Let's Get Back to the Cross

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I was recently studying RIZPAH's story again in 2 Sam. She was Saul's concubine who bore him two sons who were hanged with 5 of Michal's sons, due to Saul's sin against the Gibeonites. Saul had broken a vow made by Joshua to the Gibeonites in slaying 85 of them. So God disallowed the blessing of rain to fall on Israel for three solid years during David's rule after Saul was dead. Once God told David the famine was for Saul's sin against the Giebeonites, he asked the Gibeonites what he could do to alleviate the issue, and bring God's blessing back to Israel. They demanded 7 of Saul's sons be given to them so they could be hanged David acquiesced.

Two of those 7 were Rizpah's boys. And the story goes that she stayed by the hanged dead boys for week after week, and scholars say it went on into the months. She drove away the birds and beasts from eating the corpses, and stayed there and would not leave.

Now, hanging in the bible always hints of the cross. Flags go up in my mind when I read about hanging, since Christ is said to have been "hanged" on the cross. These boys were not hanged by a noose, but rather from their hands on a gibbet... they were gibbeted. It's like Jesus hung from his hands on the cross.

After Saul was killed long before in a battle against the Philistines, the Philistines found him and his dead three sons and took them and beheaded him, then hanged their bodies on the Wall in Bethshan.

So, what was done to Saul in being HANGED was repeated with Saul's seven sons three years after famine struck, long after Saul was dead.

I always consider the hanging of Saul representative of our old man crucified with Christ. Saul's rule indicates the carnal rule of our old existence before the HANGING of the cross. David's rule reminds me of my Christian life.

And it is notable that Saul died the SAME DAY that three of his sons died.

If Saul represents the OLD MAN crucified when we get saved, what would his three sons represent, who died the same day?

1 Samuel 31:6 KJV So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together.

I think they can be said to be WORKS OF THE FLESH. Sons of the old man. His offspring. Some of our works of the flesh are taken away from us the same moment our sins are taken away when we got saved. My grandfather is a classic example of one whose legendary alcoholism was totally taken from him the same moment God filled Him with the Holy Ghost! I think something similar happens to us all when we first get saved.

But some of the SONS of the old man can hang onto us and did not die when we got saved. They are like carry-overs from our carnal existences before the hanging of the cross, and they are still around and act up every so often. Bad tempers. Attitudes. Carnality in many forms.

And GOD CANNOT BLESS LIKE HE WANTS when we manifest the works of the flesh after we are saved! Like Saul's seven other "sons", there are works of the flesh that we had before salvation and we still have them after salvation, and they hinder God from blessing us. The rains of God's blessings were held back from Israel because some of the sons of Saul were still alive.

Not only was Saul hanged, but the SAME FORM OF DEATH -- HANGING -- was implemented in order to rid Israel of his seven remaining sons.

In other words, the SAME CROSS that saved us from sin, and SOME of the works of the flesh when we got saved, is the SAME CROSS that will destroy the remaining works of the flesh in our lives since salvation.

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The cross is for more than getting us out of hell and taking our sins away. Gal 5:24 said that they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Some might ask if they are not Christ's people, since they have works of the flesh, and Gal 5:24 says the flesh and its affections and lusts are crucified. However, this does not mean we are not Christ's. But it does mean that the work is finished on the cross for every problem we'd ever have. However, unless we have FAITH FOR IT, we cannot enjoy the deliverance the cross affords from these things!

We had faith for God to take away our sins and some of the works of our flesh when we got saved. But we did not have faith for everything back then. No wonder, for we are born again as infants, spiritually, and need to grow and learn. And God understands that.

So, it is not until we have faith for the finished work of the cross to deal with these other works of the flesh, that we can enjoy freedom from and victory over them.

Rizpah wanted to come to grips with the hanging of her sons. Why her sons? Imagine this grieving mother's frustration, questioning, and anger! She stayed there staring at the corpses, trying to come to grips with it all, while driving away the scavengers.

This can represent the need for us to focus on the HANGING of the Cross, and try to come to grips with a revelation that the same cross that took away my sins at the start was enough to take away any remaining works of the flesh I still might struggle with. But in order to get FAITH so that I can see God BLESS me and give me victory, I have to focus on the truths of the cross until a revelation hits me and gives me that faith. Once I have that faith, God's power will kick in an deliver me from these remaining works of the flesh!

Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the WORD. We made agree with the Word but not truly have faith in what is says, as in Gal 5:24.

Galatians 5:24 KJV And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

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Often we read the Word and cannot believe God to help US in such situations where we need a miracle. It takes a miracle for us to get victory over the works of the flesh. So many never even think of this, and learn to live with their faults. Why did Gal 5:24 says we have the flesh crucified with its affections and lusts if we can only learn to live with our faults?

But it requires a focus on the truth of the Word regarding these things, and seek a revelation until we get one and it explodes in our hearts in faith!


Every time I got a miracle from God it was after PRAYING THROUGH, where I prayed until I got a boost of faith and KNEW God would work! It got revelation faith! A revelation of how Great God is suddenly hit me as I prayed and broke through the flesh barrier of unbelief!

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Rizpah drove away the birds and scavengers.

I researched the bible for similar instances and found these:

Genesis 15:10-11 KJV And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. (11) And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove 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.

The birds of the air represented the devil come to steal away THE WORD we do not comprehend. Why would the devil steal the Word we did not understand? If we did not understand it, what fear does the devil have of it working for us? The devil KNOWS we may not understand it NOW, but if it remains there, we will SOON understand it and get faith. So he wants to steal it away while we still do not comprehend it and as a result get faith because of it.

We do not obviously have a revelation of how the cross can overcome all our works of the flesh, if we have those works. Otherwise, we would not have them any more! But the devil knows that if we focus on the TRUTH OF THE CROSS (represented by Rizpah staring at her hanged boys in order to come to grips with it all), WE WILL SOON GET THE REVELATION and come to GRIPS WITH THE TRUTH, and be settled about it AND GET VICTORY.

So, Rizpah's driving away of the scavengers represents ensuring the devil does not take our minds off the WORD of the truth of the cross as we FOCUS. So often people do not get a truth in their hearts and so they get no faith for victory and they GIVE UP. They redirect their minds towards other things and think they have to live with their faults. No victory over those flaws, they think,

But, no! If God's Word says we can have victory through the CROSS, then we can! We just need to focus on that truth and seek a revelation that gives us faith to allow God to give us the victory! Victory from God requires our FAITH FOR IT! And we will FIND if we SEEK that revelation!

Finally, Rizpah got it settled in her heart, and came to grips with it and accepted the death of hers sons. The bible says that SHE LEFT WHEN THE RAINS FELL!

God cannot send blessings like rain on us if we have works of the flesh. Even when David first let the Gibeonites hang those seven boys, the rain still did not come. Just because the cross is a finished work and covered all the bases of even our works of the flesh, if we don't have FAITH in that, the blessings cannot come. We must persist in seeking revelation of the truth until we get it and have faith and THEN God will pour out the blessings of our deliverance and miracle! And we can live a blessed life!



I LOVE THE WORK OF THE CROSS!

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There is something to do with the need for us to realize the cross dealt with these works of the flesh as much as anything else it dealt with. It is a finished work. Finished work does not mean the work is finished IN US. It means nothing other than the 2000 year old work of the cross is required for every need we have. The means for the meeting any needs is accomplished. We can only enjoy this provision, and see our needs me, though, when we have faith in the fact that God supplied the need.

Here is where the idea of the hanging of both Saul and his three sons so many years ago, coincides with the need for the 7 remaining sons to likewise hang.

Since...

1) Christ died once on the cross...

2) The work of the cross was finished with His single death...

3) That cross supplied the victory over any problem, including works of the flesh, we might experience AFTER our salvation...

...then we can see how the same HANGING that crucified our old man through Christ's death is the HANGING that can deal the death-blow to the remaining works of the flesh we experience long after salvation.

Getting faith for God to give us the victory over such present problems is the key. And that faith must be, and can only be, towards the power of the original and only work of the cross. When we gain a revelation of this truth, we will wonder why we ever bothered to let such works of the flesh continue, for we finally -- at long last -- so clearly see how the remedy for our present problems has been in existence for 2,000 years and we have not tapped into it for those problems before!

Then when this faith strikes our spirits, we pray without doubting, and God's power moves upon us.

This does not mean we never have any more problems with the flesh and its works, but we are able to successfully rely upon the power of the Spirit in order to keep them inactive.

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Still loving the cross.

I recently read an awesome sermon by a preacher and hardly got partway through it when I just stopped at a powerful thought. He only mentioned it quickly. But here it is.

The priests took the ark and held it up while standing in the Jordan, until all the people passed through the river.

The name JORDAN means "descender". Christ died and descended in that death for us. And the church needs a priesthood of believers who can minister by standing in the depths of Christ's death (the same river where He was baptized, btw), and hold up the message of his death (Blood was sprinkled on the ark's mercyseat), until everyone passes through and grasps this death revelation! Upholding this truth occurs through teaching and preaching its revelation. People cannot move on to Kingdom resurrection living unless they have first grasped the fact they died with Christ. And Egypt was removed from the people when the elders over 20 years of age who doubted at Kadesh Barnea were dead and gone. These were the people who kept murmuring about going back to Egypt.

It was when they died, that the younger folks, who speak about the part of us that is born again, were ready to cross Jordan and enter the kingdom realm of the promised land. .

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Another thought recently...

Jael was a woman who slew the enemy's captain, Sisera, by driving a nail through his temple. In Judges 4.

This is significant. THE CARNAL MIND needs the truth of the cross driven into it, like a nail used to crucify Christ slew Him on the hill called THE PLACE OF THE SKULL, Golgotha/Calvary. Learning the truth slays the carnal mind. And the carnal mind is such a a weapon used by the devil that it is as though it were the devil's captain leading his evil and wickedness in our lives to keep us tormented and defeated.

The carnal mind cannot believe in co-death with Christ which is the starting point of where we came into union with Him to the point of being seated with him over all the power of the enemy. The carnal mind is only conscious of what the flesh relates to in the five senses. Since truth is something only our spirits can relate to, where we have faith etc., only the spiritual mind that is aware of these things and understands them can enjoy them. So carnally minded believers are defeated since they never rely upon their deaths with Christ and their subsequent seating with Him over all enemies for impetus to cause them to live a kingdom lifestyle and conquer the enemy!

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Jael's status as a woman shows God's power is used to defeat the enemy and not human power. He chose weak things to confound the wise, and ensure no flesh glory in His presence!

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Ehud stuck a two-edged dagger into Eglon, the fat enemy king who tormented Israel in Judges 3. EGLON stands as the canrality in our lives. FAT implies lots of flesh, which spiritually is the fleshliness in very carnal believers. Israel sinned and went against God DUE TO FLESHLINESS. And when Eglon, the fat king, tormented them for years, it represents how our fleshliness torments our lives as believers and puts us into bondage.

The two edged dagger was indicative of the SWORD OF THE SPIRIT! The Word. Sharper than any two edged sword.

Ehud was a BENJAMITE. He foreshadows Paul the apostle who was also a Benjamite. Paul's message SLAYS THE OLD MAN (Rom. 6:6), the carnality in our lives. The truth of the cross was Paul's message in Romans 6. Awesome message.

Carnal minds cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit such as the truths of our c-deaths with Christ which led to our co-burial, co=-resurrection and co-seating with Him in heavenly places. So the carnal believer remains bound. These truths of the cross are not materialistic thoughts. The carnal mind can only relate to the things of the material realm, and not the spiritual. We have to KNOW we were baptized into Christ's death so we can realize and comprehend that we are seated with Him in POWER OVER SIN. The carnal mind must be pulled out of its rut and made to learn the truths that are spiritual. And when these truths hit our spirits, like a dagger they kill the fat carnal man.

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Ehud was a left-handed man. A poor warrior. Like Jael, he was a weak vessel to show forth the victory as being of GOD and not himself.

But BENJAMIN, whose tribe Ehud was from, means "SON OF THE RIGHT HAND."

The truth is that God's RIGHT HAND (power), not man's, was the focused point of seeing a lefthanded "son of the right hand" conquer the enemy.

In fact, left-handed in Hebrew actually means IMPEDED IN THE RIGHT HAND. So, his right hand was damaged. God's RIGHT HAND speaks of God's KINGDOM POWER. Christ is seated at the right hand. It is a KINGDOM concept. And KINGDOM living occurs in a believer who knows the truths of the cross and keeps the OLD FLESHLY MAN DEAD, and lives victoriously as a result!