The Lord may graciously help
me, I turn your prayerful attention to Judges chapter 13 and read
part of verse 5. Judges 13 and the last part of
verse 5. And he shall begin to deliver
Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Judges 13
verse 5, the last part, and he shall begin to deliver Israel
out of the hand of the Philistines. I mentioned before we did the
reading that The character in the Old Testament that is most
similar to the events surrounding the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ
is the birth of Samson. And it's amazing how many of
the births of eminent people in the Old Testament were shrouded
in impossibility. So many of the characters were
born of mothers that were barren and had been so for many years. If you think of Abraham with
Sarah, she could not bear a son. And then at the age of 90, when
she was past bearing age and had been barren in her bearing
age, she brought forth Isaac. Isaac and Rebecca, they could
not have children until Isaac entreated the Lord for Rebecca
and then Jacob and Esau was born. Jacob with Rachel could not have
children and then eventually there was the birth of Joseph
and then Benjamin. And then we have, coming on to
the time of the judges, we have this event with Samson being
born of Manoah and his wife, which had been married for many
years and had not had any children. And then God gives them the promised
son of Samson. And then of course we
have Hannah giving birth to Samuel. and she was also classed as barren. In the New Testament we have
Elizabeth barren and giving birth to John the Baptist and then
pointing to Mary who was the ultimate in the sense that there
was no man involved at all. Totally barren in that sense
and yet the ultimate miracle that she bears the Lord Jesus
Christ, whose father was God. You see, I think all the barren
marriages in the Old Testament, which were barren for so long,
were pictures of the ultimate of the Lord Jesus Christ, which
was born of a virgin, of total impossibility, naturally, biologically. But he came. You see the whole thing was what
was said by Sarah, well when Sarah and Abraham, that which is impossible with
God is possible, that was impossible with men is possible with God.
And you see this whole impossibility, God is able to perform. Here
we have Manoah and his wife. And the start of this chapter
is very dark, very bleak. In chapter 13, verse 1 of Judges,
40 years is a long time. Many of you haven't been alive
that long. 40 years delivered into the hand
of the Philistines and you see the Old Testament is pictorial. It's looking at outward pictures
which are in the New Testament pointing to spiritual realities. And you see the coming of Samson
he was going to begin as we have in our text to deliver Israel
from the hand of the Philistines. And his seeking to wage war with
the Philistines was a picture of what Christ was going to do
on behalf of his people against the powers of Satan. So we don't
have Jesus going around killing Romans or those from Baal worshippers,
but he was coming. with a mission which was serious
against the enemy. You see in Colossians 2 verse
15 it says, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he
made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Colossians 2 verse 15. You see
there's a there's a sense of the warfare and you see Christ
said if you want to take a strong man's house you've got to first
bind that strong man and that was Satan. So when we look at
the Philistines in the Old Testament there's a picture there of the
enemies of God if you like Satan and how that Christ that Samson
was coming to begin to deliver Israel from the power of the
Philistines and Christ came to liberate his church from the
power and the dominion of Satan. This is the parallel you get
between and of course you get always in the word of God all
the types in the Old Testament always come short compared to
Christ. So we have here in our text,
he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
He didn't complete it. He didn't finish it. But you
see Christ did not begin to save his people from their sins. He
completed it. That triumphant cry, it is finished. You see, but we can learn a lot
from these types. And you see the evil that the
Israel was doing in turning and it was in the sight of the Lord
and they were delivered into the hand of the Philistines 40
years. But what's very interesting in
this particular time that you have the judges when they were
that they would turn away from God and then they would Normally,
after they had turned away from God, God would put them into
the enemy hands, he would oppress them in some way, and then they
would normally cry out to God. In their distress, if you look
in Judges 10, we have that pattern. In Judges 10, We read in verse
6, and the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the
Lord and so on. And then in verse 10 of chapter 10 of Judges it
says, and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord saying, we
have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our
God and also served Baal. And then the Lord turns in mercy
and delivers them. But interestingly, in this chapter
13, we don't have Israel crying out unto God. We see Israel coming to that
place where they're content, they're content with being under
Philistine leadership. to an event that happens later
in the life of Samson. Samson had attacked the Philistines
and then they came back into the land of Israel to get Samson
back. This is Judges 15 and verse 9. We read in Judges 15 verse 9,
then the Philistines went up and pitched in Judah and spread
themselves in Lehi. And the men of Judah said, why
are you come up against us? So Israel's asking the Philistines,
what's your problem? Why have you come against us?
And they answered, to bind Samson are we come up, and to do to
him as he hath done unto us. Now he had oppressed the Philistines. Now look at the reaction of Israel. Then three thousand men of Judah
went to the top of the rock Etam and said to Samson, knowest thou
not that the Philistines are rulers over us? Israel was in a low place. They
were content with the Philistines to be ruling over them. They
were content to serve the Philistines. Spiritually speaking, they were
content to serve Satan. They were content with his leaders.
Let us alone. Just let us serve the Philistines.
Don't rock the boat. Just let us carry on serving
these things. And they said, what is this that
thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, as they
did unto me, so have I done unto them. And they said unto him,
we come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the
hand of the Philistines. So Israel's part was to bind
Samson, who had done so much for them, who had fought so many
wars on behalf of them, to bind him and give him back to the
Philistines. See here, I believe we have something
of the picture we have in the New Testament when it says, he
came unto his own. and his own received him not. They didn't want him. They didn't.
If you go through the life of Samson there was very little
really no appreciation of what he did in terms of fighting on
behalf of them against the Philistines. No appreciation. He did it all
single handedly. Another time. of what the Lord
Jesus Christ single-handedly didn't lead the armies of Israel
against the Philistines he single-handedly did it but you see Israel was
so blind and so content with serving the Philistines serving
Satan just doing Satan's work they'd lost sight of what it
was to be liberated, lost sight of what it was to serve God and
to see the freedom of serving God. And you see, but the mercy
of it is that Samson keeps going. Samson keeps fighting on behalf
of them. He doesn't throw in the towel.
He keeps on going. And you see, he shall begin to
deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. And what
we remember at this time of the year is the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ that left heaven's glory, came to an earth that
for the most part did not want him. You think of it, the whole
established church in the time of Christ. How many of those
people actually wanted Christ? How many of them? He made himself known to some
shepherds. There was Simeon in the temple, there was Anna in
the temple. But how many of those that were really in religious
power and authority at the time when Jesus came welcomed him
as the coming Christ? I don't think any of them really
did. He came unto his own. The very people who the whole
temple worship was about God and about sacrifice and about
substitution and about an atonement and about being made right with
God and the very one that comes from heaven, who is all those
things, comes and they reject him. And he first preaches in
Capernaum. They take him out and try and
throw him headlong down a cliff. You see, he came unto his own.
But you see, the stone which the builders rejected, the same
has become the head of the corner. And that's the wonderful thing
of it, isn't it? That this one that was rejected
by men, rejected for all he came to do on behalf of them. Yet,
you see, he kept on the work of God. in his heart. So we're told that Manoah and
his wife were barren in verse 2 of chapter 13. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto the woman and said, Behold, thou art barren and barest not,
but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. An angel coming and visiting Manoah's wife in this way and
giving her this great news and that Samson was going to be separate. He was not. He was going to be
a Nazirite unto God from the womb. The idea here of separation
of holiness of dedication to the Lord. I know Samuel Samson
came short. All the types came short but
they were pictures of the one that would come. The Lamb of
God that truly was without blemish and without spot. But this was the intention, this
was the word that he should be a Nazirite unto the Lord, unto
God, from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel. So Israel, who were content with
serving the Philistines, God is going to raise up this one.
who is going to liberate them from the Philistines. And for
the most part, they don't want it. They don't want it. They're
content. And yet you see, there's a picture
here of what Christ was coming to do. He was coming to liberate. He was coming to save his people
from their sins. The leaders didn't want it. They
didn't want a messiah like that. They didn't want a messiah to
save his people from their sins. They wanted a messiah. They wanted
a messiah to vindicate them. to put the great power back into
their hands, that they could be great in the eyes of men again. They wouldn't have the Romans
ruling over them. That's what they wanted a Messiah
to do, but a Messiah to actually save them from their sins. They
didn't have any sin according to their reckoning. Saul of Tarsus
says that, doesn't he? He said, as touching the law
blameless. He didn't think he had any sin.
So why he wanted one to die on his behalf, it was meaningless. But you see, when he came to
realize his sin, then he came to realize that this one who
came to save his people from their sins was vitally, vitally
necessary. And so as we look at this, character
Samson, how the Lord raised him up and blessed him and these
events surrounding his birth that showed that God was with
him. Although it's strange all the
things that Samson went through in his life, they're not easy
to understand, but this one was definitely of God. God was behind this. We're told
this in verse 24 of Judges 13. And the woman bear a son and
called his name Samson. And understand that really means
little son. He was going to be like an S-U-N,
a son. And the son of righteousness
shall arise with healing in his wings. This one who was destined
to begin to redeem Israel, to begin to deliver Israel. And we spoke of that, we sung
of that in our hymns of the deliverance that Christ came to do, a deliverance
to deliver us from the power of sin. And you see how the power
of sin had got hold of Israel. They were content to serve the
Philistines, content to do their bidding, content to be under
them. And you see, one of our hymn
writers picks that up, about the service of Satan and we loved
his service well. That's the time when Samson came,
when Israel was in that state, content to serve Satan, content
to serve the Philistines, content with their loss of sovereignty,
content just to, in their low air, But you see, the Lord had
other work. The Lord had other purposes and
he has other purposes for his church down through the ages
that they may not continue in sin. that they may not spend
their lives serving Satan, serving the lusts of the flesh, serving
the pride of life, and giving service to the devil, but they
have a purpose of mercy that he will deliver them from. And
you see in Obviously, one of the things regarding Samson that
is a difficult thing to square with him being a godly person
is this immorality that was involved with him at times. And that's
difficult to understand. But you see, if we look at it
in another way, Samson was one that a lot of his troubles were concerned
with to do with a bride. And you see, if Christ is going
to take a bride, his parents wanted him to take a bride from
Israel. And we can understand where they
were coming from in a natural sense, but in a type, you see.
Christ was going to take his bride from every kindred, nation,
tribe, and tongue. It was not going to be a bride
that was beautiful in herself and worthy in herself. it was
going to be a bride that was unworthy and filthy and unworthy
of his love. And you see here that is a bit
of a picture of the way Samson was treated by these women in
that sense. And that, I think, is something
of a picture of what the Lord Jesus does for his people. I
realise in Samson's case there was sin, there was sin mixed
in Samson, definitely. But you see, the Lord Jesus is
that one who loved his church, gave himself for it, though they
didn't deserve it, he loved the church. and gave himself for
it. They were unfaithful to Samson.
You think of Delilah. She was so unfaithful to Samson.
Why would he continue putting his trust in her? You think of
around the death of Christ, the unfaithfulness of the disciples,
the unfaithfulness of Judas, betraying Jesus with a kiss. Do you see? Samson was going to liberate or start to begin to deliver
Israel from the grip of the Philistines. And he did. He used strange means,
didn't he? A jawbone of an ass. We don't
normally associate that with a weapon of war, do we? And you
see, we do read that Christ has used things that are not to bring
to naught things that are, that know flesh or glory in his presence."
Samson was a very humble man, really, I think. He did great
conquests, but he didn't boast about them to others. He was
a humble man. He did great conquests on behalf
of Israel, and it seems very little thanks he received from
Israel. And, of course, another aspect
of Samson's work was at his death, you see. In his death, Samson
was made totally to be the ridicule of all of the Philistines. The
scene surrounding the end of Samson was one of total ridicule
of Samson. They were making sport of him
as he stood before them with all their thousands of people.
They were ridiculing this one who began to deliver Israel. Where was God in this? What was
happening? Where was the strength now? Well you see just at the time
when the If we think of the Philistines as a picture of Satan and his
hellish hosts, how they were gloating and glorying over Christ
at Calvary. How they were delighting that
they had got the Lord of life and glory onto the cross and
all the ridicule and shame that was being thrown at him. But
little did they realise that at that very time when they were
glorying in the power they thought they had over him and they thought
they'd captured him, they thought they'd totally ridiculed him
and broken him and yet at that very time he was striking a tremendous
blow on the Philistines, Samson was, and Christ even more so
at Calvary. He was delivering. If you think of Christ did much
against the kingdom of Satan in his life, in casting out devils
and so forth, he did a lot of damage to the kingdom of Satan
while he was on this earth. But at his death, It was a different
level, wasn't it? What Christ accomplished at his
death was much more than he accomplished against Satan in his life. And
so it's said of that in Samson, so the dead which he slew in
his death were more than they which he slew in his life. Of
course, the other aspect that's similar between Christ and Samson
was this, that after he'd received all that shame and derision around
his death, he had an honourable burial. And we read that, that
his brethren in all the house of his father came down and took
him and buried him, brought him up and buried him between Zorah
and Eshtar. in the burying place of Manoah,
his father, and he judged Israel 20 years. So this one who laid down his life really, he
didn't take his life really, the Philistines, he laid it down,
type of Christ who laid his life down on behalf of his church. And he conquered so much as he
fell. Well, We have this one that began
to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. And
when we think of this time of the year, we think of the coming
of Christ, he delivered his people from their sins, and he did it
by waging war single-handedly. against the enemies, against
sin, Satan, death, hell, and the grave. This is the great
work that Christ came to do. If we look in Isaiah 63, we have
this, who is this that cometh from Eden with dyed garments
from Bozrah, this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in
the greatness of his strength, I that speak in righteousness
mighty to save, wherefore are they red in thine apparel, and
thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat? I have trodden
the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with
me. for I will tread them in mine
anger and trample them in my fury and their blood shall be
sprinkled upon my garments and I will stain all my raiment for
the day of vengeance is in my heart and the year of the redeemed
is come. The two works, the vengeance
against the enemies and the year of the redeemed is come. The
work of Christ to put down his enemies and to liberate his people. He shall save his people from
their sins. This one in the Old Testament
that was like a little sun pointing to the greater Lord Jesus who
would truly save his people, not from the Romans, not from
the Philistines, but from the powers of darkness. that should
have held them in eternal damnation forever and forever. But up from
the grave he arose with a mighty triumph for his foes. It is finished. This is the one that we think
of at this time. He came. He comes, the saviour,
full of grace. And he comes to save his people. from their sins. Well, may we
be amongst those who find Christ to be precious, and though we
like Israel can do evil in the sight of the Lord,
that's our state by nature, and we can become content with living
as slaves to sin, but it's the work of the deliverer. to liberate
us from the bondage of sin, that we may come into the kingdom
of his dear son. And as we see in Samson's life,
so little thanks was given to Samson for all that he had done.
Think of Christ, so little thanks was given to him when he was
on the cross. That's why we have the Lord's Supper. Do this. in remembrance of me. We're to remember this one, this
one that waged war against all those enemies that would have
sunk us into eternal ruin. He did it single-handedly. He
did it without thanks for the most part. He did it out of love. He did it out of liberation for
his church. and he shall begin to deliver
Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Amen.