A look at Joshua 2:1-24 and Luke 17:1-18:43

[Jacob Ben Avraham]

JOSHUA 2:1-24 

 

    This is the other “Spy Story”, involving “two” spies.  I remember from back in the 1960s watching “Man from U.N.C.L.E” on TV, involving two spies.  Yehoshua sends them out to spy out “Jericho” They arrive at the house of “Rahab” a prostitute, she hides them and expresses her faith in the “unseen God of the Hebrews” From verses 9 to 13 we read of her faith.

     She hid the spies because the king of Jericho somehow found out that they came to her.  She risked her own life and the life of her family by hiding them on the roof. 

 

     “our lives for yours” were the words of the spies when they left through the window by a rope. (vs 14) but faith needs action, (faith without works is dead) to show her faith, she needed to tie a scarlet cord in the window, so that when the Israelite army came, Rahab and her family would be saved. 

 

     This reminds us of Passover, that when the angel of death saw the “red” (blood) on the doorposts, the angel would “pass over” all who were in the house.  In the case of Rahab and her family, they were saved from destruction, by obeying the mandate “bind this line of scarlet cord in the window…”

 

(2:18).  Read chapter 6:25. Rahab and her family were taken from Jericho to the Israelite camp, just like the Israelites were taken from Egypt to (eventually) the promised land

 

     In our case, Yeshua is saying “My life for yours” What do we have to do? “Just believe and accept his one-time-only sacrifice” for all of our sins, past, present, and future. And we pass from the “camp” of sin to the “camp” of Adonai. 

 

LUKE 17:1-18:43 

 

     Yeshua teaches here that “stumbling blocks” are inevitable, they will come in our lives, we will fall, yet we will get up again, that is part of the life of a believer.  Our lives are like riding “roller-coasters” at times we are “up” and at times we are “down” because we are in our sinful bodies, yet it will only be “up” when we get into our “new bodies” in Heaven.  Yeshua also speaks of forgiveness, which at times seems hard to do, especially when a person commits the same sin against us time after time, after time.  YET we are COMMANDED to forgive.  This can not come from the carnal man, only from the spirit-filled man (and woman).  

    The Pharisees asked Yeshua;  "When will the Kingdom of God come?"   (17:20) He told them that it was not a "place" but rather that it was already among them.  We might ask ourselves what is the "Kingdom of God" or the "Kingdom of Heaven" (Malchut Elohim) (Malchut Shamayim).  We could say that it is presence and activity of God on this earth.  When did God start activity?  Since the "beginning" in Genesis 1:1.  We have seen His activity all along the history of man.  The "Kingdom of God" came in "person" in Yeshua, who is "God embodied."  He came as a revelation of the "Holy Arm" In Isaiah the prophet stated that "God would reveal his Holy Arm"  

     Yet there is a "Kingdom of Heaven" which is also a physical and geographical place.  It is now in some faraway place in the vast universe.  The place where believers go to when they die, where Paul stated;  "To be absent from the body is to be in the presence of the LORD"  Yet this place will someday come down to earth.  The "New Jerusalem" is described in the Book of Revelation.   This place also is the "Kingdom of God or Heaven."

     Yeshua also speaks of the Kingdom of God when he spoke to the rich man in chapter 18.  He offered the rich man an opportunity to follow him if he would be willing to sell his possessions.  The scripture says that "he went away sadly"  "How difficult is it for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven" Yeshua said.   Since many wealthy people (not all) consider their wealth their god and their entire being.  They would rather enjoy the riches of this earth than enjoy the wealth and riches of Heaven.  It is choosing something temporary instead of that which is eternal.  Bad choice I would say, but many do not see it that way.  Their vision is like FM radio (line of sight) instead of Short wave radio ( whose signals can bounce around the world).  I enjoyed that hobby when I was a teen in the late 1960s, listening to the world on my dad's Hallicrafters SX-25. 

 

     Store up riches in heaven through our good works now, and obeying and following HIS Word.  God keeps an impeccable record system and knows all of our works.  Sounds like a good plan.     

 

     Yeshua also speaks of “servanthood” Why do we do the things we do? To get special treatment or rewards? Or…because that which we do is expected of us from the Master? Yes, we are HIS servants, and because we ARE we do what we do using our spiritual gifts.  YET Adonai has already promised rewards in heaven, but we shouldn’t do what we do because of the future rewards, but out of love for what HE has done for US on Calvary’s Tree. 

Shavua Tov  (Have a good week) 

Ben Avraham