Joshua 2:8-9a, 12, 13b-14, 17
“Before the spies lay down for the night, [Rahab] went up on the roof and said to them, ‘…please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family because I have shown kindness to you.  Give me a sure sign that you will…save us from death.’  ‘Our lives for your lives!’ the men assured her… ‘This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down…’”

Mark 15:1
“Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision.  They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.”

Isaiah 1:18
“‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord.  ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’”

Lord God, your word is the sure promise of a coming salvation.

While we faced death in a scarlet city, you planned a rescue.  The blood-stained ropes lashed round Christ’s wrists bore the taint to make our hearts white as snow.

Help us trust that only the crimson cord will save us.  By obedience to your commands may we demonstrate our hope in you.  Remember us when you come again, O Lord.

Our prayer is lifted in the name of Jesus, the innocent bound to free the guilty.

Listen to ‘Nothing But the Blood‘ by Ish