THE TWO SPIES OF JESUS CHRIST

April 6, 2003 pm
Mike Blume

Psalm 57:1-3 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast. (2) I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth [all things] for me. (3) He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.

John 1:14-17 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (15) John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. (16) And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. (17) For the law was given by Moses, [but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Joshua 2:1-18 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. (2) And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country. (3) And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country. (4) And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they [were]: (5) 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 I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them. (6) 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. (7) And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate. (8) And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof; (9) And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. (10) For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that [were] on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. (11) And as soon as we had heard [these things], our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he [is] God in heaven above, and in earth beneath. (12) Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token: (13) 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. (14) And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. (15) 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. (16) 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. (17) And the men said unto her, We [will be] blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear. (18) 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.

Joshua sent two spies into the city of Jericho, across the Jordan River in the land of Canaan.

There the two spies were led by God towards Rahab’s home.
To a soul that most would think of last as one whose heart was yearning for God, as we learn he heart did year after the spies spoke with her.
A harlot.

She hid these men in the roof of her home when the city discovered that spies had indeed come there.

And we read that while the men hid beneath the stalks of flax, and were ready to sleep there for the night, Rahab rushed up the roof to speak to them.

She related to them how that all of Jericho heard about how God dried up the Red Sea, and delivered them from Pharaoh’s strong and mighty hand.

She begged them to save her and her family, all her relatives.
And she not only begged them to do so, but she made them swear to her that she would.

They swore saying OUR LIFE FOR YOUR LIFE.

They said they would deal KINDLY and TRULY with her.

And she did something that was to prove so very monumental in the Word of God.

She did not leave them there to sleep the night, as they initially intended to do according to verse 8.
But she did something that was not the spies idea so much as it was her own contrivance.
Living on the wall, she walked towards the window of her home.
And she found a scarlet cord which she attached and fixed to her window by some manner.
And she provided those spies a way of escape from Jericho to which these two spies came.
The spies immediately crawled through that window and using the scarlet cord she provided, they made their way down the wall.

And when they reached the bottom of the wall, outside the city of Jericho, she hollered down to them some words of instruction.

She told them to run to the mountain and remain there for three days, for the enemy was sure to pursue them.
That being the reason she did not allow them to sleep the night beneath the flax in her roof.

And they shouted back up to her and told her to take the means she provided for their escape, and tie the cord in the window and leave it there.

What they had sworn would come to pass only if she would keep their business secret.

Now, let me say that this business was not the spying of the land.

Jericho already knew that the spies were there.
In fact they even knew they came to Rahab’s house.
They asked her where the spies were, and she told them they had left, while they actually were hidden in her roof.

So the business she was to keep secret was the business of the scarlet cord.

They told her, in effect, to not tell anybody about this scarlet cord issue.
In other words, should they return to take the city and see many scarlet cords, they would forget their oath with her to save her, because she would have broken that oath, herself.

And they went to the mountain and stayed three days and then told Joshua of all the news and of what Rahab did.

We know the story how that they crossed Jordan towards Jericho, and walked around the city seven times.

And what we read in chapter 6 is astounding and quite enlightening, because it was not Israel who brought down the walls.

Joshua 6:20 So the people shouted when [the priests] blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

What was it that did this?

Sound waves?

Not at all!

Joshua 5:13-14 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, [Art] thou for us, or for our adversaries? (14) And he said, Nay; but [as] captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?

Angels abounded all around the city invisible to the naked eye.

It was not sound waves, but angels of the Lord that caused the city to be hit.

Josh 6:20 says the WALLS fell down.
Where was Rahab’s house?
ON THE WALL!

Church, this tells me that as the angels of God smote the city walls, opening it up for Israel to enter and take down the inhabitants, that they recognized the scarlet cord in the window.

As they smote the walls, they looked for the scarlet cord and wrecked all of the wall except that one section.
Most likely we’d have seen a lone segment of the wall standing there with every single part of the remaining wall laying in dust and rubble around it.

And since the angels saw the cord in the window, then we know God saw it!

Joshua 6:22-25 But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her. (23) And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel. (24) And they burnt the city with fire, and all that [was] therein: only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. (25) And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel [even] unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Joshua is the Hebrew name of JESUS.

I am glad that JESUS SAVES US!

As though Israel represents the blessings of God and the heavenly kingdom of God, Jesus Christ came to this world, as the two spies came to Jericho.

You might say that Joshua sent the two spies and did not come himself.
However, JESUS IS GOD.
And His incarnation was no less part of Himself.
And we read in John 1:14-17 that BY JESUS CAME GRACE AND TRUTH.

We also read:

Psalm 57:1-3 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast. (2) I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. (3) He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.

Those two spies represent the two aspects of Jesus’ GRACE AND TRUTH.

They represent the MERCY AND TRUTH that God sends to deliver us!

When the two spies responded to Rahab’s desire for salvation, what was it that the two spies said?

Joshua 2: (14) And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

They would deal KINDLY AND TRULY.

Kindly meant they would spare her and her family.

TRULY meant they would keep their oath.

Folks,God is MERCIFUL AND TRUE!

He is not only gracious and longsuffering, but HIS TRUTH IS EVERLASTING!

Psalm 69:13 But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

Psalm 25:10 All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

Psalm 61:7 He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him.

Jesus came to our city from the blessed heavenly realm.

He sent grace and truth.
And the reason he came was because He was going to later destroy every remaining remnant of sin and death.
But before that, His grace and truth came LIKE SPIES.
Spies for what?
SPYING TO SEARCH OUT THOSE WHO WOULD BE SAVED.

And when we read of Rahab’s contrivance of the scarlet cord and the window escape, I think of this world’s cross of death.

The colour scarlet speaks of His death.

The window speaks of an avenue of death.

Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

THROUGH DEATH…

Did you know that WE were responsible for His death?

All of humanity contrived His death…

…in this sense:

The reason He came to die for us was because He loved us so much and we had sinned.
The only way to save us was to die as us.
HIS LIFE FOR OUR’S!
THAT WAS HIS OATH!
HIS LIFE FOR OUR’S!

We nailed Him there.

We erected the cross!

We shouted crucify him!

Not directly, but because He loved us so much He came to die for us.

So we forced His death.
We engineered his death in that sense.

And death to Him was not an end.

Praise God, the devil thought he had it made.
The devil had the power of death.
That was the devil’s only power.
However, THROUGH DEATH, Jesus destroyed him who had the power of death…. The devil!
THROUGH DEATH as though it were a window for His escape!
Through the very thing that was part of this world.
Part of This JERICHO!
Through DEATH, the death that man engineered by the cross…
JESUS ESCAPED AND FOR THREE DAYS WAS HIDDEN FROM THIS WORLD.

Jericho did not know where the spies were.

The devil figured GRACE AND TRUTH were gone!

But Jesus laid in the grave for three days and three nights!

However those three days were as crucial to our salvation as they were for those spies’ safety that Rahab might be saved.

And THEIR ESCAPE BECAME HER WAY OF ESCAPE!

The Gospel is right there!

Death was an escape for Christ from the mortality in which He robed Himself!

Death was an escape from the susceptibility to temptation that Jesus was forced to endure due to incarnation.

Thereby, he that is dead is freed from sin!

Through the devils own power, Jesus defeated the devil.

He took the devils only keys that he had… death, hell and grave.

And the way we are saved is THROUGH HIS ESCAPE!

Through the harlot putting that same cord in that same window...

Joshua 2 (18) 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.

They cried OUR LIFE FOR YOUR’S!

Jesus says MY LIFE FOR YOUR’S!

His death occurred on the cross for our salvation!

We count HIS DEATH as OUR DEATHS, and thereby we paid the debt that all of mankind owed.

Why did the spies say to keep the cord business secret?

If they were to come and see many cords on many windows, they would not save Rahab.

What is the message?

THE ONLY DEATH WINDOW THAT SAVES IS THE ONE JESUS EXPERIENCED!

Those two blessed spies went through THAT WINDOW.. Rahab’s.

No other windows would work!

No other death of any so-called messiah will save you.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Get to God THROUGH THAT DEATH OF THE SON!