Surprised by Grace

One of the hardest questions that skeptics often ask about the Bible is: How could a good God command the Israelites to kill the people of Canaan, including women and children?

It certainly isn’t cheerful to read these verses: “But of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you” (Deut. 20:16, 17).

Just before attacking the mighty city of Jericho, Joshua commanded his army, “Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it” (Joshua 6:17). The Hebrew word translated as “doomed to destruction” is herem, which the King James Version translates as “accursed,” and the Septuagint as anathema.[1] In the Middle Ages anathema was a dreaded word used to censure perceived heretics, which entailed excommunication and execution.

This tyrannical and persecuting spirit is, sadly, the dominant picture of Christianity that many non-believers have today. Even worse, they think it is based on the Bible, and understandably so, as Scripture is often quoted (including the above verses) by Christians to justify their cruelty in the past as well as in the present. Such Christians often have something in common with the skeptics—they view God as cruel, unloving, and lacking compassion.

The skeptics, however, choose not to believe in such a God, and this is what I, along with millions of other Bible-believing Christians, have in common with them—I don’t believe in such a God either. Or as Ty Gibson has said in a similar conversation with a nonbeliever: “With regards to such a tyrannical god, I’m an atheist too—I don’t believe he exists.”[2] It is a grave misrepresentation of God’s true character, as well as of the biblical narrative, including the book of Joshua.

A Surprising Place

While I will not go into details why the narratives about taking the Promised Land are often misunderstood,[3] I do want to focus on what follows Joshua’s command: “Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent” (Joshua 6:17).

Wait, hadn’t God already said in Deuteronomy that all Canaanites were under herem, devoted for destruction, anathema, cursed? After all, what hope is there for a nation that practiced child sacrifice in the thousands (if you don’t believe me, google tophets), whose worship services were sexual orgies, where unspeakable violence, incest, bestiality, necromancy, and many other ways of direct communication with demons were common practices? Yet living among them was a woman named Rahab, who was saved.

Grace was found in a surprising place.

A Surprising Background

Rahab’s background, profession, and lifestyle were far from pleasing to God. Just read aloud the beginning of the memory verse for this week’s Sabbath School lesson: “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish” (Heb. 11:31). Not something we would want our kids shouting in the neighborhood.

Still, it is what the Bible says. She is listed among the heroes of faith with the likes of Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Joseph, and Moses. Even Joshua is not mentioned by name (see Heb. 11:30), but “the harlot Rahab” is! Some of us would have at least skipped mentioning her background. Not the Bible.

Grace was found in a surprising background.

A Surprising Moment

I am sure Rahab did not stay the same after she was saved. But when did she exercise saving faith? Was it after changing her lifestyle, after moving away from the bad place, after experiencing a few years of sanctification? No, it was while she was working as a prostitute in an utterly corrupt city.

She was receptive to the working of the Holy Spirit upon her heart in that very moment. It was not much, compared to what a sanctified lifestyle should be, yet it was enough for her to exercise saving faith. God did not wait a bit longer for her to change so that He could save her. He responded to the faintest exercise of faith on her part. And He implanted that faith in the first place while she was living that broken life.

Grace was found in a surprising moment.

I Waited for a Change

And this is where we often err. We wait for ourselves to become better, holier, more sanctified, and more righteous before we dare to exercise saving faith in Christ. A decade and a half ago, years before I decided to study theology, I had to learn that hard lesson.

I thought God could not accept me before I became better. I felt I’d turned my back on Him because I hadn’t sided with a group that was very critical of the Adventist Church and its perceived apostasy—and this amplified all my feelings of unworthiness. It produced long months of spiritual gloom and depression. I felt as if my life at that time was merely a waiting room for that fiery lake, as if I was herem, devoted for destruction.

Then I came across Selected Messages, book 1, and I began reading chapter 54: “The Subject Presented in 1883,” which was actually Ellen White’s sermon to the Seventh-day Adventist ministers assembled at the General Conference (GC) in Battle Creek, Michigan. In the years leading up to the controversy of the 1888 GC Session, White was already working diligently to steer Adventist leaders away from the legalistic religion they were falling into.

Faith is relying on God alone. And the way we do that is by trusting His Word.

Her written sermon urged me to “look to Christ and live” without first waiting for some kind of change within myself. Yet I couldn’t believe this for myself, fearing that Satan would deceive me into thinking that I’d repented while I hadn’t. I believed Christ had died for the sins of human beings, but I couldn’t feel this applied to me personally.

“There Are No Victories in This Kind of Faith”

The next morning I read that chapter again, including such statements as:

“My brethren, are you expecting that your merit will recommend you to the favor of God, thinking that you must be free from sin before you trust His power to save? If this is the struggle going on in your mind, I fear you will gain no strength, and will finally become discouraged.”[4]

“If you are conscious of your sins, do not devote all your powers to mourning over them, but look and live [referring to the brazen serpent as a type of Christ on the cross]. . . . Jesus has pledged His word; He will save all who come unto Him. Come to Jesus, and receive rest and peace. You may have the blessing even now.”[5]

“Repentance, as well as forgiveness, is the gift of God through Christ. . . . Some who come to God by repentance and confession, and even believe that their sins are forgiven, still fail of claiming, as they should, the promises of God. . . . While they think they are committing themselves to God, there is a great deal of self-dependence. There are conscientious souls that trust partly to God, and partly to themselves. They do not look to God, to be kept by His power, but depend upon watchfulness against temptation, and the performance of certain duties for acceptance with Him. There are no victories in this kind of faith.”[6]

Yet I still couldn’t believe. I still waited for some wonderfully felt repentance.

A Surprising Phone Call at 7:00 a.m.

And then my phone rang. It was a good brother in Christ, then a theology student at the Adriatic Union College in Maruševec, now a faithful Adventist pastor. He didn’t have a clue what I was reading, but said to me, “I was just praying, and I had an impression that I should call you and tell you this: Look and live! Don’t wait for repentance—you don’t have time for that. Just rely on the merits of Jesus; rest in God’s mercy!” Precisely what I was reading and struggling to believe!

Even now, as I write this, I feel goosebumps at this miraculous, surprising grace! For the first time, I believed in the merits of Christ, applied to me personally—that what He did on the cross was enough to atone for my sinfulness. My faith went in full confidence to Him as my intercessor in the heavenly sanctuary, knowing that in Him my righteousness is secure from all earthly corruption.

It was as if a long-raging storm inside my mind was hushed that very moment, and there was silence, peace, and joyful confidence in God’s mercy and in Christ as my righteousness.

And this is where we often err. We wait for ourselves to become better, holier, more sanctified, and more righteous before we dare to exercise saving faith in Christ.

A Surprising Method

How could I claim this grace despite my faults? The same way Rahab could—by relying on a promise. All she could do was tie the scarlet cord in the window and rely on the promise of the Israelite spies that she would be saved, just as the Israelites were saved during that terrible night in Egypt when they put the blood of the lamb on the side posts and lintels of their doors. Rahab simply said, “According to your words, so be it” (Joshua 2:21).

This is the method: relying on God’s Word. The more emotional among us are waiting for some kind of special religious feelings or overwhelming repentance to believe that God has accepted us. The more legalistic among us are waiting for some kind of special spiritual attainments and character change to believe that God has accepted us. Many of us combine the two false beliefs. We think it must be something that we can sense or measure. But that is not faith. That is pure reliance on ourselves, clothed in religious sentiments.

Faith is relying on God alone. And the way we do that is by trusting His Word. If He says, “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37, ESV), we are not to act as if He is calling only those who are changed or worthy instead of “whoever.” That is not faith.

When He says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9), we should not seek additional proofs that we are forgiven (e.g., receiving absolution from a human being) or try to first see the cleansing in our life before we believe God will do it. That is not faith.

Faith is much simpler, surprisingly simple: Taking God at His word.

Grace is claimed by a surprising method.

A Surprising Future

When Rahab believed in Israel’s God that day, she couldn’t have imagined how her future life would end up looking. Instead of being a prostitute in an utterly corrupt city, she not only joined the people of God but also had an incredibly important role in its future.

The Lord had warned the Israelites about the Canaanite women: “Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods” (Deut. 7:3, 4). Yet Rahab turned to the one true God and married Salmon from the tribe of Judah.

Why is this significant? Salmon and Rahab had a son named Boaz, who married Ruth, with whom he had Obed, who was the father of Jesse. Yes, that Jesse, whose son was King David! But it does not end here. We know that King David was the ancestor of Jesus Christ, and the Gospel of Matthew does not shy away from explicitly mentioning Rahab along with Salmon in the genealogy of Jesus (Matt. 1:5; cf. Luke 3:32). The pagan prostitute Rahab became the ancestor of the Savior of the world! Even now, as our Brother in humanity forever, the King of the universe is carrying her genes!

In a related story (Joshua 9), the Gibeonites (the Canaanite people who deceived Joshua) were surprised by grace, which transformed their curse into a blessing of serving in the Temple for centuries, including its rebuilding after the Babylonian captivity (Neh. 7:25). Canaanites in the very center of the worship of the one true God—that is a surprising future!

But the surprising future did not end 2,000 years ago. To the Laodicean who trades his own poor righteousness for the richness of Christ’s spotless righteousness, Christ promised, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne” (Rev. 3:21)! How could we ever deserve sitting on the throne with Jesus? Never! It can be only the grace of God.

A millennium later He will return to earth for good and choose this planet for His capital city and His throne (Rev. 21-22). Imagine that—a theater of unspeakable horrors, the only planet that rejected God and brought Him inexplicable suffering, is the place God is choosing for His residence and His throne!

Is there a more surprising future? Is there a more encouraging thought?

Grace is bringing a surprising future.

You Don’t Have Time for Waiting to Become Better!

If God can do that with the whole cursed planet, why do you think your heart is too corrupt, too cursed, for God to choose to reside and establish His throne in it? He wants to do it at this very moment!

Don’t wait to experience some big change. Don’t wait to feel deep repentance, “not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” (Rom. 2:4, ESV). Let Him be kind to you the way you are now!

You don’t have time for waiting. Now is the moment to let yourself be surprised by grace! And that grace will bring everything else with it, including change and a future you could never dream of.

You will be surprised, time and again, by the grace in your own life, as well as in the lives of others you had deemed cursed. They can be saved. You can be saved. Just as Rahab was. Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Take Him at His word and come!

[1] The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Old Testament produced more than 2,200 years ago by the Alexandrian Jews and is often quoted in the New Testament.

[2] See youtu.be/kJFbRhLx6Ic.

[3] For that topic, I recommend Paul Copan, Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2011).

[4] Ellen G. White, Selected Messages (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1958, 1980), book 1, p. 351.

[5] Ibid., p. 352.

[6] Ibid., p. 353.