Well, please turn with me in your Bibles to Judges chapter 13. Judges chapter 13. We're spending some of these weeks in the summer away from the Gospel of Matthew. We're focusing on the two best known, or I suspect of the best known, judges in the book of Judges.
We concluded our study with reference to Gideon a couple of weeks ago. After Gideon, there is Tola, Jer, Jephthah, Ibn, Elon, Abdon, and then Samson. Samson is the final judge, the final deliverer recorded in the largest part of the book of the Judges. Chapter 3 beginning in verse 7 all the way to chapter 16 verse 31 indicates the human deliverers, the men that God raised up to save his people from their oppressors at the time of this particular book.
So we're going to pick up reading in chapter 13. We'll read the chapter and then consider the birth of Samson. Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. Now there was a certain man from Zorah, the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was barren and had no children.
And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, Indeed now, you are barren and have born no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb. and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.' So the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the angel of God, very awesome. But I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name.
And he said to me, Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. For the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, O my Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.
And God listened to the voice of Manoah. And the angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field. But Manoah, her husband, was not with her. Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband and said to him, look, the man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me.
So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said to him, are you the man who spoke to this woman? And he said, I am. Manoah said, now let your words come to pass.
What will be the boy's rule of life and his work? So the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, of all that I said to the woman, let her be careful. She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her, let her observe.
Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, please let us detain you, and we will prepare a young goat for you. And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Though you detain me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord. For Manoah did not know he was the angel of the Lord.
Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, What is your name, that when your words come to pass, we may honor you? And the angel of the Lord said to him, Why do you ask my name? Seeing it is wonderful. So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the Lord.
And he did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on. It happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar. The angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.
When the angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, we shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said to him, if the Lord had desired to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would he have shown us all these things, nor would he have told us such things as these at this time. So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson.
And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at Mahana Dan, between Zorah and Eshtoel. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our Holy Father, we thank you for the scriptures. We thank you that the Spirit has given them to us. And even now we pray that he would be at work in our minds and in our hearts. We confess our sin and our transgression and our iniquity.
We confess all these things and pray that you would cleanse us in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that sin casts a darkening influence over our minds so that we do not receive your word as we ought. So please forgive us. Please wash us.
Please cleanse us. And may the spirit take the truth of God's holy word and seal it upon our hearts and upon our minds. We ask that you would bless and encourage the people of God today. We pray that they would be sanctified and grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
May we see in even a passage like Judges 13 the glory of Christ set forth. And for those, God, who've come here this morning outside of Christ, we pray that today would be the day of salvation, that they would know a greater than Samson, one who doesn't just begin to deliver Israel from oppression, but saves his people from their sins. We ask almighty God that wherever the gospel is preached today, your word would run swiftly and be glorified. And we ask through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Introduction
Well, as we consider this birth narrative, which is the only one in the book of Judges in terms of the men that God raised up. Samson gets more attention than the others. I think, I don't know why, I don't know why the author spends so much time on Samson, but certainly he is an endearing character. He's received a lot of bad press.
I made a reference to a man that wrote an article on Judges 16, where Samson rather goes to Gaza. Many accept or many believe that he went into the harlot there at Gaza. This man argues very persuasively that that wasn't the case at all. I wrote an email to this man to thank him and I had referenced that often times it seems to me that Samson fared better in the hands of the Philistines than he did in some of the modern commentators that treat his life and story and the man basically agreed with that.
While Samson was not a perfect man, Samson nevertheless was a God-called, God-equipped, and God-sent man to do a specific task. And I think, and I hope, as we move through this narrative, Judges 13 to 16, we won't cover all that ground this morning, but I hope you'll have a newfound appreciation for this brother, and for the work that he did, and why he is indicated as a champion of faith in Hebrews chapter 11, specifically in verse 32. Well, as I mentioned this morning, or as I mentioned just recently, judges 13. takes up the birth narrative. It's also a call narrative.
It is God's call upon this particular man so that he could engage in the task that the Lord had, in fact, entrusted to him. Remember the way of the structure of the book. I hope as we remind you of this, it will get into your heads. In chapter 2, there is a thematic overview of the book.
In other words, chapter 2 tells us what the rest of the book is going to look like. And in chapter 2 it essentially says this, that the children of Israel sin against God. When they sin against God, the Lord then sends an oppressor, a people, a group, in this instance the Philistines, to chastise Israel. Typically the people of Israel cry out after a period of oppression.
They cry out not in repentance but in distress and then God answers by raising up a deliverer or a judge and sending him to save his people from that oppression. So the same pattern is involved in this particular instance with a couple of exceptions. So there's two broad categories we want to look at this morning in chapter 13. First is the sin of Israel, verse 1, and then secondly, the agent of deliverance in verses 2 to 25.
So if you're taking notes this morning, those are your two broad categories. We have some subheadings underneath each.
The Sin of Israel
First, note the sin of Israel. Chapter 13, verse 1. Again, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. This is precisely what we find in chapter 2.
Those cycles, sin, oppression, distress, and then God sends relief. And so the children of Israel revert to probably Baalism. In chapter 2 verse 11 it tells us they turn to Baal, they forsake Yahweh. In other words, they leave the God they are indebted to, the God they are supposed to serve and love, the God they are supposed to worship, the God they are supposed to obey in the land of Canaan.
They cast him aside, and they then bow down to Baal, and they bow down to Asherah, and they engage in idolatry and wickedness and evil. You need to appreciate this. It's not as if God is just arbitrarily mean to his people. Well, he sends the Philistines to oppress them.
God sends the Philistines to oppress them because they have broken the covenant. This was the stipulation. This was the book of Deuteronomy. Do this and live.
God promises when they go into the land. If they don't do that, they will not live. They will suffer the curses of God's covenant upon their own hands." So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and then
The Oppression of Israel
notice the oppression of Israel, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. Again, just a glancing reference to the absolute sovereignty of God. It is the Lord who brings peace to his people Israel. It is the Lord who brings oppression to his people Israel.
It is the Lord God Most High who is in the heavens and he does whatever he pleases. So the Lord delivers them into the hand of the Philistines, a particularly nasty group of people, and notice the length of the oppression. It is 40 years. You see, as we proceed in the Samson narratives, we're gonna learn that what Samson does best is kill Philistines.
And there are times and seasons, as New Covenant Christians, where we get a little bit offended by such a thing. But these Philistines are oppressing the people of God. These Philistines are making life miserable for the people of God. Now, I should just add, our task isn't to go out and kill Philistines.
Please don't think that I said that. Do not believe for a moment that I'm advocating that you go out and buy every gun at dart and tackle and every round of ammunition and sit up on a hill and start picking off Philistines. That is not what I'm suggesting. There is the mandate for holy war in the Old Covenant.
There is the instruction of God to the children of God to go in and dispossess the land of the Canaanites. We need to understand these people were oppressive. These people were vengeful. These people were unkind.
These people made life miserable for Israel. So remember our cycles. There's sin. There's oppression.
Now there's a difference here in this particular cycle. Notice what we find in verse 2. Now there was a certain man from Zorah. If I were to ask you right now, in this probably 90 degree weather, and you're probably a little tired, what's missing?
I hope that you'd be able to answer me. But because I'm not always absolutely positive that everyone could answer me, I'll answer it for you. Sin, oppression, a cry of distress, and then deliverance.
The Absence of Distress
Notice there's no cry of distress here. Israel doesn't cry out. Israel doesn't grumble before the Lord and say, we don't like this 40 years of oppression. In each of the other cycles, you can read this in chapter 3 verse 19, chapter 3 verse 15, chapter 4 verse 3, chapter 6, the Gideon narrative, 6 and 7, and then chapter 10 with reference to Jephthah.
In each instance where the children of Israel sin, God raises up an oppressor. He brings this to bear upon them, and then they cry out to God. Again, not in repentance, but in distress. In other words, this cry goes something like this, We don't like Ammonite oppression.
We don't like the problems that the Midianites have brought to us. We don't like the way that life is currently in Israel. And I'm getting to a point here because this is where we learn something about what life in the church today looks like. There is no cry of distress because the people of God have made peace with Philistine oppression.
Think about this for a moment. They're not upset. They're not put out. They're not hindered.
There is nothing in them that would suggest that they see the problem that they find themselves in. This is going to be evident as we move through the Samson narratives. What happens in chapter 14 when Samson goes down to Timnah? He wants a wife.
He wants a wife from the daughters of the Philistines. His parents essentially say, Samson, couldn't you find a nice Jewish girl? Couldn't you find a nice girl among the daughters of your people? Why would you find a wife from the Philistines?
What we learn in 14.4, this is the sovereign plan and purpose of God to bring trouble between Israel and the Philistines. When we get to chapter 15, after Samson renders a pretty good victory over the Philistines, Samson is essentially chilling, and then the Philistines come to Judah. You gotta pay attention here. I'm gonna go somewhere with this.
I think that we're in Judges 13 to 16. The Philistines come to Judah and they ask, what is your problem with us? And they said, we want Samson. It's interesting because Judah sends 3,000 delegates to go get Samson.
Think about that. If I was out chilling and you wanted to get my attention, two or three of you could handle me. I hope, I think, one of you could. Just put my arm behind my back and I'll come wherever you say.
They sent 3,000 men. They knew what Samson was about. They knew that this man was formidable. But when they come to Samson, They say to him, I want you to see this in chapter 15, and we'll cover it again when we get to chapter 15, because it's that important.
Notice in verse 11, then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Edom and said to Samson, do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Are you trying to upset the status quo? Are you trying to ruin our particular arrangement? Are you trying to make life difficult for us?
Samson, don't you understand if you make these Philistines angry, then they might take it out on us. Now note what Judah goes on to say in verse 11. Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? What is this you have done to us?
The people of Judah side with the Philistines. They are not burdened by, they are not bothered by, they are not crying out to God as a result of the oppression that the Philistines have brought upon them. In fact, they've embraced Philistine life, they've embraced Philistine gods, they've embraced Philistine culture, and now Samson is the troubler because he dares to try and break that oppression. You see something of the church in this?
The church soft on the ethical demands of God's Holy Word? We don't want to speak out against homosexuality, and I'm not homophobic and always just picking on that set. I'm an equal opportunity employer. I think heterosexual fornication is as much an abomination to the living God.
If you are doing that, cease and desist, because God says in Hebrews 13 that fornicators and adulterers God will judge. But you see in our culture there's no penalty to speak out against heterosexual fornication. But homosexuality, the church doesn't want to rock the status quo. We dare not have our tax-exempt status removed from us.
If they remove our tax-exempt status for preaching the word, praise be to God. But we can't dare cry out against the sorts of things that are epidemic in the nation today. Have we become like the Judahites, siding with the Philistines? You know, intriguingly as well, in Judges 1, verses 2-20, you know who the first tribe is presented as being good conquerors?
It's the tribe of Judah. It's Judah who's gone out. It's Judah who's taken care of business. It's Judah who has dealt with the oppression of the land.
And now they've gotten to this point of apathy. They've gotten to this point of lethargy. They've gotten to this point where they don't care. They've gotten to this point where they do not want to upset the apple cart.
Three Lessons from Israel's Apathy
I think we learned three lessons from this particular section. First, the similarity with the wilderness generation in Numbers 13 and 14. Remember that? Twelve spies go out to recon the land.
Twelve spies return. Two of them say, the land is good, let's go take it right now. Caleb and Joshua believe the promise of God and as a result they want to go in and take the land. Ten spies say, no we don't want to do that, there's giants in the land.
There's hardship in the land. There's difficulties in the land. The congregation that cries and whines and complains to Moses, why did you take us out of Egypt? At least in Egypt we had garlic.
At least in Egypt we had melons. At least in Egypt we had things that we like to eat. Doesn't matter that we were slaves. Doesn't matter that we couldn't freely worship our living and true God.
We quite like the status quo. If there's a new covenant equivalent to this scenario, it's the church in Laodicea. What has Laodicea chided for? You're neither hot nor cold.
What has Jesus threatened to do? Spew them from his mouth. The way the land would spit out the inhabitants in Old Covenant Israel, New Covenant Israel, the Lord Christ spits out faithless churches from his holy mouth. This assimilation of culture, this being like everyone else, this parroting the world, this not looking any different whatsoever.
Secondly, we need to see here the danger of assimilating culture in such a manner as to no longer be concerned with the violation of God's law. You think Philistines had houses of worship constructed to Yahweh? You think Philistines treated their women properly? You think Philistines treated their children properly?
It's very intriguing, throughout the book of Judges, women fare well in the covenant community. Outside of the covenant community, they're treated like property. They're treated like animals. In fact, when you get to the end of Judges, this is precisely what I think the author is depicting.
It has happened in Israel that they're treating their women in like manner. You know, there's a danger of assimilating culture in such a manner as to no longer be concerned with the violation of God's law. It ought to bother us that there's abortion. It ought to bother us that there's same-sex marriage.
It ought to bother us, not to the point of a holy war vis-a-vis Deuteronomy 7, 1 to 5. Don't strap on C4 and walk into the clinic and say, see you on the other side. That's not the mandate in the New Covenant era. But certainly the mandate in the New Covenant era is something akin to what we find in Ezekiel 9, to sigh and cry over the abominations in the land.
It must be akin to the psalmist's attitude in Psalm 119, 136. Rivers of waters run down from my eyes because men don't keep your law. He says indignation has taken hold of me because men don't keep your law. There ought to be something of Lot.
We don't get this from the Genesis narrative, but that inspired Apostle Peter tells us something about Lot. When he was living there in Sodom, it wasn't as if he made truck with the people there. His righteous soul was vexed daily. He didn't like to see this stuff.
He didn't like to see men lying with men. He didn't like to see the sorts of brutality that are rampant in a pagan culture. It vexed his soul. It was torment to him to live among a people that had so thrown away the very ethical standard of God Most High.
And the third lesson that I think we learn here is the necessity of uncompromising allegiance to Christ in the midst of a compromised culture. This is why Samson's a hero. Sure, he does some things that perhaps you and I wouldn't do. There's a certain colorfulness about his character.
As Davis explains him, Samson is such a rollicking, entertaining, break the mold fellow that we may be preoccupied with him. Who doesn't love Samson? If you dare to raise your hand, I'll ask you to leave. So we love Samson here.
What's the difference between Samson and say the tribe of Judah? uncompromising allegiance to the Lord God Almighty. Even though there's some personal blemishes upon his character, even though there's some things that as Monday morning quarterbacks we can look upon and say, well Samson, maybe you should reconsider on how you do such and such a thing. Samson's job as he received it from the Lord God Most High was killing Philistines and Samson did it. He didn't complain, he didn't grumble, he didn't argue, he didn't whine, he didn't murmur.
He simply engaged in uncompromising allegiance to the God of Israel. Can we learn that from this section in Judges 13.1? Sin, oppression, deliverer. No distress. no cry, no nothing!
Again, it's never been repentance with the children of Israel, but there at least has been this expression of distress and how bad things are being subject to these foreign nations or these foreign oppressors. Now notice the agent raised up.
The Agent of Deliverance
Verses 2 to 25. We'll break it down into four sections, three sections rather. First,
The Promise of a Deliverer
the promise of a deliverer. Second, the birth of the deliverer. Third, the empowerment of the deliverer. If you haven't seen the parallels yet to the birth narrative of Christ, may I encourage you to open your eyes?
Are the parallels to Elizabeth and Zacharias? God comes to the woman who has no child. God promises that from her womb one will rise up to do a very specific task for the living and true God. I mean, verse 5 even reads exactly like Matthew 1.21.
The angel instructs Joseph, you shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who will save his people from their sins. Isn't this precisely what the angel of the Lord instructs Mrs. Minoa? We don't know her name, so I'll call her Mrs.
Minoa. Verse 5, For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb. And he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
Very similar. Each of these judges serves as a type for our Lord Jesus Christ and the deliverance that he ultimately brings through his life, death, and resurrection. But no, look at the parents, verses 2 to 5. As I mentioned, this is the only birth narrative recorded of any of the judges.
We're introduced to the man, his name is Manoah. He's a Danite. We're told that his wife is barren. When the angel of the Lord comes, he reminds her that she is barren.
You say, what is he doing? Adding insult to injury? Is he trying to heap upon her scorn and abuse? No, he's underscoring the power of God.
The fact that she's barren, and the fact that the angel of Yahweh announces that she's barren, makes evident the glorious sovereign power of God Most High in bringing a child from that womb that would go out and destroy Philistine oppression. You see, this is a lesson that we learned in studying Gideon. Those 300 men were purposed to show us that God's power is made perfect through our weakness. He doesn't need 135,000 men to kill 135,000 men.
He'll take 300 men who go into the camp, and who make some noise, and who light some torches, and who blow some trumpets, and then he'll turn that army, the oppressive army, against themselves, and they'll take the sword to one another. You see, it's God's power that delivers His people. Very often, recurring theme in the scripture, Sarah brings forth Isaac, Rebecca brings forth Jacob, Rachel brings forth Joseph, Hannah brings forth Samuel, Elizabeth brings forth John the Baptist. Barren women!
What's God saying? Psalm 113 is absolutely right. He is transcendent. He is imminent.
He is sovereign over the womb. He can take a woman and bring from her that deliverer that will crush the head of the oppressors of his people. The woman is never mentioned by name in the narrative. It's interesting, isn't it?
Of the two of them, between Manoah and Mises, she seems a bit more spiritually alert to me. She seems a bit brighter to me. I don't mean that intellectually. Isn't it interesting that she has contact with the angel of Yahweh.
She tells her husband, Manoah. Manoah says to the Lord, please come back and visit us. God hears the prayer. God answers.
The angel goes to Mrs. Mrs. comes again to tell Mr. the angel of the Lord is back and then Manoah has to run to find him. Just kind of intriguing the way the story plays out. Davis says this concerning the fact that the woman is not named.
Here in Judges 13 the woman is both barren and anonymous. We don't even know her name. She is Manoah's wife and becomes Samson's mother, but her name is not given to us. To her sterility, the Bible has added obscurity.
Yahweh often begins precisely here, in human obscurity and hopelessness, where there is no human energy or ability to serve as a starter. Samson's birth is another instance of God's way of prefacing an exceptional work with exceptional difficulties. Yahweh will bring salvation out of nothingness. It's almost as if God structures history, not almost as if.
He has structured this period of the judges to demonstrate his power in doing amazing and glorious things through things which look otherwise undoable. She's promised a son, she's given specific instructions. Number six, verses one to eight is the Nazirite vow. this prohibition against eating grapes or drinking wine or anything from the vine, the additional specific item or detail where Samson's not to cut his hair, this Nazirite means that he's devoted to God, he's separated for God and for his service. And then the angel, as I've already mentioned in verse 5, highlights the very purpose for Samson.
Verse 5 is key. Verse 5 is crucial. Verse 5 is what you need to get in the Samson narrative, because everything that follows with this big, rollicking man that goes about from place to place is in fulfillment of verse 5. He would begin to deliver Israel from this oppression.
Ultimately, the Philistine oppression would be done away with by King David, but what Samson does is he begins. Bloch says, this is a call narrative, unconventional to be sure, but its purpose is to describe how God provides Israel with a deliverer to deal with the Philistines, whom he has himself sent as agents to punish them for their spiritual infidelity. Both the messenger and the narrator, however, recognize that he will provide only a partial solution for the crisis. The completion of the agenda will await another day and another man." So probably David, but I think beyond that, Christ.
Samson begins to deliver Israel from her oppression. Matthew 1.21 announces the Savior who does deliver Israel from her oppression. So that's the first visit, the first meeting between the angel of Yahweh and Mrs. Manoah.
Notice in verses 6 to 9,
Manoah's Prayer and God's Answer
Manoah prays. So the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the angel of God. Note the trajectory here. Note what's happening here.
There's a man of God, identified as the angel of Yahweh. After the sacrifice is accepted by the Lord, what does Manoah say? We've seen God! The angel of the Lord is God himself come to his people.
I argue it's the second person of the triune God in his pre-incarnate state coming to encourage, coming to instruct, coming to equip, coming to bless, coming to fortify and strengthen his church in the Old Covenant. So then notice what happens. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. And he said to me, Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son.
Now drink no wine or similar, drink nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, O my Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born. And God listened to the voice of Manoah. Isn't that beautiful?
God listened to the voice of Manoah. You'll hear me quote Dale Ralph Davis in the course of this message and probably subsequent ones. If you want a very helpful commentary on any of the former prophets, judges, or Joshua judges, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, his are very helpful. He makes this observation concerning this clause in the Lord, that God listened to the voice of Manoah.
He says, we have grown so accustomed to the flow of biblical narratives that we fail to see the little miracle here. The prayers Yahweh hears. and God heard the voice of Manoah. We have read such clauses so frequently that they no longer strike us, but the psalmists never take it for granted. We may have relegated God's hearing our prayers to our, of course, category, but biblical prayers do not regard it as so routine.
Rather, Yahweh's hearing is the most crucial matter for all prayer. You need to stop and ponder and consider Matthew 6. Do not pray like the hypocrite who stands on the street corner. Doesn't Jesus paint this picture well?
Can't you see this guy? I can. He's standing at five corners. And he's doing something like this.
Thank you, Lord, that I'm not like others. Thank you, Lord, that I'm such a great guy. Thank you, Lord, that I'm such a splendid specimen of a Christian. Jesus says, don't be like hypocrites.
But he also says, don't be like heathen, because heathen think they'll be heard for the multitude of words. This guy's out there treating God like he's Baal. If I say enough, if I manipulate enough, then Baal will spit out the answer and give me what I want. Jesus says, don't be like the hypocrite.
Don't be like the heathen. He says, when you pray, go into your secret place. Go into your closet. Go into your room.
And your father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly. Now, perhaps you're like me. Sometimes you go for private prayer and you don't have this mind-altering event. You don't have this experience where you can visualize fireworks because God is right there saying, I just love you and I want to fawn all over you and I want to just give you everything.
Or you may come to a church prayer meeting, and we might read off some requests, and a few of the brothers might pray. And you might be tempted to think, well, that was pretty routine. The point isn't what we feel when we go into the closet. The point isn't what we feel when we enter into that room.
The point is that your father, who sees, the implication, of course, is that he hears, will answer your prayers." This man, Manoah, minding his own business several thousand years ago, doing what he was doing, his wife comes and says, the angel of Yahweh has appeared. He's told me we're going to have a son. Manoah says, God, can I meet him too? And God hears him.
God answers him. God sends the angel back. Of course the angel comes to the woman, we won't rehearse that. And then Manoah makes contact, the same instructions are given essentially, and then notice the response in verse 15.
Verse 15, then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, please let us detain you and we will prepare a young goat for you. This is good, isn't it? Yes, it's hospitality. Yes, it's reverence.
Yes, it's all those things. But you know, something's going on here. He may not have a fully-orbed doctrine of God and of the second person of the triune God who has come to him in his pre-incarnate state, but this much he knows. This angel has brought word that his wife is going to have a son.
There is something unique about this particular man. So he says, let us feed you. And of course the angel of the Lord deflects this and says, I'm not going to eat your goat, but what you ought to do is offer up a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord. And so this is what happens.
The Name That Is Wonderful
Now notice verse 17, Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, what is your name? That when your words come to pass, we may honor you. That's good faith, isn't it? What's Gideon do when God says, I want you to do this?
Well, I'm going to put this fleece out, Lord, and I want you to make it wet, but keep the ground dry. And God does it. Gideon says, don't get mad at me, God, but I want to do that one more time. Manoah affirms that what the messenger has spoken is going to come to pass.
That's a good thing. We ought not to doubt the Word of God. We ought not to hold it in suspicion. We ought not to manipulate.
We ought not to be like a child who, when they hear about snow possibly coming, say, well, it's not going to snow. What is that? I think it's an attempt to get it to snow. It's sort of that reverse psychology thing, right?
There's a 30% chance, oh, it's not going to snow, because you really want it to snow. God's not gonna bless, it's almost as a way to test him, a way to put his arm behind his back. Manoah takes the word and he takes it seriously. He asks for the name and then the angel reveals in verse 18, and the angel said to him, why do you ask my name seeing it is wonderful?
Psalm 139, verse 6. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Davis says his visitor is far more than Manoah can take in.
That's the point. Why do you ask my name? I am wonderful. I am God, is what he's saying.
So Manoah dutifully prepares the sacrifice, he offers it up, and then an amazing thing happens! The angel ascends with the smoke! Now, check this! Get this, because herein lies another lesson for the church today.
How does Manoah respond to this particular happening? What does Manoah do? Does he run home in Facebook? Does he run home in Twitter?
Does he run home in blog? Does he say, wow, that was neat? Does he text his wife? No, because she's standing right there.
Does he text a friend? What does Manoah do when he is confronted with the very presence of God Most High? Look at the text.
Reverence Before God's Presence
When Manoah and his wife saw this at the end of verse 20, They fell on their faces to the ground. It's a good response. This is a blessed response. They put their hands in their pocket and snap their gum and say, wow, wasn't that great?
They fell as dead men at the feet or to their faces. Notice what goes on. when the angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord." Again, the progression, the man of God to wonderful, to angel of the Lord, to God. And then note Manoah's response in verse 22, and Manoah said to his wife, we shall surely die because we have seen God. That's reverence before the Lord.
That is seeing the wonderful One. That is seeing the awesome God. It has become commonplace today to trivialize God. To try and take Him and pull Him down and put jeans and a shirt on Him the way that we function and the way that we conduct ourselves.
We interpret God according to our experience. Our hearts are broken, therefore God must have a broken heart. We're not supposed to operate that way. We're supposed to come and be informed by the revelation of God Most High.
The answer is not to bring God down to our level and this is what Manoah recognizes. Look at his confession, we shall surely die because we have seen God. Again, Davis says being too near God was not cozy but fatal. It wasn't cozy.
This is our perception of God today. He's just cozy. He's cuddly. I just put my head on His shoulder and He'll just do whatever it is I want.
Now, there's a sense where we cast ourselves wholly and fully upon Him because He cares for us. But He's not cozy to you the way I hope your husbands or your wives are cozy to the other. Listen to what Davis says, being too near God was not cozy but fatal. Manoah apparently felt that they had seen too much, had been too close.
Manoah may have been wrong in his inference, but he was right in his instinct. For where did we ever get the idea that the presence of God is not dangerous? What did C.S. Lewis say about Aslan?
And I'm not endorsing the theology of that particular story, but it is intriguing the way Aslan is described. He's not tame, but he is good. That's our God. He's not tame.
He's not in a box. We don't manipulate Him. We don't control Him. He's not a puppet on our strings performing at our will.
He is in the heavens. He does what He pleases. Manoah understood something of this. Davis is right.
His inference may have been wrong because he didn't die, but his instinct was right. It was spot on. When men come into the presence of the living God throughout Scripture, they don't do so with hands in pockets. They don't do so exchanging lattes.
They do so with fear, with trembling, with paralysis, with the confession that I fell at his feet like a dead man. John, in chapter 1 of the book of Revelation. Davis says, where do we ever get the idea that the presence of God is not dangerous? Have we really bought Santa Claus theology?
Has God somehow become safe because we live in AD? Were the disciples still too primitive to realize that the divine presence did not require human trembling? You see, and this is very appropriate for us in the here and in the now. Our God is to be treated with reverence and with respect.
Our God has absolute sovereignty. Our God is majestic. Our God possesses dignity. Jeremiah the prophet and John in the book of Revelation both voice this particular question.
Who would not fear thee, O king of the nations? For indeed, it is thy due. We might be able to say, well, the pagan and the heathen who are dead in their trespasses and sins, they certainly don't fear Yahweh as they ought. But what of the church?
What of a people who have become so cozy with the living and true God? There's no reverence. There's no respect. There's no fear of sinning in His presence.
The eyes of Yahweh are in every place, beholding the good and the evil." If, as Davis suggests, and I think he's right, commenting on this scene with reference to Manoah, that our God is dangerous, not in a sinful way, not in a godless way, not in a wicked way, then how ought we to approach Him on the Lord's Day Sabbath? I hope you pray, God help us to be reverent in our approach to you. I sometimes wonder if our prayers go like this, Lord bless me, help me, give me I'm not suggesting that's necessarily wrong. The order of the Lord's Prayer suggests that it's okay to ask for food.
It's okay to ask for forgiveness. It's okay to ask for protection. After we pray, ''Hallowed be thy name!'' After we pray, ''Thy kingdom come!'' After we pray, ''Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!'' Do you start your Lord's Day off in the morning saying, ''God Most High!'' I pray that as we assemble together, you will be glorified. You will be feared.
You will be honored. You will be adored. You will be loved and treated with the dignity that is deserving. You see, Manoah knew this instinctively.
Manoah came into contact with the Holy One of Israel. And he says, we shall surely die because we have seen God. I suspect, as we continue in the narrative, that Manoa and Mrs. were kind of like my wife and me. There are times and instances when I get lost, and she tells me to go pull into the gas station and ask somebody for help.
And I say, no, I'm not going to do that. I can find the road. My instincts are such. I mean, it's got, like, I got tracker in my blood.
I can find this man. Just go ask. It's a blessing to have a wife that pushes us in the right direction. That blessing is easily crossed, though, if it becomes nagging, ladies.
Or lady. Just kidding. I'm really going to get it when I get home now. What's Mrs.
Manoah do? Mrs. Manoah speaks some reason into Manoah. Again, his inference was wrong, the instinct was right.
He makes this confession, we have seen God, we shall surely die. What does she say? Wait a minute, Manoah, if the Lord wanted us dead, we'd be dead. If the Lord wanted us dead, He certainly wouldn't receive our burnt offering.
If the Lord wanted us dead, we'd be gone. Mrs. Manoa understands something else that the church should appreciate. We come to the living and true God with trembling and joy.
We come to the living and true God with fear and with comfort. We come to the living and true God, understanding who he is in his holy, awesome character, but we also understand him in his perfect, glorious attributes of being most loving, most gracious, most merciful, most kind, most long-suffering, one who forgives the iniquities of his people, one who is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. You see, Manoah and his wife teach the church something about worship and our approach to the living and true God. And then we end the narrative with the birth and the empowerment.
The Birth and Empowerment of Samson
Notice verse 24. The emphasis in the entirety of the passage lies specifically on this interchange with Manoah and his wife. Verse 24, So the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.
That's his birth. Notice his empowerment. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at Mahanadan between Zorah and Eshtael. I mentioned earlier that sometimes Samson fared better in the hands of the Philistines than he does in the hands of some of his commentators.
I suspect that he fared better in the hands of the Philistines than some in the church today." Again, we have been sold a false bill of goods, and Samson is just this big brute wandering around seeking to gratify his lusts. You know, me, Samson, give me meat. Me, Samson, give me woman. That's not the Samson portrayed in 13-16.
He's a man of God. He's on a mission for God. He's empowered by the Spirit of God. It ought to cause us to fear, to speak ill of a servant of God.
The Spirit came upon him. It's the Spirit who leads him to Timnah, chapters 14 and 15. It's the Spirit who sends him to Gaza in chapter 16. It is the Spirit who governs this man.
It is the Spirit who overrules this man. It is the Spirit who uses this man in all of his formidable power to take care of the Philistine threat against the children of Israel. He's a hero. He's a man to be commended.
He is a man to be applauded. He is a man that points us wonderfully to our great God and to that One that would come to deliver His people from their sins.
Application
So in conclusion, just a couple of reminders before we leave, Judges 13. First, and we've alluded to this, again it's a reminder, we need to beware of this lack of distress in the Church today. this lack of distress, this lack of concern, this lack of understanding, this making truck with all things evil, this being just like the world. I'm not saying that we as the church, the Free Grace Baptist Church, ought to sell the property, move up to Mount Cham and just, you know, do whatever we would do on the top of Mount Cham. We are in the world, but we're not supposed to be of it.
Kids and young people, there are so many things vying for your attention. There are so many things soliciting your attention. That phone in your pocket presents so many temptations that were there when we were kids, but they weren't in our pockets quite like they are today. You have more power in the palm of your hand than was utilized to send men to the moon in the 60s.
And with that power comes images. comes base things, comes carnal things, comes wicked things. You might say, well, I never look at those images, but what are you doing in terms of texting? Or what are you doing in terms of, you know, the other stuff that goes on out there? Yes, we're in the world.
It's not wicked to have an iPhone. Tony says, that's right. It's not wicked to have an Android. It's wicked to use it the way the world does. to gratify lusts, to feed carnality, to sin against the thrice holy God.
We are in the world. God doesn't call us somewhere between the earth and heaven to function in this particular place where we just sort of float around and do good things for one another. We are in the world. We're not supposed to be of it.
Young people and children, draw some lines in the sand. It is not cool to do everything your friends do. It's just not. Ask your parents.
We've all been there. You know, when I stand up and I say this kind of stuff to young people and children, what does he know? You want to talk for a few minutes? I know.
Not only because I've got five, but because I was one. I wasn't brought up in a Christian home where everything was catechism and covenant and theology. You know, at three, my daddy gave me my first copy of Lewis Burkhoff. You know, I was diligent to read everything I could get my hands on.
That's just not what it's about. When I stand up here and say, you need to guard against the world, it comes with some experience. You are in it. You're not going to float away, but you mustn't be with it or of it.
Judah is disgusting in Judges 15. Judah is disgusting. They are taking the leader that God raised up to deliver them, and they hand him to the Philistines. Think about that for a moment.
Samson says, I just want you to tell me that you're not going to kill me. Oh no, Samson, we're not gonna kill you. We're just gonna tie you up and hand you to your killers." As if that's somehow better? As if Judah's off the hook?
They've become an accomplice to murder if in fact the Philistines are successful. But God has other plans. Samson's gonna find the jawbone of an ass and he's gonna clean house on Philistines. What do you think Judah thinks after that?
You know, maybe we shouldn't have delivered him up. Maybe he's going to be angry with us. Maybe he's going to turn that jawbone on us. Don't get into that maybe we should have.
Make solid lines in the sand and don't cross them. Pastor Kim just read 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Young people often think, teenagers say, what's God's will for my life? Am I going to go to college?
Am I going to make a lot of money? Am I going to end up under a bridge? What's my long life? I don't know all the particulars in terms of the secret things that belong to our God, but 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 3 is very clear.
This is the will of God for you. Your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality. Make a line in the sand. Don't even begin to think to cross it.
Don't get near it. Don't try to court it as close as possible without falling. If that's in your head, you've fallen. The devil is a deceiver.
He doesn't come with these great big fangs and big paws and say, I'm going to rip you apart. How does he come to even the garden? The first is to subtly challenge the living and true God. Has God really said?
You just hear it now with the young people. Oh, but you love her! Or you love him! It's so right!
It's right in the covenantal context that the God of heaven and earth has ordained. But apart from that, it's wrong. And Hebrews 13.4 is applicable. Have no truck with the world.
It's another big thing that is plaguing the youth today. Drugs! Drugs we want to tune out. We want to you know open ourselves up to all kinds of imaginable things This is bad Draw the line in the sand Don't cross it Don't say well everybody else is doing it when I was a kid if I said that my father would say if everybody else jumped off a cliff Would you too?
I mean, I'm sure everybody has said that in their home. I Drugs pressed, pushed all over. There was a murder in Chilliwack, three murders, right on Noel. The other day, three people died because of drugs.
This isn't South Central LA. This ain't The Hood. This is Chilliwack. And people are murdering others over drug deals.
If you live on First Avenue, you aren't far from it. I'm just down on Woodbine. Who liked the thought of people shooting other people or killing other people that close over drugs? People's lives are ruined because of drugs?
People wander the streets because of drugs? Is that the idol that you want for your life? Is that the one you want to bow to? You want to bow to the crack pipe?
You want to bow to the bottle? You want to bow to whatever it is? God says, you shall have no other gods before me, whose blessed liberty in serving the living and true God. That's where freedom lies.
Jesus says, whosoever commits sin is a slave of sin. Young people and children, draw the line. Don't get near it. Don't cross it. guard against it.
Worldliness plagues the church of the living and true God in a whole host of ways, and we need to resist it. Secondly, we've already touched on the reality of worship. I think Manoah and his wife teach us, fear and joy. Psalm 2, verse 11, David hits on this particular when he says, serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling." You ever tell somebody, I'm a God-fearing Christian.
We don't speak like that anymore, but if you happen to say that, they probably raise an eyebrow and say, how is there happiness in fearing God? There's only happiness in fearing God. That's where happiness is found in fearing God. Acts 9, often thought, that this is probably one of the most blessed and beautiful one statement, or one verse summary of church growth.
Acts 9 verse 31, Luke gives us a progress report and he says, then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit they were multiplied. Maybe we're not multiplied because we're not walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Spirit. I don't mean we specifically, we generally. Why is Islam growing and rapidly advancing and Christianity isn't seemingly making those strides, which actually those statistics I could care less.
Jesus must reign till all of his enemies are made his footstool and one of them is Islam. He will lower his foot and crush that enemy. And the church will certainly be built. The church will certainly progress.
The church was promised to succeed by our Lord Christ himself. But sometimes that infects the heart of God's people. Why is it? Maybe because we're playing games in church, or we're sipping lattes, or we're giving life principles instead of preaching the truth of God's Word.
We've replaced the fear of the Lord with, bless me and everything I ever want, Lord. We've replaced the comfort of the Holy Spirit with my comfort in what is most important to me. Thirdly, sovereignty of God all over this particular passage. Again, Davis mentions this.
Why would the writer single out Samson's nativity and make such a point of it? Why? Why do we get this birth narrative in chapter 13? He says, because he wants to show that at least in this case, God didn't merely raise up a deliverer who was, as it were, already available, such as Ophniel or Ehud.
Rather, he grew one from scratch. Isn't that beautiful? He grew one from scratch. Israel needs a deliverer, and out comes Samson.
I'm here to save my people. That's Samson. Davis says it is crucial that we see this lest we think God's salvation is always an ad hoc band-aid affair, a piece of divine crisis management instead of a plan that God has had in view far in advance. This is exactly what staggers and gladdens us about the greater than Samson who ransomed us at such cost.
He was marked out before the world was made. and was revealed at the final point of time for your sake." First Peter chapter 1. Christ was grown to be the deliverer of His people. And then finally, you have to appreciate in Judges 13, you don't have to because I say you have to, you have to because the narrative forces you to. Verse 1, sin, oppression.
Verse 2, deliverance. They don't ask for it, they don't cry out for it, they don't seek it, they are not looking, and God initiates the plan with Samson. It's Romans 3, isn't it? There is none righteous, no, not one.
There is none who seeks after God. There is no fear of God before their eyes. So what does God do? He sends the Son of His love to deliver His people from their sins.
How many of us can testify? Probably everyone in here. I wasn't seeking God. God sought me.
I wasn't looking for Him. God found me. Adam and Eve could say that. They were running from God.
God came to them. Abraham could testify of this. After the Babel incident, God comes and calls Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans, so that He can make of him a great nation. You see, this is always God's way.
He initiates, He pursues, He finds, He conquers, and He blesses. And if you are not a believer in Christ Jesus today, may I say to you that is good news. That God has not left sinners to themselves. God has provided a way of salvation.
I believe that God has purposed each and every one that will turn to Him. But not knowing who that each and every one is, I call all men everywhere to believe. I call everyone in here to repent. I say to each and everyone that if you come to the Lord Jesus Christ believing, He will in no wise cast you out.
Because Christ not only begins to deliver Israel, but Christ actually saves to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through Him. Samson points us to a greater. Samson points us to Christ. Samson points us to the One. who finalizes what Samson began to do way back in the time of the judges.
So please, think about the things that you've heard this morning. Think about Judges 13, not just, wow, that's kind of a neat story about Manoah and his wife and the things that they learned. Those few lessons that we drew out that are applicable to us today. And if you are not a believer, come.
You know, kids, young people, the best way to draw that line in the sand is at Calvary. You need to be born again. You need to be saved. You need to be in Christ.
You need to be a believer. That's the first. That's primary. That is what you need.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this book of Judges and for the very practical lessons it holds forth for the church today. Grant us grace as your people not to be content with this world. Help us to cry out over the abominations that are done in the land.
Help us, God, to say with the psalmist that rivers of waters run down from our eyes because men do not keep your law. May indignation and may a righteous anger fill our souls as we consider the lawlessness that goes on in the land. May these things fuel us in prayer. May we come to the just judge of all the earth who does what is right.
Help us to be a prayerful people. Help us to be an informed people. Help us to be an evangelistic and a witnessing people. May we shine as lights in this crooked and perverse generation.
And may we hold forth that word of truth that you've given to us. And we pray this through Christ our Lord. Amen.