Rahab

If we are to move forward into the new day that is dawning we must come to understand there will two classes of saved people in the future ages. The one class is the royal priesthood. The other saved class consists of those who are brought over into the new heaven and earth reign of Christ but who are not members of the elect, of Israel, of the priesthood.

I find this to be a difficult concept for people to grasp, but until we understand the Seed of Abraham has been called out from mankind to bring the Presence of God to the nations we cannot understand the Kingdom of God that shall be established on the earth.

There are numerous examples of this. One very clear episode has to do with the sheep and goat nations. Christ is seated on His throne surrounded by His brothers, the Israel of God. The nations are brought before Him. Those who assisted Christ's brothers while the brothers bore witness on the earth are permitted to enter the Kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world.

It is not said of the sheep nations that they ever took "the four steps of salvation." Rather their salvation will be based on how they treated the Lord's brothers.

These are saved people but they are not members of Christ's Body, the Church. They are not part of the Olive Tree. They are not of Israel, of the elect, of the royal priesthood. Rather they are the inheritance of Christ and His saints.

In the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah we notice that the saved peoples of the earth refer to the saints as "the ministers of our God."

Rahab (before she married into Israel) is a type of the saved nations. She was not of Israel, knowing nothing of the Law of Moses. She was not following Joshua into the invasion of Canaan, into the rest of God.

But Rahab tied a scarlet cord in the window of her home. The scarlet cord represents the covering of the blood of Jesus Christ. She and her household were saved because they were under the blood, so to speak.

It is not true that the royal priesthood of God are the only people who will escape Hell and the Lake of Fire! This would be ridiculous. Over whom then would we serve as kings and priests of God? Over each other?

There is a Kingdom principle that states: whoever assists God's witnesses will be rewarded by the Lord. God's witnesses, His Church, His prophets, His elect, are Israel, from the time of the called-out Abraham. They often are scorned and persecuted. But whoever receives them and blesses them will be wonderfully blessed by the Lord.

If we would understand the Kingdom of God we must realize the Church comprises a governing priesthood that will serve God for eternity. Taken together the members of the priesthood form the new Jerusalem, the holy city.

The saved nations of the earth will be governed by the holy city and will walk in the light of it. The nations will bring their wealth to it. This is taught in both the Old Testament and the New.

Rahab was saved from destruction because of the scarlet cord hanging from the window of her house. She believed in the God of Israel and she was saved because of it. If she was the same Rahab who married Salmon and became the mother of Boaz, and conservative scholarship maintains she probably was, then Rahab became part of Israel by marriage. But this is another matter. The family of Rahab was saved under the blood (the scarlet cord), so to speak, but never became part of Israel.

After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it." (Joshua 3:2,3—NIV)

In the first chapter God had spoken of the land He was giving to the Israelites. God told them that He would give them every place they set their foot.

But now the Israelites were being told they must follow the Ark of the Covenant in order to gain their inheritance.

There is a tremendous lesson in this for us. For two thousand years the Christian churches have attempted to gain what they think God has promised them (often being incorrect even in this!). But they have not followed the Ark. They have not waited on the Lord for His specific leading.

"God has given us a blank check," they cry, "just fill it in and you can have all you want by faith." Or, "God helps those who help themselves." Or, "If you will send me all your money I will save the world." Or, "Let us go forward as an army and crush everyone who gets in the way."

Even in the most devout assemblies we often see human plans, ambitions, talents, wisdom, and energy in the forefront of many endeavors.

Will we ever learn? Will we ever be willing to wait on the Lord until we know what He wants us to do? And this moment by moment?

No doubt many of the warriors of Israel had ideas of their own how Jericho should be conquered, when they should cross Jordan, whether they should attack by day or night, whether they should set an ambush and then draw out the warriors of Jericho, and so forth.

God did not leave it to them to figure out how to invade and conquer the territory He had given them. He led them by His Presence, by the Ark of the Covenant.

Jesus Christ said He would build His Church on the revelation that He is the Anointed One, the Christ of God. He did not say we would build His Church on this revelation, He said He would build His Church.

He did not invite Peter to feed Peter's sheep but the Lord's sheep.

For two thousand years much if not most Christian effort has been directed by the mind of man, and the same situation exists today.

It is a temptation, once we think we know what God has in mind for us, to forge ahead in our own strength. How easy this is to do! But we succeed only in bringing forth an Ishmael, a wild man.

Will God ever have people who will wait on Him without going to sleep?—who will follow the Lord patiently, not going ahead of Him or lagging behind?

The hour is close at hand when no man can work. Christian enterprises shall fall by the wayside or become part of Babylon the Great. Only those who have died in the Lord and have become part of the Presence of God through Christ will be able to stand and help others.

God has made a provision for us that will enable us to be more than conquerors through the darkest of the hours we are entering: it is to be filled with His Person to a greater degree than we have known so we are living and moving only in and with Him.

In the day to come we will live by Jesus Christ as He lives by the Father. If this is what you desire, then let the Lord know about it.

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