Born to Save

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I have heard several times the advise given to a father about his daughters. The advice is that the father should take his daughters on a one-on-one father-daughter date every once in a while.

The reason is so they might know what to expect when they go on an actual date with some young man. The father-daughter dates don’t perfectly picture what it will be like when they go on dates with young men.

But, it gives an expectation for each one of them as to how a future husband should treat them and who they should be.

A devout Christian who has memorized the entire Bible along with the Old Testament in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek.

Hey, a father can dream can’t he. but, those dates should foreshadow what should be expected in a husband and a future marriage.

God the Father, in a similar fashion, gave Israel a glimpse of the future Messiah throughout the Old Testament. None of them were perfect, but each gave Israel different expectations, different foreshadowing of the One to come.

We see one of those glimpses as we begin Sampson’s story. God gives a foreshadow of the ultimate Deliverer, the ultimate Savior, the ultimate Groom.

We are going to be in Judges 13 today. Samson is far from what we might picture as a savior. His life is messy, disappointing at times. But, we are blessed when we see how:

It’s All Initiated by God’s Grace

It’s All Accomplished by God

It All points to the Gospel

A few weeks ago we looked at two judges who God raised to save Israel from themselves. Israel didn’t even realize they needed to be saved from themselves.

The fighting amongst themselves, the civil wars. Those were toned down a bit, but they were still a problem. Israel became a divided nation. God’s people were divided.

When God’s people are divided the enemy can gain footholds and far too many get led astray. This happened to Israel and only God’s grace preserved His people.

All Grace

Once again we see an all to familiar line. But there’s a key difference. Let’s look back at a few other times we’ve seen this familiar phrase uttered.

Othniel’s story started with:

Judges 3:7–9 (NKJV)

7 So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs.

8 Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years.

9 When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel

Ehud’s story started with:

Judges 3:12–15 (NKJV)

12 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord.

13 Then he gathered to himself the people of Ammon and Amalek, went and defeated Israel, and took possession of the City of Palms.

14 So the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.

15 But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them

And then we have Deborah and Barak:

Judges 4:1–3 (ESV)

1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died.

2 And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.

3 Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help

This is a brief sampling of Israel’s plight. Compare it to the first two verses of Sampson’s story.

Judges 13:1–2 NKJV

1 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. 2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children.

Do you see it? Or maybe I should say do you not see it? In every instance where Israel was oppressed by other nations there was a cry for help!

Not this time! Israel is silent. It’s as if they have become accustom to slavery. They are content in their complacency.

Are we?

There is nothing more dangerous than being content in the status-quo. Being content leads to complacency. We begin to feel satisfied with our little gods.

You know the ones I’m talking about: Money, fame, approval, beauty, leisure. Maybe we just worship the easy path, the path of least resistance.

We go along just to get along. In that kind of complacency we also compromise God’s character. That’s not what God called us to do.

God called us to seek and desire His holy perfection in every aspect of our lives. Truly intimate and sacrificial love in our relationships with others.

A strong and intimate relationship with God the Father, through Jesus Christ, via the Holy Spirit. One filled with daily prayer that just seeks to glorify Him.

God calls us to so much more than contentment and complacency. He calls us to extraordinary and otherworldly lives. The Divine, image-bearer should exude from our very lives.

We, who are in Jesus Christ, must not be like Israel here. Israel has grown complacent and content. Their sinful silence is inexcusable.

Yet, God, in His grace, speaks and acts into their silence. They didn’t ask for it! They do not deserve it. But God graciously provides salvation.

The author couldn’t make it any more clear to us. It’s all grace. God’s salvation is an unmerited free gift. It’s all grace, but lest we forget it’s also All God.

All God

Judges 13:2–14 NKJV

2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family 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, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. 5 For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” 6 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. 7 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 Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ” 8 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.” 9 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. 10 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!” 11 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.” 12 Manoah said, “Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?” 13 So 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 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.”

Have you ever been at a place in your life where you were content. Why should I stop doing this or change that? Then God, in His grace, uses something or someone you would least expect to open your eyes.

That’s what happened here. Israel is content and God sends the Angel of the Lord down. No cry for help, he just appears to another unlikely couple.

They are from the tribe of Dan. One scholar says of the tribe of Dan that they are “unsteady, unscrupulous, violent, [and are] possessed of a certain grim humor.”

Dan is also prophetically described as “a serpent in the way, an adder in the path” by his dying father Jacob in Gen 49:17. I wouldn’t call that an outstanding endorsement.

Manoah’s wife (whose name is never given) is “barren and has no children.”

Then there’s the Nazarene piece. Most Nazarene vows are voluntary dedicated service to the Lord for a specified period of time.

Here God declares Samson’s Nazarene vow from conception to death. Including the dietary mandates that Manoah’s wife must follow during pregnancy through the weening period.

God couldn’t make it any more clear that it is He and He alone that provides salvation. He’s made that point clear over and over again up to this point.

He says it outright to Gideon in Judges 7:2

Judges 7:2 NKJV

2 And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’

Why does God need to be so insistent that He is the only one who saves? Could it be a severe lack of discipleship? Do you think the church might have a similar problem today?

I might be wrong, but I believe the church today is in a similar situation that Israel was in here. We are complacent. We are content. We are worshipping our own little gods and don’t recognize we need to repent.

How many times have we heard pastors say, you need to go save people? How many Christians have said they are just trying to save people?

How many times have we ourselves said those same words? God goes through great pains to demonstrate this lesson to Israel. A lesson we the church should heed as well.

In Israel’s silence God is the only one to speak. It’s almost like He’s having a conversation with Himself. Can you hear it?

God asks, “who can raise an unborn savior?”

God answer’s Himself, “Only I can!”

How often we seem to forget this important truth. Salvation is only from God. And when it’s All Grace, and it’s All God, then it’s All Gospel.

All Gospel

Let’s look at the encounter that Manoah’s wife and Manoah have with the Angel of the Lord.

Judges 13:15–25 (NKJV)

15 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You.”

16 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.)

17 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?”

18 And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?”

19 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—

20 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.

21 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.

22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”

23 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.”

24 So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.

25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him

So many times it is preached that Manoah’s fearful reaction to having “seen God” is completely corrected by his wife. He was wrong and she corrected him.

Can anyone tell me why we would ever assume that the presence of God is not dangerous?

Manoah may not have read the room properly. But his instincts were right on queue. We create a theology of a loving Father God. A friend we have in Jesus.

And we forget how dangerous it can be to be in God’s presence. Manoah is absolutely right. Sinners stand condemned before a holy God. His perfect justice is death.

His wife is also absolutely correct. That same holy and just God doesn’t make salvation announcements and accept sacrifices from those He intends to destroy.

What they don’t understand is that their part of God’s story is a foreshadow of what’s to come. The Angel of the Lord says in verse 18:

“Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful.”

It is also translated “it is beyond understanding” or “because you cannot comprehend.” That’s the name of God.

How could they reconcile the perfect holiness of God and God’s perfect love?

How could they comprehend the mystery of God’s holy justice and generous mercy?

How could they resolve the conflict between God’s wrath and God’s grace?

We have the added benefit of time. Even with our benefit of time, the love of God is beyond comprehension. But it is:

A time at Calvary where God demonstrated His holiness and His love.

A time at Calvary where God demonstrated His justice and His mercy.

A time at Calvary where God poured out His wrath and grace in Jesus Christ.

It’s a virgin girl’s miraculous conception that “seeing it is wonderful.”

It’s at Bethlehem that the angelic hosts celebrated with some shepherds because “seeing it is wonderful.”

It’s at the cross of Christ, the empty tomb of Christ, and His glorious ascension that “seeing it is wonderful.”

Sampson’s foreshadowing realized. The eternal Son of God, born to save! All grace! All God! All Gospel! Amen!