The Ascension

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

THE ASCENSION

Judges 13:6-25

6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, "A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, 'You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.'" 8 Then Manoah prayed to the LORD: "O Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born."  God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman hurried to tell her husband, "He's here! The man who appeared to me the other day!" 11 Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, "Are you the one who talked to my wife?" "I am," he said. 12 So Manoah asked him, "When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy's life and work?" 13 The angel of the LORD answered, "Your wife must do all that I have told her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her." 15 Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you." 16 The angel of the LORD replied, "Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD." (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the LORD.) 17 Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?" 18 He replied, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding." 19 Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: 20 As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. 21 When the angel of the LORD did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD. 22 "We are doomed to die!" he said to his wife. "We have seen God!" 23 But his wife answered, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this." 24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him, 25 and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

The rest of the story, page two, so to speak. We just could not stop anywhere in the middle as this reveals the whole story about the angel of the LORD, the ‘I AM”. Although Manoah wanted to prepare a meal for the angel of the LORD, he told him that he would not eat it. He was a spiritual being of the heavenly realm, although he appeared in the physical realm and talked with both Manoah and his wife. Here too is where Manaoh asked the angel of the LORD his name, and the only answer was, “it is beyond understanding,” but in the Hebrew text, it means wonderful, which Isaiah spoke. This can be none other than Jesus before he came as one of us. This was Jesus in his creator form, in the glory of heaven, only appearing like a man so as not to overwhelm them, yet when the angel of the LORD agreed to allow Manoah to offer the goat and a grain offering to the LORD, the Hebrew word is Yahweh. Now Yahweh did an amazing thing for them. With the goat and grain on a rock, a flame rose to the heavens, and the angel of the LORD ascended within the flames. We cannot be sure if Manoah set the fire, as would be the custom for a burnt offering, but we wonder how can a burnt offering be done on a rock, instead of something with wood, unless the LORD caused the flame so Jesus, in this appearing form” could ascend back into heaven. We do not think this is just a coincidence, the language used ascends, in the same sense as after His resurrection and appeared to many, He ascended back into heaven. The fact that after they watched this supernatural ascension in the flames, Manoah said they were doomed to die. We are told he thought that because he realized who the angel of the LORD was. How can a man see God and live? Everything about this encounter brings us another picture of the power of God and how Jesus was present in the Old Testament. We are not surprised to see Jesus throughout the scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments. He was in the beginning of time, in fact, He created time, and will be there after the end of time. Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. However, after His ascension, we wonder if He would make another appearance to someone in our lifetime, even to ourselves. But then it would not be faith if we actually saw Jesus appear before us. However, we have the Holy Spirit, the third person of the triune God, who testifies within us to the truth about the Father, the Son, and Himself, the Spirit. Just as Manoah realized he came face to face with the angel of the LORD, who was Jesus, and thought he would die, someday we will see Jesus, face to face, and live. How can we not worship to our fullest before the everlasting God all the days of our lives? How can we not fall face down before our Lord?