Joshua 2:8-13 | Episode #1218

June 17, 2026

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

Joshua 2:8-13

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. Foreign. We are in Joshua, chapter two, verses eight through 13. And really, this is Rahab speaking. It is Rahab saying that, well, she wants to be. She wants to be taken care of. She wants to be. She wants to be saved from the impending doom that she, and apparently all of Jericho knows is going to happen. It's. It's coming. It's coming down the road, and they know it's going to happen. Now, the insight you get from that is that even though there are those in the world who say they don't believe in God, even though there's those in the world who say that they're not sure about Christianity, they're not sure about what religion is true or not. There is a sense and a real sense and a palpable sense that there is an impending doom for those who don't have an answer for what comes after you die. And the way you know that is. And it is a real thing. It's a real thing and it is a powerful thing. What we call foxhole conversions or even deathbed conversions. And what that means is that when you get to the end of this mortal life, you reach a point where you realize that there is something beyond and that is innate to our nature, that is natural to our nature. It is something that is evident. It's obvious in the world that we live in. It's something that comes from us. Now, you can try to explain that by some evolutionary process that we would develop that, but there's no real reason for us to have developed that. If it was a part of evolution. It was a part of just a natural, natural evolving from an unintelligent force that created the universe. The universe just came into being and it came by a, you know, a unmoved, unintelligent, just a random set of events. Then the, the, the innate to the person understanding that there's something beyond this life that would have never developed, that wouldn't have developed at all. And we're not talking about people who have a religious mindset or a religious thought pattern. We're talking about people who have rejected completely the idea that there's a God, the idea that there's an afterlife, the idea that there's something beyond this time. And so that whole idea of there being one in those people, those very people, the people, people in the foxholes, the people on their deathbeds, the realization that there is something beyond. And one of my colleagues in the legal profession who actually shared office space with me for many years, he was at the bedside of his father when he passed away. And it was a eye opening, life altering experience for him. The realization that his father, as he was passing away, could see torment, could see, could see the condemnation that he was going to face. He could see it in his eyes as he was passing away. And it struck my friend so much that it caused him to dive deep into what is real. And he grew up in going to Catholic school and a Catholic background in South Miami, not really being, you know, religious, just being in a religious environment. And that really changed him and ultimately brought him to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. Because there is a reality beyond it. There is something beyond there. And that didn't come by some process of evolution. In fact, it could not have come from a process of evolution. There's no reason to, no reason for humanity in the deep recesses of our heart and our soul for us to think that there's something beyond here. Unless there is. There's no reason for us to develop that. That's not developed once you're about to die. That's not a developed mechanism that helps you, that doesn't help you at all unless you have a actual saving faith and a God that actually does save. And by the way, Rahab wants that. She wants that relationship. She wants that, she wants to be a part of them because she realizes the impending doom of where she's at and who she's with. And she wants it not only for herself, but I want you to notice, she wants it for her family. It says in verse eight. Now, before they laid down, she came up to them on the roof. Now remember, she's already told the king that they left and sent people riding to go find them 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 faint hearted because of you. Now what she's saying is we know that this is a land that has been promised to you and that you're going to get it. That's a recognition that there's a God who promised them this land and that they are going to take this land from all the stories, even going back to Egypt. And by the way, the people of Canaan knew the stories in Egypt and they realized that Pharaoh's chariots had been destroyed in the Red Sea. And they knew that God had met them on a mountain and they knew that they'd been sustained in the wilderness, even though they didn't have any source of food or water or any kind of sustenance. And that they were sustained well and that they lived well out there. And so they must be taken care of by God, by a God for them. And for her it was the God who was the real God in the world. And she said, I know that the Lord has given you the land and that the Terran has fallen on us, and that the inhabitants of the land are faint, hardened because of you. 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. See, they know what's happening. The stories have reached them. They have an idea of what's going on. 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. See, these are words of faith. She's saying, I know that your God is God. And by the way, as Jesus said to Peter when he said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, she is saying, I know that your God is God of heaven above and on the earth beneath. She's saying words of faith. And when Peter said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, Jesus said, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, Peter, but my Father in heaven and this revelation to her. Remember, they could have just said that, well, this is a great nation, this is a people that the Egyptians didn't handle when they were in slavery to them and they've broken loose and now they're coming to destroy us. They could have used all the earthly terms and all the earthly arguments that they wanted to, but. But Rahab did not. Rahab says, I know that the reason these things have happened is because you serve a God who is Lord of all things in heaven and on earth. Those are words of faith. Those are real words of faith. Now therefore. And she says, okay, now that I know that, I know that you come from God. And that's why she took the chance on hiding them. That's why she took the chance on taking care of them. Because her king cannot handle the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and she submitted to the Lord of heaven and earth over him. She'd rather be a servant of God rather than a servant of a man who's about to have his city destroyed and his life taken. And so she says, and now, therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, not your Lord, but by the Lord. She says, I want you to swear to me by the God I believe in too. Okay, Since I have shown you kindness, that you also show kindness to my father's house and give me a true toe, and give me a true token and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that have and delivered our lives from death. So all that they have and deliver our lives from death. He's saying, I want you. She's saying, I want you to save me and my family. And by the way, that is a, that is a direct correlation to New Testament things, especially in the Book of Acts, where people were saved and their whole family was saved, the whole household was saved. It was said all the time, you know, so and so, you know, God did this through Paul or Silas or Barnabas or whoever. And then the whole. Whoever it was believed and their whole household. Their whole household believed. So you see these marrying together, this imagery, this story with the truth of the New Testament, which is that when this saving, life changing, redeeming belief or understanding that God is God, when that comes on a person, when that comes into the heart of a believer, when that happens, well, they're changed forever. And their whole family oftentimes is changed forever. And that's the cool thing about God. See, you know, if I have, if I have a. A experience, if I have a epiphany, if I have a life changing, a life altering understanding of who God is and that changes who I am, that doesn't necessarily become an epiphany for my whole family. In fact, you know, logically thinking there's lots of things that lots of people believe that the rest of their family doesn't believe. In fact, you know, rejects wholeheartedly, doesn't, doesn't believe at all. But, but, but for some reason, when a person has a life altering, life changing encounter with the living God, it changes them such that many times their whole family reaches a point where they go, you know, that's right, and their whole family's changed. Not changed by the person, but changed by the life altering relationship that changes the person. And so that realization that there is a God, that the God of the universe does exist, and that he is personal and that he is active and that he is speaking to the hearts of human beings, that realization that he is working a will and a plan in the universe and that I am a part of that universe and therefore a part of that plan is an important realization. And it is a life changing realization for those who first hear it. But oftentimes it's a life changing realization for the whole family. And she is asking for salvation for herself and for her whole family. And you know what? She shall get it. She's going to get it because that faith that has been revealed to her in the God of heaven and the earth beneath, that's what she says. I know that your God is the God of heaven above and earth beneath. Words of faith. I know who he is and I want to be a part of that. Me and my family want to be saved from the death and destruction of this world. And Jericho is really, in scripture, especially New Testament imagery and Old Testament imagery also. Jericho is one of the oldest cities, if not the oldest city in the world, the oldest permanent settlement that continues to be dwelt in the world. There are cities that were likely a little older than Jericho, but they have, you know, cease to have people live there. Jericho has people living there even to this day. And it is the oldest settlement in the world and it is the lowest by sea level of all the settlements of the world because it's near the Dead Sea. And it is actually, you know, a lot lower sea level wise than even New Orleans, which is a couple of feet below sea level. The city of Jericho is several feet, in fact, maybe a few yards below sea level. And so it is a picture, especially in the New Testament and in the Old Testament is a picture of, well, of hell. It's a picture of being lost in Jericho. And so you go up to Jerusalem and down to Jericho, which is the imagery of going up to heaven and down to hell. And. And so, as we begin to head toward Jericho, as far as the people, the people of God, the children of Israel taking Jericho, you need to know that imagery also. But God delivers those who have dwelt in darkness many, many times, and they are all the time coming to Him. And we see that in Rahab and her words of faith. 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.