Joshua 2:14-21 | Episode# 1219

June 18, 2026

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

Joshua 2:14-21

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 to. In the name of Jesus, Amen. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in Joshua, chapter two. And starting with verse 14, we've met Rahab, and Rahab has hidden the two spies. Notice the two spies don't have a name. And they never do have a name. And always remember that tends to, especially with the picture, because two is the number of either division or a faithful witness. And the faithful witness for us. The primary faithful witness for us is the Holy Spirit. And so two oftentimes is associated with the Holy Spirit also. And especially when you have two servants or two of anybody who's doing a task, a kingdom task, whenever you have two of those, oftentimes they represent the Holy Spirit. And you're gonna see that. You see that in scripture. It happens numerous times in scripture where you have two servants, two unknown servants, two unnamed servants who are doing something for God. They represent the Holy Spirit. So in this study, these two people are spying out the land. They represent a lot of things, but they can represent the Holy Spirit. And so when Rahab hides them from the king and then goes up to them after the men have gone out of the gate and have gone down every road that might reach a forward of the river, meaning a place to cross the river, she goes up to them and they make a plan. And the plan is very important for everyone. It's important for the spies so that they can get out and get to Joshua. It's important for Rahab because Rahab has now taken aside and we talked about her taken aside and we talked about her relationship with God. And her decision and understanding that these two people represent the one true God, the God of heaven and earth. And so she's taken a stand. She said, I'm on their side. I'm not on the people of my city or my town side. I'm on God's side. And that is a bold, bold statement of faith. It is a bold action of faith to choose God over the world that you know. And that's not always easy. It's not always easy to choose God over your family. It's not easy to choose God over your culture. It's not easy to choose God over your teaching or training or. Or your education. It is not easy to choose to seek after God when certain aspects of your life, important aspects of your life are. Are. Have chosen not to. And. And. And oftentimes your choice affects them greatly. And it affects them in that for many, in your family and your friends and in your community and that you have come from, for many, it opens the door to them for an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to begin to speak to their hearts. And so in verse 14, it says, so the men answered her, our lives for your life for yours. You. If none of you tell the business of ours. And he's talking to Rahab and her family, meaning if y' all all stay silent. And by the way, Rahab's whole family is involved now. Rahab has chosen, and now her whole family has chosen. And it shall be when the Lord has given us the land that we will deal kindly and truly with you. Which means when we're taking the land, even though you're a Gentile, even though you're a Canaanite, we are going to deal kindly with you. Why? Because you have decided that you are going to worship God. And by the way, this is not something that's uncommon. We see Moses marrying a cushite woman and all that came from that. But what does that mean? Well, she obviously was not from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but she quite obviously also was a follower of Yahweh. She was a follower of God. And so her being a follower of God made her a part of the family of God, even though she genetically wasn't in the family of God in the sense of she was not Jewish. And that happened a lot because in the land of Goshen, you had the Jews living there in slavery, but you also had a lot of other people. And many of those people, many of those people decided that they would be a part of the Jewish people, and their genetics are a part of the Jewish people today because they, they worship the one true God. They worshiped Yahweh. And that really is what Rahab has done here. Rahab and her whole family. So then she let them down by a rope through the window. For her house was on the city wall. She dwelt on the wall. And she said to them, go to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Meaning, don't go to the fords, because that's where they're going to go to the mountain and hide there. Three days until the pursuers have returned. Afterwards, you may go your way home or go, go on your way. And so what she's saying is, is she's giving them a plan. She knows the area, she knows what's going on. She knows how. How her people are going to react. By the way, many, many times, that's what God does when you. He finds a new person, a new person in. In a family, a new person in an area, and, and he reaches them. He reaches them and they of their people. Apostle Paul says that's important to do. He says, I became all things to all men, that by all means some might be saved. Whenever a new person in a new family comes to the kingdom, well, it opens the door for a lot of things. And for her, she had knowledge of the area. She had knowledge of what God was going to do and God could do and what they should do in order to be most effective. And. And they did it. So the men said to her, we will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made to us swear, meaning we're going to do what we say we're going to do. And believers need to heed that. When you're dealing with a new convert, you need to do what you say you're going to do. You need to help. You need to be who you're supposed to be to them. He says, which you've made us swear. Unless when we come into this 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 brother, and all your father's household to your own home, what he's saying is you got to do these things when we come. When we show up at the city wall, you gotta take this scarlet thread and you've got this yarn, this piece of cloth, you've gotta tie it to your window, and then you've gotta bring all your family into your house, okay? So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own hands and we will be guiltless, meaning we're not going to be guilty of them. You've got to bring them into your house. And that's a picture of bringing them into the kingdom of God. That's a picture of becoming a part of the family of God. It's a picture of gathering together even in the midst of God's judgment. Gathering together and God saving a remnant out of Jericho. Remember, God always saves the remnant. He always saves a, a at least a small group of people out of any group of people so that he can prove that he's the God of all nations and all peoples. And so he said, if you tell this business of ours, then it, then we will be free from your oath, which you have made us swear. Meaning if you, if you talk to tell anyone, then we're going to be free of the oath and you're not going to be safe. Then she said, according to your word, so be it, or amen is what it means. So let it be. According to your word, so let it be. And she sent them away and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord on the window. So notice and this happens often when new believers, new believers are going to do what they're told to do. And it's important. It's an incumbent upon us as mature believers, believers that are helping people, especially new people who really don't have any association with the body of Christ or the church. When we run into these new believers and when we deal with these new believers, we've got to give them truth. We got to tell them, don't hide it from them. Tell them the hard stuff. They've already made a hard decision. They've already made a difficult decision. That means they're capable of making the hard decisions. That means they're capable of doing the big stuff. In fact, a new believer may be capable of doing huge things, huge things for the kingdom of God. And so don't limit them. Don't say, well, you know, they're babies, we need to coddle them. No, we don't need to coddle them. We need to give them every opportunity to make the biggest decisions they can in their life immediately. Why? Because God is a life changing God and the quicker he gets into his business, the better off they are. And so it says, if you tell this business to our of, of ours, then we will be free from your oath, which you made us swear. Then she said, according to your words as she sent them on their way and they departed and she bound the scarlet cord to the window. So she's doing the big stuff. And so when we come to this passage and we think about it and we ponder what went on here, what went on here is, was the Holy Spirit was making promises. Really. It's a picture of the Holy Spirit. These two witnesses are making promises to her and giving her clear instruction. Bring your whole family into the room. Bring your whole family in the house. Bind this cord. This cord. The scarlet cord is clearly a picture of redemption. It so easily correlates to back into Egypt when they placed the blood on the doorpost. It's a picture. It's an access point. You've got the scarlet cord. It's a beautiful picture of the redemption, pointing to the redemption of Jesus Christ and his blood being paid for them. That scarlet cord hanging out that window is a picture, is a sign of the redemption that God has placed on her heart. He's placed his blood on her heart. She is redeemed. Her family is redeemed. And they're redeemed by faith. They're not redeemed by some action that they did in order to make themselves okay. They're redeemed because she believed. She believed that these men came from the God of heaven and earth. And so once she believed that, once she made that really a part of her life, redemption was there. It was immediately there. And so this scarlet cord is a beautiful picture of God's redemption. It's a beautiful picture of what happens when a believer really realizes that God has called them and they repent. They turn and they chase after him with their whole heart. And when a believer takes that, chases after God with their whole heart, we need to be in the business of helping them, in the business of leading them, in the business of drawing them to the kingdom, and in the business of asking them to consider the big things God has for them and to chase after them. And so I so look forward to seeing that, hearing that, and being a part of that each and every day as I deal with humanity all around me, to be a lamp post that lights the way for those to come to a full understanding of who Jesus is. We all have that job to do. We all are that. And so what a great picture of one of the great grandmothers of Jesus himself coming to redemption with the picture of her great grandson's blood being paid for her thousand, well, really 12, 1300 years before he actually does it on the earth. 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.