Let us turn once more to God's
Word and turning to the chapter that we read in the book of Judges
chapter 13 and I want this morning to direct your attention for
a while to the verses 17 and 18 in Judges chapter 13 verses
17 and 18 and Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord What is
thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass, we may do thee
honor? The angel of the Lord said unto
him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret,
or as the margin renders it, seeing it is wonderful? a term we were recently reading
in this book of judges and very struck as we came to consider
something of the record that we have of the life of Samson. Strange things are recorded as
I'm sure you're aware with regards to Samson. He was evidently one who was
raised up to minister those terrible judgments that were to fall upon
the Philistines. And we are reminded here at the
beginning of this chapter that because of the sins of the children
of Israel, the Lord God had delivered them into the hand of the Philistines
for some 40 years. That these Philistines, they
were the inhabitants of Canaan amongst those other peoples who
inhabited that land that God had promised to Abraham and to
Isaac and to Jacob and they were the most wicked people and ultimately
of course Israel was to be the instrument whereby God would
visit judgments upon those inhabitants of the land of Philistines amongst
them and so we see here in the following chapters as Samson
was very much that instrument of terrible judgment in the destruction
of those wicked Philistines. But as we were reading in this
part of Holy Scripture I was very struck once again with what
we are told here in the 13th chapter concerning the parents
of Samson and and their experience previous to his conception and
his birth. And then, thinking of these things,
the matter was confirmed when, in the middle of the week, I
received a copy of this latest Gospel Standard Trust publication
by Dr. Haidt, St. Baptists and the First
World War, quite a tome, and I was dipping into it for a while
then I started to read it and on two separate occasions I found
references to the very chapter, this 13th chapter of the book
of Judges and so I felt it right that we should turn to this part
of God's Word today, in particular these words that we've read just
now as our text here in verses 17 and 18. Manoah said unto the
angel of the Lord, What is thy name? That when thy sayings come
to pass we may do the honor. And the angel of the Lord said
unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret,
seeing it is wonderful? When we come to the New Testament
Scriptures, of course, we are familiar with that great 11th
chapter of Paul's epistle to the Hebrews that refers us to
the experiences of those from the Old Testament dispensation. And there at the end of that
chapter, Hebrews 11, verse 39, we read, And these all, having
obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise,
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without
us should not be made perfect. There is a relationship between
those things that we're reading then back in the Old Testament
concerning the experiences of the people of God and us today
who live in this dispensation of the Gospel. Paul, remember,
to the Romans says that whatsoever things were written aforetime
were written for our learning that we through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. And so we turn this
morning to consider something of Manoah and his wife the parents
of Samson who was this great judge raised up by God there
in the Old Testament and as we consider in particular these
two verses that we've read as a text I want first of all to
say something with regards to the angel of the Lord and then
secondly to say something with regards to the faith of Manoah
and his wife First of all then, we must consider this character
who is brought before us in the chapter, the angel of the Lord. Notice two things with regards
to the angel of the Lord. First of all, his person, and
then his work. Now, in verse 19, and there in the middle of the
verse we have mention of the Lord and in juxtaposition to
that we have the angel doing wondrously of course the words
the angel there in verse 19 in italics have been introduced
by the translators but it is interesting though that there
is this juxtaposition between the name of God himself, the
great Jehovah, the great I am, the Lord, and the angel. Because this angel of the Lord
is really a pre-incarnation appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ we know
that angel or messenger of the Lord is one of the titles that
is given to the Lord Jesus when we come to the very end of the
Old Testament scriptures remember there in the prophecy of Malachi
and the third chapter we're told behold I will send my messenger
and he shall prepare the way before me." A reference here
to the ministry of John the Baptist, the harbinger of Christ. Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord, whom
ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant, whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, says
the Lord of hosts. Now the word there that we have
messenger is in fact the same word as is rendered angel, he
is the messenger of the covenant, he is the angel of the covenant. We see quite clearly then that
here we are to understand this strange person who appears to
the wife and then also appears to Manoah, is none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why we refer to the
marginal reading here in this 18th verse, when the angel answers
Manoah's question by saying, Why askest thou thus after my
name, seeing it is wonderful? because we know that this is
a name that is given to the Lord Jesus remember that prophecy
that we have in Isaiah chapter 9 unto us a child is born unto
us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders and
his name shall be called wonderful His name is Wonderful, Counselor
of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. But there at the beginning, we
have this word, He is the One who is called Wonderful. This is His name. This person
then that we read of in our text this morning is none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes not only under the
name of Wonderful, but he goes in the Old Testament also under
that name of the Angel of the Lord. He is the one who goes
before the children of Israel as they come forth out of the
bondage of Egypt. We have it there in Exodus chapter
23, do we not? Exodus chapter 23 and verse 20,
God says, Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the
way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
Beware of him and obey his voice. Provoke him not, for he will
not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him. Who is this angel? This angel
who is able to pardon transgressions? Well, remember what we're told
in the New Testament. How right those scribes were
when the Lord Jesus Christ says to the paralyzed man, Son, thy
sins be forgiven. They said, who can forgive sins
but God alone? It is God's prerogative to forgive
sins. The angel that is spoken of there
in Exodus 23 is evidently God. It is in fact the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. What does he say concerning him?
My name is in him. And there's no disputing that
this angel who goes before the children of Israel is the Lord
God himself. there at the end of Exodus 13
we're told how the Lord went before them by day in a pillar
of a cloud to lead them the way and by night in a pillar of fire
to give them light to go by day and night he took not away the
pillar of the cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from
before the people the Lord went before them It is the Lord who
is there, spoken of as the angel of the Lord, and how it is declared,
as we've said there in Exodus 23 and verse 21, my name is in
Him. Or that is the Lord Jesus Christ,
is it not? He says himself, I am in the
Father, and the Father in me. Is he not that one who is the
image of the invisible God? That one who is spoken of at
the beginning of the epistle to the Hebrews, God who at sundry
times and in diverse manner spake in time for us unto the fathers
by the prophets, that in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom we hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also we
made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and
the express image of his person. The brightness of God's glory,
the express image of his person. This is the angel of the Lord. And Manoah here clearly recognizes
this subsequently. He sees quite clearly that this
angel is God himself. we see it from his reaction there
at verse 22 he says unto his wife we shall surely die because
we have seen God he had seen God God revealed
to him there in that person of the angel of the Lord his experience
then can be compared to that of Abraham Did not Abram see
the Lord? Did he not see him there in Genesis
chapter 18 when the Lord appears to him? We see him as that one
who is entertaining angels. Three men come to him, but these
men are not ordinary men either. because we're told at the beginning
of that 18th chapter in Genesis the Lord appeared unto him the
Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre and he sat in
the tent door in the heat of the day and he lift up his eyes
and looked and lo three men stood by him and when he saw them he
ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward
the ground and then subsequently what do we read concerning these
men verse 22 the men turned their faces from thence and went towards
Sodom but Abraham stood yet before the Lord and then in chapter
19 we're told there came two angels to Sodom at even and Lot
sat in the gate of Sodom, and Lot seeing them rose up to meet
them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. Two
of these men, remember the three men that appeared to Abram, they
set their faces to Sodom, and then we see how two of them,
these two angels, they arrive at Sodom, but Abraham stood yet
before the Lord and there of course at the end of that 18th
chapter we see Abraham pleading with the Lord concerning Lot
and his family who are there in Sodom and then right at the
end of that 18th chapter the Lord went his way. As soon as
he had left communion with Abraham and Abraham returned on to his
place. Three angels, yes, but one of
those angels that came was none other than the angel of the Lord.
It was so for Manoah and his wife as it had also been in the
experience of Abraham. Oh friends, is it not a truth
that it is only in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that
God is to be seen? He is the image of the invisible
God. No man hath seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath declared Him. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 4
and verse 6 we read, There of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And the word that's rendered
face is elsewhere rendered person. It's the glory of God in the
face that is in the person, in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we have it, of course, ultimately
with the Incarnation. when in the fullness of the time
God sends forth His Son, made of a woman and made under the
law. What do we have here? We're told
how it is a man who comes and speaks with the wife of Manoah. In verse 6, she comes and tells
her husband, saying, A man of God A man of God came unto me,
and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of
God, very terrible. And I asked him not whence he
was, neither told he me his name." It clearly is a man because when
Manoah arises and goes to the man, what does Manoah say? We read at verse 11, Manoah arose
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. Here is one
who is a man and yet this man is terrible, he is the angel
of the Lord. It's all as it were in the Old
Testament, anticipating that great wonder that occurs in the
appointed time, the fullness of the time, when the eternal
Son of God is made a man here upon the earth. We have an anticipation
then of that great mystery of the incarnation. Without controversy,
Paul says, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. He was a real man that was conceived
in the womb of the Virgin Mary, was a real human nature, true
body, true soul. remember again we've referred
already to those words that promise in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse
6 unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and his name
he is called wonderful it's his person you see but notice here
in Isaiah 9 how the child is born but the son is not born
the son is given He is the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father. And it is He who in the fullness
of the time God is pleased to send into the world even His
only begotten Son. But the child is born. Then,
of course, he takes to himself that real human nature. Oh, it's that same person. It's
him of whom we read constantly throughout the Gospels of the
New Testament, that he's here appearing unto Manoah and his
wife. But then also, this is a wonder
of it, back in the Old Testament in this book of Judges, this
strange book in which we read time and again of the evils that
the children of Israel were guilty of, time and again. After reading
of the feats of this man Samson, we then come to read of the wickedness
of Micah. In chapter 17, that short chapter,
We see how men are constantly doing only what is right in their
own eyes and Micah has a house that's full of idols. He makes
idols. And he has a priest to serve
him in his house. It's a sad book to read is the
book of Judges. We see constant departings from
God and sins against God and our God will send deliverance
these judges who come and defeat the enemies of the children of
Israel and God grants them great deliverances and yet they sin
again and again and again and yet I say in the midst of all
these things we see the Lord Jesus Christ We see the Lord
Jesus Christ appearing here to Manoah and his wife, appearing
also to a man like Gideon. How the Lord Jesus Christ is
here, you see. Search the Scriptures, he says. In them ye think that
ye have eternal life, and these are they that testify of mine. Or are we those, friends, who
desire this above everything? As we read God's Word we want
to find this man, even the man Christ Jesus, but not only the
person. We see also here something of
his work. And what do we read in verse
19 concerning the angel? The angel did wondrously. The angel did wondrously. This
is his work, you see. He does great wonders. Did he
not do great wonders for the children of Israel when he delivered
them out of that cruel bondage which they experienced there
in Egypt? Now, we see Moses in his song in chapter 15 celebrating
the great works of God. He says at verse 10, "...thou
didst blow with thy wind the sea, covered them, they sank
as lead in the mighty waters as Israel were coming through
the Red Sea. And thou, God, destroyed the
pursuing armies of Pharaoh. Who is like unto thee, O Lord,
among the gods? Who is like unto thee, glorious
in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" All God is that
one, you see, who does wonders for his people. Not surprisingly,
as we have it there in the Song of Moses, so we find it time
and time again in the book of Psalms. In Psalm 77 and verse
14, Thou art the God that doest wonders. And what the psalmist
says, the prophet also declares, In Isaiah 25 and verse 1, Thou
hast done wonderful things. God's works are wondrous works,
are they not? And what are these wonderful
works of God? Well, there is that great work
of creation, of course. Nor there is a Creator. Men might
deny the truth of creation. Men might dream up their foolish
theories which completely discount God. And they imagine that all
things just appeared out of nothing. It's nonsense really. God is the creator. The only
one who can create all things out of nothing. He spoke and
it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. All the wonder of his works of
creation and we see it of course all about us how the heavens
and the earth are bearing testimony to him who is the creator of
all things and how we see God's wonders in all his works of providence
do we ever stop and consider our own poor lives and as we
look back over the years can we not see God's hands and God
working out His eternal purpose even in our lives how the Psalmist
recognizes it there at the end of the 107th Psalm who so is
wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the
loving kindness of the Lord or the wonder of God's providence
how God cares for all His creatures and provides for us All His works
are wonderful works, but then supremely, of course, above all
things, there is the wonder of that great work of grace, that
great work that was accomplished here by the Lord Jesus Christ,
when God sent His only begotten Son. And what was the purpose
of His coming? To redeem them that were under
the law. There's a purpose of it, the great work of redemption,
to redeem them that were under the law, that they might receive
the adoption of sons. Joseph Hart says, how wondrous
are the works of God, displayed through all the world abroad,
immensely great, immensely small, yet one great work exceeds them
all. And he goes on, Almighty God
sighed human breath. the Lord of Life experienced
death. Oh, that's the greatest of all
the works of God, is it not? That great work of redemption. That that Christ did. And it's
that work of the Lord Jesus Christ that the psalmist is celebrating
there in the 40th Psalm. I said that the Psalms speak
time and again of God's wondrous works. Look at what we read there
in Psalm 40, verse 5. Many, O LORD, my God,
are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thought
which art to us wards. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire, mine ears as thou open burnt offering,
and sin offering as thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I
come, in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight
to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. These words from verse 6 are
taken up by Paul in Hebrews chapter 10 in reference to Christ and
His work. He is the greatest of all the
works. the most wondrous of all the works that God has done. And I say, even here in this
13th chapter of the book of Judges, do we not see something of that
great work? Is there not a foreshadowing
of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ in the offering
that He's brought In verse 19, 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. It was, of course,
the angel who had directed them to make this offering in verse
6. If they will offer a burnt offering,
they must offer it unto the Lord. And this is what they do. They
make a sacrifice. It was the same, as I say, with
Gideon. When the angel, remember, appears
unto Gideon previously in chapter 6, And there is Gideon, he presents
the flesh and the unliving cakes, lays them upon a rock, pours
out the broth, we're told at verse 20. Verse 21 there, then
the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was
in his hand and touched the flesh and the unliving cakes and they
arose up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the
unliving cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed
out of his sight, and when Gideon perceived that he was an angel
of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God, for because I have
seen an angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said unto
him, Peace be unto thee, fear not, thou shalt not die. But
again you see how the angel is associated with the sacrifice. It is the same person who appears
to Gideon who also appears to Manoah and his wife. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. That one who in the fullness
of time would come and offer one sacrifice for sins forever. Who will remember how God was
in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. And here we see
something of that great work as it were, foreshadowed in what
is happening as this offering is brought, as this sacrifice
is made, how the angel does wondrously, the angel of the Lord ascends
in the flame of the altar. It's the work, you see, of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that great sacrifice that He came to make.
when he offered up himself in the room and in the stead of
his people, when he shed that precious, sin-atoning blood,
that great work of Christ. And all his work, of course,
ultimately reaches its climax there in the offering of himself. He is that one who is obedient
in life, yes, but obedient also unto death. Even the death of
the cross had a cursed death. O friends, here then, in the
angel of the Lord, what do we see? We see Christ, the wonder
of the person of Him who is God and man, and the wonder of that
great work that He accomplished for sinners upon the earth. Let
us turn in the second place to consider something of the faith
of Manoah and his wife. Having considered the angel of
the Lord, we turn now to these two favoured ones. And what do
we see? We see the looking of faith.
Isn't faith so often likened unto a look? Look unto me, and
be ye say, O the ends of the earth, For I am God's, and there
is none else. And this is what we see these
two doing. There at the end of verse 19,
The angel did wondrously, and Lenoah 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 Lenoah and
his wife looked on. and fell on their faces to the
ground. They don't do anything. Really,
they simply behold the work of the angel. Here we see them looking
on. They look on. And what a look it must have
been. reminds us in some ways of what we're told concerning
the disciples of the Lord Jesus on that occasion when he ascends
to heaven we have the record remember in the opening chapter
of the Acts of the Apostles as the Lord appears unto them
and speaks with them we're told that verse 9, there in Acts 1,
when He had spoken these things, while they beheld He was taken
up, and the cloud received Him out of their sight. And while
they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as He went up, behold,
two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? The same
Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come
in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. How they
looked steadfastly, it's indicative here of the intensity of their
look. How they are beholding with wonder
as the Lord himself ascends into heaven. The word that's used
has that idea of gazing, fixing the eye, that intensity of looking
at a thing. as if one would want to be examining
it forever. And this is the look of these
two, you see. As those disciples are looking into heaven, so these
two are looking as the angel ascends. Is it not an anticipation
in some ways of the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, just
like those disciples? just like those disciples looking
up into heaven and there of course those angels come and tell the
disciples that that same Jesus who was ascended is to come in
like manner and what are his disciples to be doing there to
be looking and watching and waiting for his coming again? Orphans,
are we those who desire that? Are we those who are looking
for his appearing? when He will come at the end
of time and usher in the end of all things and sit upon the
throne of His judgment? Are we longing for His coming?
Looking for it? And as we look for that real
physical coming of Him again are we those who are daily looking
that He would come and appear in our lives in a spiritual sense?
We want Him to come to us and to come to us again and again
and we look and we watch, and we wait daily for His gracious
appearing to us. Oh, we are to be those who are
looking, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, and for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and He sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God. Looking away from every other
object, and looking only unto Jesus and longing for Him, setting
our affection on those things that are above where Christ is. There is the look of faith you
see. Is that our faith? Are we those who do look and
long for Him? Remember what we were told concerning
the brazen serpent in the book of Numbers? that provision that God makes
to heal from all the venom of those flying serpents in Numbers
21 verse 8 the Lord says unto Moses make thee a fiery serpent
set it upon a pole and it shall come to pass that everyone that
is bitten when he looketh upon it shall live And Moses made
a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole, and he came to pass,
and if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent
of brass, he lived. Oh, they must live, they must
look. When he looketh upon it, he shall live. And you know how
that imagery is taken up in the New Testament, is it not? with
regards to the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's the language of faith,
really. There in that familiar third
chapter of John's Gospel, there in John chapter 3, Verse 14, As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life. What is believing? Well, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so Christ is lifted
up. He's lifted up there upon the
cross, of course, He's lifted up in the ministry, in the preaching
of the Word, and he that believeth, he that looks, he that looks
upon Him. It is the look of faith, you
see, looking on to Jesus. How simple it is, this way of
salvation. There's nothing to do. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the one who has done wondrously. He's done all
that great work of salvation. And what does the sinner do?
The sinner looks and lives. He looks and lives. But what
do we see with Manoah and his wife? We don't only see with
them the look of faith. Manoah and his wife looked on
there in verse 19 and then repeated again in verse 20 Manoah and
his wife looked on but not only the look with this couple we
also see something of the language of faith what is the language
of faith? look at the wife in verse 23
his wife said unto him if the Lord were pleased to kill us
he would not have received the burnt offering and the meat offering
at our hands Neither would He have showed us all these things,
nor would He at this time have told us such things as these."
Or isn't this the language of one who understands something
of the ways of the Lord? She speaks here the language
of faith, the language of assurance. She's not afraid. Or Manoah felt
we will surely die. Why? We've seen God face to face. No man can see God and live without
the wife reassures him. As she speaks here this language
of faith, the Lord had respect unto them. He was pleased to
receive the offering that they had presented unto him. We go
back to Abel's offering remember back in Genesis chapter 4 how
the Lord had respect unto Abel and his sacrifice how the Lord
received it why it was faith as we're told in Hebrews 11 by
faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying
of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh, it said. The
Lord received his sacrifice, the Lord receives their sacrifice. Yes, they're looking, there in
verse 19, again in verse 20, they're looking, but they're
not passive. To look is not to be passive
and inactive and to do nothing. What do we see with Manoah? We
see Manoah here very much as a man of prayer. Verse 8, Manoah
entreated the Lord and said, O my Lord, let the man of God
which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we
shall do unto the child that shall be born. and see here something
of the intensity of the language of this man. How does he address
God? Oh my Lord, he says. This is
the language of faith, this is the language of appropriation.
It's what we see in Thomas when he cries out, when Christ appears
to him, he says, my Lord and my God. And so it was also with
this man. He entreated, it says. Manoah
entreated the Lord. Now what's the significance of
that? We're told by the wise man in the book of Proverbs that
the poor use entreaties. Proverbs 18.23. It's the poor
who have to come with entreaties. It's the poor who have to come
and they have to beg, they have to cry, they have to call, they
have nothing. They are poor dependents. And
this is the way in which we see Manoah coming to God. What faith there is in this man?
Oh yes, he looks, but are we also cries unto God? This poor
man cried, says the Psalmist. And the Lord heard him and delivered
him out of all his troubles. Oh friends, are we those who
are so poor we have to cry to the Lord? and call upon Him,
and cry to Him, and call upon Him. And our life is made up
of that. That's our life, is it not, if
we're Christians, always calling upon Him, constantly crying to
Him, entreating Him day by day that He will have mercy upon
us. But the faith of this man, Manoah,
his determination, he says here in our text at verse 17, what
is thy name? Oh, he wants to know the name.
You see, he's an Israelite. He's a true son of Jacob who
became Israel. His language is so much like
that of Jacob at Peniel. Go back to Genesis chapter 32. And it was there, of course,
at Peniel that Jacob became Israel, a prince with God. Now, what was the request that
Jacob made to the angel? Tell me, I pray thee, thy name
was his request. Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. There was Jacob, you see. The
man appears, and the man's wrestling with him. And he's wrestling
with the man, and then his touch and his thigh is out of joint
and he cannot wrestle anymore but he doesn't give over, he
just clings and cleaves to the man. He will not let him go. I will not let you go, he says,
except thou bless me. It's the same Christ, you see.
Here is a man, Manoah and his wife. Are these not Israelites
indeed? Are they not Israelites indeed,
in whom there is no guile? And now we have to look to ourselves
today, examine ourselves, are we Israelites? Are we the true
Israel of God? Are we those who know anything
of the faith that we see here in these Old Testament saints?
The looking of faith, the language of faith, the pleadings of faith,
the entreaties of faith, and this blessed request. And though
the Lord declares his name to be secret yet the Lord reveals
that name to him does he not? Manoah said unto the angel of
the Lord what is thy name that when thy saying come to
pass we may do the honor and the angel of the Lord said unto
him why askest thou thus after my name seeing it is secret it's unknowable in a sense seeing it is wonderful and then
the revelation as we have it there in verse 19 so Manoah took
a kid with a meat offering and offered it up upon a rock unto
the Lord and the angel did wondrously or he reveals himself the angel
did wondrously and Manoah and his wife looked on for it came
to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from up 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. The Lord bless to us his own
world. Why should I yield to slavish
fears? God is the same to endless years,
though clouds and darkness He's found us both in truth and
grace. Number 981. I yield to slavish fears God
is the same to endless years Though pelts and darkness hide
His face His power blends both in truth and grace make known. Birth and glory of His Son, His
love and righteousness display, and cast my soul at last away. my sin and woe. Teach me my numerous wants to
know, and help me in my darkest reign to build my hopes on Jesus'
name. Would God preserve my soul from
hell? And make His love at times prevail? Would He bestow such mercies
past? And yet reject my soul at last? Though unbelief may long molest,
And sin and Satan break my rest, Grace shall at last the victory
give, And make my conquest quite complete. The Lord bless thee, and keep
thee. The Lord make his face to shine
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee, and give thee peace. Amen.