In the case of Samson we see how everything betokens God’s hand working in sovereignty. He chooses the already dishonored tribe of Dan; first among Israel which lapsed into idolatry (Judg. 18). He can do as it pleases Him. Unasked, the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife and announces the birth—to her who had been hitherto barren—of this child. The details of the chapter are very lovely, in many ways, and especially bright in the fresh deductions of faith, of the wife of Manoah. I would but notice in passing, three strong features which present themselves to us here.
First, we have the Nazarite—the separated one, to the Lord.
And lastly, “These things” showed to Manoah and his wife.
Now here I would refer to the NT for a moment, with respect to the Nazariteship of Christ. In the earlier Gospels the Lord is seen in the power of the Kingdom—eating and drinking with the children thereof, if they would hear. In the Gospel of St. John this is all changed. He is an alien to His mother and her children; a lonely Man, from the very beginning of that Gospel; and “His own,” are set aside {John 1:11,1211He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:11‑12)}. He is a Nazarite all the way through: gathering and leading a heavenly company of Nazarited ones to the Father’s House on high. In John 17, where the acme of this is seen, we find in broad lines, these three things of Judg. 13 come out afresh in all their intensity and reality. His people are separate: “They are not of the world, even as He is not of the world.” He says to the Father, “And now come I to thee”: He ascends on high, in the value of the Burnt-offering and the Meat-offering, in which they were accepted before the Lord. And “These things speak I in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”
The Church of God was a Nazarited one. Instead of retaining this place, she “ate and drank with the drunken.” But Christ was ever so {spiritually, not literally}; and when the Church has fallen as a whole, the only resource is individual Nazariteship—special devotedness to the Lord. The Church of God ever is united to Christ in glory; but to be owned in such a state, it requires that those who would be recognized must be separate to Him. There is no other way. They must be Nazarites; and they must keep the secret too of this, with the Lord. To be outwardly so, without inward separation; to pretend to Nazariteship externally, when not so before God, is terribly solemn. To have an outward character to maintain, while inwardly the conscience is not pure, is but to find, when the moment of testing comes, that we have lost our strength, and wist not that it was departed from us.
Samson’s history—all the details of which I do not enter upon—suffice it for my present object, to notice its broad features, is divided into two distinct parts; each ending with the sentence “and he judged Israel... twenty years” (see the end of Judg. 15 and that of 16).
The first division of his history is embraced in Judg. 13:1515And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. (Judges 13:15) of the book of Judges. In it we will notice how full of power is this Deliverer of his people. How complete is his victory over the Philistines. In all this portion we note too, that “The Spirit of the Lord” came upon him, in his mighty acts (Judg. 13:25;14:6,19;15:1425And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. (Judges 13:25)
6And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. (Judges 14:6)
19And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. (Judges 14:19)
14And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. (Judges 15:14)). And also we will notice that he is not accompanied by Israel in these acts. Nay, even the men of Judah come down to bind him and to deliver him into the Philistines’ hand!
How striking is all this to our souls; let the saints of God accept the path of Nazariteship in these days: it is true that God may be, and will be with them in power and blessing. That blessing may extend largely, and with deepest profit even to those too who have not separated themselves to the Lord; bringing deliverance also to them. But they are opposed to those who have taken this separate path. When the people of God are not separate to Him—they will not have those who seek His face, to act in faith and Nazariteship, because to do so is but to judge their own path as unsanctified to God. They would not refuse coalition, nor acts of outward power; but to separate from them and for their blessing too, only meets with their enmity and condemnation.
In the second division of his history all is changed! There is no trace there of the power of “The Spirit of the Lord.” Samson has lost the Nazarite place: the very common sense of man has departed from him, to his betrayal and defeat. He falls—never to rise again, into the hands of the Philistines. He is blinded by his foes; a proof to them at least, that Dagon is stronger than God! Have not God’s people done this? Have they not fallen into the hands of the uncircumcised? Have. they not lost their Nazariteship—being mixed up with the worldly? And thus accepting the evil, they witness, alas, without the words, that evil is greater than good, that the world under which they are captive is stronger than God: saying—that there is nothing perfect here, “We are delivered to these abominations.” They are blinded and captive—and, unable to break their bonds. Only fit for the world to make mock at, and rejoice that their Nazariteship is defiled and destroyed. How well may the Scriptures say to such, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from among the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee (Eph. 5:1414Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. (Ephesians 5:14))." But when the world—and “woe unto it”! has drawn away that which God had separated to Himself, by its allurements, it only brings upon itself the dire judgments of God, and its total ruin: and this too at the moment of its greatest triumph. When bind Samson is called to make sport before the Philistine Lord's at Gaza, and when he leaned upon the pillars of the house on which they stood, filled with these thousands of the foe, God heard his cry. And when he bowed himself with all his might -the house fell upon himself and on all that were therein; “So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life”: but he falls himself in their destruction.
Thus it will be with the world when God removes the Church from this scene, as when Samson himself was removed; more of her foes will be destroyed in her death, than she had done in her life; for her removal will be the sign for the crushing judgments of God on the professing Church, which alas is but the world!
Now analogous to these two sections of Samson’s history: the one, of Nazariteship in power and victory: the other, of Nazariteship lost, and of blindness and defeat: we find these two features plainly, in the two last messages to the Seven Churches in Asia, in the Revelation of Jesus Christ by John: namely, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
I do not enter upon the interpretation of the Seven Messages, which is familiar to many amongst the Lord’s people in these days. But only notice that these messages are divided into two great parts. Those two parts unfold the universal principle of God’s judicial dealings with man; with Israel; and with the Church, as a responsible body set up on the earth. He looks back at the primal order, or state, in which anything was first set up, and from which it had fallen. He gives space to recover this state if such may be. But failing this He looks forward—and revealing Himself in judicial power and glory, presents this as the measure and standard. As if to say, “Can you meet and answer me?” The state in which that which the subject of judgment was set up by His hand in perfection, is the one standard of judgment: and then the nature of God Himself being the other.
The first four messages to the Churches are founded on the former standard. He charges the Church that she had left her first love she had fallen from that state in which she had been established. Then comes the exhortation—“Repent, and do thy first works, or I will remove thy candlestick out of her place.” No response to this being made; we go further and hear the solemn words, “I gave her space to repent and she repented not”: therefore judgment must supervene.
The standard of judgment then changes. The Lord Himself was coming in. Can she meet the burning beams of His glory? Can she stand when He appears? Nay, all was now over, and the only thing that faith could do was this, “hold fast until I come.” This is the ground in the last three.
Then all is changed. The messages are now founded on this—that recovery can never be. Judgment must clear the scene, ere the glory appear, when Christ comes.
I would here remark what is of great importance to note well. That there is no “Church ground” (to speak in a Pauline aspect), in these messages. John is always individual, and never corporate in the divine teaching through him. They present moral states, or great moral features reviewed by the Lord; with His varied exhortations and ways of dealing with such; and the rewards to the faithful “who have an ear to hear.”
I do not think that such an expression as “Philadelphian ground” is therefore a true thought. Rather the reverse. It gives the impression at once of a corporate thing; and loses therefore the great value, in its true and moral aspect, as a moral state expressed by, and suited to the Lord.
There may be what we may term a ‘Philadelphian state’ seen, individually in souls, in the dark ages; or even now in the professing Church. Souls that are true; and walking in devotedness of heart—wherever found; and when walking up to the light and every gleam of it possessed, are truly “Philadelphian.” Knowledge is not Philadelphian in any wise; unless knowledge is found producing that truly blessed moral state, of which Christ can approve.
Are there none, my brethren, who would perhaps assume “Philadelphian ground,” who are anything but Philadelphian? Are there none, on the other hand, who know but little indeed of the light and truth which has been shed about our path in these days, and yet who walk unseen, with every gleam of light they possess shining out in devoted hearts and ways? At the same time they are mixed up with what others, with greater light, know is not the truth?
I do not say that such would continue to be so, did they refuse fresh gleams of light, shed upon their path. Nay; this would at once deprive them of the character of Philadelphia. They would be Laodicea in a moment then.
Philadelphia is indeed the Nazarite path: that moral Nazariteship which meets with the approval of Christ. All is victory with such a state. Yet it is a path in which the secret must be kept, between Christ and the soul. He knows and He alone: “I know thy works”—this must suffice the true heart. Such may be asked, “Tell me wherein thy great strength lieth!” but it is a secret not to be betrayed. This answers to the first part of Samson’s history.
But Laodicea follows. Alas, she is blind, as Samson, now. Her Nazariteship is lost. She still thinks herself “rich, and increased with goods, having need of nothing”; yet her strength is gone; she is blind and naked. She is counseled to anoint her eyes with eyesalve, that she may see. She is lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, but nauseous to Christ: He will spue such a state of things out of His mouth.
My brethren, there are lessons here for our souls! We may have to begin de novo; the days of our former separation may have been lost. But we can begin again! We have a God of mercy to deal with, who has unfolded what is well-pleasing to Him. The moment is coming when the Church of God will be removed, in her last stage here; then the judgment of the Philistines will take place. Then the “sound of a going” will be heard “in the tops of the mulberry trees,” once more; and the Lord will go forth to battle with His foes, and “The saints will be joyful in glory”: “The high praises of God will be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hands!”
Let Philadelphia then remember that He has said, “Hold fast till I come,” and, “Let no man take thy crown.” The day is coming when Christ the heavenly Nazarite, will say, “Eat, my friends, drink, my beloved.” When we shall know the meaning of the words, “Then shall the Nazarite drink wine” (Num. 6). The blessing of Joseph which ran thus, will then be Christ’s: "... The God of thy father who shall help thee; and by the Almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under,...the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be upon the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was Nazarited [see Hebrew] from his brethren!" The Crown is shorn (as it were) of the only True Nazarite, when the days of His separation shall be at an end! (Cf. Gen. 49:25, 2625Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: 26The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. (Genesis 49:25‑26); Deut. 33:13-1713And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, 14And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, 15And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, 16And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. 17His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh. (Deuteronomy 33:13‑17)).
The days of the Kingdom will then have come, and those who have stood fast, and walked as Nazarites here, will then be owned. Those who separated themselves to David of old, in his days of rejection, gathering to him in the Cave of Adullam, and in the days of the Kingdom, they received their reward. But the brightest gems of his glory were those specially named, who had met these special enemies—“the uncircumcised.” If we consult 2 Sam. 23, when the Sweet Psalmist of Israel sung his lovely “Last words,” it was of those who had conquered the Philistines its substance most expressed.