Manoah's wise wife. We're not even given her name, but we are given her wisdom. And in this passage of scripture, if you struggle with assurance, I think this passage will help you. Manoah's wise wife.

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. How many times can that be said of me and you? And the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines 40 years. 40 years ago is 1985. I was working as a managing a print shop Aubrey had not yet been born. A lot of time has gone by. Where were you 40 years ago? 40 years ago, they were under the thumb of the Philistines for this 40 years because they did evil again in the sight of the Lord.

Verse two, and 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, which was a thing of reproach to an Israelite woman. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman. Now, this is not a created angel. This is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know that because after Manoah saw him, he said, I've seen the face of God. I'm gonna die. He didn't know it yet, though. Nor did she.

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 this is the promise of Samson. You know what Samson's name means? Sun rising. Isn't that our salvation? The sun rising.

Verse six. Then 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. And asked not whence he was, neither told me his name. Terrible means inspiring awe and reverence, astonishment, incomprehensible, exceeding. That could only identify the cross. And I think she didn't ask his name because she was so terrified when she saw him. She was speechless. And I think that if I'm given a sight of the Lord, I'm probably going to have a hard time saying anything. She was speechless at this time. And I suppose she was afraid to ask him his name.

Verse seven, but he said unto me, behold, thou shalt conceive and bear a son. now drink no wine or strong drink neither eat any unclean thing for the child should be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death." Now the instructions with regard to the Nazarites are found in Numbers chapter 6 and he was a Nazarite from the womb.

Verse eight, then Manoah entreated the Lord and said, oh my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst sin come again to us and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah. Now that's such an encouragement to me. God hearkened to the voice of Manoah. And God answered his prayer. You know, the Lord said men ought always to pray. and not to faint, not to lose heart, not to give up, but to continue in prayer. Now the Lord hearkened, he heard his request and he granted it. God is a God that hears and answers prayer. Now that ought to be a great encouragement to every one of us. And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah

And the angel of God came again unto the woman, as she sat in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her. And the woman made haste and ran. I can just picture this. She gets up running to tell her husband about this reappearance of the angel. And the angel of God came again unto the woman, as 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 said, unto him, art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? He said, I am. And Manoah said, now, let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do it to him? You know, he'd already told him, but Manoah's asking again.

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 eat any unclean thing. All that I've commanded her, let her observe." Now that was the law of the Nazarite. No razor was to touch his hair. He was to not cut his hair. He was not to drink alcohol, not to eat any unclean thing.

Verse 15. And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. We want to practice hospitality. We will need dinner with you. Remember, she thought he was a man and he thought he was a man. They did not know this was the angel of the Lord. And they did not know that he was going to be identified with a sacrifice. If it was, we're going to see in a minute. And look how the angel of the Lord answered him. Verse 16. And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, though you detain me, I'm not eating thy bread. You see in this thing of the sacrifice and his identification with the sacrifice, which he's going to demonstrate. He did this all by himself and he's not going to let Manoah make any contribution at all. He by himself purged our sins. He said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you. Now he wasn't being rude at Manoah's attempt at hospitality. He's just letting know what I'm doing, I'm doing by myself and you're going to make absolutely no contributions. Don't you love that? I'll not eat of thy bread. And if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord. You see, he didn't know he was the Lord, and he knew he was only approaching him as a man. Kind of like when the rich young ruler came up to the Lord, he didn't know who he was. He said, good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? That's why he said, why callest thou me good? He knew he was addressing him as a man. And the Lord knew he was addressing him only as a man, And so he said, if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord. For Manoah knew not that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, what's thy name? That when thy sayings come to pass, we may do thee honor. And the angel of the Lord said unto him, why askest thou after my name, seeing it is secret? Do you remember when David said, such knowledge is too wonderful for me? It's high. I cannot attain to it. Same word. My name is wonderful. We do know the Lord. Paul said, I know whom? I have believed." If we're believers, we know the Lord. So as that He knows us. When we speak to Him, He knows us. It's one thing to say, I know the Lord. It's another thing for the Lord to say, I know Him. And everybody that knows the Lord, He knows them. We do know Him, but we realize our knowledge of Him is very limited. We know His name, Jehovah Jesus. The self-existent Savior, secret means incomprehensible, altogether other, not of this world. The Savior said, no man knows the Son, but the Father. He's the only one who can truly know me all together. Now we know him, but we know in part, don't we? And we prophesy in part concerning the wonderful name of the Lord, the incomprehensible, altogether glorious, mysterious name of the Lord. And you think of the great doctrines of the gospel, that God is one God in three distinct persons. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, one Lord. Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God, one Lord. Yet he is revealed in three distinct persons. That cannot be comprehended. It's believed. We believe. Think of Christ. being the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. In eternity past, Jesus Christ was the Lamb slain before time began, before there was any creation. Jesus Christ was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, and my standing before God has always been in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And let me remind you, if he was slain from the foundation of the world, he was raised from the foundation of the world. And the purpose of creation is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. We believe that. Can you understand how God could become man? God could become flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. No, I don't understand how that could be, but I believe it with all my heart. God became man. Do I understand how Christ could keep the law for me and obey God's law perfectly for me? Well, I sure believe it. Do I understand how the God-man could die? How God could take my sin and make it his sin so that he's guilty of it and he dies and he's raised from the dead, having accomplished my salvation? Do I comprehend all that? No, but I believe it. You see, his name is wonderful. Exceeding altogether. First, John 417 says, as he is, as soon as we listen to this. As he is, how is he? Perfect to the father. Altogether, lovely. Perfectly accepted as He is, so are we in this world. Truly, His name is wonderful. Now, why are you asking me my name, saying it's wonderful? It's incomprehensible. It's altogether glorious. Let me say this as it should be said. I believe. Can I comprehend all this? No. Do I believe all this? Yes. And let me also say this, if I could comprehend it, there wouldn't be that much to it, if it's something that I could grasp. But thank God His name is wonderful. And the angel of the Lord said unto him, why askest thou thus after my name, seeing its secret, seeing its wonderful? So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, offered upon a rock unto the Lord. And the angel did wondrously. And Manoah and his wife looked on. They were beholding this, watching what was taking place. 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. Now you think about what they witnessed. This angel of the Lord that they just thought was a man, all of a sudden he's in the flame. And they watch him ascend up into the flame. Surely he did wondrously, didn't he? He did wondrously and they watched him ascend up in the flame. And what did they do? They hit the dirt. They fell on their faces because now all of a sudden they realize who this is they see. And this is what happens every time somebody sees the Lord, they have to hit the dirt. Moses made haste when the Lord made himself known to him and hit the dirt. Daniel said, when I saw him, there remained no strength in me. My cuddliness turned to corruption. Isaiah said, in the year of King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. And what did he say? Then said, I woe is me. A sense of sinfulness doesn't come from any other reason. I'm talking about a true sense, convicted by the Holy Spirit, comes from a side of who he is. You know, people hear of us talking about our sinfulness and think, what's wrong with him? They're so morose. If you ever saw who the Lord was, you'd understand. That is where these sins come from. So they hit the dirt. That's exactly what they did.

Verse 21, but 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. He knew this was God. He couldn't have explained it, but he said, we've seen the face. we've seen God, we're going to die. He knew it was God. I'm sure there's much he couldn't explain, but he knew who he was. He was God. And the thing that is, if we ever see who, if he ever appears to us, we'll know who he is. He knew. And what was his response? And Noah said unto him, we'll surely die because we've seen God. You remember how the Lord said, no man has seen my face and live. You remember when he appeared to Moses, what did he do? He put him in a cleft of the rock and put his hand over his face so he couldn't see. And he passed by and he saw his back parts. He saw his works. He saw where he'd been, but he couldn't see his face. Now, Manoah cries out, we've seen God, we're going to die. That's the only thing he could conclude. And then Manoah's wise wife, she really had a little bit more wisdom than her husband did. Look at what she had to say.

But his wife said unto him, if the Lord were pleased to kill us. That language is very important. If the Lord was pleased to kill us. You see, he does as he pleases. Everything he does is what he is pleased to do. Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. He does as he pleases, when he pleases, always as he pleases. This is who He is. He's the first cause of everything. And Manoah's wife's wife knew this. She knew the God who is sovereign. You see, if you don't know the God who is sovereign, you don't believe in the God of the Bible. It's a non-existent God. This is the one who does as He pleases, only as He pleases, when He pleases. And she says, Manoah, if the Lord was pleased to kill us, we'd already be dead. There's no question about that. But look what she says. 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." Now she gives three reasons why she knew the Lord would not kill them. And the first reason is this, he wouldn't have received the sacrifice. He wouldn't have received the burnt offering. Neither would he have showed us the things that he showed us. Remember, they watched the angel ascend up in the flames, signifying God's acceptance of the burnt offering and God's acceptance of what his son did and his acceptance of his resurrection back into glory. We've seen this. We've seen he accepted the burnt offering. We wouldn't have seen these things, nor would we have heard the things that he's told us. You know, he said you're going to have a son. Now, if he killed us, what he said would not be right. We wouldn't have a son. He said he's going to deliver us. He's going to, our son's going to deliver Israel. If he kills us, we won't have that son to deliver Israel. He wouldn't have told us these things had He any intention of killing us.

Now, let's consider these three things briefly. If you want to understand assurance, if you want to have assurance of God's acceptance of you, you'll understand why Manoah said, we're going to die. We're in trouble. God's going to kill us. I understand why I said that, but yet Manoah's wife, with her understanding of the gospel, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands.

Now, let me tell you why the Lord does not kill me right now. It's because he accepted, he received the work of his son in my behalf. That's the only reason. I need no other reason. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. You see the burnt offering was burnt up completely signifying God's complete acceptance of the sacrifice.

Now the reason I'm not killed, it's because Jesus Christ stood as my surety before time began and took full responsibility for my salvation. He said, whatever you require of him, you require of me. When he came to this earth, he came to this earth as my representative, working out a perfect righteousness for me. I love it when he said to John the Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. When he said us, he's talking about Tod and Ivar as well. He was talking about every one of his people. He fulfilled all righteousness for them.

Yet he died for the sins I committed. That's such a humbling and really words don't describe it. Any word I use to try to describe it, this is going to fall short. But to think that God took my sins and placed them in his son and he bore them in his own body on the tree. And he did this willingly. He didn't die an innocent victim. He died guilty before his father of the sins of all of his people. And he satisfied the demands of God's law against the sinner. The soul that sins shall surely die. He died and he put away my sins. God accepted what he did. Now that's the only ground of assurance. If you have any other ground of assurance, it's no good. I can assure you that. God won't accept it. This is the only ground of assurance, God's acceptance of the sacrifice. 100% of my ground of acceptance is God's satisfaction with what His Son did. He could ask for nothing more. And he could accept nothing less. There's my assurance. It doesn't have anything to do with anything that I've ever done, thought. It's holy because I know that God is completely satisfied with what his son did. And that's demonstrated in him rising up in the flame. God accepting what He did. He was delivered for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification.

How secure am I? Well, however secure Christ is, that's how secure I am. How pleased is God with me? Well, however pleased He is with His Son, that's how pleased He is with me. If God was pleased to kill us, he would not have accepted the sacrifice. That's our hope. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's the answer of a good conscience toward God. What is it that satisfies my conscience? One thing. God was completely satisfied with what Jesus Christ did. I'm satisfied with that too. That's the only thing that gives me a clear conscience, knowing that God put all of my sins away through the sacrifice of his son.

Oh, don't you love this woman's wise counsel? You know, if God were pleased to kill us, he would have done it a long time ago. But here's why he didn't. He accepted the burnt offering. He accepted what his son did. And the second reason she gives is he wouldn't have shown us this. Now think of what they witnessed. Remember it says they looked on while this was taking place. This is talking about what they actually witnessed for themselves. They witnessed the angel's identification with the sacrifice. Ascend back up into heaven. They saw God's complete acceptance of the sacrifice, and they saw the Lord go back up into heaven, and they saw God's acceptance of them. This is what they witnessed. They witnessed the Lord Jesus Christ doing wondrously, ascending back to heaven in the flame of the sacrifice. He showed them God's acceptance of the sacrifice in the ascension. Would He have showed us this if He was going to kill us? No. Nor would he have told us such things as thee. Now, he told them of the supernatural birth of their son, who would deliver Israel. Now, if he'd kill us, that boy would never be born, and God would be not doing what he said he would do. That cannot be. Do you trust God's word to the sense that you know that he can't go back on what he said? You believe in his utter faithfulness. What he said he's gonna do, he's gonna do. He wouldn't have told us this if he was pleased to kill us. So we must live in order to have this son. If God would kill us, he couldn't be true to his word. He wouldn't have told us how to raise the son. Remember, he gave specific instructions how this son was to be raised as a Nazirite. No alcohol was to touch his lips. No razor was to ever touch his hair. That he would be a Nazirite unto the Lord and he would be so until the day of his death.

Let me remind you of this about Samson. The day of his death he saved more people than he ever did during his life. He's a great type of the Lord Jesus Christ in that sense when he brought that down on the Philistines, and he killed more Philistines in his death than he ever did in his life, and he killed thousands in his life. He wouldn't have told us, I don't need anything from you. Just offer a burnt offering. I'm not taking anything from your hand. You offer the burnt offering unto the Lord, and that is your acceptance. He wouldn't have given us his name a secret. We're not going to die because of God's acceptance of the sacrifice. We're not gonna die because of what he's shown us in the Lord ascending up in the flame, the entire gospel of him ascending, his identification with the sacrifice, his accomplishments, his going back to heaven. And he wouldn't have told us these things if he was pleased to kill us.

Manoah's very wise wife. Verse 24. And the woman bare a son and called his name Samson, son rising. And the child grew. And the Lord blessed him and the spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtael. And I hope that'll give all of us a taste. I want to go ahead and read the history of Samson. that great type of Christ.

Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you've accepted the sacrifice of your son. How we thank you for what you've shown us. How we thank you for what you've said to us in your word. how it is finished, and we're complete in thy Son. Lord, deliver us from looking to ourselves and struggling with assurance, but let us have the full assurance of knowing that all you require of us we have in Christ Jesus, and we are complete, we lack nothing in Him. Let us as we Lay our head on our pillow tonight. Remember that we're complete in your Son. Bless this message for your glory. In Christ's name we pray, amen.