DYING IN THE PLACE OF THE SKULL

November 5, 2008
Mike Blume




  Scripture Text:

 
Matthew 27:33-37 KJV  And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,  (34)  They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.  (35)  And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.  (36)  And sitting down they watched him there;  (37)  And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.


  Message:

 
Jesus died for us on Golgotha, the place of the skull.
  • And we died with Him and provided us with all kinds of benefits whether we understand that or not.
  • But unless we DO understand that, we will not enjoy those benefits, for how can you enjoy something you do not understand is true?
  • So OUR MINDS must come into understanding to really see the work of the cross find fulfillment in our lives.
  • WE MUST DIE IN THE PLACE OF OUR SKULL, or OUR UNDERSTANDING.
  • OUR MINDS.

Like we noted afore, stories from the old testament help us better understand the truths of the new testament, as Jesus used parables accomplishing the same thing.

So let us go to a story in Judges 3

Judges 3:14-22 KJV  So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.  (15)  But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.  (16)  But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.  (17)  And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.  (18)  And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.  (19)  But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.  (20)  And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.  (21)  And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:  (22)  And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out.

Judges 3:26-28 KJV  And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath.  (27)  And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them.  (28)  And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over.

Ehud's name means UNITED.
  • He was from the tribe of Benjamin, like Paul the apostle.
  • God raised him up to conquer Eglon king of Moab when Eglon was empowered due to Israel's disobedience to God.
  • When Israel cried out to Go, God raised Ehud up to defeat Eglon.

Ehud means UNITED and Gera, his father's name, means GRAIN.

Ehud told the king he had a message from God for him, and after Eglon sent all his servants away, Ehud stuck him with a two edged dagger in his belly.

Of all the New Testament ministers other than Jesus, none was used more powerfully and yet hated to this day as much as Paul the Apostle.
  • Go to University and study for a theological degree and be told that Paul proposed a different Gospel than Jesus, and that Jesus would never have condoned Paul's ministry.
  • Meanwhile, Peter, the man to whom Jesus gave the keys of the Kingdom, called Paul beloved brother, and said people twist and distort his words to their own destruction.
  • Peter categorized Paul's words as scripture when he spoke of them and said, "and the other scripture".

The message Ehud gave to Eglon was actually a twoedged sword.
  • Paul explained that the WORD OF GOD -- the MESSAGE OF GOD -- was a sword of the Spirit, and sharper than any twoedged sword.

That message Paul gave forth was the truths of the cross and how we have come into UNION with Jesus Christ in His death.
  • Being ONE with Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection, emphasizes the truth of BEING UNITED TO JESUS.
  • EHUD means UNITED!

And he is son of GERA.
  • GERA means GRAIN.

So get the picture.
  • If Ehud is a son who came from his father GERA, then you can translate that using the meaning of their names and say, UNITED FROM A GRAIN.

John 12:21-25 KJV  The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.  (22)  Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.  (23)  And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.  (24)  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.  (25)  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

John 12:31-33 KJV  Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.  (32)  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.  (33)  This he said, signifying what death he should die.

Jesus was like a CORN  or KERNAL of wheat -- of GRAIN.
  • And His death was like grain falling into the ground and DYING top NOT BE ALONE, but TO MULTIPLY.
  • He then said he drew all men to Himself in His death, meaning that WE CAME INTO UNION with His death, and our position is UNITED WITH JESUS.

Romans 6:9-10 KJV  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.  (10)  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

He died to sin and death so that sin and death has no more power over Him.

We also do not need sin and death to rule over us, because we are UNITED TO HIM.
  • Being UNITED means we have all his victory over sin and death.

Paul's message was like the two edged DAGGER of Ehud.

Jonah 2:1-2 KJV  Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,  (2)  And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

Matthew 12:40 KJV  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The WHALE'S BELLY was called the BELLY OF SHEOL, the grave.
  • Jesus' burial in the grave was foreshadowed by Jonah on the belly.
  • And Just as Ehud stuck the dagger in Eglon's belly, Jesus destroyed the power of the devil by BEING THE WORD, THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, AND ENTERING INTO HELL's BELLY!

This act of Ehud's killed Eglon and destroyed Moab's power over Israel.

When the devil is messing with our lives, we need to rise up and us e use same MESSAGE OF GOD about Christ having stuck the devil in the belly of hell and destroy his  power.

After Eglon was killed, Ehud blew a trumpet:

Jdg 3: (27)  And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them.  (28)  And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over.

Blowing a trumpet always represents GIVING A REVELATION:

Isaiah 58:1 KJV  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people...

God's voice sounded like a trumpet in Revelation -- revelation means REVEALING.  SHOWING.  UNVEILING.

So The sounding of the trumpet represents giving a revelation to the people of God.
  • And when Ehud said FOLLOW AFTER ME, I am reminded of Paul:

1 Corinthians 11:1 KJV  Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

1 Corinthians 4:16 KJV  Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

Philippians 3:17 KJV  Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.

Let us get the revelation Paul had and do what Paul did in defeating the devil using the MESSAGE and TRUTH that acts like a twoedged sword in the belly of hell.

The truth of being UNITED is so vitally important to our victory.

The picture of a TRUMPET associated with FOLLOWING

Gideon represented Jesus.

Judges 6:11 KJV  And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

He was by wheat and winepress.
  • Both are the raw materials for BREAD AND WINE.
  • THE CROSS.

He was by a tree, the CROSS.

That pertained to JOASH:  FIRED UP BY GOD.

Judges 7:16-18 KJV  And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.  (17)  And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.  (18)  When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.

Understanding UNITED and IDENTIFYING WITH  JESUS is so vital.
  • Looking at Gideon means UNDERSTANDING something, since eyes of understanding are the issue.
  • And looking to see what Gideon did and doing likewise, is to IDENTIFY WITH HIM and repeat his experience.
  • We UNDERSTAND Jesus died, buried and resurrected, and LIKEWISE IDENTIFY with that.
  • His death is OUR DEATHS.
  • His victory over satan is our victory.
  • We have all his power, and so we KNOW THAT and when the devil attacks us we cause the devil to relive what he experienced with Jesus' death and resurrection and destroy the devil in our specific lives.
  • Jesus already did it, but we APPLY IT to our lives.

In our hearts just knowing and being convinced that we DIED WITH JESUS TO THE POWERS OF SIN AND DEATH causes us to defeat the devil instead of being overcome by the devil when he attacks.

Getting this understanding makes you an overcomer so that you overcome next time in things that formerly defeated you.

Judges 7:19 KJV  So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.

SPEAK THE TRUTH that YOU are dead and risen with Jesus, and that BREAKS the clay vessel of all that satan can defeat, as Jesus was broken in death.
That revelation breaks away the hindering flesh and allows the GLORY OF GOD'S LIGHT AND POWER INSIDE us to shine forth and defeat the enemy!

2 Corinthians 4:6-10 KJV  (6)  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  (7)  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.  (8)  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;  (9)  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;  (10)  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

THAT LIFE is the LIGHT that defeats the devil!

IDENTIFICATION is also seen in Joseph of Arimathaea:

Matthew 27:57-60 KJV  When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:  (58)  He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.  (59)  And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,  (60)  And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

When we see and understand our identification with Jesus and know He died our deaths we were supposed to die, it is like saying we have actually put his dead body in our graves.

It's like DANIEL'S LIONS' DEN that had a stone over the entrance with a seal, just like Jesus' tomb.
  • Like the devil attacked Jesus and put Him in a tomb from which Jesus broke free and resurrected, we have the same victory in any situation where the devil attacks us, and CAN BREAK FREE IN RESURRECTION VICTORY.

It's the Shunamite's son who died and was laid in Elisha's place of rest.
  • We need to put ourselves in our understanding in the same tomb Jesus SLEPT in , or was buried in death.
  • And as Elisha put his hands, mouth and eyes on the boys' hands mouth and eyes, we identify ourselves with Jesus' eyes, hands and mouth and victory over sin and power over the devil through HIS DEATH.

ALL OF THIS must be UNDERSTAND IN THE PLACE OF THE SKULL.
  • IN YOUR UNDERSTANDING.
  • YOUR MIND.

When we get this straightened out in our minds and understood, we will immediately become overcomers!

After Paul taught about dying with Jesus in Romans 6 and Romans 7 and Romans 8, Romans 8 ends by saying this:

Romans 8:37-39 KJV  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  (38)  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  (39)  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are conquerors THROUGH CHRIST.
  • That means HIS CONQUEROR status is SHARED WITH US!
  • He is more than a conqueror, so when we are UNITED TO HIM, we share that and are more than conquerors.

We died with Jesus whether we UNDERSTAND it or not.
  • But if we can UNDERSTAND it then it is DYING IN THE PLACE OF THE SKULL.!