The Testimony
“‘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 Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.’”
Today’s Text: Joshua 2:8-14 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
It’s not like Rahab witnessed the LORD drying up the Red Sea or the Amorite kings being completely destroyed. As a prostitute, she must have hosted many travelers who spoke of those things. But as a shrewd woman who knew how to survive, she would not have just believed everything that she hears. She must have believed the reports because she heard them from multiple people she considered to be reliable witnesses.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD our God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. And the Son of God was “delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25).
By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
— 1 Corinthians 6:14For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
— John 3:16
We have read and we have heard the testimony of the first apostles. And the New Testament is not just the testimony of Matthew, Peter (Mark and the letters), John (the Gospel, the letters, and Revelation), Paul (Luke, Acts, and the letters), James and Jude (the half-brothers of Jesus), and maybe one other (Hebrews), the New Testament represents the eyewitness testimony of at least five hundred of the first disciples of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:6).
It would be virtually impossible to get five hundred people to suffer persecution and even martyrdom for rumors or lies. Every single one of those five hundred would have had an opportunity to refute the resurrection of the risen Lord and the testimony of the apostles, but not a single one did.
Since I trust the testimony of the apostles, I need to be shrewd like Rahab. So why do I find myself, not doubting per se, but not always feeling the urgency of the reality that the word of God testifies to?
Have I not received a faith as precious as that of the apostles (2 Peter 1:1)? If so the apostle Peter points out:
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
— 2 Peter 1:5-8
I don’t want to be ineffective and unproductive, in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, but productive and effective.
Father, You have made all things known that we might know You and be known by You. Forgive me when I do not take Your word at face value. Forgive me for trying to conform Your word to my desires, and in so doing, corrupting Your word. Thank You for Your grace and mercy with regard to my lack of faith in Your word. But continue to open my eyes and ears and mind and heart, so that I might obey Your word and know the joy of salvation. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
