“So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders… And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife… fell on their faces to the ground… Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, ‘We shall surely die, for we have seen God.’ But his wife said to him, ‘If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.’ ” (v19-23 abr)
The angel of the Lord (ie. the preincarnate Jesus) comes to Manoah and his barren wife (she was unable to conceive) to foretell the birth of their son – Samson. They are told that he is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from birth. The Nazirite vow (Num 6:1-21) was to be taken very seriously – so seriously not even the pregnant mother was not to eat or drink anything that the Nazirite could not.
Here’s my favorite part – Manoah, realizing he has seen God (preincarnate Jesus) thinks they will die. That’s the same reaction most people had when encountering the angel of the Lord (including a similar encounter with Gideon in Judges 6:11-27). How great and awesome it must be to see God face to face, to think that you are going to die from the encounter… food for thought.
Have you, or someone you know, ever had a physical near-death experience? I know a couple of people. I’ve heard first-hand testimonies of how God has delivered someone out of their dire circumstance, and it was a life-altering event. Not only was their physical life spared, but it was a turning point in their faith and a strong foundation for their trust and obedience to God. This encounter was similarly life-changing for Manoah and his wife.
Now, I suggest that when we make a decision to follow Jesus we have a similar near-death experience. We were destined for an eternal separation from God (ie. hell). God snatches us back from that horrid fate, by the salvation only available through Jesus. We nearly died, but God rescued us, redeeming us from that ultimate death and destruction, saving our eternal lives.
Near-death (or salvation) experiences usually have three possible outcomes – we can be radically changed for the glory of God, or we can act as if nothing happened (no real change), or in rare cases people can become more distant from God (and usually other people as well). Personally, I was in the middle camp until about ten years ago – though I had accepted Jesus as my savior at a young age, I did not live a changed life. Once I finally realized the magnitude of how much I was forgiven (the impact of my “near-death” experience), I decided to live a changed life.
My challenge for today is to live a changed life. Let’s first embrace the fact we nearly died the worst kind of death, and praise God out of thankfulness and joy for the salvation Jesus brought. Then, like Manoah and his (oddly unnamed) wife, let’s live differently, with lives dedicated to honoring God and His wishes. It’s not enough to simply accept Jesus into our hearts, we need to make Him Lord of our lives, and actually physically live it out. If we don’t take the step of living out our obedience in our daily lives, we may fall into the trap James mentions when he says faith without works is dead (see Jas 2:14-26).
Father God, our great and mighty Lord, Your name is higher than any other name. We praise You for the works of Your hands, and Your steadfast love that endures forever. Thank you Jesus for Your gift of salvation, and Your sacrifice. Thank you as well for showing the way in which we can live, fully obedient to our Lord God. Holy Spirit please guide our daily words and actions, bringing glory to the Father through our obedience to Him. May those around us see that we are Your children, recognizing that we are not of this world, we are of Your Kingdom in Heaven. In the name of our Most High King Jesus, amen.
~ Conqueror in Training