THE NAZARITE SERVANT

THE NAZARITE SERVANT

The vow of the Nazarite was voluntary, and from simple devotedness to the Lord. This always involves sacrifice and an abnegation of the excitements of this world; the Lord must have us all to Himself, and we do not want the wine — the excitements of this world, when devoted or separated to Him. He will entirely satisfy your heart, but He will not acknowledge your separation if you take the ^[p. 261] wine — any part of it, from the kernel to the husk. You must be simply and entirely His. What was required of a Jew in natural things is true as to us spiritually. The Lord will not own my separation if I am not satisfied with it as the portion which He gives, distinct from the cheer that the earth offers me. This is the first condition; the second is, that my external appearance must declare my vow, and though nature may disapprove of this, God owns it. Thirdly, I am not for any relation, however near, to make myself unclean. If I mix with the world — the dead men around me — I know, like Samson, that I have lost. I may shake myself in vain, the distinctiveness of my character is lost, and with it the inward power to sustain such a character. But there is recovery in expressing that you have totally forfeited your title to this mark; this simply means a complete humiliation and building nothing on a former character. The Nazarite who has defiled the head of his consecration must shave his head in the day of his cleansing. You stand before the Lord without a hair! asserting nothing for yourself, and, on the other hand, asserting atonement and a sweet savour in Christ. Thus you are restored.