From Slavery to Freedom 1

 Journey from Slavery to Freedom

Joshua 2:1–21, 6:20–25                                                         3/10/12

Hello Everyone,

Nearly every family has stories they tell over and over.

It may be how Grandpa came to this country with five dollars in his pocket.

Or of an ancestor who fought in a famous battle.

It may be the story of a romance, or a child’s rescue, or a moment of accomplishment.

One of our family stories was when my dad was in WWII. He was stationed in the jungles of the Philippines’. My mother always prayed for dad every day. My dad was a scout and linesmen when a Japanese sniper in a tree shot him.

When my dad was pushing through the jungles his belt buckle which was always in the front and center had moved around his side and the bullet hit the belt buckle instead of going in his side. It grazed his side and went in under his arm. He received a purple heart and lived to tell about it.

In some ways, the stories we remember—and tell—shape us.

They explain where we’ve come from.

They shed light on who we are.

They guide our steps as we move forward in life.

That is one of the reasons the Bible is so important, or should be, because it is the story of all of us, from the first words of Genesis to the last lines of Revelation.

That is why we are retelling some of those stories, with the help of the miniseries called, The Bible. It started airing last Sunday night on The History Channel and will continue this Sunday and through Easter Sunday evening.

And the story we focus on today is the story of Rahab, a story almost hidden away in the first chapters of the sixth book of the Bible––the book of Joshua.

But in many ways, it is also my story—and yours—and it’s as current as this morning’s headlines.

But in order to fully appreciate Rahab’s story, we must understand the back-story, which involves the Exodus––the deliverance of God’s people from slavery in Egypt.

Because as today’s story begins, the background is this:

God’s people had been delivered from slavery in Egypt, led through the Red Sea, and have wandered in the wilderness for forty years.

There, they had received God’s Law and grew as a nation …but they were still nomads.

Their deliverance was not yet complete.

The Promised Land was not yet theirs.

In order for that to happen, they had to conquer the most heavily fortified city in the entire land. Jerico

       

        The story is not just Rahab’s story; it is yours and mine, too, at least in several ways.

Greater things are still to come!                                                            1