If you would turn with me again
tonight to Judges chapter 13. I've been thinking a great deal
about men and women who go out to meet God in eternity without
Christ as their substitute. I can remember as a young boy
being told that not to look directly at the sun, S-U-N, or I could
go blind. But I'm talking about what happens
to those who are spiritually blind, looking in the face of
the sun, S-O-N, and being able to live. God's justice will forever
condemn them if they're without a suitable sacrifice. And there's
only one suitable sacrifice. In Exodus chapter 33, as you
well know, Moses desired to see the glory of the Lord and God
said, you can't see my face and live. I'm too holy. No man or woman can. So I suppose
the first question we should ask is where is God's glory found? Well, it's found in the face
of Jesus Christ. How do we see the glory of God?
There's only one way. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God where? In the
face of Jesus Christ. If you've seen Christ, you've
seen God's glory. The very one that we cannot look
in the face of and live is the very one we must look into the
face of to live. God's glory is found looking
into Christ's face. Yet no man can look upon his
face and live. So the question is, how can we
look into Christ's face, which is life, how can we look to him
without being consumed in wrath and judgment? That's a good question. And the answer is not only urgent,
it's critical. And the answer is the gospel.
It's the good news to sinners. And I believe the verses before
us tonight answer that question. I want us to look at a few things
before we consider that question. How can a man look at God and
live? That's the question. May God
be pleased by his mercy and his grace to show us once again,
Christ. Isn't that how faith comes? By
hearing and hearing. And I might add, and hearing
and hearing. The Word of God, Romans 10, 17.
So before we can really have any understanding on how we can
have life by looking to Christ, we must first see how we can
look to Him and live. We must understand who this was
that appeared to Manoah and his wife. No doubt in my mind that
this angel was a pre-incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. As
we saw in our last study, this angel, this messenger of God,
first came unto the woman, and if the Lord reveals this to you,
it's because you are part of the church and the bride of Christ.
God appears to spiritually barren sinners, as Manoah's wife was. as many of the women in scripture
were, who have no life within them and he reveals himself to
them and he gives them life. Goes for all who are barren and
we all are by nature. Look at verse 11, and Manoah
arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said
unto him, art thou the man that speakest unto the woman? And
as we saw, and he said, I am. I am. I am that I am. And though
this angel was not a man, yet appearing in the form was taken
to be a man, I remind you that Jesus Christ is the God-man. He's not 50% God and 50% man. He's all God and He's all man.
There's never been another one like Him. And that's what He
had to be in order to redeem us. He had to be God and he had
to be man. You know, it was Christ that
Joshua saw before he fought the battle of Jericho. I won't turn
you to this passage, but in Joshua chapter five, verse 13, we're
told, and it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, that he
lifted up his eyes and looked and beheld, there stood a man
over against him. against, with his sword drawn
in his hand. And Joshua went up to him and
he said unto him, art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he, the man, said, I am. I am now come. And Joshua fell
on his face to the earth and did worship. And he said unto
him, what saith my Lord? Unto his servant. That man was
Christ. It was a man that Abraham met
at his tent's door. And when he said, my Lord, my
Lord, if I found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray
thee, from thy servant. He saw him as he was, as Lord. It was that same man that Jacob
wrestled with in Genesis chapter 32. I want you to see this one.
Look there with me. Hold your place here in Judges.
Genesis chapter 32. Look at verse 24, Genesis 32,
verse 24. We're told, and Jacob was left
alone and there wrestled a man. with him until the breaking of
the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him,
he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's
thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him." You know,
after this encounter with the man, the Lord Jesus Christ, he
never walked the same again. And neither will you, neither
will you. Verse 26, and he said, let me
go for the day breaketh. And he said, Jacob said, I will
not let you go except thou bless me. And he said unto him, what
is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said,
thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince hast thou power
with God and with men and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him
and said, tell me, I pray thee thy name. And he said, wherefore
is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. It's only the Lord that can bless.
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, meaning the
face of God. And he said, for I've seen God.
face to face, and my life is preserved. That man, Jacob Rassel,
was the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you wrestling with Christ
tonight? You won't prevail, not unless he touches you and causes
you to walk differently than you do. Look now at Exodus chapter
23, verse 20, Exodus. Verse 23, verse 20. Here God spoke to Moses and said
in verse 20, behold I send an angel, now notice that's capital
A. I send an angel before thee,
this is the Lord Jesus. I send an angel thy way before
thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place
which I have prepared." That's something only Christ can do.
He is the way. It says, beware of him and obey
his voice. Provoke him not for he will not
pardon your transgressions for my name is in him. But if thou shall indeed obey
his voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto
thine enemies and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine
angel," capital A again, "'shall go before thee and bring thee
unto the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites
and the Habites and the Jebusites, and I will cut them off.'" All
our enemies, our biggest enemy, sin, is cut off from us. In Daniel chapter 10, we're told
that Daniel was mourning and praying and fasting for three
full weeks. And as he sat by a great river,
he lifted up his eyes, and behold, a certain man, clothed in linen,
whose loins were girded with fine gold of Euphaz, His body
also was like the barrel, the color of a gemstone, and his
face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire,
and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and
the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I,
Daniel, alone saw the vision." God doesn't reveal Christ to
everyone. He said, for the men that were
with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them,
so that they fled to hide themselves." Now listen, when the Lord comes
to receive those who know Him, the others who don't will flee
and hide themselves, but you can't hide from God. Time and
time again in the Old Testament scriptures, we find the pre-incarnated
appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially in our text
tonight in Judges chapter 13. So turn back there with me. Now
again, in verse 11, Manoah asked, art thou the man that spakest
unto the woman? And he said, I am. And then look
what Manoah says in verse 12. Now let thy words come to pass.
Only His words do, exactly as He spoke them, as He promised
them. No doubt in my mind that this is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look down at verse 17. And Manoah said unto the angel
of the Lord, what is thy name, that when thy saints come to
pass, we may do thee honor? And the angel of the Lord said
unto him, why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? Now in my marginal Bible, that
word secret means wonderful. This man that's mistaken for
an angel's name is wonderful. Isaiah nine verse six says, for
unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given and the government
shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful. This is Christ. His name called
Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. My name is secret, my name is
wonderful. Now Manoah and his wife first
thought this was an angel of the Lord, a created being, a
messenger of God. But friends, this was the messenger
of God. The messenger of God. This was the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's what caused Manoah to fear for his life. How can
a man see God's face and live? He said in verse 22, Manoah said
unto his wife, we shall surely die. Why? Because we've seen
God. Generally speaking, That's pretty
much the first response of every child of God when Christ is revealed
to them. We see that we in and of ourselves
are worthy of nothing but death. I remember when the Lord revealed
himself to me, I thought, I'm gonna die. He's holy, I'm unholy. He's righteous, I'm unrighteous. But having heard the glad tidings
that this messenger of God the glad tidings that he brought,
Manoah and his wife desired the angel to stay with them until
they had prepared an offering for him in verse 15, excuse me. And I was thinking, isn't that
the common desire of all who meet Christ? They want him to
stay with them. Lord, don't leave me. Don't leave
me. Don't leave me to myself. Don't
leave me. Stay with me. But, If that fellowship
is to be, there must first be an understanding of who he is. Look at verse 16. And 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. For Manoah knew
not that he was an angel of the Lord. Now, if the Lord is to
be worshiped, he must first be acknowledged and worshiped as
God. Sacrifice as God would. Our Lord's
words to Manoah here were simple. If you offer a burnt offering
to me, then you're saying that I am the Lord. I'm Jehovah, I'm Jesus Christ. That's the kind of language that's
often employed by our Lord. You remember when that rich young
ruler came to the Lord Jesus and called him good master and
the Lord said to him, why dost thou call me good? There's none
good but God. In other words, if I'm good,
then I'm God. And this is shown very clearly,
I believe, in Manoah asking his name. The greatest desire of
every believer is to know Christ personally. Paul did. Remember what he wrote? That
I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, Philippians
3.10. And at the time of our text,
in the purpose of God, the Messiah was only known prophetically. But at the introduction of the
new covenant, in which we have, every believer is gonna know
Him. And that's why many of you are here tonight. As believers,
your purpose in this life is to learn of Christ, to know Him
better and more intimately. When Paul said that I may know
Him in the Amplified Bible, it says that I may know Him more
intimately. To know Him as we ourselves are
known. Boy, that's a deep thought, isn't
it? You know, that's the truth. Galatians
4.9, but now, after that you have known God, or rather are
known of God. The only reason you know God
is because you're known of God. How turn ye again to the weak
and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? In 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12,
for now we see through a glass darkly. But then, one day, we're
gonna see him face to face. He said, now I know in part,
but then shall I know even also as I am known. I look forward
to the day of our Lord's return because I'll see him and be just
like him. I'll know him, even as I am known. No more mystery. No more looking
through a welder's glasses. That's kind of what it's like
if you've ever done that. I'll then see him clearly. The
Lord spoke to Jeremiah and said, behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break. And we've sure seen that in our
studies, haven't we? Israel did evil again, and again,
and again. They broke this covenant. He
said, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord, but
this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I'll put my law in
their inward parts, and I'll write my law in their hearts,
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. If you're here tonight trusting
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're a child of God. I'm a child of
the King. I want for nothing. The Lord's
my shepherd, I shall not want. Now he's put his law in our hearts. He's written them in our hearts
and he's our God. And we are his people. That's
why his name's wonderful. That's exactly why. It's a name
that's above every name. At the name, at His name, every
knee shall not bow and every tongue will confess. What are
they gonna confess? Jesus Christ is Lord. He's Lord. God revealing these things to
us, we have a better understanding as to how we see God and live.
How can a man see God and live? Verse 19, so Manoah took a kid
with a meat offering and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord,
and the angel did wondrously. Why? Because he's wonderful. 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 into
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 to his wife than Manoah
knew that he was. An angel, I might add, had probably
been better translated, the angel, the messenger of the Lord. So the answer of how we can see
God and live is found in the words of Manoah's wife. Look
at verse 23. But his wife said unto him, if
the Lord pleased to kill us. But Noah said, what we've seen,
listen, we've seen the face of God, we're gonna die. Because
no man can look at God and live. And she said, well, if the Lord
was pleased to kill us, he would not have revealed a burnt offering
and 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. Here, this faithful, believing
woman gives us three things on how we can see God. The first
thing is the Lord revealed to them the burnt offering. and their meat offering, the
Lord revealed to them the sacrifice. He revealed to them Himself. They had promised to do all that
He commanded, but that's not why the Lord accepted this sacrifice. He accepted it because of who
it represented. You see, only the sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ, only seeing Him and Him alone can you see
God and live. They took the lamb and slew it.
They put the blood upon the altar of that makeshift altar, the
rock. They burnt the carcass. It was
consumed. But when the fire of God's wrath
came down from heaven on the Lord Jesus Christ, friends, it
not only consumed the sacrifice, the sacrifice consumed the fire. This shows us that God was satisfied
and that God accepted the sacrifice. And in our text, the angel of
the Lord appears in the sacrifice and ascended in the flame, showing
us the same thing. God accepted the sacrifice that
Manoah and his wife offered. There's only one sacrifice that
the Lord will accept at your hand, and that's the sacrifice
that he himself provided for you. This woman, faithful woman, said
God wouldn't have accepted our offering if he was going to kill
us. We shall not die because the
sacrifice did. We shall not be consumed because
the sacrifice was. Friends, you and I are great
sinners, there's no doubt. In our flesh dwells no good thing.
Our hearts are on evil continually. Sin's what we do because sin
is what we are. But some have seen the sacrifice
and they can look to God and live. Isn't that good news? That's the gospel. God sent our
sacrifice in the world. Paul said to die the just for
the unjust so that he might bring us to God. That's the only way
we're gonna be brought to God We're going to be brought in
justice according to God's holy and strict justice. And I'm here to tell you tonight,
by God's grace, I've seen the sacrifice and God has accepted
it. Therefore, I shall not die and
neither shall you. Did Christ not bear all our sin
in His body on the tree? Was Christ not wounded for our
transgressions, as we read in Isaiah 53? Was the Lord not bruised
for our iniquities? Was it not by His stripes that
we were healed? Is not the chastisement for my
peace, so that I might have peace and rest before God? upon him. God has accepted his perfect
work and sacrifice. No one for whom Christ died will
perish. Perish the thought. There's nobody
in hell for whom Christ died. That's blasphemy. That'd make Christ a failure
and God a liar. And Christ is not a failure and
God's not a liar. If the just one died, The unjust
can't. Those that are in hell. God's
justice won't permit it. The Lord Jesus Christ was in
the sacrifice of Noah. The Lord Jesus Christ was the
sacrifice of Manoah. And God accepted him, therefore
we shall not die. That's why I said we're not gonna
die. We've seen the sacrifice. We've seen who that sacrifice
is. If the Lord had been pleased to kill us, would he have accepted
our sacrifice? No. Manoah's faith was based
on the sacrifice. That's where ours must be based
on. Not on what she had done, not
on what Manoah had done, but who the sacrifice typified. God
only accepts the sacrifice that he himself provides. And I love
to say this and I say it often, God provides for himself a sacrifice
and God provides himself as the sacrifice. That's the only way
a sinner can be accepted. That's the only way that you
and I can look on God's face and live. But Manoah's wife knew
something else. Secondly, Manoah's wife said,
he wouldn't have showed us all the things that he did. He wouldn't
have revealed so many things to us if he was gonna kill us. She must have assured Manoah
saying, he showed himself to us. He's the one who said, take
a lamb. He's the one who said it must
be offered unto the Lord. He told us that He would not
partake of our bread because He Himself is the bread from
heaven. God's not going to accept anything
that we offer with our hands. He didn't tell us to offer ourselves.
He didn't tell us to offer up our hearts. He didn't tell us
to offer up money. He didn't tell us to offer our
work and our dedication. He told us to offer a sacrifice
unto the Lord. And he accepted that sacrifice.
That's the very sacrifice that he himself provided, an offering
unto the Lord. And not only that, he showed
us himself in the sacrifice. He showed his approval of it. He showed us his acceptance of
it. Friends, has it been revealed to you that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself? Would God have shown us all these
things if He meant to kill us? God has revealed His Son to us
and in us. Christ in us is the hope of glory. How are we gonna see the glory
of God only with Christ being in us? Only as Christ is our
sacrifice, the only sacrifice that God will accept. We dare
not offer anything else, anyone else, do we? I'm not gonna offer
him my heart. I'm not gonna offer him my fig
leaf righteousness. I'm not gonna offer him the best
fruit that I can provide at my hand. Just like Cain, God won't
accept it. If God's well-pleased with His
Son and He is, then God is well-pleased with us in Him. God's revealed
our sin unto us. The wages of sin is death, but
Christ paid the debt of sin by dying for us. Would He have shown
us all this if He was gonna kill us? Jesus Christ is the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of His people in this world. The Father bears witness of Him.
Moses wrote of Him. The Old Testament prophets and
the Psalms bore witness to Him. His righteousness, His righteous
work bore witness of Him. Would have God revealed these
things to us and then kill us? Would He have given us a desire
to know Christ? Would God have given us any confidence
in Christ? If he's gonna destroy us, well,
that's nonsense. He would have never accepted
his sacrifice if he was. And then thirdly, in the last
part of verse 23, Manoah's wife says, this was a wise woman,
the Lord had revealed himself to her. Her name's not mentioned,
she and of herself's insignificant, so are we. But in the last part
of 23, she says, nor would this heavenly messenger as at this
time have told us such things as these. What did this wondrous
messenger tell him? He told us we're gonna have a
son. He told us that I who am barren and have no life within
is gonna have life within. That's what he told us. We're
gonna have a son. How can the promise of a son
come if we're dead? She said, would he give us a
son then kill us? Friends, would God give us his
son and then kill us? Would God have made such promises
to us if he had no intention of fulfilling them? The word
of promise from God to Manoah and his wife was, you're gonna
have a son, he's gonna be special, He's gonna deliver Israel and
I'm gonna bless him. God doesn't make any promise
that he doesn't keep. He's not gonna kill us. Not gonna
kill us. Do you see how relevant these
things are? God sent his son into the world
to save sinners. And every one of you would argue
that you're the chief. This son is special. He's the God man. There's not
another like him. Never has been, never will be.
He's gonna save his people from their sin. You know, people talk
about being saved. They don't know what they're
saved from. They're saved from sin. That's the promise of God
to his people. He's not gonna kill us, he's
gonna save us. I understand that every natural
born man and woman doubts. I do way too often. Shame on
me. Way too often do I doubt. Abraham
doubted. The father of the faith doubted.
He lied about Sarah being his wife since she was his sister
because he was afraid of the kings of Egypt. Listen, God is
the king of kings. The king of Egypt is no match
for him. Elijah doubted by himself. He faced the prophets of Baal
and slew them all and then ran from a woman named Jezebel and
fled and hid for his life. Peter doubted. The one who in
the garden of Gethsemane pulled out his sword to defend the Lord
Jesus Christ, the one whom Christ said, upon this rock I'll build
my church. He was ready to defend his master
with his sword against the trained army of Rome. And now he sits by a fire and
is doubted, and he doubted and he denied the Lord when a little
girl asked him if he was one of the Lord's. Doubted, doubt,
oh my, what a horrific thing. Every single one of us have doubts,
but that's when we must remember the words of Manoah's wife. We're
all subject to fear and unbelief. And we at our strongest exercise
faith, but we still add those words, Lord help thou my unbelief. Because we got plenty of it.
There's no perfect faith. Our perfection is the object
of our faith. Isn't that right? Our faith's not perfect, it's
weak at best, but it's who our faith is in. That being the Lord Jesus Christ.
And our hope is not in perfect faith. Our hope's in a perfect
sacrifice. The sacrifice that God accepted. That's how we can see God and
live. We walk by faith and not by sight.
How do chosen sinners see Christ and live? Again, in the face
of Jesus Christ. Do you see Christ? Has God shown
and revealed him to you? It's by his offering, by his
sacrifice, by his substitution that we can see God. And that,
my friends, is the gospel. If you're trusting in Christ,
you and I, like Abraham in the end, will stagger not at the
promise of God through unbelief. And Paul said, and neither can
you. Why? Being fully persuaded that what
he promised, what God promised, He was able also to perform,
and therefore it was imputed to Him. It was charged to Him
for righteousness. It's not on what I do, it's on
what Christ did for me. Now it was not written for His
sake alone that it was imputed to Him. It wasn't just for Abraham,
but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on Him. that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. May God be pleased to reveal
Christ to you and to me, to us more and more for God's glory,
our good and for Christ's sake.