Well, as I said a minute ago,
we're going to look at Samson this evening. Samson is one of
the most complex men in all Scripture. He certainly did begin to deliver
Israel from the rule of the Philistines. And over the course of his life,
while he is certainly a type of Christ, Samson made big mistakes. I mean, when he made a mistake,
this fella, he made a whopper. I mean, he just made mistakes.
Yet, throughout his life, you see him as a very clear type
of Christ. And first, we see it in his birth.
In Samson's birth, he's a type of Christ. We saw that as we
read that in Judges chapter 13. In verse 1, the children of Israel
did evil again on the side of the Lord. And the Lord delivered
them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. Now Israel, like
they do so frequently throughout their history, had fallen into
idolatry again. And the Lord punished them by
delivering them into the hands of the Philistines into captivity.
And that's a clear picture of the fall of Adam. When Adam fell,
he plunged the whole human race into captivity. Captivity to
sin, captivity to the law, captivity to Satan, And those are harsh
past masters, that we've fallen into their captivity. But, verse
2, there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites,
whose name was Manoah, and his wife was barren and bare not.
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto
her, Behold, now thou art barren and barest not, but thou shalt
conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, beware, I pray
thee, and drink not wine, nor strong drink, and eat not any
unclean thing. 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 Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Now
the angel of the Lord appeared unto Manoah's wife. She was barren,
but the angel told her, You're going to have a son, and he'll
be a Nazarite from the womb for his whole life. was a person who bound himself
to serve the Lord. It could be for a short time.
It could be for a long time. It could be for a lifetime. It
varied. And a Nazirite took a vow not
to drink any wine, not to eat any grape product of any kind. They would never cut their hair.
They would observe many different kinds of purifications and so
forth. Samuel and John the Baptist were
Nazirites, just like Samson. And the angel told her this special
child that's going to be born is going to begin to set Israel
free from the Philistines. And this already you see in this
miraculous birth, there's a picture of the birth of Christ. An angel
appeared to Mary and told her about the son that she would
have, that holy thing that's in you, he called it. And later
on he told Mary first, and later on he told his foster father
Joseph, just like later on this angel told Manoah about this
child and what was going to happen. But now Samson, just like any
story or illustration we read in the Old Testament, is only
a picture, just a picture of Christ. He will begin to set
Israel free from the Philistines, but that's all he'll be able
to do. He's going to begin the job. It's not going to be finished
until years later when David kills Goliath. That's when Israel
will finally be set free, but Samson only began the process. But our Lord Jesus Christ, he
came to completely set his people free, free from captivity to
sin, free from the law, free from the power of Satan. The
angel didn't tell Mary he'll begin to save his people. He
shall save his people from their sins. He came to do the whole
job, and he did it. He was much better than Samson,
but Samson is a good picture. Now, verse 6, the woman came
and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and
his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God.
Very terrible. But I asked him not whence he
was, neither told me his name. Now, she knew this man was special.
She called him a man of God. She said he looked like an angel.
His countenance was terrible. And that word terrible doesn't
mean horrible and scary. It means special. His countenance
was special. And she told her husband that
he told me this story, but it didn't seem like the time to
be asking a lot of questions. It just didn't seem like the
kind of man you're going to ask a lot of questions to. And she
didn't ask him. In verse 7, she says, But he said unto me, Behold,
thou shalt conceive and bear a son, not drink no wine or strong
drink, neither eat any unclean things. For the child shall be
a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. Then
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. Now,
Manoah wanted some more instruction on how to raise this child. He
would like to hear this story for himself, so he asked the
Lord, send this fellow back. And the Lord did, in verse 9.
The Lord hearkened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God
came again unto the woman, and she sat in the field. But Manoah
her husband was not with her. And the woman made haste, and
ran, and showed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the
man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day. And
Manoah rose, and went after his wife, and came to the man. And
he said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman?
And he said, I am. And Manoah said, Now let thy
words come to pass. How shall we order this out,
and how shall we do unto him? And the angel of the Lord said
unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman, let her beware.
She may not eat of anything that cometh of the vine, neither let
her drink wine, or strong drink, nor any unclean thing. All that
I commanded her, let her observe. Now here the angel appeared the
second time, and I understand Manoah. If I was Manoah, I'd
be just like him. I've got a lot of questions,
and I'd be asking them all, and that's what Manoah was doing.
He's saying, how are we going to raise such an extraordinary
child? I mean, you've given us what
you say is the one who's going to begin to deliver Israel. That's
a big responsibility. Now you give us some instruction
how we're supposed to raise this child. And I was going through
my notes last night, and I thought every parent ought to ask that
question. The Lord blesses us with a child.
We ought to be asking for wisdom. and some understanding to raise
that child. But particularly, you can understand
by Noah here, he's supposed to raise the deliverer of Israel.
How am I supposed to do that? I've got to have some help here.
And the angel didn't tell him anything new. He just repeated
the same message that he told his wife. Because the gospel
is a message from God. And the message from God never
changes. Because God never changes. The
message is always the same. And we do have a lot of questions.
I mean, I know you've got to be like me. You've got a lot
of questions. But God's given us his word. He's given us everything
we need to know in his word. So it goes on here, read on verse
15. Manoah said unto the angel of
the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee until we shall have
made ready a kid for thee. And the angel of the Lord said
unto Manoah, though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread.
If thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it to the Lord.
For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the Lord. 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? Now, Manoah still thought this
angel was an ordinary man. He knew he was a man of God,
but he thought he was an ordinary man. And his plan is, if we fix
dinner and you stay, we'll have more of a chance to talk and
ask questions, and I'm going to give you some more information.
That's what he really wanted to do. And he says, Now, what's your
name? Where are you from? So we can do you an honor. When
the child's born, we can name the baby after you, or we can
send someone and let you know the baby's been born, he's healthy,
and it's fine. In verse 18, the angel of the
Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing
it a secret? Now, this is no ordinary angel. Other angels that appear to people
in scripture They readily tell their name, you know, Gabriel,
Michael, or whoever. But this angel says, my name
is secret. And that word secret is wonderful. My name is wonderful. This angel
is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. This is Christ himself. The same one who appeared to
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in that fiery furnace is standing
there talking to Manoah and his wife. The same one who appeared
as Melchizedek to Abraham when Abraham was returning from the
slaughter of kings, standing right here talking to Manoah.
The captain of the Lord's host that appeared to Joshua with
his sword drawn in his hand as Joshua was getting ready to go
take Jericho, standing here talking to Manoah. And he says, my name
is Wonderful. That's what Isaiah said. He said
his name should be called Wonderful. Counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. His name is Wonderful. So 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. You see, this
removes all doubt that this angel is a pre-incarnate appearance
of Christ. Manoah prepared to sacrifice on that rock. And scripture
says the angel did wondrously. Well, it's no surprise. If your
name is wonderful, you're going to do wonderful things. He did
wondrously. And John Hill says what that
word wondrously means is that that angel made fire come up
off, out of the rock, off the rock and consume that burnt offering. And then he got in the smoke
and fired that offering and sent it back to heaven. That angel
is identifying himself with that sacrifice. No mere angel would
ever identify with that sacrifice. Only Christ himself would identify
with that sacrifice. That's a picture of the sacrifice
he's going to come to offer later on. And Manoah, now he's got
a real good idea of who it was he'd just been talking to. Look
in verse 21. The angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah
and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was
an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto his wife,
we shall surely die, because we'd seen God. He knew who he
saw right there. He said, we're going to die.
He knew what God told Moses over in Exodus 33. You can't see my
face, for there shall no man see my face and live. And Manoah
says, we've seen his face. We're going to die. Well, he
had. He'd seen the face of the God-man,
Christ himself. That's who he'd seen. Now, I
can just see him. He's panicking. You know, we're
going to die. We're going to die. And his wife's got a little bit
of wisdom here, because she's got faith and wisdom. Look at
verse 23, how she answers him. But his wife said unto him, If
the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received
a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he
have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have
told us such things as these. And she says, first of all, if
the Lord was going to kill us, he would have accepted our sacrifice.
And that applies to us and our fears and our, you know, we think,
oh, we're going to die. We're going to be cast off. We're
going to be destroyed. Well, wait a minute. If the Lord
was going to kill us, if the Lord was going to cast us off,
he never would have accepted the sacrifice of his son. He
never would have sent his son if he planned on doing away with
all of us. He certainly wouldn't have accepted
the sacrifice of his son if he was going to kill us. Christ
came to be sacrificed so that we can live. And there's no need
for us to fear. There's no need for us to fear
the death of His body, because God's not going to destroy us
if His Son died for us. If He accepted that sacrifice,
He's not going to kill us. Second, Manoah's wife says, if
the Lord was going to kill us, He wouldn't have shown us all
these things. If the Lord was going to kill us, He wouldn't
have promised us a sign. One thing I'm sure of. We won't
die until the Son is born because He promised us a Son. We're going
to live until the Son is born at least. And that applies to
us in our fears and our worries. Now, if God was going to cast
us off, He wouldn't have showed us all the wonderful things of
Christ in His Word. He wouldn't have made all these
precious promises to us if He was going to cast us off. He'll
keep His promise. You can bank on that. And in
third, she says, if the Lord's going to kill us, he wouldn't
have made all these wonderful promises to us. If the Lord was
going to kill us, he wouldn't have promised us a son who's
going to set Israel free. And the same thing applies to
us. If the Lord was going to destroy us, he never would have
promised his son as a savior of his people. I know this, the
Lord's going to save somebody. Now he's going to save somebody
because he promised to do it in his son. If the Lord's going
to give us eternal death, he never would have promised us
life and freedom in Christ. So he's not going to cast us
off. And sure enough, they have a son, just like the angel told
them they would. So Samson is a type of Christ
in his birth. And look over across the page
here of chapter 14. Samson is a type of Christ when he chose
his bride. In Judges 14 verse 1, Samson went down to Timnath
and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
And he came up and told his father and his mother, and said, I have
seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Now, therefore, get her for me to wife. Then said his father
and his mother unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters
of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to
take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said
unto his father, Get her for me, for she pleases me well. But his father and his mother
knew not that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against
the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines had dominion
over Israel. Now Samson is grown, and he saw
that she had been wanted. He loved her. He set his affection
on her, and he wanted her to be his wife. And he went to his
father. and asked him to arrange this
marriage. That's the way they did things at that time. I'm
a father of two daughters. I like it. I like this arrangement.
I'll just go pick myself. That way I'm in control. So he
asked his father, go arrange this for me. And his father said,
son, what are you doing? Why are you choosing this heathen
girl to be your wife? I mean, you can imagine what
Samson looked like. He could have had any girl. anywhere
he wanted to be his wife. He said, but why would you want
this heathen girl? He said, that's what I want.
I love her. I've set my affection on her. You go get her for me.
And that's such a picture of Christ's bride, God's elect.
The father, he didn't choose the beautiful. He chose the worst
of the worst to be the bride for his son. And someone would
ask, Can't you choose someone more beautiful? Why do you have
to choose the heathen? Why do you have to choose someone
so ugly? Why do you have to choose someone who's diseased and dead
and stinking and rotten? Why do you have to choose the
repulsive to be a bride for your son? But that's a description
of God's elect by nature. When that question is asked,
that's asked about me. The question is, why would God
choose me? I'm ugly. I'm a heathen. diseased,
from the sole of my foot to the top of my head, just diseased,
dead, stinking, putrid, a rebel. Why would God choose me? Why would he set his affection
on any of us? That's the question. Well, those
reasons are known only to God. Just like Samson's mother and
father didn't know his reason for choosing this heathen to
be his bride. These reasons are known only
to God. But I do know this, God chose a people to redeem. He
chose a people so that he could accomplish his purpose. Just
like Samson's purpose was to pick a fight with the Philistines,
God chose a people for a purpose. And his purpose in choosing those
people was so that his son would get all the glory in redeeming
them when he made them his bride. And that's exactly what he did. This, Samson, is a picture of
Christ. who defeats all of our enemies.
Look in chapter 14, verse 5. Then Samson went down, and his
father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of
Timnath. And behold, a young lion roared against him. And
the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as
he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand. But
he told it not to his father or his mother what he had done.
Now Samson was on his way. down the path to go meet his
bride. Apparently, he's wandered off from his parents. And there
in the path, he meets this young, strong lion. That lion comes
out roaring at Samson. I know that lion, fella. I just
found my lunch. I want to listen to lunch. He
looks good. And Samson, it says, rent that lion. And that word
rent means he ripped his throat out. Samson just reached over
that lion and ripped his throat out with his bare hands. I mean,
can you imagine the power of this feral? I'm very thankful
I've never seen a lion without something between me and it.
I was at the Columbus Zoo one time, and I love those big cats. You know, we were looking at
them, and behind the shrubs there, there's a big, huge glass wall.
There, glass wall. And I started to go behind these
shrubs, because there was a big male lion asleep in that corner.
And Jan said, don't go back there. You're not supposed to go back
there. But he was asleep, pressed right up against that glass.
And he was asleep and he had his paw pressed up against that
glass. And I'm telling you, that paw
was as big as my head. I mean, he had claws coming out
of the sides of my fingers. And I just looked at that thing
and I thought, Samson killed one of these things with his
bare hands. I mean, you think of the power
that that took. And that's a picture of Christ
redeeming His people. As Christ was going to redeem
his bride, he met our adversary, the devil, head on. That old
roaring lion going about seeking who he may devour. And our Samson
met that lion head on. And he ripped his throat out.
He crushed his head at Calvary. And we really can't imagine the
power that it took to defeat that enemy because we really
don't know all the power of Satan, our adversary. And I'm thankful
we'll never have to know, because Christ our Savior has defeated
him. He's already put him away. There's no need to worry. Then
Samson went on like nothing happened. He didn't even tell anybody.
He just went on about his business. And that's the picture of the
humility of Christ. He never went around bragging
who he was. He never bragged about the power that he had or
the things he could do. He simply went and accomplished
everything the Father sent him to do. He just went about redeeming
his people from their sins, defeating all their enemies, never seeking
the glory for it. Then, we won't read all these
verses, but there's a whole chapter and a half here of all the trouble
that Samson caused the Philistines. I mean the trouble he caused
them, the things he did to them. He was such a thorn in their
side, which that's exactly what he was supposed to do. He was
here to begin to set Israel free from the Philistines. And in
Judges 15, In verse 9, after Samson had caused the Philistines
all this trouble, they decide they're going to do something
about this. 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? And they answered,
to bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done
to us. Now these men of the Philistines came up. And they're going to
destroy this whole town to settle the score with Samson. That's
what their purpose is. So the Jews, well, you know,
we don't want all of us to be killed. So they gathered these
3,000 men to go get Samson. That way they could spare their
town. That's what they're doing. They're saving their own hide.
The one that's supposed to deliver him, they're going to turn him
over to the enemies just so that, you know, to try to save their
own hide. That's what they're doing. So verse 12, they came to Samson. And they said unto him, We are
come to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of
the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Now swear unto me,
that ye shall not fall upon me yourselves. And they spake unto
him, saying, No, but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee
into their hand. But surely we will not kill thee.
And they bound him with two new cords, and they brought him up
from the rock. And when he come to Lehi, the Philistines shouted
against him, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him.
And the cords that were upon his arms became as flats that
were burnt with fire, and his bands loose from off his hands.
And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand
and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith. And Samson said,
With the jawbone of an ass, each upon each with the jaw of an
ass, have I slain a thousand men." Here Samson allowed himself
to be bound with these ropes, and they brought him up to his
And that's such a clear picture of Christ. He allowed that Jewish
mob to take him. They didn't come and take him
by force. He came and met them. And he allowed them to take him
and bind him and take him to Pilate, take him to be crucified.
As a lamb before her shears is done, so he opened not his mouth.
He went willingly, bound willingly. And you know, it may have looked
awful bad for Samson when those enemies, you know, they came
up on him and, but those ropes, just fell off of him, they couldn't
even begin the whole Samson. That's just like Christ. When
those Pharisees saw him laid in the tomb, that dead body laid
in the tomb, they thought, victory's won. He can't escape this. Over in Acts chapter 2, in Acts 2 verse 24, Peter says,
yeah, he was slain, whom God hath raised up. having loosened
the pains of death because it was not possible that he should
be holding on to it. It wasn't possible that death
could hold our Lord any more than these flimsy ropes could
hold Samson. It's not possible that they could
hold him. And Samson freed himself and picked up a jawbone of an
ass and killed a thousand soldiers. I mean, you think of that! A
thousand! You'd think four or five of them
could have ganged up on him, and they couldn't. He killed
a thousand of them. Not even Rambo does that. I mean,
you know, Rambo kills a few guys, but he goes and steals some guns
and bombs and things. Even Hollywood wouldn't make
a story like this, because it's too unbelievable that a man would
do that at just a club. But that's what Samson did. And
that's what Christ our Samson did. He put away the multitude The multitude, the whole multitude,
the whole army of our sins, he put away by himself. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty of
God. Because our sins has defeated all of our enemies. You don't
have to worry about your enemies. Christ has defeated every one
of them. Then last, Samson is a type of Christ in his death.
Look over in Judges 16. And it came to pass afterward
that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorok, whose name was
Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her,
and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength
lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we
may bind him to afflict thee. And we will give thee, every
one of us, eleven hundred pieces of silver." have a good eye for women, apparently.
He loved Delilah. And it's just inexplicable. It's
just inexplicable how he got mixed up with Delilah. But still,
that's a picture of Christ and those that he loved. You can
find no explanation for why God would love you. Why God would
love me, there's no explanation for it. He loved publicans and
sinners and harlots. He liked plants and loved Delilah.
And the Pharisees came and found someone close to Samson and said,
we're going to bribe him. We'll bribe someone close to
Samson to betray him. And we'll bribe her with pieces
of silver. So she'll deliver him to us so
we can afflict him. You think Judas ever would have
read the scriptures. That's exactly what they did
to Judas. They found someone close to our Lord, bribed him
with pieces of silver to betray him so they could afflict him.
And that's what they did. Well, verse 6, let's read on
here. And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein
thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound
to afflict thee? And Samson said unto her, If
they bind me with seven green wits, that were never dried,
then shall I be weak, and be as another man. Then the lord
of the Philistines brought up to her seven green wits, which
had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now there were
men lying in wait of body with her in the chamber. And she said
unto him, Thou flestings be upon thee, Samson, and he break the
whips, as a thread of toe is broken when it toucheth the fire.
So his strength was not known. And Delilah said unto Samson,
Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies. Now tell me,
I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her,
If they bind me fast with new ropes, that were never occupied,
then shall I be weak, and be as another man. Delilah therefore
took new robes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him,
The flistings be upon thee, Samson. And there were liars in weight,
abiding in the chamber, and he broke them from off his arms
like a thread. And Delilah said unto Samson,
Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies. Tell me wherewith
thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, Thou weavest
the seven locks of my head with the web, and she fastened it
with the pin. And she said unto him, The flistings
be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep,
and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. And
she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy
heart is not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three
times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lies. And
it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and
urged him, just a whiner woman. so that his soul was vexed unto
death. Then he told her all his heart,
and he said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head,
for I have been a Nazarite unto God for my mother's womb. If
I be shaven, then my strength will go for me, and I shall become
weak and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he
had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the Lord's
deflisting, saying, Come up this once, for he hath showed me all
his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines
came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. And she
made him sleep upon her knees. And she called for a man, and
she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head. And
she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And
she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke
out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before,
and shake myself. And he wished not that the Lord
was departed from him. And the Philistines took him,
and put out his eyes. They used an awl and bored out
his eyes, and they brought him down to Geza and bound him with
fetters of brass, and he did grind in the prison house. Now,
Samson should have known what was going to happen. Based on
these previous three times, what Delisle had done, he should have
known what she's going to do the fourth time. I tell people
at work all the time, the best predictor of future events is
what's happened in the past. You know, when somebody does
something over and over and over again, They're going to do it again.
He should have known, but apparently he didn't. Samson was enticed
into making this mistake. That's what the Philistines told
Delilah, you entice him. But it almost seems like Samson
is willingly giving himself to his enemies because of how much
he loves Delilah. Now he didn't, but that's what
it would seem like. But Christ our Samson did willingly. give himself to his enemies. He gave himself to his enemies
to afflict him and do with him what they would because he loved
the people who didn't deserve it. And you'll notice Samson
couldn't be afflicted by his enemies. Every time you read
about Samson doing something so great, the Spirit of the Lord
came upon him. Well, in verse 20, it says he
didn't know that the Lord had departed from him. Now his enemies
can afflict him because the Lord had departed from him. And our
Lord's real agony happened during that time that the father departed
from him and left him. That's where his real agony,
the agony of his sufferings really happens. And now here's Samson,
grinding in the prison house, his eyes been bored out with
an awe. And verse 22, Howbeit, the hair of his head began to
grow again after he was shaven. Then the lords of the Philistines
gathered them together. For to offer a great sacrifice
unto Dagon their God, and to rejoice, for they said, Our God
hath delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hand. And when the people
saw him, they praised their God, for they said, Our God hath delivered
into our hands our enemy, and a destroyer of our country, which
slew many of us. And it came to pass, when their
hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he
may make us forth. And they called for Samson out
of the prison house, and he made them forth. And they set him
between the pillars. And Samson said unto the lad
that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars
whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now
the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the
Philistines were there. And there were upon the roof
about three thousand men and women that beheld while Samson
made sport. And Samson called unto the Lord,
and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee. And strengthen
me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once
a bench of the Philistines for my two eyes.' And Samson took
hold of the two pillars upon which the house stood, and on
which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and
the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with
the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all
his might, and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all
the people that were therein. So the dead, which he slew at
his death, were more than they which he slew in his life." Now
here, the Philistines bring Samson in to make sport of him. They
probably smacked him around, poked him and prodded him, making
fun of him, just exactly like the Roman soldiers did with Christ.
They made sport and fun of him. It was their sport to torture
him and be cruel. And Samson, he had killed a lot
of Philistines. He had done a lot of damage to
their rule during his lifetime. Many of them he killed single-handedly.
But here in his death, he killed more Philistines in that one
act than he did the whole rest of his life put together. You
know, there were about 3,000 people on the roof. The writers
say there was about another 3,000 to 4,000 people inside the house. Every one of them was killed.
Every one, when those pillars came down. And that's a picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ. You think during his earthly
ministry, how many people he helped. Everywhere he went, he
went helping people. He fed the hungry. He healed
the sick. He raised the dead. He helped
the widows. He just helped people. But if
the elect are ever going to be redeemed, he must die. Because without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission. And in his death, in that great
moment, Christ atoned for Every sin of every one of his elect,
every one that God gave him, he put all of their sins away.
That's many more than he ever helped during his ministry. But
now Samson, he stayed dead. Somebody else had to come along
and finish the job of delivering Israel from the Philistines.
Christ our Samson didn't stay dead. He died for our sins, but
he rose again for our justification, and he's seated right this sovereign, overseeing His creation,
our mighty Deliverer lives and rules on a throne to ensure that
the salvation and the peace that He purchased for His people with
His death will be had. That's our Samson. He's the mighty
conqueror. All right, well, I hope I'll
be a blessing to you. Mike, you can come lead us.