Luke 1:15

For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

Great in the sight of the Lord ... is a far different thing from being great in the sight of men, the vicious and unprincipled Herod the Great, just mentioned, being a classical example of the latter type of "greatness."

No wine nor strong drink ... This prohibited, not merely wine, but all intoxicants, and supports the view that John the Baptist like Samuel, Samson, and the Rechabites in the Old Testament, was a Nazarite for life (Numbers 6:1-21); however, as Ash noted, "Some facets of the Nazarite vow are not specified here (e.g., allowing the hair to grow)."[16] The type of ascetic piety exhibited by John had its proper place in the purpose of God; although John, strictly speaking, was not in the kingdom, because he preceded it. Nevertheless, God used him, particularly in the manner of his life style contrasting so dramatically with that of Jesus.

It is impossible to avoid the significance of the contrast in this verse between intoxicating "spirits" which John would renounce and the "Spirit" who would be in him, filling him, even from his mother's womb, and for his whole life. The same contrast was evident on Pentecost when the apostles were not "drunk with wine" but filled with "the Spirit." Paul wrote, "And be not drunken with wine wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). Strong drink is an unqualified curse upon the earth; and, although Christ did not require the kind of abstinence which marked the life of John the Baptist, drunkenness is forbidden, as well as any association with a drunkard (1 Corinthians 5:11).