Scripture Reading: Num. 6:1-9; Rev. 1:2; 19:10

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 5　DAY 1　»

　　Num. 6:2 Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazarite, to separate himself to Jehovah.

　　Isa. 7:15 He will eat curds and honey until he knows how to refuse evil and choose good.

　　According to typology, among the human race the unique Nazarite is the Lord Jesus. Hence, a Nazarite is a type of Christ. A Nazarite signifies the Lord Jesus in His living for God in His humanity. (Life-study of Numbers, p. 56)

　　In reading the four Gospels, we can see how good and perfect the outward living of the Lord was. Yet from the four Gospels, we cannot tell why the Lord had such a superb outward living....Isaiah 7:15 gives us the reason He had such a living. Why was He able to refuse the evil and choose the good? How did He know to reject the world and choose God's will? How did He know to reject glory from men and choose glory from God? We can find out the answer to these questions from Isaiah 7. Verse 14 says, "Behold, the virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel." We know that this refers to the Lord Jesus. Unfortunately, many people have dropped verse 15....Not only does verse 14 refer to the Lord, but...verse 15 also refers to Him. Verse 15 tells us that He ate butter and honey all His life. Because He ate butter and honey all His life, He was able to choose the good things and refuse the bad things. This is why He could obey God, seek for His glory, and win His heart.

　　What is the significance of butter and honey?...Butter is the richest food, while honey is the sweetest food. The Lord Jesus ate the richest and sweetest food throughout His life. This is why He could reject the evil and choose the good.

　　The Bible tells us what the richest thing is. It is God's grace. The Bible also tells us what the sweetest thing is. It is God's love. All the time, God placed before Christ the rich grace and gave Him to taste the sweet love. This is why He could obey God and choose His will. This is why He could reject the evil and choose the good. Today we will consider a little how the Lord ate butter and honey, and how He rejected the evil and chose the good.

　　At the age of twelve, our Lord went with His parents to Jerusalem to keep the feast. After the feast His parents returned, but He remained in Jerusalem without their knowing about it. Later His parents returned to Jerusalem to look for Him. After three days they found Him in the temple. His mother said, "Child, why have You treated us like this? Behold, Your father and I, being greatly distressed, have been seeking You" [Luke 2:48]. The Lord did not answer saying, "Do you not know that I should do My Father's will?" Instead, He answered, saying, "Did you not know that I must be in the things of My Father?" [v. 49]. The Lord had eaten the butter and the honey. At the age of twelve, the Lord knew the Father already. He had the heavenly butter and honey. He had received the richest and the sweetest and was living in God's will. If it were us, we might have said, "Go back to Nazareth to care for your carpentry and your housework. I will not go. Let me stay in the temple." Our Lord did not behave this way. He spoke, and He testified; yet He went back with them. After they returned to Nazareth, He was subject to them. The reason He could choose the difficult thing was that God had given Him the richest and sweetest taste.

　　Mary bothered the Lord all the time. When the wine ran out, she told Him, "They have no wine" (John 2:3). While He was preaching to many people, she would come to speak with Him (Matt. 12:46). Yet the Bible says that "He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them" [Luke 2:51]. This was the Lord's choice. It was something that others would find hard to do....But He chose to return with [his parents] and to live with [them]. The reason for this is that He had eaten butter and honey and was able to choose what was otherwise unbearable to men. (CWWN, vol. 17, "The Power of Choosing," pp. 111-113)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 17, pp. 111-120

«　WEEK 5　DAY 2　»

　　Num. 6:3-4 He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, nor shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh or dried grapes. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.

　　God desires that all of His people be Nazarites. To be a Nazarite is to be sanctified absolutely and ultimately to God. To be sanctified in this way is to be for nothing other than God.

　　God wants His people to be clean, righteous, and faithful....God wants us to love only Him, to love Him with our heart, with our mind, emotion, and will, and with our physical strength (Mark 12:30). He wants us to have no one else and nothing else other than Him as our first love and our unique love. Even if we love Him in such a way, we still may not be absolutely and ultimately for Him.

　　The matter of the Nazarite is a test of our absoluteness. If we would be a Nazarite, we must be absolutely, utterly, and ultimately for God. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 55-56)

　　Numbers 6:2 speaks of a man or a woman making "a special vow, the vow of a Nazarite, to separate himself to Jehovah." Here we see that a Nazarite is sanctified by making a special vow to separate himself to God. At times we might have made a vow to the Lord, but it might not have been very strong or absolute, and we might not have kept it. Can you make a vow and be faithful to it for your whole life?

　　There is a difference between separation and sanctification. Separation is on the negative side, and sanctification is on the positive side. On the negative side, we separate ourselves from the worldly people. On the positive side, we sanctify ourselves; that is, we give ourselves to God. First we are separated, and then we are sanctified.

　　The priests, who are such by birth, are ordained by God out of His initiation. A priest must be a Nazarite, a person absolutely for God. This is according to God's ordination. One's becoming a priest is a matter of God's initiation; it does not depend on what the person does but on what God does concerning him.

　　The Nazarite, who becomes such by a vow, is separated to God by himself out of his initiation. This means that a person is not a Nazarite by birth but can make himself a Nazarite by making a special vow. Thus, the priests are ordained by God out of His initiation, but the Nazarites become such by a vow out of their own initiation. Today we are in the Lord's recovery out of God's initiation and also out of our initiation. Both are needed.

　　The accomplishment of God's purpose requires man's cooperation to complement God's ordination. This is illustrated by the case of Samuel. Samuel was a Nazarite who complemented the deficient Eli, a priest ordained by God....Samuel, out of his own initiation, came in to fill up the gap caused by Eli's deficiencies and thereby to complement the deficient Eli.

　　[In Numbers 6:3 and 4] we see that a Nazarite had to abstain from wine and anything related to its source. This signifies abstaining from the earthly enjoyment and pleasure (cf. Psa. 104:15; Eccl. 10:19). To abstain from all kinds of wine is to abstain from all kinds of earthly enjoyment and pleasure.

　　We should be careful of anything earthly that makes us happy. Earthly pleasure leads to lustful conduct and to a lustful intention. Earthly enjoyment and pleasure would defile a Nazarite.

　　A Nazarite had to abstain from vinegar made from wine, from the juice of grapes, and from grapes fresh or dried....Vinegar is classified with wine because the source is the same. Wine, vinegar, and grape juice are all prohibited. From this we see that the one who is absolute for God is altogether separated from anything of earthly pleasures. This shows the absoluteness of the Nazarite. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 56-58)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Numbers, msg. 8

«　WEEK 5　DAY 3　»

　　1 Cor. 11:3 But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman...

　　6 ...But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, let her be covered.

　　Col. 2:19 And not holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.

　　[Numbers 6:5 says], "All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to Jehovah; he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long." Not shaving the head signifies not rejecting the headship of the Lord (cf. 1 Cor. 11:3, 6).

　　To be a Nazarite we must take care of two things. First, we must have nothing to do with earthly pleasure. Second, we must be absolutely under authority, absolutely under the headship.

　　The shaving of one's head signifies the rejecting of the headship of the Lord. Spiritually speaking, for us to shave our head means that we cast off the Lord's authority over us. The Nazarite was to let his hair grow long (freely); that is, he was to remain in subjection to the Lord's headship, wherein is the power (Judg. 16:17). (Life-study of Numbers, p. 58)

　　Today is a day of lawlessness. If we were to do away with the police and close the courts, society would be full of robbers and murderers. We could not bear to live in such an intolerable situation. The United States of America has an excellent constitution, and based upon this constitution there are strong laws and many courts to see that these laws are carried out. Everyone who appears in a court of law must submit to the laws of the United States government. Otherwise, the entire society would be destroyed.

　　The fallen race is a rebellious race. The rebellious nature is still within us. Thus, it would be dangerous to be in a situation in which there is no deputy authority. This was the reason God established human government (Gen. 9:5-6). The entire government is a deputy authority representing God's authority. Speaking of this, Paul says, "Let every person be subject to the authorities over him, for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are ordained by God. So then he who resists the authority opposes God's ordination" (Rom. 13:1-2a). Teachers, employers, and police officers are deputy authorities. Everywhere on earth there is deputy authority.

　　Let us apply this matter of deputy authority to the church. Is there deputy authority in the church? If there is no deputy authority in the church, why are there elders? Recently, some have said that there is no deputy authority in the New Testament. If such a claim is true, why does the New Testament tell us that there are elders in the churches? Surely, Christ is the Head, and the authority is the Spirit, but we still need elders in the church. Without elders, the church would be in anarchy.

　　There is also deputy authority in our family life. The parents are the deputy authority to the children (Eph. 6:1), and the husbands are the deputy authority to the wives (5:23). Paul even says that a wife should fear her husband (v. 33). For a wife to fear her husband means that she takes him as the deputy authority. Even in a small family there is deputy authority. Then how much more should there be deputy authority in the church!

　　Two particular characteristics, or two signs, of a Nazarite are, first, that he does not touch any worldly pleasure and, second, that he always keeps himself under some authority. These are solemn matters. As those who would be absolute for God, we must abstain from earthly pleasure. Furthermore, we must not shave our head; that is, we must respect authority and remain under the headship of our Lord in every way. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 58-59)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Numbers, msg. 8

«　WEEK 5　DAY 4　»

　　Num. 6:6-7 All the days that he separates himself to Jehovah he shall not come near a dead person. He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is upon his head.

　　A Nazarite must not touch anything dead so that he might not be defiled. The most hateful thing in the eyes of God is death, and a Nazarite must not be defiled by it.

　　A Nazarite should not be defiled by the death of...the relatives closest to him but should remain in his separation to be holy to God (Num. 6:6-8). Even the death of his father and mother should not defile him. This signifies that we should not be defiled from the deadness that comes through natural affection, but should keep ourselves clean in our sanctification. A Nazarite must remain fully sanctified, separated to God from all things, and should continually cleave to God. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 61-62)

　　A Nazarite had to abstain from earthly pleasure and not be defiled by the deadness that comes through natural affection. Pleasure is a matter of enjoyment, and natural affection is a matter of love.

　　If the head of a Nazarite's separation was defiled by the sudden death of one beside him, he was to be cleansed on the seventh day (the last day of his separation—Acts 21:27) by shaving his head (Num. 6:9-12). This indicates that if we are defiled by some unexpected deadness, we should be cleansed by reseparating ourselves to the Lord.

　　Humanly speaking, it would not be the fault of a Nazarite if one beside him died suddenly. Nevertheless, such a sudden death would defile the Nazarite, and the Nazarite was held responsible for this defilement. Today we are living among others, and we cannot predict when, spiritually speaking, someone will die beside us. If we are defiled by unexpected deadness, we need to have a new start. We need to be cleansed by reseparating ourselves to the Lord.

　　We do not realize how dirty and defiling death is....In the church life, sin may come in to defile the church and damage the saints, but more often we are defiled by death. Death is something hidden. Often death is right beside us, yet we have no consciousness of it or feeling concerning it and become defiled by it.

　　How can we know that we have been defiled by death? We know this by having a sense, or feeling, of deadness. Sin brings in condemnation, which affects our conscience. However, death is not a matter of condemnation....Rather, death is a matter that deadens us and makes us dead.

　　If we are living in the Spirit in every way, when we come to a meeting, we may immediately have the sense that deadness is there. We may realize not only that the meeting is low and slow but that in the meeting there is deadness hidden beneath the surface. At such a time we need to pray very much to counter that deadening situation: "Lord, cover me with Your blood against any deadening, against any spiritual deadness." We must fight against deadness.

　　We must be those who are full of life, which is "anti-death." This depends on how much we exercise our spirit to pray, not in a general way but with a prayer that fights against the enemy.

　　Sin is of Satan (John 8:44), who is also the source of death (Heb. 2:14). With the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, there is evil; however, the result of partaking of this tree is not evil—it is death. When we eat of the tree of life, the result is life. In the church life we must constantly fight against death. For example, if in the prayer meeting death makes it difficult for us to pray, we need to fight against death and its influence.

　　The Nazarites...are very vigilant, full of feeling for the war against death. In every church there is the need of the sense, the consciousness, of death so that we may fight against it. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 62-65)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Numbers, msgs. 9-10

«　WEEK 5　DAY 5　»

　　1 Sam. 1:11 And she made a vow and said, O Jehovah of hosts, if You...give to Your female servant a male child, then I will give him to Jehovah for all the days of his life, and no razor will come upon his head.

　　2:35 And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest...

　　3:20 And all Israel...knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of Jehovah.

　　7:15 And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

　　On the human side, Samuel's origin was his God-worshipping parents, especially his God-seeking mother with her prayer (cf. 1 Samuel 1:5, footnote 1). In the midst of the chaos of degraded Israel, Elkanah and Hannah remained in the line of life ordained by God for His eternal purpose (see footnote 3, par. 2, on Gen. 2:9). The line of life is a line that brings forth Christ for the enjoyment of God's people (see footnote 1 on Ruth 4:18), that on earth God may have His kingdom, which is the church as the Body of Christ (Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17; Eph. 1:22b-23), the very organism of the Triune God. Because of God's moving in her, Hannah could not have peace until she prayed for a son. Hannah's prayer was an echo, a speaking out, of the heart's desire of God. It was a human cooperation with the divine move for the carrying out of God's eternal economy. God could motivate Hannah as a person who was one with Him in the line of life. As long as God can gain such a person, He has a way on earth. (1 Sam. 1:10, footnote 1)

　　Hannah's prayer indicates that God's move with His answer to Hannah's prayer (1 Sam. 1:19-20) was to produce a Nazarite who was absolute for the fulfilling of God's desire. A Nazarite is one who is consecrated to God absolutely, one who takes God as the Head, considering God his Husband, and one who has no interest in the enjoyment of worldly pleasures (Num. 6:1-5 and footnotes). Even before he was born, Samuel was consecrated by his mother to be such a person. (1 Sam. 1:11, footnote 1)

　　The picture in 1 Samuel 7:2-6 shows a people returning to God, and a man, Samuel, who was one with God on earth. As the acting God on earth, the representative of the very God in heaven to rule over His people on earth, Samuel began to minister.

　　Samuel, who was by nature a Levite born of one of the descendants of the great rebel Korah (1 Chron. 6:33-38; cf. Num. 16:1-33), ministered in five statuses: (1) as a Nazarite consecrated to God absolutely for God's fulfillment of His economy, a volunteer to replace any official and formal serving ones of God (1 Sam. 1:11, 28a); (2) as a priest faithful to act on behalf of God, even to appoint and establish kings for the divine government on earth (2:35); (3) as a prophet established by God (3:20) to assist the kings appointed by him as a priest, to speak the word of God to replace the teaching of the word of God by the old priesthood; (4) as a judge (7:15-17) established by God to carry out God's governmental administration, to replace the judging of the people by the old priesthood; and (5) as a man of prayer who prayed for God's elect, the children of Israel (vv. 3-14; 8:6; 15:11b; cf. 12:23), that they would be kept in the way of God, would be one with God, would not be ensnared by the idols of the nations, and would enjoy God as Ebenezer (7:12) that God's desire in His will regarding His elect might be fulfilled. God admitted to Jeremiah that Samuel, like Moses, was a man standing before Him for His people (Jer. 15:1). Moses was a priest (Exo. 29), a prophet (Deut. 18:15, 18), and a judge (Exo. 18:13, 16), and he always prayed for God's people (e.g., Exo. 32:11-13, 31-32). In these matters Samuel was the same. In the Old Testament only Moses and Samuel were qualified to participate fully in the priesthood, the prophethood, and the judgeship. (1 Sam. 7:3, footnote 1)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, msg. 5

«　WEEK 5　DAY 6　»

　　1 Sam. 13:14 ...Your kingdom will not continue. Jehovah has sought a man according to His heart for Himself, and Jehovah has appointed him ruler over His people; for you have not kept that which Jehovah commanded you.

　　Jer. 15:1 And Jehovah said to me, Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My soul would not turn toward this people. Send them out of My sight and let them go.

　　Samuel knew that within God's heart there was a desire for a kingdom. God wanted the kingdom to be brought in not through Samuel but through David.

　　If you had been Samuel, would you have given any ground for someone to match you or be above you? Samuel was pure and single. He was a Nazarite according to his mother's vow and was altogether not self-seeking. He never sought to gain anything for himself. He had no heart for anything besides God and God's elect. God loved Israel, and His heart was duplicated in Samuel. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, p. 44)

　　Because God's heart was duplicated in Samuel, Samuel did not care for his own interest or gain....Due to the situation at the time, Samuel appointed his sons to be judges, but, contrary to Saul, he had no intention to build up a kingdom for them. His sons did not follow in his ways but went after unjust gain, took bribes, and perverted justice (1 Sam. 8:1-3). When the people asked Samuel to appoint a king, he was not offended by anything related to his sons; on the contrary, he was offended by their desire to replace God (vv. 4-7)....Samuel's concern was not for his children but for God's people. In such a situation it was easy for God to bring in the kingdom.

　　Samuel would never have cooperated with God if he had been a self-seeking person....God said to him, "At about this time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him ruler over My people Israel" (9:16). When Saul and his servant came to Samuel, Samuel did exactly as God had instructed.

　　Now we can see why Samuel was so useful in the hand of God. He had no self-seeking nor any thought of self-gain. Instead, as a Nazarite, who allowed no razor to come upon his head and who did not drink any wine, he was absolutely for God. He was happy to go wherever God wanted him to go and to do whatever God wanted him to do. He was a man according to God, a man according to God's heart. Therefore, he was a man whom God could use to carry out His economy.

　　Many people have a high character, but they are just for themselves, their enterprise, and their kingdom. They are not for God's kingdom. Samuel was not only high in character; he was high in the Nazarite vow.

　　It is worthwhile to compare Samuel with another Nazarite—Samson. Samson also was a Nazarite by his mother's vow, but he was very different from Samuel. When the Bible speaks of Samson and the other judges, it often says that the Spirit of God rushed upon them (Judg. 14:6, 19). But there is no such word about Samuel. A Nazarite does not need rushing power; rather, a Nazarite needs a heart that is a reflection of God's heart.

　　Although it was not easy for Samuel to stand for God in his particular environment, he cared for God's interest and he turned the age. According to the Old Testament, Samuel is ranked with Moses in being for God and for God's interest (Jer. 15:1).

　　God used Samuel to anoint first Saul and then David....Saul only had a monarchy. The kingdom of God came first under David, when God's throne was established in Jerusalem. (Life-study of 1 & 2Samuel, pp. 44-47)

　　Jehovah's Spirit came upon Samson (Judg. 13:25; 14:6, 19); there is no doubt that he had the real power of God. Nevertheless, he and so many of the judges had no control over their indulgence in lust. (Life-study of Ruth, p. 38)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, msg. 7; Life-study of Judges, msg. 8; Life-study of Ruth, msg. 8