Samson and the Fourth Message

 

As we have seen in the story of Samson, through the grace of God he was enabled to fight his way out of every difficulty by the power and strength granted directly by God as a spiritual gift. It is clear that when Jesus was not directly empowering Samson he had not sufficient strength to defend himself so the wonderful Scripture of Jeremiah 9:23-24 is true “Thus saith the Lord (Jesus the Christ of I Corinthians 10:1-4), let not the wise man glory in his wisdom (Solomon), neither let the mighty man (Samson) glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches (Hezekiah), but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.”

 

Samson had been tempted by Delilah 3 times and he had avoided giving away any sacred information to one who did not want to know the truth as it is in Jesus but wanted to know information on how to sacrifice Samson so that she could betray him and reap the rewards of her behavior from the Philistines (this is similar to that of Judas who wanted information on how and where to betray Jesus to receive his reward). Samson would have been very wise to turn away from the deceitful woman who wanted to walk Samson into “the chambers of death” (Proverbs 7:27).

 

Three previous times Samson had avoided the final deception but on the fourth time Delilah had worn out the patience of Samson and he told her the secrets of his heart and told her of the precious pearls of truth, which she immediately used on him to trample him into the dust (Matthew 7:6). Samson told her all of his heart and she in turn called to her lords – the five lords of the Philistines. Then she called for a barber (Isaiah 7:20) and cut off the 7 locks of his hair thus rendering him “separated from God” (Numbers 6:9, 18). When Samson was officially shaved of his Nazarite sign, he had cut himself off from Jesus and He had no power to stand. Samson’s own words came back to haunt him, he would indeed “become weak and be like any other man” (Judges 16:17).

 

This same temptation was presented to Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane to surrender to the plans of His Father and to walk the blood stained path, or to turn back and not be willing to sacrifice Himself for fallen man. But Jesus stood fast, was strengthened with supernatural power by the angel (Luke 22:43) and He walked the path straight to Calvary, He died and was raised again.

 

As we have shared in our study on Samson and the Three Angel’s Messages, Laodicea must face a fourth deception and Satan himself will come like Christ (II Thessalonians 2:9; II Corinthians 11:14 and The Great Controversy pages 624-625). God’s final church must follow in the footsteps of Samson or of Christ. God’s church accepts the three angel’s messages but Revelation 18:1-4 “Another Angel” is presented to the world. This final message is to warn any people who linger in Babylon to come out and join those who have decided to rest their all on Christ. God’s people come out of Babylon and join that group who have walked in harmony with Christ and have followed Him where He has gone (Revelation 14:4).

 

Samson clearly failed in standing true, but God did not leave him alone. Jesus came to him again and offered him the chance to finish his walk with Jesus. Jesus stood true and finished His walk with His Father. Jesus offers us the opportunity to learn from Him and from Samson and to finish our walk with Him. As it was in the days of Samson so it can be for us as well. We can finish this walk if we will but say yes to Jesus by faith and not depend upon the arm of flesh but on the Arm of Divinity.