SAMSON'S RIDDLE
SAMSON’S RIDDLE
“Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness”. — Judges 14:14 The riddle which Samson put forth to his guests, and which they could not expound, is very suggestive of the truth of the gospel. And the incident upon which it was founded is a striking picture of what has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus.
Samson was on the way to secure the object of his affections, when “a young lion roared against him, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand”. Then on a subsequent occasion “he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion; and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion”. This circumstance gave rise to the riddle which so puzzled Samson’s guests, and we may be sure that God gave it a place in Scripture as being figurative of Christ’s great victory and its infinite results in blessing.
The Son of God has come forth into this world to secure blessing for man, and to bring men into the circle of divine love, but on His way to accomplish this He had to meet and overcome the power of death. This was absolutely necessary, because all those whose blessing was in view were under the sentence and power of death. Whatever may be your position in society, or however excellent your conduct as a man amongst men, you are under the sentence of death. Nor is death a merely natural event which follows upon the operation of certain natural processes of disease and decay. Men would like to regard it as being only this, but Scripture makes it very clear that death is the wages of sin, the power of Satan, and the judgment of God.
[p. 60] When you committed your first sin you forfeited your title to live upon the earth, and but for God’s mercy you would have died that moment. Death has “passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5). Death is no part of the course of nature as God constituted it, it is “the wages of SIN”.
Then we read in Scripture of “him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2: 14). By reason of the fall, and in consequence of sin, the devil has acquired power over man. The devil sought to accomplish man’s destruction from the place in which God set him as in favour and blessing on the earth, and having succeeded in bringing man under sin he has so far gained his point. The truth and righteousness of God necessitate that the pronounced sentence should be executed. And thus the devil has a claim, if we may so say, upon man, he has acquired a right to demand that death should come upon man. Satan, in this sense, wields the power of death. Man’s sin has invested him with the right to claim the execution of the sentence of death upon man.
It thus appears most clearly that death is not, as people say, the “debt of nature”. It is the solemn judgment of God upon a fallen creature — a judgment which cannot be reversed or modified in any way.
Not one of Adam’s race can escape the devouring fury of this great “eater”, or can resist the desolating power of this “strong” enemy. It is said of the lion that “he turneth not aside for any”; and this is true of death. Prince, peer, and peasant alike fall before him. What are high-sounding titles, the applause of multitudes, millions of gold, or all the coveted prizes of ambition or selfishness in the presence of death? At the gates of death the monarch, the millionaire, and the mendicant meet on a common level. All are alike fallen and lost. Each finds himself stripped of everything [p. 61] that he acquired or possessed here — stripped of all save a creature’s responsibility and the guilt of unnumbered sins.
Do you not, then, fear death? Is it not a terrible enemy in your eyes? I trust that, to some extent at least, the fear of death is before your soul. For, if so, you can hardly be indifferent to the blessed facts foreshadowed in Samson’s victory and its consequences. And Samson’s riddle may become pregnant with divine light and blessing for your soul. May God grant it in His great mercy!
God has brought meat out of the eater, and sweetness out of the strong. He has laid help upon One who is mighty. The Son of His love has come forth to meet and overthrow the power of death and has triumphed gloriously. His be the Victor’s name!
But before I speak of how the power of death has been broken, I would fain occupy your heart with the glories and perfections of the Person who has undertaken and accomplished this mighty work. I would have you to know how capable and how suitable He was to bear the brunt of this great conflict. I have already dwelt upon the terribleness of death as the wages of sin, the power of Satan, and the judgment of God. Now it must be clear to everyone that no person could undertake to deliver others from a power to which he himself was subject. The first requisite in a Saviour is that He must be personally exempt from sin, free from Satan’s power, and in no wise subject to the judgment of God. It would be impossible for one to come under these things on behalf of others if he was under them on his own account. Hence the sacrifices must be without blemish, or they would have presented no fitting type of the true Victim.
Three precious statements of Scripture will bring before us the moral qualification of the Lord Jesus to go into death on behalf of others.
1. “That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God”. Such were Gabriel’s words to the blessed Virgin when he announced the advent of the Son of the Highest. It would be impossible for a divine Being ever to be personally tainted with sin. If God comes here in flesh it must be holy flesh. Hence the Spirit of God can not only say “He did no sin”, but that He “knew no sin”. Sin was as far removed from Him morally as the depths of hell are distant from the courts of glory. So that death as the wages of sin could never have touched Him 2. “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14: 30). That these words had special force at the moment when they were uttered I doubt not, but they express what was ever true of that blessed One. He was ever beyond the range of Satan’s influence, ever invulnerable and invincible in presence of all Satan’s fiery darts. There was at last a Man here upon whom Satan could fasten no claim. Do you think the devil could ever have e r l claimed that He should die? Never! The Prince of Life owes no tribute to the prince of this world, so that death, as the power of Satan, could never have touched Him.
3. “This is my beloved Son” (Luke 9: 35). Here we have expressed from “the excellent glory”, as Peter calls it, God’s estimate of Him. Romans 3 tells us that all the world has become “subject to the judgment of God”; but here is a Man who is radiant with every moral perfection and is the object of the Father’s delight and love. What has death as the judgment of God to say to Him? Nothing! Absolutely nothing. The glory saluted Him and embraced Him. “He received from God the Father honour and glory”. Thus we behold Him, personally exempt from death in every aspect.
Now I trust you are somewhat prepared to appreciate the transcendent grace in which He has come under death on behalf of others. He came “to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10: 45). No one could righteously give something which was already forfeited. But HE could give in boundless grace His holy life “a ransom for many”. Grace brought that blessed One to the place where sin brought us. “The wages of sin” have been paid to One who received them as having come in infinite grace into the place of the sinner. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”.
Thus the devil is annulled, as having “the power of death”. When the devil so far triumphed as to bring man by sin under the righteous sentence of death, he could never have thought that the One who pronounced the sentence would bear it Himself. He could never have imagined that One personally exempt from it would come under it in love. He could never have anticipated that death’s dark vale would be lighted up with the love of God, and made the way of life for man. No! such thoughts as these could only have their birth in the mind of infinite love.
The full weight of God’s holy judgment upon a fallen and guilty creature has been borne by Him who came under it in absolute personal perfection according to the will of God. God “made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
“Our Saviour Jesus Christ ... hath abolished death, and hath brought life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1: 10). The shadows of death have rolled for ever from His brow, and life and incorruptibility are seen in Him. And He is not only out of death Himself, but He has power to let others out — He has “the keys of hell and of death”. If you fall down at His feet He will put the right hand of His power upon you, and say, “Fear not” (Revelation 1: 17, 18). How good to know that He has died so that He might have in resurrection the unchallenged power of life and blessing towards those who were under death.
[p. 64] Thus, by the grace and love of God, the “eater” has been caused to yield “meat”, and out of the “strong” has come “sweetness”. On the ground of the death of Christ all man’s necessities as a sinner before God can be met. He may have forgiveness of sins, justification, peace with God, deliverance from the fear of death, salvation from all the power of evil, and grace for support in weakness and trial. All these blessings, and much more, are secured by the death of Christ, and may be received through faith in Him.
But there is “sweetness” as well as “meat”! Grace has luxuries to bestow as well as necessaries. The gospel not only meets all man’s need, but it brings to him a wonderful excess of blessing. The death of Christ becomes to the believer’s heart the blessed witness of the love of God. We perceive love in that “he laid down his life for us” (1 John 3: 16). God would have us to appropriate the “sweetness” of His own love expressed in the death of Christ. He has given His Spirit to shed this love abroad in our hearts, and to form us in response to it.
Sin and death seemed to shut out man from God, and God from man, but by the death of Christ all that excluded man from God has been judged and removed, and at the same time God has been fully revealed to man.
One closing word of appeal. The Person and work of Christ have once more been presented to you. But with what result? Hearing of Christ can only add to your condemnation if you do not receive Him by faith as your Saviour. You cannot say that He is unworthy of your trust. Nor can you afford to do without Him. Without Christ nothing lies before you but death and judgment, and at any moment your doom may be sealed for ever. Then believe on Him now, and receive the “abundance of grace” which God is freely giving through Him.