Where do you most often hang your hope?
If someone were to give you a name tag that says, “Hello, My Name is…” you would probably write your name. But what if I asked you to also write down a label, a word or phrase that was a descriptor of who you are and what you do?
For example, I might write, “Corey.” And then I might put, “Preacher.”
My son Will might put, “baseball player.”
My daughter Gracie might put, “theater kid.”
My youngest daughter Emma might put, “singer.”
My wife might put, “teacher.”
You get the idea.
This is what we do most of the time when we meet someone for the first time. We introduce ourselves by saying, “My name is… ” and then we tell people what we do.
Why? Because…
The labels we wear communicate something about the identity we bear.
And more often than not, we hang our hope on our labels.
If I stopped being a preacher, who would I be? If you stopped being a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, an entrepreneur, a coach, a PHD, a mom, a dad, an elder, a fill in the blank, who would you be and where would you place your hope?
Where we hang our hope is directly connected to where find our identity.
Identity and Hope
Throughout history and throughout the pages of scripture you see God giving the nation of Israel a new label, a new identity as His chosen people, his treasured possession. One of the primary reasons for this is because God knows…
There is a direct connection between identity and hope.
The more confident you are in your identity, the more confident you will be in your hope.
But the less confident you are in your identity, the less confident you will have in your hope.
The labels we wear communicate something about the identity we bear.
As the renewed people of Israel prepare to enter the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, it is critical that they understand and remember who they are and who God is.
Just to set the scene, Moses has just died. For forty years Moses led the people of Israel. He led them out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, to Mt Sinai, and through the wilderness. But now God has raised up a new leader.
Joshua had been one of original twelve spies Moses had sent into the promised land, the land of Canaan, forty years earlier. Ten of those spies returned to the Israel camp with bad news. The land is beautiful and rich, it’s flowing with milk and honey and grapes too big to carry, but the people are like giants and we’ll never win the battle. If I had to guess, no one remembers the names of the ten spies who had no hope, no confidence in their identity as the people of God even though God had delivered them miraculously from Egypt — a superior force, from the Red Sea — a superior force, and was now prepared to deliver them from the Canaanites — a superior force.
Only two spies returned with the courage and the readiness to obey God’s instructions and take the Promised Land He had provided. You probably remember their names.
Joshua and Caleb.
Courage + Obedience
If you trace Israel’s story there is a common theme, every victory they ever had was always an upset. They were always the underdog. But when they win it’s always because of two factors: obedience and courage.
If they will OBEY God and have the COURAGE to do what He says, they always win the victory.
So God comes to Joshua, the same Joshua who had been here forty years before with courage ready to obey along with his friend Caleb, and listen to what he tells him…
Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful(prosper) in everything you do. – Joshua 1.7
I always want to be careful NOT to turn God’s word into a simple formula for prosperity and success and give you the impression that if you just have more faith and you do what God says then you will be healthy, happy, and rich! That’s not what God is saying or what scripture is teaching.
Remember… Joshua and the people of Israel will still have to go into battle. There are people with swords on the other side of the Jordan just like their were Egyptians with chariots on the other side of the Red Sea. And the ultimate success of the battle plan will rely entirely upon a miracle of God, not on the might of the people of Israel.
A Woman Named Rahab
So here’s what happens next, turn the page to chapter 2.
2.1 Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia Grove. He instructed them, “Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho.” So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there that night. – Joshua 2.1
This time, instead of sending out twelve spies Joshua sends two.
Anyone love spy movies? I love spy movies. I can just imagine this scene.
Two Israelite spies come into Jericho. They’re wearing these brown cloaks with hoods over their heads like something out of a Star Wars movie. They enter town to look around and get the lay of the land when they notice… they’re being watched.
The king’s guard has people all over town keeping an eye on things. They are fully aware that the Israelites are on the other side of the Jordan River. They know all too well what happened to the Egyptians, and to other kings who have opposed Israel.
The two Israelite spies realize that not only are they being watched, they’re being followed through the streets. They duck into the first establishment with an open door.
And this is where the plot thickens. They step into a brothel. And there they meet a woman named Rahab who is a prostitute.
Well intentioned people have tried to say that Rahab wasn’t a prostitute but that she was an innkeeper. And I get it. It’s uncomfortable. It’s not easily explainable. We want to tell our kids this story so we find a way to make it rated G instead of rated R.
But the simple fact of the matter is this: On this woman’s name tag is the name, “Rahab,” and the label she wears is the word, “prostitute.”
The label she wears communicates something about the identity she bears.
But before we pass a harsh judgement on Rahab, I think it’s worth noting that generally speaking, women don’t go into prostitution by choice. We don’t know why, for how long, or for what reasons Rahab was a prostitute. We don’t know if this is something she chose out of a desperate situation or if this was something chosen for her because of an even more desperate situation.
All we know is who she is and the label she wears.
What’s interesting is that her label doesn’t preclude her from God’s story.
In fact, Rahab and Joshua are the only two characters we know in this story by name. And despite her current profession or her present situation, she decided to hang her hope on helping these spies from Israel.
Listen to what happens next…
Rahab Hangs Her Hope on Yahweh
2 But someone told the king of Jericho, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab: “Bring out the men who have come into your house, for they have come here to spy out the whole land.”
4 Rahab had hidden the two men, but she replied, “Yes, the men were here earlier, but I didn’t know where they were from. 5 They left the town at dusk, as the gates were about to close. I don’t know where they went. If you hurry, you can probably catch up with them.” 6 (Actually, she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them beneath bundles of flax she had laid out.) 7 So the king’s men went looking for the spies along the road leading to the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king’s men had left, the gate of Jericho was shut.
8 Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them. 9 “I know the Lord has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror. 10 For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed. 11 No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things.
And then Rahab the prostitute, a Canaanite from Jericho, makes this statement of faith:
For the LORD your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below. – Joshua 2.2-11
She decided not to hang her hope on the king of Jericho, but on the King of kings!
The LORD of Heaven and Earth!
A Scarlet Rope of Hope
12 “Now swear to me by the Lord that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you. Give me some guarantee that 13 when Jericho is conquered, you will let me live, along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families.”
14 “We offer our own lives as a guarantee for your safety,” the men agreed. “If you don’t betray us, we will keep our promise and be kind to you when the Lord gives us the land.”
15 Then, since Rahab’s house was built into the town wall, she let them down by a rope through the window. 16 “Escape to the hill country,” she told them. “Hide there for three days from the men searching for you. Then, when they have returned, you can go on your way.”
17 Before they left, the men told her, “We will be bound by the oath we have taken only if you follow these instructions. 18 When we come into the land, you must leave this scarlet rope hanging from the window through which you let us down. And all your family members—your father, mother, brothers, and all your relatives—must be here inside the house. 19 If they go out into the street and are killed, it will not be our fault. But if anyone lays a hand on people inside this house, we will accept the responsibility for their death. 20 If you betray us, however, we are not bound by this oath in any way.”
21 “I accept your terms,” she replied. And she sent them on their way, leaving the scarlet rope hanging from the window. – Joshua 2.12-21
TIQVAH
What we sometimes miss when we read the translations of these stories in English is what’s happening in the original language as these stories are told. Rahab hangs a scarlet rope or cord out her window in the city wall and what you can’t know by reading the English translation is that the word for rope is the word tiqvah which is a homonym.
Think of our english word bat. Am I referring to baseball or to an animal?
Or the word right. Am I talking about which way to turn or if something is correct?
In the same way, the Hebrew word tiqvah has two meanings. It can mean rope. OR, it can mean HOPE!
Rahab hangs all her HOPE on this RED THREAD, on the One True God of Israel for her salvation!
22 The spies went up into the hill country and stayed there three days. The men who were chasing them searched everywhere along the road, but they finally returned without success.
23 Then the two spies came down from the hill country, crossed the Jordan River, and reported to Joshua all that had happened to them. 24 “The Lord has given us the whole land,” they said, “for all the people in the land are terrified of us.”
Forty years earlier, spies returned from the land full of fear.
Forty years later, they return full of COURAGE and a willingness to OBEY whatever God says do.
Forty years earlier their name was Israel but they were labeled as slaves and still living out that former identity.
Forty years later they have the same name but their identity has changed. Now they are the people of the God who is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.
Forty years later they are a people of hope.
The label they wear communicates something about the identity they bear.
Crossing the Jordan
Before they enter Jericho they will have to cross the Jordan River. It’s the Harvest season which means the waters of the Jordan river are up. But God has a plan for this new generation of Israelites. He wants them to experience the same thing their parents and grandparents experienced coming out of Egypt. A kind of baptism.
Just like their ancestors walked across the Red Sea on dry ground, they are about to walk across the Jordan River on dry ground. Except this time, God has a little something different in mind for them. Something different he wants them to do as they cross the river and set foot in the promised land.
On the other side of the Jordan River, where they first set foot in the Promised Land, they set up twelve stones as a reminder of who God is and what He has done.
Like Israel, perhaps we need to set up some stones to remind us to tell our children who God is and what He has done for us!
(Watch THIS VIDEO for a great modern day example from my friends Drew & Carolyn.)
After setting up these stones, the Israelites set up camp for the night. Then they begin to prepare for battle. But this battle won’t be like most battles.
You thought crossing the Jordan River was miraculous. It was. But what happens next is even more miraculous, if that’s even possible!
Jericho Falls, Rahab Rises
The LORD gives Joshua the battle plan.
On the first day, march around the city one time. Have the priests carry the Ark of the Covenant and blow on their rams horns. After you’ve made one trip around the city, go home.
I can just imagine Joshua with confusion in his eyes saying… What?
After that, do it again. In fact, do that for six days.
Then, on the seventh day, we’re going to do it a little differently.
Here’s what happens…
15 On the seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the town as they had done before. But this time they went around the town seven times. 16 The seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast on their horns, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the town! 17 Jericho and everything in it must be completely destroyed as an offering to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies.
25 So Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her relatives who were with her in the house, because she had hidden the spies Joshua sent to Jericho. And she lives among the Israelites to this day. – Joshua 6.15-17; 25
Rahab never changed her name, but she got a new identity. Somewhere along the way while living with the Israelites, she met a man named Salmon and married him. And the two of them had a son named Boaz. And if you look at the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 what you’ll find is that Rahab who at one time was labeled as an outsider and a prostitute is now labeled as an ancestor of Jesus Messiah!
And if you keep you reading you’ll find that Rahab is one of only a few women remembered for her faith, labeled as a hero of faith, in Hebrews 11 because of what she had done for the spies.
The Label You Wear
The label YOU wear communicates something about the identity YOU bear.
If you need a new identity then you need to know that God loves to change people’s labels.
He changed Israel’s label from one that read “AFRAID and DISOBEDIENT” to one that said “COURAGE and OBEDIENT.”
He changed Rahab’s label from on that read “PROSTITUTE” to one that said “FAMILY of the MESSIAH” and “HERO of FAITH!”
And He wants to change your label, too.
What label do you wear?
Maybe the label you wear says, Hurt. Angry. Disappointed. Afraid. Mad. Regret. Used. Addicted. Lost. Alone. Or something else.
Whatever label you wear, Jesus wants to change it. And when you change the label you wear you change where you hang your hope.
Like Rahab, it’s my hope that you will…
Hang your hope on the LORD of Heaven and Earth.
How does this happen? How does God change our label and give us a new identity?
Well, for Israel it started when they walked through the waters of the Jordan River on dry ground. They went through a kind of baptism in order to become a new nation full of courage and ready to obey.
For Rahab it happened when she decided to hang her hope on the one true God of Israel with a Scarlet Rope, a Red Thread!
I’m just wondering, do you need to walk through the waters of baptism? Do you need to hang your hope on the One true God?
Who needs the hope of the Red Thread?
Breath Prayer
The labels we wear communicate something about the identity we bear.
Why don’t you change your NAME TAG. Like Rahab, we have a new identity. You, too, are a part of the family of God. Your identity if found in Christ. And all our HOPE is in Him!
So here’s the Breath Prayer I want to encourage you to pray this week:
LORD of Heaven and Earth, all our HOPE is in You.
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