Bow Thyself — E.A. Johnston

A Nation Ripe for Divine Judgment

The contrast of the hour mystifies me, at a time when the church should be a brilliant diamond that stands out against the black velvet backdrop of a nation ripe for destruction by a provoked sovereign and holy God.

Spiritual Slumber and the Loss of Brokenness

The churches in this land sleep in the lap of Delilah and blend in with society like a roach on a pile of maggots. The nation grows more wicked every day. The cup of iniquity is full. The hour is late and destruction is at the very door.

And instead of brokenness in our churches we have pride. Instead of being in our sanctuaries in nights of desperation, on our faces crying out to God in broken-hearted prayer and repentance before an offended sovereign, we have church as usual within our dead denominations.

The Carnival of Megachurch Celebrity Culture

Our big churches will roll out their carnival carousel that rotates the big names of the fair-haired ministers that slide down off their painted pony to talk about their latest book and then hop back up on that carousel to be rotated to the next megachurch and around and around she goes while the nation goes to hell and time is fast running out.

Samson as a Picture of the Apostate Church

In the book of Judges we find a situation much like our day. We see God's man, Samson, with his eyes gouged out and his power gone. And this is a picture of the church today, blind to her situation, bound to her cords of tradition and powerless to fight the enemy in her impotence from sin.

And then we have a picture of society today with the partying Philistines up on the roof making sport and making merry without a care in the world when sudden death is moments away. We will pick up our story, friends, in Judges chapter 16 and verse 27.

Samson Calls on God for Strength

Now the house was full of men and women and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women that beheld while Samson made sport. And Samson called unto the Lord and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

Samson Bows Himself and Pulls Down the Pillars

And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines.

And he bowed himself with all his might, and the house fell upon the Lord's end, upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

Desperation for Heavenly Strength

Samson got sick enough of the devil gaining ground, and he got desperate enough to call on his God for heavenly strength, and he took hold of the enemy's pillars, and he bowed himself and pulled the whole sorry lot down.

A Call to Pull Down Apostate Strongholds

Is there not a worn-out, sin-sick Samson to-day, who is tired of being blinded by the enemy and tied to the pillars of the modern apostate church, who will bow himself for the glory of God and the sake of the gospel, and be true to the souls of men, and believe God is the God of the Bible, and go out and pull down the strongholds of rottenness and decay in our day?

Let us pray.