The Vow God Awaits
Our Study Today
Today we are studying from Matthew 5:33–37. Let us go ahead and read the core Scripture verses.
Core Scripture Verses
Matthew 5:33 | Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’
Matthew 5:34 | But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne;
Matthew 5:35 | nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Matthew 5:36 | Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.
Matthew 5:37 | But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
Summary of Our Reading
We are continuing to study the sermon which the Lord gave, which we call the Sermon on the Mount. The Lord proclaims the Old Testament command which states that you shall not swear falsely, but you need to perform your vows to the Lord.
The good Lord says — do not vow at all. For if you need to swear, or make a promise, you need to make it on something, and you own nothing.
So God says, let your Yes be Yes and your No be No. And if you say anything beyond that, it is from the devil. An incredible statement. We always take this very lightly. We break our promises; we make promises. But the good Lord says do not do that.
Why would the Lord make this statement? Was it okay in the Old Testament? If so, why the change now?
So let us turn to the Old Testament to understand — was it okay then, and what changed that the Lord had to make this statement?
The Word “Swear”
The word “swear” is OMNYO, which means to promise by calling someone as a witness that you will perform something. It is not just you committing to do something, but you have called upon a witness and given your word that you will do it.
And the good Lord proclaims in Matthew 5, do not swear — rather let your words carry the weight they need to. If you say “Yes,” that is considered a promise which you make.
In the Old Testament
The First Person to Take a Vow
We read in Genesis 21 about a vow being taken.
Isaac has been born. Abraham was living in the land of Canaan when a Philistine king made a treaty with him. Abimelech was worried about Abraham, so he asked Abraham to swear by God that Abraham would not attack him. The Philistine king gave the same guarantee — that they would live in peace and allow each other to dwell in the land. It was more of a covenant to share the land.
We read in Genesis 21 that Abraham provided that promise in the name of the Lord.
The covenant which Abraham made ran into problems again in Genesis 26 under Isaac, and they had to make another covenant to live together in peace. That is man’s covenant. Though it is thought to be permanent, it is not, and there is much strife in it.
Both Abraham and Isaac, in a way, were unable to keep the covenant because the people with whom they made the covenant broke it. Since the Philistines broke the covenant, it became null and void. And both Abraham and Isaac were unable to keep it. That is the fragility of man’s covenant.
The Vow Which the Lord Himself Takes
In Genesis 22, we read about a different type of covenant — a covenant which the Lord Himself makes. This is the test which the good Lord gave Abraham. When Abraham does well in the test, the Lord makes a covenant. Let us read that verse.
Genesis 22:16 | and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—”
And the good Lord goes on to provide an eternal promise of redemption and salvation through God’s only Son. This covenant did not depend on Abraham. This covenant was made by God, swearing upon Himself, for there is no one higher than Him. And this covenant God fulfilled, even though Israel rejected Him.
The book of Romans teaches us that God did not wait for us to repent; He gave Himself on the cross for our sins without waiting for our repentance. That is a covenant — a promise which God makes. And He keeps it.
The Vow Submitted Unto the Lord
In Joshua 9, we read about a group of people called the Gibeonites. They heard about the great exploits which the good Lord had done for the Israelites in Egypt and in their journey through the desert. So they came to Joshua and proclaimed that they were a people who had come from far away — and when they heard what the Lord had done, they wanted to submit themselves to the Lord and serve Israel.
The Gibeonites were not a faraway nation; they were a nation in Canaan which God had asked Joshua to drive out of the land. Not knowing this, Joshua made a covenant with them. Later, when we come down to Samuel, we read that Saul tried to eliminate the Gibeonites, and the Lord Himself took vengeance because Saul broke the covenant.
Why did God protect the Gibeonites? Because they submitted themselves to the Lord, requesting a covenant. God honored that covenant. God did not honor their deception, but God honored the fact that Israel invoked the name of the Lord — so God stood behind it.
The Law
When the good Lord said, “Do not swear in the name of the Lord,” He was referring to an Old Testament law which was given to Moses by God Himself. Let us read that — we find it in Leviticus 19:12.
Leviticus 19:12 | And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
The good Lord says do not make a promise in His name. For if you do it, and if you cannot keep it, you have profaned the name of God. God is comparing this with the third commandment in the Ten Commandments.
But in this passage, Scripture gives the understanding that you can make a vow — but you must ensure it is not done falsely. So the understanding could be that you can make a vow in truth.
What vow can you make to God? “Lord — I will pray every day?” “Lord — I will give?” I do not know what vow or promise you make to the Lord. But the Lord says, if you take a promise and you are unable to fulfill it, you have profaned the name of God.
The Pharisees interpreted this command to mean that if you could keep the vow, go ahead and take it. This is the reference the good Lord is making in Matthew 5. But God had already explained this in the Old Testament. God explains this further in the Old Testament. Turn to Ecclesiastes.
The Danger of a Vow
Ecclesiastes 5:2 | Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few.
Ecclesiastes 5:3 | For a dream comes through much activity, and a fool’s voice is known by his many words.
Ecclesiastes 5:4 | When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed—
Ecclesiastes 5:5 | Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
The good Lord proclaims in the Old Testament that it is better not to take any vow in the name of the Lord. For if you do take a vow, you need to pay it. If you do not pay it, God considers you a fool, for you have made a covenant with God Almighty and you have broken it. And God never requested you to make a covenant.
What did the good Lord say in the New Testament? Do not take a vow at all. That is what the book of Ecclesiastes is teaching.
The good Lord said, just let your Yes be Yes.
Why would the good Lord not want us to take a vow? For one — if you take a vow and you do not pay it, you have blasphemed the name of the Lord and you have sinned against Him. But there is another reason why God does not want you to take a vow. Let us go into the New Testament, where the epistle of James explains this in detail.
Why Should You Not Take a Vow
James 4:13 | Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit.”
James 4:14 | whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
James 4:15 | Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
James 4:16 | But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
James 4:17 | Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
When you make a vow that you will do something, it points to a future event. James teaches us that if you do that, it means that for some reason you assume that you will be the master of the situation — that you control your life and the events around it — and so you commit to doing things. But your life is a vapor which can leave today.
God is not teaching us to assume we will die any day. Rather, God is teaching us to live in complete surrender to Him. Our life is just a puff of air, and if we assume we can do something in our own strength, that becomes pride.
Jeremiah 17:5 | Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.”
Jeremiah 17:5 proclaims that if you put your trust in man — and that includes your own strength — you are cursed and you have departed from the Lord.
Scripture proclaims that when you commit yourself to do something in your own strength, you have walked into pride. So the reason God asks you not to take a vow or a promise is so that you will not walk into pride. If you have taken a vow, recognize the danger of pride lurking behind that covenant.
Can we live this high calling?
Not Just a Vow — But Whatever You Speak
Now push this understanding further. A believer in Christ not only cannot take a vow in his own strength — he also cannot say Yes or No in his own strength. Jesus Christ said your Yes should be Yes, and your No should be No.
Since you have the Spirit of God, understand that your words cannot be empty. They must be spoken by grace and truth. Jesus Christ never spoke any empty words. So when you speak to other men, your words cannot be empty. They cannot contain vain repetitions. You need to speak in truth, by grace, through the Holy Spirit.
Ecclesiastes 5:2 | Do not speak anything hastily before God. For a New Testament believer, the Spirit of God rests in you — you cannot speak anything in your own strength.
Proverbs 16:23 & Matthew 12:36 | Be careful what you speak; you need to give account for every word that you speak.
Malachi 3:16 | The Lord records every conversation of those who fear the Lord.
The Call to a Higher Life
Now understand the high calling God has given you. And it is not a New Testament command, for the Lord has been consistent all through Scripture. God has not changed. His words have not changed.
Can you live this high calling? Where every word you speak is binding, and it is considered a vow, as the good Lord said. Your Yes needs to be Yes, and your No, No.
Now, if God considers you speaking to another person — either a believer or a non-believer — as eternally binding, what would you consider the vow you have taken to the Lord?
What You Owe to the Lord
Have you promised something to the Lord? You may or may not realize it. But Scripture teaches that yes, you have promised something to the Lord. And you need to keep the vow. Let me show you the New Testament verses — the promises which the Lord expects you to keep, because you owe them to the Lord.
The good Lord, multiple times, calls out that you are a debtor to Him, and you need to pay your vow. Understand the command — if you vow something to the Lord, you have to pay your dues. Else, you are a fool in the eyes of the Lord.
The word is OPHEILO (Strong’s G3784), which means to be a debtor, to owe something, and we are bound to do this. What is this?
1 John 4:11 | Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 3:16 | By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1 John 2:6 | He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
Hebrews 5:12 | We should be teachers; we are bound to do this.
2 Thessalonians 2:13 | We owe thanksgiving to God.
Ephesians 5:28 | Husbands owe love to their spouses.
1 Corinthians 11:10 | Women ought to be under the authority of their husbands.
Romans 13:8 | We owe to love one another.
Luke 17:10 | We owe obedience to God.
You already owe all this to God because He redeemed you. Can you do it? You already owe; you are already a debtor. If you are unable to pay these dues, my friend, you have failed.
How then can you keep it? Scripture teaches us how to keep it, and I am going back to the Old Testament.
The Vow Which the Lord Is Waiting For
Scripture teaches us that there is one vow, out of all these vows, which the Lord Himself is waiting for. It is praise. Let us read that in Psalm 65:1.
Psalm 65:1 | Praise is awaiting You, O God, in Zion; and to You the vow shall be performed.
Scripture teaches that the good Lord is waiting for the vow of praise to be performed. If there is one thing you need to do, it is to praise God. That is the one vow which God is expecting from you. For when you perform that vow, every other vow will be accomplished through the vow of praise.
Let me ask you this question — what is praise? How do you praise God? For this is the vow which the Lord is expecting to receive when He comes to His holy city.
Psalm 65:1, though it refers to the earthly Zion, Jerusalem, also points to the Bride of Christ — the New Jerusalem which is prepared for the Lord. And when the Lord meets the Bride, He expects praise.
The Understanding of Praise
It would take us a long time to scratch the surface of praise. But you would know that lifting up our hands and singing songs is not quite the full understanding of giving praise.
The most important understanding of praise is to shine. The word praise is HALAL in Hebrew, which literally means to shine or to flash forth light. Shine what? Jesus Christ explains that in Matthew 5 — we are the light of the world. What light are we shining? It is the light of Jesus Christ.
The more we show Christ, the brighter we shine. The book of Proverbs teaches us that this is a journey which we take in this life.
Proverbs 4:18 | But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.
The life we have in this world is a journey; we are pilgrims. And where are we heading? What is this journey? Psalm 23 teaches us that this is a path of righteousness.
And as we journey on this path, Scripture says we will grow brighter and brighter. The light of Christ in us will shine brighter and brighter — that is praise.
Our life reflects Christ, and when His work in us is completed, we will become the praise which God is waiting for, as the Bride of Christ.
Praise is also considered as a fruit.
Hebrews 13 teaches us this.
Hebrews 13:14 | For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.
That connects to Psalm 65:1 — that just as the good Lord is waiting for the city to come, we also are waiting for that city. We are not living in this world for this life. We are journeying as pilgrims to the city which is to come, so that we may offer our praise. But as we journey, look at the next verse.
Hebrews 13:15 | Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
We are offering praise to God in this journey by our lips. That is the reference to Matthew 5, where Jesus Christ says let every word be spoken in grace and truth, so that your Yes is Yes and your No is No.
For out of your lips proceeds praise.
Now understand that this praise cannot be offered by people who are not making this journey.
If you are not growing in Christ day by day, if you are not becoming Christlike day by day, if you are not seeking Christ day by day — you can never offer praise.
All your songs of praise and thanking God are nothing but blasphemous in the ears of God.
Only when you seek the Lord can you praise Him. Only if you are on the journey of righteousness can you praise Him.
Psalm 22:26 | Those who seek Him will praise the Lord.
Closing.
We read in Matthew 5 that the Lord commands us not to offer a vow, but rather to let our Yes be Yes.
When we speak anything, since we have the Spirit of God, it becomes binding, and we vow what we have spoken.
We saw the fragility of man’s vow and why we are in the mercy of God, and why we should not allow pride to lead us in our speech.
God, by His precious blood, has redeemed us, and now we owe God this journey — the journey of righteousness.
And this is the greatest debt which we can perform — seeking Christ. When we seek Christ, we grow brighter and brighter. Our life will become the praise which God is expecting from us. And that is the only vow which can be performed — by those who seek the Lord.
Man’s vows are fragile. Abraham’s, Isaac’s, even Israel’s covenants could not hold. God’s vow alone is unbreakable — He swore by Himself and fulfilled His promise through Christ on the cross
Because of that, Jesus commands us not to live by rash promises, but by truth-filled words: “Let your Yes be Yes, and your No be No.” Every word we speak now matters, for the Spirit of God dwells in us.
We owe the Lord not empty vows, but lives of love, obedience, thanksgiving, and Christlikeness. And above all, there is one vow God Himself is waiting for — the vow of praise.
As we walk the path of righteousness, our lives shine with the light of Christ. That shining, that fruit, is our true praise.
So let us not trust in our own promises, but in God’s promise. Let our words be true, our hearts humble, and our lives a continual offering of praise until the day we see Him face to face.
