DETERMINED
TO UNDERSTAND
JANUARY 27, 2008
MF Blume
2 Samuel
21:1-10 Then there was a famine in the days of David
three
years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD
answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the
Gibeonites. And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto
them;
(now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the
remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto
them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of
Israel and Judah.) Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall
I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may
bless the inheritance of the LORD? And the Gibeonites said unto him, We
will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us
shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that
will I do for you. And they answered the king, The
man that consumed
us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from
remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, Let seven men of
his sons be
delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of
Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.
But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul,
because of the LORD'S oath that was between them, between David and
Jonathan the son of Saul. But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the
daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and
the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for
Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: And he delivered
them
into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill
before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to
death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of
barley harvest. And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and
spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until
water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds
of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
Hosea 6:1-3 Come, and
let us return unto the LORD: for he
hath torn,
and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
After
two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and
we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if
we follow on to
know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall
come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
A famine occurred in David's day
for three consecutive years.
- David sought God as to why Israel not blessed, but
cursed.
Lack of rain is a cursing:
Deuteronomy 28:24
KJV The LORD shall make the rain of thy
land
powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou
be destroyed.
Abundance of rain is blessing:
Deuteronomy 28:12
KJV The LORD shall open unto thee his good
treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and
to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many
nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
God informed him that Saul's family
had slain the Gibeonites after
Israel, in the days of Joshua, had made an oath with them.
Joshua 9:15
KJV And Joshua made peace with them, and made a
league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation
sware unto them.
Joshua 9:18-20 KJV And the children of Israel smote them
not,
because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the LORD
God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the
princes. (19) But all the princes said unto all the
congregation, We have sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel: now
therefore we may not touch them. (20) This we will
do to
them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the
oath which we sware unto them.
The Bible does not tell us anything
about this massacre other than the
Lord's word to David in 2 Sam 21:1.
David asked the Gibeonites what he
could do to settle the problem with
them so that God would bless Israel again.
Their response was:
2 Samuel 21:4-6
KJV And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will
have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt
thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will
I do for you. (5) And they answered the king, The
man that
consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed
from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, (6)
Let
seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up
unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king
said, I will give them.
Of these seven sons, Saul's
concubine, Rizpah, had given birth to two.
2 Samuel 21:8
KJV But the king took the two sons of Rizpah
the
daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and
the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for
Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
And Rizpah was distinctly noticed
in the Word of God to have been so
hurt and distraught -- the love of a mother shines through the pages of
the Holy Writ -- and we read:
2 Samuel 21:10
KJV And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took
sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of
harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered
neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of
the field by night.
Since the famine was affecting the
harvest, David chose to allow the
hanging on the second day of PASSOVER:
2 Samuel 21:9
KJV And he delivered them into the hands of the
Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they
fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest,
in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.
This connects us with the cross in
more ways than one.
- They were HANGED.
- Keil and Delitzsch noted the Hebrew reads:
“(As
for) the man who consumed us, and who thought against us, that we
should be destroyed, so as not to continue in the whole of the
territory of Israel, let seven men of his sons be given us, that we may
crucify them to Jehovah at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of
Jehovah.”
- And, Jesus hanged on a cross during the PASSOVER time
in Jerusalem.
Rizpah is our focus today.
- That sad and hurt and grieving mother sat there on a
sackcloth before her dead boys, glaring at their bodies and obviously
trying to come to grips with this issue and resolve the tragedy in her
heart... and she did it until we read the rains started to fall again
on Israel.
In this story, God brings together
the two pictures of a mother's
struggle with trying to UNDERSTAND, finally coming to realization and
resolution, and Israel's time of famine and the waiting period between
the time the hangings occurred and God finally came through as a result
of the hangings.
The moment Rizpah resolved the
problem after staring at the hangings
for much time and left, the rain started falling on Israel as well.
Scholars say that this amount of
time lasted from the beginning of
April until the rain came when the bodies would be removed.
Normally bodies could not be hanged
over a night:
Deuteronomy
21:22-23 KJV (22) And if a man have
committed a
sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on
a tree: (23) His body shall not remain all night
upon the
tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is
hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the
LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
But these men did not die for THEIR
sins but for their family's.
They had to hang until God was
satisfied.
- The land was already defiled!
Some Scholars believe this waiting
period was from April through to
October, when the latter rain came!
David was so moved by Rizpah's
efforts and sent for their bodies and
caused a proper burial to occur.
Rizpah came to grips with it all,
and David, who could easily have held
a grudge against Saul and his house, showed no signs of revenge, but
insisted on a proper burial.
2
Samuel 21:11-14 KJV And it was told David what Rizpah the
daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.
(12) And
David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son
from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of
Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines
had slain Saul in Gilboa: (13) And he brought up
from
thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they
gathered the bones of them that were hanged. (14)
And the
bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of
Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they
performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated
for the land.
BLESSING CAME!
Saul represents the OLD MAN of
flesh, which was our old lives before we
were saved.
- And SEVEN SONS represents FULLNESS of all of our old
man's existence.
- Flesh and Spirit were repeatedly contrasted with
pictures of men like Saul and David.
- One carnal and the other spiritual.
- Cain and Abel.
- Ishmael and Isaac.
- Judas and Jesus.
And the fact is that OUR OLD MAN
WAS CRUCIFIED WITH JESUS.
Romans
6:6 KJV Knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with
him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should
not serve sin.
Just as Saul's family put a curse
on Israel for sinning, ADAM cursed
the earth and mankind for his sin.
Romans
5:12 Wherefore, as by
one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned:
Romans
5:19 For as by one
man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made
righteous.
Our old lives are gone now, and
everything to do with them is gone, too!
When the cross took place, and we
believed and got saved, OUR OLD LIVES
ARE TOTALLY GONE.
WHAT DISPLEASED GOD IS FOREVER GONE
NOW!
But if we have not come to grips
with this and still are concerned for
what pleases God, GOD CANNOT BLESS.
- The rains continued to be kept from Israel for some
time after the boys were hanged.
- Rizpah was trying to come to grips with it all.
- She battled in her mind about it all.
- She tried to figure out why the hanging had to occur.
And there are SAVED PEOPLE who have
not come to grips with the full
purpose of the cross, and they ARE NOT BEING BLESSED.
- They LACK understanding, and are not accepting the
DEATH OF THE OLD MAN.
- They do not understand that what displeased God is
gone
forever, AND THEY TRY TO CONTINUE TO PLEASE HIM SO THEY CAN BE SAVED by
DOING GOOD DEEDS.
It took MUCH TIME from the point of
the hanging until the rains fell.
- Things were still being worked out.
- The hanging was finished.
- But PEOPLE had a problem.
A few weeks ago I preached this
passage:
Isaiah
53:10-11 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he
hath
put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he
shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the
LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail
of
his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
God is SATISFIED with the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
- BUT MANY PEOPLE ARE NOT.
- God is satisfied because He knows what was required
to satisfy Him and willed it to be done and it was done.
- But the reason people are not satisfied with the
cross is because THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT WAS REQUIRED TO SATISFY GOD.
Galatians
3:13-14 Christ hath
redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of
Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
And until their beliefs match the
truth of what satisfies God, THEY
CANNOT BE BLESSED.
The cross was the most important
thing to ever occur.
- No amount of good works of man can do this.
- GOD HAS TO DO THE WORK.
- And if we still think we have to please God to go to
Heaven
by preforming good deeds, then WE HAVE GIVEN GOD THE ULTIMATE INSULT.
- And we have not realized that what DISPLEASED GOD IS
NOW DEAD.
Rizpah sat there until SHE ABSORBED
THE WHOLE THING and finally clued
into the reality!
- And the rain fell.
- The blessings came!
You will not be blessed until you
come to grips with the fact that THIS
CROSS OF JESUS SATISFIED GOD so you could go to glory!
Look at the cross.
- Stare at it until it hits you.
- Until you get a revelation.
She had to drive away buzzards and
scavengers from the bodies.
- There are thoughts that come like birds of the air to
steal away the SEED OF GOD that He plants in your heart.
- You must drive them away.
Matthew
13:4 KJV And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the
way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
Matthew 13:19 KJV When any
one heareth the word of the
kingdom,
and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away
that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the
way side.
To understand it is to not allow
the wicked one to come and remove the
WORD.
- Preachers have preached such heinous errors that they
come to your mind like buzzards to devour your WORD FROM GOD.
- These demonic thoughts DEVOUR your revelation from
you.
- They are CONDEMNATION thoughts such as the demand for
good deeds to allow us to go to Heaven.
- They are condemning thoughts of how useless we are
and how no-good we are.
We have to learn that these things
are scavengers against our faith and
are meant to ruin our understanding of what the cross was really about.
Drive away condemnation, and
continue LOOKING TO THE TRUTHS OF THE
CROSS in God's Word.
- GIVE THAT SEED TIME TO GROW!
- It takes time!
- It needs to correct a lot of fallacies in your heart.
- It straightens out the struggle.
Before the word has a chance to
work in your heart, the devil wants to
get you all messed up, so you have to DRIVE HIM AWAY, like buzzards and
crows need to be driven away from a dead body.
- The devils are DRAWN to situations where the WORD has
gone
forth and will change the person into a hellfighting, soul-winning,
powerhouse for God's Kingdom!
The blessings do not come until you
agree with the purpose of the cross.
- If you are not being blessed, something is messed up
in your Christianity.
- You've got a wrong concept about something.
- You may even be giving in sacrifice to the work of
God, but for the wrong reason.
- You give out of fear of curse, when the CROSS
remedies the curse!
- You may give solely to be blessed!
- God uses that, but the greater more mature will of
God is to give BECAUSE YOU LOVE THE RECIPIENT OF THE GIFT, only!
You are trying to achieve what the
cross has already achieved!
- Being pleasing to God.
- You do not accept the DEATH!
- Rizpah could not accept the death of her sons!
- Until she accepted it she battled, most likely even
against God!
If you look at your past life and
know it did not please God and get
saved and try to please Him to make up for it all, YOU DID NOT ACCEPT
THE DEATH THAT ALREADY OCCURRED.
- If you KNEW the you that displeased God has died with
Jesus, and is GONE, then why worry about being unpleasing to God?
- God was satisfied with the death!
- With the cross!
- So GET THAT now, and MOVE ON to FAITH in the work of
the cross and do great things and be blessed!
- Get the HINDRANCE of unbelief out of the way and go
on to blessings!
Titus
3:5 KJV Not by works of righteousness which we have
done,
but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration,
and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
He saved us... NOT OUR WORKS.
Ephesians
2:8-10 KJV For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (9)
Not of
works, lest any man should boast. (10) For we are
his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them.
ARE WE THE WORKMAN, OR THE
WORKMANSHIP?
- The WORK is saving.
- The work is what gets us to heaven.
- If we are the WORKMAN, then we must do the works that
get us to heaven.
- But if we are the WORKMANSHIP, then someone else is
the one who works to get us to heaven.
- Who is it?
- "we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works".
"HIS WORKMANSHIP" tells us that the
WORKMAN is GOD, and NOT US!
We are not seeing our LAND blessed
because we never settled the WHY of
the Cross.
- We still battle with false doctrine that what we
dress like tells the world we are saved.
- We have that come back to us every now and then,
especially
when these erring people are around us for a while, because we never
really GOT the truth and revelation.
- If we really had the revelation, their condemnation
and words of accusation would fall off us like water from a duck's back.
- They would not affect us a bit.
- But when we WONDER and WORRY after, we never got a
heart changing revelation of the cross
- And God sees that and withholds his rain of blessing!
ABANDON SELF IMPROVEMENT!
Condemnation can take a flying leap
when we KNOW THE TRUTH!
But be BALANCED.
- Many people think ALL good works are what get them to
heaven.
- So when they learn their works do not do that, they
abandon ALL GOOD WORKS.
- But they lack the balance in knowing how GOOD WORKS
ARE DONE TO REACH THE LOST WORLD.
- Their only concern was getting to heaven over their
good
works, and they had such a hard time DOING THAT, that they learn truth
and forget about doing works TO REACH THE LOST.
- So anything they thought would get them to heaven,
that really is done to reach the lost, is abandoned.
- They do not care to come to church to learn and grow
spiritually by the Word to reach the lost.
- They do not give to see the church financed to be
able to do it's job, have services and reach the lost.
We can give no sacrifice to go to
heaven... but losing self at the
cross, and keeping self lost, but there is MUCH SACRIFICE STILL NEEDED
TO REACH THE LOST!
Another symptom of why no blessing
exists are things that CONTRADICT
THE CROSS OF SACRIFICE in our lives.
- Grudges against people.
- Words that rise every so often that show lack of
forgiveness.
- The cross means YOU DIED.
- Self concern is GONE.
- Sacrifice means self denial.
- Deny self's desire to get back by hurting people
through words about them to others.
- God not only judged your being displeasing to Him,
but also judges these evildoers.
- EVEN IF YOU WERE IN THE RIGHT.
You never understood CRUCIFIXION of
yourself yet.
Stare at the cross -- glare at the
truths until YOU GET THE REVELATION!
Paul never gloried in all the
awesome works he did as a Christian.
Galatians 6:14
KJV But God forbid that I should glory, save
in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto
me, and I unto the world.
The blessings cannot come until you
GET IT.