THE PROMISED BIRTH OF AN ARMY OF ONE
Text: Judges 13:1-5, 24-25
1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.
3 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
24 And the woman bare 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 him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
1. A Child With Great Potential (vv. 1-5)
1) To
- The Philistine’s strategy of oppression was sinister – assimilation through commerce, trade, intermarriage, and idolatry. -
- The Jews offered no fight back. They didn’t sense being oppressed. As a result, they did not cry out to God for deliverance.
- Samson was called to start a work, not to finish a work. He would pass the work on to another to finish off.
2) To
- The word Nazarite means “to separate / consecrate.” A Nazarite is a person who gives themselves to the God for special service for a selected season. (cf. Num. 6:1-8)
- There was something different about Samson’s Nazarite vow. His vow wasn’t voluntary, nor was it temporary. He was committed to this vow by God, and it was for him to fulfill from the womb to the tomb.
2. A Champion With Great Power (vv. 24-25)
Samson was a champion with great power, but it appears he took that power for granted. He misused and abused his gifting. He exercised faith from time to time, but he didn’t exercise faith faithfully.
What about us? DO we exercise faith faithfully? What does it look like to exercise faith faithfully?
1) Faithfulness is the outgrowth of a faith that
- Faith goes beyond what we believe to what we do because we believe. Faith is acting on your belief not just belief itself. The action of belief is obedience.
2) Faithfulness is exercised in the context of
Tim Keller – We think we need rules, but we need to know God. God does not, and will not, give us a guidebook for every twist and turn, every doubt and decision in our lives. He gives us something much better – he gives us himself.
- God used Samson in spite of his lack of faithfulness, but how much more would God have done through him, if only, he had been faithful and faith-filled?
- God did more to deliver Israel from Philistine oppression through the