“Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering towards slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will not repay each person according to what he has done?” Prov 24:11-12 (Amplified)
The moment the Jericho harlot, Rahab, sealed the deal with the two Israelite spies, she knew that her own life and that of her family was safe. Jericho, her beloved city was living on borrowed time because God’s victorious army had encamped just a short distance away and were biding their time to fall on the city and destroy its inhabitants. The Israelites were commissioned by God to execute the judgement God had ordained on the city for their sin. Of course, the people of Jericho resisted their fate to the very end. However, one woman managed to negotiate her way out of the impending doom by recognising the power of Jehovah and pleading for mercy on behalf of herself and her family. That wise person was Rahab, a prostitute. She protected the spies from her compatriots who were seeking to kill them and extracted a promise from the grateful spies to spare herself and her family. They in turn spelt out the terms that would guide their agreement or nullify it. She was to suspend a scarlet cord from her window and also gather every member of her family into her home. If any of these two conditions were violated, the deal was off and they would all die with the rest of the town’s inhabitants. Rahab accepted these terms and set about convincing her relatives to come and take refuge in her safe house and they were not only spared the horror of destruction that befell their compatriots, but were later assimilated into the Israelite nation. However, that was not the end of this story, as it later popped out that Rahab became an ancestor of Jesus Christ. What an honour for a former prostitute?
If you knew that a disaster is about to befall your town and your friends and relatives could be in harm’s way, although you will escape, and you choose to do nothing or warn them about it, what does that make you? The unflattering word that comes to mind is wicked, for it is sheer wickedness to leave someone to his fate who could be helped to escape an impending disaster. Your responsibility as a Christian is to give people the choice of determining what kind of eternity they want to have, while their responsibility is making that choice. According to the bible, hell and destruction is the end of those who spurn God’s love offer of His Son and refuse to accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ over their lives. So while we ourselves might have escaped this gory end, we need to double our effort in trying to convince a lost world that the only alternative to hell is accepting Jesus Christ and becoming His disciples.
Should we choose to heed or ignore this warning to stand up and be counted for God’s kingdom, we need to understand that He will reward us according to our works. We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus and prepared to do good works, the first of which is sharing His Gospel. So, get down to work and countless lives shall be transformed and destinies changed because of your obedience.
Prayer:
Lord, words sometimes fail to convey the terror of hell and the agonising end of those who refuse your love. Give me a revelation of what hell is like so that I can urgently warn the sinner to repent and be motivated to serve you wholly without distraction. Enable me to witness to those I come in contact with today to the glory of your name. Amen.