Over the last few weeks in our series of messages on the ‘Great Events in the History of Redemption,’ we have reacquainted ourselves with the (in)famous man named Samson. And we have studied him in a much different light than many of us have considered him before. We have certainly witnessed the good, the bad, and the ugly of Samson’s life as it has been splashed unfiltered before our eyes in the Old Testament book of Judges.

Samson, the strongest man on earth, was Israel’s final judge. But, spiritually speaking—and even militarily and politically—he was the very worst and weakest judge of all! The spiritual life of Israel and that of Samson tragically paralleled one another on downward trajectories, ever descending into the abyss of wholesale rebellion against the Lord God. Rather than saving Israel from the oppressive hand of the Philistines, which was Samson’s original mission, he pursued his own gratification. In direct disobedience to the commands of the Lord God, He sought immoral relationships with non-Israelite women, driven by an insatiable lust that would sacrifice literally everything for its carnal gratification. Like the people of the nation, He always did what he considered right in his own eyes, caring nothing for the commandments of Yahweh or the spiritual needs of those whom he was called to represent and deliver.

Well, this coming Lord’s Day morning we are going to trace the developments of Samson’s life as it comes to its spectacular and rather ignoble end. And, of course, this final act in his life is one of the more well-known episodes from Old Testament history. You will find it recorded in Judges 16:23-31. As we look carefully at this passage, we will ask the Lord to teach us the vital spiritual lessons that Samson’s tragic life embodied.