WHEN we think of Samson we remember him as the strongest man that ever lived. He did possess enormous physical strength, but the secret of his power was his separation unto the Lord who gave him that strength. As long as he used it for the Lord, the Lord was with him.
In the days when Samson lived God’s people Israel were in bondage to their enemies, the Philistines, who came up in great numbers and overran the land. This was hateful to Samson, and having found a new jaw bone of an ass, with it he slew a thousand of the enemy single-handed.
After that we read Samson went down to Gaza, a city possessed by the Philistines. When they heard that he had come there they surrounded the city and laid in wait for him all night long, intending to kill him in the morning. But at midnight Samson arose “and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a hill that is before Hebron.” What amazing strength he had!
But Samson is but a picture of One who is far stronger than he the Lord Jesus Christ. When the blessed Saviour lay in the sleep of death, Satan, His great enemy, thought he had Him forever in his power. But the victorious Lord arose from the dead; He broke the gates of death, that terrible fortress of the enemy, and came forth the mighty Conqueror.
Death could not keep its prey,
He tore the bars away.
That which once held captive He has led into captivity, He has ascended on high, and one day He will display to wondering worlds all those who are the trophies of His victory.
Up from the grave He arose
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes;
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever with His saints to reign.
Death, the great citadel of Satan, no longer has doors to keep Christ’s own in prison, for death itself has become but a passage to life and glory. Just as death could not keep Christ there so there is no power now to keep there those that believe in Jesus.
Hebron, the hill to which Samson bore the gates in triumph, is the place of death. So Christ, the risen One, has passed through death, and now all those who are His own can sing,
Death and judgment are behind us,
Grace and glory are before.
ML-03/25/1973