“…for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb…”

 

As I have done before, I’m going to write (DV) about something I have written about before. I do this from time to time because we have written over four hundred and fifty (450) articles and most readers are not readers of every article. Also, as the Scriptures are living, they reveal more and more as one continues to study.

In this article, we will write about Samson (DV) and lessons one can learn from his life.
*Christ foreshadows and is a strong Christ figure.
*Samson walked by sight and faith and struggled with the lust of the eyes and the pride      of life.
*Samson demonstrates the great grace and longsuffering of God.

Samson is a strong, strong Christ figure. Samson shows us what it would have been like if Christ went rogue. Samson’s birth was announced by the angel of the LORD as was the birth of our Lord Jesus. This angel said his name was “secret.”  Our English word secret is translated from the Hebrew word, “Wonderful.” I’m not dogmatic on this, but is not our Lord Jesus called “Wonderful” in Isaiah nine (9), …”and [H]is [N]ame shall be called Wonderful…” Many believe the angel of the LORD is a Christophany or a preincarnate appearance of Christ.  Therefore, it was Christ Himself, if you hold to the angel of the LORD being preincarnate Christ, that announced the birth of Samson!!!

One cannot be dogmatic on this point either; Samson shows or demonstrates to The Christ of God or more appropriately, the Word, how the world would receive Him and oppose Him and be the cause or human agent of the Christ’s murder. Another point of Christ figuring is the great actions and great lengths Samson went to for the women in his life. Christ died, fought in Hell, and rose again for His bride, the church.

Another point of interest is the body of Samson. Most think Samson was a very muscular man and think Hercules is like Samson. The movies and other images of Samson depict him as being BIG and muscular. However, are we not told, God chooses the weak, base, and foolish to perform His will? Samson was NOT a BIG and muscular man, he did not have the body of an Arnold Schwarzenegger or rather Arnold does not have a body type like Samson (Perspective). Samson was an average looking man and he pre-figures Christ in that way too, “[H]e hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see [H]im, there is no beauty that we should desire [H]im.”

The body of Christ, the church is made up of weak, base, and foolish persons. However, in Christ, the weak person is made strong, the base person is lifted and exalted, and the foolish are made wise. The body of Christ is analogous with Samson’s body, in that the body of Christ is average, meek, humble, and, POWERFUL, MIGHTY and has God’s Spirit upon it and in it.

Another point Samson prefigures the Christ is in his death.  Imagine the form or profile of Samson’s body when he died.  Samson’s feet were close together and his arms were out stretched when he collapsed the arena by pushing the stabalizing pillars apart. Samson died for his people and his God.

Samson, as shown above, pre-figures the Christ in many ways, however, Samson is nothing like Christ in other ways. Samson was a man that broke vows that were imposed upon him by a Sovereign God that sits in [H]eaven and does as [H]e pleases. Samson was a man that had lust of the eyes, he saw a woman and he had to have her and there was no saying no. Christ is and was a Man that is always about His Father’s work and never fails or failed or broke a covenant.

When the angel of the LORD announced God’s plans to Manoah and his wife and gave them vows that must be kept, they were: No shaving of the hair, no strong drink, and no touching of dead things, these are vows of a Nazarite. Samson broke them all. God still loved him and still used him. God is gracious and very longsuffering. Samson’s hair was not the source of his power and strength, but a symbol.

Samsons’s Source of Strength was the Spirit of God.  The Spirit gave Samson his power and strength, just as He gave David the ability to jump a wall, kill a lion, kill a bear, and kill a GIANT. Samson lived a lost life but was a great servant of the LORD.  Samson was what Luther calls “Simul Justus et Peccator,”  a saint and a sinner at the same time. Does that remind you, Reader, of thyself? Samson is mentioned in Hebrews eleven (11) as an example of a person of faith.

It is true, Samson did wrong, but he still loved God and God still loved him.  Some think these cannot co-exist but they do. Some persons would go spiritually crazy over a dynamic like this.  Did not Paul say, “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful unto me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”  The trouble Samson found was due to “all things” bringing him under [their] power.

[Side note: This may make some angry but i’m going to write it anyway. Have you ever noticed, in your Christ-ian experience, how God seems to bless and love “screw-up” Christ-ians more than those that are rigid and legalistic?]
In Samson, we learn that God looks more at one’s love for Him, in the stead of looking at one’s sins against Him. Call me heretick and get uptight and while you are doing that, I’ll be rejoicing in God’s love for those who are saints and sinners at the same time.  Legalist, Legalist, come forth and be loosed from thy grave clothes!!!

Christ-ianity is not about one’s sin against God but rather one’s love and enjoyment of God and God’s love and enjoyment of His children, in Christ!!!!!!  God is the Father of His Children and not the Judge of them…God treats us as a loving Father treats His children, that’s why He chose to take the Name of Father, get it?

Of course, I am not making sin and sins a small matter, no, not at all. Sin, however must not be the main focus of the Christ-ian, we have been saved from sin’s penalty, sin’s pleasure, sin’s power, and some sweet day, sin’s presence. As a Christ-ian grows more and more Christ-like, as the Fruit of the Spirit ripens, as partaker’s of the divine nature, we will sin less and less, we’ll never be sinless in this stage of our eternal life, but we will certainly sin less as we advance in our predestinated end.

Samson’s God demonstrates for us grace, longsuffering, faithfulness, and excitement.  Samson’s God is my God, is He yours? Really and in all seriousness, is Samson’s God your God too? I hope He is.