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Scripture Reading: Num. 6:6-12
In this message we will continue to consider the matter of being sanctified to be a Nazarite covered in chapter six of Numbers.
In the foregoing message we saw that to be sanctified to be a Nazarite, first, one must not touch any earthly pleasure (signified by wine — vv. 3-4) and, second, one must keep oneself under God's headship (signified by not shaving the head — v. 5). Now we need to see that a Nazarite must not touch anything dead so that he might not be defiled. The most hateful thing in the eyes of God is death, and a Nazarite must not be defiled by it.
A Nazarite should not be defiled by the death of his blood relatives, the relatives closest to him, but should remain in his separation to be holy to God (vv. 6-8). Even the death of his father and mother should not defile him. This signifies that we should not be defiled from the deadness that comes through natural affection, but should keep ourselves clean in our sanctification. A Nazarite must remain fully sanctified, separated to God from all things, and should continually cleave to God.
A Nazarite had to abstain from earthly pleasure and not be defiled by the deadness that comes through natural affection. Pleasure is a matter of enjoyment, and natural affection is a matter of love. To avoid defilement, a Nazarite had to be careful concerning both earthly pleasure and natural affection.
If the head of a Nazarite's separation was defiled by the sudden death of one beside him, he was to be cleansed on the seventh day (the last day of his separation — Acts 21:27) by shaving his head (Num. 6:9-12). This indicates that if we are defiled by some unexpected deadness, we should be cleansed by reseparating ourselves to the Lord.
Humanly speaking, it would not be the fault of a Nazarite if one beside him died suddenly. Nevertheless, such a sudden death would defile the Nazarite, and the Nazarite was held responsible for this defilement. Today we are living among others, and we cannot predict when, spiritually speaking, someone will die beside us. If we are defiled by unexpected deadness, we need to have a new start. We need to be cleansed by reseparating ourselves to the Lord.
We do not realize how dirty and defiling death is. We consider sin to be very defiling, yet God hates death much more than sin. In the church life, sin may come in to defile the church and damage the saints, but more often we are defiled by death. Death is something hidden. Often death is right beside us, yet we have no consciousness of it or feeling concerning it and become defiled by it.
How can we know that we have been defiled by death? We know this by having a sense, or feeling, of deadness. Sin brings in condemnation, which affects our conscience. However, death is not a matter of condemnation, not something that affects our conscience. Rather, death is a matter that deadens us and makes us dead.
Often when you come to a meeting, you receive a supply of life and are enlivened. Sometimes, however, when you get home from a meeting, you feel deadened, but you do not know why. You sense no condemnation in your conscience, but there is a killing going on within you that makes you dead. Your spirit is weak and dull. You are "down" and cannot rise up, and you cannot pray for some days. You did not know it, but in that particular meeting you received some killing; you were deadened by some kind of death. We all have had this kind of experience.
As those who are absolutely and utterly for God, we must avoid earthly pleasure and the influence of death. It is easy to abstain from earthly pleasure, but it is not easy to sense that we are near someone who is spiritually dead. Nevertheless, if we are living in the Spirit in every way, when we come to a meeting, we may immediately have the sense that deadness is there. We may realize not only that the meeting is low and slow but that in the meeting there is deadness hidden beneath the surface. At such a time we need to pray very much to counter that deadening situation: "Lord, cover me with Your blood against any deadening, against any spiritual deadness." We must fight against deadness.
Early in the church life in my hometown we were on a church life honeymoon. Everything was new and fresh, and it was difficult to sense any deadness. About a year later, I left my job, became full-time, and moved to Shanghai to be with Brother Nee in the church there. The church in Shanghai had a considerable history and had passed through many troubles. Thus, the church was rather old. Although I was at the center of the work and could have come to know the situation there, I learned not to know anything, for the more we know, the more we are deadened. (Most of the talk in the church life is not related to sinful things but is related to death.) In some of the meetings I was enlivened, but sometimes I had the feeling of being dead. It seemed that the longer I sat in the meeting, the more I became deadened. I wanted to pray, but I was not able to utter anything in prayer. I was under the killing of death, and my spirit could not rise up.
Later, I talked to some older, more experienced ones, and I learned a lesson. When you come to a meeting, you need to sense whether there is any deadness there. You should not do this purposely, as if you were attending the meeting as an inspector. On the contrary, you should be a person who is able to sense the presence of death in a meeting. If death is present, you should be the first to pray, "Lord, cover this meeting with Your prevailing blood. Under this blood we participate in the divine life." Exercise your spirit strongly against the deadness in the meeting. Then as you sit in the meeting you will be protected. This is part of the spiritual warfare.
The churches in the United States have an extensive background and history. Because of the background and the present situation, there are many elements that have brought in death. I believe that this is the reason for the gradual decline in attendance at the prayer meeting in many churches. Hidden deadness can cause the prayer meeting to become dormant. We need to fight against death and its effects.
As Nazarites, we must learn to avoid deadness. We can easily avoid the deadness caused by the death of a blood relative, for that kind of death is apparent. It is not easy, however, to avoid the unexpected death of someone near us, because that kind of death is often hidden. Therefore, we must be those who are full of life, which is "anti-death." This depends on how much we exercise our spirit to pray, not in a general way but with a prayer that fights against the enemy.
Sin is of Satan (John 8:44), who is also the source of death (Heb. 2:14). With the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, there is evil; however, the result of partaking of this tree is not evil — it is death. When we eat of the tree of life, the result is life. In the church life we must constantly fight against death. For example, if in the prayer meeting death makes it difficult for us to pray, we need to fight against death and its influence.
As Nazarites we must abstain from earthly pleasure, remain under the headship of the Lord, and learn to fight against death. Death is everywhere. Society is filled with the germs of death. Because these germs are even in the church life, we need to pray daily, hourly, fighting against death, the last enemy of God (1 Cor. 15:26).
We should not think that the Nazarites are not for fighting. The Nazarites are numbered for the formation of God's army. They are very vigilant, full of feeling for the war against death. In every church there is the need of the sense, the consciousness, of death so that we may fight against it.
"On the eighth day he shall bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make propitiation for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall sanctify his head that same day" (Num. 6:10-11). The eighth day is the day of resurrection, the day that is against death. On this day the Nazarite was to have a new start. In order to have a new start, he had to bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons to the priest, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. A sin offering was needed because he had failed in his Nazarite vow, and this failure was a sin. A burnt offering is an offering of absolute consecration and absolute sanctification. Through these offerings propitiation was made for him, and he was redeemed from his wrongdoing. For us today, these offerings indicate that we should offer Christ as both the sin offering and the burnt offering, in resurrection, for our forgiveness through His redemption.
On the eighth day the Nazarite was also to sanctify his head. This means that he was to have a new consecration for his subjection under the headship.
Numbers 6:12 says that the Nazarite was to "separate himself to Jehovah for the days of his separation, and bring a lamb a year old for a trespass offering; but the former days shall be void, because his separation was defiled." This was a new vow of consecration for the Nazarite to separate himself to God again. For this, he needed a lamb for a trespass offering. His failure in his vow was a sin, for which he needed a sin offering. His mistake was a trespass, for which he needed a trespass offering. Applying this verse to us today, we see that once our former separation has been made void, we should reseparate ourselves to God by taking Christ as our trespass offering.
From reading these verses in Numbers 6, we see that it is a serious matter to make a Nazarite vow. It should not be taken lightly. In making such a vow, we must be especially careful to keep ourselves from being defiled by death. If we keep ourselves from the defilement of death, we will be living persons who can be absolute for God, for His army, and for His priesthood.
God ordained one family (Aaron's) to be the priests. This ordination excluded all others from this opportunity. But the vow of the Nazarite opens the gate, affording all the people of God an equal opportunity. The Nazarite vow depends on our initiation, not God's. It depends on our willingness. If we are willing, the door is open.
Here we see God's sovereignty. He has His ordination and also His regulation, the vow of the Nazarite. Not only the house of Aaron had the privilege of being absolute for God; this opportunity was available to all. God's regulation balanced His ordination and gave equal opportunity to all God's people to be absolute for God as a warrior or as a priest.
Consider the case of Samuel. Samuel was not a priest; he was a Nazarite who eventually fulfilled the duty of a priest. Samuel filled in the gap caused by the deficiencies of Eli, who was a priest according to God's ordination. The one who was a volunteer filled the deficiency of the one who was a priest by God's ordination. This indicates that, eventually, God's regulation is equal to, if not better than, His ordination. The ordination depends on God's initiation, but the regulation depends on our initiation. The door is now open to everyone. Whether or not we take the opportunity depends on our willingness.
