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"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32).

Forgiveness. It's a beautiful word that flows with joy off our tongues. May we who are in Christ also see it flowing ever-so gracefully from our hearts. When Christians forgive one another, as Christ has forgiven them, it is truly like a river flowing from our inmost being, refreshing the souls of the forgiven.

Forgiveness in the Bible has two senses: vertical and horizontal. We dealt with the vertical aspect of releasing the offender to God's perfect justice and mercy in the previous post. This kind of forgiveness is never optional, because it really goes to our own relationship with the Lord. And, as with everything in the Christian life, the horizontal (practice) flows out of the vertical (position). So, assuming we are fighting the daily battle to keep entrusting the offender to God (vertical forgiveness), we are now in a posture, a ready-position, to forgive horizontally should the opportunity arise.

But what do I mean, "Should the opportunity arise?" Don't we just have to forgive, tell the person we have forgiven her, and move on?

Well, no. That's not how inter-personal forgiveness works among God's people committed to God's ways. You see, the second kind of forgiveness, the more horizontally-flavored forgiveness, requires confession of sin and repentance (or at least a stated desire to repent).

That is, the offender must own his sin, and ask those he hurt by his sin for forgiveness. The Greek word translated "forgive" in Ephesians 4:32 is chorizomai. It refers to a pardoning transaction that reconciles. In other words, a broken relationship is restored in God's kingdom by way of repentance of sin (which by definition includes seeking forgiveness). This is relational stuff. It requires a back-and-forth between offender and the offended.

At times, the offended must personally approach the person to confront him or her concerning the sin (Matthew 18:15). At other times, you might remember that you offended or potentially offended someone and take the initiative upon yourself to go seek forgiveness (Matthew 5:23-24). We see in Luke 17:1-3 the expectation of Jesus that this is not an either/or issue, but a both/and. In other words, in the church, as the Holy Spirit convicts and keeps changing us (sanctification), it is inevitable that we sometimes will go ask a person for forgiveness without being confronted, and sometimes will do so in response to being confronted.

"Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins seven times in the day and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him" (Luke 17:3-4).

Jesus demands that His people be marked by, defined by, the habitual practice of confession of sin, repentance of sin, seeking and giving forgiveness. Why? Because this is precisely how our good Father God deals with us: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

Those are present tense verbs in 1 John 1:9. They indicate a habitual, ongoing exercise of our confessing and His forgiving and cleansing. And so we are called to reflect God in our Christian relationships. The same root word for "be kind" in Eph. 4:32 is used in Rom 2:4 to refer to God's attitude toward believers prior to salvation. It's God's "kindness" that is meant to lead us to repentance.¹ O, that we would approach each other with just such kindness. A kindness that encourages repentance, and assures of forgiveness.

But make no mistake about it, if an offender refuses to confess a sin and ask forgiveness, then we can in no way move forward in a reconciled, restored condition. The relationships and health of a local church body are hinged upon repentance and forgiveness. And our enemy knows it, and so targets us very frequently at the level of our basic relationships. So, let's not be ignorant of the enemy's schemes!

When we forgive a repentant brother or sister, we are saying to him or her, I forgive you. I consider myself reconciled in Christ to you and can walk in full fellowship and Christian friendship with you again. I will not bring this offense up to you again, or to others, or to myself (so long as crimes or actual abuse are not at stake). Let's enjoy the benefits we have together in Jesus Christ our Lord as we link arms to proclaim Him to a lost world. Let's get on with our full covenant life in Christ's Church together!

Here are some practical tips to help us all seek and give a more biblical forgiveness as we do gospel life together in our local churches:

• When we approach a person to potentially point out a sin or offense that he committed, begin by asking questions, not making judgments. This allows the person to more fully explain why he did or said something, and may actually cause you to change your mind about whether it's really a sin or whether it requires any further confrontation.
• When a sin must be confronted, be specific. Beating around the bush isn't helpful. Just say what you think the sin is or was, or name the offense.
• When asking for forgiveness, go beyond the culturally accepted language of, "I'm sorry." Say what you are sorry for and specifically say, "I sinned. Please forgive me."
• Avoid fake confessions. "I am sorry that you were offended by what I did" is not the same thing as saying, "I am sorry that what I did offended you," and then calling what you did a sin, or at bare minimum an indiscretion or error. The first really blames the offended person, while the latter takes responsibility for one's own actions. It's the difference in pride and humility.
• Pray for and with one another before and after the confrontation and confession and forgiveness. Nothing so cements a relationship like getting on our knees together to call out to Jesus for forgiving mercies and for reconciling graces.
• Even if it becomes clear that an actual sin wasn't committed, but an action or word still hurt someone's feelings, be kind enough to apologize for the wound caused, and ask the hurt person to help you learn how not to do that again. Honoring each other's feelings is a kindness, whether or not a sin was actually involved. Disregard for the feelings of others is not a virtue.
• Don't say you forgive a person, but then walk away from him or her in such a way that makes it clear you have no intention of really ever living as reconciled with him or her. To say you forgive someone but then want nothing to do with her is simply not forgiveness. What if Jesus forgave you that way? [This would shut down so much church-hopping if put into practice.]
• Be thick-skinned. Don't be easily offended. Give your brothers and sisters the benefit-of-the-doubt. Assume the best. This is "bearing with one another in love" (Eph 4:2; Col 3:13).
• If a brother or sister refuses to confess a sin and repent, obey Jesus and take the next step in the corrective disciplinary process (Matt 18:16). If even this step fails, seriously consider discussing the situation with a pastor, as the brokenness of the relationship will surely soon begin to impact others in the church body. Pastoral mediation is often used of God to bring about the repentance and restoration that we should all seek in our relationships in a church body.
• Prayerfully consider whether this offense requires confrontation, or can it just be overlooked or covered by love (Prov 19:11; 1 Peter 4:8).

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1 For this insight, I am indebted to Dr. Stuart Scott in his book 31 Ways to be a 'One Another' Christian, p. 48.

“And forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors . . . For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:12, 14-15).

Forgiveness. 

Such a beautiful, terrible word. 

Beautiful to receive, but often so terribly difficult to give. 

Because it’s not natural. It violates every impulse of our nature apart from God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ. Sinful humans naturally gravitate toward justice. For everyone but ourselves, that is. This is precisely why Jesus told His disciples to “first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matt 7:5). I have a log. You have a speck. That’s essential groundwork for forgiveness. 

The Bible speaks of forgiveness in two main ways – vertically and horizontally. I want to deal with only the first of these here. 

To forgive means to release or to set free. When God saves us from our sins by graciously imparting faith in Christ to us, He releases us. He sets us free from the just punishment and guilt of our sin, since He already dealt with our sin once for all in Christ on the cross (Rom 8:1-4; Heb 10:12-18; 1 Peter 2:24).  We can praise God that “where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin” (Heb 10:18). Doesn’t it make you want to sing?

My sin, O the bliss, of this glorious thought My sin, not in part, but the whole Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! 

It is this reality, that in Christ we are forgiven, that compels and propels us to forgive. Jesus insists that the forgiven forgive (see Matt 6:14-15). Jesus told a parable of a servant forgiven an absurd amount of debt by the King, only to turn around and choke out another servant who owed him a pittance. Jesus’ punchline put on the lips of the King is pungent: “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” (Matt 18:33). Jesus went on to warn His listeners that if they acted as this unforgiving, wicked servant, they would be delivered to the torturers by the Father in heaven. 

Any questions? 

Withholding forgiveness is wicked. Unforgiveness hurts only the one refusing to forgive. It damages our souls and imperils our relationship with our God who has forgiven us an immeasurable sin debt in Christ. It is vertical, first, you see. We must release both the offenses and the offenders. We release them to God. When we forgive in this way, we are entrusting the offense and offender to God who judges justly. To God who lavishes mercy and forgiveness by His sovereign will. To God, the only One who can rightly discern all truth and all error. To God, the seer of all hearts and minds. To God, the weigher of all motives. To God, who has given all judgment to His Son, who bore the curse of sin (John 5:22; Gal 3:13).

When we release or forgive someone in this way, we are saying, “I refuse to allow this offense to embitter my own heart. I give this to You, O Lord. I refuse to sit in judgment upon a brother or sister or offender. I will not try to punish the offender with all my man-made schemes. I trust You, Lord Jesus, to do what is right and to make this right in Your time. I love you, Lord. I pray for the offender, that he or she might experience Your saving and sanctifying grace as I have. Grant repentance and restoration according to Your good pleasure. I thank You for forgiving me by pouring out Your wrath not upon me, but upon my Christ. Please help me forgive, and keep on forgiving, just as You do. Make me merciful as You are (Luke 6:36). May mercy triumph over judgment in my heart (Jms 2:13). When the temptation to anger or bitterness or unforgiveness rears its ugly head in my heart, and it surely will, give me speedy grace to lop its head off in Jesus’ name! O lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from the evil one (Matt 6:13). Give me daily grace to live as a son or daughter of the Most High, who is ‘kind to the ungrateful and evil’ (Luke 6:35). In Jesus’ name, Amen.”  

Do you see it? This kind of forgiveness is an attitude, a posture of the heart. It’s vertical. It is an act of faith . . . in God alone! This kind of forgiveness may or may not even be known to the offender. Most often, it’s not. And it need not be. We will discuss why that is in our next post. 

Does this attitude of forgiveness mark you? Are you forgiven in Christ? Are you a forgiver like Christ? To claim the first, while not doing the second, is to play the hypocrite and be self-deceived. The forgiven forgive. Not some of the time. All of the time. 

So much anger and bitterness and vexation of spirit even among Christians or those claiming to be so, stems from the root of unforgiveness. Our culture of perpetual victimhood is giving us gangrene of the soul. Let it not be so among us, dear Church. So help us God. 

Forgiveness is a fight. A daily fight (as is everything about sanctification). The war is waged at the level of our hearts, minds and wills. But fight we must. And fight we can in Christ (Rom 8:9-17). And if we take Jesus’ words seriously, forgiveness is forever worth fighting for. 

On this Good Friday, amidst the tumult of our sin-wrecked world, it would be good for us to soak up the lines of the poem penned by Isaac Watts. We know this poem as the hymn, “When I Survey.”

 

When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it Lord that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ, my God;
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

 Think on it. Be alarmed at the grotesque sight of your sin. Be astonished at the unfathomable price of your redemption. Be amazed by your Savior. His name is Jesus. The Messiah. The Lord. He’s incomparable! 

“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised” (Song of Songs 8:6-7).

Valentine’s Day is hokey. Probably the epitome of a Hallmark holiday.  

Nevertheless, there is certainly nothing inherently wrong with observing special days or special occasions (Rom 14:5).  And genuine love is worth celebrating! Not just today, but every day.

Selfless, sacrificial commitment that always seeks God’s glory and the good of the beloved is hard to come by these days.  Love that mirrors the love of God in Christ is impossible apart from the regenerating and sanctifying Spirit of God and a faith-union with Christ.  We cannot even love God apart from Him setting His special saving love upon us in Christ our Lord (1 John 4:7-12).  

Love is not heart-shaped. It is cruciform.  

This is why husbands are commanded to “love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (Eph 5:25).  I cannot say I have lived up to that standard nearly as often or as well as I should have.  But by God’s grace, it has been my aim for over 26 years now with the love of my life, Michele.  And to be honest, she has more often demonstrated Christ-like love to me than I have to her.  At least, it surely feels like it from my perspective.  With each passing year, I see more and more of Jesus in my wife.  Her love reminds me of the greatest love – that of Jesus for His bride, His blood-bought people.  Her love for me, like His, is totally unmerited and exceeds anything I could earn.  The joy she brings me is surpassed only by the joy of Jesus that floods my soul.  

Her love flashes with the very fire of the Lord.  And my love for her does too.  I am jealous for her. She is mine, and I am hers.  Exclusively. In this too, are reminders of the fierce love of God for us in Christ.    

Romance comes and goes. But many waters cannot quench love.     

By all means, buy her roses if you can and if she enjoys that kind of thing. And give sweet Hallmark cards to one another. Enjoy a steak together. Go on a walk. Watch a sunrise or sunset. Embrace. Hug and kiss, dear husbands and wives.  Enjoy what cannot be bought at any price!    

But never forget the love that surpasses them all. Never forget the love that makes all other true love possible. Never forget the everlasting love of God. He has loved the unlovable.  All true love must reflect His love.  All true lovers seek first and foremost to exalt Him.  

Thank You, O my Father, for giving us Your Son, and leaving Your Spirit until the work on earth is done!

And thank You, Lord, for the gift of my wife and her love, which daily reminds me so much of You. 

“Christ died for the ungodly . . . God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6, 8).

“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:14).  

While I want to guard against any notion of name-it-claim-it theology, and I renounce any doctrine that says we can manipulate God Almighty by our prayers, I do think two prayers said recently in Legislative Chambers speak volumes about the division in our Nation.  There really are two visions for the United States of America now.  The split is clearer by the day.  One of those visions, I contend, is much more in line with the original vision of the Nation’s Founders, as well as the principles of God’s Word.  The other, well, take a listen to this prayer:

https://youtu.be/qgI8HL7J4Ns 

Now, contrast Emanuel Cleaver’s prayer in the U.S. House of Representatives with that of Pastor Steve Weaver (Farmdale Baptist Church, `rank`fort, KY) who offered the following invocation at the General Assembly in the Commonwealth of Kentucky recently:

Our Great God,

We bow before you today on a day in which we should all be humbled before you. This past year has revealed to us how frail we are as humans—in our Commonwealth, our nation, and our world. A microscopic virus cell 3.5 trillionth of an inch in diameter has crippled the economies of the world and disrupted our way of life in so many ways. But even as the hymn writer confessed that we are “frail children of dust and feeble as frail,” he continued with “In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail.”

And so we come to You, the Creator of all things. You alone are the God who made the heavens and the earth. And we come to You, the Controller of all things. Nothing is outside of your sovereign control and care. We come to You, the Conqueror of all things. 

We pray to you recognizing that you are in control over all things. There is not one maverick molecule in the universe. All planets, stars, comets, molecules, microbes, and viruses are under your sovereign control. You work all things after the counsel of your will. None can stay your hand or say what doest thou.

We acknowledge that not only are you sovereign, but you are a loving father over creation, and especially to those who know You. Not one bird can fall from the sky or one hair from our head without you knowing and caring. You knit us together in our mothers’ wombs. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. You know our bodies better than we know our bodies. You know disease better than doctors know disease and, ultimately, we rest in your loving, sovereign care.

We also thank you that you have given us as human beings the ability to understand disease and infection and how it spreads. Thank you for the medical community that has worked so hard to inform us, advise us, offer treatment, and develop a vaccine to combat COVID-19. Thank you also for civil government which was established by you to protect its citizens. Thank you for Governor Beshear and his leadership during these difficult days. Please give him wisdom and strength as he continues to lead. Thank you for the Kentucky General Assembly as they now convene to fulfill their responsibilities.

Give them wisdom and strength also as they make important decisions balancing concern both for our state’s economy and the financial and physical welfare of our citizens. Most of all we pray for a spirit of wisdom, reasonableness, and cooperation between the House and Senate, between Republicans and Democrats, and between the Legislative and Executive branch in order that all the citizens of this state are served in the best possible manner.

We pray for health and strength for these legislators, their family, and the staff that supports them. Please be with this body this session as they conduct the business of this Commonwealth. Give them peace as many of them are separated from their families and homes in this time of uncertainty. Give each of them your peace that surpasses human understanding.

Most of all we thank you for your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world of sickness and sin as an expression of your sovereign plan and fatherly love of this world. Thank you that by His sinless life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection, He conquered the grave, defeated death, took away death’s sting and, in the words of the author of Hebrews, delivered all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery! May all who hear these words know peace and comfort in the grace and mercy through faith in the Lord Jesus.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

Christmas Season speaks often of peace.  I mean, after all, the angels announced to the shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (KJV).  

Even if you prefer another translation, such as the ESV (which I do), the note of peace is still there: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.”

Peace is elusive, though, isn’t it?  

Peace is also so subject to numerous iterations and definitions.  

There’s political peace. Emotional peace. Relational peace. Inner peace. Peace of mind. Denominational peace. Educational peace. Peace like a river. And the ever-popular “World Peace” (at least among beauty pageant contestants).  And oh, don’t forget that extra piece of chocolate pie (OK, that’s a totally different word, just checking your pulse out there my faithful four readers).    

But what kind of peace did Jesus come to bring?  

If He intended to install world peace in the political sense, then He failed.  Or, maybe He just hasn’t intended to install that kind of peace yet.  The Bible says that day is not yet, but surely coming.  I’ve read the end of the Book.  I know how this all ends.  The Prince of Peace returns to make His enemies His footstool and He reigns in absolute peace over His redeemed people forever.  

So the question remains – what kind of peace did Jesus come to bring? In His first advent?  

Can we just get downright honest and say it must not, indeed cannot, be any other kind of peace except spiritual peace with God?!  The Christians in Northeast Nigeria who continue to endure beheadings, rapes, pillaging, and burnings of women, children, crops, homes, and houses of worship, at the hands of Muslim extremists, surely have no political, emotional, mental, or physical peace whatsoever!  And this scenario plays itself out all across the world every day.  These precious suffering saints are experiencing first-hand the truth of Christ’s words:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt 10:34-39).  

Well, that’s doesn’t sound much like “Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays” to me.  No! It sounds more like a radical call to selfless submission to the Lordship of King Jesus.  It sounds like a clarion call to love Christ so deeply and lavishly that nothing or no one else could even be said to compare.  It sounds like an invitation, in the words of Bonhoeffer, to “come and die.”  

And thus, truly live.  

And find the truest depth of peace available to anyone in this life full of trials and temptations.  

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

Last year a conference was held in St. Louis called "Revoice."  Although I have not listened to any of the sermons or speeches given at the conference, I studied up on it enough to know it was not a conference I would personally endorse or attend.  Several speakers at this conference are advocating for the acceptance of labels such as "Gay Christian."  Sexual desires and behaviors that God condemns in His Word are also being endorsed and called "not evil."  Christians who truly embrace the Inerrancy of the Bible simply cannot give approval to Revoice.

Here is one of the most helpful and thoughtful responses I have seen so far, given by the President of Covenant Theological Seminary:

http://www.dennyburk.com/a-strong-statement-on-sexuality-from-the-president-of-covenant-theological-seminary/

His response is good for our souls, dear church, if we will but hear his message humbly.  His response is not just a good and sound rebuttal of Revoice, it is a good word for how we should all seek to do relationships in our local churches.

"Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.  Anyone who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law" (James 4:11).

It's all downhill from here.

That epitaph could be written after the death of Samson.  Israel just goes from bad to worse.

Let's see, first there's Micah and his mother who uses 1,100 pieces of silver to make an idol which she has the gall to dedicate to Yahweh, the One True God who hates and forbids idolatry!  Micah then turns his home into a little mini-temple to false gods made of metal.  Micah even talked a Levite into being his own personal "priest" in his house of idols.  The Bible's summary simply cannot be improved upon:

In those days there was no king in Israel.  Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (17:6).

Then the tribe of Dan decided they wanted this apostate Levite to be their priest (Judges 18).  So they stole him away along with Micah's household idols.  They then proceeded to rape, pillage and burn the city of Laish, which had done them no harm.  They re-named the city Dan.  This is how idolatry works, folks.  A false god (i.e., Satan) is never satisfied to only enslave one household.  Idolatry spreads like gangrene.  And it infects men's souls.  It makes them more evil than they could ever imagine they would be.

Next, we encounter this delightful little story of a Levite who stays overnight in the territory of the Benjaminites.  The men of the town surround the home where an old man is graciously hosting the Levite and his concubine, demanding that the Levite be sent outside so they can have their way with him sexually.  The old man refuses, but the men's persistence must have worn down their resistance because the Levite eventually has the bright idea to just let the men have their way with his concubine.  Lust always demands satisfaction.  It dominates a person and cares not who it victimizes.  They raped the woman all night and she died the next morning (Judges 19).

This led the Levite to cut his concubine's corpse into twelve pieces and send them to the twelve tribes of Israel.  (My guess is the concubine would have preferred this pitiful excuse for a man to have killed her prior to her being raped all night by homosexual men.  No doubt she would have chosen death over her "husband" throwing her to the wolves.)  Anyway, the twelves tribes are incensed when they realize what has happened.  They gather for war, but first ask to hear from the Levite what happened.  He tells a very self-justifying version of the event, which leads them to go to war against the Benjaminites.  The Tribe of Benjamin is nearly wiped off the planet.  Tens of the thousands of men die in the civil war (Judges 20).

The tribes of Israel then start to feel sorry for the men left of the tribe of Benjamin.  There were no wives for them because they had all vowed not to give their daughters in marriage to them.  Their brilliant solution to that dilemma was to go slaughter wholesale the people of Jabesh-Gilead, sparing only 400 virgins.  Those virgins were then forced to marry men of the tribe of Benjamin.  The men who still had no wives were then told to go steal their wives from the people of Shiloh (Judges 21).  Utter chaos and moral insanity.    

What can be said except to let the Lord's epitaph on this whole sorry episode in Israel's history stand as written:

In those days there was no king in Israel.  Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).

The End.

Well, we better hope not!  Else we all go to hell.  Mankind left to himself.  Apart from God's grace.  Without God's redemption.  Absent of faith in the true, living God.  That's what Judges shows us.  This is what life looks like when God lets sin run unchecked.  When every person becomes his or her own standard of morality.  When relativism reigns in homes and schools and governments.  The Book of Judges is a little glimpse of hell.  A foreshadowing of the destiny of any people or nation that refuses to submit to God's good rule.

We Christians can all say of the Book of Judges, "There but for the grace of God go I."  Perhaps no other Book in the Old Testament so clearly displays our need of a Righteous Savior.  A Redeemer to absorb God's wrath against our sins and to satisfy true justice in our place.  A God to graciously give mercy.  A Lord to change our hearts and to rule over us at the level of our wills.  If Christ is not King, we are lost forever.

But Hallelujah, our God reigns!  As the modern hymn written by Matt Papa and Matt Boswell says it, "Our sins they are many, His mercy is more!"

 

Delilah.

The name conjures up images of a vixen, a sultry temptress, an irresistible woman.  Napoleon had his Waterloo.  Samson had Delilah.

The account of Samson and Delilah may well be the most well-known episode in the Book of Judges, and one of the most popular in all the Bible.  So, I need not recount it in any great detail here.  Rather, let me just draw out some lessons for us:

• Many a man's weakness is exposed by beautiful women.  Samson was a lover of women, and not in any godly sense.  He was promiscuous.  Women were his gods far too often.  As we saw last blog post, he was the proverbial ox led to slaughter.  Sexual attraction between a man and woman was a good gift from God.  Sin has trampled it under foot.  If godly men do not "flee youthful lusts" (2 Tim 2:22) they will bring ruin into their lives.  Just like Samson.  Flee.  Don't fight.  Flee.  That's God's strategy for lust in our hearts.
• The longer Samson remains in a relationship with Delilah, the more stupidly arrogant he grows.  When he finally did reveal the secret to his great physical strength, he awoke from his almost drunken sleep and said, "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free" (Judges 16:20).  The next line is haunting. "But he did not know that the Lord had left him."  Sin had so blinded him that he did not even realize God was no longer in his life, giving strength to his spirit and body.  The Philistines gouged out his eyes and made him a slave.  But it all started with a spiritual blindness and hardness of heart.  Putting a woman before God.  Presuming that because God has graciously given him some victories in spite of his sin, that God would most assuredly continue to do so.  Not heeding any wise counsel.  The ox lowed blissfully all the way to the slaughter house!
• Delilah fades away once Samson is at the moment of his greatest need.  This kind of woman always does.  She hurt Samson intentionally.  Played him like a fiddle.  Enjoyed the sex along the way.  Then moved onto the next victim once Samson's eyeballs were plucked from their sockets.  Evil is resident even in the hearts of women!  Our extreme brand of feminism in America today needs to be reminded of this truth - sin is no respecter of gender.  Was Samson at fault?  Yes!  But so was Delilah.  And as far as we know, unlike Samson, she never repented or sought God's mercy.
• God mercifully blessed Samson with His presence at the very end of his life.  While working as a slave, Samson's hair grew back.  But of course the hair is merely symbolic of God's gracious power and presence in the man's life.  Without God, Samson was nothing.  Without God, nobody is anything.  Samson's simple prayer in the party hall of God's enemies is, "O Lord remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes" (Judges 16:28).  God heard that pitiful plea for mercy.  And God granted the request of Samson to "Let me die with the Philistines."  Our Lord is merciful beyond compare.  Our Lord will judge His enemies.
• Samson is no Jesus.  This should not even need stated!  But as a Judge, a Deliverer, Samson serves as an anti-type.  He foreshadows Christ, but only by way of contrast.  We are told "the dead whom he [Samson] killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life" (Judges 16:30).  I guess from a human perspective Samson goes down as a war hero.  But there's never been a War Hero like Jesus!  By His death, He kills death!  By His death, Jesus brings eternal life to His people.  Yes, even God's enemies.  Even a Philistine like me.  As Jesus dies, He prays for His enemies, "Father, forgive them."

Jesus is the Judge of all judges.  Jesus is the Deliverer of all deliverers.  The strongest of men die.  But through faith in Christ, we all, from the least to the greatest, can live forever.

Samson.

His name still stirs up images on a Herculean man, like Arnold Schwarzenegger in his bodybuilding hay day.  Samson is probably the most popular of the Judges of Israel.  His story is riveting.  One wonders why Hollywood has not latched onto it, as it would make for a blockbuster!  I mean this dude tore lions apart with his bare hands and killed 1,000 enemy soldiers with the jaw bone of a donkey.  Impressive.

In this man we see both human greatness and human weakness.  But more, we see the great power and grace of God at work on behalf of his sinful people.  Samson's whole life, really, points to the sovereign determination of the Lord to bless and save His people, in spite of their wickedness.  And, in Samson, though he himself is often sinful, we catch a tiny glimpse of the ultimate salvation to come through Jesus.

Even Samson's birth is miraculous.  His mother was barren, but God opened her womb.  God brought into existence what was not.  He spoke life where there was death.  In order to rescue His people from their enemies.

Samson was to be set apart for the Lord from the womb.  If we are paying attention, the summary of his youth points us forward to Christ the Savior in His youth:

And the woman bore a son and called His name Samson.  And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him.  And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him (Judges 13:24-25).

She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins . . . And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man (Matthew 1:21; Luke 2:40).

But we dare not press this comparison too far!  For quite early in Samson's life we see fatal flaws.  The Book of Wisdom compares a man who gives himself to forbidden, sinful women to an ox going to the slaughter (Prov 7:22).  If ever a man fit the description, Samson does.  His determination to have a wife of the Philistines (which was forbidden by God's Law) is a classic example of God's sovereignty alongside man's evil and accountability.  Though God was working to defeat the Philistines through it all, Samson's actions spring from his evil heart.  This guy has a blatant disregard for God's Law.  He eats defiled food, and ignores purity laws, and causes others in his family to become ritually unclean without a care in the world (see Judges 14).

Yet, God is mightily at work in and through Samson!  God's determination to bless His people and do good to them far exceeds Samson's evil desires.  Samson's plot backfires, at least from his own human perspective.  He loses his wife.  (Maybe calling her a "heifer" wasn't the best idea?)  But behind the scenes, God has kindled the flame that will free Israel from foreign domination.  Amidst unspeakable acts of evil that so often characterize war, Samson seems to grow stronger both spiritually and physically.  After slaying 1,000 Philistines, he exclaims:

"You [Lord] have granted this great salvation by the hand of Your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"  And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi and water came out from it.  And when he `rank`, his spirit returned and he revived (Judges 15:18-19).

Once again, we see our Lord so mercifully caring for a very sinful man.  We see God's goodness overriding man's rottenness.  And we leap forward to One greater and stronger than Samson who said He had living water.  Samson got thirsty again.  So did Israel.  But O what grace is ours as New Covenant Christians?!

Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:13-14).

Move over Samson.  We have found our true Deliverer and Source of Life!