Devotional 01 August 2025

At first glance, Rahab seems an unlikely entry in the “Hall of Faith.” A prostitute in a pagan city, known more for her reputation than her righteousness, and yet, Scripture elevates her as a model of saving faith. Why?

Because Rahab saw. She saw that Jericho, with all its thick walls and worldly boasts, was no match for the living God. When the spies entered her city (Joshua 2:1), she recognized that this wasn’t just a military threat, it was the arrival of a kingdom. “I know that the Lord has given you the land,” she confessed (Joshua 2:9), and she declared, “the Lord your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” (Joshua 2:11). That’s not just insight; that’s faith: “the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

Rahab’s response wasn’t passive belief. She hid the spies at great risk to herself, aligning with God’s people instead of her own city (James 2:25). In doing so, she stepped out of the collapsing kingdom of this world and into the safety of God’s covenant. That choice saved her and her family (Joshua 6:17, 22–23). But more than that, it grafted her into the very line of the Messiah (Matthew 1:5)!

Faith that saves is never abstract. It sees the world’s foundation cracking, hears the marching footsteps of God’s Kingdom, and dares to risk everything for the hope of salvation. Rahab saw that hope and responded. In her, we see a gospel picture: the outsider welcomed, the shamed redeemed, the lost made family (Ephesians 2:12–13).

And so today, we are called to the same kind of vision. Look around, the walls of this world’s promises are not as strong as they seem. Like Rahab, may we have the courage to see beyond what is fading into the kingdom that has come and is coming still (Hebrews 12:28), and to act in faith as citizens of a better city.

Rahab still speaks as a witness to a faith that sees the Kingdom arriving and acts in that hope. May we have ears to hear.