Judges 13:1-25 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD… I. THE UNKNOWN VISITOR. Manoah's wife was just the woman to be visited by an angel — bold, energetic, large-hearted, believing. God's gifts are regulated in their extent by our capacity for receiving them. We should have diviner visitations if we were fitted for them, or could appreciate them. II. THE FEARFUL INFERENCE. We never get into the presence of the supernatural, but we are ready to say, "Let not God speak with us, or we die." Whence comes this universal dread of God? I have seen a cross with the image of the dead Christ; the cross in the midst of nature's fairest scenes, telling of sin, of suffering, of death. So there is always with us, in the midst of life's engagements and joys, the shadow or the memory of some sin or sorrow. When God comes to a man, and separates him from other men the man feels, and confesses the sinfulness of his sin, and at first thinks he shall surely die. When God comes to us in His dispensations, when by a touch He causes our flesh to wither, when He removes friends, or strips us of property, we are filled with fear. It is only the sight of God in Christ "reconciling the world unto Himself," the revelation of God in sacrifice, that can calm our minds and quiet our fears. III. THE CONCLUSIVE ARGUMENT. It is the woman's: with her finer perceptions and keener senses, she sees the truth as by intuition — she does not arrive at the conclusion by the processes of an argument, she is guided by her emotional nature. There are some minds that possess the gift of seeing into the meaning of things, and instantly arriving at definite conclusions. We do not know how to construct an argument in reference to the Divine procedure; we are not sufficiently impressed by the past to infer the future; we need spiritual perceptions to see the real truth of spiritual things, and the intuitions of the heart may be left to help the judgment in its interpretations. If God has been at such pains to save us, then surely we shall not be left to perish. If there is a sacrifice for sin, then, sinners as we are, we may be saved through faith in Him "whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation." We are not left without Divine manifestations. Christ has come, and has gone up again to heaven. Are we left without any manifestations of God? There are spiritual revelations for spiritual men. God does come to true and loving hearts. Love will always come to commune with love. (H. J. Bevis.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. |
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