Jentezen Franklin - Spirit of Rizpah
Hello, and welcome to Kingdom Connection. I wanna wish all of the beautiful mothers out there a happy Mother’s Day. My mother turned 89 this year, and I tell you what, she’s full of energy and full of spunk and she loves the Lord. She raised me and my brothers and sisters to love the Lord with all of our heart. And thank God for mothers. And mom, if you’re watching today, happy Mother’s Day. Today, I’m going to show you a word picture of one of the greatest moms. This is not your typical Mother’s Day message. I want you to tune in. And even if you’re not a woman and not a mother, this message and the principle of it is profound, and it will change your life. It’s the story of a woman named Rizpah. She didn’t have much status, but she had something far more important; she knew how to fight for her family. Let’s go right into this service today. The spirit of Rizpah, as you watch this, I believe is going to encourage you to believe for your family like never before.
2 Samuel 21, and I’ll begin reading with verse 4. «And the Gibeonites said to him, 'We have not silver or gold, '» we don’t want silver or gold, «From Saul or from his house, nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us.' So he said, 'Whatever you say, I will do.'» Verse 6, he said, «Let seven men of the descendants,» speaking of the descendants of Saul, «Be sent and we will hang them before the Lord in Gibeah, whom the Lord chose.' And the king said, 'I’ll give them to you.'» And verse 9 says that he gave them to them, and then comes the first mention in verse 10 of a woman by the name of Rizpah, who was one of Saul’s concubines. And she had five sons that were delivered over to the Gibeonites at the command of the Gibeonites.
«And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on a rock, from the beginning of harvest until the late rains poured from heaven. She did not allow the,» I love this, «She did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night,» to devour them. «David was told what Rizpah,» and David was told. Who’s David? David’s the king. «And David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done». Now notice this. «And David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan,» and I’ll sum it up in the 13th verse. «And he brought all of the bones of the sons that were hanged, and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged,» verse 13.
Verse 14, «They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of Kish with his father. So they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God heeded the prayer for the land». So, read a lot of scriptures and I’ll just sum up what was taking place. But this is a pretty amazing story in the Old Testament you don’t hear a lot about. And I wanna speak to you today. I wanna call this sermon, «The Spirit of Rizpah». The Spirit of Rizpah. And I’m praying that God will make every one of you daughters of Rizpah, that that spirit of Rizpah that I’m gonna preach about will be reproduced even in this room, and those who will hear this and you will leave here with a spirit on you that you didn’t have when you came.
The scripture said that Saul had sinned by, and I won’t, I’m gonna sum this story up. The Gibeonites were a tribe that had joined Israel. They were not Jewish, but they had joined Israel. And Joshua had made a covenant with them. Moses had made a covenant with them. And all these years, that covenant had been kept. And when Saul became king, he did not keep the covenant, and it displeased God greatly because God is a God of covenant. And in return, when the Gibeonites had the power, they wanted revenge on Saul and his family for many of their families had been slaughtered. And so, in requirement, a payment, they would not take silver, they would not take gold. They said, «To pay for what Jonathan and David and the family line,» or I should say, «What Saul and Jonathan’s family line has done to us, we want his descendants».
And so, they got all of the sons of Saul, really five of them, and the two grandsons, this is a horrible story, and they hung them to death. And then something strange happens. Rizpah takes a quilt, a garment, she lays it on a rock, and for three months, some say even four months, but the time of the harvest basically is three months. She stayed night and day where her babies, her son’s bodies were suspended between heaven and earth. They were hanging, suspended between heaven and earth. Between heaven and hell. Between the heavens and between what was beneath the earth. And the scripture said that she would not allow the fowl or the birds, the vultures to land and destroy what was left of her children even though they were decaying right before her eyes. She would even, the scripture gives detail, fight off the beasts by day.
The jackals, the coyotes, the whatever, the wolves, and beasts of the field. She would literally fight them off of her babies, her family, her seed, and she stayed there fighting the fowl, fighting the beast at night and the birds during the day. In the parable that Jesus taught, the birds that come to steal the seed that is planted are demonic spirits. And so, she’s fighting in the night season, the fowl off. She’s fighting as a mother, she’s fighting as a woman, she’s fighting for her family. In the day, the wild beasts come and she’s putting herself in between the bad situation that her children are in, she’s fighting the beast off. She’s saying in her heart as she sits and camps out on that rock. She laid it on a rock. The church is a rock. The Bible is a rock. Jesus is a rock. «I refuse to give up the bones of my baby». Because after three months, that’s all that was left, bones. «I refuse to give up the bones of my baby».
Can you see her? Can you see the seriousness of a grieving, grieving, grieving not one child, but multiple children? It’s almost more, it’s not a pleasant story in the Bible. Her children are dead, and the Bible says in Romans that «we were dead in trespasses and sins». People look alive when they’re partying, people look alive when they’re living wild. I’m not playing today. I came heavy so, I came, here I go. She said I’ll get into intercession because I still, in the shape that they’re in, sticking a needle in their arm. Getting phone calls in the night, «He’s drunk again. She’s going back to prison». «In the horrible shape that they’re in, I still have a burden for my babies. And I know there’s not much left. So much damage has been done, so many years have been wasted, but I still have a burden for my babies».
Rizpah found herself in an uncomfortable place on the rock. She’s looking at her children, she’s praying, «I’ll fight for the dead». I’ll fight for my kids, or my husband, or my mother, or my brother, or my sister. They’re dead in trespasses and sins, they’re lost as they can be, but one woman said, «I will fight for my dead family members. I’ll fight the beast in the night. I’ll fight the fowl, the demons that come in the day, I’ll fight. I won’t give up. I know they’re down to bones, I know that they’re hung up on drugs, hung up on hurt, hung up on dysfunction, hung up and don’t even know what their gender is».
I know they look bad, but in the name of Jesus, you can’t have the bones. And as long as there’s a structure that was put in them, there’s still hope, there’s still life. God’s not finished. And I’m gonna show it to you. You think the story ends sad, it doesn’t. It doesn’t. But don’t you give up on them. The spirit of Rizpah, you’re daughters of Rizpah. And they say, «The more hell comes at them, the more I’ll spread out on the rock, and I’ll cry». And we gotta have that kind of move of God among the women in the world today, and especially in this nation. We’ve got to intercede, which means, to intercede means you enter in. Let’s say here’s your child, and here’s demons, and it means you intercede, you get in between what is coming to kill, steal, and destroy, and you say, «No, cannot have my family».
Everybody take a praise break. And just let the spirit of Rizpah begin to… I want you to yearn to see your children at the altar. I want you to yearn to hear their voice praising God. I want you to yearn hearing them saying, «Daddy, mom, I’m coming home». Can’t you hear it? Here’s the point that I’ve been wanting to get to now. Because there is a king. I don’t know if you caught it, but this word was used in the text I read, «The king heard about the woman who wouldn’t quit praying, and when they told him, the king went and gathered the bones and cut them down, gathered the bones».
As long as the bones are there, there’s history there, there’s proof there, there’s structure there. He gathered the bones back. The king, I believe, is about to gather the bones. I believe we’re about to see unprecedented prodigal sons and daughters come back to the Father’s house. If we won’t give up, if we won’t quit, if we won’t say, «It’s been so long and nothing’s changed». That is not the voice of the Holy Spirit. The voice of the Holy Spirit is saying, «Fight». The king is about to gather the bones. The king heard her cry.
Look at this verse in Romans 6, throw it up. «Therefore,» New Testament, «Water baptism,» everybody say, «Water baptism… is being buried… in the king’s grave… therefore we were buried,» everybody read it. We were what? «Buried with Him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so even also we should walk in newness of life, for if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection».
Let me show you this one, Colossians 2. «But we are buried with Him in baptism in which you…» See, when you get baptized in water, when a person gets saved, when God goes and gathers the bones of those dead in trespasses and sins, and comes back and bury, washes your sins away, He then wants you to be buried in the king’s graveyard, and just as sure as they buried the King of Kings in the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, «You were buried with Him in baptism, in which you are also raised with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Him from the dead. You being dead in your trespasses and uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you your trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, that was contrary to us. He has taken it out of the way, He has nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle, triumphing over,» everything hell has tried to do to you and your family.
God says, «I won’t let it prosper. I’m burying you in the king’s graveyard, and by resurrection power, I will renew, I will restore, I will raise back up in newness of life, you and your children and your children’s children». If you believe it, give the Lord a praise. In the Old Testament, no woman ever saw the glory of God behind the veil. No woman was in the Levitical priesthood line. No woman ever saw or touched the mercy seat. No woman ever even could get near the ark of the covenant. The women were confined to the Court of the Women. It was called The Court of Women, and it was totally separated and to itself. No woman was ever allowed in the whole Old Testament to ever feel or experience the holy of holies. But in the New Testament, I can say of a woman, something I could never say of a man.
In the Old Testament, if a man unworthy touched the ark of the covenant, he dropped dead because it was God’s presence. It was Jesus, the God of creation who said, «I’ll dwell between the seraphims and the angel’s wings above the mercy seat». And when Uzzah touched the ark of the covenant, he dropped dead. On another occasion, when someone lifted it, 50,000 Israelites were slain. No man ever touched the glory. But 17, perhaps 18-year-old virgin girl, by the name of Mary. When Mary had the baby, there was no midwife there.
The Bible says, «She brought forth her first born». She brought forth. This girl’s having a baby in a stable, in a manger, and there’s nobody there to assist her. You know Jospeh didn’t know anything to do. She is there all by… you wouldn’t want his help. He’s fainted, He’s been out for an hour. She brought forth the ark of the covenant. A woman was the first to embrace Him. A woman was the first human to touch Him. That’s why there’s particular verses like, «Blessed are the paps», the breast. Blessed, it says of Mary. That’s a Bible verse. «Blessed are her breasts that gave nurture to Him». Hear the tenderness. I’m trying to say to you that God says, «There’s a place women can get in intimacy with me that men can’t even go. I invite you to come into that place today».
No one was able to be more intimate with His presence than a woman. Women have the ability to entertain and embrace the presence of God. And that’s why… I’m almost done. The word travail is so important. It’s a word that means nothing to men. Travail. When Zion travails, then she shall bring forth. Travail is a word that is directed to women. A special responsibility that you can get in such a place with God that the King will hear your cry. That He will use you in ways that men cannot even enter into. I believe what I’m preaching 'cause I have mother who showed me this all my life.
I believe I’m in the ministry because I had, you know, you hear a lot about you were chosen from your mother’s womb, but we forget about the mother. And you do this, and you reach, and Jentezen, you do this. She was fasting and praying before I ever got on the earth. Raise your hands all over this room and say, «Lord, I wanna go. I wanna go into the holy of holies. I wanna be a Rizpah in my generation». Is there a Rizpah in the house this morning who would say, oh God, this afternoon. Who would say, «Oh God, I want to see my family buried in baptism,» hallelujah. «Raised to newness of life. Cut down from their hang ups. Free and alive in Jesus».