(Read Judges 14:1-18; John 6:27-51.)
YOU have a picture in the Old Testament, and the answer to it in the New. Samson’s riddle is very instructive, and I do not think there is much difficulty in finding out its meaning. The Philistines had to wait seven days before they discovered its meaning; you ought not to wait seven minutes.
You may reply, I never understood Samson’s riddle. Why not, are you not saved yet? I could not say that. If you had understood the riddle, you would have found out that there was meat and would have eaten it, and that there was sweetness and would have tasted it, for, now as then, “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness” (vs. 14).
The story is very simple. Samson was on his way to find his bride, and is a figure of Christ when He was seeking His bride. On his way, what meets him? Death. The Lord Jesus came down into this world to bring life to the dead, and to bring eternal life, as the gift of God, to man. What met Him on the road? The lion crossed His path; death faced Him. Samson only risked his life; Jesus gave up His life. Do you believe it? You say, Of course, I have always believed it. Are you saved? Not yet. Then you do not believe it, except with your head.
All the difficulties that crop up in men’s minds as to sin, death, judgment, redemption, and salvation, are answered in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom Samson typifies. Samson goes down to seek his bride, the lion breaks out upon him, and “he rent him, as he would have rent a kid.” What was meant for death for Samson became death for the lion. After a little while Samson, returning to take his bride, “turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion” (vs. 8). He ate and was refreshed, and gave to his father and mother. The fruit of his victory was not for himself alone, it was for others also.
Why did the Lord Jesus Christ come into this world? For others. Who are the others? You say, I believe Christ died for sinners. Can you say Christ died for me? Someone might have said to Samson’s father and mother, “You seem to enjoy that honey; how did you get it?” Samson gave it to us. If you have the knowledge of Christ, and what He has done, you will eat the meat, and understand the riddle— “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.”
When the Philistines understood it they said, “What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?” (vs. 18). I will tell you something stronger than a lion—death. You do not like death. My greatest friend is death. What have I got out of death? Life, eternal life, everlasting joy, divine righteousness, and peace with God.
How did I get these blessings? Christ gave then to me. Just as Samson slew the lion, took out the honey, ate, and was refreshed by it, so Scripture says, “Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). The Lord has joy in what He has accomplished. He wrought in death for God’s glory and man’s blessing, and both are secured.
What is stronger than a lion? Death. What is sweeter than honey? The love of Christ. Do you know that love? If not, I want you to look at this riddle for a little. There is no difficulty. You say a riddle is a puzzling thing. Not always; Samson’s conveys a wonderful truth, presented in a way that makes you think—if only you could be got to think. The reason you have never got into the light of the gospel yet is because Satan has blinded your eyes as to the simplicity of the gospel. He has hindered you from seeing that “out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.”
Do you know a greater eater than death? Have you not seen it stealthily creeping and putting its cold, clammy hand on the one you love best? Sometimes it comes suddenly and swiftly, without a moment’s warning. You may say, Did not you say just now that death was your friend? Yes, indeed, my friend. But you have not died. No, and I do not know that I shall; I know I need not. I do not say that I shall not. Why? Does not the sentence of death lie upon man? Yes, but I know a Man upon whom the sentence of death did not lie, in whom there was no seed of death, on whom death had no claim, and that death could not put his finger on as a matter of necessity; His name is Jesus, and He died for me. And not for you? Ponder this query. That eater—death—may take you away today, and if it took you away, without the knowledge of Christ, what an awful eternity will be yours. Think of it.
But listen again to Samson: — “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.” I have been feeding for more than five and forty years on the meat that came forth out of the eater, i.e., the wonderful provision God has made for my soul in all the consequences of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know well if death touched you this night—since you are a sinner, and “the wages of sin is death”— that after death comes the judgment. Yes, you say, but God is merciful. Not to sinners that die in their sins. Is there no mercy for such? None, that I read of in Scripture.
But is not God love? Yes, His name is love, and His actions have been like Himself; He has demonstrated His love in the gift of His Son, who has gone into death to annul it by putting away sin and then rising out of it, and all for you and me if we believe in Him. This great eater—death—could claim you and me, but it could not claim Christ, for He was sinless. He died, but it could not claim Him or hold Him. He said, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30). He was the Holy One of God.
You know what kind of a Man He was, a real Man, just like you or me, sin excepted; and the One that came down to give life to the world. He knew no sin, did no sin, and there was no sin in Him. As He passed along His pathway here, those sent to take Him had to say, “Never man spake like this man”; and when taken before Pilate, he thrice said, “I find no fault in him.” Pilate was right. Why then did he not trust Him, why did he not stand by Him, identify himself with Him, and espouse His cause? He feared the world. Coward that he was, he might, to save appearances, wash his hands in water, but his soul is imbrued in the blood of the murdered Son of God.
Do not spend eternity with Pilate in hell. “I find no fault in him,” he said, and then took his pen and wrote, “Let him die.” He got his opportunity of siding with Jesus, and you have got yours. Pilate knew Him to be a sinless Man, but condemned Him, and the Roman soldiers took Him away and crucified Him. At that moment a poor dying sinner, in the very jaws of death, and about to pass into eternity, had his eyes opened to see the glory of Jesus, and he turns to his neighbor and says, “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?” (Luke 23:40). We are dying, and deserve to; we are getting the fate we have earned, the punishment that is due to us, but here is a Man who is not getting what He ought to get; “This man hath done nothing amiss.”
He reversed the judgment of the world at that moment. “Let him die,” said the scribes, the people, and Pilate. The poor dying thief said, You are all wrong, He hath done nothing amiss, and He ought not to die; but if He die He is going to rise again, and get His kingdom yet, and I should like to be a subject in His kingdom. That is the meaning of his petition— “Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42). That man took his stand for Christ, why do not you? Truly, “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness,” as Jesus saved that dear man that day. That poor dying sinner tasted the sweetness as he heard Him say, “This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Was not that meat for his hungry soul?
Jesus came here to die, and He died in voluntary grace for man, but we must not forget that in hatred man murdered Him. The world today is stained with the blood of the Son of God, whom it murdered, and if you are of the world you will have its judgment. Today there is a breach between God and the world because of the rejection of His Son. The man that takes Christ’s side now gets all the consequences and benefits of His atoning death; but the man on the world’s side must take the world’s woe and the world’s judgment in the day when the Lord comes back; and He is coming quickly.
“Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness,” to that dying thief, as he heard Jesus say, “Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” Well might that pardoned sinner say, I have heard the sweetest words that ever fell on mortal ear, today I shall be with Him in Paradise.
Friend, you must eat that meat or starve forever in hell. You must taste that sweetness or languish for eternity in the lake of fire. I can press it on you, but I cannot make you take it, but you will repent through eternity if you do not understand this riddle.
Again would I ask, What is sweeter than honey? The love of Christ, and in a certain sense there is something stronger than death, and that is love, the love of that blessed Saviour, which led Him voluntarily to go into death that He might take me out of it.
W. T. P. W.
(To be continued.)