The Baptist and the Nazarite

Introduction

Good morning and welcome back!

This morning if you will, start turning in your Bibles to .

Now, we are still going to be talking about John the Baptist but we are going to doing so from the perspective of an Old Testament vow that certain Israelites would take, and that John would take from the time of his birth.

And the vow I am talking about is the Nazarite Vow.

If you recall, last week we read of the announcement of John’s arrival to his father Zechariah by the angel of the Lord.

And in that announcement, mixed in with all of the other attributes that John would possess we also find something else.

So, quickly looking at it again in , the Bible tells us this . . .

Luke 1:14–15 NIV - Anglicised

14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.

Luke 1:

Now, the Bible doesn’t come right out and say “John was a Nazarite,” but when it does say he is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth, it is a direct correlation to the Nazarite vow that we learn about back in .

And it was well understood and documented among the Jews that this order or vow by John’s parents, is in fact the Nazarite vow.

So, we always refer to John as “John the Baptist,” but the reality is, he was actually “John the Nazarite.”

And just a side note on that, we have many running around believing that the title “John the Baptist,” means that John was of the Baptist denomination that we have today.

No—John was here way before any Baptist, or Methodist, or Pentecostal, or Nazarene church for that matter.

The term actually means, “John the Baptizer” because in his ministry, that’s what he was known for, baptizing people, including Jesus.

And later on when we first see the Baptist denominations spring up, and there are many flavors of Baptist denominations (Separate Baptist, Regular Baptist, Reformed Baptist, Southern Baptist, and so on…) the actual term and label was in relation to them being known as “baptizers” and in particular “re-baptizers,” because they were taking Roman Catholics and re-baptizing them into the faith in Jesus Christ.

So the name went from “re-baptizers” to “baptizers” and eventually to just “Baptists.”

So, just to be clear we are not talking about any certain denomination, but rather we are talking about the last Old Testament prophet of God.

In fact, did you know that the last words in the Old Testament were written about John? ()

And then God’s first words in the New Testament were also about him? ()

Also, in total there are 1,189 chapters in the Bible and 23 of them contain some reference to John the Baptist in some form.

So, his significance goes well beyond what we really understand and know about him.

And one of the most significant things was this Nazarite vow, which is what we are going to look at this morning.

So, if you have found in your Bibles, I’d ask you to stand with me if you are able as we read, starting in verse 1 . . .

Scripture Focus

Numbers 6:1–4 NIV - Anglicised

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the Lord as a Nazirite, 3 he must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or from other fermented drink. He must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. 4 As long as he is a Nazirite, he must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.

Numbers 6:1-4

The Vow is Voluntary (vs 1-2)

Now I started out here and read just the very beginning of the passage.

In fact the entirety of the Nazarite vow and several of the rules is laid out here in the first 21 verses of this chapter and it is very specific.

And the basic premise behind this is that this is a vow.

This is not just a “contract” or just a “promise” this is a vow.

And a vow is much more than just a contract or a promise.

Some of our modern definitions of vow include “ a solemn promise” and “to be bound to someone or something—particularly a deity”

So it is very specific.

And it is why we call the marriage promise, “marriage vows.”

When we take these vows we are promising that we will be bound to one another and that we will be dedicated and faithful to one another.

And for the Nazarite, their vow, or solemn promise is that to God.

They are vowing that they will be bound to God, dedicated to God, and faithful to God in every way God asks.

And for these Jewish Nazarites, there were certain criteria and things they had to do and maintain in order to actually establish and keep the vow.

And the one thing to keep in mind though is that the vow is 100% completely voluntary.

Look again at verse 2 . . .

Numbers 6:2 NIV - Anglicised

2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the Lord as a Nazirite,

It plainly says, if a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the Lord as a Nazarite. . ..

This is a very special and a very specific vow, so God doesn’t force this on anyone.

It is up to that person and up to whether or not they want to enter into that vow.

And the same thing is true for John the Baptist.

And some of you may be thinking…Hold on a minute! The Bible says that “He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.”

Correct, that is what it says, but this was told to Zechariah and not John.

This was the angel telling Zechariah how he and Elizabeth were to raise John and how to educate their son on why he was raised the way he was.

However, when John is grown, it is 100% entirely up to John to choose the path he will go in life.

God does not force John to continue this role throughout his adult life.

It is his choice.

Think about it this way—those who have kids, we have tried to raise them a certain way and bring them up the way we thought was right, correct?

As our children have grown up, have they always made the choices we want them to make?

Are they living exactly the way we want them to live?

Probably not.

So, why not?

Because they are not clones of us.

They are their own person with their own beliefs and their own experiences and their own attitudes about life in general.

And they, like we did, will make mistakes and they, like we did, will not do things exactly the way we expect or want, just like we were with our parents.

There comes a point they have to forge their own path.

And all we can do is pray for them, pray that what we have taught them sticks, be there for them, and turn them over to God.

Because they have to make their own choices.

And the same thing is true for John.

There came a point that he had to choose his own path and go his own way.

Think about it, his dad probably wanted John to follow in his footsteps as a temple priest—remember from the first week, John was even a Rabbi.

John was actually qualified to be the High Priest.

Wouldn’t that have been an honor.

But that wasn’t the way John went.

In fact, if you go over to , we find out this about John . . .

Matthew 3:4 NIV - Anglicised

4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt round his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

Matthew 3:4-

Not very priestly was it?

But it didn’t matter, John was still following God.

But he was following God in the way that he felt God wanted him to follow.

And the point I am making is in the church we shouldn’t focus so much on getting people to worship God and follow God down the same path we took.

In the church, we need to spend more time encouraging and standing behind people as they find their path and the way God is calling them.

They may not dress like us.

They may not eat like us.

They may not use the same big “church words” as us.

But when it boils down, is their heart right with God and are they following God with all their heart?

Because that is where the rubber meets the road, as they say.

But again, all of this is strictly 100% voluntary.

No one is forced to enter into the Nazarite vow.

And no one is forced to enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ either.

No one is forced to be a Christian.

It is a voluntary choice to enter into this relationship with God.

And when we make the voluntary choice we establish a vow between us and God.

A vow that we will be bound to God, dedicated to God, and faithful to God in every way God asks.

And our problem is we want to enjoy the benefit of the vow (eternal life) but we do want to play by the rules of the vow (dedication to God).

And we often violate those vows.

More Rules (vs 3-21)

And I think we see where this is going.

The Nazarites had many vows to keep, but there were two in particular . . .

Numbers 6:3–5 NIV - Anglicised

3 he must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or from other fermented drink. He must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. 4 As long as he is a Nazirite, he must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins. 5 “ ‘During the entire period of his vow of separation no razor may be used on his head. He must be holy until the period of his separation to the Lord is over; he must let the hair of his head grow long.

Numbers 6:

No booze and no haircuts.

And there were other regulations, like going around dead bodies and there is a whole ritual around making ones self clean if they accidently encounter a dead body.

But during the entire period that the vow is in place— which is a period of time the “vowee” decides in the very beginning, they are to not cut their hair or drink any wine.

And after it is all over they are brought to the temple, shave their hair, and the hair is burned as an offering to God.

And then they would return to normal Jewish life.

And the main difference between the Nazarite vow and our vow is, the Nazarite vow was meant for a specific time period, but ours is meant for life.

Now, we can choose to walk away from that vow and abandon it at any time, but it is meant to be a lifetime vow.

But we don’t treat it that way.

We just want the reward, with none of the sacrifice.

And what is the sacrifice of our vow?

Matthew 22:37–40 NIV - Anglicised

37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

And . . .

Matthew 22:37-

Matthew 28:18–20 NIV - Anglicised

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-

And . . .

Romans 12:1–2 NIV - Anglicised

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

So in a nutshell, when we take a vow to give ourselves to God we are vowing to :

The Blessing (vs 22-27)

Love God with all our being.

Demonstrate that love by loving other people.

Sharing the message of hope and love in Christ with others.

Offer ourselves fully to God as living sacrifices.

Really it boils down to those four things.

But we have a hard time with those four things because it involves us putting God first, which is something we do not want to do.

Altar Call

So, this morning, where are you at?

Have you considered taking a vow to God and being dedicated to God?

Entering into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

If this describes you, what is holding you back from doing that?

What is standing in your way?

What barrier can I, the church, this altar help remove?

Why don’t you come.

Maybe you have entered into that vow, but you realize you are not keeping your vow.

You have broken the vow and feel embarrassed and ashamed of that.

You want to come back but do not know how.

Its easy, just come and tell God your sorry, and ask to come back in.

He will let you.

He wants you to.

He has been waiting on you to.

What’s holding you back?

What can we do to help remove that barrier?

Will you come.

Maybe the Lord just wants you to come and pray.

Can you do that?

Will you do that?

Will you be obedient today?

Our altar is open, will you come?