My wife and I received a phone call at 6:30 one Lord’s Day morning, for which we had eagerly been waiting for several days. Over the phone we heard the tired, happy voice of our son say, “You’re grandparents again—a little boy.” This was their first son.
A brother, with whom I later shared this happy news, made the comment: “He is the second son that God has given to them.” What a thought! God had already given them His well-beloved Son! “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). Then that beloved Son, the only begotten Son of the Father, willingly gave Himself: “The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). What a divine, perfect pattern of giving that others might be blessed!
If Christian parents desire to teach their children the joy of laying down their lives in the sacrifice of service for others (Rom. 12:1), they will need to have the same desire of heart as Samuel’s mother displayed (1 Sam. 1:11), the same purpose of heart as Daniel displayed (Dan. 1:8), the same courage of heart as Moses’ parents displayed (Heb. 11:23) and the same wisdom of heart as Solomon displayed (1 Kings 3:7-9).
It would be well to consider carefully what purpose God has in giving to parents such a precious trust as children. We know that the children of believing parents (or a believing parent) are in a special position (1 Cor. 7:14). They are viewed by God as holy—sanctified, separated. Is it not important then that parents raise their children morally according to this position of separation?
Throughout Scripture we notice many examples of how the world sought to defile and corrupt the saints and their families through compromise. The various reactions of those recorded in God’s Word who were thus confronted provide a rich treasure house of moral principles to use in raising our children in this “present evil world.”
Consider some instances mentioned in which faith refused compromise. Joseph separated from the world’s corrupt pleasure offered him (Gen. 39:7-12) while Daniel separated from the food it offered to him (Dan. 1:8). Zerubbabel separated from the help that the adversaries of God’s people offered (Ezra 4). Jacob separated from the protection that his brother Esau offered (Gen. 33:12-15). The Apostle Paul separated the disciples from the religious corruption of the Jewish synagogue (Acts 19:8-9). Such examples might be multiplied, but these serve to show the vital importance of acting on the principle of separation in regards to ourselves and our children that we might be kept from that which would defile and destroy.
In Numbers 6 we learn what was involved when an Israelite, man or woman, was separated as a Nazarite for service to God. The perfect fulfillment of Nazariteship is seen in our blessed Lord Jesus. Only He, as He walked, perfectly fulfilled the “vow of a Nazarite” in His separation to God. On Him alone was heaven opened and the Father’s voice heard to say, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” What satisfaction and joy was the Father’s as He viewed this perfect Nazarite, His well-beloved Son!
On the other hand, for His creature man, this One came in His Nazariteship to do what a Samson could never do—fully, gloriously and forever deliver man from his hopeless condition of ruin under the power of death and Satan. What deliverance to the sinner did this Nazarite provide and what an example—beautiful in its moral perfection—for Christian parents to follow as they raise their children! In Amos 2:11 we see the heart of God for His people revealed: “I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites.” May we not say that His heart is the same today—that He still desires there to be Nazarites whose service will result in deliverance and blessing for His dear children?
How sad to notice, however, the reaction of the nation of Israel to this great kindness. They “gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.” Do we, as Christian parents, cause our children, who could morally become Nazarites in their lives, to drink the “wine” of this world, thus rendering them incapable of becoming deliverers?
God does not expect us to deny the claims of nature. Normal childhood development is seen perfectly portrayed in the life of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 2:40, 50-51). But, giving this world’s “wine” to our children is a very different thing from recognizing the claims of nature in normal childhood development.
The “sons” in Amos’ day not only were given wine, which rendered them incapable of being Nazarites, but those of them who could have been used as channels of the Word of God to His people were told not to prophesy. Israel had no desire to have their conscience affected by hearing God’s Word.
Christian parents have a solemn choice. Will their children be raised as deliverers and channels of the mind of God to His people or will they become eunuchs in the palaces of the world? How important that our children learn early in life to value the sublime, divine language of the Word of God so that some day they may communicate the mind of God to His beloved people. In Nehemiah’s day the children of the Jews could speak in the idolatrous language of Ashdod as well as the various languages of the peoples among whom they had been raised, but they had no ability to communicate in the language of the Jews (Neh. 13:24). What a grief to Nehemiah’s heart and a loss to the nation!
To prepare children to become prophets and Nazarites morally will cause parents travail. “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world” (John 16:21). Faithful Christian parents will feel daily what it is to cry to God for the needed strength, wisdom and help in raising their beloved children for His glory.
However, after this travail there is joy, for when the “man” has been born—Christ has been formed in the life—the pain of bringing forth is replaced by joy of the fruit produced. Paul, whose heart was full of love and care for the Galatian believers, wrote: “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4:19).
How important that Christ be formed first in our lives and then that we see that same blessed formation in the lives of our children! Though there is travail, there is also great joy and blessing for families and the assembly as a result. We will see our daughters become mothers “in Israel” (Judges 5:7)—nurturing the people of God—and our sons become “shepherds”—preserving and feeding the flock. Surely the tears and travail of bringing forth such fruit will be “forgotten” for the “joy” that “a man is born,” for the Lord’s glory and His people’s blessing.
Ed.