“By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.” Hebrews 11:31
People everywhere honor the great triumphs of their heroes with monuments. Most of the monuments are raised in honor of great soldiers. Sometimes they are raised in honor to those who have performed great works of philanthropy, self-sacrifice, or individual heroism.
It seems most reasonable to me that there should be a monument to faith in Christ, which is the greatest, most noble, most honorable of all things on this earth. It is the most honorable of all things because faith in Christ is that which is both most honoring to our great God and that which makes men and women honorable.
The apostle Paul undertook, by Divine Inspiration, to raise a monument to faith in this chapter. What an extraordinary monument it is! In this chapter God the Holy Spirit, by whom faith is created in the hearts of men, by whom it is sustained, and by whom it works, shows us many of the great triumphs of faith.
Like most monuments, the names recorded here are the names of common, ordinary men and women. There is nothing really striking about any of them, except that for which their names are inscribed in this chapter. They were people like us, ordinary Bobs and Sallys, nothing but sinners who believed God.
The chapter begins with one triumph of faith, and then proceeds to others. If I have counted them correctly, there are 48 distinct acts of faith set before us in this chapter. All are extraordinary in that they are all acts beyond the realm of human ability. Yet, there is a sense in which they are very ordinary in that these acts of faith and the triumphs of them are common to all who believe God.
Like Abel, all who believe God obtain witness that they are righteous before God. Like Enoch, all who trust Christ are delivered from death because they please God. Like Noah, all who are born of God are heirs of righteousness. Like Abraham, all believers are strangers and pilgrims in this world, receiving life from the dead. Faith always (ultimately) triumphs over natural affection, as displayed in Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. Faith stands firm against the allurements of the world, as in the case of Moses. Faith keeps the passover and the sprinkling of blood, trusting Christ, who is our Passover. Faith worships God. Faith is patient in trial. And faith endures to the end, seeing him who is invisible.
Here, in verse 31, as though the greatest victory of faith should be recorded last, Paul shows us a picture of faith waging war with sin, battling with iniquity, and coming away more than a conqueror. – "Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace."
There is no doubt at all Rahab was indeed a harlot.
She was not a mere hostess in a local Jericho hotel. If the Lord had meant to
tell us that she was an innkeeper, he would have used the word “innkeeper.” He
did not do so. He used the word “harlot,” because Rahab was a harlot. Nothing
but contempt for the free grace of God would ever have led any to deny this
fact.
The harlot Rahab believed God! What grace is displayed here! What a great, encouraging picture we have before us of…
“The change that’s wrought in a sinner’s heart,
By the touch of the Master’s hand!”
The most hideous lusts are conquered by the revelation of Christ. The most bestial debauchery is defeated by the grace of God. The most useless, most worthless dregs of fallen humanity are made the instruments of the greatest possible usefulness by faith in Christ.
Let us see, and see clearly, that faith in Christ is the greatest gift God almighty can or will ever give to any sinner upon the earth. Seek it for yourself. Seek it for others. Thank God if you have it. Faith is the gift of God’s grace (Eph. 2:8-9) and the operation of God’s Spirit (Col. 2:12). It comes to redeemed sinners as the fruit of Christ’s atonement (Gal. 3:13-14). Rahab believed God because God gave her faith. He chose her in eternal love and graciously caused her to believe him (Ps. 65:4).
“Oh, gift of gifts! Oh, grace of faith!
My God, how can it be
That Thou, Who hast discerning love,
Shouldst give that gift to me!
How many hearts Thou might’st have had
More worthy, Lord, than mine!
How many souls more worthy far,
Of that pure touch of Thine!
Ah, Grace! Into the most unlikely hearts
It is Thy boast to come,
The glory of thy light to find
In darkest spots a home!
Thy choice, O God of goodness, then
I lovingly adore!
Oh, give me grace to keep Thy grace,
And grace to long for more!”