Rizpah -- Communion — Hans R. Waldvogel

Rizpah and the Famine in David’s Reign

Then there was a famine in the days of David, three years, year after year. And David inquired 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. But the king took the two sons of Resba, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armonai, and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michael, it really should read Merab, the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel, the son of Bartholai, 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 Resba, 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.

And it was told David what Resba, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. Now I declare that this is a very queer text for a Good Friday talk, but I think it's a very wonderful text. We all have a job to do tonight, and this job is given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Showing Forth the Lord’s Death at Communion

He says, Thus shall He show forth the Lord's death till He comes. I'm so glad that tonight we all are called and all are invited to the table of the Lord. Hallelujah. And that this is communion indeed, not just communion with one another, but communion with Jesus Himself, else it wouldn't have any meaning, else there wouldn't be any blessing in it.

But He said, I will sup with Him and He with me. And that's going to take place tonight, and thus every time we come to the communion table, and it says, Thus shall He show forth the Lord's death. And every one of us has that job tonight.

Every one. God Almighty is looking upon every one of us. But here we read that it was told King David what Risbe had done. What did she do? Why, she did something very interesting. Heaven had decreed the sentence of death upon the whole land.

Sin, Death, and Humanity’s Need for Atonement

Famine. Three years of famine meant death to thousands of people. And David finally inquired of the Lord, Why has heaven decreed death upon my people? And the answer was given, It was because of the old man.

Because of the old king. In our case, because of Adam. Because death reigned over all of humanity from Adam until Jesus rose from the dead. And even those who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, yet they were all their lifetime subject to the fear of death, or subject to bondage because of the fear of death.

Death came upon all men. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if all of humanity, if our scientists who are trying to develop new weapons of destruction, who work day and night.

Suppose our theologians, our theological conventions, instead of coming together and discussing the best brand of tobacco for their pipes, if they would come together and say, What's the matter with us?

Why is it that death has climbed up in our windows? Why is it that today, after thousand years of civilization, the world is facing annihilation? Only two days ago, Lowell Thomas announced that this atomic science has brought a terrifying aspect to this world.

And that today Russia and the United States are stockpiling atomic weapons so that neither of them are able to annihilate the whole human race. It's an awful outlook, isn't it? And if men today would inquire of the Lord and say, What is the matter?

Why is it that death reigns today? In spite of our scientific knowledge and our attainment. That would be wise. And they would quickly get an answer from God. The Bible would say to them, All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

And when they thought themselves to be wise, they became fools. And the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Haven't we seen that? They started out with a club, hitting each other over the head with a club.

And then they invented firearms. And they said, Now this is going to end all wars. I tell you they're going to be scared to come with their muskets. But they came with their muskets. And after a while they invented the machine gun.

And then they said, Now this is going to end all wars. Who in the world is going to dare attack an enemy when he knows that the enemy has a machine gun too? But they did it. And then they went and they invented gas warfare.

And then they invented artillery such as we've never seen before. And then one man by the name of Professor Noble invented dynamite. And then they said, Now surely wars are going to cease. And beloved they will never cease until the human heart is cured.

Until men inquire of the Lord and say, What is the matter? And David said, God, what's the matter? And God said, It's because of that murderous man. It's because of that first king of Israel. Heaven has decreed death.

The Sons of Saul and the Meaning of Atonement

And David said, And what is the solution? And what is the atonement that I can make in order to lift this curse from the earth and from my people? And so he was told what to do. It required the death of the sons of Saul.

They had to die as an atonement for the sins of the old man, the king. And the Bible says they all fell together, seven of them. Can you imagine such a fall? You've never seen anybody hanged. It's a gruesome sight.

And when the seven of them fell through the trap and fell down upon the rock to be eaten by the wild beasts and by the birds of prey, something happened. Rip the mother of two of them. She came with sackcloth.

She came with mourning. She came with repentance. Why is this story in the Bible? Because it points the way to life to all of us. And there she mourned. Not only that, but she showed forth the death of these seven, this atonement.

And she stayed there day and night. And she expected something. She expected the thing that had to happen. It simply had to happen. Heaven that had decreed death was now reconciled. The atonement had been made.

Heaven had to send the blessing. And Rispa knew that. And so she stayed there. And she repented. And she kept these bones. As a sight before heaven, she didn't allow the beasts at night, nor the birds of the air to fall upon them.

But she shoved them away. She became the watchman or the watchwoman. And she watched these bones. And heaven had to look down and see the atonement that was made. And had to send down the blessing. And she stayed there until rain came down from heaven upon her sackcloth and upon these slaves.

Communion as Proclamation of Christ’s Sacrifice

And that's what God tells us tonight. Ye show forth the Lord's death. Do you know what the Lord's death means to you? Do you know why he said, This is my body. This is my body, but that is not all. He says, drink ye all of it.

This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is given for you. This body is broken for you. And you and I are to show forth the Lord's death. Oh, for the faith of Rispa. Instead of weeping and lamenting, she said, Now, now the famine's over.

Now the sons have died. Now the atonement has been made. And you and I are to show forth the Lord's death by taking with faith that which God offers us. It is Jesus, the resurrected glorified Son of God who invites us tonight to his table and to eat his flesh and drink his blood.

And when you eat his flesh and drink his blood, you show forth the Lord's death and you show to the Father that you've accepted the atonement. Hallelujah. And he'll show you that he has accepted the atonement.

He can't help himself for he pronounced the sentence of death. He said, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Let alone your rosaries and your masses and all this religious performance. They sought day and night to make themselves righteous before God and they did not attain to it.

Justification Through Christ Rather Than Religious Works

For whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh and is enmity against God. But now, hallelujah, he doesn't leave us there. He says, being justified freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and tonight, he wants you and me to come to the table of the Lord fully conscious of the fact that the sentence of death has already been executed.

That Jesus, my Savior, hallelujah, took upon himself the sins of Adam and the sins of the Adamic race. My sin, my sin. Oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole. Oh, if men would believe.

How many celebrate communion tonight and don't believe? Rest for belief. She stuck it out. She stayed there. She couldn't be moved. And it was told David what she had done. You remember how one time when a great crowd surrounded Jesus and they crushed him.

Suddenly he stopped and he said, somebody touched me. Who touched me? And Peter, who always had his mouth ready. No wonder they made the first pope out of him. He says, what's the matter with you? They crush you.

They nearly break your ribs and you say, who touched me? Beloved, that was a different time. It was told David what Rizbe had done and it resulted in a wonderful performance by David. A wonderful funeral service.

Christ’s Suffering, Healing, and Deliverance

It was told Jesus. He felt it. Jesus Christ is here tonight and he said, with great desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Oh, the sufferings of Jesus. He can never be satisfied until he shall see of the travail of his soul.

Then he shall be satisfied and where shall he see of the travail of his soul but in those for whom he died, for whom he suffered. Oh, when you and I accept that suffering and that atonement, something happens.

Heaven will drop down the blessing. Glory to God. And this woman, as soon as she touched the hem of his garment, she felt she was healed. The plague was gone. She was delivered suddenly and instantly.

Praise God. Then she had only touched the hem of his garment. What was the difference? What is the difference in you tonight? Are you showing forth the Lord's death? Do you realize that he died for you?

Do you realize that he himself had to suffer in your place, that you might not suffer, that you might be delivered? Glory to God. Where at all shall I make an atonement? David said. This famine is eating up my people.

The atonement was made and heaven gave its blessing. And thank God, Jesus Christ, that this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. He was nailed to the cross for me. Who touched me? Oh, how many times have we discovered that in our communion service people get saved, they get healed, they get delivered.

Chains are broken. Sicknesses are taken away. Many, many times it's happened. The most marvelous victories have God given us. The woman came. She had three tumors. And when she took the wine, those tumors disappeared.

She felt three currents going through her body. They were gone. Praise God. Do you think that you can hang on to your tumor or your ulcer? Do you think? Sure, you can hang on to it if you want to. But I tell you, somebody that took it upon himself.

Surely himself took our infirmity and bared our sickness. Look upon the Lamb of God tonight and show forth his death boldly and stand before your God and say, God, I know that if he died for all, then we're all dead.

And that he died for all the day which lives should henceforth not live unto themselves. Oh, hallelujah. I like that word. For whenever ye eat this flesh and drink this blood or eat this bread and drink this wine, ye do show forth the Lord's death.

I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And tonight every one of us has a job to take by faith what Jesus Christ has purchased for us and what the Father so freely gives us except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you.

But tonight there's life for a look at the crucified one. Can you see Arista sitting there with a sackcloth looking up to heaven? Heaven looking down and seeing the bones of the slain. Heaven couldn't help himself at all.

He couldn't. He couldn't. He had decreed death and now he had decreed the atonement. He had written the bill. He said, when that bill is paid, why then the blessing will come. And so God Almighty, hallelujah, he said, whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life and these signs shall follow them that believe.

Believe! Oh, let us come tonight in a new way to the table of the Lord. Let us say this bread which we bless is the communion of the body of Christ and Jesus will say, take, eat. This is my body broken for you, for you, for you.

Testimonies of Healing at the Communion Table

If tonight we could ask for testimonies of all those who have received a wonderful touch from heaven, be surprised. I know some of them. I know some that were slated for death. I know a woman who came in here dying with a cancer and she said, if I can get to that communion service, I'll be healed.

The nurse says, you can't go, that'll be your end. If you get out into that cold weather, she said, I'm going. She came, she was healed. Years ago, she's healed today. A man in Germany whom Wally and I met last summer who was despairing because of his condition.

He had fallen so low that he thought there was no help for him. Now we get the report that a while ago, a few months ago, he had a broken leg and a cast and he said, if I can get to that communion service, I know God will heal me.

And he managed somehow to get there and then he took off the cast and was healed to the amazement of the doctor. And that has resulted in the healing of others. Beloved, we're to show for something. Glory to God.

Coming Boldly to the Table of the Lord

One died for all. Hallelujah. But he rose again and tonight he invites us all to come and have supper with him. Glory to God and he with us. And if you'll let him minister to you tonight, the bread and the wine, he'll minister life to you.

Oh, let us satisfy his great heart tonight by believing God. Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace. We have boldness and access with confidence by the face of him and when you come like that, he can't help himself.

Why, he himself is the atonement. Thank God. He himself is that bread of heaven and he himself is that wine of the kingdom. Glory to God and here it is that invites us to come to this table that is bread.

Praise God in the face of our enemies.