IT’S NOT TOO LATE: Praise the LORD!

We SERVE an OMNIPOTENT GOD with whom ABSOLUTELY NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE.

Ephesians 3:20 ‘Unto HIM that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think…’

Bigger than all my problems, Bigger than all my fears,
GOD is bigger than any mountain, I can or cannot see
Bigger than all my questions, Bigger than anything
GOD is bigger than any mountain, that I can or cannot see.

Our GOD is MORE than a TALKING & DECLARING GOD, Our GOD is a DOING GOD.

There is NO IMPOSSIBLE CIRCUMSTANCE too far gone, that GOD cannot CHANGE.
There is NO PROBLEM too big that GOD cannot SOLVE.
There is NO SICKNESS that GOD cannot HEAL.
There is NO PRAYER that GOD cannot ANSWER.
There is NO SINNER too lost in their sin that GOD cannot SAVE.
There is NO BACKSLIDER too far from GOD that GOD cannot RESTORE.
There is NO MARRIAGE that GOD cannot PUT BACK TOGETHER.

The entire king’s horses & all the king’s men could not put HUMPTY DUMPTY back together again; somebody should have CALLED UPON GOD.

I’m GLAD GOD doesn’t GIVE UP just because SOME PEOPLE GIVE UP!

GOD has CHANGED countless SITUATIONS & CIRCUMSTANCES & PREDICAMENTS & PEOPLE that were LONG AGO GIVEN UP ON by people.

There are SOME PEOPLE who because of their PARTICULAR SINS & their PARTICULAR LIFESTYLE & their DEGRADED STATE we find it so EASY to GIVE UP on them. We LISTEN TOO MUCH to the DEVIL when he tells us, “Why there’s NO NEED to PRAY for them. There’s NO NEED to VISIT them. There’s NO NEED to WITNESS to them. You’ll NEVER SEE them CHANGE.”

I’m persuaded to believe that there are many people who are in their SITUATION, their CIRCUMSTANCES, & their SINS but they’re NOT AT ALL --- TOTALLY HAPPY there. They would love to TRADE PLACES with people who are DIFFERENT FROM THEM but they don’t know WHERE TO BEGIN.

We’re looking at a person in the BIBLE that so many people thought was HOPELESS. So many people thought it was TOO LATE for her.

I am simply taking a look at RAHAB.

v  Joshua 2:1-15

RAHAB was a HARLOT. We’re told that her place of BUSINESS was well situated.
Verse #15: ‘her house was on the city wall.’

One day she is VISITED by two STRANGERS. We are told they were SPIES sent by JOSHUA the LEADER of the ISRAELITES to SPY out the land of JERICHO.
The SPIES wanted to be as INCONSPICIOUS as possible and as SAFE as possible, so they found a place where STRANGERS would go, the LOCAL BETHROAL, RAHAB’S HOUSE, in order to look as INCONSPICOUS as possible.

However, SOMEBODY saw them go into RAHAB’S HOUSE & REPORTED it to the KING that we have two JEWISH MEN gone into RAHAB, the HARLOT’S house.

RAHAB hides them on her ROOF & she says to the KING’S MEN:
‘Oh you just missed them. They left about five minutes ago but if you hurry you might catch them.’

So she SENDS THEM AWAY who were trying to SEEK OUT these men and then goes up to the ROOF TOP to where she has HIDDEN the twoSPIES from ISRAEL, and she says to them,
Verse #9: ‘I KNOW that the LORD has given you the land’

So the reason I hid you upon my ROOF is because, the LORD, your GOD is the GOD of HEAVEN and of EARTH. Hmmmmmmmmmm

Verse #12: she says:
‘Now therefore, please swear to me, by the LORD, since I have dealt KINDLY with you; that you will also deal KINDLY with me & my father’s household. and give me a pledge, spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters and all who belong to them and deliver our lives from this death.’
She is saying: - In other words: ‘We KNOW we’re fixing to get DESTROYED & I want to be DELIVERED.’

The word “KINDLY” is an INTERESTING word.
She said: ‘Will you deal KINDLY with me.’
In the HEBREW the word KINDLY means:
‘LOYAL LOVE and it referred to GOD’S COVENANT COVERING.

RAHAB SENSED that these 2 MEN had the COVERING – the ANOINTING of JEHOVAH GOD.
She knew that they had been SENT BY GOD & that a LOYAL LOVE belongs to the GOD they served. So she says to the men, ‘I WANT GOD’S LOYAL COVERING of HIS LOVE upon me & my family for I have STEPPED OUT by FAITH.

Hebrews 6:10 ‘GOD is not unrighteous to forget your work & your labor of love, which you have showed toward HIS name…’

GOD REMEMBERS WHAT WE HAVE DONE:

Joshua 6:17 ‘The city shall be under the man, and it all that belongs to the LORD, only RAHAB, the HARLOT, & all who are with her in the house, shall live, because she hid the messengers we sent.

Joshua 6:25 ‘However, RAHAB, the HARLOT, and her father’s household & all she had, JOSHUA spared and she had lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she had hid the messengers, whom JOSHUA sent to spy out JERICHO.

The BEAUTY of ASSOCIATION with GOD’S KINGDOM PURPOSES is that when STUFF COLLAPSES AROUND YOU–GOD CAN STILL TAKE CARE of us.
Because we are in HIS WILL and we’re NOT COLLAPSING with the PEOPLE or the CULTURE around us. WE’RE NOT COLLAPSING:

•That is WHY GOD CAN TAKE CARE of us in the MIDST of a WICKED WORLD.
•That is WHY GOD CAN TAKE CARE of OUR NEEDS & OUR JOBS when the ECONOMY of the WORLD is in TROUBLE. GOD FED the PROPHET ELIJAH by ROUTE of a BIRD.
•That is WHY GOD CAN TAKE CARE of OUR HOUSEHOLDS, and OUR FAMILIES & OUR MARRIAGES when MOST HOMES and MOST MARRIAGES are FALLING APART..
•That is WHY GOD CAN SPARE OUR SHIPS on the STORMY SEAS WHEN ALL OTHER SHIPS are SINKING.
•BECAUSE we’re NOT WALKING LIKE the WORLD.
•We’re NOT FOLLOWING the CROWD:
•We’re FOLLOWING the KINGDOM of GOD. GOD’S WILL. and GOD’S PURPOSES.

But RAHAB’S STORY does NOT END with the Old Testament SCRIPTURES:

Her NAME is REPEATED OFTEN in the New Testament SCRIPTURES.
So EVIDENTLY there is SOMETHING GOD wants us to LEARN about RAHAB.
------------------------------------------------------whether she is MENTIONED in the Old or in the New Testament what I know is that GOD DOESN’T DROP HER TITLE: It is always RAHAB the HARLOT.


GOD DOESN’T go around REFERRING to MOSES, as MOSES the MURDERER when HE speaks of GREAT FAITH.
GOD DOESN’T go around REFERRING to ABRAHAM as ABRAHAM the LIAR, when HE speaks of GREAT FAITH, but GOD did not do that in Hebrews chapter 11, when it came to RAHAB, GOD says, ‘RAHAB the HARLOT.’


It is like GOD DOES NOT WANT US to FORGET this WOMAN who made her MONEY by CHARGING MEN for SEX.


But the QUESTION is “WHY” – “WHY” does GOD keep on TITLING this woman throughout the SCRIPTURES as ‘RAHAB the HARLOT.’ Rather than just saying ‘RAHAB’ & LEAVING it at that.

WHY DOES GOD wants us to KNOW this is the WOMAN of the Old Testament WHO was of ILL REPUTE?

It is BECAUSE ------ GOD wants us to KNOW through her ILLUSTRATION --that OUR PAST ----- DOES NOT HAVE TO ----- CONTROL OUR FUTURE!

I imagine that RAHAB had given up any HOPE of ever TURNING HER LIFE AROUND but GOD had OTHER IDEAS. HE can turn SHAME into GLORY in ONE SHINING MOMENT of REDEMPTION.

GOD wants us to KNOW that NO MATTER ----- HOW WRETCHED OUR PAST may be
{ I mean you DON’T GET ANY LOWER than SELLING YOUR BODY to MAN after MAN & to STRANGER after STRANGER, DAY after DAY---WEEK after WEEK-----MONTH after MONTH – YEAR after YEAR. That is just about AS LOW as ONE CAN GO!

But this has been PLACED in Hebrews 11: next to MOSES & ABRAHAM & SARAH
She is PLACED next to NOAH, ENOCH, ABEL and GOD tells us WHAT SHE WAS ---so that we TODAY who have HAD some BAD PASTS ---- WRETCHED PASTS ---NEGATIVE PASTS --- EVIL PASTS. GOD wants us to KNOW if we GET OUR STUFF TOGETHER ----- WITH HIM, He can take our YESTERDAYS & make them BETTER TOMORROWS, because --- IT IS NOT TOO LATE!

She did NOT HAVE a RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND.
She did NOT HAVE a GODLY HUSBAND.
All she DID HAVE was a SHAMEFUL PAST –

BUT when she CONNECTED HER PURPOSES to GOD’S PURPOSES That was TIED to these 2 SPIES, then – ALL of that WHICH was AT WORK AGAINST HER GOT TURNED AROUND and she BECAME a NEW CREATION in GOD.

II Corinthians 5:17 ‘Therefore if any man be in CHRIST, he is a new creature, old things have passed away & behold all things have become new.’

When RAHAB CONNECTED HER PURPOSE to GOD’S PURPOSE her WHOLE LIFE was CHANGED, MADE NEW & not ONLY was she DELIVERED but her WHOLE FAMILY was DELIVERED.


So REGARDLESS of WHAT OUR PAST IS, REGARDLESS of HOW BAD the SITUATION, CIRCUMSTANCE, PREDICAMENT, PROBLEM IS,

IT IS NOT TOO LATE!!
IT IS NOT TOO LATE!
IT IS NOT TOO LATE!


The woman found in Joshua chapter 2 is also the woman found in Hebrews chapter 11.
GOD KNOWS HOW to TAKE LEMONS & MAKE LEMONADE from them.
GOD KNOWS HOW to TAKE a MESS, a STORM, a BATTLE, a TRIAL, a VALLEY, and
TURN IT INTO a GLORIOUS MIRACLE that GIVES HIM GLORY, HONOR and PRAISE!

So GOD KEEPS THAT TAG so that we KNOW that GOD CAN TURN a LIFE AROUND.
But that’s NOT ALL:


Let us go to Matthew chapter 1:

I love this verse #5: ‘and SALMON was the father of BOAZ by RAHAB, then BOAZ was the father of OBED by RUTH then OBED was the father of JESSE
Verse #6:and then JESSE was the father of DAVID.

We were told in Joshua 6:25 ‘and JOSHUA saved the harlot, RAHAB, alive, & her father’s household, & all that she had, & she dwells in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which JOSHUA sent to spy out JERICHO.’

RAHAB & all her family were DIVINELY DELIVERED from the BATTLE of JERICHO & they were taken to the land of ISRAEL to live.
RAHAB has a NEW FAMILY; RAHAB is HANGING OUT on a DIFFERENT STREET CORNER and NOW HANGING OUT with the PEOPLE of GOD.

A MAN named SALMON sees RAHAB and FALL in LOVE with her, and MARRIES HER.
SALMON is believed to be one of the two SPIES that RAHAB HID on her ROOF.


They have a SON named BOAZ. BOAZ sees RUTH in the FIELDS GLEANING the GRAIN & fell in love with her. They have a SON named OBED and OBED fathers JESSE and JESSE fathers DAVID.

 

RAHAB becomes GREAT- GREAT GRANDMOTHER of KING DAVID.
JESUS was BORN from the HOUSEHOLD of DAVID:-That shows us that NOT ONLY does GOD CHANGE what appears to be HOPELESS PEOPLE, GOD also USES THEM for HIS GLORY and HIS HONOR.

Joshua 2:17-19 ‘and the men said unto her, We will be blameless on this thine oath which thou has made us swear. Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou did let us down by. & thou shalt bring thy father & thy mother & thy brethren & thy sisters & all thy father’s household home unto thee. & it shall be that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the streets, his blood shall be upon his own head & we will be guiltless. & whosoever shall be within the house, his blood shall be upon our head, if any hand be upon him.’

The CORD of SCARLET THREAD:-

There was already this SCARLET CORD in RAHAB’S HOUSE.
RED LIGHT DISTRICT. It was a SYMBOL of her TRADE. When men saw the RED- CORD hanging they knew there was a HARLOT to be found there.
But the SPIES told her to HANG the CORD this time NOT for men to SEE but for GOD to SEE. When GOD sees it, it is a CONFESSION of RAHAB’S SINS:

Here is the MESSAGE for us today.
When we HANG our SINS before GOD, then GOD SENDS FORTH HIS MERCY and HIS GRACE. 

Isaiah 1: 18 ‘Come now & let us reason together, says the LORD, though your sins be as SCARLET they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’

Song:
There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from IMMANUEL’S veins
And sinners plunge beneath its flood, lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains
Lose all their guilty stains
And sinner plunge beneath its flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

Patricia Olayemi