A further look at Samson:

Part II… A love letter

Wait… I sense that you’re unsure about what you’ve heard. It seems that the thing that gives me joy… is.. causing you some uncertainty. Listen, I know that there are not many voices out here that are saying what I’m saying. But, listen with your heart, not with your head. No! no! I’m not asking you to act on feelings, but rather to receive the Good News. Beloved, God’s heart is always full of love for you. His intentions toward you are always good. Let’s take a look back at some of the significant events surrounding the life of Samson. Let’s do something else as well. Let’s filter these events through the revelation of the New Covenant or Agreement that we have in Christ. In essence, let’s look at this story through ‘Christ filtered glasses’. Look at Judges 13:3-5… 

"The angel of the LORD appeared to Manoah's wife and said, "Even though you have been unable to have children, you will soon become pregnant and give birth to a son.

4 You must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink or eat any forbidden food.

5 You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and his hair must never be cut. For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. He will rescue Israel from the Philistines."

This is the covenant God offered concerning Samson. And just as Samson was not yet born when the agreement was made, We were not yet born when Jesus went to the cross. In essence, Jesus took the responsibility for bringing us into relationship with God upon himself. Samson’s mother had the responsibility of not drinking any strong drink or eating any unclean thing. In the same way Jesus became accursed for us so that we might be redeemed. Galatians 3:13-14 says…

13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

14 Through the work of Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, and we Christians receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.

Now, look at Judges 14: 8-9

8 Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion. And he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass.

9 He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it along the way. He also gave some to his father and mother, and they ate it. But he didn't tell them he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.

Samson has just broken one of the terms of the Covenant. He has eaten honey taken from the dead unclean carcass of a lion. Then, as if that weren’t bad enough, He gave some to his parents. But, The covenant remains in tact. Does Samson take any action to get back in God’s good graces? No, he continues on, as though it were no big deal. Beloved, I’m not condoning sin, not by any means, but I am saying that sin, whether willful or not, does not nullify or cancel our new agreement with God, in Christ. That’s Good news. There are many other examples of Samson’s disobedience concerning his covenant with God. He used the jawbone of a dead animal to slay an army of his enemies. He cavorted with strange women from a pagan culture yet; none of these things separated him from his great strength. Beloved, Listen to Paul’s words of encouragement to the Church at Rome…

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death?

36 (Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.")

37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away.

39 Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Beloved, this is the assurance we have in Christ. Oh Bless His Name.

Ok, so what about this haircut thing, why did God put this ‘escape clause’ in? Beloved, this is the hard part. Listen, this Covenant was made before Christ. Subsequently, it was flawed in the same way that the Law was flawed. It typified the ‘Old Covenant’. And the problem with the Old Covenant was that it was weak through the flesh. Look at Romans 8:3-4…

3 The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

4 He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Listen Beloved; righteousness was never intended to come by the law. The law was given to show us our need for a Savior. In the same way, this provision of Samson’s agreement with God doomed Samson. Sovereign God, in his foreknowledge of all that will ever be, uses Samson’s haircut to show us the insufficiency of the Old Covenant or the ‘Law’ and the superiority of the New Covenant and the sufficiency of Christ’s shed blood. Hallelujah!! 

I must close now, let me close with this thought. God is faithful. He demonstrated is faithfulness to Samson right to the very end. In the same way, he will demonstrate his faithfulness to us till the very end…2Timothy 1:12 says..

…I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return…

Also Beloved, God is love. His love for us cannot be separated from his faithfulness to us. In love, He would cause his Spirit to come upon Samson. For a moment reflect upon how secure Samson must have felt during those times, how loved, how favoured he must have felt. And now, God, who is love, indwells us with love (His Spirit). Paul prays in Ephesians 3:18-19 that …

18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.

19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Look at how that love will carry you over to Ephesians 6:13 where you will be able to ‘Stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, Stand!…

Peace and Love in Christ,

Bro. Wayne O. Bigham

Samson: A study in Grace

The secret of Samons’s strength

Beloved, the story of Samson is one from which we may draw great encouragement, but not for the reasons that are commonly held. We say hindsight is 20/20 and we apply this thinking in our assessment of Samson’s story. We covet the ‘blessing’ of his great strength, which represents the anointing, and favour of God. We marvel in awe and wonder at his great victories over the enemies of God and His people. And finally, we lament over his eventual downfall and upbraid one another over the pitfalls of sinful living. In the back of our minds, we think of ourselves as being smarter than Samson, because we’re not going to fall for Delilah’s (the Devil’s) tricks.
Beloved, there’s a greater story here than the one we’ve grown accustomed to. Samson’s great strength came from covenant relationship with God. Not from his piety, his good works, his Holy living, but from the covenant that God made with his parents before he was conceived (Judges 3:3-5). He was a Nazarite from birth, not by virtue of any thing he did.
(anybody shouting yet?)
(it’s ok to shout…)
Beloved, Samson presents a problem to the religious folk. His life was one of self-will and rebellion, yet the anointing and favour of God was evident in everything he did. Why? Because of covenant.
Now somebody out there is saying "Yeah Brother Wayne, but look where his raggedy lifestyle got him." " God won’t dwell in an unclean Temple". And you’ll show me Judges 16:20 and say " See… the Lord departed from him. " Beloved, the Lord departed from Samson because…his hair had been cut, not because of sin in his life. His hair was cut, the terms of the covenant were violated, thus God’s hands were tied because of the covenant. Whose strength did we think it was anyway?
The covenant God made in Samson foreshadowed the New Covenant in that Samson was born into it (Judges 13:5) and we must be ‘born again’ (John 3:3), but it also typified the Old Covenant (the Law) in that it was weak through the flesh (Rom. 8:3). Look at Judges 16:22…’But the hair on his head began to grow again…’ RSV. Notice in the verses immediately before or after, that several events take place within the text of a single verse. But, in verse 22 only one event is recorded. Beloved, I’m telling you that as soon as Samson’s hair came back, God was in full effect, ready to move on Samson’s behalf… because the terms of the covenant had been re-established!
Beloved, I’ll close with this…
Psst… we’re under a better covenant, … with better promises. (Heb. 8:6)
Beloved, God has done something for us in this New Covenant that he could not do for us with the Old Covenant. He made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us so that we might become right with God in him and through him (2Cor. 5:21). The beauty of our new agreement with God is that once we are in agreement with him (born again), it’s permanent, it’s everlasting, it’s eternal.
When I was little, my dad used to say to me ‘Wayne! Boy you’ll tear up an Iron Mule!!’ This referred to my ability to tear up or destroy almost anything I touched. Beloved, You can’t tear this up. No matter what you do (or don’t do), once you’ve been born again… You’re in for life. Praise God!!!
Beloved, rest in this… that you have a sure and steadfast anchor (Heb. 6:19), and that the Covenant you have with God is unbreakable (immutable) (Heb. 6:18).

Shalom,
Bro. Wayne O. Bigham

Sunday School Lesson: Lesson for Feb. 21, 2010: Witnessed by Disciples (Matthew 17:1-13)

Wayne’s two cents worth..



Wow!



Have you ever had this feeling when you walked through the Church doors on Sunday morning that you felt GOD’s presence? Do you have a place? You know.. a place? A secret closet? Inside your car alone? Maybe… the bathroom? A place.. where you meet GOD. All alone.. c’mon … a place! A place where it’s just you and Jesus. The reason I ask is because the example that I’ve taken from saints that have gone before me was that they had a place. They understood how important alone time with GOD was. I’m not talking about the saints of the bible or the saints of the early church. I’m talking about Mother Sneed (My Grandmother), Sister Mayes (her neighbor), Momma Lena (My other Grandmother), Rev. Moore (the Preacher that helped me get delivered (not saved, delivered), my uncle Milton and a good many others from my younger years. They took their example from the Master, Jesus.

Jesus made it a habit of going to a mountain to pray. This time, He took Peter, James and John (Cephas, Jacob and JochananJ) with him. Was this heavenly interlude a common occurrence with Jesus? It’s possible. The Bible says that angels ministered to him after the temptation in the desert (Matt. 4:11). They ministered to him again in Gethsemane (John 22:42, 43). After one mountaintop experience, He literally walked on water and calmed a storm (Matt. 14:23-33). Another gospel tells us that Moses and Elijah ministered to Jesus at this meeting about His pending crucifixion (Luke 9:31). So it’s conceivable that every time Jesus made time for prayer alone Heaven and Earth intersected. Wow!

Scientists say that there are as many a thirteen to fifteen different dimensions, but that we can only perceive four of them: length, width, height and time. And we can only experience time in one direction. I like to think that Heaven is right here all the time, just in a different dimension. That’s why Jesus would often say to people ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand’. I think he literally meant ‘right at your fingertips’. Close enough to touch. In essence… that Heaven / Earth intersection is always imminent. In fact the Bible tells us that the veil that separated us from GOD has been torn from top to bottom and that we can boldly come before the Throne of Grace. One of my favorite passages in scripture is Hebrews 12:18-24. It tells me that I have come to the Heavenly, invisible, Mt. Zion and that I currently am in the presence of the spirits of just men made perfect, all of the hosts of Heaven and Jesus, the Mediator of this New Covenant…

Let me stop here.. I have a lot more to say. Especially about this lesson, but I’ve said enough already. The old folks used to say something like ‘Prayer is the key and Faith is the Door’. Remember that? Be Blessed Beloved. May you enjoy some quiet time with GOD this week.



.wb