Last Lord’s Day we began our look at the remarkable story of the conversion of Rahab, the sinful woman of ancient Jericho—Joshua 2:1-11. This Sunday we will trace the rest of her story as she courageously works to save the two spies that Joshua had sent into the city, as well as her own Canaanite family (vv. 12-24), thus preserving the integrity of Joshua’s mission and ensuring the successful conquest of Jericho by the army of the Lord.

The strategic importance of her life is powerfully set forth in three New Testament passages where her name is found. The first is in Matthew 1:5 where Rahab appears in the genealogy of Jesus. Amazingly, this former woman of ill repute is, by God’s marvelous grace, a foremother of our Blessed Savior! How incredible is that!!

But then, her name is discovered in two Epistles, and in each she is mentioned as a model of exemplary faith in Christ. Hebrews 11:31 states that it was “By faith” that she gave “a friendly welcome to the spies,” while in James 2:24-25 she is presented as a worthy example of those who, like Abraham, are “justified by works and not by faith alone.”

These passages are teaching us that the reality of Rahab’s faith in God—the faith that saved her in the same way that we are saved by faith in Christ—was demonstrated by how God’s grace transformed her, and moved her to obedience, love, and service. She is, then, an Old Covenant example of the fact that in Christ Jesus we are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that remains alone. As James tells us, “faith apart from works is dead” (2:26). The grace that freely saves us also transforms and delivers us! Christ not only works for us in justification, He works in us in sanctification. Indeed, Rahab had a living faith, and we will probe the remarkable and inspired record of her life this Sunday.