The story of Rahab, the harlot or prostitute, is a very interesting one because it implies that there is hope for whoremongers to be in heaven, upon one condition: if she knows God and believes in Him as her Lord and Savior and put her complete faith in God.
St.
John, after describing the grandeur of the new heaven and new earth
in chapter 21 of Revelation, said:
“But the fearful, and
unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and
sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the
lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second
death.” (vs. 21:8 KJV).
Notably,
the Bible says:
“And there shall in
no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are
written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (vs. 21:27 KJV)
Then,
to stress further the same point, John again said:
“For without are
dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters,
and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” (vs. 22:15 KJV).
Rahab
was not only a whoremonger (prostitute) but a liar. The story goes:
“Now Joshua the son
of Nun sent out two men to spy secretly. “Go, view the land,
especially Jericho.” So they went, and came to the house of a
harlot named Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told the king,
“Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to
search out the country.” So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab,
saying. “Bring out the men who have come to you, for they have come
to search out all the country. Then she said, “Yes, the men came to
me, but I did not know where they were from. “And as the gate was
being shut, the men went out. …pursue them quickly, for you may
overtake them”. (But she had brought them up to the roof and
hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on
the roof.) then the men pursued them … So before they lay down,
she came up to them on the roof, and said to the men: “I know that
the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on
us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted
because of you. “For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water
of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did
to the two kings of the Amorites, whom you utterly destroyed. “As
soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there
remain any more courage in anyone, for the Lord your God, He is God
in heaven about and on earth beneath. “Now therefore, I beg you,
since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to
my father’s house, and give me a true token. “… and deliver
our lives from death. So the men answered her, “Our lives for
yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be,
when the Lord has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and
truly with you” (Joshua 2:1-14).”
I
find the above story puzzling and mind boggling, for her own life and
that of her family was spared and she was even honored
by becoming part of the family line or genealogy of the Messiah
[Jesus Christ] (Mt. 1:5).
For
many of us, especially the very religious ones, this
story - saving a woman of loose moral and a liar - has no place in
heaven. She is simply a disgrace and clearly disqualified citizen of
heaven. But God works in wonderful ways. Indeed, what is not possible
with man is possible with God, or with God, all things are possible
(Matt. 19:25; Jer. 32:17).
There
is another story in our Bible about King David committing adultery
with Bathsheba. To conceal his sin, he “murdered” the
solider-husband of Bathsheba. In those days, adultery and murder were
heinous crimes punishable with death by stoning. But the Bible tells
us that David confessed his transgression to the Lord and was
forgiven the inequity of his sin” (Ps. 32:5; Ps. 51) and to him
was restored the “joy of salvation” (Ps. 51:12). Out of David’s
illicit relation with Bathsheba, Solomon was born, the wisest man
that ever lived on earth, the author of Song of Solomon, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, and some of the Psalms, and who became the third King
of Israel. What a blessing to be parents of the wisest man!
No
matter how sinful we have been, no matter what our position may be,
if we will repent and believe and
continue believing and trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal
Lord and savior, we can be saved to the uttermost.
Moses
committed murder of an Egyptian while coming to the rescue of an
Hebrew slave, but there is no doubt, we will find Moses in heaven.
The gospels tell us that if we look to lust on a woman, we have
already committed adultery; and if we hate our brother, we commit
murder. If not for the grace of God, I wonder if we will find any
normal man in heaven.
But
if we repent and believe and trust that Jesus Christ can save us and
he is the only way, then we have hope to be in heaven
(John 14:6).
On
the other hand, delving now on liars, Abraham and Sarah lied to King
Abimelech that they are brothers and sisters, only to save their
lives because in those days the King could have put to death Abraham
so he could have beautiful Sarah as his own wife or mistress (Gen.
20:5).
Abraham’s
son, Isaac, also denied to King Abimelech that Rebekah who was “fair
to look upon” was his wife, otherwise he will be put to death by
the King. “Pilyo at maniac talaga si King Abimelech”.
This is where we got the saying: “Like father, like son”. Notice
that interestingly, in both instances, despite their lies, Abraham
received abundant material blessings from the King (Gen. 20:14-16).
And in the case of Isaac, the King charged his people, saying, “He
that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death”
(Gen. 26:11). And the Lord God blessed Isaac an hundredfold
when he “sowed in that land in the same year” (vs. 12) and he
waxed great, and grew very great and he had possession of flocks,
herds and great store of servants and the Philistines envied him”
(vs. 12-14).
Now,
don’t misunderstand me that I am advocating the commission of lies,
adultery and murder to be blessed and saved. My point is that sinners
have hope to be blessed and be saved for as long that they believe
in God, repent and have faith in
God (Jesus Christ alone) as their only Savior.
One
might be a notorious sinner like Rahab, or like David, and Moses who
committed murder, or Abraham, Sarah and Isaac who lied and
misrepresented, but if he/she finds the only way, the truth and the
life and the only savior Jesus Christ, and repents and be born again,
a place in heaven awaits that person. (FGBMFI Davao City Chapter
Bulletin, March 24, 2012)
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