May it please Almighty God to
bless us this evening as we meditate in his holy word. Let's turn
to the book of the Judges, chapter 13, and we'll read verses 19
and 20. The book of the Judges, chapter
13, and reading verses 19 and 20. So, Manoah took a kid with
a meat offering. and offered it upon a rock unto
the Lord. And the angel did wondrously. And Manoah and his wife looked
on. For it came to pass, when the
flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel
of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and
his wife looked on it. and fell on their faces to the
ground. We have in this 13th chapter
of the Judges this very interesting account of Manoah and his wife,
the parents of Samson, and how his birth came about. And we can recognise as we read
such an account, God's amazing mercy to Israel. And surely such a consideration
should be an encouragement to us, because the chapter begins
with this statement, and the children of Israel did evil again
in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord delivered them into
the hand of the Philistines 40 years. It's very easy just to
pass over that without recognizing that here's another 40 years. There are many 40 years in the
Word of God, but this is one of them. And as we know, the
Israelites, when they went across the wilderness, were there for
40 years. It's a long time. You try and
think in your life and my life, some of us can look back and
know what 40 years are. Many of you don't know what 40
years are. You haven't reached that far
yet. And yet it's a long time. And so the Lord, in a judgment
upon Israel, delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty
years. But God hadn't forgotten them. God was mindful of them. And it's wonderful to see how
God then granted that Manoah and his wife should be blessed
with a child who should indeed be raised up to help to deliver
Israel from these difficult situations. And we're told, and the woman
bear a son and called his name Samson. And the child grew and
the Lord blessed him. and the Spirit of the Lord began
to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtael. Well we can be thankful that
we have accounts like this to encourage us that as we look
around and perhaps we look at the world today we look at our
nation today we realise how far off we are and how we again have
done evil Again, in the sight of the Lord, there's no denying
that. But the truth is that our God
still lives. Our God still reigns. And he
was very gracious to Israel all those years ago. And on so many
occasions, as we read in the Old Testament, again and again,
the Lord heard the cries of his people. and came and delivered
them often in a most amazing way. This is the God that we
have and this is the God that we should desire to worship and
should desire to honour and glorify. Well, in this account we read
there was this man, Manoah, and his wife, and we're told that
she was barren, didn't have any children, and then we're told
the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman. And it would
appear from the account that this was none other than the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. And again, surely that adds another
degree of depth to the wonder that the Lord Jesus should condescend
to come and visit his people, unworthy as they are. And may
that be an encouragement to you and me today. We perhaps look
at ourselves and yet to think that the Lord Jesus, in love
to our souls, does come and does visit our souls and it's wonderful
if we have the evidence of it the evidence that the Lord has
not cast us off as we deserve but has looked upon us in love
and mercy and they were sinners we're sinners God is a kind and
gracious God and so the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife and
spoke to her, and said, Behold, now thou art barren and barest
not, but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. And then he gave
her some instructions what she should do. And they were instructions
with regard to her natural living, her natural health, how she should
indeed not drink any alcohol, she should not eat things which
were forbidden and that if she was blessed with a son that she
should bring him up as a Nazirite and a Nazirite is a person or
were people who were really separated to worship Almighty God and that's
a great blessing you know if the Lord separates us separates
us so that we are set aside to worship God. We're not left to
just wander on aimlessly in this poor old sinful world. But God
sets us apart as those who are to bring honour and glory to
Almighty God. Well, this woman was blessed
with clear instructions and she came and she told her husband
what had happened. And she said, a man of God came
unto me And his counsellance was like the counsellance of
an angel of God, very terrible. It doesn't mean it was horrible,
it means it was a view that was something to fear, perhaps with
amazing glory. And she said, I asked him not
whence he was, neither told me his name. And he said, behold,
thou shalt conceive and bear a son. So she reiterates what
had been told her. And therefore Manoah then prayed
to the Lord, he entreated the Lord. And it would seem that
this word entreated really means it wasn't just a casual prayer.
He prayed earnestly to Almighty God. The Lord entreated the Lord
and said, Oh my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send
come again. unto us and teach us what we
should do unto the child that shall be born now that's quite
a clear prayer isn't it but it's important to notice that God
didn't answer that prayer he didn't tell him or his wife how
they were to bring up this child no he'd asked for it but God
didn't tell him And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah and the
angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not
with her. Well, the woman went and made
haste and got her husband and said, The man hath appeared unto
me that came unto me the other day. And Manoah rose and went
after his wife and came to the man and said unto him, Art thou
the man? that spakest unto the woman,
and he said, I am. And Manoah said, now let thy
words come to pass. How shall we order the child,
and how shall we do unto him? And again, he wasn't answered. And the angel of the Lord said
unto Manoah, of all that I said unto the woman, let her beware. He reiterated what he told the
woman, didn't say anything more. she may not eat, etc. of those
things. And then Manoah said to the angel,
I pray thee, let us detain thee, that we shall make ready a kid. But the angel of the Lord said
unto Manoah, though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread. And if thou wilt offer a burnt
offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord. Well, we get a
little clue there, don't we? That you see, He wasn't to have
the offering made to him, but it was to be to the Lord. Minoah knew that he was an angel
of the Lord. And therefore Minoah said, What
is thy name? But when thy saying has come
to pass, we may do thee honour. And the angel of the Lord said
unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? And these things are written
for our instruction. See, Manasseh wanted to know
what to do, how to look after this child, and there's nothing
wrong in asking that. Then he wanted to know what the
name of this angel was, and he wasn't told. And sometimes we
perhaps want things revealed to us, which is not God's purpose
to do. And we shouldn't be upset and
we shouldn't think, well, God's ignoring me. God didn't ignore
Manoah. God didn't ignore his wife. But
he saw fit not to answer in the way that perhaps Manoah and his
wife thought he would. So we should be aware we have
these words and these situations which direct us in our lives
today. So we take these truths as an
example to us. However, Manoah did take a kid
with a meat offering and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord. And then we're told, and the
angel of the Lord did wondrously. And Manoah and his wife looked
on. the next verse is very similar
where it came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from
off the altar that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame
of the altar and when Noah and his wife looked on it and fell
on their faces to the ground they'd seen really an amazing
situation something which they would never have expected there
they had they made this sacrifice they put it on a rock and we're
told then that fire took the sacrifice and that the angel
of the Lord or the Savior himself went up in the fire to heaven
and all that Manoah and his wife could do was to look on to observe
with amazement this wonderful occurrence. Sometimes again we
just need to consider these things along with our own spiritual
experience. Sometimes we may think we need
wonderful blessings We think we need a certain revelation
about this or about that. And it may not be God's will
to grant it. But what a blessing if God gives
us living faith, just like Manoah and his wife, to look on. And we can look on and observe
the great and glorious account of the Saviour's life when he
was on the earth what he did, what he performed, what he achieved
you see these things are there for us we're not there physically
but we can by faith look on and what a blessing it is if we do
look on and of course Minoa and his wife when they looked on
and The angel departed from them
and ascended up. They were afraid. They were afraid. And the angel of the Lord did
no more appear to Menar and his wife. Then Menar knew that he
was an angel of the Lord. And Menar said, we shall surely
die because we have seen God. But his wife answered very appropriately,
and said, 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. And that's
true. And we need to recognise this
in our lives. Sometimes God graciously enables
us to look on. To look on, to behold by faith
the great and glorious truths of the Gospel and leads us into
those truths so that we can truly rejoice in the wonderful plan
of salvation and especially as it may be the good will of the
Holy Spirit to apply such views to our souls so that we can truly
rejoice in what the Saviour has done and to have that spiritual
understanding that it was done for us that we have, individually, a
personal interest in the finished work of the Saviour. We know
that Lord Jesus Christ died upon that cross. We know He suffered,
as the hymn writer says, all incarnate God could bear, with
strength enough for none to spare, in order to redeem our souls. It was no light thing. And to
think that the Almighty God, the second person in the Trinity,
was willing to take our place and to bear the punishment instead,
so that you and I might be set free. What can we do? we can look on by faith and view
that suffering scene and it's a great blessing if God brings
us to Calvary to stand there by faith and view the suffering
Son of God bearing the consequences of our sin and redeeming us through
his most precious shed blood. It's a blessing to stand and
to look on. When Nara and his wife were favoured
to do that, they looked on. I wonder if you and I have looked
on by faith at the Saviour. And then, not only at the cross,
which is so vital. If Christ hadn't died, our sins
would not have been atoned for. But he was willing to bear the
punishment instead. That which was due to us. What
a blessing if you and I are condemned in our heart for our sins. To realize that it is our sins
that caused the Lord Jesus to suffer and to die upon that cross
at Calvary. But what a mercy that the grave
could not hold Him. As had been prophesied throughout
the Word of God and by the Saviour Himself, After three days, he
rose again. A conqueror. And what good news
that is for us unworthy sinners. To realise the Saviour rose again. The empty sepulcher. He'd risen,
he was not there. And what can we do? Look on. Nothing else but bless God if
we can. And if we view, therefore, the
empty tomb, which is such a clear sign that Christ rose again,
a conqueror over sin, death, hell, and the grave. And realize
that in his love and mercy, he revealed himself to many people
after his resurrection. And what joy that brought perhaps
sometimes fear, but nonetheless joy to realise Christ had risen
from the dead. And then of course we know that
he then went to Bethany. with his disciples and Bethany
he ascended up to his father not in flames like this case
of the Savior when Manoah and his wife were there but nonetheless
he ascended into glory and I think today and this is our amazing
blessing today We're told, if we would hear
his voice, to harden not your hearts, to think that there he
is, seated on the throne on the Father's right hand, a wonderful
picture of glory. And there he sits to intercede,
to intercede for us. Well, they looked on. what a
blessing if we can look on and see the saviour as our glorious
high priest as he presents our prayers our sinful prayers so
often our prayers have sin mixed with them pride is there what
a sad people we are and yet to think that Jesus takes our prayers
and presents them to our Father and to His Father. And what's
the result? We are accepted in the Beloved. We're not accepted because of
our good works. We're accepted because of what
Christ has done. Well, here, Manara and his wife looked
on how humbling that is for us today to be able to look
on and see the great and glorious work of the Saviour to trace
back to that amazing day when he was born in that manger See
all the trials and difficulties and temptations he faced while
on this earth. And don't forget, we read the
Saviour was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. You just analyse that carefully.
You think of the many temptations you and I face every day, many
times in a day. The devil perhaps besieges us
with temptations. The Saviour was the same. The
devil did all he could to overthrow the Saviour by causing Him to
fall, causing Him to sin like Adam and Eve. My friends, the
Saviour did not. did not fail in that great and
glorious commission that his Father gave him to do. And so
may you and I look on and view that scene of suffering and see
that view of the Saviour there on Calvary's cross and in some
measure go back perhaps to Gethsemane again the Lord knew what was
before him He knew what he had to endure. And he prayed to his
father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless,
not my will, but thine be done. What was that? That was complete
submission to his father. And my friends today, it's a
great blessing if you and I are given submission to the will
of God. for us in our lives and it gives
us grace to look on and to see that we are being, as Israel
of old were, led by the right way. God leads us in that right
way to bring us more into conformity with himself There's nothing
that you and I would do ourselves. We'd shrink from it. But what
a blessing to think that Lord Jesus has done it for us. And he gives us strength to follow
on. And we are, by his grace, enabled
to look on. It's a wonderful favour, isn't
it? That God has given us this ability. And it's wonderful,
isn't it, that we have this place before us in the Word of God
and to realise the great relevance of it. It's not here for just a casual,
interesting account. It's here to show to us the great
goodness of our God. the love of God to unworthy sinners. He caused Bernard and his wife
to be there to see this amazing scene. And he gave them that
wonderful privilege of being able to look on. Well, we can't
look on physically, but what a blessing if God gives us grace to look
on spiritually. To behold the scene of matchless
grace, tis Jesus in the sinner's place. To think that he was there
in your place and my place. Unbelievable, isn't it, really?
When the Holy Spirit shows us what we are by nature. and to have the wonderful evidence
that God is gracious to us. You know, it's good, we read
in these verses, we quoted, and God hearkened to the voice of
Manoa. What a mercy it is that God hearkens
to our prayers. As we come confessing our sins,
we can never come professing that we are righteous, we are
unrighteous, but we can come confessing our sins. We can come
seeking for mercy. We can come seeking that we may
be favoured with that view of the Saviour, that we may look
on and view wondrous things. My friends, it's a wonderful
blessing to have such a God, such a kind and gracious God,
and to realize that it doesn't stop there, because the Saviour
is now in glory. And He tells us He's gone to
prepare a place for us. That's a glorious thought, isn't
it? As you and I struggle on through
life and it is often a struggle to think that he's gone he's
conquered he's risen he's in glory there to prepare a place
for us and as he said if I go to repair a place for you I will
come again and receive you unto myself. Well, again, it's a blessing
if God gives us grace to look forward to such an occasion as
that. By nature, we don't. By nature,
we're earthbound. By nature, we live on the earth.
By nature, we're bound. Yet what a blessing if God comes
and lifts us up and sets our hearts and our affections upon
things above, where by faith we're able to look ahead to the
glory of Emmanuel's land, a place of perfect happiness forever
and ever. No change, no sin, eternal happiness. with the Saviour and the whole
redeemed Church of God, joining together in singing that new
song, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, a song that the redeemed
Church of God were never weary of, because the great and glorious
truth, as we think and as we meditate on earth, that glory
which shall come than to believe there will be that day when there
will be no more sin, no more fear, no, but all happiness and
joy and peace. And of course, Jesus in the midst. Well, what a blessed outlook
it is to the church of God. And what a blessed thing it is
for us to realise God has given us encouragement in his word
to be found amongst those who are indeed looking. Looking, as Menarius' wife did,
to see the glory which they did when they were on earth. But
you and I, by faith, may we look up, for our redemption draweth
nigh. You see, for every one of us,
it can't be long. It can't be long because our
life is short. our life is short but the day
will come and what a happy day it will be if it's that day when
the Lord comes to receive us unto himself that where he is
there we shall be also well this is an interesting account it
has a depth under the surface and I hope we can ponder it and
consider it and realise what a wonderful blessing it is to
be found looking on and Manoah and his wife looked on. May we, by faith, look on and
behold the glory of Emmanuel's land. Amen.