and one of the great books of faith James, for her to even have a mention in the literal word of God is amazing.

But she's not mentioned once, she's not mentioned twice. She's mentioned seven times. Seven times in scripture she's mentioned.

And for that to be the case, well, I guess it may be even eight times, eight times in Scripture for that to be the case. Well, eight's a perfect number because it's the number of new beginnings and she is the source of really the new beginning. In Jericho, God always has one person

that he raises up in a place.

God always has a remnant that he keeps. God always makes sure that, that he proves that he's not utterly going to destroy everything he kept Noah and his, and his family. He, he, he always makes sure that

there's one that He.

He redeems out of even the worst destruction. And Jericho is going to be completely destroyed. He redeems them out of that. And for her to be chosen the one, the, the one person probably in Jericho that everybody would rank at least at the very bottom of the list of who, who God would redeem if he was going to destroy Jericho. God chooses her.

And wow, what a story that is. What a story that is. That God would choose me.

That God would choose you. That he would even, he would even

recognize you enough to even speak to you.

And yet he has, he's not only recognized you, he's not only spoke to

you, he's indwelt you. He's come to live inside of you.

He's given you a new human spirit.

He's given you the gift of faith.

He's given you his word, he's given you his revelation. He's called you by his name. He's given you his name and he's made you a priest, a royal priest, a priest, a kingdom priest to be able to be in his presence. That's amazing. And, and, and the way we know

that God does these things, the way

we can be for sure in, in, in in 2025, is the way we can be for sure that this is

true is because he did it back

then in the story of the Spirit filled Christian life in the, in the morality play of the Old Testament that gives us the clear picture of what it means to walk into God's rest, to enter into his promises, to walk in his best.

The book that gives us that understanding,

the book that gives us that idea starts out with a woman of ill

repute who is a main character in the story that God uses for kingdom work.

What awesome God we serve. What amazing God we serve what a

God of relationship and the individual that we serve.

You all see that we're going to go what happened? What how did it work out? Well we'll get that get to that

but we can't pass up with who she is who she was and when God shows up who she is and who she was was nothing who she was was a was a she wasn't even a comma in the story of history she was nothing in the story of history and yet now her name is written in the word of God eight times

that's what God does to

the individual that's why God is a God that he is because he serves his children who owe him everything and he owes them nothing and yet his grace is amazing.

As you go today I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you that he'll make his face to shine upon you and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.