A Very Awesome Visitor

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 50:1-6
• Hymn — All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night (#158)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 8 (Questions 24–25)
• Hymn of the Month — O God Beyond All Praising (#241)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Judges 13
• Sermon
• Hymn — Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me (#400)
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

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Sermon Title: A Very Awesome Visitor

Scripture: Judges 13

I. We Strain to Hear Rightly the Word (vv. 2–7)

A. The barren wife of Manoah receives a word of promise from the angel of the Lord

1. She is told she will conceive and bear a son — Judges 13:3
2. The child will be a Nazirite from the womb and will begin to save Israel from the Philistines — Judges 13:5
3. Her barrenness echoes a recurring biblical theme: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, and Elizabeth — all barren women through whom God works a greater purpose

B. The woman relays the word to her husband but omits the boy's destiny — Judges 13:6-7

1. She leaves out the proclamation that the son will begin to save Israel
2. Her longing for a child and her circumstances shaped what she heard and passed on
3. Her motherly heart may have added a detail about his death not given by the angel

C. Application: We are prone to selective hearing of the word

1. Our circumstances — joys, sorrows, felt needs — govern how we receive the word
2. We hear what we want to hear and miss the larger good news
3. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 — Scripture is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness; we must not receive only the parts we find comfortable

II. We Stress and Do Not Rest upon the Word (vv. 8–16)

A. Manoah, whose name means rest, is restless — he feels left behind and out of control

1. He prays for the visitor to return and give more details — Judges 13:8
2. God hears and answers his prayer — the angel returns, though again to the woman first — Judges 13:9
3. God delights to hear and answer his people: Matthew 7:7-11 — ask, seek, knock

B. Manoah presses for more details about the child's manner of life and mission — Judges 13:12

1. The angel's response simply reaffirms the original word given to the woman — Judges 13:13-14
2. Like Peter at the Transfiguration, Manoah misreads the situation and tries to detain the visitor
3. The visitor's reply redirects him: stop seeking control and offer worship to God — Judges 13:15-16

C. Application: We too seek more than what God has given in his word

1. We want specific guidance spelled out for every decision and circumstance
2. God's sufficient word calls us to obey what he has already revealed and to worship
3. The answer to our restlessness is rest and worship — glorify God and do what he has told you

III. We Struggle to See and Must Be Shown the Word (vv. 17–25)

A. The visitor's identity is gradually revealed as the pre-incarnate Son of God

1. His name is wonderful — beyond comprehension — Judges 13:18; cf. Psalm 139:6 and Isaiah 9:6
2. Manoah offers the sacrifice to the Lord — the one who calls for the offering receives it — Judges 13:19
3. The angel ascends in the flame of the altar — God repeatedly appears in fire throughout Scripture (the pillar of fire, the burning bush, the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego)

B. Manoah and his wife finally see rightly and fall on their faces in worship — Judges 13:20

1. Their job throughout was to attend closely — to listen and watch
2. When they do, the only fitting response is prostrate worship
3. Manoah declares: we have seen God — Judges 13:22

C. The salvation promised through Samson is a shadow of the greater salvation in Christ

1. Samson, born of a barren woman, filled with the Spirit, begins to save Israel — an incomplete portrait
2. Christ is also born of a woman, filled with the Spirit, and accomplishes full and final salvation
3. Israel's real enemy was not only the Philistines — our real enemy is bondage to sin and death
4. Christ, whose name is Wonderful, has freed us from that bondage — believe on him and rest in him