God's Vows

The Scriptures record a number of vows that God made over the centuries. A vow is not the same as a covenant, but it is certainly just as binding.

Whether God vows something or not, His word cannot be broken, for He does not lie. For this reason, it seems strange that He would seem to make His word MORE binding by vowing and by making covenants. But He does this to emphasize the word (or the occasion) for our sakes. It has more to do with our ability to remember the word than with His intention to keep His word.

The law of vows itself is recorded in Deut. 23:21-23,

²¹ When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the Lord your God will surely require it of you. ²² However, if you refrain from vowing, it would not be sin in you. ²³ You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God, what you have promised.

For your study, I have selected just three vows that God made in Scripture. One is a Passover vow; the second is a Pentecostal vow; and the third is a Tabernacles vow.

The Passover Vow is found in Isaiah 45:23-25,

²³ I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. ²⁴ They will say of Me, 'Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.' Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him shall be put to shame. ²⁵ In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be JUSTIFIED and will glory.

The reason this is a Passover vow is the fact that it deals primarily with Justification, which is the underlying revelation of Passover.

The Pentecostal vow is found in Psalm 110:4 (quoted also in Heb. 5:6; 7:17, 21),

⁴ The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

The reason this is a Pentecostal vow is the fact that it deals primarily with Priesthood. Priesthood is a function of Pentecost. In the three parts of the tabernacle or temple, the outer court was for citizens of the Kingdom--those justified by faith. The Holy Place was for priests only--those who were sanctified, i.e., "set apart for divine service" as intercessors between God and man. The Most Holy Place was for the High Priest--who was called to see God face to face and behold His glory.

Therefore, Psalm 110:4 was God's vow to set up "a Kingdom of Priests" (Ex. 19:6) or "a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9). This was the underlying intent of God for Pentecost in Acts 2. The problem, as we showed in earlier web logs, is that there are Eli priests and there are Zadok priests--not only in the Old Testament, but also in the Pentecostal Age.

God's Tabernacles vow is found in Numbers 14:21,

²¹ But indeed, AS I LIVE, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.

The reason that this is a Tabernacles vow is that it portrays God's long-term goal for the earth. It establishes the fact that this is going to happen regardless of man's "opposition" to the plan.

When we look at the context of this verse, this fact becomes clear. Israel had just refused to enter the Promised Land. Their obstinate rebellion seemed to thwart the plan of God. God then told Moses to stand aside so He could destroy Israel and start over with Moses and his family. Moses argued that if God did that, then the neighboring people would think that God was NOT ABLE to bring them into the Promised Land.

In other words, man's opposition and lack of faith would be more powerful than God's ability to bring them into the Promised Land. The question here is whether man's "free will" ties the hands of God, making Him helpless to do anything other than wring His hands in despair and try to convince man to have faith in Him.

Much of modern theology thinks of God as essentially powerless to overrule the rebellious will of man, because this would violate the "free will" of man. They do not seem to contemplate the conversion of Saul (Paul) in the New Testament, nor do they ask themselves how free Jonah's will was. If God were to intervene directly with all men, as He did with Paul and with Jonah, then all would be saved immediately. Who was Paul to argue with a voice from heaven and a vision of Jesus Christ?? Who was Jonah to argue with God after his free underwater tour?

Such overt coersion is admittedly rare, but it does establish the truth that God could indeed save anyone and everyone whenever He would choose to do so. His response to Moses was not limited to bringing Israel into the Promised Land. God vowed to fill the whole earth with His glory! This does NOT mean that He will simply remove all the sinners and wicked so that only believers remain in the earth. No, the context says that man's opposition and lack of faith is not an obstacle to the overall plan of God for mankind. He will overcome all opposition in the end--not by obliterating them, or by putting them (permanently) into a separate place called "hell," but by converting them all.

Believe me, there will be no more unbelievers at the Great White Throne Judgment. This gets back to God's Passover vow, where He swore that "every knee will bow" and "all the seed of Israel will be justified." We know that the vast majority of the biblical Israelites were unbelievers when they died, to say nothing of the rest of humanity. How could all the offspring of Israel then be justified? Is it by virtue of their race, regardless of their lack of faith? Of course not.

It is because by the time of the Great White Throne Judgment, they WILL ALL HAVE FAITH. Faith comes by hearing (Rom. 10:17), and they will all hear God at that point, if not earlier during their life time. Paul repeats this vow in Phil. 2:9-11, enlarging upon it somewhat in verse 11, "and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Isaiah had merely said that they would "swear allegiance" to God. Paul says their allegiance will be to Jesus Christ, and that this will be "to the glory of God the Father."

There is no glory in forcing sinners to their knees and commanding them to swear allegiance to Him just before they are sent to a torture pit. Such an end would be an admission that God was unable to bring them into the Promised Land, because their confession was made after the buzzer.

The reason that people do not think that God can fulfill His vows is because they have been taught that hell is a literal fire, rather than the judgment of the divine law, and that hell is eternal, rather than age-lasting. These concepts are explained more thoroughly in my medium-sized book, The Judgments of the Divine Law. It is posted on the web site for everyone to read. If you don't have time to read it all, you might focus on chapters 4 and 5.

Chapter 4 deals with the nature of the "lake of fire" and how it is the "fiery law" of Deut. 33:2 that proceeds from the throne of God (Dan. 7:10) to judge the people. Chapter 5 deals with the duration of judgment, showing that the Greek word eonian and the Hebrew word olam do not normally mean "eternal." Dr. Robert Young, who wrote Young's Bible Commentary, has a Bible translation also, and he translates it "age-during." Rotherham's The Emphasized Bible translates it "age-abiding."

I believe that these words ought to be translated in such a way that they do not make it impossible for God to fulfill His vows. God is big enough to be a winner, not a loser. His justice (in the law) makes no room for torture, but for true justice for all.