02-12-06

(James 2:20)  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

1.     faith = Gk: persuasion, i.e. credence; mor. conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), espec. reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstr. constancy in such profession; by extens. the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself:--assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

2.     Christian faith is belief in the true doctrines of God vs. belief in false doctrines of men that are a perversion of the true doctrines of God.

3.     works = Gk: (to work); toil (as an effort or occupation); by impl. an act:--deed, doing, labour, work.

4.     Christian works are sacrificial God-serving deeds vs. self-serving deeds that are a pervision of God-serving deeds.

5.     (Gen 1:4,5)  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light [illumination (in every sense, including lightning, happiness, etc.):--bright, clear, + day, light (-ning), morning, sun] Day [to be hot; a day (as the warm hours): + (for) ever (-lasting, -more), X full, life], and the darkness [the dark; hence (lit.) darkness; fig. misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness:--dark (-ness), night] he called Night [a twist (away of the light), i.e. night; fig. adversity]. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

6.     perverse = Dict: 1. willfully determined or disposed to go counter to what is expected or desired; contrary. 2. persistent or obstinate in what is wrong. 3. turned away from what is good, right, or proper; wicked, turned the wrong way.

7.     Sodom (scorched; burnt) = perverted doctrine; Gomorrah (bondage, bind sheaves, make merchandise of) = perverted works

SAMSON PORTRAYS THE DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST

(Judg 16:21,22)  But the [uncircumcised unsaved] Philistines took him, and put out his eyes [separation from the Light: DEATH], and brought him down to Gaza [fortress; a type of Hell (where the harlot lived)], and bound him with fetters of brass [the judgmental chains of sins binding us to this cursed world]; and he did grind in the prison house [this is where you pay for your sins: BURIAL]. Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven [RESURRECTION].

IN THE BELLY OF HELL

(Judg 16:23,24)  Then the lords of the [uncircumcised unsaved] Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice [in Gaza] unto Dagon their god [the fish-god], and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson [sunlight] our enemy into our hand. And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.

1.     (Mat 12:39,40)  But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

2.     (Jonah 1:17)  Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 2:1)  Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, (Jonah 2:2)  And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

VICTORY IN RESURRECTION

(Judg 16:25-27)  And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars. And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.

1.     sport = Heb: to laugh (in pleasure or detraction); by impl. to play:--deride, have in derision, laugh, make merry, mock (-er), play, rejoice, (laugh to) scorn, be in (make) sport.

(Judg 16:28-31)  And Samson called unto the LORD [“Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly” Jonah 2:1], and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle [the center] pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

THE TWO MIDDLE PILLARS UPON WHICH THE HOUSE OF THE PHILISTINES STOOD

Commentary: Acknowledging that things physical are a type and shadow of things spiritual, what did the two middle pillars of the great house of the uncircumcised unsaved Philistines symbolize, “the pillars whereupon the house standeth” (v. 26), “the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up” (v. 29)? These two pillars were the primary support or foundation of the house of the Philistines. The Companion Bible: “Recent excavations at Gaza have laid bare two smooth stone bases close together in the center, on (not in) which these two pillars stood. On these [two pillars: Sodom and Gomorrah: perverted doctrines and perverted works] the main beams rested, and by which the whole house was sustained. Samson had only to pull these pillars out of the perpendicular, to effect his object [ive].”

THE TWO PILLARS OF THE HOUSE OF GOD (TEMPLE OF SOLOMON)

(1 Ki 7:13-22)  And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work. For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece [36 feet]: and a line [string; by impl. a measuring tape] of twelve cubits [24 feet] did compass [surround] either of them about. And he made two chapiters [the capital of a column /// crown] of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits [10 feet], and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits [10 feet]: And nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter. And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the other chapiter. And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits. And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter. And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz. And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.

1.     Jachin = Heb: he will establish

2.     Boaz = Heb: of uncertain meaning

3.     However, throughout the book of Ruth, Boaz was a wonderful type and shadow of Jesus. Hebrew reads from right to left.

JESUS CHRIST

(Rev 1:12-16)  And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks [the church]; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars [angels]: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword [the Word of God: Heb 4:12; Eph 6:17]: and his countenance [appearance] was as the sun shineth in his strength.

Amen