Laity:
Please
explain this phrase with scriptures “the branch saved the tree”
Teacher:
Her siblings
would surely have been grateful. Why wouldn’t they be? She spoke on their behalf
and that discussion has saved their lives. As it were, their fate hung by a
thread or better put, a red rope.
Imagine her
walking up to one of her relatives and saying “you need to be in my house before
the end of this week if you want to live. Those men marching around the city
will eventually gain access and kill everyone except those in my house”. If
that relative thinks to himself “who does this harlot think she is? Does she
expect us to just ignore her lifestyle and take her advice? No way!”. Well, whilst bleeding to death, he
would remember her words as he looks through his door to see the same men that took other lives, shielding members of the
family; led by Rahab, as they were being taken safely out of Jericho.
Some family
trees have branches we are not particularly proud of but if we endeavour to walk
in love, who knows, they might just be the branch that will save the tree.
Speaking
of branches, I’m reminded of another Branch that saves. The red we see is not a
rope but His Blood. Those that are under the covering of His Blood are the only
ones truly safe.
Got
Jesus?
Text:
Joshua 2:12-13,
17-20 MSG
12-13 “Now
promise me by God. I showed you mercy; now show my family mercy. And give me
some tangible proof, a guarantee of life for my father and mother, my brothers
and sisters—everyone connected with my family. Save our souls from death!”
17-20 The
men told her, “In order to keep this oath you made us swear, here is what you
must do: Hang this red rope out the window through which you let us down and
gather your entire family with you in your house—father, mother, brothers, and
sisters. Anyone who goes out the doors of your house into the street and is
killed, it’s his own fault—we aren’t responsible. But for everyone within the
house we take full responsibility. If anyone lays a hand on one of them, it’s
our fault. But if you tell anyone of our business here, the oath you made us
swear is canceled—we’re no longer responsible.”
Joshua 6:21-25
CEV
They
killed everyone, men and women, young and old, everyone except Rahab and the
others in her house. They even killed every cow, sheep, and donkey.
Joshua
said to the two men who had been spies, “Rahab kept you safe when I sent you to
Jericho. We promised to protect her and her family, and we will keep that
promise. Now go into her house and bring them out.”
The two
men went into Rahab’s house and brought her out, along with her father and
mother, her brothers, and her other relatives. Rahab and her family had to stay
in a place just outside the Israelite army camp. [e] But later they were
allowed to live among the Israelites, and her descendants still do…
John
3:16-18 MSG
16-18
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son.
And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone
can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending
his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was.
He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is
acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death
sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to
believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
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