SPIRITUAL POWER AS SEEN IN SAMSON

SPIRITUAL POWER AS SEEN IN SAMSON

Judges 13: 24 - 25; Judges 15: 9 - 20; Judges 16: 23 - 31

It is in mind, dear brethren, to say a word on spiritual power. I have read these passages from the book of the Judges dealing with Samson’s history, which, in the type, is a remarkable unfolding of spiritual power as linked with the presence and operation of the Spirit, and as linked with Nazariteship. I am sure that there must be a desire in every one of our hearts to know more of the power that is linked with the Spirit of God. We all want to be concerned, young and old, brothers and sisters alike, to make room for this divine Person, who has come to us and has taken His abode within us and has become available to us for use in the testimony of God, in which, through grace, we have part. It is a power that cannot be imitated. How the flesh would seek to imitate it! And Samson’s history (from one viewpoint) shows us, in such a remarkable way, the history of the assembly publicly, and what has come into that history. You will notice that the enemy of the people of God which Samson has to do with is the Philistine, a feature of hostile power that each of us has to face in his heart, and to judge unsparingly; for throughout the history of the ways of God, the Philistine is set out as one who hinders the service of the Spirit of God (as we speak of it), for he stops the wells. And I am sure, dear brethren, that it is not without note that the closing days of the dispensation should have been marked by a peculiar ministry in relation to the Spirit; for it is not an ordinary touch that we have received in regard to the Spirit, but a distinctive touch; a touch which peculiarly belongs to the distinctive ministry through which it has come to us.

The brethren will note that everything that we go on with in the service of God, every bit of light that governs us in the service of God, has come through that distinctive ministry in the past fifty years. How much we owe to it! How much we have to be thankful for! There are many others that have had part in the ministry, but it is in and through the distinctive ministry that I have referred to, in the last fifty years, that the light which governs us in the service of God, has come. And the last outstanding feature of it has been this matter as to the Spirit; a great matter, indeed, to close the dispensation with! For what a great Personage the Holy Spirit is, and how suited to divine ways is it, that, ere such a dispensation of glory, unsurpassed spiritually, should end, attention should be drawn to Him who was sent from heaven, and Who has served throughout the dispensation since the day He came in at Pentecost, through all the difficult times in departure from the truth, down through the dark ages, and awakening in the time of the Reformation, as He did, such choice and peculiar movements, to which we owe so much in deliverance and emancipation from the thrall and spell of that system of entrenched darkness, that affected so many and so much! And then the days of revival through the great and honoured servant, beloved J.N.D., his service in awakening the saints to the distinctiveness of Christ in heaven as Head, and the body here on earth. Then the wonderful ministry through beloved J.B.S.; so essential - that we should know it and appreciate it. I would commend to the young men, that they should read J.B.S.’s ministry. What a moral foundation it gives us! Then the remarkable ministry of F.E.R. in connection with deliverance, unique in itself. But the particular feature now, that we have alluded to, is the period of the last fifty years, when ray after ray of light has come in, in regard to the service of God, the spirit of God in it, dear brethren, His voice in the ministry, and yet He himself behind the scenes.

How needful it is, dear brethren, that that distinctive ministry, in which the Spirit has been so prominent, should have its full place with us, and that there should be no effort with any one of us (for our hearts are all prone to it, as the enemy finds a way through them) in any way to undervalue, or discredit, or undermine the distinctiveness of that ministry. And the Spirit of God has been drawn attention to, in the closing phase of it, in a unique way, as to His Person as an Object of worship; but I believe that, commensurate with that, there is now in this testing period the challenge to us, not just as to whether we honour that Person objectively in the honour and worship that is rightly His due, but as to whether we are habituating ourselves to communion with Him, and whether we know what it is to use Him, and to be used by Him. It is a very real matter. The only way to meet the Philistine element (which all of us are so prone to make way for, and to become characterised by) is by making room for the Spirit. We need to make room for Him more and more in all our faculties - in our way of thinking, in our way of speaking, in our way of hearing! For it is important, in the calling of attention to the Spirit, in the closing moment of the dispensation, on the eve of the translation, that we should see what is in mind, and that we should learn that the dispensation is going to end in spiritual power. It may be in smallness; it may be in weakness publicly (for we cannot claim too much), but it is going to end with a definite known result, in the assembly. That enters into the history of Samson who delineates for us, in a peculiar way, the history of the church publicly.

So it says of Samson: “And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and Jehovah blessed him.” Notice, there is something said about this child that is unique. It says of Solomon when he was born that Jehovah loved him, as if God would fasten our attention on Solomon, that there is something unique about Solomon, for Christ is in mind in the type; there is something said about him that is said about no other, that Jehovah loved him. And here it says of Samson, that Jehovah blessed him; as if God would help us to see the line that He is going to support, the line in Samson’s history, which we can count upon in meeting the encroachment of the human mind in the things of God. It is all around us, and is working much havoc and departure from the truth, and introducing error in the public body around us. But coming nearer to ourselves, how we need, every one of us, to be delivered from the element of the Philistine, so that we may make room for the Spirit of God, and as making room for the Spirit of God, overcome this element. “And Jehovah blessed him.” You will notice how the woman enters into this great matter; and I would suggest to the beloved brethren the great need of a right state among the brethren as to this great matter of the bringing in of this line, suggested in Samson, this effective line of Nazariteship, devotion to God without reservation, and making room for the Spirit of God. The woman has to do with it in a peculiar way; and I would desire to arouse the body of the saints, as suggested in the woman. Not the public side of energy; not the man side, as in Manoah; but heaven is interested in the woman. And I believe, that in this city and in other cities, heaven is interested in the woman, in the state of the saints, and arousing the state of the saints as to matters on hand, especially as to the bringing in of Samson! I am not thinking of Samson just as a person; I am thinking of him as an effective line, divinely supported, to meet the entrenched power of human influence in a mental way, suggested in the Philistine. And God is honouring the woman. Manoah comes into it; it is not that we are to leave the public side out, the side of ministry, the side of gift, the side of operation; we cannot carry on without the man; we must have the man as well as the woman. But the woman represents the subjective state, in connection with which heaven is intervening in relation to this matter. The skill of the woman in bringing the man in, is to be noted, so that there is a side of mutuality which is important to notice, coming in in relation to the man and the woman. How important and essential it is that in our cities, in the local assemblies, the subjective state of the saints should be equal to this great matter as to what heaven is saying, what God is saying, in regard to the raising up of a line of deliverance, to meet an entrenched foe, as suggested in the Philistine, who reigned for forty years over them, as it says, “Jehovah gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.”

Wonderful things come into the chapter (we have not time to dwell on them), but I just wish to stress this matter of how God comes into the position. The Angel has come into the matter, representing God, and wonderful things have occurred as the matter proceeds. We can expect, on this line, that things that we have never seen before, will take place, inculcating into us, and instilling in our hearts, a fresh desire to know more about the Person we are having to do with, as with Manoah and his wife in their enquiry in relation to the Angel. And you will remember as to the woman, how it says, “And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.” Oh, how the masculine side, the side of energy, flinches here! Fear is entering in; and how we need to be delivered from that awful snare - fear! “But his wife said to him, If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and an oblation at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would he at this time have told us such things as these.”

You can see that the secret lies with the woman; that is, the body of the saints are right in the matter. The woman suggests the subjective state of the saints, and it is a side that we are to make room for. Some of us may think, in our taking part and in our having to do things, that everything depends on us; but if we fall into that snare, we shall be like Samson as seen later. We shall come under the power of the Philistine, into captivity to the Philistine. We are to see how God is stressing the woman here; and He is stressing the woman tonight. He is stressing the state of the saints, the subjective state of the saints in this city, and in other cities that are represented here. And the state of the saints is to be equal to matters. We may blame the leaders (and of course the leaders are to be blamed, if they are to be blamed; there is responsibility attaching to those who lead in matters), but heaven is stressing the woman, stressing the state of the saints, as intervening in this matter. Manoah is giving up hope; he is receding, you see. He says, We shall die; it is the end! But not the woman! She knows where God is. The subjective state among the saints discerns where God is, and what God is going to do. She is an observing woman; she is putting two and two together; she is using, as we have often said before, and what is much needed among the saints - spiritual commonsense. She says, “he would not have received a burnt-offering and an oblation at our hands, neither would he have skewed us all these things.” She knows God, and that is a great thing to understand. The minister may think that everything lies on him, but we must not fall into that error! How essential the subjective state of the saints is for spiritual prosperity in all our cities! How important it is that we should not be governed by what is around in the profession, the hierarchy, with its use of power, keeping in captivity the latent wealth in the work of God, in the body of the people of God, the saints. It is essential that all that, that is around us, should be overthrown! The Spirit of God will not have it otherwise! And the Spirit of God would stress tonight this matter of the woman, and arouse the subjective state with us, as to this matter of what God is doing, and where He is. So that Manoah is helped through the woman. And then it says, “And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson.” She is going right forward. Manoah says, There is no use in going forward; we are going to die! But not the woman! She says, We must go forward. She bore a son. A new line is coming on to view, and the power of God, spiritual power, is going to be linked with it, and it is the outcome of what she is constitutionally. Nazariteship is brought in in Samson, through what she was constitutionally, refusing what would stimulate and excite the natural mind, excite nature.

Then it says, “the child grew.” We can expect things to grow on this line. “And Jehovah blessed him.” It is not a question here of Israel, at this point, coming into the matter; it is not a question of those around in Zoreah and Eshtaol, and what they are doing at this juncture; it is not a question of what Judah is doing here; it is a question of what God is setting on, what God is supporting, discerning where God is. And it says, “Jehovah blessed him. And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him at Mahaneh-Dan, between Zoreah and Eshtaol,” - not very easy territory, not the best territory, not the territory of Judah, but of Daniel And “between Zoreah and Eshtaol” - that is, it is Samson’s own local setting. That would be in the mind of faith as we read this. It is not a question of what the Spirit of God is doing with him at five thousand miles away, or five hundred miles away; it is a question of what the Spirit of God is doing with him in his own locality as we would speak of it. And how important it is that we make room for the Spirit (I know the way it is presented here is sovereign) but, as we go back into it, it refers to our making room for the Spirit on this line. And it says, “the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him” - the Hebrew word is “expressive of powerful emotion,” (footnote ‘g’). Oh, how we want to look for this - where the Spirit of God is in matters; whether He is supporting what we say and what we do. It is a great thing in discerning ministry, to see where the Spirit of God is, because our hearts are stirred and moved, as the Spirit of God is in ministry. And he is moving Samson here at Zoreah and Eshtaol. We want to understand the local position better; and how the Spirit of God is honouring it. God is honouring the local position. Let none of us despise it; let none of us think that we are any bigger than the local position; let all of us, especially those who serve, remember the way that the Spirit of God is presented here as powerfully moving Samson in this geographical area, the local position.

Now I want to go on to speak of the next part, where the Spirit of God comes in. It says in verse 9 of chapter 15: “And the Philistines went up, and encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.” Now we come to a section where Samson is particularly helped. We want to understand Samson’s history, we want to read it and re-read it; to see how we may be helped by divine Persons - how we may be ensnared by the foe too, as giving up or exposing our secret. What a history we have in Samson, and what teaching there is in it for us! It says, “And the Philistines went up, and encamped in Judah.” Now we come to territory that is choice, for Judah represents that. It is a territory that is well marked out in the word of God, a territory that faith knows, as having a peculiar place in the mind of God; and it peculiarly represents the area where the light of God is known and appreciated. We find that, even in this realm, much may come in to impede the progress of the saints, and to bring the saints into bondage; but the prophets and the Psalms show us the great interest that God has in Judah. And it says, they “spread themselves in Lehi.” There must have been some reason for them encamping in Judah. “And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they said, “To bind Samson” - notice that! They are not concerned about Judah exactly; they are concerned about Samson. They want to defeat this feature of spiritual power operating in view of the liberation of the truth and of the saints. How the enemy moved against Christ in this light! Judah delivers Samson into the hands of the Philistines.

We think of how the Lord was delivered by those who were nearest to Him into the hands of the Philistines, into the hands of His enemies. What a tale it unfolds as we think of it; the betrayal of the Lord Jesus - the betrayal of Samson by the men of Judah. And it says in verse 14, “When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him.” Now notice the conspiracy in this matter! The men of Judah are bound up in this conspiracy. Oh, the conspiracy that Matthew draws attention to! Time and again Matthew, the great administrative gospel, speaks of the Jews taking counsel to put Jesus to death. Think of this awful conspiracy, the conspiracy against Christ! The conspiracy here is against Samson. And it says, “When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him.” “When he came to Lehi” - that is, he comes into the position where the Philistines had encamped. Notice this, because divine Persons are in this matter, moving strategically against this overpowering and ensnaring foe - the weight of human intellect and human mentality in the things of God. Divine Persons are moving into this realm, through Samson, to take issue with it. And it says, “When he came to Lehi”; Samson does not go around Lehi. The point is that divine Persons are in this matter, in the very place where the Philistines spread themselves. The more we are like Paul, in the secret of divine power, the power linked with what Christ is as the wisdom and power of God, and what the Spirit is, the more we shall be prepared to meet things, as they spread themselves on this line. We need not be afraid! Samson is not afraid here, and divine Persons are moving into the position. It says, “And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, and the cords that were on his arms became as threads of flax that are burned with fire, and his band loosed from off his hands. And he found a fresh jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand and took it, and slew with it a thousand men.”

Now I just want to refer, in passing, to how the ministry is taken up now in the fresh jawbone of an ass, wielded in a power mysterious to men. Men cannot understand the presence of the Spirit. The human mind cannot fathom the peculiar resourcefulness connected with the presence of the Spirit of God in ministry and service. And the Spirit of God comes in upon Samson. It says, “he found.” Notice now, it is not the stress on the Spirit, but “he found.” As understanding the movements of the Spirit of God and the importance of being used by, and making use of the Spirit of God, he takes up the fresh jawbone of an ass (wonderful type of ministry, as it is!) to wield it in a way that it had never been wielded before, not to meet the men of Judah, terrible as their sin was in delivering him over, but to meet the Philistines! And how they are to be met! It says, “And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, a heap, two heaps, With the jawbone of an ass have I slain a thousand men. And it came to pass when he had ended speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-Lehi. And he was very thirsty, and called on Jehovah, and said, Thou hast given by the hand of thy servant this great deliverance, and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? And God clave the hollow rock which was in Lehi, and water came out of it,” - notice this - “which was in Lehi,” that in the very sphere where the Philistines had spread themselves, in the very sphere where their power was exercised over Judah. God brings in this fresh feature of resource, this renewal of Samson’s strength. And I believe that divine Persons desire that as understanding the terribleness of the Philistine element in our hearts, and as judging it and calling upon God, we are to understand this fresh movement; as it says, “And he drank, and his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En-hakkore” - that is, it becomes a landmark - “which is in Lehi”; Lehi is stressed, as if we are to notice where it occurs. God brings about deliverance. Oh, how we should all be concerned as to falling into the hand of the uncircumcised, falling into the hand of what is linked with men in the strength of nature, in the strength and power of the arm of the flesh, which the Philistine suggests! Oh, the importance of the Spirit of God coming in, in the finish of the dispensation, a known resource, a resource that becomes, as we use it, a landmark in our history, so that in all that we do, in all that we have part in, we become more and more callers upon this unfailing Spring! I would encourage all of our hearts in resorting to the Spirit, calling upon Him at every turn, calling upon Him in everything we have to do, and everything that we say, habitually resorting to the Spirit, realising that it is the only means of salvation, and effective means, in meeting the pretentious element that is presented in the Philistine. And it says, “And he drank, and his spirit came again, and he revived.” That is, it is a time for reviving, dear brethren! It is a time for being revived; but it is a time of drinking. The reviving follows the drinking. And we are to take this model, Samson, and, as drinking into this fresh feature of divine resource, the blessed Spirit as available to us, we are to revive, so that the position might be held in power. “Therefore its name was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day.”

Now, I want to finish with a word as to this final moment. What a portentous moment it is! What a moment, when Samson, through the government of God in the loss of the power of his Nazariteship, is grinding in the prison house. Oh, what a tale in church history it unfolds, as it brings in the result of the continual entrenching power of the Philistine foe, for they eventually succeeded through subtle means, in overthrowing Samson. They succeeded and Samson gave up his secret; he yielded himself, he sold himself to the Philistines through Delilah. Oh, let us remain firm in our souls! Let us hold the ground in firmness against this inveterate foe, always entrenching upon spiritual ministry, always entrenching upon spiritual activities, carried out in the power of the Spirit of God! And they call Samson up. Think of this, how Samson is made sport of! Think of things around us, the jokes and sport that is made of things publicly. We are to have a judgment of all that! And it says, “And Samson said to the lad,” - look at this now, a lad, some lad standing by. We might say, “Well, he is not of much account; we will rule him out, he will not help us, he will be of no use in this matter; the lords of the Philistines are here, what can the lad do?” But think of the lad in John’s gospel! We need to be more aware of these varied features of resources that are subserving the position unpretentiously, without any officialism. “And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, Let loose of me, and suffer me to feel the pillars upon which the house stands.” Samson gets to the basis of the matter, the pillars upon which the house stands!

That is what we want to come to in our souls - the pillars upon which the house stands! He does not begin to throw down stone upon stone of the building; he gets the main support of the position and it is dealt with, and dealt with thoroughly. Oh, the spiritual power that will enter into the closing of the dispensation, as it has entered into the revival, through J.N.D.’s service, and others! The pillars upon which the house stands have been brought down; that is, all that upon which the Philistine system rests, and in which Philistine glory and strength are entrenched, Samson brings down! How is it brought down? It says, “And Samson called to Jehovah, and said, Lord Jehovah, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may take one vengeance upon the Philistines for my two eyes.” There is the lad, there is Samson, there is the Lord Jehovah. What a three-fold cord entering into this matter of the overthrow of the house - the system that the Philistines are entrenched in - representative of what the enemy uses to hinder the free action and flow of the Spirit of God in all His distinctiveness in spiritual power in the activities of the saints.

Well, may the Lord help us, dear brethren! One feels the word has been laid singularly upon one’s heart tonight, that everyone of us might be concerned that the Spirit of God may be in the ascendency in our souls individually, in our hearts and minds individually, and in our local gatherings, that there may be no weakening and overthrowing of the position by the advancement of human strength, the human mind, however keen it may be, upon the position. May God help us in regard to making room for the Spirit, so that we may know what spiritual power really is!