Perseverance

By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. Heb. 11:31

Recently, I was watching a local Christian ad on TV. They were advertising an overnight ‘Christian disco show’. As they streamed images of people gyrating to the sounds of loud ‘Christian’ pop music, they also showed tables laden with food which the announcer said participants would be eating as they ‘danced to the Lord’.

Now, I suppose the Kingdom of God is something more serious than ‘having a good time in the Lord’ in this manner. As a matter of fact, such things are born of the flesh and they feed the flesh. People go to these concerts for one thing only: to have a good time in the flesh.

The Bible shows us exactly what the Kingdom of God is about. The Kingdom of God is about seeing into God’s plan and persevering therein. I can easily tell you the best way to have a good time in the Lord: go to Syria, preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and risk having yourself beheaded. That is what constitutes a truly good time in the Lord. Why? Because here perseverance is involved.

But true perseverance is something that the flesh cannot take. In fact, nearly every kind of sin is conceived out of a lack of perseverance.

Rahab is undoubtedly one of the greatest women in the Bible. This is because she persevered. She persevered by risking her life for the sake of the Kingdom of God. It is not written so in the Bible, but Rahab endured for the Kingdom’s sake. The Bible says that the other residents of Jericho did not, and they were destroyed.

How did Rahab persevere? She persevered by risking her life when she welcomed the spies “with peace”. While everyone else in Jericho was searching for the spies to kill them, Rahab hid them on the roof of her house and later let them down through a window to safety (Jos. 2:6,15).

Rahab persevered because she saw God’s plan in the Spirit and she believed it. When we do not see God’s plan we unwittingly become God’s enemies. We do not live for God. We live for the flesh instead. Living for the flesh means fighting for our rights, etc. But Jesus said,

“He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad” (Mat. 12:30).

Being with Jesus is not easy. Nor is “gathering” with Him. It requires us to see in the Spirit first in order that we might have an anchor for our faith. Jesus came to give His life to redeem us from the power of sin. This was God’s plan for Him. If we are to be with Jesus we must be with His plan also. That means we must be willing to die to the flesh and give of our lives just as He did.

For this matter, just like Rahab, we shall be persecuted by the world and by false brethren. But we have the anchor of our faith, the revelation of the crucified Christ.

[Below: Jesus came to give His life]