Christ Church

Levi (Troy)

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THE TEXT:

Malachi 2:4-9

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The Pickle God Puts Us In

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INTRODUCTION

Starting a project is one thing, and finishing it is another. For this reason, the wise preacher said that the end of a thing is better than its beginning (Ecclesiastes 7:8).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Haggai 1:1-15

At the decree of Cyrus, 50,000 exiles returned to Jerusalem in 539 B.C. They quickly got to work laying the foundation of the temple and the altar. But the work slowed as the people began to mind their own affairs. Darius I came to rule the Persian Empire. And in his second year, 520 B.C., some nineteen years after the exiles returned, God spoke to His people in Jerusalem by the prophet Haggai. The Lord spoke particularly to Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the high priest, noting that the people said the time had not come that the LORD’s house should be built (v. 2).

To this sentiment, the LORD asked if it was time for His people to live in paneled houses while the temple lay in waste (v. 4). He told them to consider their ways for they had sown plenty but reaped little. They ate and drank but were not full. They clothed themselves but remained cold. And they earned money only to have it fall through the hole in their wallets (v. 6). Again, He tells them to consider their ways (v. 7). If they would haul down the wood from the mountain and build the LORD’s house, then He would take pleasure in it and be glorified (v. 8). That would fix the problem they faced, which was God blowing away all of their profit to the wind (v. 9). Why would God do such a thing? Because they left His house in waste while they each ran off to see to their own house instead (v. 9). They had bitten the hand that feeds, and the result was no rain, no corn, no wine, no oil, no milk, no steak (v. 11).

The governor, priest, and all of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD and feared Him (v. 12). God replied by saying that He was with them (v. 13). Then, the LORD stirred them and twenty-three days after the LORD’s rebuke, you could hear the sound of construction on the temple mount in Jerusalem (v. 14).

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

This is an age-old story of unfinished business. The man started well, but something went awry. Ah, the lot of being temporal creatures. We must start, endure, and finish. The Galatians stumbled in the same way these returned exiles did—”Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” (Galatians 5:7).

In the case of the exiles, you have to remember what they had accomplished. They had come a long way out of Babylon. Then, of course, they had established the foundational thing, the temple foundation itself. And they had the most essential thing. The altar, from which the seraphim, like our Lord, cleanse the lips of men. These were not exactly prodigal sons rolling around with the pigs. They had given to the building campaign. But they had grown slack and distracted.

PROPHETIC MERCY

God interrupted them. And it is the kindness of the Lord to be so deep into our business. There they were, neglecting the Lord, painting the house, carrying on with their weekly routine, and up walks Haggai with all of his questions, “Hey, why do you work so hard only to lose your money?” The quicker you call Nathan’s feet blessed when he walks up to you to remind you about your Bathsheba, the better off you will be. The welcomed rebuke is distinctly Christian. The only people who can do it are those who have had their sins forgiven and know it.

WHY NO STEAK?

The LORD asks the question and answers it. After telling them they have toiled and reaped no fruit, He asks, “Why?” The answer is because His house lies waste (v. 9). Here is a central truth: This is God’s world and He brings the growth. More to the point is the word from Solomon, “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10).

Honor comes from the heart. The text does not say, “Slip the Lord a twenty and you will receive twenty-five in return.” You will get nowhere pulling the Lord’s lever like some divinity slot machine. The point is that you must honor Him top to bottom, lips and pocketbook, children and business, from Dan to Beersheba. When you do, the Lord sends the blessing rain. When you don’t, He turns off the faucet.

GOD’S METHOD OF OPERATION

Our passage displays a clear method for God’s operation. He delivered His Word of correction (v. 1-11). The people obeyed in fear (v. 12). The LORD assured them of His presence (v. 13). He stirred them to work (v. 14). His way is: Word, Obedient Fear, Presence for Blessing, Work. There are multiple ways to jumble things, but one major error is to look at joyful and flourishing saints and seek to emulate their good works apart from obedient fear. Do that and you will end up in just the situation in which the returned exiles found themselves. You will neglect the LORD, His kingdom, and His Christ for the sake of your own affairs. The reason those saints are so joyful and productive is that they hear the Word and obey in fear.

That fear is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the glorious one. Away from Him is darkness, obscurity, lack, the bottomless void. But, look to Him and it is transformation, from one degree of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18).

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Samson – The Final Judge

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“AGAIN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID EVIL”

(Judges 13:1)

This phrase begins the Samson cycle of the book of Judges. The phrase is so common in the book of Judges that it could be the title of the book. In particular, it is repeated at the beginning of every major section of the book of Judges and introduces a very standard four element cycle that we see throughout the book. 

  1. The people do evil in the sight of the Lord, primarily by serving pagan gods. 
  2. The Lord delivers them into the hands of an oppressor. 
  3. The people then cry out to God. 
  4. God responds to their cries by raising up a judge to deliver them. 

Chapter 13 is the last time that this cycle is begun. However, we are missing one thing. The people never cry out. 

Do you notice that there is no time in the story of Samson when he unites the army of Israel and leads them in a battle against the Philistines? Samson always fights alone. This is because Samson is called as the final judge to lead a people who no longer cry out against their oppressor. Consider 14:3-4. Samson was raised up to provoke a tension between Israel and the Philistines, a tension that was no longer there, a tension that should have been there. 

INTRODUCTION TO SAMSON

Samson is the twelfth and final judge in the book of Judges. He is born to Manoah and his wife, of the remnant of the tribe of Dan, and grows up in the valley of Sorek. His birth was foretold by the Angel of the Lord, who instructed his mother to raise him as a Nazirite. The angel also foretold that Samson would begin to deliver Israel from the oppression of the Philistines. 

The Samson cycle fills chapters 13-16. Chapters 17-21 backtrack and tell stories that happened chronologically earlier in the time of the Judges. So Samson, as the twelfth judge, really is the culmination of the ruling of the judges. The elements of the story of Samson are – 

  • The announcement of his birth by the Angel of the Lord to his mother and to his father Manoah, along with the special instructions to raise him as a Nazirite – ch. 13.
  • Samson taking a Philistine wife in Timnah, a Philistine village near his own hometown. The wedding night ends in betrayal and Samson leaving her – ch. 14
  • Samson attempting to return to his wife at Timnah only to discover that she has been given to another. This escalates the tensions between Samson and the Philistines – ch. 15.
  • Samson visits a harlot in Gaza. And then he finally succumbs to Delilah, is captured, blinded, and enslaved. But in the end, he regains his strength and strikes a great blow against the Philistines – ch. 16.

SAMSON’S GREAT STRENGTH

Of course, the most striking thing about Samson is his great strength. We see this first on his way to see his bride to be in Timnah – 14:5-6. At the approach of a lion, the Spirit rushes upon him and he is filled with great strength. This will be repeated in 14:19, 15:14, and finally we can assume it happened in answer to his prayer at 16:28-29. He is always fighting alone, against innumerable odds, and with no normal weapon. His strength is a supernatural strength from God. But the fact that his strength is a gift from God means that meant that his strength can be lost due to disobedience to God’s commands.

SAMSON’S WEAKNESS

The other striking thing about Samson is his great weakness. Samson is irresistibly drawn to false women. His first bride at Timnah, the Philistine girl that his parents tried to talk him out of marrying, betrayed the secret of his riddle to the Philistines. Then he visits a prostitute in Gaza, during which time he is also surrounded and almost captured by the Philistines. And then he gives himself to Delilah who is his final betrayal. We know that Samson’s dalliances with these women was from the Lord. God was using Samson’s weakness for women to provoke a conflict between Israel and the Philistines. But this does not excuse Samson’s sin.

Samson’s great strength makes his weakness so much more striking. He is known as the man who can free himself from any bondage. But the one entanglement that he can’t get himself free from is the nagging of a woman. Sexual immorality unmans a man and strips from him his ability to lead a woman. Samson’s sexual sin makes him the tail rather than the head.

SAMSON’S VICTORY

Samson’s final act, his toppling of the temple on himself and the Philistines, is often seen as a sad end to a failed hero. But I think we mistake what Samson actually achieved with his death. Remember the Angel of the Lord prophesied that Samson would begin the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines – 13:5. Samson is the final judge, chronologically the last episode of the book of Judges. Which means that 1 Samuel is the next thing to happen. And it is in 1 Samuel that we finally see the Israelites gathering to go to war against the Philistines. What Samson started, David finished. Samson is the John the Baptist to David’s Jesus (which makes Samson being a Nazirite kind of cool). 

Samson prepares us for the coming of the king. But he doesn’t just point towards David. I don’t think there is any single character in the Old Testament who is more Christological than Samson. 

  • His birth is announced by an Angel
  • He is a master of riddles
  • His company is prostitutes and Philistines 
  • The Spirit comes upon him 
  • He takes his enemies’ gates captive
  • He is betrayed for 30 changes of garments by his own bride and groomsmen
  • He is arrested and delivered bound by his Jewish brethren to the occupying enemy in an attempt to placate that enemy
  • He dies with his arms outstretched, being executed by that occupying enemy, being mocked and taunted by that enemy, who at that moment thought that they were ultimately triumphant, but were actually about to be utterly vanquished by the death of the man they thought they had conquered

All of this is to say, that Samson, flawed man that he was, gave to the Old Testament Jews a profound image of what the true Messiah would look like. And God delighted in the obedience of this faithful servant. Hebrews 11 says that Samson was one of those “of whom the world was not worthy” and that he “received a good testimony through faith.”

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