McNeil, William: Studies In Hebrews 11:07 ~ hebrews 11;30-31

Now, today we turn again to the Epistle to the Hebrews and chapter eleven. I want to read today from verse thirty and verse thirty one. That's only two verses, but I think you'll find in the meantime that will be sufficient for our study. We shall refer to other verses during the course of this lesson. Hebrews chapter eleven then, and verse thirty. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith, the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies in peace. I'm sure the Lord will bless to us even the reading of two verses. Now, as we've been studying this great chapter, you will remember it is life lived on the principle of faith. That is the main lesson of Hebrews chapter eleven, life that is lived on the principle of faith. At the end of chapter ten, the writer said, now the just shall live by faith. So it was life lived on the principle of faith. He mentioned there were those who would draw back, but he said, we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. And he has been demonstrating, bringing forth his witnesses one after the other, to show us that in different eras of time, there were those who lived their lives on the principle of faith. In our last lesson, we were looking at Moses. We saw how that when he was born, his father and mother exercised faith in the way they dealt with that little child. Then there came the time when he had reached maturity, and at the time when he had to make a choice, his choice was made on the basis of faith. Then there was the time when he left Egypt. Now I want you to notice this very carefully now. We finished our last study at verse twenty nine where we read, by faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians attempting to do so were drowned. Two classes of people seeking to do the same thing. The Israelites passed through by faith because God told them through Moses to go forward. That was faith. When the Egyptians tried to do the same thing, it was mere presumption, and they perished. Yet to all appearances, it appeared to be the same thing. With the one, it was faith, with the others, it was presumption. Now, will you kindly note that from the end of verse twenty nine of Hebrews eleven, and you move into verse thirty, there is a space of forty years. It was forty years after they passed through the Red Sea, before that they encircled the great city of Jericho and conquered it. Now, why is it there is nothing said in Hebrews chapter eleven about life on the principle of faith that took place from the time they left Egypt, from the Red Sea right to Jericho. Not a thing said about an act of faith. Now that should teach us lessons. Not only does the statement of scripture mean much, but sometimes the silences of scripture can bring a lesson to our hearts. Here then, forty years passed over and no incident recorded where something was performed by faith. I think it's quite clear, should be evident to every reader of the Bible, that these forty years were spent, as it were, in unbelief. What was it we mentioned away back in chapter four? Why was it that they could not come into the land? Wasn't it because of unbelief? And right throughout this great epistle, the warnings have been given, and all the warnings were of unbelief, so that there was a promise made to them, and they came short of entering into the Promised Land for the whole of that generation that left Egypt, those that were over twenty years, from twenty years upward, they never entered into the Promised Land. They wandered around in the wilderness for forty years, all because of their unbelief, you might prefer to say because of their disobedience. And so there's nothing said here in Hebrews eleven of anything they performed by faith throughout those years. But now, when you come to verse thirty, they we're brought over the River Jordan, and by faith the walls of Jericho fell down. It seemed to be the first act that they performed when they entered into the Promised Land. It's very interesting then to go back into the history and find out some things regarding the time when they passed over, well, that is when they passed over the River Jordan. You see, Moses had died by that time, and Aaron, his brother, had also died. These were their two leaders when they left Egypt, Moses and Aaron. Aaron, you remember, was the high priest, but Aaron has died on the eastern side of the River Jordan. He never entered the Promised Land. Moses also died, and God buried him. And now someone else had to take up the leadership. His name isn't actually mentioned here, but you get his name away back in the historical records, and his name was Joshua. And Joshua was the man who took up the leadership when he took them over the River Jordan. He obeyed the word of the Lord. That was an act of faith, just as it was faith when they crossed the Red Sea, so it was an act of faith when they crossed the River Jordan. But after crossing over Jordan, the first city that lay before them in the land of Canaan was the city of Jericho. Now remember, it was a walled city. That is what you and I would call a fortified city. The children of Israel coming out of the wilderness didn't have the armaments, the weapons of war to go to battle with these people, yet they were to conquer that city. How could people who were unarmed go in and take a fortified city? Now that brings us to the statement of verse thirty: By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. Very interesting now, uh, to take note of the fact that it was faith. And here is faith in the time of conflict. Now they had to face this great conflict. They were going into what might be called enemy territory. They were going in to conquer it. It's very interesting to notice from the historical records the great campaign that Joshua launched and how he carried out that campaign. But however, they had to face the conflict in the land of Canaan with the Canaanites, that is the inhabitants of the land, and of course with the sin of Canaan. They were given their instructions as to how they were to march round that city. They would go up the first day and they would encircle the city once. They would do this for the week, for the six days. On the seventh day, they would march round the city seven times. But they had a particular order that they were to follow. Any way wouldn't do. They were given instructions as to how they were to go round that city. Now, if they had decided to encompass the city in their own ideas, in the will of the flesh, or according to the will of man, they might have gone about it in a different way. But the fact of the matter is they had to do it in the way that God instructed. And God commanded the people, saying, when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God and the priests, the Levites bearing it, then you shall remove from your place and go after it. That was when they were crossing over the River Jordan. And so they had to go according to the way that God told them. And then, of course, after they got over that river, they had to come and they had to go against the great city of Jericho. Now, Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in. That is, the people shut the gates, and they saw the Israelites on the outside. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty men of valor. Now that was God's word. Faith, you know, cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And so he listened to what God had to say. He listened to God's word. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And here is how they were to do it. The seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns, and the seventh day you shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. It shall come to pass that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up, every man straight before him. Now that's obvious how they were to do it. So Joshua carried out the instructions from the Lord. He called the priests and said to them, take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horn before the ark of the Lord. So you have the picture of the seven priests walking before the ark. Now, seven is always the number of perfection, the full orbed number, and they're blowing on the ram's horns. Now, remember, the ram was the great animal for the atoning sacrifice, and its horn is taken, and it's made into the blasting horn, the trumpet, if you like. And seven priests are carrying their horns. Ah, but following that, there's the Ark of the Covenant. Now, do you remember that the Ark of the Covenant was a pictorial object lesson setting forth virtues of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the covering of the ark was the mercy seat. That was the vessel that took the central place in the Holy of Holies. Now that was to be carried around, that which indicated the presence of the Lord, and they were to follow that. So there's the word of the Lord. There's the pr- which indicated the presence of the Lord, and so they're marching on, and they're able to come, and they marched around the walls once every day, went back to camp. On the seventh day, they went round seven times. Now you put yourself in the position of these heathen people inside the city. It must have looked something like the very essence of weakness to see these unarmed people marching round the walls. Worse than that, what could they do with trumpets? Trumpets couldn't kill anybody. And so they're marching round the walls, and they've got their trumpets, and they've got this fancy little religious thing that they're carrying around, and it's got its covering on it, yet they're marching around with this. I'm sure that the people in the city sat up on the walls and looked over the walls and laughed at them. This, in the eyes of men, was utter weakness. But on the seventh day, they marched around the city seven times, and when they'd completed the seven times round, then it was time to blow the blast on the trumpets. And at that time, it was God who acted, not them, and the walls of the city fell down flat. Perhaps God caused the earth to open, and down went the walls, and the people no longer had their protection. And so, when you come to Hebrews chapter eleven, there's nothing said about the forty years they wandered in the wilderness, no act of faith there. But now, the moment they go over Jordan and they come to the first great barrier, they're faced with a conflict. And at that time, they exercise faith, answers the writer, by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days. There's no need to argue about it. There's no need to dig down looking for foundations or any such thing. The Bible declares it. Whether they find foundations or whether they found the original foundations makes no difference. The Word of God says that the walls fell down. I know, so do some of you people know, that they have been excavating there where they believe the old city of Jericho was, and they have found ruins of walls, but these ruins that they found may not be the ruins of the original Jericho. You see, this city was built at least another twice and destroyed another twice after this. So the foundations that they found may not be the foundations of the walls of the original Jericho, they may be the foundations of another Jericho. Whether or not, the fact is this, that Hebrews eleven says that by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days. In plain words, it was God who performed the miracle on behalf of his people. They simply believed God. They acted upon the word of God, and that's faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. They did exactly what God told them to do, and God did the rest. You and I, we're going to act by faith, even if it be in the face of conflict. We've got to do it with absolute confidence in God. Now, at this time, you'll find that there was a woman. Her name is Rahab, and by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believe not. Now, to believe not, that's unbelief. That's the opposite of faith. Faith is when we believe. If we do not believe, then there's the lack of faith. It was by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies in peace. Again, you've got to go back to the historical record in the book of Joshua and learn something about this woman, Rahab. And I want to mention right now, in connection with Rahab, the other women who are mentioned here in Hebrews eleven. We already made reference to two of them in past studies. You remember in connection with Abraham and Sarah, in verse eleven it says, through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child. Now it's obvious then that faith in the life of Sarah simply meant that she was able to produce. There was the production of life. Now she was past time. Naturally, she could not produce, but it was by faith that she was able to produce and bring forth Isaac. He was the son of faith. But now, when you come to verse twenty three, by faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents. Here was Jochebed, the mother of Moses. Now, she also acted in faith, and at this time it was life protected. So you have life produced with regards to the faith of Sarah. You have life protected with regards to the faith of the mother of Moses, Jochebed. But now, in connection with Rahab, you have life preserved because she knew that the city was going to be destroyed. She took a pledge from those who came in, and she put the scarlet thread in her window. Not only was Rahab preserved, but all those who believed the word that she passed on to them and who went into her house, all who were in her house were preserved. She did all this by faith. She believed what she was told. She believed what she had heard, what God had done for his people. She knew that God was going to give the land to these people, so she believed the word of God, and she shifted, as it were, her ground from being a member of the citizens of Canaan, and she took a stand with those who were coming in to take possession of the land. Rahab believed God. She believed the message of God, and that's spoken of as faith. By faith, the harlot Rahab perished not. Here was life preserved, not only for Rahab, but also for all who were in her house. Now to this, I want to connect another verse, verse thirty five. Women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Notice now, it is women who are mentioned in verse thirty five. Women received their dead raised to life again. Here is the prospect of new life, raised again. That points onward to resurrection. Now join these four thoughts together, associated with the women in Hebrews chapter eleven. With Sarah, there's life produced. With Jochebed, life protected. With Rahab, life preserved. And with the women of verse 35, new life in prospect. After death, there is resurrection. So you see, the life that is lived on the principle of faith is set forth here in connection with what is said regarding the four verses relating to women. Have you, my friend, got this new life? Do you have this life that links you to God? This new life by being born again? There's protection, and there's preservation, and there's the prospect of spending all eternity with him. Now let us get down then to the verse regarding Rahab. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies. Now remember who she was. This woman, Rahab, was related to a condemned people. Here's the confession of a woman you, you might term a sinful woman. She was related to the condemned people of Canaan. Remember, their iniquity was full to the very brim of the cup. God had patiently waited. He had given them forty years, in which time they could have repented and turned to God. They didn't. And for the forty years that the children of Israel were in the wilderness, the inhabitants of the land of Canaan grew increasingly worse till their iniquity was full, and Rahab was a member of the condemned people. She was residing in a condemned place. That city was marked out as being condemned. It would be the first city to perish when the children of Israel entered the land. Have you ever walked through a country road or witnessed some trees in the forest, and they have a mark on them? Someone has been there and has marked them out, and sooner or later these trees will be felled. Ah, here was a city that was marked out, condemned. My friend, do you realize that this world is a condemned world? And just as Rahab was residing in a condemned place, so you and I are residing now in a condemned world. This world is already marked out, condemned. God has appointed a day in which he'll judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained. But this woman responded in faith to a divine command, and because of that, she was saved. I ask you in all fairness, my friend, are you prepared right now, like Rahab, to respond in faith to the divine command? God commandeth all men everywhere to repent. She received by faith the divine commendation. Her name is mentioned here in the great hall of fame of the heroes of faith. Ah, she was an outsider. She was only a Gentile. She resided in Canaan. She's called a harlot, a sinner, if you like. But as a sinner, she turned to God. So can you. You can say, God be merciful to me, the sinner. I'm just like Rahab. I'm ready to perish, but I'll trust the Lord. And by faith, the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies in peace. You also can receive salvation from God. You can receive the Lord Jesus Christ, because the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.