Numbers 6

Those who follow Jesus Christ follow the one true Holy Man. In Him, in His death, and in His resurrection, we have been granted the status of holy ones (saints). We also have the experience of heaven-sent holiness as a growing reality in our lives now.

One day, when we live with Christ in heaven, we will finally be as holy as we ought to be even now. Until then, we seek the gift of a consecrated life in the midst of a world stained with so much sin and death.

In the Old Covenant Scriptures, there were many ceremonies and laws that told this great story about Jesus and His kingdom of holiness. One of them was the Nazarite vow, a picture God gave to Israel about a person in their midst who was set apart as holy.

This was a vow that an Israelite of any tribe, whether a man or a woman, could willingly make to the Lord. The person needed to abstain from all things connected to grapes. He could not cut the hair on his head. He could not go near a dead body, not even for a close relative. Everything about this holy one was to be without stain and without the touch of death.

Any defilement from the dead that would violate the Nazirite vow necessitated a cleansing ritual including the shaving of his head and a sacrifice of birds brought to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Breaking the Nazirite vow required this atonement before the Lord: one bird for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. Another offering, a guilt offering of a lamb, was required when the separation time for defilement was over. The previous period of remaining pure was not counted toward the pledge that had originally been made.

At the end of the pledged time, further offerings were required as gifts to the Lord. Then his head would be shaved, and his hair put on the fire under the peace offering. Only then was the Nazirite free from his vow.

All of this would have been quite an expense for an average person, and all for the privilege of living out a picture of holiness. But we have been declared holy in the blood of a far better and more costly sacrifice.

Christ's holiness was complete. It was far more than any of the Old Testament pictures. His holiness extended all the way into the thoughts and intentions of his perfectly pure soul.

The Lord's holiness was lived out under fire. At the very beginning of His ministry, He was led by the spirit into the wilderness, fasted forty days and nights, and faced the temptations of a cruel demonic adversary. He passed this test for us. He later faced the opposition of powerful leaders among the Jews and the ultimate test of the cross.

Through all His suffering that procured our holiness, Christ did not have the slightest fault. We have been given His Name. We are sons of God in Him. This blessing is ours not because of our holiness, but because of His.

The grace of God for sinners through Jesus was so sure in the mind of God that words of benediction were spoken to His covenant people 1500 years prior to the coming of the Messiah. The priest, in another rich picture of the coming age of glory, spoke these beautiful words upon His assembled people.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” This triune blessing has come to us today through the one true Holy Man of God. He achieved far greater holiness than the most scrupulous Nazirites during the 1500 years between Moses and Jesus.

The name of God has been put upon His people forever. We are so richly blessed!