A house divided cannot stand; it has to fall, at least the part that did the dividing. In the Garden of Eden when the couple decided to eat of the fruit and chose their independence, the trouble started and has been going on ever since, at least to those that still partake of that fruit. This act separated Adam from his Father by choosing his individuality in the stead of his dependence and communion with his Father; he longer walked with God as he had previously. This was the first act of being prodigal, in other words, chose to live for self instead of living in the whole of Life.
Now remember, that these stories are not just about those that chose to eat of the tree of knowledge, but us too that are choosing the same things. All, and at any time, can turn our backs on that tree and run to partake of the Tree of Life. We can as an individual make the decision to give up our individuality, eat the fruit from the Tree of Life and began again that walk with God.
Now there was a young man in the book of Luke, chapter fifteen that did the same thing that Adam and most all of us are doing. He lived on the land that provided all that was needed to have a wonderful life, with his older brother and father. He had the Whole of things, and in want of nothing. As the farm or ranch or whatever you want to call it, provided all the needs for all that lived on it. But he wanted his freedom to be separate from the Whole, wanting his own individual way in this world, so asked his father for his share of the inheritance so he could go his own way and make a life. “Father, give me the portion of goods that fall to me. So he divided to them his livelihood.”
But after he had left the land of plenty, and spent all that he possessed, far away from his roots, a famine came. Taking a job with a citizen, and working in the fields of distress, he was taken to the point of eating the food that the swine were eating. Not a good place to be, seeing he left his father’s house that supplied all that was needed, including a family. The strange land that the younger son had sought, gave him his independence, but was extremely limited in what it had to offer. All because he wanted to become distinct, free, and to operate on his own.
This is exactly what we have done by choosing the tree of knowledge, the life separate from our Father, to be on our own without the abundance of our inheritance, our home land. Our choice had brought us to accept that which is before us, the left overs and nothing more than surviving. We were entitled to the whole, but had to be content with what this foreign land offered, or so we thought.
For ‘no man gave to us’, we felt helpless. Therefore, the son came to himself, for no man gave a plugged nickel for what he was going through, because of their own lack. The world wasn’t designed to fill the spot, the emptiness that the inner man has always longed for. That, that is the fullness of Life, can only come from the whole, the place of his Fathers’ ranch, the Kingdom of God established on earth for those that seek that life. He came to himself, I guess because he had a lot of time to think, and no one was around to contaminate this hideous but special time. He saw, as we should also, that he was better off in his Father’s house than to be independent from it. The veil had lifted, and he changed his point-of-view, looked toward the infinite and began to run home. So the part that he had, looked dismal before the whole, so he ran to the bounty of the Father, where all that was lost, was not lost. And while still a long ways off, as we are, the Father saw and ran to meet him, to restore him to his rightful place.
Virtually, we are all prodigal, and in need of the Whole of the Father. We have all gone astray, and have been taught by the religious systems that that’s the way it is, but it is not. We all, as individuals can come to our self, change, (repent), our minds, and run back to the Tree of Life that all of us obtained from the beginning. This is called the ‘New man’, the man within that was before the foundations of the world, a new creation that we received through Christ to restore us back to our Father’s ranch.
The younger son that was lured by the world and what it pretended to offer was too much for his immaturity, as he had his sights set on living for himself. But after his long stay in the world of famine, which means we all hunger for that completeness with the Father, he came to himself and literally ran to the Love, Grace and Mercy of his Father, knowing he had screwed up. The part will never measure up to the whole, and it sure wasn’t designed too.
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So now let’s take a quick look at Sampson and his trip through life. When born, the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and he prospered through the years with the strength God had given him. In this case the strength was represented through his long hair that was never to be cut. Sampson married a woman, then lost her to the best man of his wedding, because of his neglect. He became mighty in the years to come, showing the strength that the Lord God had given him and judged Israel in the land of the Philistines for some twenty years. All this time the Philistines were conjuring and enticing, to find what and where his weakness could be.
He met a harlot in the land of Gaza, and his attention was then on her, but her attention was on finding out for the Philistines the source of his strength, for he was mighty and stronger than any man. To find the source of his strength was to find, his weakness and the way to break him down,
Before killing a thousand men with the jaw bone of an ass, the men of Judah came to him and said; “do you not know that the Philistines rule over us?
“Now Sampson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went into her… Afterwards it happened that he loved a woman, whose name was Delilah.” She was told to entice, seduce, and to find the strength with by what means that they may bind him helpless. She had pestered him that his soul was vexed, and he then told her all his heart. Of course, she played the things of his heart against him by telling the Philistines and then getting paid for it.
They shaved his hair, the origin of his strength to render him bound and helpless. Was put on display to preform, after his eyes were gouged out, but his hair began to grow back. And when their hearts were merry, they called for Sampson to be displayed between two pillars that supported the temple. Asking a lad to let him feel the pillars, and the temple full of men and women, about three thousand, Sampson called on the Lord for strength. He cried, “let me die with the Philistines… He pushed with all his might and the temple fell on all the lords and all the people in it.”
Now, let’s go back over it rather fast and see if we can glean something from it. Sampson was anointed of the Lord before he was conceived and waxed strong through the years, including the time that he judged Israel in the mist of the Philistines. His hair was the symbol of his strength, but the strength was solely that of the Lord’s. He got sidetracked by flaunting his might, and also for his involvement with the whores and the Philistines themselves. To me, it was as if he was showing off during these compromised years, and sort of went in the wrong direction, whoring around, so to speak. He lost his strength to the city, temple and the enticing harlots that lived in it, much less the people conspiring to rid him of his God ordained gift. Blinded and put on display to be mocked and to intrigue the crowd for their pleasure. While still blinded, Sampson received his inner sight to see the purpose that God appointed. He destroyed the meeting place of their religion and the people therein, he came to himself, was awaken to Gods’ ordination, and cried out with a believing heart, to destroy that which had been his nemesis. He came back to the God of all power and might. Let us take a sober look at this as it applies to the life of Jesus, Paul, and even today as we also are involved in a similar manner. Whether it is the money changers or the builders of the statues of the diana, the so-called goddess during Pauls’ travels, this temple still applies to this day and time, as people keep going back to the same-o things. It is a truth; there is nothing new under the sun, we have all gone astray, and until we quit looking through the natural eyes, we will never see. Sampson got it right, and so God will have it in our days also.
It took the complete weakness of Sampson, and it will be done today also, “that in our weakness, we shall be made strong.” Whether the temple be the exalted mind, the self-centeredness or the place down on the street corner with the steeple, God will eventually have His way.
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There is a saying out there in the world misquoted by these ‘things called churches’ that says; when the gospel has been preached through- out the world…, and has been preached by many, but is none-the-less misquoted. The scripture says that when the Gospel of the Kingdom has been preached throughout the world, the end shall come. And I believe that end represents the end of the independent, self-righteous, individual man. When Jesus said ‘it is finished’, He meant all His works were finished, and the restoration of man back to the Tree of Life was done. God’s Grace, Mercy and Love has maintained us all, and that is what He is doing, but to have the complete fellowship, communion and relationship with Him, we must turn away from our ways and run back to the Father that has the robe, ring and fatted calf waiting on us.
Knowing about God and His Son is not what they have intended for us, but to actually know the Father and the Son personally. To know that all that is theirs’, is ours. For the apostle Paul said that we are heirs to the promises made to Abraham, and joint heirs with Christ. It’s now time to turn our back on the institution of false teaching, and claim our rightful inheritance with the Kingdom that Jesus provided.
Does the assemblies that meet each Sunday, and the unity they provide, really have that much power over us, and even the scriptures themselves? Just because so many, even millions believe what’s being taught, does it have to make it true? Just because I say what I’m saying, does that make it true? Of course not, Truth is always the continual, never changes, and always has to measure up with Gods’ Word, and His Spirit. Are we so shallow that we say to ourselves; why, there are so many that believe this way, I guess I’ll just believe it too? Certainly we are to follow, but I just don’t think that God wanted man to follow man.
Remember in Jesus’ walk on earth that almost all in the Temple, and all that weren’t, still believed the lies that were spread by the Pharisees, the Scribes, and the other leaders of the religious sect. Jesus stood alone, and until He taught His disciples, even they didn’t know. The ‘united-we-stand’ attitude doesn’t work here, remember the people of Babel.