Cleansing of Sin?
Opening Prayer
Gracious, loving God, I thank You that You have dealt with my sins fully and finally on the cross.
Read Joshua 6:20-27
[20] When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. [21] They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it-men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. [22] Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.” [23] So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel. [24] Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house. [25] But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho-and she lives among the Israelites to this day. [26] At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: “At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.” [27] So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land. Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
Reflect
How did Joshua keep his word to Rahab and why?It wouldn’t be surprising if we find it hard to cope with the seemingly merciless violence of the assault on the city. It seems to stand in sharp contrast, for instance, with the mercy shown to the city of Nineveh that Jonah resented so much (see Jonah 3,4). We need to understand this partly in terms of God’s cleansing the land of sin. Canaanite religion, for example, relied heavily on ritual prostitution and child sacrifice. We also need to remember the mercy shown not just to Rahab but to her whole family, which led to their having a secure future among God’s people (25). But in the end, as New Testament Christians we have to read this in the light of the story of Jesus and recognize that on the cross God in Christ paid the full price of our sin taking all its awful consequences on himself. “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19, ESV). What good news!
Apply
Praise God for his reconciling love in Jesus, and pray that you will be a loving agent of that reconciliation.
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, I pray that You will work in and through me so others will see what a difference You make in a person.
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