HEB 11:31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was
not killed with those who were disobedient.

===
This Sunday evening's session was rather long because there was a guest,
Rev. Dr. Hong Yu Jian, who gave a testimony. All in all, I stood and
translated for more than 2.5 hours - probably a record... ha ha.

Prior to the gathering, the few men of God, Dr Tong, Dr Hong, Rev. Koh and
Dr Lou and myself were in the side room, and they were all cracking jokes
about Dr Tong's diarrhea, using biblical names... very funny, but you got to
know Mandarin to understand the jokes (because the Mandarin translation of
names like Reuben, Rahab, Lazarus, and Pilate are phonetics translations,
and can be construed to make fun of certain bodily functions...),
occupational habits on full display here.

Dr Hong gave a personal testimony first. He was here to conduct a course on
the Christian faith and science. Dr Hong has a PhD in Physics and Chemistry
from the Ivy league University of Pennsylvania before he entered into
full-time ministry. I understand that he was the first mainland Chinese who
went into full-time ministry while studying in the USA. Dr Hong spoke about
how he was born in China, and struggled during the cultural revolution, how
he laboured in the farms in the day, and studied English in the mosquito net
at night. After Deng Xiao Peng opened up China, he studied very hard and got
entrance into the prestigious Fu Dan University within 6 months. All along,
he wanted to be a scientist, as he believed that Science is the pinnacle of
human knowledge. So he worked his way to an Ivy league university, and
studied the most difficult subjects.

But to his dismay, he found that science does not have all the answers that
he was searching for. He said that people assumed wrongly that 1. Any
knowledge can be learned through scientific research 2. The scope of science
in infinite 3. The methods that science can use are limitless 4. All of the
cosmos can be answered by science and 5. We will always be able to advance
scientifically. Dr Hong said that all mainland Chinese were taught to
believe in science being the ultimate knowledge. Science is supposedly
rationalistic, empirical, and objective. But in the end, he discover that
much of science is based on presuppositions, assumptions, and about the
unknown being unknowable. He found out that the most basic presupposition
must be that God created all things, for without that foundational
knowledge, there can be no rational knowledge.

Dr Hong's purpose in conducting the 5-day course is to point out all these
inherent errors in science, and to point out that the truth of God in the
Bible far surpasses scientific knowledge, and that man cannot really
understand science unless it is brought under the sovereignty of God's Word.

==
Dr Tong then started the session by saying that of all the verses in the
book of Hebrews, the verse this evening is the most difficult one for him.
He spent lots of time attempting to reconcile and understand this verse, and
even as he preach, he does so with fear and trembling in his heart. This is
because it is very difficult to understand how Rahab, a gentile prostitute,
could be listed together with all the great men of faith in Hebrews 11. Not
only was she a woman, she was a gentile, and a person with a
universally-despised occupation. Tong reminded all that the last three
chapters of Hebrews have the main broad themes of faith, hope and love; and
as this chapter closes, Rahab was listed as the last stand-alone example,
and so it is of great honour and significance. But a prostitute?

Tong explained that in Greek philosophy, the anatomy of the human body
supposedly illustrates priorities in life. The brain in placed at the
highest part of the body, signifying that the human reason is most
honorable. Then came the heart, representing emotions, and the groins,
representing sexuality. So if one can control one's emotion and sexual
desires through one's reason, he is the greatest. But if one's reason is
ruled over by his emotions, then he is second rated. But if one is ruled by
the lowest, i.e. sexuality, then he is of the lowest class. This sort of
reasoning is rather universal, which is why the sex trade has always been
deemed as despicable.

But historically, some cultures are able to raise above that concept.
Confucius declared that education should be universal, and all are welcome,
which therefore would include a prostitute as well. The Indian culture
however, has a caste system, and discrimination would follow one for the
entire life if one were to be born to a lower caste.

In order to understand why Rahab was so favoured by the author of Hebrews,
Tong said we need to understand her story better. The Bible does not tell us
why she went into prostitution. Perhaps it was because of poverty, or she
got forced into the trade. Nonetheless, Joshua 2 recorded seven passages of
the words of Rahab, more than other godly women like Mary, Deborah or
Priscilla. Through these words, we can understand why she was regarded so
highly.

Firstly, Rahab understood about the God of the Israelites, and she had faith
in Him. When she spoke to the spies, she spoke about how God delivered the
Israelites from the Egyptians via the Red Sea. One need to note that the
Israelites had not crossed the Jordan river yet, so she was recounted
something that happened 40 years ago, and expressed faith in that God,
because she said that she knew that the LORD had given her people over to
the Israelites. Tong said that this was truly remarkable, because the
Israelites themselves had forgotten about the grace of God. Yet this gentile
prostitute could recount that grace. This describes many Christians today.
We have taken God for granted for the many grace that He has shown us;
things that would amaze the non-believers.

Rahab was also a woman who had great kindness. When she first decided to
hide the spies, she did not know what was in store for her, but she did it
anyway. With a shrewd strategic mind, she diverted the king's searchers away
(Tong said that when a woman is determined to fool a man, the man suddenly
would become very stupid... ha ha). This was true kindness, for anything
that is done for a condition would not be of the ultimate good, and Rahab
displayed the ultimate good here. Although she was a despised Gentile
prostitute, she had a heart of gold.

The next thing that was remarkable about her was that she was truly
unselfish. When she pleaded for her own life, she included her entire
family, her parents, her brothers and their wives and children, and her
sisters' families. In comparison, many Christians never bother about their
kin's salvation even after many, many years of listening to God's Word. They
never bothered to share the goodness they have received from our LORD to
their family. She knew that she and her family needed salvation, and she
asked boldly for it. The instructions that the spies gave her was patterned
after the Passover. Instead of the blood on the door post, she was to hand a
red rope out of the window. She and her family were to stay strictly within
the household, covered by the grace of that rope. This of course is the same
as salvation coming only strictly through the blood of the lamb, our LORD
Jesus Christ. Again, Rahab displayed her intelligence by instructing the
spies to hide in the mountains for 3 days till the searchers disappeared.

In comparison with Rahab, Joshua's faith in God was not that great, because
he sent the spies. Tong said that the spies, having escaped with their
lives, could have simply let Rahab perish. Or Joshua could have ignored the
pleading of this gentile prostitute, since her people were doomed anyway.
But we all need to be reminded that the gospel is about real life; not some
theories in an ivory tower. We need to know that pleads and requests from
sinners are real, and serve them while we spread the gospel to them. At the
same time, the words we speak of must count, and our promises kept, for this
is what the Bible teaches us.

By saving the household of Rahab, the Old Testament had given us a clear
example that the LORD is sovereign, and He despises no one. The parallel
example in the New Testament would be the robber who asked Christ for
remembrance while he was on the cross. Again, this was a sinner, rejected by
all except God. Surely this is good news to all of mankind, for we are all
sinners.

The last question would be, if it is right for Rahab to have lied. Tong
asked the audience this question, and got differing answers. Is there such a
thing as a white lie? Should one lie to save lives? Are all sins the same,
large or small?

Tong affirmed that it is never right to lie. That the Bible clearly states
that we ought to say 'yes' and 'no' truthfully, and anything else would be
from the evil one. Does this not mean that good was accomplished via evil
(since Rahab lied). Tong said that lies are from the evil one in the sense
that he is the father of all lies; it does not mean that lies can in
themselves accomplish good. One cannot apply situational ethics, and say
that Rahab did the right thing by lying because circumstances called for
that; because God could have saved the spies anyway through other methods.
So Tong strongly affirmed that lying is never right, whatever the
circumstances.

In Rahab's case, Tong said she lied probably because of 2 reasons: 1. Her
spirituality is still not matured, and she did not think much about lying;
and 2. Her environment could have been one where everyone lies as a routine.
Nonetheless, these do not make lying right. Any form of lies would be
against the truth, and thus against the Word of God, which is truth.

However, Tong said that there is a difference between great sin and small
sin, although both by nature are sins. The consequences of great sins, and
very different from that of smaller sins. He gave a humourous example of the
husband looking at a beautiful woman versus having an affair with her. Both
are sins of straying, but the consequences are vastly different. So one
needs to have wisdom when dealing with such offences.

This week, Dr Tong will be flying to New Zealand for his first-ever New
Zealand gospel rally. Let's all uphold him in prayer. During the closing
singspiration which he led, he suddenly threw up on stage. But he was so
quick in cleaning himself up with the tissue paper there, and continue to
sing quickly, missing only 1 bar, so no one other than me noticed it. Lets
continue to ask that the LORD sustain him spiritually, emotionally and
spiritually.

===

END

Disclaimer: This summary does NOT represent the official position of STEMI (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministry International), and is the personal opinion of the author, expressed without prejudice. Expressed opinions are meant for academic discussions only.