This morning, Brother Mark Henson
met me at the door Tuesday night, I think it was, and was asking
me about Samson. He had no way of knowing that
I had planned for some time to prepare and preach to you about
this man Samson, and that's what was on my mind then, and I want
to try, if I can, to expound to you the teachings of scripture
with regard to this man and how that he is a type and picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if I had two or three hours,
we would just begin in chapter 13, verse 1, and go through chapter
16, and take it all. But you will be relieved to know
I'm not going to preach two or three hours. So we'll just pick
up some highlights, and I want you to follow with me through
the scriptures here in Judges chapter 13, 14, 15, and 16. Now, without question, Samson
was a man of remarkable, remarkable faith. a man of extreme, extreme
strength, and a man of terrible, terrible weakness, all at the
same time. As such, he stands as a vivid
example and representative of believers. Believers are men
and women of faith, men and women of strength, and men and women
of terrible weakness. When preachers preach about Samson,
usually they hold him up as an example of what we ought not
to be and what we ought not to do. I've heard and seen many
sermons on the blinding, grinding power of sin and how the Samson
represents that terrible power of sin in men's lives. I want,
however, this morning, to talk to you about Samson only as he
represents our Lord Jesus Christ. So you follow me carefully through
the scriptures. If you're taking notes, the title
of my message is Samson and Me. Or if you want to put it Christ
and Me, you'll see that it makes no difference. Let's begin in
chapter 14, verse one. Judges chapter 14, verse one. Samson went down to Timnath,
and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And let me call your attention
to several things about this man. First, his coming. His coming into this world shows
him to be a representative of Christ. In his birth, as in his
life and in his death, Samson portrays our Savior. We read
the 13th chapter, hath the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah
and his wife and told them of the birth of Samson. And this
birth of Samson represents our Savior in many ways as shown
in that chapter. First, like our Savior, Samson's
birth was a matter of a miraculous intervention of God. The angel
of the Lord came to this woman, who was barren, and caused her
dead womb to be made alive to give birth to a son. This son
was a special gift of God, a gift of God for a specific purpose,
and his birth was accomplished by divine intervention. So it
was with our Lord Jesus. The angel of the Lord came and
told Mary how that thing formed in her, that holy thing formed
in her for the sacrifice of God's dear son, his holy body, his
holy humanity, was conceived in her womb by the intervention
of God, by the power of God the Holy Spirit. Not only that, but
Samson's birth was foretold by an angel of the Lord. The angel
of the Lord first came to Manoah's wife and then to Manoah and told
them what was going to happen. And so it was with our Savior.
Mary first heard the good news of the incarnation and then she
told Joseph and the angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph concerning
it. But primarily with regard to
his coming into this world. I want you to understand that
everything about Samson, everything about his birth, his life, and
his death was intimately connected with three specific things. If
you miss everything else I say this morning, be sure you get
this. Everything about Samson was intimately connected with
these three things. Number one. Samson was born,
he lived, and he died according to the merciful promise and purpose
of God Almighty spoken of in chapter 13, verse 5. For lo,
thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come
on his head. For the child shall be a Nazarite
unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver or to
save Israel. So it was with our Lord Jesus.
The Son of God came into this world on an errand of mercy according
to the purpose and promise of God Almighty given to us in Christ
before the world began. In 2 Timothy chapter 1, the Apostle
Paul speaks of Jesus Christ, whom he served by the will of
God according to the promise of eternal life, which is in
Christ. In Titus chapter 1 and verse
2, the apostle speaks of the hope of eternal life, which God
that cannot lie promised before the world began. So the Lord
Jesus came into this world to save those sinners to whom God
from eternity had promised eternal life. He came here according
to the specific purpose of God Almighty. Secondly, Everything
about this man was related to and for the glory of the name
By which the angel of the Lord showed himself to Manoah and
his wife when Manoah asked after his name The angel of the Lord
answered him in verse 18 and said unto him. Why askest thou
thus after my name? Seeing it is secret And I pointed
out to you as we read this chapter, that word secret means wonderful.
The Lord Jesus Christ is that one whose name is wonderful,
Counselor, the mighty God, the Prince of Peace. He is that one,
wonderful in all his works. And everything that he did, everything
he does, everything he brings to pass or allows anyone to do
is for the glory and honor of his name. Read Revelation chapters
four and five. As you read those chapters and
you see the throne, and the book, and the ark, and you see the
Lamb of God rising up out of the midst of the throne, and
you see the 420 elders falling down before the throne and casting
their crowns at His feet who sat on the throne. When all's
done, everything shall be down to the praise, honor, and glory
of Him whose name is wonderful. It's secret. Most folks never
know it until that day. But his name is wonderful in
all he does. And then thirdly, everything
that Samson was and everything he did for Israel was connected
with, arose from, and pointed to a sacrifice. Look at verse
19. Judges chapter 13 and verse 19. So Manoah took a kid with
the 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 and fell on their faces to the ground. But the angel of
the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and his wife Then Manoah
knew it was the angel of the Lord. He'd seen God. Now there's
no difficulty determining what this refers to. It speaks of
that great sin atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ made
for sinners at Calvary. The offering Manoah made was
a slain lamb, a picture of Christ who is the Lamb of God who was
sacrificed for us by the will and purpose of God for the satisfaction
of divine justice. Once the offering had been made,
once the sacrifice was made, we read here that the angel of
the Lord did wondrously. did wondrously before Manoah
and his wife. I can almost picture the scene.
They offered a sacrifice. The flame is consuming the sacrifice,
and as the flame goes up, the angel of the Lord seems to dance
in the flames before them, arising up before them. That's exactly
what the Son of God did. Once justice was satisfied, he
did a wondrous thing. Bobby came forth out of the earth.
demonstrating clearly that he had satisfied the justice of
God and put away the sins of those for whom he was sacrificed.
And then we're told that the angel of the Lord ascended up
in the flame of the altar. So it was that our Lord Jesus
Christ ascended up into heaven, obtained eternal redemption for
us by his own blood, and took his seat at the right hand of
the majesty on high by the merit of his sacrifice in the flame
of the altar. And the scripture tells us here,
Manoah and his wife stood back and looked at that. They just
looked up, what else are they going to do? Nothing. We have
nothing to do with the sacrifice. We have nothing to do with this
thing that is done between God the Father and God the Son. We
have nothing to do with the atonement of sin. We have nothing to do
with putting away sin. We have nothing to do with satisfying
the justice of God. All we do is look on. As God
gives us faith, we look on and believe Him, trusting Him. And
that's a picture of what faith is. This day I bid you, weary
sinners, you who are under the curse of God's law, look on Jesus
Christ the Lamb, slain for sinners. Believe Him right where you are
now. I know in this In this day of religious nonsense and confusion,
everybody wonders what it is to believe on Christ and they
think that walking to the front of a church or saying a prayer
or signing a decision card somehow has got something to do with
salvation. Now you listen carefully to me. Listen carefully. If you
rest your soul on the fact that you sometime or another went
forward in a meeting, made a decision and said, I believe in Jesus,
you haven't yet met the master. Nobody has ever been saved kneeling
in an altar. Nobody. Well, I was. No, you
weren't. You'll find out in hell you weren't
saved if you don't find out now. Oh, no. Nobody has ever been
saved coming to the front of the church. Well, preacher, what
is faith? Looking on. You don't do anything. You just
look on. It's not to the heart. It's believing
on the Son of God. All right, Samson then was a
picture of Christ in his coming. Secondly, he represents the Lord
Jesus Christ in his commission. Look at verse five of chapter
13 again. He shall begin, last sentence of the verse, he shall
begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
Now then, you know the parallel passage in the New Testament.
Go ahead and turn to it, Matthew chapter one. Matthew chapter
one. The angel of the Lord said almost
exactly the same thing with regard to our Redeemer when he came
into this world. The angel here says concerning Samson, he shall
begin to deliver. The word is save or redeem. Israel out of the hand of the
Philistines. Here in Matthew chapter 1 and
verse 21, when our great Samson was about to come into the world,
this is what the scripture says. The angel of the Lord said, she
shall bring forth a son, And thou shalt call his name Jesus. That's the New Testament equivalent
of Joshua. It means Savior or Redeemer or
Deliverer. And he shall save his people
from their sins. Most everybody quotes that verse
of scripture. We live in this religious age,
we live in what folks call the Bible Belt, and everybody's religious
and been saved two or three times. Most of them have been saved
all their lives. But nobody knows what scripture means. What's
this man? Thou shalt call His name Jesus.
Call Him what He is. Savior. Call Him what He came
to do. Save His people from their sins. Well, Jesus came to save the
world. No, He didn't. He came to save His people. And
they were His people before He came into the world. They were
people sold in bondage to the Philistines of this world spiritually
because of a sin that took place long ago back yonder in the garden.
but they were still his people. They were his people by choice,
his people by covenant relationship, his people because he said, I
will be their God and they shall be my people, his people because
the father gave them to him before the world began. And the scripture
says he shall. Oh, I love that. He shall. Not he's going to try. Not he's
going to offer. Not he's going to save if they
will. Not he's going to pretty please hope you'll let him save
you. No, no, no, no. He'll save his people from their
sins totally. And just exactly as Samson, when
he left this world, pulled down the pillars of the house, and
destroyed the Philistines, saving Israel out of their hands. So
the Son of God, in his death as he left this world, said it's
finished. And he pulled down the pillars
of the house on hell itself, and saved his people from their
sins. Thirdly, Samson was a picture
and type of Christ in his consecration. Now, look again at this fifth
verse in chapter 13. This is perhaps the most difficult
part of the whole story to understand. It always has been for me. He
is to be a Nazirite unto God. Do you see that? And then later
in chapter, he's to be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day
of his death. A Nazirite was a man or a woman
who under Hebrew law bound himself. to abstain from wine, from all
products of the great, and a razor was not to touch his head as
a symbol of purification. Now, you can read about this
Nazirite vow in Numbers chapter 6. In Samson's case, it was to
be a lifelong vow, so that from his conception in the womb until
the day that he left this world, he was to be consecrated to God
Almighty in purity as a Nazirite. What a picture of our Redeemer,
holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin. But what was
the significance of Samson's long hair? I've wondered this
all my life. I think God gave me some help.
A Nazarite was required to wear long hair. Now, in the Scriptures,
according to Scripture, I know it's contrary to our age, but
our age is contrary to Scripture, always has been. In the Scriptures,
It's a shame for a man to wear long hair. I mean, it's an abomination. It's forbidden. For a man to
walk around looking like a sissy? To walk around looking effeminate? That was an abomination. And
I'm telling you, it ought to be to you now. It ought to be
to you now. A young fellow came up to me one time. It had been
years ago. He got in his ears pierced, probably
an earring. He said, but Don, how do you
like my earring? I said, I just didn't see you wearing a dress.
I'm dead serious. It's an abomination for me to
act like sissies, to look like sissies, to walk around like
that. But Samson was commanded to wear long hair, as were Samuel
and other Nazarites in the Old Testament. No razor to come on
their head. Well, what was the significance of that? Why was
this required? It was a symbol of consecration to God. That's
what it was. Well, how is this somehow relevant? This man, because he was dedicated
to God, must appear in this world in such a way as to constantly
bring reproach and shame on himself. Got to be willing to walk here
in a manner that brings shame and reproach on him in the eyes
of men. I can just picture old Samson.
I don't expect human nature was much different in that day than
it is now. Remember when I was in school? Now, if everybody
in the world was wearing long hair, you know, it'd be one thing,
but when I was in school, some fella walking around with hair
hanging down to his waist and, you know, kind of prancing around,
if he was too big, you wouldn't see anything in front of him,
but you'd sneak around behind him, do you see him? Man alive,
talking about him all the time, and fully aware that's what's
going on. This is exactly how Samson lived all the days of
his life. And if you follow Christ, that's
where you're gonna live all the days of your life. Constantly
the object of ridicule and scorn. I agree fully with B.A. Ramsbottom,
who made this statement. He said, Samson's strength, which
he received from God, did not literally lie in his hair. It
lay in his separation and sanctification and complete dedication to God,
his Savior. That's where it was. The hair
simply represented that. Samson's strength, like our Savior's
strength as a man, was in his consecration to God. Oh, what a lesson there is for
you and me here. Here is our strength, children
of God, in this world. Consecration to our Savior. Let
us be true Nazarites to God. True Nazarites. Emptied of earth,
I fain would be the world myself, and all but the only reserve
for Christ that died, surrendered to the crucified. Fourth, Samson
was a type and representative of our Lord Jesus, and this to
me is perhaps the most precious of it all, in his choices. particularly in his choices in
the women he loved. This otherwise great man seemed
to have an insatiable love for harlots. Lots of virtuous women
in Israel. Lots of women he could choose
from, but he always chose harlots. He always chose harlots. In chapter
14, verse 1, he took a Philistine woman. He took a Gentile woman. An uncircumcised Gentile woman. A woman from among the uncircumcision,
the unclean. Us Gentiles. That's what Christ
came to say. Then he took a woman who was
a harlot. Chapter 16, verse 1. And then he laid his head in
the lap of Delilah, who was so well known as a harlot that the
men of Gaza did not hesitate to suggest to her that she should
come and entice Samson with her charms and her allurements. The
word translated woman, here in chapter 16 in verse four, is
not the common word for woman. It's a word which means a wild,
adulterous woman. The word Delilah means languishing. And some suggest, and I think
with good reason, that perhaps Delilah was not the name that
her father gave her. Not many fathers would give their
daughters a name that means she lays down all the time. Now many
would, but it was a name that the men of the Philistines had
given her because of her character and reputation. Now in Samson's
case, the choice of harlots was a terrible evil. The choice of a Gentile was a
terrible wickedness, a direct violation of God's law in both
cases. Yet, even in this, perhaps most
in this, Baba, he is a blessed type of our Redeemer. Look in
chapter 14. Let me show you. The Scriptures
tell us plainly that this too was of the Lord. He found this
woman of Timnath. He said to his daddy, he said,
go get her for me. She pleases me well. And his daddy said,
there's plenty of women over in Israel. Why go down here among
the uncircumcised Philistines? In verse 4, look at it. But his
father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord. How
come? Because the Lord sought an occasion
against the Philistines. Nobody understood it. This was
hidden in the secret purposes of God. Samson did wickedly in
choosing the woman, no question about that, and he suffered greatly
for his choices. But our great and glorious, sovereign,
merciful God wisely overruled Samson's wicked choice to accomplish
the saving of his people according to his purpose. Oh, don't you love God's sovereign
providence? He wisely and graciously manipulates
the hearts and actions, the thoughts and words, even of the most abominable
beings, even of the demons of hell, to accomplish His purpose
of grace toward you, His chosen. Surely the wrath of man then
shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain.
In much the same way, all that was done by the Jews and the
Romans in crucifying our dear Savior was wicked, abominable,
horrible, and they suffered the consequences of what they did.
But it was altogether exactly what God had purposed to be done.
Read the book of Acts. We're told three times in Acts
chapter 4, later on in the latter part of Acts chapter 4, and then
in Acts chapter 13, they did exactly what God from eternity
ordained that they should do. When our Lord Jesus Christ came
into the world to get a bride for Himself, He chose publicans,
Gentiles, harlots, and sinners as the objects of His love and
grace. Thank you. Thank you. Even in His genealogy in His
family tree, as He came into the world, the Son of God identified
Himself with Tamar, Incest. Ruth, a Moabitess, a cursed woman
from a cursed race, chosen of God. Bathsheba, adultery. Those are the folks he identified
himself with. He took into his family tree,
Rahab the harlot. Now this may shock the pants
off of good, upright, moral folks. You who, well, boy, I tell you,
I wouldn't have anything to do with a harlot. The sooner you
find out you are one, the better off you'll be. Well, preacher,
what do you mean? I've never behaved like that. You've behaved like that all
your life. All your life, you and me too. Of course, we think of that as only referring
to a woman who sleeps with another man. Let me tell you something. Have I got your attention now?
I believe I do. That's nothing compared with going a-whoring
after other gods. Read this book. That's nothing.
And we all went a-whoring after other gods all the days of our
lives. Every one of us. Every one of us just harlots.
Harlots. Boy, I never thought of it that
way. It's time you start thinking of it that way. You will never,
never, never come to know the grace of God in the experience
of free grace until you take your place at the foot of the
cross with this poor harlot, just like the Son of God did.
You find Him always in the company of publicans, harlots, and sinners. He doesn't go home with the self-righteous. He goes home to eat with sinners.
And I'm telling you this day, oh, God help you, Take your place
right now at the foot of the cross with sinners and the Son
of God will go home with you today. He'll go home with you
today. I stand here today preaching
the gospel of God's free grace to you because my beloved Samson
willingly takes for his bride publicans, harlots, and sinners. If he'd been looking for the
good, the mighty, the noble, if he'd been looking for the
righteous, the upright, the commendable, he would have passed me by and
you too. One more thing. Samson is a beautiful
picture of our Redeemer in his conquest. In chapters 14, 15, and 16, there
are a number of things that show the power of our Samson. Let
me just call your attention to a few and you read the chapters
at your leisure. First you'll remember in chapter 14 when he
went down to see the scout Tim Nath, he was going down, a lion
roared against him. And Samson just, he tore that
lion in two like he was tearing a young kid. He just, with his
bare hands. Didn't even have a knife in his
hands. That's the picture of our Redeemer. The Lord Jesus
Christ took him who is as a roaring lion, roaring against our souls,
and conquered him by the power of his shed blood at Calvary.
Now is the prince of this world cast out. And then another time
when Samson went down again, he stopped and he said, I'll
stop by there and see where I put that lion. And there was a bunch
of bees, had made him a nest in there, and they just swarmed
in that lion's carcass, And it's plumbed full of honey. And honey
lightens the eyes. It's like taking, somebody needs
some little sugar and they just, boy perks them up right now.
Samson's walking a long way and he reached in, got him some honey.
Tasted so good he went and got some, gave it to his mother and
daddy. Let me tell you something. When the son of God comes again
to fetch his bride home to himself, he shall eat of the honey out
of this carcass to the delight of his soul forever and give
to his father to eat as well. And then Samson came upon some
philistines and he killed him. A thousand philistines with the
jawbone of an ass. Now I've seen a lot of things
written about that, heard a lot of talk about it. The best I
ever heard, I heard when I was 18 years old. I was sitting in
a homiletics class This professor, he said, he looked around at
a bunch of young preachers and he said, God's still using the
jawbones of asses to accomplish his purpose and save his people.
Well, that's not very complimentary to preachers. No, but it is to
God. He takes worthless, worthless fallen humanity and makes them
in the hands of his grace a weapon for the accomplishing of his
purpose. And then Samson in his death, pulled down the gates
of the city. He took the pillars of the city
and as he voluntarily laid down his life, he accomplished deliverance
for his people. That's our Savior. He voluntarily
laid down his life and accomplished our salvation. And in one more
picture, this man Samson when he woke up and the folks of Gaza
had surrounded him. They'd locked the gates of the
city, put the bar in, and they said, we'll lay in wait for him
all night long, and tomorrow we'll kill him. So it was that
those who are our accusers laid in wait for our souls to destroy
us. But at the time when the day began to break, at midnight,
our great Samson arose and he took the bars of the gates and
the gates and the post and he jerked them up like you'd pick
up a piece of straw. And he carried them on his shoulders
into a high mountain 20 miles out of town. That was gates 90
feet. That's 20 feet longer than this
building is. 90 foot of gates. He laid them on his shoulder
and he carried them away. Our Lord Jesus Christ, carrying
all the weight of our sin, took death, hell, and the grave when
he came forth from the tomb and carried it away forever. And
as my buddy Larry Brown said to me, you know what? He never
staggered. Never even stumbled. This great
Deliverer is Christ, our Deliverer. The Lord Jesus, our Savior. God,
make him yours for Christ's sake. Amen.