What can a prostitute teach us about the Kingdom of God?
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What can a prostitute teach us about the Kingdom of God?
If you’re just picking up a bible for the first time or you are just now considering Christianity, you might wonder why to follow a Messianic ministry instead of mainstream Christianity or some other faith. Well, there are many answers to why and I’m going to give you three easy ones. The first is a question: Where do you want to spend eternity? Saving our own hides is not a bad motivator for deciding to learn the truth. Christianity has a lot of fanciful notions about the afterlife and how to get there, but if you follow this ministry, you will get a much better understanding of the events that are coming, what you are supposed to be doing, and what that afterlife really looks like. Hint, it’s not floating around on clouds.
The second is another question: How is your life now? Are you at peace with your neighbors? Do you have anxiety about the future? Are you stressed? Are you questioning how to respond to situations that make you uncomfortable in this fallen world? The bible defines morality. It establishes boundaries and lets us know how to love God and how to love our neighbor. A great many of the values our society used to hold dear, values our country has strayed from, come straight from the Bible. The concept of having a justice system that treats everyone the same regardless of status or wealth is from the Torah, for instance. The concept of building safe buildings is from the Torah. The concepts of manslaughter and how to make people whole after an injury are also from the Torah. These are the more subtle things. The definition of marriage and sexual sins are also defined in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments, which are things our nation needs badly today. The Bible also speaks of running our houses well, financially, and otherwise. If we follow these and other tenets of the scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, we will have a better and more peaceful life today.
The third point I want to hit on is dealing with our own sins and shortcomings. Of course, everybody wants to make it into the afterlife and have a good life today. But how do you deal with the day-to-day ups and downs? How do you make it right when you offend or do someone wrong? And how do you deal with the guilt for the problems you have created with bad behavior, which the Bible calls sin? When you accept Yeshua as the Messiah, Jesus as the Christ, you realize that He bore our iniquities. He absorbed them, yes even in advance. He provides a way out of the depression and guilt we incur for being the fallen humans that we are.
This brings me to why we study the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. The theme of redemption is not established in the New Testament, it’s displayed in the New Testament through the sacrifice of Yeshua. Redemption, forgiveness, and having a way out of the messes we’ve created begins in Genesis at the fall where Yahweh makes garments to cover the shame of Adam and Eve. Then these things are built upon throughout the Old Testament, culminating in the ultimate sacrifice Yeshua, the Son of God, whose death pays the penalty for the sins of all who accept Him as the Messiah.
A great example of the Gospel in the Old Testament in Joshua 2 where the Israelites send spies to the land of Canaan before the invasion. These guys do their spying and end up hiding out at a prostitute’s house who lives on the wall in Jericho. The Israelites were to destroy everything and everyone when they invaded Canaan. Some find this to be problematic, but these people were destroyed because of their sins and their sinful culture. Jericho was an enormous walled city that was scheduled to be destroyed. Rahab is the name of this prostitute who hides the spies. This is the beginning of the Gospel story because she decides to welcome the children of God and she makes a choice to ally with them. She says that she’s heard of the mighty deeds of Yahweh and knows He is the real God. She makes the spies swear to spare her and her family at the invasion, which they do, and the family is saved miraculously.
The word gospel means “The Good News” and, by extension, The Good News of the Kingdom of God. Israel was coming into Canaan to establish the Kingdom of God. Rahab realizes this and wants in. She allies with the people of God and is miraculously saved in the turmoil.
Rahab wants to save her family from the tribulation as well. Don’t we all want to save our family from the wrath to come? And there’s something else, she likely doesn’t want to be a harlot anymore. She wants to leave that life behind. The destruction of her world provides for that. She lived on the wall, which hints that she didn’t actually want to be there. It hints at her yearning for a new life, looking for a way out. Somebody who wants to be in that city lives in the middle of it, but she lives on the edge.
This is the same as us. We have to live in this fallen world but we don’t have to like it. We yearn to be in a peaceful and righteous world. And we long to leave our sins and bad pasts behind.
How long do you think it was between Rahab helping the spies and her redemption? From Jericho to the Jordan river is about 10 miles, not that far. But for two million people, it probably took a couple weeks to get there. They had to cross the Jordan, circumcise themselves, recover, and keep Passover. So it took a little bit of time. Rahab had to trust the spies to keep their word. She had to watch as Israel’s huge army march right up to Jericho and then march in a circle for 6 days. Was she scared? Probably. Did she worry about the spies keeping their bargain? Probably. But this is analogous to faith, which is unseen. We have to have faith that Yeshua died for our sins and is holding up His end of the bargain. As the world gets crazier, more violent, and more sinful, we have to be strong in our faith that we, too, will be saved in the midst of the chaos. We also know our world is ultimately going to be destroyed and we will need to keep our faith until the end, through tribulation the world has never seen. And everybody in Jericho was destroyed except a sinner and her family, saved in the storm.
You see, the Kingdom of God is coming. If you want to be in it, it’s not too late. But it will be at some point. Don’t put it off. And if you want to have a more peaceful life with a strong sense of what’s right and what’s wrong, then read your Bible from cover to cover. And then join us as we wait patiently for the return of the Messiah, who is bringing the Kingdom of God, where we will experience true peace. Would you like to know something else that’s very interesting? Rahab the harlot is in the genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah. In Joshua 6 at verse 25, it says that Rahab and her family remained in Israel “to this day” after they were saved. They joined the family of God, just like we do when we are baptized. And with her being in Yeshua’s line, that means not only can we relate to Rahab, we are related to her, too.
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