Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3009
“And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.” Judges 16:3.
POOR Samson! We cannot say much about him as an example to Believers. We must hold him up in two lights—as a beacon and as a prodigy. He is a beacon to us all, for he shows us that no strength of body can suffice to deliver from weakness of mind. Here was a man whom no fellow man could overcome, but he lost his eyes through a woman—a man mighty enough to tear a lion like a kid, yet, in due time, though himself stronger than a lion, he was bound with fetters of brass. When I think of the infatuation of which Samson was the subject and remember that we are men of like passions with him, I can only, for myself, put up the prayer, “Lord, hold You me up, and I shall be safe,” and urge you to do likewise.
And Samson is also a prodigy. He is more a wonder as a Believer than he is even as a man. It is marvelous that a man could smite thousands of Philistines with no better weapon than the jawbone of a newly-killed ass, but it is still more marvelous that Samson should be a saint, ranked among those illustrious ones saved by faith, though such a sinner! The Apostle Paul has put him among the worthies in the 11th Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews and Paul wrote by Inspiration—therefore there can be no mistake about the fact that Samson was saved. Indeed, when I see his childlike faith, and note the way in which he dashed against the Philistines and smote them, hip and thigh, with a great slaughter—the way in which he cast aside all reckonings and probabilities and, in simple confidence in his God achieved the most tremendous feats of valor—when I see this, I cannot but wonder and admire!
The Old Testament biographies were never written for our imitation, but they were written for our instruction. Upon this one matter, what a volume of force there is in such lessons! “See,” says God, “what faith can do? Here is a man, full of infirmities, a sorry fool, yet, through his childlike faith, he lives. ‘The just shall live by faith.’ He has many sad flaws and failings, but his heart is right towards his God. He does trust in the Lord and he does give himself up as a man consecrated to his Lord’s service and, therefore, he is saved.” I look upon Samson’s case as a great wonder, put in Scripture for the encouragement of great sinners. If such a man as Samson, nevertheless, prevails by faith to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, so shall you and I! Though our characters may have been disfigured by many vices and we may have committed a multitude of sins, if we can but trust Christ to save us, He will purge us with hyssop and we shall be clean! He will wash us and we shall be whiter than snow—and in our death we shall fall asleep in the arms of Sovereign Mercy to wake up in the likeness of Christ!
But now I am going to leave Samson alone, except as he may furnish us with a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. Samson, like many other Old Testament heroes, was a type of our Lord. He is especially so in this case and I shall invite you to look at Christ rather than at Samson. First, come and behold our Champion at His work Then, let us go and survey the work when He has accomplished it And thirdly, let us enquire what use we can make of the work which He has performed.
I. Come with me, then, Brothers and Sisters, and LOOK AT OUR MIGHTY CHAMPION AT HIS WORK. You remember when our Samson, our Lord Jesus, came down to the Gaza of this world, ‘twas love that brought Him. Love to a most unworthy object, for He loved the sinful church which had gone astray from Him many and many a
time. Yet He came from Heaven and left the ease and delights of His Father’s palace to put Himself among the Philistines, the sons of sin and Satan here below!
It was rumored among men that the Lord of Glory was in the world and straightway they took counsel together how they should slay Him. Herod makes a clean sweep of all the children of two years old and under, that he may be sure to slay the newborn Prince. Afterwards, scribes and priests and lawyers hunt and hound Him. Satan tempts Him in the wilderness and provokes Him when in public. Death also pursues Him, for he has marked Him as his prey. At last, the time comes when the triple host of the Savior’s foes has fairly surrounded Him, and shut Him in. They have dragged Him before Pilate. They have scourged Him on the pavement. They drag Him to the place called Calvary, while His blood drips upon the stones of Jerusalem’s streets. They pierce His hands and His feet. They lift Him up, a spectacle of scorn and suffering and now, while dying in extreme pangs, and especially when He closes His eyes and cries out, “It is finished,” sin, Satan and death all feel that they have the Champion safe! There He lies silently in the tomb. He who is to bruise the old serpent’s head, is, Himself, bruised! O you who are the world’s great Deliverer—there You lie as dead as any stone! Surely Your foes have led You captive, O You mighty Samson!