Samson, one of the judges of Israel, put forth this riddle to the Philistines: "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness" (Judges 14:1414And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle. (Judges 14:14)). Samson alone knew the meaning of this riddle.
One day as Samson was going along the mad near some vineyards in Timnath, a young lion came out and roared at him. Samson caught the lion and killed him—"rent him as he would have rent a kid." Some time later Samson passed by the same place and went to see the dead lion, and found a swarm of bees in the carcass. He also found some honeycomb, which he took. Samson went along eating of the honey, and when he came to his father and mother, he gave them some, but did not tell them where he got it.
The lion is a picture of Satan, the "roaring lion." He roars against the Christian, and when the Lord Jesus was here, he roared against Him. Satan thought he would get rid of the Lord by the means of the cross, but He rose triumphant over death and thus overcame Satan who had the power of death. Satan was defeated through that death, and out of Christ's victory has come "meat" and "sweetness.”
How sustaining and precious is the victory of Christ to the hearts of His people. What food (meat) for their souls! What "sweetness" to enjoy! This is a precious secret between our souls and the Lord; the unsaved do not know the meaning of our riddle. But when Samson was mixed with the world (the Philistines) in their feast, he lost his secret and his joy. The world was not benefitted by his betraying his secret, but went on its way making light of him and his secret.
Thus will it be with us if we mix up with the world; we will lose our secret—the source of our communion with God—and the world will only despise it and us. It has no heart or understanding, for the things of God, for it is only by the Spirit of God that these things can be understood. They do not have the Spirit of God and so cannot enter into "the deep things of God." May we keep ourselves unspotted from the world, and so enjoy the "meat" and "sweetness" that our Lord's victory has secured to us.
We too have to meet Satan—the devil—who is a constant and vigilant enemy, but when we meet him in communion with God, the conflict is soon over. He is a defeated foe since his encounters with Christ. We are to resist him by the Word of God, as Christ did in the wilderness, and he will flee from us (James 4:77Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7))
“Submit yourselves therefore to God
Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you.