GIVING BIRTH TO A NAZIRITE
Judges 13:5 "For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines."
INTRODUCTION:
Let me also point the Nazirite vow that is clearly explained in the book of Numbers:
“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the Lord, he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. ‘All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.
‘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 the Lord; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long.
‘All the days of his separation to the Lord he shall not go near to 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 on his head. ‘All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord.” Numbers 6:2-8 NASB
From the above scriptures, let me highlight three important points for Nazirite vow:
• strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes.
• All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall pass over his head.
• All the days of his separation to the Lord he shall not go near to a dead person.
The key of this Nazirite vow is this: verse 8'All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.’ Awesome! Awesome!
Having said that, I would like to first talk about the incident which led me to go dipper with the above verse. Manoah's wife is an unnamed figure in the Book of Judges, the wife of Manoah is introduced in Judges 13:2 as a barren woman, the Angel of Lord appeared to her and said:
• You shall conceive and give birth to a son
• No razor shall come upon his head
• Because the boy shall be a NAZIRITE to God
• From the womb
• The Boy shall deliver Israel from the hands of Philistines
When I read the above ‘demands’ from God, I understood there was something BIG coming therefore God had to do THIS MUCH preparation. I am excited! The special boy ‘Samson’ was getting processed to deliver the Israelites from the hands of the Philistines.
Because of the wickedness of the people of Israel, they were given into the hands of Philistines for 40 years – oh, quite a long period!!!
Anything BIG needs preparation: God sometimes picks people, keeps a great burden and responsibility on their shoulders but at the same time, God plans elaborately on the execution of the job. God would be involved in your life and arrange everything to a T. (perfectly). Samson had to be a Nazirite because he was going to deal with Philistines who are known for the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages, especially beer, they were heavy partying and drinking people and also his mother had to refrain from them. God was giving no room for the enemy to destroy the work of God!
God works behind the scaffold of our life: The birth of Samson was no small incident but he was prepared to deliver the Israelites who were in the hands of the Philistines for 40 years, let me repeat 40 years, phew! The longer you stay in bondage, chances are there that you get accustomed to that life style: Idols, alcohol, weapons, adultery, lust, obscenities becomes norm. I had to stand upside down to bring a girl out of an adulterous relationship with a married man with two children, and this young girl also had a son out of this relationship. It took me two years of counseling and the final separation took place after brutal attacks on the girl, police station and lot more, but God helped her come out. Hallelujah!
SACRIFICE: Whenever we are called and assigned to give ‘birth’ to something extraordinary and exceptional then there is a sacrifice involved in that, are you listening? God had kept Manoah’s wife barren and desperate so that she would have a crucified heart to obey God when He showed up. The trials, barrenness and emptiness that we go through in our life is not to destroy us but God has got something prepared beyond that. I am excited…
We are running an English medium free school for the poor and underprivileged children in Hyderabad, India, we give free lunch, books, uniform and everything needed for education. We have Government permit upto class 7 and we are working on getting approval up to class 10. On a particular day, when we were going through severe problems, opposition and attacks from all around because ours is a Christianity based school, which I have not hidden, we were being terribly harassed and also there were verbal abuses. Yes, we had to go through all this, one day while I was travelling in the car along with my husband, there was a gentle breeze that blew across my face and I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to FAST. I immediately told my husband,” I feel I have to go on an indefinite period of fasting because we need the BUILDING FOR OUR SCHOOL which is essential for smooth running of the school”, he replied I will join you too. Because of the health issues that I had, we decided on ‘Daniel fasting – NO NON-VEG”, from November 2017 until date we are going steady with this fasting. Still waiting for our School Building! (I write this sermon on Friday, February 19, 2021)
FASTING: Friend, when the ASKING is BIG, then praying should be accompanied with fasting. Friend, when I talk about Nazirite vow and all that goes with it, I am not emphasizing on giving up grape juice or being unshaven but true consecration to God. If you are a leader with great vision for your ministry and for your upcoming projects, then being ‘SEPARATED FOR GOD’ is essential through fasting.
WHY WOMAN: This is crucial, because I dwelt on this portion for a long time, read verse:
Judges 13:10” So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, "Behold, the man who came the other day has appeared to me." The Angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife twice and gave her news of the birth of the boy and also the instructions pertaining to the woman and the Nazirite vows for the boy. Why did the Angel of the Lord not give the same to Manoah but visited the woman twice?
During our family prayer, I asked the above question to my family? Why did the Angel of the Lord not give the same to Manoah but visited the woman twice? The daughter answered, ‘because woman are special’ but my husband gave the correct reply.
It is the woman who will be carrying the ‘deliverer’ in her womb and the baby would be getting food from the mother so what she ate was vital. Anybody listening? Anybody pregnant with a vision and who would be the ‘vision carrier, builder and founder’ are like the pregnant woman. They got to go through what Manoah’s wife went through – strict diet! No fooling around, anybody listening? You cannot drink what you want, eat rubbish, spoil your health and still be perfect to carry your vision which is BIG. It can be a Church building, Bible College, School – whatever, you need to be separated for God through fasting.
We read about this WOMAN in Revelations chapter 12: 1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;
2 and she was with child; and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.”
The WOMAN mentioned above in the Church and the child mentioned are the new converts about to be delivered and she was in labor pain to bring them to Christ.
God bless you!
