The Scarlet Thread

UV 2793/10000 The Scarlet Thread

And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.
Joshua 2 v 21
Hope in Jesus is the scarlet thread that the believer ties on the window of his house. That scarlet thread transforms the cursed and condemned house of the outcast Rahab who lived on the periphery of the town into the house of salvation and blessing for all its inhabitants. Rahab the prostitute became the forebear of the Messiah Jesus. Her faith in the words of the God of Israel a justified and saved her from impending defeat and disaster. Her destiny was altered. The help she rendered in providing refuge to the Israelites messengers was greatly rewarded beyond her expectations, the expectations of her parents and family, beyond everyone’s expectations. Rahab was rewarded for risking her life in order to save the Israelite spies. Did she betray her own people among whom she lived? Was she a traitor? No, for loyalty to God is the highest loyalty that rises above loyalty to self, family, community, city, state or nation.
From Rahab’s lineage, the Lord God raised the greatest of the Hebrew King-prophets David through the stump of Jesse. From that stump of Jesse, the Lord raised the divine and eternal root- Jesus. We should tie the scarlet thread of faith in Jesus in our hearts. Grafted in Jesus, we are justified, cleansed of our uncleanness, our unrighteousness as Rahab and all of her family was justified and transformed. The scarlet thread of faith is the cord that ties our hearts, our lives and our earthly and eternal destiny with the glorious name of Jesus. As Rahab, the alien and outcast became one of Israel and the co-inheritor of the heritage of promises of Jehovah to Abraham, the one who demonstrated how faith is to be integrated with one’s life and not kept at the periphery of our lives as religion teaches people to.
Rahab believed and was in awe of the word, the testimonies and judgements of God. She unconditionally trusted the word who became flesh- Jesus. He saved her though He took flesh and blood upon Himself several centuries later in human history. Rahab’s past was not remembered nor mentioned ever again. She and all of her family began to serve the God of Israel. He is today the invisible and spiritual scarlet thread that all humanity can tie around their hearts to change their houses of strife and condemnation into a house of peace and salvation and blessing forever. He is the Lord Amen- the Root, the Cause, the Cost and the Source of hope of salvation and eternal life.
Prateep V Philip