The last few weeks I have been
endeavoring to bring messages to you identifying the Christ
of God. Pursuing that same goal, turn
with me tonight, if you will, to Matthew's gospel again, chapter
two, Matthew chapter two. I read this passage to you for
our scripture reading Sunday morning in anticipation of working
on this message, Matthew chapter two. Just a few minutes ago,
we read the law of the Nazarite and the Nazarite vow given in
the sixth chapter of Numbers. Why do you suppose that law was
given? What was the purpose of the law?
With all the strictures imposed by the law of the Nazarite and
the Nazarite vow, what human being could possibly fulfill
it? The law of the Nazarite, the
vow of the Nazarite pointed to one who would come into the world
by whose utter, complete consecration to God as a man, his people would
be forever accepted with and forever blessed by the Holy Lord
God in everlasting grace and salvation. Obviously, that one
is Jesus Christ the Lord. That one by whom chosen redeemed
sinners are themselves consecrated to God, accepted of God and blessed
of God. Brother Todd Nyburn and I had
a few minutes conversation this morning before lunch and talking
about this very thing. When we sinned in our father
Adam, we failed and we were made sinners. But no man goes to hell
because of his transgression in Adam. Men and women go to
hell because of their own transgressions. Ezekiel 18, 20 speaks plainly
and tells us that every man suffers for his own sin, not the father
for the sins of the son, nor the son for the sins of the father,
but every man shall die for his own sin. Men and women perish
under the wrath of God because of that which they are and they
do individually. And believers, men and women
in Christ, are accepted of God, justified, made righteous, made
holy because of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. By his obedience
unto death, we were made righteous. He and he alone is our acceptance
with God. But in the new birth, men and
women who are born of God are made new creatures in Christ,
made partakers of the divine nature, and made to be righteousness,
holiness, and redemption in Jesus Christ the Lord. And when we
stand before God, the Lord God Almighty. Now, if this doesn't
just overwhelm you, I don't know what will. The day will come
soon, Mark Henson. Get this, God help you to get
it. Knowing full well your sin, your corruption, your depravity,
the evil of your heart and mind, knowing things about yourself
nobody knows but you. Be assured my brother that soon
you will stand before God and God will rightly say to you,
Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Rightly. Because that which is born of
God doeth righteousness. There sits a man who does righteousness. Here sits a congregation of men
and women who do righteousness. That which is in you by nature
is nothing but sin and can do nothing but sin. That which is
in you by grace, Christ in you is born of God, is righteousness
and can do nothing but righteousness. And that's because of Christ
the Nazarite. Look here in Matthew 2 verse
23. The law of the Nazarite and the vow of the Nazarite pointed
to him who is our savior, and here God the Holy Ghost shows
that plainly. Matthew 2, 23. Joseph came and
dwelt in a city called Nazareth. Now watch the language of scripture,
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets. He shall be called a Nazarene. In God's wise and good providence,
our Savior was brought to Nazareth as a baby by his father Joseph,
by his earthly father, the wife of his mother, that he might
in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets be called the Nazarene. Well, where is Christ called
the Nazarene? I looked at this passage of scripture
with you 12 or 14 years ago, a long time ago, and was overwhelmed
by the fact as I began to study scripture, you won't find that
prophecy anywhere in the scriptures. It is nowhere written in the
scripture. He shall be called a Nazarene. Nowhere is it written
in scripture. But that's the testimony of the
whole of the Old Testament as well as the New wherever the
matter of the Nazarene or the Nazirite is considered. Philip
said, can any good, or Nathanael said to Philip, can any good
thing come out of Nazareth? And Philip said, come and see.
Well, let's go to the scriptures and see. This word Nazarene,
or Nazirite, is a word, they're both the same words, and they
come from a word which means separated. Separated, that's
the principal word. It's used in the scripture in
the Old Testament and is commonly translated branch. That one who
is called the branch, that's the very same word. It's separated,
the separated one, the consecrated one. In the scriptures, the Lord
Jesus Christ is set forth as that one who is the Nazarite,
a man utterly totally, completely separated to God from the day
of his birth to the day he finished his vow. And his vow began when
he came into his mother's womb and said, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O my God. It was finished when he said,
Father, I finished the work you gave me. It is finished into
thy hands. I commend my spirit and he gave
up the ghost. All the while performing the
work of a man utterly consecrated to God, not for himself, but
as our surety, our representative and our substitute. This word,
a prophecy, he should be called the Nazarite. He should be called
the Nazarene. nowhere stated in the scriptures,
but it is everywhere taught in the scriptures. That shouldn't
surprise us. Some of the most important things
taught in scripture are nowhere stated verbally exactly as we
state them. Nowhere in the Bible we find
the word Trinity. but it is everywhere taught.
Nowhere in the scriptures will you find the word substitution,
but substitution is the message of the book. And nowhere except
in Matthew 2.23 will you find it written that he shall be called
a Nazarene. And yet the matter of fact is
stated or is taught throughout the scriptures. Everything regarding
the law of the Nazarites, as well as the whole volume of the
Old Testament, declares that he who is the Christ is the Nazarite,
the one separated to God. The Jews would speak the name
of our Savior, and they call him Jesus of Nazareth, or the
Nazarene, and spit on the ground contemptuously, despising him
who is the Nazarene. And men to this day commonly
refer to him as Jesus of Nazareth. You pull down books that you
might find giving biographical sketches of him, written by men
who believe not. It's always their tendency to
refer to him as Jesus of Nazareth. But the fact is, those who most
adore him, Those who believe him rejoice to worship him, calling
him not contemptuously, but reverently, Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the
Nazarene, Bartimaeus. That blind man who sat by the
wayside on the Jericho Road heard that Jesus of Nazareth passeth
by. He said, well, that's the Christ!
That's the Messiah! That's the Son of God! And he
cried in hope, have mercy on me, Son of David, because he
knew that he of whom the scriptures said, this is the Nazarene, he
is the one who is called the Christ. Dishonored by his foes,
he is adored by his friends, Christ the Nazarene. This title,
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, was always designed of God as the
highest, strongest testimony to the peculiar and distinct
character of our Savior as the one great Nazarite of God. What do the scriptures teach?
Let's look and see. Let's begin back in Genesis chapter
49. We're gonna look at a little scripture. Genesis chapter 49. Here Jacob, by prophecy, speaks
concerning his son Joseph, who was the imminent type of Christ
among his sons. In Genesis chapter 49, this one
called by the name Joseph, our blessed Savior, we're told that
he is the separated one, the Nazarite. Genesis 49 verse 1.
And Jacob called unto his sons and said, gather yourselves together
that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last
days. Then down in verse 26, the blessing
of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors
under the utmost bound of the everlasting heels. They shall
be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him
that was separated from his brethren. Joseph, by God's providence,
in all his life, was separated from his brethren. That is, he
is distinct. from all his brethren, both in
the coat of many colors by which his father honored him, and in
his suffering at the hands of his brethren, and him being raised
up and made Lord over his brethren by their very act of selling
him into bondage and into death. So it is with our Lord Jesus
Christ. Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter
33. Moses now recounts to us the blessing of Jacob upon his
sons. The word separate, that word
netzer, Nazarite, Nazarene, among his brethren is used here. Moses
uses it here in Deuteronomy 33 when pronouncing God's blessings
upon Joseph and his children for generations to come. Joseph
is already dead, but he's speaking now of the goodwill of him that
dwelt in the bush. Remember Moses has his eye back
on that first revelation that God gave of Christ the Redeemer
to him when he was on the backside of the desert back in Exodus
chapter three, when God spoke to him out of the bush. And he's
here speaking about the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush.
Look at Deuteronomy 33 verse 16. for the precious things of
the earth, and fullness thereof, and for the goodwill of him that
dwelt in the bush. Let the blessing come upon the
head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was
separated from his brethren. Now, let's look back at that
text we read earlier in Numbers 6, Numbers chapter 6. When God
gave his law to Israel by the hand of Moses, Perhaps the most
thoroughly expanded law given by God to Israel is this law
of the Nazarite and the Nazarite vow. There are laws given where
in the book of Exodus describing the garments of the priesthood
and the various garments and I think it's Exodus 28 describes
all those garments. But here it's all about just
one thing, one vow. One law concerning a Nazirite,
and this whole chapter is taken up with expanding that law. Look
at number six, verse one. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either
a man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a
Nazirite, to separate themselves unto the Lord. That's what a
Nazirite is, one separated to the Lord. Now many things in
this law can't be applied to our Savior, I recognize that.
Yet he who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities lived
on this earth as a Nazirite, distinctly separated unto the
Lord. He both touched dead bodies and
drank wine, though he was not made unclean by doing so. And
I spent a good bit of time last night and today trying to work
on this. How is it that this law prohibits
the touching of a dead body, and yet there's a man's a Nazarite
while he keeps his vow, or drinking a strong drink, and yet the man's
a Nazarite, Samson, If I recall correctly, touched a lot of dead
bodies, but he was still a Nazirite. Our Lord Jesus drank wine at
the Feast of the Passover, as did all of his disciples. But
he's still a Nazirite, separated unto God. So these things mustn't
be stretched too far in a literal way. But Samson's strength as
a Nazirite wasn't just the fact that he had long hair. The hair
was just a symbol of his dedication to God. So the Nazirite vow is
talking specifically about one consecrated to God. And strictly
speaking, our Lord Jesus Christ is the only one utterly separated
to God. Now we have pretty good indication
that this law can't really be applied to men in general, even
devoted men in general, because it's never mentioned again until
you get to the 13th chapter of Judges, when it's applied to
Samson, that man who was such an imminent type of the Lord
Jesus. The law is kind of like that
law of Jubilee. You remember the 50th year, when
everybody was to turn the debtors free, return the captives to
their freedom and return property to them and so on? You know,
there's no indication either in scripture or in history that
the Jews ever celebrated that law. Not one time that they ever
kept that year of jubilee, but it pointed to something far greater
than what a man could do. It pointed to the blessed jubilee
of God's free grace. Look here in number six, verse
three. He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. and
shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither
shall he drink any liquor of grapes, or eat moist grapes,
or dried. All the days of his separation
he shall eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the
kernels even to the husk. And yet wine makes merry the
heart. Men are encouraged to drink wine for the stomach's
sake. The scriptures nowhere prohibit men and women from having
alcoholic beverages. But there's something distinct. The drinking of wine is a personal
pleasure for personal satisfaction, for personal taste, for personal
relief. That's the key. That's the key. The Nazarite lives not to himself,
but to God. when they gave our Lord vinegar
to drink when he's on the cross, when he tasted it, he wouldn't
drink it, because that was for his personal gratification, for
his personal satisfaction, for his personal relief, and he is
utterly dedicated to God. Our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed
our Nazarite. Our Savior was solemnly set apart
to the triune Jehovah, set apart to the will of God from eternity. He spoke as our surety and assumed
responsibility for us and sanctified himself. This is how he puts
it in John 17. For their sakes, I sanctify myself. that they also might be sanctified
through the truth, that they might be sanctified by me. Look at verse five and number
six. All the days of the vow of his separation, there shall
no razor come upon his head until the days be fulfilled in the
which he separated himself under the Lord. He shall be holy and
shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. Again, our
Savior fulfills the type gloriously. In the Song of Solomon, chapter
four, the church is described as having hair like a flock of
goats. So she's described who is his
bride, one with him, is having hair like a flock of goats. Like the hairs of his head, a
vast multitude grow up in Christ and upon him. and no razor of
any kind shall ever separate us from our head. Like the hair
on our heads, we live upon Christ, depend upon Christ, and draw
life from Christ, and strength from Christ, because he's one
with us, and we're one with him, so really and truly so that nothing
can ever sever us from him. as Samson's strength and glory
was in his hair. So we are Christ's glory. And our mighty Samson shall never
be shorn of his glory. The hair, I'm told, I've never
researched it, but I'm told the hair is the last part of the
body to die. And you and I joined to Christ
shall never perish because he lives forever. Therefore it may
be said of every member of Christ's church, as we read in Lamentations
4, her Nazarites were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body
than rubies. Their polishing was of sapphire.
Look at number six and verse six. All the days that he separated
himself unto the Lord, he shall come at no dead body. He shall
not make himself unclean. for his father, or for his mother,
or for his brother, or for his sister. He cannot be released
from his commitment, not for the sake of father, mother, brother,
or sister, because the consecration of God is upon his head. All the days of his separation,
he is holy unto the Lord. Our Lord Jesus was made sin for
us, and yet he knew no sin. Neither was guile found in his
mouth. He was and is ever holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate
from sinners. Verse nine. And if any man die
very suddenly by him, we did. When Christ died, we died. And
he hath defiled his head, the head of his consecration. Our
Lord Jesus, when he died for us, and we died in him, defiled
the head of his consecration. That holy one was made sin for
us. Then he shall shave his head
in the day of his cleansing on the seventh day. That is on the
day of grace, of perfection, of completion. He shall shave
it. Now look at verse 10. And on the eighth day, the day
of resurrection, the day of new life, the day of new beginning,
he brings an offering to God. And in verse 18, And the Nazarite
shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of
his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice
of the peace offerings. When our Savior died, He suffered
all the fury of God's holy wrath and we suffered it all in him
to the full satisfaction of justice so that the whole of his consecration
to God is offered a sacrifice to God and the whole of our lives
offered upon the altar of God and accepted of God. Verse 19,
and the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram. and
one unleavened cake of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and
shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after the hair
of his separation is shaven, and the priest shall wave them
for a wave offering before the Lord. This is holy for the priest,
with the wave breast and the heave shoulder, and after that
the Nazarite may drink wine. This is the law of the Nazarite,
who hath vowed, and of his offering unto the Lord for his separation,
beside that his hand shall get, according to the vow which he
vowed, so he must do after the law of separation. Now let's
not overlook the fact that in all these offerings for sin,
There was a shadowing forth of our great, all-sufficient sacrifice,
Jesus Christ the Lord, our great Nazarite. by whom our sins were
put away. The waving of the sacrifice,
the waving of the offering before the Lord in the hands of the
priest was both the acknowledgement of our sin before the Holy Lord
God and the complete celebration, the joyous celebration of the
complete removal of sin through the precious blood of Christ
by Him who is our Redeemer. In Mark chapter 14, you don't
need to turn there. Our Savior spoke of his work
as the Nazarene being fulfilled when he said, this is the blood
of the New Testament which is shed for many. Verily I say unto
you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that
day that I shall drink it new with you in the kingdom of God. Are you still in number six? Here is possibly the clearest
evidence that all of this law of the Nazarite speaks of our
Savior. In the last verses of this chapter,
upon the basis of the obedience of the Nazarite, God commands
a blessing. Every time I read this chapter,
I try to picture what I think happened. I have no evidence
for it. This is what I think. This is what I think. On the
day of atonement, I can picture Aaron. He has taken off his gorgeous
priestly garments and he put on the white linen garments and
he made sacrifice and made an atonement and carried the blood
of atonement into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the mercy
seed. And after he sprinkles the mercy
seat, he washes himself again and he takes off those garments
stained with blood, those white linen garments and the linen
britches and he lays them aside and he puts on his gorgeous apparel
again with his apron and all the ornaments of his robe and
the crown and the mitre on his head. And it comes out on the
basis of the sacrifice, represented in the obedience of the Nazarene. And this is what it says, number
622. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto Aaron, and unto his son, saying, On this wise, that
is, in accordance with the obedience of the Nazarene, in these words
ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying to them, Now,
Now, because of who Christ is, because of what Christ has done
for you, because of his obedience, because of his death, the Lord
bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine
upon thee and be gracious unto thee. And the Lord lift up his
countenance upon thee and give thee peace. And they shall put
my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them. because of all that Christ is,
all that he's done, because of his obedience, the blessing of
God assuredly comes upon all the people for whom he lived
and died as Jesus Christ the Nazarene, our blessed substitute. And all of this is brought to
pass by the hand of God's wise, adorable, and good providence.
Back in Matthew 2, when Joseph heard that Herod
was dead, he came to bring his wife and his newborn son, their
baby, probably now a year or two old, maybe two years old,
maybe just a little bit older than that, back to Bethlehem. Because Herod was dead, that
man, that murderous, filthy, vile man. But then he heard that
his son reigned in his stead. So rather than going to Bethlehem,
where the Savior was born, Joseph came to a little town outside
of that little insignificant place called Bethlehem by the
name of Nazareth. And there, he comes back to the
vicinity of Bethlehem, but he raises his son in Nazareth. He raises his son, who is Mary's
son, that one who is the incarnate God the Son, our substitute,
that it might be fulfilled according to the scripture, his name shall
be called the Nazarene. His name shall be called the
Separated One. Joseph raised Him, and there
our Savior lived for 33 years, the full age of a man utterly
consecrated to God, utterly sanctified to God, utterly separated to
God as our Mediator. that we might be utterly consecrated
to God, utterly sanctified to God, utterly separated to God. And we are in Him. I would sure like to be, as Paul
was described by his enemies when he came to the end of his
days, a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, wouldn't you?
a ringleader of the sect of a people, utterly devoted to God. And as our Savior utterly devoted
himself to God, oh God, give me grace and give you grace that
we may utterly devote ourselves to our God, our Savior, Christ
Jesus the Lord. I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present yourselves, your bodies,
a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God by Christ Jesus, which
is your reasonable service. Oh God, will you give me grace? with every breath from this day
forward to consecrate myself to you. And let love and care
for father or mother or brother or sister or son or daughter
or that dear lady I love so much interfere with that consecration. God, do that for me and do that
for you. And when we're finished, we will behold his face in righteousness
and be satisfied when we awake in his likeness. Amen.