The Scarlet Cord

I was in my closet organizing my numerous scarves.  I have every color, fabric, style....I have many.  In the midst of the scarves that I was putting away, I encountered a long, red, silky ribbon.  It was not very thick but it did feel nice.  I love red ribbons.  They take me back to Joshua 2.  Joshua sent the two spies to scope out Jericho.  Once they arrived, they "entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab" and they stayed there.  When the King of Jericho asked Rahab about them, she redirected them away from her house because she had hidden them.  Having completed their mission, the spies then wanted to leave Jericho safely and needed Rahab's assistance.  She agrees.

In exchange, Rahab asked that her life and the life of her family be spared as she acknowledged "the Lord your God is God in Heaven above and on the earth below." She wanted safety, she wanted assurance, she wanted the protection of being under the one true God.  Having come to a verbal agreement the spies respond with this "This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us unless....you have tied this scarlet cord in the window..."  [Joshua 2:17]

That scarlet cord represented safety, salvation, protection and was going to liberate Rahab and her family.  It was going to identify them.  Over two-thousand years ago, God sent his Son to die on the cross so that we could be spared.  He did this out of love for you and me.  He shed his blood on that cross and because I believe through faith that he died and was resurrected on the third day, I am covered by that blood.  "In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with God's grace." [Ephesians 1:7]

Just like that scarlet cord identified Rahab, my identity is in Jesus Christ through the blood of the Lamb.  Rahab may have seen herself as a "prostitute that needing saving" but God had a bigger plan for her.  Because of her act of faith, God used her in His plan and she is listed in Matthew 1:5 as the mother of Boaz, in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. 

It all began with an act of faith and a display of that scarlet cord.

"Agreed," she replied.  "Let it be as you say."  So she sent them away and they departed.  And she tied the scarlet cord in the window." Joshua 2:21