No Joy as a Disciple?
John 3:29
"He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled."Numbers 6:1-21
"1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: "When either a man or a woman consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord,
3 he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins.
4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.
5 'All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.
6 'All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body.
7 He shall not make himself unclean, even for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they die; because his separation to God is on his head.
8 All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the Lord.
9 'And if anyone dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it.
10 Then on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
11 And the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned in regard to the corpse. And he shall consecrate his head that same day.
12 And he shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation, and bring a male lamb in its first year as a trespass offering; but the former days shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.
13 'This is the law of the Nazirite: when the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
14 And he shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb in its first year without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish as a sin offering, one ram without blemish as a peace offering,
15 a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, along with their grain offering and their drink offerings.
16 Then the priest shall bring them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering;
17 and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer its grain offering and its drink offering.
18 Then the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.
19 And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and put them upon the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair,
20 and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. They are holy to the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering; and after that the Nazirite may drink wine.
21 'This is the law of the Nazirite who vows to the Lord the offering for his separation, in addition to whatever else his hand is able to provide; according to the vow which he takes, so he must do according to the law of his separation.'"
The Law of Moses regulated Nazirites for the Israelites: Women and men could consecrate themselves to God. But they had to give up some things. Could Nazirites still be happy? – Can renunciation of something and joy go together?
In Numbers 6, we find the regulations concerning the Nazirites. The term Nazirite is derived from the Hebrew "nasir," which means "set apart, consecrated." It, therefore, refers to people who have consecrated themselves to God. Part of the consecration was that a NaziriteThe term "Nazir" or "Nazarite" (Amos 2:11, 12) means one who is set apart or consecrated. He was prepared to live completely for God and consecrate himself to Him in... More could not enjoy anything that came from the vine (Numbers 6:4). In the Bible, wine is an image of earthly joy (see PsalmPsalm simply means "song." In the Old Testament, this word only occurs in connection with the Psalms of David and the Book of Psalms. Singers sang a psalm with instrumental... More 104:15). A NaziriteThe term "Nazir" or "Nazarite" (Amos 2:11, 12) means one who is set apart or consecrated. He was prepared to live completely for God and consecrate himself to Him in... More should consciously renounce this joy in his devotion.
We Christians should consecrate ourselves to the Lord Jesus. Not for a limited time, as was usually the case with a Nazirite, but for our entire lives. As we dedicate ourselves to Him, we will be willing to give up earthly pleasures. Especially when we realize that they are an obstacle on the path of devotion to Christ. We can think of fun, sports, games, and other pleasures that are permissible in themselves but in which we, as "Nazirites," do not want to lose ourselves. For, as Bible commentator William Kelly once said: "All earthly things have one fault: Christ is not in them."
Does this mean that we are condemned to joylessness and have to go through life with our shoulders slumped if we want to live apart and be devoted to God? A thousand times, no!
For even a Nazirite has joy. This is well illustrated by the life of John the Baptist, who was consecrated to God from his mother's womb (cf. Lk 1:15). Even before his birth, he leaped for joy in his mother's womb during an "encounter" with the Lord Jesus (Lk 1:44).
At the end of his ministry, he said:
"He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled" (Jn 3:29).
We notice that the joy of a NaziriteThe term "Nazir" or "Nazarite" (Amos 2:11, 12) means one who is set apart or consecrated. He was prepared to live completely for God and consecrate himself to Him in... More is closely linked to the Lord Jesus. Those who know Him and live in fellowship with Him experience "joy inexpressible" (1 Peter 1:8). And you certainly don't want to be without that joy, do you?