Our God is a promise-making and a promise-keeping God. No one can read the Bible without becoming aware that it is filled with His promises.
God prepared the groundwork for sending His Son to be our Savior long before Jesus was born on earth. His selection of the people in Jesus' ancestry is in many cases unimpressive. Matthew lists five women in Jesus' lineage: Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah, who prostituted herself to him; Ruth, a heathen woman; Bathsheba, who committed adultery with David; Mary, Jesus' mother, a simple peasant girl; and Rahab, a prostitute.
In the first part of this study, we learned how the Israelites camped on the eastern side of the Jordan River as they waited for God's instructions for the taking of Canaan, the land they had been promised many years before. Spies that had sneaked into the land met with Rahab, a prostitute who believed in their mission.
Do you ever wish that God hadn't given us free will? That He would just control our minds? That we could be obedient to Him without all the struggles and temptations to do otherwise? However, that is not the way God in His wisdom decided to do things. Good relationships include freedom. God gives us free will, but He also gives us the tools we need to help us be obedient to Him.
Why is the resurrection of such prime importance in the Christian faith? Why is Easter our most important Christian holiday, even more important than Christmas.