Judg 13:18, But the angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" 
	We are in the midst of the consideration of the fact that the name of the Lord is something to be treasured by all those who earnestly seek to know it and unto whom He will make it known. There is a respect and a reverence that needs to be the integral aspect of how we live to His Glory and His Honor in utter adoration and worship. When we are aware that to know the name of the Lord means much more than anything else, we will give ourselves over to try to understand more clearly how we are to regard and to cherish the opportunity to know Him by Whom we are so blessed. 
	Returning to this morning’s passage, we have before us the result of the heralding of the tremendous news to Manoah and his wife. They were childless which would spell the end of their family heritage. Additionally, on a more communal scale, there was the desperate need within the land of Promise for a judge to fight the battles for the people of God against the onslaught and the oppression of the Philistines. Set within this context, the Lord visited this couple and that brings forth the focus of just how precious the name of the Lord is!
	We return to Judg 13:6, wherein the woman was relaying the fact that she had been visited by a man of God. He would not share His origin with her nor his name.  
Judg 13:6, Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. 
    	… his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. This was the impression that the wife had in this encounter. It was apparently very marked with respect to the fact that he would not give his name. That detail was especially worthy of mention when everything was told to her husband. Think of the excitement that must have been elicited by this visitation, with regard to the promise and the hope of now having a child, when once she was barren! Yet one of the key components was the fact that the man of God’s name was not forthcoming. 
	Later, after both Manoah and his wife had been additionally blessed by another visitation and the encouragement of the wondrous news from the Angel of the Lord, asking His name became a key focus of their remembrance and their consideration. They wanted to know His name so that they could honor Him at the birth of their child. Instead they received the statement in this morning’s text. But the angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?"
	They were put directly into that place of coming face to face with the truth that God, The Lord God Almighty, The Lord God Jehovah, The I Am Who I Am, The Creator of Heaven and Earth, The Altogether Awesome and Holy and Lovely One, would so choose to make Himself known to such ones of His creation!
This is the fact of this visitation and the majestic awesomeness of what had taken place. It was so beyond the scope of their understanding that Manoah uttered the fatalistic response of Judg 13:22. This is the only possible result that we can understand within our sinful human frame of knowledge. 
Judg 13:22, So Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God." The recognition of who we are, in juxtaposition to Who God is, makes this the only real option within us. 
If we know that God is Holy and Perfect in the every manifestation of His dealings with us, we cannot even comprehend how we could not but utterly disintegrate in the direct presence of the righteous and fiery justice of God against the sin which infests our mortal beings! That was what hit Manoah in the reality that they had seen God. There was only one thing that could possibly happen! They would die and that death would be sure and it would be deserved!
However, Manoah’s wife saw and realized something more in the character of God’s visitation with the two of them as she recounted in the next verse of our chapter. Judg 13:23, But his wife said to him, "If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time." 
	She in nowise discounted the Holiness of God. I am sure that the same thought had crossed her mind. The truth is that she was able to understand something about the entire encounter which calmed her fears and the rational concern of her husband. God would not have deigned to visit them with such joyous news if He were just going to kill them. He would not have made such a tremendous promise and shown His glory to them if that was all that would happen. God was making a way of the salvation for His people. It would be through the birth and the life of the promised son that would soon bless their home. 
	In our lives, as we consider the fact that God is at work in us, through His Abiding Holy Spirit, showing us all the filth of the residue of our old nature, we may well feel that all we deserve is death. That is a fact that is vitally established as the Holiness of God requires that our sinful nature absolutely disintegrate into fiery flames under His Righteous and Just gaze of perfect Holiness! This is absolutely our destiny, if it were not for the great love with which God chose to love us!
He so loved us that He sent His Only Begotten Son to die for us on the cross. Then He raised Jesus up from the grave in the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit, and we, who believe in Him, are raised up together with Him. Now, we are blessed by the Omnipresent Glory of God in our lives because we are covered by the Righteousness and the Holiness of Our Lord Jesus Christ! It is in Him, Our Savior and Lord, that we have this unparalleled and immediate access before the very throne of God always and forever more!
	We get a glimpse of this plan and action of God in the so limited and yet so awesome visitation to announce the soon to be birth of Samson. Additionally, we will see it heralded throughout the Old Testament as in the Second Psalm. Please turn to it.
	Ps 2, Why are the nations in an uproar, And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand, And the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed: "Let us tear their fetters apart, And cast away their cords from us!" He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury: "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain." "I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, 'Thou art My Son, Today I have begotten Thee. 'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Thy possession. 'Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, Thou shalt shatter them like earthenware.'" Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence, And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! 
	In this passage we see the rage of the nations against the Holiness and the Sovereignty and the Splendor and the Majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. His rule and His dominion out shadow even the most powerful and lengthy of human endeavor. Everything that man can devise in all the manifest wisdom and scientific discoveries of the ages, is as nothing to the One Who put into place all the laws and principles and detailed designs of His Creation. All the honor and the praise and the adoration and the glory and the fealty of humanity must be directed to the One Who has been so freely given in order to show the Love of God to man! It is His name that is so wondrous and awesome and deserving of all adoration and praise and reverence! 
	The Psalmist continues in Ps 25:12-18, detailing the fact that we must look to the Lord for our salvation and our deliverance. He makes Himself known to those in need, just as He did to Manoah and his wife. Therefore, we are to hold Him in our hearts with all reverence and awe. We are to count on Him and not be afraid to call out to Him and to seek Him and to honor Him and to serve Him.
	Ps 25:12-18, Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose. His soul will abide in prosperity, And his descendants will inherit the land. The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, And He will make them know His covenant. My eyes are continually toward the Lord, For He will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and be gracious to me, For I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; Bring me out of my distresses. Look upon my affliction and my trouble, And forgive all my sins. 
    	Then, in Prov 30:4-9, we have the encouragement and the admonition with which we are to regard the manner of the Lord’s work in our lives. When we consider Who God is, and what is required of those whom He saves unto Himself, it makes our perfect service unto Him all the more critical! We are the testimony of His Grace and His Mercy and His Love in action! Therefore, what we show forth in our lives is what others will say about the Lord. If we truly love and honor and cherish Him, we will never want to besmirch His name with any disregard for Him in a careless walk on this earth!
	Prov 30:4-9, Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son's name? Surely you know! Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words Lest He reprove you, and you be proved a liar. Two things I asked of Thee, Do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, Lest I be full and deny Thee and say, "Who is the Lord?" Or lest I be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God. 
	The Prophet Isaiah brings it all before us in the name with which the Son of God will be known in Isa 7:14+15. Isa 7:14+15, "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. "He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. 
	Immanuel, God with us. As we consider what this awesome name means, it should have a tremendous effect in the course of our walk as His people. If we truly lived in accordance with the knowledge that God is with us, that He is in us, we would not get involved in those things which would cast any aspersions upon His glorious and awesome name.
	Isaiah continued with this pronouncement in Isa 9:6+7. Isa 9:6+7, For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. 
As the Prophet further declares, in Chapter 53, there is majesty and honor due to the Lord for Who He is and how He has worked to bring forth the only means of salvation to such sinful and selfish and depraved individuals as we are on this earth. Please read along with me.
Isa 53, Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living, For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors. 
	Every time He has shown Himself in His glory and His Majesty, we have turned our backs on Him. He has desired fellowship and a relationship of family with us, and we have spurned Him over and over again. And still He loved us. He did not set aside His Holiness, but through the work of the Only Begotten of the Father, He has brought His Righteousness and His Holiness into us. 
Then, as proclaimed by the Prophet Jeremiah in Jer 23:5-8, God has done the work. He has established the proper course of our lives on this earth. We are now covered by His righteousness and at peace with God, Our Heavenly Father. 
Jer 23:5-8, "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord, "When I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. "In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, 'The Lord our righteousness.' "Therefore behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord, "when they will no longer say, 'As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,' but, 'As the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.' Then they will live on their own soil." 
    	Please open to the first book of the New Testament. We want to read of the visitation of an angel of the Lord to Joseph, in detailing what was about to take place. In this passage, the name of Jesus is proclaimed and established as the name that is Sovereign over the whole of humanity.
	Matt 1:20-23, But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. "And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins." Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which translated means, "God with us." 
      	Later, in Matt 11:25-30, Our Lord made known the relationship that He would establish for all those who would believe upon Him. It is the reality of who we now are in Christ Jesus. God worked and revealed the truth of what our lives are to be as we are in fellowship with Him.
	Matt 11:25-30, At that time Jesus answered and said, "I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. "Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight. "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. "For My yoke is easy, and My load is light." 
    	In Luke 10:21-24, Christ as well detailed how blessed we are as we see the reality of God expressly revealed in Him. So many, throughout the history of humanity have sought to know the name of the One True and Living Lord God Almighty, seeking to do so in a humanistic form and fashion. The truth, however, is that all that we can know and need to know is found in Jesus, by the Omnipotence and the Omniscience of the Omnipresent Holy Spirit working to manifest His glory in us.
	Luke 10:21-24, At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight. "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." And turning to the disciples, He said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them." 
	We close this morning with the revelation announced by John in the last book of the Bible. Please turn to Rev 19:11-16, where we see how the name, the precious and glorious and wondrous and awesome name of the Lord is to be revered and praised and glorified as we behold Jesus in all His Glory!
	Rev 19:11-16, And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." 
	Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords! There is no other name by which we can be saved. Truly His name is awesome and it is wonderful! So be it!
But the angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 3:3. But Thou, O Lord, art a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head. Amen.