Leen Ritmeyer - Class 2: Women in the Line of Christ - Rahab

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Good evening, my dear brethren and sisters and our Lord Jesus Christ. It's lovely that we can gather to our Bible class once again in the middle of the week to strengthen ourselves in the things around the Word of God.

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   As you may no doubt have heard, our poor brother Lane has gone in for yet another eye operation. We pray that God's blessing might be with him.

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   He's very fortunate that he has actually done this class very recently at a Teechree Gully special effort. And so we're to continue our studies as normal, although we'll be doing it via the tape at the appropriate time after the reading. It's quite unusual, isn't it, listening to a Bible class on tape? But when we think about it, this is what many of our brethren and sisters do in isolation and in few numbers throughout Australia and throughout the world.

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   And it, I guess, heightens to us the blessing that we normally have, that we can have speakers every week speaking to us about God's Word. But there's no difference to the matter that's to be presented tonight. We just need to have our minds with it and to be able to think about what our brother Lane is going to talk to us about tonight.

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   To introduce that, though, we'll have our brother Andrew Robson read for us Joshua chapter 2. And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go, view the land, even Jericho. And they went and came into an harlot's house named Rahab and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither tonight of the children of Israel to search out the country.

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   And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come unto thee, which are entered into thine house, for they be come to search out all the country. And the woman took the two men and hid them, and said thus, There came two men unto me, but I wish not whence they were.

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   And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out, whither the men went or what not. Pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.

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   And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords. And as soon as they were pursued after them, were gone out, they shut the gate. And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof. And she said unto the men, I know that Yahweh hath given you all the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

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   For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, when ye came up out of Egypt. And what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Zion and Ogre, whom ye utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things, our heart did melt.

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    Neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you. For Yahweh your God, he is a God in heaven above and in earth beneath. Now therefore I pray you, swear unto me by Yahweh, since I have showed you kindness, that ye will also show kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token.

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    And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. And the men answered her, Our life for yours. If ye utter not this our business, and it shall be, when Yahweh hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

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    Then she let them down by a cord through the window, for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned, and afterward may ye go your way.

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    And the men said to her, We will be blameless of this thine oath, which thou hast made us swear. Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by, and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household home unto thee.

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    And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of the house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless. And whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be upon our head, if any hand be upon him. And if thou utter this our business, then we will quit of thine oath, which thou hast made us to swear.

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    And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed, and she bound the scarlet line in the window. And they went, and came into the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned. And the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.

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    So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua, the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them. And they said unto Joshua, Truly, Yahweh hath delivered into our hands all the land, for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.

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    Thank you, Brother Andrew, for that reading. So our brother Lane is to speak to us tonight by the tape to the subject, Women in the Line of Christ, continuing on where we left off last year. And tonight we are going to, he's going to speak on Rahab. I might just indicate to Greg, when we get started, if it needs to go up a bit in the front hall here, or the volume, maybe if you indicate to me if you can't quite hear properly.

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    Thanks, Greg. Well, my sisters and young people, he is not a baddie, another bad woman we would like to have in our ecclesia, would we? We would be very ashamed to have a harlot as a sister in our ecclesia. But remember what we read in Romans chapter 8, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?

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    It is God that justifies. And so we got to learn to look through the eyes of God, as it were. Joshua had sent out two spies, go view the land, and Jericho. So they walked through all the land, they had to spy it out, to give a detailed account of what they saw to Joshua.

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    Just like Moses had sent out those twelve spies early on. And they had to spy out Jericho. They had to find out everything about Jericho, about where the gates were, the fortifications, where the palaces were, what is the strongest place, what is the weakest place. They had to exactly find out everything about Jericho.

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    And then, of course, they stayed with Rahab. And Rahab undoubtedly was a harlot because the Bible says so. But apart from that, the Bible says other things about Rahab. If you come to Hebrews chapter 11, it's that wonderful chapter of all the works of faith by men and women of old.

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    And I can tell you one thing, my name isn't there. Neither is your name there. But Rahab's name is there. So although she was a harlot, she qualified to be put in the same category as Abram, Isaac, and Jacob. It says in verse 31, by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she received the spies with peace.

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    We tend to think of the harlot Rahab. Harlot comes first. But what comes first here? The faith of Rahab. So the emphasis in Hebrews chapter 11 is the faith of the harlot Rahab. Turn over one or two pages. Go to James chapter 2.

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    And there's that wonderful chapter about faith, which got to be, go hand in hand with works. Verse 21, Was not Abram our father justified by works when he had offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abram believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness and he was called a friend of God.

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    You see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. Now the whole argument of the apostle James is here that you must put that royal law, the law of the kingdom, into our lives, which is to love your neighbor as yourself and God with all your heart, soul, and mind.

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    And he uses two examples. The one is Abraham, who is called a friend of God and who can be compared with Abraham? Rahab. Verse 25 says, Likewise, so in the very same manner, on the same level, also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received her messengers and had sent them out by another way?

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    For as her body without her spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. And as the record, the New Testament gives us that new perspective on Rahab. This is the way God sees and not as man sees. So that should guide all our own judgments of people in the scripture and our members of our ecclesia and worldwide as well.

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    How does God view us? When we are in your ecclesia or I'm my ecclesia in Brighton, we wouldn't have chosen the members which are there, would we? But God has chosen them. Like God chose Rahab. And we should respect that, that it was God's choice to bring you and me here. It's not our choice.

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    So if God then has chosen Rahab by faith he was justified, then let us look at her faith, not at her profession. Because we had written early in that overview that Rahab was a harlot yet living with her family. And we said that's quite unusual because if a woman takes up a profession like that, there's always a certain amount of shame involved and she lives on her own somewhere.

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    And therefore, you did not become a harlot unless it was absolutely necessary. Very few women would choose to do that by their own volition. But in the past, as we said earlier, if a woman's husband had died, she was sent back to her family and had to fend for herself. And Rahab had taken on herself not only to look and support after herself, but her own family, her father and her mother, her brothers and sisters as well.

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    That was the kind of woman she was. She grew crops. She was growing flax. So she must have had some field which a woman could never get only through her husband. So I do think, although I can't prove it, that her husband must have died and she inherited the land, but the income wasn't enough or on her own she couldn't work enough on the field to support herself and the family.

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    And as it has been suggested, she may have run an inn, for example, and what she did was as part of the services, which may have been alright in the eyes of the Canaanites, but not in the eyes of God. But once she was turned to the faith, she never did it again.

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    So there is room for repentance. Think of Mary Magdalene, out of whom the Lord cast seven demons. Demons are wrong ways of thinking, the wrong way of approach to life. Seven is a complete number, so whatever she did was wrong. It was economically, morally, spiritually, philosophically, whatever that woman did was wrong. And she was the first one to whom Christ appeared after he came out of the tomb.

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    So he got way up then and she was put in a certain position because those two men, those two spies, came to her and lodged in her house. I may think they were immoral men. They may not have been. They were just looking for a place to stay. And therefore, she may have had a hostel or some kind of a place because usually you do have one inn in an ancient town, like Bethlehem had an inn where Mary and Joseph had to go to to stay overnight.

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    And therefore, those men naturally went to the local hotel, as we would call it. Now the men of the King of Jericho wanted to apprehend these two men because she heard about them and then she must have learned that they were spying out the city. And of course, right across the valley there where the river Jordan runs into the Dead Sea, she saw that massive camp of Israel.

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    And they weren't there on a holiday, were they? They knew that they were coming to cross the river Jordan and the first city to attack was Jericho. And once you've been there, it's quite plain that that would be the conclusion drawn by the King of Judah. And then there's another problem. Because she told a lie, didn't she?

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    She said, well, the men, there came men unto me, verse 4 of Joshua chapter 2, but there is not whence they came. It came to pass about a time of shutting the gate when it was dark that the men went out. Then the men went, I want not. Pursue after them quickly for you shall overtake them.

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    Well, that wasn't quite right because she had brought them up to the roof of the house and hid them with the stacks of flax which she had laid in order upon the roof.

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    Is it right to lie? Well, is that a right question to ask? A man, a man's view would be it's wrong to lie. But what is the alternative? Would it be right to betray those two men and to cause a certain death to come upon them? We wouldn't encourage any other to lie against the commandments of God.

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    But to save life, like we saw with Judah and Tamar is more important than anything else. Many other people were ready to lay down their life to save others. In the Second World War, even in my native country, in Holland, many people harbored Jews and they risked their life to do so. So she told a little untruth to save the life of those two men.

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    Why did she do it? As we are told in Hebrews 11, she did it by faith. What was her faith? What did she believe?

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    She went up to those two men on the roof after those soldiers went away in verse 9. And here she expresses her faith. In verse 9, she said unto the men, I know that Yahweh has given you the land. What a marvelous statement that is. She knew that there was only one God who was called Yahweh.

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    So she knew about the significance of the name Yahweh. Yahweh Elohim. He will become mighty ones and she must have somehow known about the promises which God made to Abraham, Isaac and to Jacob. I know that Yahweh has given you the land and that your terror is fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land are faint because of you.

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    For, and now she expresses her faith even further, we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt and what you did under the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side, Jordan, Sion and Oak whom you utterly destroyed.

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    Now go quickly to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 which you all know very well. But if she believed that Yahweh dried up the waters of the Red Sea, what is its significance? 1 Corinthians chapter 10 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant. Well, she certainly wasn't ignorant. She fully knew and understood the significance of how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea, were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and that all eat the same spiritual meat, and that all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritually following rock and that rock was Christ.

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    She knew about all the evil that happened to herself by their own wrongdoings but with many of them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples or our types to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

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    Now to be idolaters as some of them as it is written the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Now the letters commit fornication is roundly condemned by scripture as some of them committed for the sake of it and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Now the letters tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents.

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    Now the murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things which Rehob knew happened unto them for types typically and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. So the faith of Rehob is just as relevant for us as it was for her then.

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    She must have believed in the promise that Yahweh has given you the land. We all know the promises we learn them in Sunday school but do we really understand the full impact of its meaning? Because God had said unto Abraham I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee. Well Tamar knew about that seed I think Rehob knew about that seed also because she used the next one mentioned in the line of Jesus.

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    And to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their faith. So just by saying very simply that she believed that Yahweh had given the land to Israel and that she had heard that Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea that was her statement of faith.

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    They're not just two little sentences. It's like when our young people get baptized and they're asked do you believe in the things concerning Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God they say yes I do. But you can't be baptized on the strength of saying yes I do. But we know that behind that yes I do there's a full comprehension of the statement of faith.

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    all that is necessary to be baptized and eventually be saved. So that simple faith expressed by her has much more to it than what appears here. If you go a few pages to Joshua chapter 6 then we see that Gideon had a very same faith. I'm sorry in Judges chapter 6 and there's those very few words which tells volumes of the faith which say Gideon had.

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    It was in the time of the judges when every man did write that that was in his own eyes. It wasn't right in the eyes of God because the chapter starts with the children of Israel that even the sight of Yahweh and he delivered them into the hand of the Midianites seven years.

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    God sent a prophet to them in verse eight Yahweh sent a prophet in the children of Israel which said unto them thus says Yahweh I brought you up from Egypt and brought you forth out of the house of bondage that is what Rehob believed and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all that oppressed you and gave them out from before you and gave you their land exactly as Rehob said and I said unto you I am Yahweh your Elohim fear not the Elohim of the Amorite in whose land he dwelt and Rehob certainly didn't but you have not obeyed my voice but God doesn't leave Israel then he sent an angel so first the prophet now an angel of Yahweh came in verse 11 and sat under an oak which was in ofra that belonged to Jehoas the Abias right and his son Gideon was threshing wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites that's the same time when flax also is harvested so we're talking about the same time period as Rehob as well and then the angel of Yahweh appeared unto him and said unto him Yahweh is with thee thou mighty man of valor what a statement which was said to me by an angel to be a mighty man of valor none of us feel like that exactly why did the angel say that to him says Gideon said unto him oh my lord if Yahweh be with us why then is all this befallen us he didn't feel mighty at all he didn't feel that Israel was mighty

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    he felt the Midianites were mightier than them and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of saying did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt exactly what Rehob said but now Yahweh has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of the Midianites and then Yahweh looked upon him he was the name bearing angel and said go in this thy might what was his might then his might was that he believed that Yahweh brought us about of Israel and he believed in all the miracles which is just read about in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 which our fathers told us of he believed it but he saw no way out because the Midianites were strong all his might and if you believe just those simple promises that God made to Abraham Isaac and to Jacob and to David that is our might as well it was Rahab's might we think it's just Sunday school it isn't the foundation of our faith because the promise we made to Abraham and to his seed and that seed is Christ we are told in Galatians chapter 3 and if you go back to Joshua chapter 2 back to Rahab what was the effect of what she believed because she believed that God brought him out of Egypt that the Red Sea was split it was 40 years later actually that he appeared right across the river Jordan that massive encampment there with the tabernacle right in the middle it wasn't easy for Israel because they had to cope with Balaam and all his problem with the mid 90s women but she said in verse 11 as

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    soon as we had heard these things our hearts did melt see the powerful effect the fulfillment of God had on this of his word had on this woman now did there remain any more courage in any man because of you for Yahweh you are Elohim he is Elohim in heaven above and in earth beneath what a statement of faith this was she may have been a harlot but this was her faith so she was asking for a token and a token is not just a little scribble on the wall the Hebrew word is ot which means a sign it is something which signifies something just like that scarlet thread signifies something like the pledge signified something she needed something with great significance that could save her life her father her mother her brethren and her sisters and to save their souls from death she was asking for a sign that that would be granted to her sign and of course that's what we want to be granted to us also so what is a sign and I think the word token doesn't really convey the deep meaning of that Hebrew word for a sign in Genesis chapter 17 let's look at a few signs so we know we understand the full significance of that particular word in Genesis 17 we all know it so well but it's good to look at it from this particular angle in verse 9 we read that God said unto Abraham thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and thy seed after thee in their generations this is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy

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    seed after thee every man child among you shall be circumcised and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin it shall be a token a sign of the covenant which makes me and you so it is more than the very thing itself that what they had to do was a sign the covenant which God had made as Abraham and unless we cut off our flesh our old man we won't be part of that covenant of Abraham either so what Abraham had to do was only a sign of the faith which he had before he was circumcised as the New Testament tells us but that's the importance of a sign if you go to Exodus chapter 4 we were there earlier when we read about that staff becoming a serpent and then that became the rod in the hand of Moses by which he did all those miracles but then in verse 6 God gave him a second sign and Yahweh said furthermore unto him put now thine hand into thy bosom and he put his hand into his bosom and when he took it out behold his hand was leprous as snow and he said put down hand into thy bosom again and he put his hand into his bosom again and plucked it out of his bosom and behold it was turned

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    sign that they believed the voice of the letter sign so two signs were given them it wasn't just a bit of visitory that you can throw a stick down and pick it up again to impress people it signifies something because as we said earlier that staff was Christ who at first our serpent nature and the second time he became that rod by which God could do all those !

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    signs it the same which went into his bosom and we know that Jesus the right hand of God when he was revealed the first time on earth he was as it were leprous like we all are we all unclean and we can't be part of the congregation of God until we are healed and Christ was only healed after he made sacrifice for our own sins and he died and he was raised from the

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    it says in Isaiah that God put his glorious hand his glorious arm to the right hand of Moses so the right hand of Moses was first leprous and then healed that was the right hand of God and all the power and the glory of God is revealed in Jesus Christ who was first as leprous as the hand of Moses was that is the sign !

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    is healed that in itself means nothing it signifies something and in Exodus chapter 12 we know these things so well but we should always when we read this pick out those words and try and meditate on the full meaning of those words in verse 11 thus shall you eat the Passover with your loins girded that is Exodus 12 and verse 11 your shoes upon your feet your staff in your hand and shall eat it in haste this Yahweh Passover for I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt both men and beast and against all the gods of Egypt will I execute judgment I am Yahweh and the blood of that lamb !

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    is only a sign of the greatest sacrifice of Christ by whose blood we are saved as well we are not in Egypt we didn't live 4,000 whenever how many years it was ago but what was given to the Israelites was a sign for them and for us so when Rahab we go back to Joshua chapter 2 then she asked for a little token she asked for something which signifies something which he could believe in and which the spies would understand also and then we have this in chapter 2 and verse 18 and most of you will know this it says behold when we come into the land the spies said to Rahab thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by and thou shalt bring thy father and thy mother and thy brethren and all thy father's household home unto thee just like in the Passover in that house we're going to be saved all of us who stay inside our ecclesia and we have the faith of Rahab will be saved but we must stay inside we can't hope to be saved when we leave our meeting now this line of scarlet thread in Hebrew is tikvat goed shani and what tikva you all know it means the hope it's the hope of the scarlet thread tikva in Hebrew is hope kaf is a line but it doesn't actually say line it's the hope of that scarlet thread all hope was in that scarlet thread it was a sign for her and it was her hope interestingly the name of Israel's national anthem is also

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    called hatikva that means the hope it's quite interesting actually why would they call their national anthem by the name hatikva same word as this line in Joshua chapter 2 verse 18 interesting connection actually because the man who wrote it in 1880 about his name was Naphtali Imbar and he was the secretary of Sir Lawrence Olyphant and Sir Lawrence Olyphant was an emissary who has been to Israel he collected funds from many sources to buy land for the Jewish settlers and Israel and Sir Lawrence Olyphant now Robert Roberts in the previous century before that he collected also funds from Christadelphians to buy land for those first settlers in Israel it's wonderful because those brethren like John Thomas and Robert Roberts they fully understood that Israel had to come back so that eventually Christ may come back and turn the nation back to God and they wanted to help that along by purchasing land so that collections and meetings do we have collections in our meetings nowadays for Israel Israel has been with us all you young people as far as you know Israel has always been there but I'm old enough not to remember but when I was born Israel didn't even exist and was great excitement in the brotherhood that he was a new nation of Israel and this man wrote the national anthem why did he call it Hatikva why did he call it the hope well as the secretary of Sir Lawrence Olyphant he must have read the correspondence between Robert Roberts and his boss and Robert Roberts undoubtedly would have spoken about El Pis Israel Tikvat Israel we would say in Hebrew

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    about the hope of Israel and I'm quite sure that even by God's provenance that he had some understanding about the hope which we also believe in the hope of Israel for which the apostle Paul was bound that he wrote his anthem and called it the hope and it's wonderful that there may even be a connection with the name of the national anthem of Israel there are two places in Israel where you can go to one is called Rosh Pina in upper Galilee and a little !

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    which are built on land that was purchased with Christadelphian funds collected by Robert Roberts and funneled to Sir Lawrence Olyphant and through the secretary of Naftali Inbar who wrote this wonderful anthem called the hope the tikvah that was the sign which Rahab asked for our hope is also the hope of the scarlet thread we don't have a different hope from that which Rahab had now scarlet as you all know is the color of blood and the significance of the only blood which has any significance at all is of course the blood of the covenant which God made us through Jesus Christ and all those sacrifices right from the first one the lamb !

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    was slain in the garden of Eden they all typified looked forward to that great sacrifice like it says in Peter I'll read to you because you know it by heart I'm sure in 1 Peter 1 and verse 18 to 20 it says ! understood the significance of the color of scarlet the hope she must have heard about the color of blood that went around the doorpost of the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and she must have understood and she would have listened to those spies that you got to stay inside the house if it says whosoever shall be with thee in the house his blood shall be on our head but if anybody goes out of the doors of the house into the street his blood shall be upon his head and we shall be guiltless as the same as Brennan said we must stay inside our community don't leave it and don't bring in people that don't have the same faith in now Scott appears also in the song of songs that wonderful song which Solomon wrote if you go to the song of Solomon the song of songs we have a description of what we believe is the bride of Christ and look how the bridegroom is describing his bride well that could be a study on its own we just look at one particular thing behold thou art fair my love behold thou art fair thou hast dove's eyes it says within thy locks it actually says behind thy veil thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead remember that kid of the goat which Tamar

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    asked for thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are shorn which came up from the washing whereof every one bare twins none is barren among them thy lips are like a thread of scarlet and thy speech is comely that's one of the attributes of the bride of Christ her lips are like a thread of scarlet she doesn't have lipstick on her lips to make them look red but her lips are like a thread of scarlet what does it mean if you go to the new testament to colossians chapter four there are all sort of instructions there just look at verse five and six walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming or buying up the time and certainly we live in a time when we expect the imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ to serve that kingdom which even Rhea believed in walk in wisdom we need to walk wisely brothers and sisters we need to examine our conduct on a daily basis and try to judge as God see us and not as men see us then it says verse six let your speech

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    answer every man so it all depends how we speak our speech should be always with grace and think of the many words that come of our lips in the daytime are they always graceful do they always talk about the mercy of God is our speech seasoned with salt and salt was used in the sacrifice it speaks about the salt of the covenant and the scarlet represents that blood of the covenant so if we are developing ourselves to be the bride of Christ then our lips must be like a scarlet thread if a scarlet represents the blood of the covenant then that is what should come of our lips if other things come of our lips we are not the bride of Christ so that is the significance of that scarlet thread so we see then the faith of Rahab a small sideline is perhaps the following question where did the spies get the scarlet thread from and who were the spies they aren't named but one likely candidate of course who benefited directly from Rahab's faith would have been Salman who later married Rahab and the spies we said earlier had to spy out Jericho they would have had an intimate knowledge of the city which had to spy out they would have studied the defenses and the locations of important buildings They knew where the palace of the king was they knew where the treasury was where all the gold and the silver and all the beautiful garments were kept and there is one of the spies who had intimate knowledge of the location of the treasury where the gold and the silver was kept

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    and who possibly had a scarlet thread with him because where did they get it from? How does the scarlet thread suddenly appear on the scene? I've got to go back to Tamar let's go back to Tamar and Genesis 38 I've got this wonderful story about Tamar and she badly wanted that seed and she believed that her firstborn son would be that seed of the woman who was going to overcome the seed of the serpent look what happened to her in verse 27 of Genesis 38 it came to pass in the time of her travel that behold twins were in a room it came to pass when she traveled that one put out his hand the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread that's where it comes from saying this came out first it came to pass as she drew back his hand that behold his brother came out and she said how hast thou broken forth this bridge shall be upon thee therefore his name was called Phares and afterward came out his brother that had the scarlet thread upon his hand and his name was called Zahra so Zahra had the scarlet thread didn't he?

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    I'm sure he would have used it and kept it close to him all the time because for him that was a sign that he was the firstborn trying to ignore the fact that he withdrew his hand and his brother pushed out in front of him we got out to Joshua chapter 7 then we are confronted here by one man who knew exactly everything about Jericho who knew where the treasures were he knew how to get the gold and the silver and a Babylonian garment and his name was Achan who was Achan?

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    looking for his one it says the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing for Achan the son of Carmi the son of Zabdi the son of Zerah they got Zerah who was the son of Tamar by Judah he took the accursed thing and the anger of Yahweh was kindled upon Israel in verse 18 again when they brought out the Urim and the Thummim first the tribe of Judah in verse 16 was taken and then it says verse 17 the family of Judah took the family of the Zerahites from Zerah he took the family of the Zerahites man by man and Zabdi was taken and he brought his household man by man and Achan the son of Carmi the son of Zabdi the son of Zerah the son of Judah actually of the tribe of Judah was taken what did he acknowledge verse 20 he answered Joshua and said indeed I have sinned against Yahweh and thus and thus have I done when I saw among the spoils he knew exactly where to go a goodly Babylonian garment and 200 shekels of silver he knew where they were and a wretch of gold of 50 shekels in weight I coveted them and took them and behold I hid in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it so he was a man who both had the scarlet thread but he was carried away by his greed and went right against the importance of the scarlet thread no point having a scarlet thread no point knowing about the sacrifice of Christ no point coming to the table on a standing morning

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    and drink that little bit of wine if you don't fully understand the significance of that particular type a little bit of glass of wine won't save us it's the blood of Christ which saves us the scarlet thread didn't save Achan because it blinded him by all the gold and the silver and the goodly garments which he saw and it can so easily happen to us also better we can just be carried away by the riches of this world get a good job and get a powerful car and all the riches of this world and if you do that if you go out for that we lose the significance of the scarlet thread and there'll be a tragedy it was a tragedy for Achan because he lost his life and we don't want to lose our life so what she asked for was a great sign it was a sign of the scarlet color of the blood of Christ that was first given to Zerah but remember he withdrew his hand why did he withdraw his hand as a baby he didn't know anything at all I think it was all guided by God why did she have twins by the way it's an amazing thing as well isn't it it says in Genesis 28 in verse 14 and God gave the promise to Jacob I read it out to you it says thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth and thou shalt phares spread abroad that's the name phares that's what it means to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south and in thee and thy seed

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    shall all the families of the earth be blessed so the name phares is there in the promise which Isaac gave to Jacob in Genesis 28 in verse 14 and so the whole episode of having twins the first one got the covenant of the color of the blood but he withdrew himself and the second one prayed forth go to Ephesians chapter 1 and there we got a wonderful explanation

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    Ephesians chapter 3 starts like this for this cause I told you the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to your word how did by revelation he made known unto me the mystery which mystery verse 5 which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it was now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit with mystery verse 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel the first time was shown in Phares and in Zerah God first gave the covenant of blood to Israel but like Jesus said he came to his own but his own received him not and they withdrew as a nation they didn't believe in the promises and after the Gentiles broke through and that's where we are like Phares like Phares in a sense but it brings great responsibility brothers and sisters because in chapter 5 of Ephesians we are told in verse 8 for ye he's talked to the Gentiles were sometimes darkness like Raab was in darkness before she knew about the hope of the scarlet thread but now are ye light in the Lord walk as children of light and that is a wonderful privilege brothers and sisters that through the reading of the word that light is given to us so when we see then that scarlet thread there's another lesson also that the Gentiles are also partakers of the hope of Israel we go to Romans chapter 9 that speaks about

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    another instance of a woman in the line of Jesus although not mentioned who had twins and why is that again in Romans 9 in verse or verse 7 actually it says neither because they are the seed of Abraham are the old children but in Isaac shall thy seed be called by the firstborn son of Abraham was Ishmael but God has chosen that through Isaac shall thy seed be called that is they which are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God not the firstborn but the children of the promise are counted for the seed and this is the word of promise at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son and God had actually rejuvenated the bodies of Sarah and of Abraham so that that son of promise could be born and not only this because the next generation Rebecca also then she had conceived by one by her father Isaac for the children being not yet born she had twins just like Tamar had not having done any good or evil but that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works but of him that call it was said unto her the elder shall serve the younger as it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated and that is how God in the very past showed that the Gentiles also can be partakers of the hope of Israel a Gentile like Rahab was it goes actually much further back to Genesis chapter 9 that great mystery which the apostle Paul revealed unto the Ephesians in chapter 9 just after the flood

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    we already have this promise which was later enforced in the promise to Abraham where God speaks about Shem and Ham and Japheth but we know that the Jews come from Shem most of the dark colored people come from Ham and from Canaan and Japheth was the father of all the Europeans the white people verse 27 it says God shall enlarge to what it actually means to persuade Japheth and he shall dwell in the tent of Shem and Canaan shall be his servant for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David and all the nations of Israel come from Shem we as Gentiles come from Japheth but Japheth God will persuade Japheth the name Japheth means to persuade and they shall dwell in the tents of Shem and if we are persuaded of what we believe if we are persuaded of the hope of Israel then we also will live in the tents of Shem it says in Acts chapter 19 that Paul persuaded and turned away much people from the Gentiles to the faith and so it wasn't Ishmael the firstborn of Abraham it was Isaac it wasn't Esau it was so it wasn't it was not Ishmael but Isaac it wasn't Esau but Jacob it wasn't Reuben the firstborn but Judah it wasn't Manasseh but it was Ephraim and with Tamar it wasn't Zerah the firstborn of Judah but it was Paris and so in these types we have what we can read in Acts chapter 13 there's the fulfillment of all those types and that's where we benefit brothers and sisters in Acts chapter 13 where Paul and Barnabas were speaking in the synagogue

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    of Antioch and in verse 45 when the whole city came together to hear the word of God it says in verse 45 of Acts chapter 13 but when the Jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul contradicting and blaspheming then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you the scarlet was first given to Zerah Ishmael was the firstborn of Abraham and Esau was the firstborn of Isaac and Reuben was the firstborn of Jacob but none of them got it but seeing he put it from you and that's what they did they showed it in their lives and judged yourself unworthy of everlasting life lo return to the Gentiles for so has the Lord commanded us saying I have said thee to be a light of the Gentiles that thou shouldest be for the salvation unto the ends of the earth and therefore it says in verse 48 when the Gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed we are Gentiles like Rahab was but if we have that same hope as Rahab the hope of the scarlet thread which is the color of blood the blood of Christ which he shed for the forgiveness of our sins then we can be saved also if you understand the full significance of that scarlet thread just like the pledge saved Tamar's life so we also need to have that scarlet thread and our lips should always be speaking

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    words of grace so let us then fervently keep our hope of the scarlet thread so we can be delivered from the judgment that are going to come on the world just like they did on Jericho and although we are Gentiles that we may be permitted to live in the promised land well I'll save our speaker from any questions but there is time for some comments if you'd like to make some on the wonderful woman of Rahab we've heard an exhortation from the child on Exodus and this exhortation which is chapter 11 on we made mention of the purpose of the play is to come back to that theme our study right here tonight it was about a very wonderful fulfillment of those that is the intention it's stated in the priesthood again all through the chapter in Exodus 7 on Exodus 7 just to give an indication how many times it's said I will pardon Pharaoh's heart this is 7 verse 3 and multiply my signs and my oneness in the name of Egypt but Pharaoh shall not pardon to you that I may lay my hand and my future and bring forth mine armies and my people the children of Israel out the land of Egypt by great judgment Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh when I stretch forth my hand but it just keeps on saying words that affect chapter 7 verse 17 thus saith Yahweh in this thou shalt know that I am Yahweh chapter 8 verse 10 tomorrow and he said be it according to thy word that thou mayest know that there is none like unto Yahweh our God

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    chapter 8 verse 22 in that verse 16 in the end thou mayest know that I am Yahweh in the midst of him there's no doubt about that is the intention of those plagues even more and even more emphatically in chapter 9 and verse 14 so again chapter 9 verse 29 verse 29 hear that verse thou mayest know how that the earth is Yahweh's that's for thee verse 30 and thy servants I know that you will not yet be Yahweh God I have done among them chapter 10 verse 2 I have done among them that you may know how that I am Yahweh it's an amazing amazing statement keeps on being said so finally chapter 11 verse 9 Yahweh said in the verses Pharaoh shall not hark unto you that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt so it was obviously intended to be a declaration to Pharaoh and all the household of all of Egypt and of course their quarter of the surrounding nations so to read Joshua chapter 2 as we did today verse 9 and 10 is the most remarkable fulfillment our most remarkable fulfillment here she is about is about 500 miles from Egypt and this is how many years later for when these things occurred it's about 40 years so she's 40 years later and she's about 500 miles from Egypt where they occurred and she enunciates those the principle of the plagues in the most eloquent and convinced form she said up with men I know that Yahweh has given you the land and that your terror has fallen upon us but all the inhabitants of the land

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    faint because of you for we have heard 40 years ago how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when he came out of Egypt and what he did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of Jordan Simon and O that's the most amazing thing isn't it so that when God promises a work to be known his signature to be upon it it does have that effect I do believe today even in our world even in the religious world there is a general recognition that there's something different about the Jewish people it may not have the clear enunciation always that we have here from the mouth of Rahab but usually it is when you say to somebody look Israel is the most significant thing and people will listen to that rarely will they say oh they see so as any other person it's rarely that people do that there's something that has been done and pressed upon their minds it just doesn't happen with other people it's a wonderful thing when God wants people to know however vague that then it works so here's a good marvelous example this woman you might think that she never listened to such messages but it got through her at some stages in life she must have been a pretty hard trust in character but that message had got through and now she's thinking about it and she's been a bit closer and closer and that faith has come right up to the top she says there's no way we can answer that there's no question that's what did happen

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    we know it's true the whole session the same disposition wonderful verification of God's intention and the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt the interests at present but apparently to all those who are at the seminars at the golf club it was just a wonderful experience there was 17 that had booked in four of our regular friends were along in that number but still a lot of other friends that had booked in and apparently there was 15 along and a very interesting night was had and all of them seemed keen to come back and to hear more about the word of God so that's really wonderful work that's happening there and I'm sure they'd love some more support as well for any that could make it to the golf club on a regular basis to be there with our friends