The Believer’s Vow
by Peter MastersFROM SWORD & TROWEL 2003 No
1
A vow is very different from a promise, and its obligations - and its benefits -
should never be forgotten
And Jacob vowed a vow
(Genesis 28.20).
The most powerful undertaking a person can make is a vow. It is a very little
word, but it signifies a total yielding of mind and body to honouring a binding commitment.
Small as it is, a bullet is more lethal than a blow; so is a vow more decisive and compelling
than a promise.
Jacob, as a young man, made a vow that determined the course of his life and
established his place in sacred history. From his vow comes a wealth of understanding for
us today, and a great challenge, because the Christian life is based on such a vow.
There is no doubt about the serious status of Jacob’s vow because he marked
it with the most solemn ceremony he could devise.
To appreciate the depth of Jacob’s act of dedication to the Lord we need to
remind ourselves of the differences between a vow and a promise. We are not speaking here
about God’s promises, which are infallible, but about human promises. As far as mortals are
concerned, a promise is not as strong as a vow. We should certainly endeavour to keep all
our promises, and maintain integrity, but a promise is often made in hope. It is a well-
intended expression of good will.
We will keep that promise if we possibly can, but a promise may fall foul of
circumstances. The giver of the promise may become sick, or for any number of reasons be
prevented from keeping it. A human promise cannot be absolutely guaranteed. We use our
very best endeavours, but that is all we can do. A vow, however, is far more powerful. You
only make a vow if you can definitely keep it, and if you make a vow, you must
keep it. It is an absolute pledge.
In saying these things, we do not want to downgrade promises but we must
recognise that there is a great difference between these and vows. To keep a vow we bind
our consciences, giving that vow priority over all other matters. We feel that we will be held
to account by God if we fail in a vow. And we repeat, the Christian life, our walk with
Almighty God, is based upon a vow.
Jacob’s vow was his response to a remarkable communication from God in a
vision as he slept. He lay in a wild, rocky place under the dark, open sky, lonely, bereft of
help, and doubtless feeling the guilt of his recent act of deception. However, despite his
unworthy conduct, he truly believed the promise made by God to Abraham, that all the
world would be blessed through his special descendant.
That night at Bethel, God, in great mercy, gave Jacob the vision of a ladder
(or staircase) reaching up to Heaven, the angels ascending and descending on it. Then the
Lord spoke, giving the first direct assurance to Jacob that he would be successor to
Abraham in bearing the promised seed. God would be with him, and keep him, and bring
him back to his homeland.
In effect, we may say that Jacob was assured that he was a forgiven and
‘saved’ man, a child of God, and that the Lord would watch over him. When he awoke he
knew that his experience had been far more than a dream of the night. ‘Surely the Lord is in
this place,’ he said, affirming a definite, unmistakable experience of God. Overwhelmed
with awe, he now possessed an entirely new view of life, reaching into eternal life. ‘This,’
he said, ‘is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’
The response of the young exile was immediate. ‘Jacob rose up early in the
morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and
poured oil upon the top of it.’
Before he concerns himself with the practicalities of life, and how he will
survive another day in open, wild country, Jacob interacts with God. He takes the stone of
his dream, the physical representation of his experience, and using other stones for a
column (we must presume), lays his memorial on the very top. Then he pours oil upon it.
What is he doing? What can the oil mean? In all likelihood it represents his
life. Oil was vital in cooking, medicine, lamps, and other applications also. It came into
every department of life in those times, and probably represented, in Jacob’s mind, the
breadth and length of his life. This he poured out upon the memorial of his dream in solemn
ceremony before God.
If we had been present that night we would have seen nothing of Jacob’s
encounter with the Lord, for it was an inner, secret experience. We believe it brought deep
conviction of sin, as well as saving light. The work of a Mediator was seen there, with the
possibility of knowing God and speaking with Him. There Jacob learned that the mighty
gulf between lost mankind and the holy God could be bridged.
We are told that Jacob called the name of that place Bethel, meaning the
house of God; the place where God had met with him, and received him into His
‘household’ or family.
A superficial reading of Jacob’s vow reveals an unpromising beginning, for
Jacob said (and the emphasis seems to fall on the first word) - ‘If God will be
with me’. The ‘if’ naturally imposes itself on the phrases that follow: ‘And if
He will keep me in this way that I go, if He will give me bread to eat, and
raiment to put on, and if I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall
the Lord be my God.’ The ‘if’ colours and spoils everything. But that is not how we should
read this vow.
The ‘if’ suggests that Jacob is uncertain, and his vow conditional upon God’s
performance. But the Hebrew word can equally point to something consequential, positive
and emphatic, so that it could be translated: ‘And Jacob vowed a vow, saying,
Seeing that God will be with me’, or ‘Since God will be with me’, or
‘Because God will be with me’. Equally one could expand it to read: ‘If God
will be with me, as He most certainly will be . . . ’ Jacob is certain and positive, speaking
the language of faith.
If we wish to keep the word ‘if’, we must place the emphasis on the second
word of the vow to capture Jacob’s sense of wonder and certainty. Thus it becomes: ‘Jacob
vowed a vow, saying, If GOD will be with me . . . ’ If no less a being than
Almighty God intends to be with me, and keep me, and provide for me, and bring me back
to my homeland, then I am overwhelmed and bound to pledge myself to Him. So Jacob
vowed unreservedly to serve the Lord.
If we have been drawn by God’s irresistible grace to Jesus Christ, and if He
has revealed the blood of Christ to us and shown us how our sins may be washed away, and
if He has heard our cries and tears, giving us bread for the soul (by the riches of His Word),
and clothes to put on (namely the righteousness of Christ), and if He has accepted us for life
and eternity, then our only possible response must be to vow - ‘Lord, I submit to Thy rule; I
will love Thee and cleave to Thee before anything else, and be wholly Thine.’
Perhaps a reader has sought the Lord, sincerely repented of sin, and asked for
salvation by Christ alone, and yet still feels unheard and unblessed. The example of Jacob’s
vow may help. Perhaps you have not yet responded with a vow. You have certainly believed
in Christ’s love, and long to know you are His, but your mistake may be that you have not
vowed this vow. You have not said to the Lord with trust and commitment, ‘I give myself
unreservedly and wholeheartedly to Thee. Unworthy as I am, standing by grace alone, I
pledge myself to Thy rule and Thy service for ever.’
There is longing in your heart, but as yet, perhaps, no solid expression of
trust and allegiance. Or, if you have made a vow, you may have placed all the emphasis on
the ‘if’, so that it reflected uncertainty and lack of trust. If the Lord has opened your heart
and brought you to His feet in repentance, then you must make and mean the solemn vow
that wholly yields to Him.
Jacob built a memorial pillar to help him remember the great day which was
so pivotal in his life. We need not do this today. Since the time of Jacob, God’s Word has
given us settled rules for the way in which we should pray and worship. We no longer go
about constructing memorials, and doing physical things, now that we live in the full light
of the Gospel. But we learn from Jacob the great importance of sealing major blessings in
our memory. From time to time Jacob did forget his vow, and then he would suffer trials
and chastisement from God, until he returned to his first and best commitment.
A vow is a wonderful thing, but it must be remembered and renewed. You
make it and you keep it and you renew it day by day, and year by year. A daily affirmation
in prayer keeps the vow alive, and this gives immense practical help to us.
Suppose our natural personality and disposition is such that we are inclined
to be lazy, and over-relaxed. To put a kinder term to it, we are easy-going. And suppose this
causes us to leave in our wake a long line of sins of omission. The solemn and binding vow
will be an enormous help to us. You remember your vow and you pull yourself together and
put your whole heart into the Christian walk. You say, ‘I made this vow before God; I made
it to Christ Who suffered and died for me, and I am going to keep it. My Lord delivered me
from a pointless life of sin, suffering, and ultimate judgement, and brought me into His
household, to live under His grace and for His glory. I vowed to love and serve Him with all
my heart and strength, and I must keep that vow.’ When we think like this, then the vow has
the power to help us override our particular weakness of personality.
It may be that someone is the opposite - ambitious, competitive,
adventurous, and inquisitive - always needing new things, new adventures, new
experiences, new responsibilities and fresh significance in life. To have inner, restless
dynamism and initiative is a great gift, but it can carry you astray and away into worldly
activities and self-indulgence.
However, it need not, if everything you do is affected and coloured by the
great vow that you once made. First and foremost you are for the Lord, and all your
energies, ideas and activities are conditioned by that pledge. Your high determination to
honour it influences you deeply, and you become a spiritual powerhouse in your
community, your family, and your church. Your innovative tendencies which could so
easily have snatched you off the right path, are held under the reins of wisdom, so that your
energies are exercised to God’s glory. The vow will hold us firmly to the pathway, if we
regularly review it, honour it, and fear to break it.
It may be that we are introspective, and easily become self-occupied and
troubled by events and trials, living subjectively at the mercy of everything that goes on.
But the solemn vow remembered and renewed can pull us out of that slough and put
outgoing firmness into us. I say, ‘I have made a vow, and I have to live by it and keep it.’
The vow is for God, of course, but it is also helpful to us. It is tremendously strengthening
to pledge our lives, our love, our strength, our time, our minds and our wills, and never to
wander from that pledge.
1. The vow can be kept
Let us now look at a number of features of a vow, to show how unique it is.
A vow, as we have already mentioned, is the highest possible undertaking we can make, and
yet it is possible to keep it honourably. We make vows only on certain rare occasions, such
as a wedding service.
A vow is reserved for the very highest issues of life, and there is none higher
than the pledging of a life to God. The vow is far more than a promise, but it is attainable.
The vow lays hard duties upon us, but nothing more than we can perform. The vow is a
towering commitment, and yet it is reasonable; it can be done. After all, we do not vow to
reduce mountains to dust, or raise valleys, or to work any other miracle. We do not vow to
be sinless, or any other impossible accomplishment. We vow, by God’s help, to love Him,
to put Him first, and to serve Him, and that is what we must surely do.
It is worth saying that we were not promised to God by a third party, such as
a pastor, but we ourselves freely vowed to live for Him.
2. The vow is made to God
To help us maintain the highest respect for this vow, we remember that it
was not made to a fellow-man or woman, but to Almighty God, Who will remember it
eternally. He Who is infinite and eternal, the one true and living God, reigning in glorious
majesty, took the vow of a tiny creature saved by mercy alone, and treasures it in Heaven.
How careful we must be to keep that pledge! How dare we insult Him! God has deigned to
listen to, and receive, and to be pleased with our vow, and we had better mean it and keep it
alive.
3. Made in the light of the cost
Our vow to God was not a vague or unenlightened act. It was made in full
understanding of what we were doing, and the possible cost. God has been faithful to us in
His Word, telling us that this vow may cost us persecution and disadvantages. It may
expose us to scorn and derision. It will certainly deny us our worldly, selfish dreams. So we
knew the cost at the time of making it, and we should keep it. We understood very well that
it might be hard, but nothing by comparison with the price that Christ paid for our souls. No
matter what earthly losses, persecutions, trials and rejections come our way, we must keep
that vow.
4. Marking the milestones of life
Our determination to honour this momentous vow will be greatly
strengthened whenever we think of its spiritual significance in our life. It marked the end of
our rebellion against God. It marked our first life-transforming sight of the Lord. It was only
by the grace of God that we ever made that vow. As lost sinners, rebels and fools, full of
pride and far from the Lord, resenting His commands, and full of self, we were broken and
humbled by divine grace, and brought to repentance.
That vow marked the end of a long chapter of rebellion, and the beginning of
willing commitment to Him. It stands today as a monument to the great change of heart,
which was the greatest moment of our lives this side of glory. Keeping the vow honours
what happened then through the work of grace - the end of rebellion.
5. Pledging every part of us
In keeping the vow, we are deeply aware that it conveyed to God not just
part of us, but our whole being. I gave everything. In life I make promises, and each one
commits a little part of me or my substance, but the vow to God commits all of me, and I
must be careful never to take back any portion of that pledge.
I have given Him my mind, and whenever I renew my vow I must ask
myself if I have filled my mind with irrelevant or ungodly things, pressing into a small
corner the concerns of Christ. I have given Him my heart, and I must not love other things
so excessively that my love for Christ is diminished.
I have given Him my time, my means, my behaviour, my energies, and if
necessary, even my liberty. I have given everything to Him, and when I renew that vow I
must remember that it includes every part of me. I must not leave out any department of my
behaviour, and please myself.
6. A pledge of priority
This vow was a pledge to make the things of God our priority in life. It must
influence everything. What will be my policy for life? Where shall I settle and live? What
will be my career or work? Where and in what capacity shall I render spiritual service? How
will the inevitable changes in life affect my priorities? Will everything be subject to the
guidance of God, and the rule of His Word?
Will my expenditure on various things inhibit real stewardship? Will I be
able to worship God and keep His standards in my chosen pathway? Will my children be
brought up chiefly to succeed in this world, and to inflate parental pride, or will my priority
be to consider spiritual light and strong character?
Our vow should cause us to balance in a responsible way how much time
and attention we give to different duties and activities; and how we spend our resources. It
should affect the ordering of our daily and weekly programmes, and what we do with
leisure time. This vow is about priorities, and should always be in our mind. It functions as
a wise counsellor and a constant reminder that I am a privileged servant, ambassador and
heir in Christ’s kingdom.
7. God will keep me to it
This vow will stand for all time, and for eternity. We made it, and if we do
not honour it, then God may have to keep us to it by discipline. Perhaps, like Jacob, we
shall at times waver and slide from the ideal path. We see in his life long periods of trial
and difficulty, with chastisements, and periods of training. By such means God ultimately
held him to his vow. Even that gracious and holy man had to pay with times of hardship,
and so will we if we do not keep the vow gladly. Our vow was made to God, Who will
remember it when we forget, or when its binding importance diminishes in our mind.
8. Components of Jacob’s vow
The key words of Jacob’s vow embrace a number of undertakings: ‘ . . . then
shall the Lord be my God.’ ‘God’ clearly implies ruler, and so Jacob submitted
himself to the Lord as his ruler. We made that same promise. We said, ‘the Word of God
will be my authority.’ We promised, in so many words, that if the sacred page said our
conduct was wrong, the offending thing would be put out of our lives. We promised that
whenever the Word set us an objective, a goal, we would pursue it with all our strength.
In these days the Word of God has lost so much of its authority among
Bible-believing people. The infallible Word is made to share its authority with the
imaginings and opinions of mere mortals. We decide our affairs for ourselves, and even
operate our churches as we like. How greatly we need to get back to the terms of the
Christian’s vow!
Under this, if the Word of Truth tells me something is right or wrong, that is
the final word. If it rules out something I do, or something I aspire to, or something I
possess, then I must give it up. That vow, perhaps made long ago, keeps me under the rule
of the Lord, and under His smile and blessing.
When the vow says, ‘then shall the Lord be my God,’ it means that He will
be my chief joy and the chief object of my love. Other joys, legitimate as they may be, will
all have second place to this. Even the dearest person to me on earth - one who is a blessing
from God - must not be the supreme object of my heart. Together we must look in the same
direction, and the Lord will be the Person Who we honour and put first in matters.
‘Then shall the Lord be my God’ also means that He will be our chief sphere of
study. We all have to study something, whether our craft or profession or parenting, but the
greatest field of study for us is the Word of God, and especially Christ - the sum of all
sacred knowledge. A university degree takes three years, but Christ’s fulness is our
occupation for a lifetime. The Bible, we once vowed, must provide the core of all our
opinions and wisdom.
The words, ‘then shall the Lord be my God,’ also identify the Eternal One as
our ultimate destination. In our vow we looked beyond our plans, legitimate as they may
have been, for the next year or decade, into our heavenly future. We pledged ourselves to
please Him to Whom we are going. He must be our sole reliance and hope, we said, the One
to Whom we bring everything in prayer; the One upon Whom we depend for all
deliverance, help, strength, and blessing. He would be the One we represented. We would
be spokesmen and spokeswomen for Him, and representatives for Him.
That vow should have given us the loyal spirit of a Luther, ready to stand for
the faith and even to die for it. The vow should hold us against satanic attacks, so that when
the devil comes with his sinister wiles, enticing and alluring us to some sin, we may
remember our vow, saying, ‘I am pledged to the Lord, for I owe Him everything, and must
keep my vow to Him.’
The vow strengthens us, keeps us striving for holiness, and keeps us fervent
in Christian service. When the going is hard, and we feel inclined to cut corners, we renew
our vow and take our difficulties and fatigue to the Lord in prayer, Who always sustains His
pledged people.
When did the reader of these words have his or her Bethel experience? Did
you make your vow as a teenager, or younger? Or were you in your twenties or even fifties?
Do you keep your mental memorial swept and prominent to your view? You may not be
able to remember the precise date, the stirrings of the heart, the exact history of your
salvation, but you know there was a time when you pledged yourself to God, and you must
never forget that time, or that vow.
We have a critical calling here in this land, with society in a worse state of
moral degradation and spiritual ignorance than in centuries. We grieve to see the moral diet
fed to young people through the entertainment industry, with all its gross infidelity and
shamelessly self-serving philosophy of life.
Pastors everywhere report that it has never been so hard to bring people into
the house of God through community visitation, and even the student world has become
seemingly impenetrable due to unprecedented hardness of heart. It is only believers who
hold to their vow who will be able to sustain the difficulties of the present age, and keep up
their zeal. And the Lord will honour them for that.
If any reader is tempted to ease, or worldliness, or excessive fun, or leaving off
prayer, or cynicism - for the devil will ensure that all are assailed by temptation - then the
living vow will hold and re-inspire you.
Jacob at Bethel is the record of a young man’s vow - a vow that now sparkles
like a jewel on the tapestry of redemption history. The vows of countless other young men
and women have, in the course of time, opened mission fields, swayed nations, planted
churches, maintained Sunday Schools, withstood persecution, and witnessed to the love of
Christ in the fires of persecution. How greatly Britain needs a new generation of youthful
vows, and a recommitment of long-made vows!
May every reader in the last day of life be able to say with the apostle Paul - ‘I
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.’ Paul kept his
vow through thick and thin, and that is what we must do also. Philip Doddridge says it for
us all -
High Heaven, that heard the solemn vow,
That vow renewed shall daily hear,
Till in life’s latest hour I bow,
And bless in death a bond so dear.
Derived from a message by Dr Masters available on audio cassette, audio
CD or video cassette from:
Cassette Ministry, Metropolitan Tabernacle, Elephant & Castle, London
SE1 6SD. www.MetropolitanTabernacle.org
|
