Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Judges chapter 13. Judges
13 and verses 22 and 23. Verse 22 and 23. And Manoah said
unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If
the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received
a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he
have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have
told us such things as these. Judges 13 verse 22 and 23, a
conversation between Manoah and his wife, a man and his wife. They'd both seen the same things. They'd both had the message here
from the angel of the Lord, and yet they are viewing it in a
different way, and Manoah is full of fear, his wife is able
to allay those fears and give reasons that there should be
life and not death. Reasons for life and not death
is the message that is upon my spirit. Manoah, he would have
known. He would have known what we have
recorded in Exodus 33 where the Lord says to Moses, and though
it might seem strange because we're told that Moses did see
the Lord and speak to him face to face. And yet the Lord does
say to him, he said, verse 20 of Exodus 33, thou canst not
see my face, for there shall no man see me and live. And the Lord said, behold, there
is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. And so there's no doubt that
Manoah had that in mind when he made this observation. And we might ask, well, how did
he know? How did he know that this was
the Lord and not just an angel? When the news of the birth of
our Lord was made known, it was through an angel, and the angel
was given a name, given the name of Gabriel. But here, when there
was a specific asking after the name, and it was Manoah that
said unto the angel of the Lord, what is thy name? That when thy
sayings come to pass, we may do thee honour. And the angel
of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou after my name, seeing
it is secret or margin as we noted? Wonderful. And this is
the name that later on was to be given in Matthew. His name
shall be called Jesus in Isaiah. we have that his name shall be
called, amongst other things, wonderful, and that is directly
applied to the coming Messiah, God manifest in the flesh. And so Manoah would have known
from the Old Testament, from Exodus, the necessity of having
a barrier or a daisman, a mediator, One to come in between and not
to see God face to face. So Manoa has these fears. This is, of course, in the account
of the birth of Samson. And if it were not for those
few words in Hebrews 11, and Samson then numbered amongst
those that lived and died by faith, He might wonder, really,
was he, in all that ensued later on in this chapter, really one
of God's people? You would be familiar with the
account of Samson. He's going after women and being
deceived by women, losing his strength, losing the secret of
the Lord's presence with him in that way. And the strange
ways that he talked and how the Lord used him. But you know,
there's several lessons really in it. One I often like to view,
that Samson, in a strange way, he does reflect our Lord Jesus
Christ. When our Lord came, he was not,
he was not what the religious leaders of the day thought the
coming Messiah should be very, very different. And they were
offended at him, his lineage, and at his teaching, and all
that he did. Not, of course, that I would
imply in any way that our Lord walked in any way sinful or wrong
as what Samson did. But we have the very different
contrast of no doubt the expectation of Manoah and his wife as to
what their son should be and what he was. I believe in a way
Dear Mary, the mother of our Lord, also, as she heard the
things that the shepherd said, as she heard what Jesus said
when he was twelve, wished ye not that I must be about my father's
business, and the way that his life unfolded, his death, his
sufferings, Mary saw all of those things, really not until the
Holy Spirit was given and she and the disciples really knew
what the Lord's plan and purpose was. Many things were marveled
at because it was very different than what they thought. Even
the disciples right at the very end, they're saying to the Lord,
will thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Very many
times we get this picture that what they were seeing, the path
that was being walked before them was not what they expected. And we may think of this in our
lives. Just because it is a way that
we didn't expect doesn't mean it is wrong, doesn't mean that
the Lord is not in it. We have those abundant evidences
and this is one in the Word. where no doubt Manoah and his
wife had real expectation of what this child should be, how
he would be used, and yet so very different. Many times the
children of Israel, their expectation going through the wilderness,
their expectation in the promised land, so very different, the
reality. And you might be struggling this
morning with the reality and what you thought. Think of disciples
on the way to Emmaus, we trusted it should have been he. And here
again in this chapter before us. We think also with what was
said of Samson, that he slew more in the day of his death
than in his lifetime. Our Lord worked Many miracles,
he slew many with the words of his mouth, his dealings with
the scribes, the Pharisees, the lawyers, and how that his word
was blessed to his people, the miracles that he did. But that
which he accomplished at his death was more than all his life. His enemies thought that they
had destroyed him, but our Lord in dying, and in rising again,
in shedding his blood and rising from the dead, brought in everlasting
righteousness and paid the debt of all his people's sin. That
was done, and that was done at his death. And in that way, as
we read the account of Samson, we can see some reflection, some
time, some illustration of our Lord Jesus Christ. But I want to look with the Lord's
help this morning at three points. Firstly, a reason for death. This is what Manoah had. He said unto his wife, we shall
surely die. And he gives a reason for it. because we have seen God. Secondly, two different conclusions
in viewing the same event. Both of them had seen the same
things and yet they come to different conclusions. One negative and
one positive. I want to look at that in our
second point. And thirdly, the reasons for
life. His wife said unto him, if the
Lord were pleased to kill us. And she goes on to give the reasons,
three or four we might say, reasons why they were not to expect death,
but rather that they should live. Firstly, a reason for death. Noah said unto his wife, We shall
surely die, because we have seen God. In the beginning, when God created
Adam and Eve, He created them perfect and spotless in His image,
and with no sin, nothing impure whatsoever, but created them
with a free will and gave them a law, gave them to eat of all
the fruit of the trees of the garden of Eden, but of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden
thou shalt not eat thereof for in the day that thou dost eat
thereof thou shalt surely die." And our first parents were given
this assurance there shall be certainly death if that command
was broken. We know that command was broken
and that man then in dying did die. Although that time of death
physically was deferred, yet it did surely come. And in those
early chapters in Genesis, they lived over 900 years. Yet we
are reading, and he died, and he died. You and I, we must die. Manoahia, there was to be a time
that he would die, the same as his wife. would die, as all mankind
must go the way of all the earth. This is not speaking of a death
in some future time or that we shall, without this happening,
we would live eternal life and we would never die. He is speaking
of a judgment, of a death coming much suddenly much quicker, like
the judgments in the wilderness when the earth opened its mouth
and swallowed up Dathan, Korah and Abiram for their rebellion
against the Lord and against Moses. And it was a judgment,
a sudden death upon them. And this is what Manoah was expecting. But all of us, we are under that
sentence. of death, we must die, the same
as Noah and his wife must die and have died. And yet there
was a spiritual death that was an immediate death. That is alienation
from God, a falling from the image of God in communion and
fellowship with God, an incapability of knowing God, of having communion
with Him, and of discerning the things of God, spiritual blindness,
spiritual deafness, and an insensibility to anything that is of God. We are dead in trespasses and
sins, that the natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And the heart of man is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? After death, there is to be the
second death, the judgment of God and then a consigning according
to that judgment to eternal wrath and eternal damnation. And we are all under that sentence
of death. There is a reason for death. And we always remember that.
When we look upon the sick, when we look upon the dying, when
you look upon those that are going the way of all the earth,
there is a reason for it. Yes, we might say, well, they're
like Elisha. They fall sick of the sickness
whereof he died. There is a means used to bring
to death. John the Baptist had his head
cut off at the behest of a sinful woman. Many of the martyrs burnt in
the fires. Josiah was not to live and to
see the judgments of God upon the land, but God would show
him mercy. But he died in battle. And that
was God's mercy that the timing and way of his death was to preserve
him of sin. that judgment on what was coming
on the land of Israel. Death for God's people is the
gateway unto heaven. It is the way that they lay aside
this body of death and all its corruption, where their soul
returns to God that gave it, and in heaven then await the
glorious resurrection to be given a new body, a spotless body. But death still is the enemy
of mankind, is that which puts an end to the life that we know. Our bodies are made for this
life. We breathe its air, we eat its
food, we walk on it, we are subject to the gravity of the earth,
we are subject to time. We are made for this time state
and this is all we know. And our bodies, they survive
here. and not anywhere else and to
ever think that there shall be no time, we shall not be in this
body, we shall still exist, our soul shall still be conscious
and we shall appear in the presence of God. In one sense we're always
in the presence of God. But may we know that with Manoa
here. He says we shall surely die and
he gives a reason for it. When we think of all of us, all
mankind, that this statement is a true statement. There is a reason why men die,
why we must die. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Condemnation is passed upon all
men. in that all have sinned. This
is true. And yet here, Manoah, he had
a reason that he felt their death would come quicker and as a judgment
because of what they had seen, that they had seen God. God himself had said that fallen
man fallen man could not look upon God and live. And that statement is a true
statement. And it is true that Manoah did
really realize that he, as the same as Jacob before him, who
had wrestled with God and with man and prevailed and given the
name of Israel, he had seen God. This is one of the pre-incarnation
appearances of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Eternal God
made manifest in the flesh. He was to come in the fullness
of time, to be made of a woman and made under the law, to redeem
them that are under the law. But in the lead-up, we have the
Lord appearing to Abraham, Three men came to him. One was the
Lord. Two went down to Sodom and to bring Lot out of Sodom. But it was the Lord that was
speaking with Abraham. It was our Lord, the eternal
Son of God, that appeared to Jacob, that appeared to Gideon,
that appeared now to Manoah, and his wife. And we know in
this way that yes, to see God is to die. But to see God in
that place, as in Exodus 33, there is a place by me. And the Lord said to Moses, I
will put thee in a cliff of the rock and hide thee. When I pass
by, thou shalt see my back parts, thou shalt not see my face. And
in the Lord Jesus Christ, we see God. We see God manifest
in the flesh. Our Lord said, if ye have seen
me, ye have seen my Father also. Emmanuel, God with us. And men saw God. They saw our
Lord. They saw our Lord in the days
of his flesh. and they lived. And so yet there
is a reason why Manoa is saying this, because outside of Christ,
God is a consuming fire. We cannot view God, we cannot
approach to God, and yet all of us, all of us, when we die,
we must appear in the presence of God. The Apostle Paul says,
absent from the body, present with the Lord. We shall be brought
before our Maker and we shall see Him. And it is vital that
we know the secret, the reason of how we can see God and yet
live, because what Manoa has said cannot just be swept aside. It is clearly stating a truth,
both in that they saw God and in those that see God shall surely
die. But there is that truth that
is veiled, and it is the secret of God, manifest in the flesh,
seen in the face of Jesus Christ. Now in one sense, with Manoah,
he only sees God, he only sees the angel of the Lord, he only
sees a reason why that they should surely die. On to look then secondly at two
different conclusions in viewing the same event. We've already mentioned about
the fall of our first parents. How do we view that event? The people of God will read the
Word of God and they'll read about that event. There'll be those that read that
account and they will pass it off as perhaps fiction or folklore
or something that was not a real event and they will not view
at all, though they view that event as recorded and written
down as what it really is. They're those that see death.
They see their loved ones die. And they just view them as passing
from this world. Many make utterances of some
kind of thought that they exist and they continue on in some
other world but they have no real knowledge and no knowledge
based upon the word of God or really upon anything but their
thoughts of peace and thoughts of that everything will be alright. And many then will view the fall
whether it is in the description in the word of God or as they
see the effects of it in illness and death and they view it not
as something to really be laid to our hearts and to come before
the Lord concerning, but just to accept as something, well,
it happens to everybody. You can't escape it. And we'll
just make the best of this life. And some will say, because that
is all we have. Many, many will view what they
have heard about the fall and about death. in one way that
brings them not into any concern for their soul, any concern about
meeting with God, any concern about eternity. What they know
is but superficial and really they don't want to know more
because there's that underlying thought that well if I know more
then maybe I will be concerned or maybe it will alarm me or
maybe it will upset me, I'd rather not know, I'd rather be in ignorance
of it. And we can have those views of
an event that really are totally wrong as concerning the reality
of that event. On the other hand, if the Lord
has been pleased to open our eyes to quicken us by His grace
and to lay upon our hearts what we read, and faith cometh by
hearing, hearing by the word of God. And we are brought to
view and see the fullest of what it is, that we are under the
curse, we are under the sentence of death. Death is actually a
sentence from God. Then we'll view it as that which
we really need to pay attention to. and search the scriptures
and see how there can be life instead of death. And it may
be the word before us this morning, where one is viewing death and
another is viewing life. That is what is exercising our
hearts. That is what we are thinking
of and searching the scriptures for. We have the question as
to how it can be. that there can be life given
to those that are under a sentence of death. And so in that way,
the two different conclusions, it marks a difference whether
one is still dead in trespasses and sins, or whether one has
been quickened into life so that they are able to see and see
what another cannot see. See the danger, see the wrath,
see the condemnation and then look for deliverance. Look from
that same God that brought the sentence and look to Him for
life and for deliverance. Here then we have them both,
Manoah and his wife, looking upon the same event of the angel
coming and coming to these two different conclusions to it. This will be replicated in many
things in our lives. Men do not see, even in things
in Providence, in our lives, we do not see things the same
way. And he's colored by what we have
been taught, what we know, And where there is ignorance, where
there is knowledge, that will affect how we view something. And in this case, it is the wife
looking upon those things that have been done and seen and said
and drawing from them conclusions of hope that Manoa was overlooking,
he had not seen. We think of Elisha and his servant
when the Syrians came to take them. They woke up in the morning,
and the mount that they were in was surrounded by the Syrians. And the servant of Elisha said,
alas, my master, how shall we do? And Elisha said to him, fear
not, for there are more that be with us than be with them.
But the servant could not see those that were with Elisha and
himself. So Elisha prayed, Lord open the
young man's eyes. And he opened his eyes and he
saw round about the mountain the chariots of horses and chariots
of fire. And they were there. The servant
did not see them until his eyes were opened to see them. And
that is what we need, eyes to see, spiritual eyes to see what
otherwise would not be seen, what God's people do see. There
comes a time when those that are the Lord's yet still are
blind, still are dead in sin. Their eyes are opened and then
they see, then they see God's provision and then they see,
they see the danger, they see what the Lord has provided in
his beloved son. There's another thing to note
in this point, and that is the blessing of two together. There's a husband and a wife,
And we have in the Book of Proverbs the blessing of when two are
together, that when one falls, then the other can lift him up. And if two lie together, then
they have heat one to another. And as iron sharpeneth iron,
so the countenance of a man his friend. The Scriptures emphasize
the blessing of the people of God. gathering together, being
together. Here it is, a husband and a wife,
a help meet. Certainly Manoa's wife was a
help meet for him or suitable for him at this time. To speak
to him these words of hope, these words to counter the distress
and the sorrow and the agitation and all that was going on in
his poor mind. and his wife was to be used as
the means, to be eyes to see what he could not see, and to
speak to him what he could not see, and to calm him. Whether
it is a wife to a husband or a husband to a wife, may we be
encouraged if the Lord has brought together two in this way that
can be a help, a help in this way. in life's journey, the blessing
of two together. Emanoah said unto his wife, We
shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said
unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have
received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands,
neither would he have showed us All these things, nor would,
as at this time, have told us such things as these. I want to look then at our third
point, the reason for life, what Manoa's wife said to him. There are three, or perhaps we
could say four, things that are brought before us here. The first
thing is an offering received. She says he would not have received
a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands. Now remember what
the sacrifices and what the offerings set forth, all of them, pointed
to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. That one offering, that
one acceptable offering, in Hebrews we have it very clear that the
Lord did not delight in the blood of bulls and of goats. He did
not delight in all these offerings, whether meat offerings or whatever
it was. But He did delight in His beloved
Son, and how they pointed to Him. It's not a delight to the
Lord when people just follow rounds of dead service, forms
and ways, and don't look beyond it and actually do so by faith. We should really view all that
we do, coming to the house of God, why do we do it? Do we know
why? If we don't, we can't be doing
it in faith. If we do, it is done in faith. Why the women wear a head covering
in worship? Do we know why? If we don't,
then it is not done in faith. We should know why we do such
a thing, or why we don't do such a thing. What so is not of faith
is sin. We should be able to look to
the Word of God as to the reason for why we do things and why
we don't do things, and especially in the matter in the way of worship. And so with the Lord's Supper,
with baptism, just to observe the elements and not really see
our Lord is not acceptable to God. It is by faith of you. And so with this sacrifice here
that was received, a burnt offering, a burnt offering and a meat offering
at our hands, it was received. We think to the coming of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And what is said? He hath given
assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead. It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, that appeareth in the presence
of God for us. An offering received. Thou, Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ, offering at Calvary, the one sin offering,
the one place where The sins of all his people, Manoa and
his wife, all the people of God, were laid on him. He had laid
on him the iniquity of us all. That was done at Calvary, and
that was accepted, and the empty tomb bears witness of that. And
this is what his wife is saying. This sacrifice that we have made,
being a type, being a type of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus
Christ, was accepted at our hands. The angel of the Lord accepted
it. He ascended up in the flame of
it. And this is the reason why he
does not intend to kill us. Right at the very beginning,
in the Garden of Eden, there was a reason given why men should
still continue to multiply. The seed of the woman should
bruise the serpent's head. It said Eve was the mother of
all living. It was through her and through
the seed of the woman that the Messiah should come, that the
promise should be. And it was in expectation of
that that men continued, that the world continued, and especially
that line. And several times in the history
of the children of Israel, it looked like the line to Christ,
the line to the lion of the tribe of Judah, the promised seed should
be cut off. David's line should be cut off. But in a miraculous way, it was
kept alive, restored. And we can read in Luke and in
Matthew that line that leads straight unto Christ. And it is then that the reason
for life continuing is the expectation of the coming of the Lord. This is a reason for life that
is held forth in the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The offering of our Lord at Calvary
has been accepted. This is the proclamation of the
good news of salvation for sinners. If I be lifted up above the earth,
said our Lord, will draw all men unto me. We should always
remember this. It is through Christ's death
that life is given to us. Now, we have a second thing. What has been shown us. Shown us. We may think of what
was shown them. They'd seen, they'd seen the
angel, they'd seen the sacrifice accepted, they'd seen the angel
ascend in the flame, they'd seen the sacrifice consumed upon the
rock, they had seen all of these things. Now what have we seen? The psalmist in Psalm 119 says,
Open thou mine eyes, that I might behold wondrous things out of
thy law. And it is a blessed thing if
the Lord has shown us, shown us our sinnership, shown us our
condition and state before Him, shown us our wicked, evil heart,
shown us what this world really is under the curse, under the
sentence of death, shown us that Like Solomon said, vanity of
vanities, all this vanity that the Lord has shown us, those
things that shall put a blight upon everything here below, has
shown us also in the Gospel what is the plan of God, the purpose
of God, how we need our eyes opened. how we need that we be brought
to perceive and understand that which we read, that which we
see, and in life's journey that we be brought to view those things
in a right way, that we see all the effects of sin and God shows
us the reason why, and he shows us in our own heart, we have
in Ezekiel, turn again, thou son of man, thou shalt see greater
abominations than these. We may ask ourselves, what has
the Lord shown us? What has the Lord shown us about
ourselves, about this world? What has he shown us through
his word about himself? What has he shown us as viewing
men viewing those of men of the world, or those of the people
of God. I believe dear Ruth, as she saw
Naomi, the Lord showed her one of his dear people passing through
affliction and tribulation, and she wanted that her God be her
God. So this was another reason for
life, what was shown them. And it's a reason for life for
us, what has been shown us. The third is what he has told
us. And this is joined with what
we may say a fourth or joined together. She says, neither would
he have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have
told us such things as these. The timing of these things being
told, you know, in a natural sense, They'd been told about
the birth of Samson, the child should be born, and how that
they should order him, and what they should do, and how they
should act, and what they should eat. And that had been done at
this time. What if they were to die now?
What would happen? They couldn't have the child.
What had been said was pointless and useless, because they would
be dying. And she could see this. Why would
God tell them these things and then just slay them? What would
be the point of that? And so the timing of having these
things told them was very important. Yes, they would one day die,
but they couldn't die before this child was born and before
these things had come to pass. You and I must die. You know,
God's dear children are immortal until they are called by grace.
Those who have been loved with an everlasting love and chosen
in Christ from the foundation of the world, they cannot die
until the Lord blesses them with assurance and comfort and that
they know they are His children and blessed with faith in Him.
Now it begins with a conviction of sin. It begins when Paul says,
the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And those things
that the Lord has said to us, those that he's told us through
the word of God and told us at such time, told us in the day
of grace, told us when there is a day of mercy and a day of
the gospel and a day when there is that expectation upon the
promise of God. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. We may view it in many things
in our lives. What's the timing? And what's
what you hear from the Word of God and from the servants of
the Lord? It may be the message this morning
in your life, in your providence, in what you're going through,
and the timing of the Lord to bring this text And this word
and this message is a message of hope, is a message of life,
a message to say why your fears, your troubled mind, your feeling
of the sentence of death imminent is not right. The Lord is to
give life and the Lord is to give mercy. And this word then
is to calm your fears and to calm your troubled mind and to
give you rest. rest in the Lord Jesus Christ
and in his word and upon his timing and upon how he speaks
through his servants and through his word and brings it at such
a time as this. The Lord knows what the time
is with you and what the time is with me. May the Lord bless
this word to us and that we have from his sacred word those reasons
for life, reasons for hope. The Lord add his blessing. Amen.