W. Robert Godfrey

And that got me thinking too, yeah, what does Samson as a mirror show us about ourselves?

What kind of warnings from the Word of God come to us as we look at Samson as a mirror of ourselves?

And so we're going to sort of take that phrase of Milton, that Samson is a mirror, and run with it.

Another way of looking at Samson is Samson is something of a riddle.

Why is it at the end of the day he can be held up as an example of faith?

John Updike, a great American novelist, referred to Samson as one of those enigmatic brutes of the Old Testament.

And he is an enigma in some ways.

He's a mystery.

What are we to make of him?

And unless we can at least a little bit solve the riddle, and that's an appropriate way of talking about Samson because he loved riddles, unless we can gain some insight into the enigma, into the hidden message, the secret of Samson, we won't know the right application.

of what God is really saying to us in this story.

So we're going to try to look at this story very carefully, very considerately, and we're going to, I hope, find the right warnings for us about spiritual failures to avoid.

We're certainly going to see how this story points us to Christ.

One of the things I think the Old Testament over and over and over again says to the people of God is, you need a prophet.

but you need a perfect prophet.

You need a priest, but you need a perfect priest.

You need a king, but you need a perfect king.

And a lot of the Old Testament is all about prophets who were pretty good, and some kings who were pretty good, and some priests who were pretty good, but none of them were perfect.

But all of them pointed to that perfect prophet, priest, and king who was to come.

And the book of Judges says you need a judge, but you really need a perfect judge.