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Scripture Reading: Num. 6:13-21
A Nazarite is a superior person, one who is absolutely, utterly, and ultimately for God. In order to be a Nazarite, one must pass through all the dealings with defilement and the test of suspicion in chapter five. Anyone who has not passed through the dealings and the test in Numbers 5 cannot be a Nazarite.
A Nazarite must overcome four main things. First, he must overcome the natural affection toward his blood relatives, the natural affection he has for his mother, father, wife, and children. The Lord Jesus overcame such natural affection. Matthew 12:48 through 50 say, "Who is My mother, and who are My brothers? And stretching out His hand over His disciples, He said, Behold, My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in the heavens, he is My brother and sister and mother." The Lord Jesus recognized as His relatives those who were His relatives in spirit, not those who were His relatives in the natural life.
Surely the Lord Jesus was a real Nazarite. The best pattern of a Nazarite is the man Jesus. Since He is the pattern, we all must learn of Him, follow Him, and take His yoke (Matt. 11:29-30). As a rule, every New Testament believer should be a Nazarite. However, today it is difficult to find one proper New Testament Nazarite in a city.
The second thing a Nazarite must overcome is earthly pleasure. If we would be Nazarites, we must abstain from earthly pleasure.
Third, a Nazarite must deal with the rebellion in his nature. Thank God that we were created with an abundance of hair on our head, indicating that we are under authority. I can testify that it is a great blessing to be under someone, some thing, or some environment. During the Japanese invasion of China, I was arrested by the Japanese and kept in prison for thirty days. Although I was under a very strict dealing and control, even that imprisonment was a blessing to me.
Children and teenagers need to be under authority. A child who is not under authority will be unruly and wild. The same is true of teenagers who are not willing to be under someone, some thing, or some environment.
In the church life we all have received God and have been born of God. We all have received the life of God. In this sense we all, including the Apostle Paul, are equal. However, in the church some are babes. In his first Epistle, John, in a general way, addressed all the saints as "little children" (2:1, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21). Nevertheless, he respectively addressed some as "young children," others as "young men," and still others as "fathers" (2:12-14). To say that all the members of a family of three generations are the same would make the family a mess. In family life we surely need to respect the differences between the grandparents, the parents, and the children. The principle is the same in the church life. First Peter 5:5 says, "Younger men, be subject to elders." Although, in the spirit, the older ones should also learn to obey the younger ones (Eph. 5:21; 1 Pet. 5:5b), still the difference in age remains.
It is a blessing to be under someone or some thing. It is even a blessing to be severely limited. I thank the Lord that from the day I came into the recovery, the Lord put me under someone, some thing, or some environment.
Today some are teaching that it is not necessary for believers to submit to a deputy authority, that believers should not be under anyone. This erroneous teaching is very damaging. First, it is damaging to those who teach in this way, and then it is damaging to the ones who receive such a teaching. Those who accept the teaching that the believers should not submit to deputy authority will be spoiled by this teaching. Some may even be spoiled without remedy in their youth. Therefore, it is a serious matter to teach that we should not submit to deputy authority, and it is also a serious matter to receive this teaching.
A Nazarite is a person full of hair, full of submission. With him there are a submissive spirit, standing, atmosphere, and intention. If you are such a person, there will be a great blessing for you and for your future.
Fourth, a Nazarite must always try his best to avoid death. Do not allow anyone to stand by you who is about to die suddenly. If someone beside you dies suddenly, you may feel that your situation is excusable. But there is no excuse for being defiled by death, and the sudden death of someone will cause your Nazarite vow to be made void. Especially when rumors and gossip are spreading, it is better not to stand by anyone. A person may suddenly die in front of you by uttering all kinds of death. Once you have been contaminated by death, you need to deal with that contamination and have a new start. Otherwise, you will be killed, and eventually the entire church, seemingly without explanation, will be brought into a deadened situation.
As Numbers 5 indicates, in order to be a Nazarite, one must pass through many dealings and severe tests. Furthermore, according to 6:1-12, a Nazarite must overcome natural affection, worldly pleasure, rebellion, and deadness. Therefore, to be a Nazarite is to be something that is spiritually very high and superior.
Let us now consider 6:13-21 to see some further matters related to being a Nazarite.
"This is the law for the Nazarite, when the days of his separation have been completed: he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and he shall bring his offering to Jehovah" (vv. 13-14a). In ancient times, the Nazarite's separation lasted for seven days. In the Bible seven days indicate a full course, even a whole lifetime. For example, in Genesis 1 we have seven days — six days for God's work in creation and one day for rest. Furthermore, the Passover was followed by the feast of unleavened bread, a feast that lasted seven days. The seven days of this feast signify the whole course of our Christian life.
At the completion of the Nazarite's seven days of separation, he was to be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and he was to bring his offerings to God. Each of these offerings was a type of Christ. The enjoyment of Christ as these offerings indicates the overcoming of natural affection, earthly pleasure, rebellion, and death.
The Nazarite was to bring "one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering" (v. 14b). Here "male" signifies strong, "lamb" signifies meek, "a year old" signifies fresh, and "without blemish" signifies without defects. This lamb for a burnt offering typifies Christ as our burnt offering that we may be acceptable to God in Him and live to God by Him. For us to be in Christ means that we are one with Him. First we are in Him, and then we live to God by Him.
When we offer such an offering, we lay our hands on the offering to indicate that we identify ourselves with the offering, making ourselves one with the offering. Therefore, our offering is not merely Christ Himself but also ourselves identified with Christ. Apart from Christ, we cannot offer anything that can be accepted by God. In order for God to accept us, we must be offered to God with Christ in such a way that we make ourselves one with Christ as the burnt offering.
In Numbers 6 the completion of the Nazarite's days of separation signify not an ending but a beginning. This beginning is the beginning of a life of the burnt offering, a life absolutely, utterly, and ultimately for God. This means that when we offer the burnt offering to God, laying our hands on the offering and making ourselves one with the offering, we promise God that from that time we will be just like this offering, living a life absolutely for God in the seven days of the vow of the Nazarite.
The Nazarite was also to bring "one ewe lamb a year old without blemish for a sin offering" (v. 14c). Here "ewe" signifies submissive. This ewe lamb typifies Christ as our sin offering that we may be redeemed.
At the beginning of our Nazarite life, we need redemption. The reason we need God's redemption, which has been completed in Christ, is that, no matter how good we may be, we are still in the old creation. We need to lay our hands on the ewe lamb which is our sin offering. While we are offering ourselves to God to live absolutely, utterly, and ultimately for Him, we realize that we are still sinful. Thus, as a match to Christ as our burnt offering, we need Christ as our sin offering. In the morning we may pray, "Father, I offer myself to You in Christ as a burnt offering. At the same time, Father, I offer my Lord Jesus as my sin offering." Daily we need Christ as our sin offering.
The Nazarite was also required to offer "one ram without blemish for a peace offering" (v. 14d). The "ram" here signifies strong for enjoyment. This ram typifies Christ as our peace offering for our enjoyment with God in fellowship with peace. The result of the burnt offering and the sin offering is the peace offering.
The peace offering is for the fellowship in enjoyment between us and God. Both we and God enjoy Christ as the same object for our fellowship. We and God enjoy Christ as the burnt offering and as the sin offering, and this issues in the enjoyment of Christ as the peace offering. For Christ to be our peace offering means that we and God mutually enjoy Christ and have fellowship in Christ. This fellowship is not just once but is for our whole life.
Finally, the Nazarite was to bring "a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their meal offering and their drink offerings" (v. 15). In this verse, "a basket" signifies fullness, "unleavened" signifies without sin, "bread" signifies formed, "cakes" signifies more formed, "fine" signifies even and balanced, "flour" signifies Christ ground in His humanity, "mixed" signifies mingled, "with oil" signifies the Holy Spirit (divinity), "wafers" signifies easy to eat, "anointed" signifies poured upon, "meal offering" signifies holy food, and "drink offerings" signifies holy drinks for God. All this typifies Christ in His humanity with His divinity offered to God for us as food both to God and to us and also as holy drinks to God.
Without these types, we could never imagine that Christ has so many aspects. We need to stay in and muse upon the revelation of Christ in these types in the book of Numbers so that we may enjoy Him more.
"The Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering" (v. 18). Here we see that at the end of his separation the Nazarite was to shave his head. This does not mean that the Nazarite put away the headship and gave up his submission. The Nazarite had offered the burnt offering, which was a promise to God that he would continue for his whole life to live as in the days of his separation.
Every man, every male, has two statuses. The first status is that of a female, submissive to God and having long hair as a sign of submission. The second status is that of a male, representing God and having his head shaved as a sign of his being God's representative. In the position of a female, the Nazarite kept his hair during his vow. Then, at the completion of the vow, he took the position of an ordinary man and shaved his head. In a proper family, there is a male representing God as the head, and there is also a female in submission. But when we come to kneel before the Lord, we all come as females, having the long hair of submission.
"The priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the palms of the Nazarite, after he has shaven the hair of his separation. And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before Jehovah; they are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering" (vv. 19-20a). "Shoulder" signifies strength to bear, "wave" signifies offering in resurrection, "the breast" signifies love to embrace, "wave offering" signifies resurrection, and "heave offering" signifies ascension. The types here signify that Christ will supply the believer who separates himself by a vow to be a Nazarite and becomes a serving one of God with Himself as the life supply in different aspects in His resurrection and ascension.
In the Old Testament, the offerers and the priests were two different categories of people. Thus, besides the offerer, there was the need of a priest. In the New Testament, we are both the offerers and the priests. On the one hand, we are those who offer Christ; on the other hand, we are those who carry out the priestly service. Eventually, what we enjoy is the very Christ we offer to God in His resurrection and ascension.
"After that the Nazarite may drink wine" (v. 20b). After all the procedures in verses 13 through 20a were accomplished, the Nazarite was permitted to drink wine.
As we have pointed out, the Nazarite's separation was of seven days, signifying a full course of time. Samson was a Nazarite from his mother's womb for the full course of his life (Judg. 16:17). The source of Samson's power was his long hair. When he was submissive to the Lord, taking the Lord as his head, he had power. But when his head was shaved, he lost his power. From this we see that in submission there is power.
