The Lost Ones - Part 4: The Scarlet Rope of Hope

"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."

Isaiah 1:18

From the Brothel to the Bible

In 2022, Brock Purdy was selected 262nd - the very last pick - in the NFL Draft. They call that player "Mr. Irrelevant." But God had different plans. From the last pick to leading a team, Purdy's story is a reminder that being last doesn't mean you're the least. Purpose isn't determined by position.

That same principle runs through one of the most remarkable stories in all of Scripture - the story of a woman named Rahab.

Her reputation followed her everywhere. Her name was associated with sin, shame, and scandal.

But today... her name is written in the Hall of Faith.

And she is listed in the family tree of Jesus Christ.

This is what we call a Divine Reversal - the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

Series Context

In this series, we've been learning that God is not finished with people others give up on.

Week 1 - God used the overlooked, like David.
Week 2 - God restored the ashamed, like the Samaritan Woman.
Week 3 - God transformed the enemy, like Paul the Apostle.
Week 4 - God redeems the disgraced, like Rahab.

Main Text: Joshua 2:1-20

The Israelites are preparing to enter the Promised Land. Their first major obstacle is the walled city of Jericho. Joshua sends two spies into the city, quietly - only two this time, not twelve. He wanted good intelligence about the city: its approaches, its weaknesses, its defenses.

They need a place to hide. The place they end up?

The house of Rahab.

And the Bible doesn't dance around what she was. It identifies her with a label - a prostitute. That label would normally disqualify someone from God's story. But God had other plans.

Before we judge her, it's worth remembering what God says about all of us at times:

"You have prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find enough new lovers! And after your prostitution there, you still were not satisfied... What a sick heart you have, says the Sovereign LORD, to do such things as these, acting like a shameless prostitute."

Ezekiel 16:28-30 (NLT)

God was speaking those words to Israel - His own people. That should give all of us a moment of pause before we point fingers. And yet, in the very same breath, the grace of God reaches in:

"But by the remarkable grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not without effect."

1 Corinthians 15:10 (AMP)

Why Rahab's House Matters

There's a reason the spies ended up at Rahab's house specifically. Her house was built into the city wall - she was literally an access point. And this was the last place anyone would be talking about. No one brags about going there. For spies who needed to stay hidden, it was the perfect cover.

But God doesn't just use Rahab's location. He uses Rahab.

She Believed

"I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror and dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted in despair because of you."

Joshua 2:9 (AMP)

Rahab believed three things before the walls ever fell:

The Lord had given Israel the land.
Terror of God's people had already fallen on Jericho.
The people of Canaan were already losing heart.

This was not wishful thinking. This was faith with substance.

She Heard

"For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites..."

Joshua 2:10 (AMP)

Rahab says, "I have heard." That's how faith works.

"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

God's past acts still move hearts today. His power drains human confidence. He alone causes enemy resistance to collapse. His rule spans heaven and earth. Rahab's words are a living testimony that God keeps His promises - and draws unexpected people to faith.

She Confessed

"For the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath."

Joshua 2:11 (AMP)

Rahab declared what she knew. She opened her mouth and confessed the greatness of God. This is a woman with no religious training, no synagogue background, no priestly lineage - and she made one of the most clear confessions of faith in the entire Old Testament.

"Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does."

Psalm 96:3 (NLT)

Faith that stays silent never fully takes root. Rahab spoke it out.

She Prayed

"Now, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's household, and give me a pledge of truth and faithfulness - and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, along with everyone who belongs to them, and let us all live."

Joshua 2:12-13 (AMP)

Notice the circles of her prayer - herself, her parents, her siblings, her extended family. She doesn't just pray for her own escape. She prays for everyone she loves. Her faith-filled plea shows that God's mercy can reach anyone who seeks refuge under His promise.

She Received

"Our lives for yours if you do not tell anyone about this business of ours; then when the LORD gives us the land we will show you kindness and faithfulness."

Joshua 2:14 (AMP)

The spies made her a promise. She received it by faith. Not because she had earned it. Not because her record was clean. But because she reached out and grabbed hold of the covenant being offered to her.

She Worked

"Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she was living on the wall."

Joshua 2:15 (AMP)

Rahab didn't just believe - she got to work. She gave the spies a step-by-step escape plan: go west to the hill country, avoid the pursuers headed east, hide for three days, then continue your mission. Her counsel, embraced in faith, safeguarded the spies and advanced God's redemptive plan for Israel - and ultimately the world.

"You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?"

James 2:24-25 (ESV)

She Obeyed

"Unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and bring into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father's household so that they will be safe."

Joshua 2:18 (AMP)

The condition was simple: hang the scarlet cord. Stay inside. Keep the covenant.

God's love is unconditional - but the blessing operates in the context of obedience. Genuine faith is proven by faithful action. We must discipline ourselves to stay under the covering of God.

She Triumphed

"And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho."

Joshua 6:25 (KJV)

When the walls came down, one house stood. The house with the scarlet rope in the window.

"By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace."

Hebrews 11:31 (KJV)

Rahab heard, agreed, spoke, acted, waited, and displayed the sign. Her steps - consent, confession, obedience, patient trust, and visible allegiance - are an invitation for us to respond to God's Word in the same way.

Point 1 - God Sees Potential Where Others See Labels

In Jericho, Rahab was known by one word: prostitute. That label defined how people saw her. But God did not see her the way society saw her.

God saw faith. God saw courage. God saw potential.

The world may label you by your worst mistake. But God sees who you can become.

Truth: People label you by your past. God calls you by your future.

Think about how the Bible could have introduced some of its greatest figures:

David the Adulterer
Moses the Murderer
Paul the Persecutor

But God doesn't reduce people to their worst moment. And He won't reduce you to yours either.

Point 2 - Faith Can Appear in the Most Unexpected Places

Rahab lived in a pagan city. She had no religious background with Israel. No connection to the covenant. No access to the Torah. Yet she believed that the God of Israel was the true God - before she'd even met His people face to face.

Truth: Faith can rise up in places you would never expect.

Sometimes the people who appear furthest from God are closer to faith than we realize.

Rahab lived in Jericho - but her heart already belonged to God.

Point 3 - Faith Requires Risk

Rahab didn't just believe. She acted. She hid the spies and protected them with her own life. If the king of Jericho had discovered what she did, she could have been executed for treason.

Truth: Faith is not just believing something. Faith is acting on what you believe.

Rahab risked everything because she believed God was real. Her faith had skin on it.

"You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone."

James 2:24 (ESV)

Point 4 - God Uses a Scarlet Cord to Tell a Bigger Story

The spies told Rahab to tie a scarlet cord in her window. That rope was the sign of her salvation - the mark that told the army of Israel: spare this house.

It was a thread of hope hanging from a wall in a condemned city.

And it points to something greater. Just as Rahab's house was saved because of the cord, humanity is saved because of the blood of Christ. The scarlet thread runs from Rahab's window all the way to the cross.

Point 5 - God Can Turn a Reputation into a Legacy

Rahab's story did not end with Jericho. She joined the people of Israel. She married into the nation. And then something remarkable happened - her name appears in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

"Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David."

Matthew 1:5-6 (NIV)

A woman once known for sin became part of the lineage of the Savior. Rahab became the great-great grandmother of King David.

Truth: Your reputation does not have to be your legacy. God can rewrite your story.

Rahab went from a woman in a brothel to a woman in the Bible. From shame to honor. From reputation to redemption.

And Hebrews 11 - the Hall of Faith - calls out her name among the heroes. When heaven tells the story of faith, Rahab is mentioned.

Closing: God Is in the Story-Rewriting Business

Think of some names that should have never made it:

J.K. Rowling - a single mother on welfare, severely depressed while writing Harry Potter. Succeeded.
Oprah Winfrey - demoted as a news anchor, told she was "unfit for TV." Succeeded.
Walt Disney - fired for "lacking imagination," went bankrupt before Disney. Succeeded.
Colonel Sanders - started KFC at 65 with a social security check, rejected over 1,000 times. Succeeded.
Jay-Z - rejected by every record label, built Roc-A-Fella Records from scratch. Succeeded.

None of these stories were supposed to go this way. But that scarlet rope - that thread of hope - held.

Some of us today feel trapped by a reputation. Maybe people know you for your past mistakes. Your failures. Your bad decisions. But Rahab's story teaches us something powerful:

God is in the story-rewriting business.

That rope hanging from the window of Jericho represented hope for a woman who thought her life was defined by her past. But God took that rope and turned it into a symbol of redemption.