God is working in the midst of evil to produce a unity of which He is the center and the spring, and which owns dependently His authority. He does not do it yet by the judicial clearing away of the wicked, but He cannot unite with the wicked or have a union which serves them. How then can this union be? He separates the called from the evil to Himself. “Come out from among them, and be ye separate ... and I will receive you ... and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2. Cor. 6:17-18). As it is written, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them” (2 Cor. 6:1616And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:16)). Now here we have it distinctly set forth. This was God’s way of gathering; He could not have gathered true unity around Him otherwise. Since evil exists — yes, it is our natural condition — there cannot be union of which the holy God is the center and power but by separation from it.
The great principle of the energy of the Spirit of God in us while passing through the wilderness is brought out in the book of Numbers. In Numbers 6 we have the positive separation to God in the energy of the Holy Spirit — “unto the LORD” (vs. 2). So the Lord Jesus, particularly after His ascension, could say, ”For their sakes I sanctify myself” (John 17:1919And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. (John 17:19)), that we, by the energy of the Spirit in us, should be separate now in the wilderness, walking in white, keeping our garments unspotted by the flesh. Again, the Lord separated Himself that He might be about His Father’s business, and for this He separated Himself even from His “mother’s children” (Psa. 69:88I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. (Psalm 69:8)), for this was nature — the flesh, which by sin was under the power of death. He still holds the Nazarite character, because all His disciples are not yet gathered to Him, and now, in a certain sense, with us it is also separation from joy — “the fruit of the vine”; we must not let the heart go. In glory it is the great spirit of rest; there will be no need to gird the heart then. Now the effect of the energy of the Spirit is to gird up the loins of our mind lest we get defiled, but in glory we shall let flow our garments, because we shall not fear defilement there.
Separation From Wine — Joy
“He shall separate himself from wine” (vs. 3), that is, joy. The Lord came in character expecting to find joy among men, expecting to find a response to His love in the hearts of men, but found none, and so was a Nazarite from the first. To be a Nazarite is to be separated from every natural affection which can be touched by death — to be separated unto the Lord. No honey could be offered to the Lord, and now the Spirit is a new power come in to detach us from everything natural. The Lord, filled with the Spirit for service, said to His mother, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” All nature by sin has come under the power of death, so the Nazarite “shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother ... because the consecration of his God is upon his head” (vs. 7). See also Luke 14:2626If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26). The Lord’s tie in nature was with the Jews as Son of David, but all this He gave up as natural, for “when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them” (John 10:44And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. (John 10:4)). Natural affections come from God and are therefore good in themselves, but they do not tend to God, being spent on the object. John was a Nazarite from the womb. Paul was a Nazarite, and Jeremiah also. So we are Nazarites, for our own proper joy is beyond death. Therefore all I give up here which savors of death is just giving up that which hinders a deepened apprehension of the joy and blessing of that life which is beyond the power of death. At the cross, the Lord broke the link between us and the power of death. “By these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit” (Isa. 38:1616O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. (Isaiah 38:16)).
Holy to God
“All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord” (vs. 8). This is the great principle in the Nazarite — holy to God, and in however short a degree he may attain to that character, yet in Christ it is perfect. All this is a distinct thing from innocence. Adam was innocent, but not separated unto God. Separation unto God supposes a knowledge of good and evil, and yet separation from evil. Adam got the knowledge of good and evil by the fall; the Holy Spirit has come to take us out of that evil. The Spirit is a new power altogether, separating us unto Christ in glory now that evil and self-will have come in. It is a most trying thing to us to know good and evil, for by nature we are in the evil — loving the evil and hating the good. The Holy Spirit is now taking us out of the evil, and here is the pain — His energy in us is keeping us from the evil while passing through a world of sin and death. We cannot be innocent now that sin has come in, but we are holy in Christ.
If a Man Die Suddenly — Defilement
“If any man die very suddenly by him” (vs. 9) — a careless thought, and communion is lost for the moment.
Death came in on everything in nature as the sign of God’s hatred of sin. The spirit of real devotedness to God always was perfect in Christ, but it is failing in us. Wherever the old man works, there is the principle of death. Therefore we get into death for the time when the old man is working. The word to us is, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal. 5:2424And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. (Galatians 5:24)), and again, “Ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man” (Col. 3:9-109Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: (Colossians 3:9‑10)). All this is solemn. Not only have we peace, but while we are passing through this scene of sin, we need to be kept holy and devoted to God by the energy of the Holy Spirit in us.
The Long Hair — Strength
“All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head” (vs. 5). If I go back from devotedness to God, it is true the hair may grow again, but the head must be shaved close, and the time lost. It is not a question of sin here, but of loss as to the energy of life. A tree that has been much mutilated and broken down will grow up again; it was not killed, but only injured, yet its stature will not be the same as an uninjured tree. It is letting Satan mar and hinder the work of the Spirit. Samson let his heart go into the weakness of nature, and when we let in nature, our strength is gone. Samson, as a Nazarite, was a type of the energy of the Spirit of God; he let out the secret of his strength, and it left him, and he became weak as other men. True, in due course his strength returned, and with mighty energy he lifted the foundations of the temple. If we are not careful and watchful to keep the secret of our strength in communion with God, and worldliness and sin come in, we may not be conscious of it ourselves, but the truth will appear when we rise to shake ourselves — it may be in service — and we find ourselves weak as other men. And when we are in our weakness, like Samson, the devil will put out our eyes.
The True Nazarite
The Lord was the true Nazarite, and He never departed in the whole course of His walk from His Nazariteship. It was not a light thing for Him to tread the path of suffering, but He prayed. In the garden, “being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly” before the temptation came, and then we see He did not stop; He could not. So we should first pass through the trial with God, and then God will be with us in the trial. Peter slept and did not pray, and when the trial came, he met it in the flesh and drew his sword. Jesus had prayed that the cup might pass from Him, but when the chief priests and soldiers came, though Satan was in it all, yet He saw the hand of God and could say, “The cup which My Father hath given me.” Then it was no temptation at all, but an act of obedience.
Verses 13-21 show the offerings to be offered. All that was in Christ is presented to God (vs. 20), so we really come in the power of these sacrifices to God, but until the church is gathered, the Lord keeps His Nazarite character.
J. N. Darby (adapted)