Each year it seems the Christmas season begins even earlier. The dishes from Thanksgiving dinner are barely cleaned up and put away before the rush of holiday shopping, holiday lights, and holiday music begins.

Our Fall study of Judges presents us with a Christmas story in November. In Judges 13 a woman without children is approached by an angel of the Lord and told that she will give birth to a savior in Israel.

This child will be devoted to the Lord and he will begin to save the people of God.

In Judges 13.24, we read, "And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the LORD blessed him. "This story foreshadows the coming of Christ over a thousand years later in Bethlehem. Mary, like the mother of Samson, is suprised by a divine message announcing that she will give birth to a boy.

Mary was not expecting to give birth to a child, much less to a boy with a redemptive purpose.

Samson was the last judge the Lord raised up in Israel. He was the final judge. Yet, as Judges 13.5 records, Samson was only going to "begin to save Israel."

He was the final judge, but his work was not final.

The final one sent from God was born in Bethlehem over a thousand years later. He was the last one from God and his work was the final redemptive act of God to finally save his people from their sins. His death and his resurrection purchased the redemption of God's people from the wages of sin and a future of death.

The miraculous birth of Samson foreshadows the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Samson's ministry in Israel began to save God's people, but Christ's work at the cross brought salvation to the people of God.