Numbers 33:40 (ESV)
And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the people of Israel.
Heard the coming of the people of Israel. The sound of Israel's salvation had gone forth like a large trumpet sound among all the nations. The nations in Canaan heard that God judged Egypt with terrible judgments, how Israel walked through water on dry land, and how Israel smote the Amalekites in the way. And Canaanites heard also that Israel was coming their way to take their land. The king of Arad also heard, and we read in Numbers 21 that he came out to Israel and fought with them, and took some captives. But Israel defeated the king of Arad, and destroyed all their cities according to the vow that they made to the Lord.
But we know of one Canaanite who responded to the news of Israel's coming in a very different way. Her name is Rahab, who was a prostitute. Here how she responded when she heard of Israel and their God:
Joshua 2:9-13 (ESV)
and said to the men, "I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. [10] For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. [11] And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a sure sign [13] that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death."
These two responses to the hearing of the coming of Israel shows the two different ways how a human being may respond to the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
This is the news of that has gone forth to the ends of the earth:
Jude 1:14-15 (KJV)
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, [15] To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
The Lord Jesus Christ is coming, with all His saints, to execute His wrath and His righteous judgment upon ALL who have sinned against the God of heaven. This Day of the Lord had been prophesied by many prophets before Jesus Christ came. God's Kingdom is coming upon this earth, like a meteorite from the sky, to destroy all other kingdoms and to ground into powder all sinners therein. This was likeness of the message that the idol worshipping Canaanites heard. They heard of how God destroyed Egypt with their own gods, and how God took Israel from their midst. They heard how no one could stop this nation, and how no enemy who fought with them could overcome them. Israel was invincible, for God in their midst was invincible.
Likewise Jesus Christ is coming upon the world to burn it with fire and to establish His kingdom upon it, and to establish His throne, that He may reign forever over it as King. All works of unrighteousness, all works that dishonored God shall be reproved, and even all secret thoughts that were against God shall be exposed and punished with everlasting punishments. This is the sound of the terrible news that has gone out upon all the earth. Listen to God's announcement for this terrible day of the Lord coming to slaughter every one who have sinned against the Lord:
Zephaniah 1:2-3 (KJV)
I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord . [3] I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord .
But it is not only the bad news has gone forth. The Judgment Day is horrible news for those who are in living in sin, those who love sin and rebellion against God. But God has pronounced also His Good News, the Gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the news that God has made a way for us sinners to avoid that eternal fire on the Day of Judgment. God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that He may become a man, that He may become the likeness of sinful man, that He may bear the sins of mankind and die under the just wrath of God. And God raised His Son from the dead, that all who trusts in Him alone to be saved on that terrible Day of God's Judgment on the basis of what Christ has done. This is the amazing Gospel of God's Son. And this Gospel has been preached, and is being preached to the ends of the earth:
Romans 10:18 (ESV)
But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world."
Just as God's amazing salvation of Israel - the judgments on Israel, the killing of firstborns and the salvation by the blood of the lamb, the crossing of the Red Sea and destruction of Pharaoh - was told to all the nations around them, God's salvation of His Church through the blood of Jesus Christ His Son has gone forth like a joyful sound to all the ends of the earth. It was the Church of Jesus Christ that turned the world upside down with this amazing Gospel of Son of God's death for sinners and His resurrection:
Acts 17:6 (KJV)
And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
Indeed the whole world is still being changed by this message of God's righteousness vindicated and of His merciful and gracious love. It is bearing fruit all over the world:
Psalm 98:3 (ESV)
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
But how does a person respond to Gospel of God? One can respond to the Gospel the way the King of Arad did. Now Arad heard the awesome and terrible things that God did through Israel, believed that those events were true, and probably even trembled, as the princes of Moab and Midian trembled. But it was not saving faith, but demonic faith:
James 2:19 (KJV)
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
The king of Arad heard and believed that the events did happen, but it did not cause him to tremble toward repentance, but it caused him to go fight the Israelites. He probably thought: "I'm not going to be afraid of Israel nor their God. Though I am trembling, I choose to be brave. I will fight against them". Likewise there are people who hear the Gospel, and foolishly chooses to oppose God and Jesus Christ. They know that deep inside that there is hell, and that the world is going to end soon, and that God will call to account all the evil deeds that they have done after they die. They know that their conscience tells them everyday that something is wrong, and that they are not doing that which is right before God, and that they are guilty before God. But rather than falling before God in repentance, they choose to resist God. Why they do this is a mystery indeed - it is simply foolishness. They choose rather to believe in lies, that either God is not real, or that God exists but he is not angry against sin, or that there is no life after death. But the fact that they so strongly and violently resist these truths shows that they actually know these things in their hearts, but they would rather suppress them that they may continue in sin. See how people who heard Stephen responded with rage and killed him, though they knew what he was telling the truth, because they loved their sins more than truth:
Acts 7:54-57 (ESV)
Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. [55] But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. [56] And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." [57] But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.
If one truly believes the Gospel in a saving way, the person will not react in such a way, but react as Rahab did. See how Rahab acknowledged and feared God, saying: "The Lord your God, He is God in the heavens above and the earth beneath". Rahab was declaring to the spies that God of Israel was the only God in the whole world. Thus saving faith renounces all hope in other gods to embrace the one true God, who is Jesus Christ. True faith produces repentance, such as turning away from idolatry. And Rabab confessed that God was Israel was Lord, because she truly believed it in her heart:
Romans 10:9-10 (ESV)
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. [10] For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Also true saving faith leads to desperate plea for salvation. If one truly knows and believes that God is coming upon the earth to consume it and its evil works with eternal fire, one cannot but ask the Lord for salvation. If one has seen that God has provided a way of salvation by the sacrificial death of His only begotten Son, one cannot but pray to God that this sacrifice be counted to be his. See how Rahab demanded a "sure sign". She wasn't just satisfied with knowing that God of Israel was the Lord of the universe. She wasn't satisfied with a simple mental acknowledgement. She wanted a sure sign that she was going to be saved. She didn't want Israel to come invade and the soldiers not know who she was. Likewise the one who truly believes in the Gospel of Jesus Christ immediately cries out to the Lord for the true sign of salvation.
True saving faith is not satisfied with knowing simply that there was this nice Carpenter named Jesus who died, but true saving wants a definite "sure sign" of his salvation. The man with true saving faith calls out to the Lord Jesus that He save him, and that He know him, and that He give him a sure assurance of salvation. This is what Paul means when he says:
Romans 10:13 (ESV)
For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
And God gives us the assurance by the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is the living Guarantee that God gives to each believer who calls out the name of Jesus Christ in true faith:
2 Corinthians 5:5 (ESV)
He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
It is the Holy Spirit who bears witness that we are indeed the sons of God and tells us that we are not the sons of darkness:
Romans 8:16 (ESV)
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
It is also the Holy Spirit who applies the blood of the Lord Jesus to our souls. Just as Rahab was given the scarlet thread as an assurance of salvation, our another assurance of salvation is the shed blood of Jesus. By this we conquer every doubt whether we will be saved by Christ or no. Think of it: if a simple red thread was enough to save Rahab and her family from utter destruction, how much more shall the blood of the beloved Son of God be a sure sign for us that we shall not be harmed by the second death? His blood is sure sign for us, by this scarlet thread of His life shall we defeat the accusations of the devil:
Revelation 12:10-11 (ESV)
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. [11] And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death"
The devil could have said of Rahab, 'You are not an Israelite. You don't belong to this awesome army of God. You are the daughter of idolators. You are a Canaanite, a daughter of the very people that Noah cursed. And worse yet, you are a prostitute! You are the kind of people that God wants to destroy! You are vile, you are filthy, and God's fire will surely consume you. Do you think because you now believed in this God that He will save you?' Thus the devil could have gone on to Rahab the prostitute, but she held on to the promise of the spies, and pointed to the scarlet thread that was given to her. And she was saved and her whole house, because she simply believed in the Lord God.
Likewise, when the Devil accuses us with our sins before our God, let us point to the blood of Jesus Christ that has been applied to our souls. Let us point to the cross, on which our beloved Saviour was crucified with all our accusations. And thus we will overcome the devil's accusations, and be victorious. Jesus Christ crucified is the thread that we have hung around our doorposts by faith. And on Judgment Day, when the world ends, and Jesus Christ come back with thousands of His armies to judge the world, His judgment will pass over us, and we shall be saved, because we trusted in His mercy and grace, because we took Him by His word. Blessed be our Saviour, who gives us the assurance of eternal life through His own blood. Praise be to Jesus.
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