A Savior of Saviors - Judges 13-16

(For screens, we’ll only need Judges 13:1-8)

Introduction

Does anyone else’s children have dragons hiding in their room, or is that just mine? GK watched Sleeping Beauty when she was four, and nobody slept for a month. So, I did the go-to dad move with her. I would go into her room and turn on the lights to prove that whatever shadow she was seeing wasn’t really a dragon or Maleficent; it was always something else. Eventually, it got so bad that one night, exasperated, I sat up in the bed and told her, “I promise you with all of my heart that if Maleficent walks into this room I’m going to shoot her in the face with a gun.”

But, that’s what shadows do, isn’t it? The shadow is never really about the shadow. The shadow is always pointing to something else. It’s an illusion of something real. It’s not the person; it’s the silhouette of the person. It’s not exact, but it shows you the shape. This how Hebrews says that we’re supposed to understand the OT. The OT shows us shadows of Jesus, and then when Jesus comes, it’s like when your dad comes in and turns on the lights. Suddenly, you can see clearer. You can see what’s really there. And, theirs something remarkable about these OT shadows. Normally, shadows show you a bigger, blurrier version of something smaller. But, in Christ, what we discover is that the real main character of history isn’t smaller than his shadows but bigger.

God’s Word

The truth is that I can remember seeing dragons, too, when I was a kid. That is, until the light was turned on enough times that I was able to know what I was looking at was something different. That’s the goal of the Big Picture series. It’s to keep turning on the light so that you can see Jesus through all of his shadows.

Types are a particular form of shadow that we see in the OT. It’s a biblical concept as you’ll learn from Paul’s description of Adam in Romans 5. Types are people, events, and institutions in the OT that prefigure Jesus so that we can make the connection that it’s really Jesus that is the main character. These types are blurrier, smaller, imperfect versions of the real Christ, but by finding them we can be like those disciples on the Emmaus road whose hearts burned within them as Jesus showed how all of the OT pointed to him.

Dive into the deep end with a goal for big, deep worship of Jesus. Hold in your mind that Samson lived and was written about more than 1000 years before Jesus Three ways that Samson is a Type for Christ (headline):

Samson “came” through a “miraculous” birth.

He was born to a chosen mother.

13:3-5 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. Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 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.”

Luke 1:30-33 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Impossible conception

Samson’s mom = barren; Mary = virgin

YHWH’s initiative only — This is not the decision of the moms but the choice of God alone.

Miraculous births are a frequent theme in Bible. There are only two instances in all scripture where a child is given miraculously when the parents weren’t seeking to acquire a child (false pretense/wife substitutes/earnest prayers) Guess which two? Samson and Jesus.

Prenatal instructions

Your child isn’t yours; he belongs to the Lord. Both cases.

Nazarite = Jesus’ name (He will be called Son of the Most High)

Maternal expectations

Imagine what this would do to a mother’s heart.

Samson = Savior; Jesus = Savior (name + Son of God + Davidic King)

He was born to a confused father.

Manoah (as we saw last week): “What are we supposed to do(explain very slowly)?” “What is his mission?” “Who are you again?”

Joseph: Matthew 1:19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

David and Joseph both respond to their brides like every, single one of you would. “I want to believe you, but.....I’ve got some serious questions.”

In both cases, God’s messenger has to speak directly with the two dads so that they will believe and understand. There are only two instances in all of the Bible where the messenger of God repeats instructions to the spouse. Right here. Do you think these are coincidences or shadows?

He was born as a consecrated son.

13:4-5 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 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.”

Nazarite Vow - Numbers 6 - Normally a decision made by the individual for a determined amount of time - Samson = predetermined and for a lifetime = he was being consecrated, set aside for the work of the Lord.

Matt 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

In LXX, Judges 13:5 and Matthew 1:21 are almost the exact same sentence word-for-word.

God’s son set apart for his people.

Prince William really never belonged to Charles and Diana. He belonged to UK. They were stewards. That’s a picture of the roles that Samson and Jesus’ parents played.

APP: Jesus didn’t just poof on to the scene. He wasn’t a Johnny-come-lately that decided to do something new. He was the fulfillment of what had always been expected. He was the Light that explained the Shadow. Have you ever wondered if somehow Jesus manipulated his life so that He fit all the prophecies? Do you think One person could have manipulated every shadow? How many stories can any man put together into one person? Unless He’s God!

Samson “lived” a “messianic” life.

Samson reveals Jesus in his life as much as he did his birth.

He was a Spirit-anointed Savior.

13:24-25 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Messianic = anointed one - Numerous lower case messiahs throughout the Bible. They all leave much to be desired, but through God’s intervention, power, and providence they are able to advance and progress God’s plan to be saved. How does that happen? It happens through the Holy Spirit coming upon that person so that they can do what otherwise can’t be done. The Holy Spirit is the anointing of God given to the man or woman of God to accomplishes the purposes of God. The Holy Spirit is a person who dwells with you and empowers you and strengthens you and calms you so that you can accomplish God’s purposes. Samson’s feats of strengths are really feats of the Holy Spirit.

And, they point forward to another man who will perfectly accomplish the Father’s will through the anointing and power of the Spirit.

Matthew 3:16-17 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

He’s rejected by his own people.

God has miraculously sent Israel a Spirit-anointed savior to deliver them from the Philistines. How would you expect his people to receive him?

Tell story of the 300 foxes tied together with torches in their tails. Philistines respond staging a raid on Lehi in Judah. Listen to how they respond:

Judges 15:11-12 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.” And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.”

This should sound familiar. John 1:11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

Just outside of the gates of Jerusalem in Judea, the High Priest, a Levite, had Jesus bound where they handed him over to their enemies, the Romans, who were occupying them according to the judgement of God. Think of it. The Spirit-anointed Savior rejected and bound by the very people He was sent to save.

He represents both salvation and judgement.

The Story of Jaw-bone Hill

15:14-15 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men.

The climax of his power - Judah would’ve looked up and realized that Samson was filled with the Spirit and represented their salvation from the Philistines.

The climax of defilement - God would’ve looked down and seen him as the parable of how far his people had fallen.

APP: He was, at the same time, the manifestation of God’s righteous power to save and of man’s total failure and rebellion against God. It’s as we see in Jesus, when Paul writes: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Do you see Jesus here?

Samson “died” a “missional” death.

The greatest commonality between Samson and Jesus is that their lives were both always heading toward their deaths. It was in their deaths that their missions would be accomplished.

13:7 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.’ ”

They were both sold out by their beloved.

16:4 After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

Samson has an interaction with three other women, and Delilah is the only one described as love.

16:18-19 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.

Betrayed by a kiss for silver. (1100 a piece shekels versus 30; a king’s ransom versus the price of a slave)

They both served the weak though they were stronger.

16:21 And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.

16:25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars.

21:27-31 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

Phil 2:7-8 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

They both saved their people by sacrificing themselves.

The worship of a false god versus the false worship of the living God!

Jesus said that He would destroy the Temple and raise it three days. Upon the cross, He cried out that it was finished, and the veil tore from the top to the bottom. He had taken the sins of his people upon himself, and He saved them by bringing down the wrath that should have been poured upon them and their desecrated temple upon himself.

Landing

When Manoah asks the angel of the LORD what his name is, do you know what the messenger says? He says, “Why do you ask my name, seeing that it is wonderful?” You see, the angel of the LORD is an OT appearance of the Son of God — God incarnate. And, He was there directing these events so that they would point to him. And, why is that? Because He is wonderful! In fact, Isaiah tells us that his name is Wonderful! He is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. He’s worthy of our worship!