Sermon Transcript:

Today we continue our road trip through the book of judges. On a road trip you pass through major cities and small towns and in judges we have had major stops like Deborah and Gideon and we have wandered down some less traveled paths to visit with the likes of Shamgar, Jair, and Abdon. Today we come to the most famous of them all. Even if you don’t know much about the judges, you have probably heard about Samson.

His life is pretty dramatic, but like all the judges, his story is really the story of God’s faithfulness to provide salvation for his people. The story of Samson, more clearly than any other judge, anticipates the greater deliverance God accomplishes for his people through Jesus Christ. Our main idea of our passage this morning is that

From beginning to end, salvation is of the Lord.

Samson makes clear God is the one who takes the initiative to save. There is a kind of emotional sentimental preaching out there that makes God sound like a rejected boyfriend pining away, just hoping you will realize how much he loves you so run to him. That isn’t the God we see in the Bible. 

The God of the Bible is a mighty warrior who breaks down doors and shatters strongholds to rescue his bride from those who have seduced and kidnapped her. He stops at nothing to bring her back to safety and freedom. This is the God we worship. Salvation is not God’s response to our pursuit of God, salvation is our response to God’s pursuit of us. From beginning to end, salvation is of the Lord.

Verse 1,

1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

The people sin and God disciplines them. This pattern should be familiar by now as we have seen it repeated over and over. It has become routine, and we expect the next verse to tell us that the people cried out to the Lord to deliver them. But that isn’t what happens. Instead it says,

 2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.

We move immediately to God taking initiative to rescue them. They have been oppressed for forty years. They have become used to their bondage and no longer cry for deliverance. Not only do they not cry out in repentance from sin but they no longer even cry out for relief from misery. Sin will do that. Folks can be so deep in rebellion and their hearts so hardened they become numb even to their numbness.

O’ but look how merciful God is. Even when they refused to forsake their idols and were content to remain in bondage he was working to deliver his people! While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. As the song says, “it was grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fear relieved.” This truly is amazing grace. Ours is a God that seeks and finds his lost sheep. I like the way Bible scholar Dale Ralph Davis sums it up.

“... if Yahweh’s help were given only when we prayed for it, only when we asked for it, only when we had sense enough to seek it, what paupers and orphans we would be.”

There is no cry from Israel, but God acts. The Angel of the Lord comes with wonderful news to an unnamed and barren woman. The previous judges were raised up but Samson is the only judge whose birth is prophesied and he will be born of a woman who could not have children.

Anytime you see in the Bible a woman who cannot have children being promised a child, understand this is an announcement that God is acting to keep his promised plan of redemption, a plan that is not restrained by human limitations and inability. After the fall salvation was promised to come through the seed of a woman and God often advanced his promise through births that were impossible for the flesh. 

Isaac’s mother Sarah, Jacob and Esau's mother Rebekah, Joseph and Benjamin’s mother Rachel, Samuel’s mother Hannah, and John the Baptist’s mother Elizabeth were all infertile women blessed with a child of promise. These are patterns which are fulfilled in the ultimate child of promise, Jesus Christ. He wasn’t just born to a barren woman, but a virgin. A natural impossibility.

God shows us through these impossible births we cannot save ourselves. They are illustrations that our salvation requires nothing less than a miraculous act of God. Salvation cannot come from within, it requires the intervention into a sinful world and a sinful heart by God himself. God alone deserves the glory for the salvation of his people.

The root of all sin is the desire to be independent from God. Deeply ingrained into every sinful heart is opposition to any suggestion that we are not free and in control. Even once we come to faith, our flesh continues to resist letting God be God. The Holy Spirit must do this work in us. We so desperately want some assurance that something is left to us, that we contribute or at least cooperate in some way. This is our default setting.

In the 1950’s when instant cake mixes were first introduced they didn’t go over too well. People complained about the quality, but the manufacturers were not seeing problems in their test kitchens. 

After investigating, they found out the problem was they had made it too easy. All you had to do was add water, but the housewives were making changes rather than following the directions. They discovered that requiring the addition of an egg instilled the process with just enough effort to make the housewives satisfied that they had made the cake. 

That is our natural fallen pride and it applies as much to religion as it does to cake. This may be why over and over God shows us in the Bible that salvation is his work, not ours. With each intervention of God we are reminded that we were helpless, dead in our sins, and seeking him, but he loved us before we knew him and was working all things together to bring us back to himself and rescue us from the tyranny of the devil. God brings salvation out of nothingness and Samson is part of that plan. The angel says,

4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

The child was to be a Nazirite, and even while in the womb he was not to be exposed to anything unclean or wine. A Nazirite was a person who was separated or consecrated with a vow. They are marked by certain distinctives such as abstaining from anything related to grapes and/or alcohol, they never cut their hair, and they avoided dead bodies, even their family members. Usually, this would be a temporary commitment, but Samson is called to be a Nazirite from the womb and is called to live his entire life this way.

The promise is that he will begin to save Israel. He is not the final deliverer but he is called by God to begin to save the people.

6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, 7 but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”

She tells her husband, and repeats everything the angel had said.

8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah…

I laughed when I read this because his wife tells him everything, but he apparently doesn’t listen to his wife any better than I do. All joking aside though, to raise the one who would begin to save Israel was a big deal and they must have had many questions. Manoah prays and God hears him.

We naturally focus on the dramatic events in the history of salvation, but here is something awesome to consider. Manoah prays and God hears. We read these kinds of statements so often we take them for granted. It has become routine to us. We just assume God will hear our prayers, but why should he? Why should the king of the universe allow us to come into his throne room whenever we choose with the confidence that we will have an audience with him? Who are we that this should be our privilege?

King David never took it for granted. Listen to what he says in Psalm 28:1–2,

1 To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. 2 Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.

When I say salvation is of the Lord, I mean in every way. Even those things which are given to us to do are utterly dependent upon his grace for the doing of them. Where would we be without prayer and what would prayer be without a promise that God will hear? But God does promise to hear the prayer of faith and this too is grace. Romans 8:26–27 says,

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Prayer isn’t about us changing God’s mind, it is about God changing us. Puritan theologian John Owen said, “prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of his willingness.” God is at work even in our very act of praying. When God is about to do something glorious, his first step is often to move his people to pray.

9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” 11 And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12 And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?” 13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”

The angel returns and repeats what he has already said. This is now the third time these instructions are recorded, which shows how important they are to the unfolding of Samson’s story. They are not given every detail, but they are given enough to be obedient and to trust God, just like us. 

15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you.” 16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.)

They want to honor and show hospitality to this guest. At this point they do not realize he is the Angel of the Lord. The Angel will not stay but tells him if he wishes to prepare an offering he should offer it to the Lord. God has blessed them but he does not rest there with them. 

17 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?” 18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”

Manoah persists in trying to find a way to honor the guest and asks his name. The Angel again sidesteps Manoah’s request. He says, why are you asking about my name seeing it is wonderful. What he is saying is that it is too much for you. It is beyond you and you cannot take it all in. Who I am is more than you can absorb. His name is wonderful in the sense of the term as it is used in Psalm 139:1–6,

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

As New Covenant believers we have more light than they had because the salvation of God in Jesus has been revealed to us. But in many ways, we are in a similar situation. Even with the light of the gospel the apostle Paul says in Romans 11:33,

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”

There is a depth to God we can never comprehend. This doesn’t mean we cannot know him; it means that the more we know him, the more we realize how much we don’t know. He gives us sufficient but not complete understanding. We are made new creations, but we are still creations and the fullness of the divine majesty is beyond us. We cannot put God in a box or figure him out. God is not tame or predictable but is profound, mysterious, and awe-inspiring.

19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.

Twice it says Manoah and his wife were watching. They saw this and the reality of who they were speaking with dawned on them. They immediately fall to the ground in fear. Our culture is so shaped by Christian influence that people these days speak casually about God. There is no fear of God in the world but the Bible says to look upon God, apart from his grace means death. Ancient people knew that to get too close, to see too much of God meant death.

Jesus came to reveal the love of God and because of that often even Christians look down on these Old Testament believers as if they were ignorant or just weren’t quite sophisticated enough to understand God’s true nature. I want to suggest brothers and sisters that Manoah and his wife understood perfectly. It wasn’t they who were naive, but us. Where did we ever get the idea that the presence of God is not dangerous? Certainly not from the Bible.

Moses asked to see the glory of God and was only allowed to look upon the afterglow from behind a rock lest he be destroyed. Job demanded to speak to God and when God shows up hidden in a whirlwind, Job puts his hand over his mouth and repents of speaking. When Isaiah sees God, he pronounces a curse upon himself saying, “woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips.” Upon the Lord coming to him Habakkuk says, rottenness entered his bones and his legs trembled beneath him. These were the best men of their time and it won’t do to suggest that was just an Old Testament thing. We see the same thing in the New Testament. The apostle John, who was the one Jesus loved, who was his friend and fishing buddy, records the following when he sees the risen Christ in glory in Revelation 1:12–17,

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. 

There is no difference between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. God is good, but he is not safe simply because we live in modern times. To come before God as we are means death. Even the prophets and apostles trembled when the divine glory appeared to them. The seraphim that dwell before the Lord cover their faces and never cease proclaiming, “holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.”

We are invited to come before a God who is a consuming fire of holiness only because of his grace. It is only because our access has been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ that God sent to rescue us that we can come. Salvation is God rescuing us from himself. It is providing a way for those who would be utterly consumed, to instead be received with love as adopted sons and daughters. Verse 21 says,

21 The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”

Manoah’s instinct was right, but he drew the wrong conclusion. He knew they had come too close and seen too much. He knew they were unworthy but his wife recognized that God had come in grace. God came down to them, gave them his promise, and by grace received their worship. He is the one who took the initiative to reveal himself and he did so not to destroy them, but to save them. I pray each of us walk with the wisdom given to her, that we fear God and acknowledge his glory, but that we do so knowing he has revealed himself not for our destruction, but for our salvation. John 3:16–17 says,

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

In order for God to keep his promise to bring salvation through Jesus the Jewish nation and that family line had to be protected. So God kept his promise and even in the darkest hour, sent a deliverer to rescue them from the Philistines.

 24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

It will become clear rather quickly that Samson is not the final deliverer, but the Spirit of God would work through him, with all his flaws, to deliver the people. He was placed there by God and the power of the Spirit of God was at work in him that God’s plans would come to pass. Already we can see in Samson a foreshadowing or preparation, instructing God’s people as to how God will redeem them. Samson points us to Jesus.

First, there is the announcement of a miraculous birth. Manoah's wife was infertile, and the angel of the Lord announced that she would conceive and bear a son, preparing us for the miracle of Mary’s virgin birth. Samson was set apart for God’s service as a Nazirite from birth, preparing us for Jesus, who was perfectly holy and lived a sinless life dedicated to fulfilling God’s will.

The angel declared that Samson would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. This is a foreshadow of Jesus’ deliverance from the slavery of sin and death. The coming down of the angel of the Lord to Manoah and his wife, and their subsequent realization that they had seen God, prefigures the incarnation of Jesus, who is the visible revelation of the invisible God. This encounter confirms God’s direct intervention in human history to save his people.

Manoah offers a sacrifice to the Lord, and the angel ascends in the flame of the altar, signifying divine acceptance. This points forward to Jesus' ultimate sacrifice on the cross, which is the perfect and final offering for sin, accepted by God to accomplish redemption. Finally, we see God’s initiative in all this because it is by his Holy Spirit that Samson was strengthened and through which he will accomplish the deliverance. Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism, and His ministry was characterized by the Spirit’s power. His presence with us now is through the indwelling of his spirit in all believers.

Samson’s story points us to the gospel. That God himself came as a human being to fulfill all that is required for righteousness. That he also offered himself as a perfect sacrifice for all who will put their faith in him alone for that righteousness. Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life and then died on the cross for the sins of others. He was crucified, died, and was buried. Then on the third day, he rose again proving the price was paid.

To come before God in our sins would mean eternal death but Jesus satisfies the wrath of God against sin for everyone who puts their faith in him. His blood purifies us and by faith in him, we are not only accepted, but adopted. Believers no longer need to fear punishment, we are free to love and serve God in the reverent awe he deserves. We cannot understand all this, but we can lift our voices and give our lives in worship to the one whose name is wonderful.

All of this, from beginning to end, comes not because we are good, but because he is. Salvation is of the Lord and he deserves our worship. I would like to end with the apostle Paul's reflection on all that God has done for us in Christ in Ephesians 1:3–14. He writes,

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.