OVERVIEW:
The birth of Samson; the life of Samson; the death of Samson; Micah and his mother’s idolatrous religion.
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
In today’s reading, we encounter one of the most popular judges in Israel’s history, the infamous Samson. God had an unbelievable plan for how He wanted to use him, and yet, the tragedy is, Samson cashed it all in because he never could overcome the passions of his flesh. On one hand, we could refer to Samson as “The STRONGEST man who ever lived”, and yet, on the other hand, we could refer to him as “The WEAKEST man who ever lived”! From a PHYSICAL standpoint, Samson’s strength was beyond human comprehension. From a SPIRITUAL standpoint, however, he couldn’t even muster the simple strength to tell his flesh “No!” He had the power to conquer every man on earth except one, HIMSELF!
What we learn from Judges 13–16, is that Samson was a man who had everything in the world going for him. God had blessed him beyond measure, and yet he squandered it all, because rather than serve God’s purposes for his life, he chose to serve himself! Rather than becoming the champion God intended for him to become, he became a selfish, self-willed, self-absorbed, self-seeking, self-gratifying, self-loving, self-monger! With that in mind, maybe we should remind ourselves that God tells us, in 2nd Timothy 3:1–2, that the number one characteristic that makes these “last days” so incredibly “perilous”, is that we, too, are “lovers of our own SELVES”! Perhaps, then, there just might be some things we can learn from Samson’s life that can help us. Notice a few important things:
1. Samson was the product of a SUPERNATURAL BIRTH.
Judges 13:2 lets us know that his mother was barren, and had absolutely no hope of bearing a child apart from the supernatural working of the “angel of the LORD” (an Old Testament appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ), who appears to her in verse 3, and causes her to be able to conceive and bear Samson.
2. Sampson had the privilege of being SET APART for the Lord’s service from his very birth.
Judges 13:5 says, “For the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb.” That is what a Nazarite was, “one who was ‘SANCTIFIED’ or ‘SET APART’ for the Lord’s service.”
3. Samson possessed the very POWER of the Holy Spirit of God upon his life.
Judges 13:25 says that Samson was “moved” by the “Spirit of the LORD.” Judges 14:5–6 says he was empowered “mightily” by the “Spirit of the LORD” upon him to overcome a “roaring lion”! Judges 15:14–16 says he was “mightily” empowered by the “Spirit of the LORD” to overcome his enemies, a thousand of them at one time!
4. Sampson was provided a BEGINNING that was filled with unending promise and potential.
The last part of Judges 13:5 says, “… And he shall BEGIN to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” Notice, that what Sampson did with the “BEGINNING” God gave to him, was limited only by Samson’s own choices, and his willingness to be surrendered to God’s plans and purposes for him.
Yet, with all of these incredible realities and this unending potential in his life, because of pride, self-will, selfish ambition, and allowing himself to be overtaken by sensual lust, he forfeited the real impact God could have used him to have, and he squandered the potential glory his life could have brought to the Lord. He becomes for us, the classic biblical example of a WASTED LIFE!
I’m not sure if you recognized it or not as we were overviewing Samson’s life, but his story is unbelievably similar to ours! Because, for all of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, just like Samson:
1. We, too, were the product of a SUPERNATURAL BIRTH!
No, not a physical one like Samson’s, but a supernatural birth that we call “salvation” or being “born again”! Ephesians 2:12–13 says we were “without hope” until the “angel of the Lord”, the Lord Jesus Christ, supernaturally drew us to Himself. In 1st Peter 1:23 we know that we were “…born again, not of corruptible seed (physical seed/birth), but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”
2. We, too, were given the privilege of being SET APART for the Lord’s service from our very birth!
Of course, that would be referring, again, to our spiritual birth! We read in 1st Corinthians 6:11 that when the Holy Spirit of God “washed” us in Christ’s blood and we received our “justification”, or our “salvation” in Christ, that at that very moment we were “SANCTIFIED”, or “SET APART”, by the Holy Spirit of God for the Lord’s service.
3. We, too, possess the very POWER of the Holy Spirit of God upon our lives!
Acts 17:28 says that, “…in HIM we live and MOVE, and have our being…” From 2nd Corinthians 6:16 we know that in US, He LIVES and MOVES and has HIS being! We are told in 1st Peter 5:8 that though our enemy (or adversary) walks about like a “ROARING LION”, 1st John 4:4 says that we have been given the POWER by the One who lives in us, to OVERCOME him, and not just him, but the enemy of sin that resides in the members of our body. Romans 6:13–14 says that through God’s POWER in us, the enemy of sin no longer has dominion (or power) over us!
4. We, too, have been provided a BEGINNING that is filled with unending promise and potential.
Now that we are “in Christ” 2nd Corinthians 5:17 says that we are a “new creature” and that “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” That’s the “BEGINNING” God gave to all of us! Just as in Samson’s case, what we do with the “BEGINNING” God gives to us, is limited only by our own choices, and our willingness to be surrendered to His plan and purposes through us!
Do you see that unbelievable connection we have with Sampson? We, too, are those who have everything in the world going for us! Like Samson, God has blessed us beyond measure! Yet, the absolute tragedy and travesty is, many who have actually experienced a supernatural spiritual birth; many who have been set apart by that spiritual birth for the Lord’s service; many who have been empowered by God’s own Holy Spirit in them; and many who have been granted the unbelievable privilege and promise of a brand-new beginning with unlimited potential to bring God glory, just like Samson, forfeit the real impact God intends for their lives. Just like Samson, they squander their potential to glorify God, and their ultimate accounting at the Judgment Seat of Christ will reveal that, for all intents and purposes, they WASTED THEIR LIFE! For the sake of God’s glory, may that not be true of me, and may it not be true of you! May we learn from the negative example of Samson’s life, to keep ourselves off the path of self-love and self-destruction and fulfill God’s glorious purposes for our lives!
Notice that in the section that records the end of Samson’s life (Judges 16:29–31), he’s buried beneath the rubble of his own self-destruction, and his brothers have come to pull him out of it, to at least give him a decent burial. Again, may it never be that our brothers have to come and pull us out of the rubble of our own self-destruction! Our God is worthy of so much more!
In chapter 17, we have an incredible picture of a false religious system that has:
- Robed priests (17:5–an “ephod” = a priestly garment)
- Called “fathers” (17:10)
- Who use idols (17:4–5—a “graven/molten image”)
- Has aides, in worship, in their “house of gods” (17:5)
Does that sound like any false religious system of which you have ever heard? This happens to be a perfect description of the false religious system that exists today, called the Roman Catholic Church!
Note in 17:10–13, that by taking this man who was younger than Micah to be his personal “priest” that he referred to as “father”, he actually thought he was doing the “right thing” and that the Lord would be pleased. (Compare this, however, with 17:6!) The sad reality is, Satan has always found a way to concoct some false religious system to put GOD’S name on so he can give people a false sense of security as he is in the very process of damning their souls to hell. The whole reason this happened was because Micah neglected to consult God’s word on this matter! It is the same reason the Roman Catholic Church deceives so many into thinking they are right with God; they, very simply, neglect to consult God’s word on the matter! We must pray for the people trapped in this damnable false system of religion! Over a billion of the world’s population are Roman Catholic.
CHRIST IS REVEALED:
Through SAMSON – Judges 13–16 He is the son of promise who was born to be set-apart for God in order to deliver Israel from her enemies.