December 5 - Jericho

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Jericho is probably the last city in Israel that comes to mind when I think about the Advent Season and Jesus’ first coming into the world. I typically associate Jericho with trumpets and walls falling down. But, I hope that after this devotion today, you will forevermore associate Jericho with Jesus’ first Advent and with red rope.

In Matthew 1:5 Jericho is mentioned in relation to Jesus’ genealogy, but you have to know a little bit of Bible history in order to catch it. Rahab, who harbored the spies sent to Jericho by Joshua in Joshua 2, was one of four women, along with Ruth, Tamar, and Mary, mentioned in Jesus’s family tree. She lowered the two spies down over the city’s wall to safety and was told by them to put a red rope in her window when the Lord gave the city to the Israelites. This would give salvation from destruction to all those who were in her house on that day.

That red rope gave Rahab and her loved ones life in the face of certain death, just like the host coming out of the great tribulation robed in white mentioned in Revelation 7:14 who were made righteous by the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. Rahab of Jericho is honored in Jesus’ genealogy to remind us of how God works in His own ways. He brought life through red rope, but He brings everlasting life through the blood of His Son who came into our world that first Advent to be the very sacrifice for our sins.

Pastor Carl Brewer
St. John's Lutheran (LCMS) - Luxemburg



 

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