The Riddle of Life and Death, the Secret of Strength and Victory

UV 722/10,000 The riddle of Life and Death, the Secret of Strength and Victory So he said to them, “ Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” But they could not tell the riddle in three days. Judges 14 v 14 Samson’s riddle, though he intended it only to play a game with his in-laws, is the very riddle of life. Samson had framed the riddle on his seeing a beehive dripping with wild honey inside the carcass of a dead lion. Satan is described as the “roaring lion” even as Jesus is symbolised as the majestic lion. In order to overcome the wiles and accusations of the former, the wise lion had to embrace death. Out of the death of this lion-King, mankind was blessed with spiritual nourishment and hope. His death and resurrection is the single biggest riddle or enigma of history- how can God die for the sins of mankind who were after all His creatures? Even His disciples who had lived with Him for more than three years, puzzled over the manner and purpose of His death. For three days, people puzzled over the meaning of this riddle and then it was solved for all time. His death and resurrection brought sweetness or the honey of God’s promises into our lives. Through death, He destroyed him that had the power of death and delivered us from the fear of death. Another meaning of this uni-verse is that it explains the purpose of our troubles and travails in life. All of us right through life puzzle over why a certain event happened or why we went through a particular rough time. Satan is a killer, robber and thief. He intends to kill our souls, rob our peace and steal our blessings. He is the evil or wicked lion. Jesus by His death and resurrection is one step closer to defeating and destroying the power of satan to kill and hurt us. Meanwhile, whatever satan does to hurt us, the Lord turns it into a source of strength,victory, hope and fulfilment. The dead lion is a symbol of our common defeated foe. The honey dripping from the beehive is a symbol of the flow of the Lord’s blessings in our lives. The bees remind us that though the sting or threat of eternal death that satan dangles over us is gone with the redeeming sacrifice of Christ but we can still be stung by the bees of misfortune, ill health, tensions and so on. Recently, the Lord revealed, “ I am amazed at this interpretation. Yes, I am truly the honeycomb. If you hug me, and shake me, you will receive the honey.” Every uni-verse is a cell in that hive which is full of the rarest, sweetest honey. Of course, we need to take the normal precautions that one should take to collect honey from a hive. We need to cover ourselves with a spiritual body armour so that the bees do not sting. The stinging bees or troubles of our present lives are to humble us, prove us and to do us good at our latter end. The more terrible or severe the sting, the sweeter is the honey, the greater is the patience it builds, the strength to endure, the faith to bear. My encounters with death in the sea and in an assassination of a national leader were intended to strengthen me and to bring the honeyed promises of God into the lives of many in many nations. As I was recovering, the senior officers were wondering whether given my injuries and trauma, I would be strong enough mentally, emotionally and physically to take charge of a district. I told them my faith had been only reinforced a million times. Referring to the hundred steel pellets embedded in my body, I joked that I was actually “steel-reinforced” though the metal detectors could not detect it. I used to pray that the Lord through that experience gives me the spiritual equivalent of the strength and power of Samson without, of course adding his weaknesses. At the end of breakfast every day, I take a spoon of honey symbolically to reflect that I am eating or drinking the sweet nourishing, health-producing promises of God. It will give me strength for the day. Indeed, “out of the eater comes forth something to eat. Out of the killer comes forth something sweet. “ Prateep V Philip