I'm going to be using as a basis
for our study this morning, Judges chapters 13 through 16. Three chapters there. And these
chapters record the life and compile most of what we know
about a man called Samson. this morning is Samson, as he
is a type. Now I know there's a lot of repetition
here in what I'm saying to you, but a type is called in the Bible,
sometimes they use the word figure. You'll read in the book of Hebrews
where it talks about the priesthood and the sacrifices were figures
for the time then present. It was something that you could
look at that symbolized what God had purposed to do. And it's
a way of communication. He's going to communicate to
us something about his son. And so he gave instruction to
Moses to build the tabernacle and he called for a separation
of a certain people which made up the priesthood. And then secondly,
a type is sometimes called in the scriptures a pattern. Looking
at these same things, looking at the priesthood and looking
at the sacrifices and looking at those things under the law
of Moses, he said everything was purged with blood. And it
was necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens, that's
what this blood was, that's what this killing the sacrifice and
putting it upon the altar and gathering its blood and taking
it into the tabernacle, these things, it was necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens be purified with these,
but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. So a type is a figure of the
true. It's a pattern of things in the heaven. And thirdly, it's
a shadow. Sometimes the scripture calls it a shadow. Now if you
walk along and the sun's kind of over to one side and you're
walking along there, you look down and there's a shadow. And
our Lord said, or Paul wrote under divine inspiration that
all of these things that he had mentioned, the new moons and
the Sabbath days and all of these things that people observed under
the Old Testament law, all of these things were shadows of
good things to come, but he said the body is Christ. That's in
Colossians chapter two. Now with these things in mind,
let's ask this question, how is Samson a type of Christ? How is this man called Samson
a type of Christ? Well, let's look at him as the
scripture records his birth and his life and his death, and let
me see if I can point out a few things. First of all, Samson
is a type of Christ as his birth is foretold by the Lord. there's
only a handful of god's acts just a handful of god's act whose
birth was for told by god the holy ghost just just a handful he told abraham and saver that
they were going to have a have a son and his son through him
all the their seed is going to be like the stars in the sky
and the sands of the seashore. And then Jacob, it was told to
his mother before they was ever born, the elder is going to serve
the younger. Why? Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. And you can go, John the Baptist,
his birth was foretold by the Lord and Samson's was. Just a
handful received such an honor from God and each were very clear
types of the Lord Jesus Christ and of course Christ's birth
was foretold from Genesis chapter 15 and many times thereafter.
But the birth of Samson was told to his mother who was unable
to have children and so it is by divine intervention that Samson
was conceived. His birth was supernatural birth. So Samson prefigured Christ as
his birth was foretold by God. And then secondly, Samson's a
type of Christ as his station and purpose of life was ordained
of God before he was born. God said what this man's purpose
was gonna be. He gonna be a Nazarite. When
you read through those three chapters there in Judges, you'll
see where he told his mother before he was ever born, and
told her, said, don't you even drink grape juice that wine's
made out of. And you don't drink no wine.
And you don't do this, and you don't do that, because your son
is sanctified by God. He's going to be a Nazarite.
So you be careful and do what I tell you to do. Judges 13,
5, thou shalt conceive and bear a son and no razor shall come
upon his head for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the
womb and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the
Philistines. What is a Nazirite? What's that
mean? No razor is going to come up
on his head. He's a Nazirite. Well, a Nazirite is one whose
whole life is dedicated to the service of God. That's a Nazirite. His whole purpose in life is
to serve God. The reason for his birth, the
reason for God arranging his providence around him and him
having favorable providence, the reason for his parents being to have
this child. All of these, that's a Nazarite. His whole purpose of being is
to serve God. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world as a man to serve the living God and fulfill his
redemptive will and not only in his life, but in his birth,
in his life, in his death, and in his resurrection. He become obedient, the scripture
said, unto death, even the death of the cross. He says in Hebrews
chapter 10 and verse 7 in the volume of the book it's written
of me, I come to do thy will, O God. In John 6, 38, he said,
I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will
of him that sent me. I must, he said, be about my
father's business. Now let me tell you something.
All of God's children are Nazarites. All of them. Their reason for
being their reason for being, their
reason for God's blessings on them is because they're Nazarites. God's already purposed their
whole life be to serve Him. That's it. That's it. Whole life is being ordained
of God to serve Him and do His will. Listen to what Peter says
to these people. He said, but ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people,
that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light. And if you go
back and read a little earlier there in chapter 2 of 1 Peter,
you'll find out that that they were built up as spiritual stones,
they were built up a holy temple. A holy temple. And even as our Lord served him,
so do we. Jesus Christ served God with
all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. And so Samson is a
type of Christ as he was ordained of God as a Nazarite. And then thirdly, Samson is a
type of Christ in his extraordinary strength. There was just no boundaries
to the strength of Samson, because God, the Holy Ghost, moved in
him. You know, when we think about
the Holy Ghost, we get these pictures of a dove. The dove
descended upon the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm not trying to
make any kind of puns or any kind of, I'm not trying to make
jokes about the Holy Spirit of God. But I'm simply saying that
we get these ideas in our head about the Holy Ghost and the
Holy Ghost is God. He's omnipotent. He's almighty. When the scripture
says, Almighty God, that means there's none more mighty than
he. The Holy Ghost is almighty. That's why it's so ridiculous
when men start talking about resisting the Holy Spirit. You can't resist the Holy Spirit,
my soul. He's God. He's God. Well, you say, well, how do you
explain some of these things about men not receiving the things
of the Spirit of God? Holy Spirit didn't work in him
irresistibly. That's why. He works irresistibly
in his elect. He's a type of Christ in his
extraordinary strength. In Judges 14, verses five and
six, it records a personal confrontation between Samson and a lion. Now, I'm gonna tell you something. You get a mad kitty cat, and
I bet you nobody in here is gonna reach down and grab him. Huh? Little old house cat. Thing don't
weigh 15 pounds. You ain't gonna grab it. It'll
eat you up. If it runs at you for some reason,
it's got this temper or something, and it runs at you, you can't
do nothing with it. It'll eat you up. Now, you may
eventually kill it, but you'll have signs where you was in a
battle. But now, here's a 500-pound lion. Russell, this is like three
of your big white dogs in one, plus it's a cat. Samson slew him, the scripture
said, like he was a kid goat, like a baby goat. He laid that
lion on the ground. And that's just a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ who took on Satan, who is a roaring lion,
and subdued him that nobody could subdue. On another occasion, Samson took
the jawbone of an ass and slayed 1,000 soldiers, 1,000 warriors,
coming at him, going to wipe him out. He took the jawbone
of an ass. He didn't even have a sword.
He had the jawbone of an ass. Slew 1,000 men. And then on another
occasion, they tried to trap him in a city, and this city
had these big iron gates, 90 feet wide, 45 feet each gate,
and a huge bar that went through it that the historians say that
a whole group of men, when they set that bar, could barely shove
the bar shut. Samson come down while they were
sleeping and pulled up those 90-foot iron gates, both gates
and both posts and pulled them out of the ground and carried
them seventeen miles up on a mountain and threw them on the ground. He's known for his extraordinary
strength and he was irresistible in his strength and power over
his enemies. You know, when people begin to
hear our Lord preach They said what manner of man, he don't
teach like the Pharisees. He teaches like one who has authority. Now you don't have any authority
without power. And he had, God gave him this
power. And they said of the Lord Jesus
Christ, what manner of man is this? Even the winds and the
waves obey his voice. Well, that lynch mob come to
get him, to take him to the cross. And he said to them, they were
looking for him, searching for him, called for him. He said,
I am. When he said, I am. That's God's
name, I Am. Moses, when he went to Egypt,
said, who shall I tell them sent me? When they asked me, he said,
you tell them I Am sent you. Christ said, I Am, and that whole
lynch mob fell backward on ground, just at his voice. He walked in the blackness of
a stormy night upon the troubled waters of the sea as though it
was a walking path in the park. Just strolling along. He commanded Lazarus, and Lazarus
came forth from the dead. He commanded leprosy to be gone
out of the leprosy, and the leprosy disappeared. And then our Lord said this.
He said, whom do men say that I am? They said, some said, you're
Elijah, and some said this one, and some said that one. He said,
whom say ye that I am? Peter said, thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And our Lord said, upon this
rock I'll build my church. Now listen, and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it. You talk about strength? Oh, my soul. He carried the weight
of our sins upon his back before God. So what do we know so far? We
know that Samson's a type of Christ, as his birth was foretold
by the angel of God, that his whole life was ordained as a
Nazarite to serve God. That was his whole purpose of
being. And that Samson was a type of Christ in his individual strength
and power. And then fourthly, Samson's a
type of Christ in his office as a judge. That's the name of
the book that records his whole life, is the book of Judges.
He was a judge over Israel. There was a time when Israel
was ruled by judges, and Samson was a judge. In Judges chapter 16, verse 31,
it says that Samson judged Israel 20 years. Christ was a judge. Did you know
that? In John 5.22, the Holy Ghost
tells us, For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all
judgment unto the Son. We shall all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. Christ is a judge. And he's doing this, that all
men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He
that honoureth not the son honoureth not the father. What did judges do? What were
the duties of the judge? Well, the judge settled all disputes. Two men were at odds and they
were arguing over this and that and this point and that point
and they'd come to him, judge settled it. Whatever the judge
said, that's the way it was. He settled all disputes. Another
duty of the judge is to rightly define the law of Moses. He was
to study that law until he knew it inside out. And one of his
duties was to rightly define the law of Moses. He was to reconcile
two parties who are at odds. And he was to declare the righteous
judgment of God upon the transgressors. Whatever the law called for,
that was his judgment upon the transgressors. And he was also
called upon to enforce the commandments of God. So Samson was a type
of Christ in his office as a judge. What Christ says settles all
disputes, don't it? Huh? You know, he said, you say, You know, this is adultery. He
said, now, I'm going to tell you what that means. I'm going
to lay this out so you can understand it. To look on a woman and lust
after her is to commit adultery already in your heart. Now, that's
what that law is talking about. You see what I'm saying? A judge
does this. He rightly defines the law of
God. How Christ interprets the law
defines the law. And Christ by his life and death
has reconciled all things to himself. He reconciles the parties
who are at odds. That's what a mediator, that's
what his duties are. And there's one mediator between
God and me and the man Christ Jesus. Christ, as the propitiation for
our sins, has honored and exalted the law. And by his own death,
he declares the righteous justification of all that believe. So he's
a type of Christ in his office as a judge. And then fifthly,
Samson's a type of Christ in that his death was brought about
for his love for a fallen woman. Now, if you'll read carefully
these three chapters, And if you're like I was first time
I read it, you're gonna be amazed at Samson's behavior. I was shocked. First time I, this man's a Nazarite. God separated him, sanctified
him. His whole purpose in living is
to serve the Lord. You know where he spent most
of his time? With harlots. He didn't make any sense to me.
I couldn't understand this. This looks like a total contradiction. You read it and see what you
get out of it. You can't deny it. And that's the one thing
about God. When he records a man's life, he records his life as
it was. If you read the writers, religious
writers about David, they're going to make excuses for David
His love for Bathsheba, what Bathsheba did was wrong, what
Bathsheba, it wasn't Bathsheba's out there looking at her, she's
taking a bath. It was David. And that's how
God records it. Didn't make any sense to me at
all until I looked at him as a type of Christ. Christ forgave a harlot that
the Jews were determined to kill. They said, now what are you going
to do with her? He said, well, whoever among you is without
sin, you get the rocks and stone her to death. And he started writing in the
sand. Wouldn't you like to know what he wrote? One by one, they departed. There was only one, as far as
I can tell, who really understood his death and his resurrection. You know who that was? A harlot. There was one in the tent. He said, I came into this tent
and nobody in here, they didn't anoint my head, they didn't wash
my feet, but here's a woman And she's crying and her tears are
falling on his feet and she's washing his feet with her tears
and drying them with her hair. She was a harlot. The only four women mentioned
in the lineage of Christ, three of the four were harlots. Does it begin to form a picture
to you here about Christ? He came into the world to save
sinners. Why? He knew who she was. He
wouldn't be letting her wash his feet or anoint his head.
He knew who she was. Now understand what I'm saying.
God does not condone prostitution or sex outside of marriage. I'm
not trying to teach that. But such sinners as this make
up the Israel of God. God saved sinners. There's nobody in this place
that hasn't committed spiritual adultery. You didn't always know
the Lord. It's spiritual adultery to worship
a god of your imagination. Or to pretend to love a false
god for a temporary benefit. And I believe this is the case
with most politicians and socialites. There was a preacher, days gone
by, he's dead now. But he said the funeral of John
Kennedy was the biggest spiritual orgy he ever read about in his
life. That's what he called it. And
it was. All the religions that couldn't
stand each other, all of them over here hugging on each other. And we saw something similar
to that not too long ago. Christ came into this world to
save sinners, Paul said, of whom I am chief. You know where God
found Paul? in spiritual adultery. In the book of Hosea, God compared
the idolatry of Israel, and here's what he said, they have committed
a great boredom departing from the Lord. So for the love of a fallen woman,
Samson was taken into bondage and made sport of by his enemies. And for the love of of his fallen
bride, the church, his people, Christ gave himself to the will
of his enemies who made public sport of him before nailing him
on a cross. The love of God, I want you to
hear me now, the love of God is not measured by the goodness
of his bride. but by his sovereign will and
good pleasure to save her in spite of herself. That's how
you measure the love of God. God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Herein is love, not that you
love God, but that he loved you and sent his son as the propitiation
for your sins. I really get tired of people
saying to me, you hear what old so-and-so said? You know what old so-and-so did? Brethren, God saw his people
in their open adultery just like the woman in John 8 who was taken
in the very act. Isn't that what they said? They
took her in the very act of her adultery. God looked upon his people in
their open adultery in the very act. Yet because of his great
love, he forgave them, reconciled them, and kept his station as
their husband. He didn't divorce them. He didn't
put them away. Now how hypocritical must it
be for her to look on another in the same shape and condemn
her as if she'd never done such a thing and never would have. Really? That's because you've
never been taken in the very act. That's what causes that. That self-righteousness is all
that is. A believer looks on such things
and says, but for the grace of God, there I go. There I go. That'd be me. Be me. Samson's the type of Christ in
that he was brought into bondage and death because of his love
for a fallen woman. And then sixly, now I want you
to think about this. Samson was stripped of all his
might to satisfy the justice of God. God told him what had
happened. If a razor touched his head,
he told him what was going to happen. And he was stripped of his power.
Now it says of Christ, he was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter. He had nothing to plead because
he bore our sins in his own body on the tree. He was guilty. That's
why he didn't open his mouth. He made no plea because as our
substitute and as our representative, he was made sin for us. And then
lastly, and I'll hurry, Samson is a type of Christ in that his
greatest victory was in his death. There was a young lad in that
arena that day, and Samson commanded him to take him over to the columns
that held up that big temple. Take me over there. There was
two great pillars that supported that entire house of Dagon. And
it's still, those two pillars support all false religions in
this world. Those two pillars are free will
and self-righteousness. That's what, you tear those pillars
down and the whole house comes down. Take those two pillars
away and their whole religion crumbles to the ground. Paul said, the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds and casting down imaginations. And as the
lad did by Samson's command, we preach Christ, and he causes
the pillars to crumble, and he brings down the house. Now, if you will, you read Judges
13 through 16 with these things in mind and see if you can't
see sanction as a type of Christ.