TRUE TOKEN

TRUE TOKEN. Joshua 2:12. “Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, that you also will show kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token.”

There in the window, high on the wall, hangs a scarlet cord! Is it an advertisement, a sign, or a symbol? It is the only window on the wall showing scarlet, and it is at Rahab’s house. She has a reputation, but despite comments and criticism, it remains there, easily seen but not understood by many as a testimony to her faith. Those who truly understood knew what it meant, so it didn’t matter what others thought. It was observed by all the silent marchers following the horns—“Eyes right!” And when the city fell, the scarlet token stayed there—and all inside that house.

After the flood, for Noah to see, there was a cleansed earth with new growth everywhere as feet trod on the trackless ground. The ark, a large work of humans' hands, sat in the background, but it was not the true symbol. An altar still smoking from the offering made to God in thanksgiving for deliverance was not the true symbol either. There, high above, like a half-circle for all to see for thousands of years to come, was the symbol of brilliant colors. “Eyes up!” The beauty of the rainbow promises a past judgment that will never come in the same way again.

On the fourteenth day of the first month, in the evening, a door frame and a lintel were painted red—blood red, as the firstborn watched anxiously, knowing it was a matter of life and death. Inside the house, the ceremonial meal was eaten, with everyone dressed for travel. It wasn’t the meal or the clothes that served as the token, but what was outside on the doorpost and lintel that was the true sign. “Eyes ahead!” Here before you is evidence of a sinless life given so the oldest child would not die. The bloodshed, applied as God instructed, was the real sign.

Twelve rods were arranged according to the tribes’ age in front of God. To the natural eye, they probably looked very similar. Not all of those rods signified God’s approval. It was no random choice that He made. The rebels’ rods remained the next morning, looking the same as before, but Aaron’s rod had budded, blossomed, and produced almonds as a genuine sign from within the tabernacle. “Eyes inward!” God had said, a true sign of approval.

A letter is read to the gathering in Thessalonica, offering warning words. Could all of these warnings be true? The dangers of ignoring God are clearly explained. Not knowing God, disobeying the Gospel, rejecting the love of the truth, refusing to believe the truth, and taking pleasure in sin are reasons why people who know the Gospel might not be saved from the coming judgment. Some may have looked at each other and wondered, “Is this really from God?” The words on the page stay the same until the end of the letter. Then there is proof. “Eyes down!” Paul’s handwriting and signature appear as a genuine token.