Vow Study Updates
I wrote the New Vow study entirely by the leading of the Lord, through the “still small voice prophesied by Elijah for this age [1 Kings 19:12]. Upon being sent into the streets, the first book the Lord had me go through was Jeremiah, in which I found the precedent for the new covenant. [Jer 31:31; Jer 50:4-5, laid out below]. Though the Vow Study does include Jer 31:31, I did not find the fullness of the Scripture supports first; I was merely writing what He was bringing to me, in the form of that still small voice. Since then He has shown me much.
The Zech 11:9-13 prophecy: our covenant with the Lord [vows] was officially broken at the time of crucifixion, which is symbolic of the Garden of Eden, when we placed so little value upon Him, opting instead for Satan’s doctrines [at the cross Judas sold Him out for 30 pieces of silver; and we chose Barabbas, a known insurrectionist, whose revolt had led to murder] [the temptation of Jesus had 3 elements, like the garden; position and power (rule, like God), food for thought, and pizzazz, as in all the pleasures of this world]. Interesting side note to all this: in the seldom read book of Enoch, we see that Adam and Eve commit suicide (more than once, actually), when they realize what they have been deceived into doing, just like Judas did.
Zech 11:7-17
7 So I fed the flock for slaughter, in particular the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bonds; and I fed the flock. 8 I dismissed the three shepherds in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 9 Then I said, "I will not feed you. Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other's flesh." 10 And I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was broken on that day. Thus the poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12 Then I said to them, "If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain." So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said to me, "Throw it to the potter" — that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter. 14 Then I cut in two my other staff, Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 And the Lord said to me, "Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd. 16 For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces.
17 "Woe to the worthless shepherd,
Who leaves the flock!
A sword shall be against his arm
And against his right eye;
His arm shall completely wither,
And his right eye shall be totally blinded." NKJV™
But His prophetic Word promised of a day to come, when He would bring us under a new vow [covenant]; to be His people [and escape death], we are required to be under this new vow:
Ezek 20:37
37 "I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; NKJV
Jer 31:31-33
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. NKJV™
Through the book of Jeremiah the Lord explains some of why this has gone the way it did, and comes to a promise for this day [at the time of gathering of the remnant], which is when He will finally relent from His righteous wrath, and restore us in under a new covenant.
Jer 32:37-41
37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. 38 They shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39 then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. 41 Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.' NKJV™
This was scheduled to come at the time of the fall of spiritual Babylon, which had held his people in bondage, due to their waywardness, their unfaithfulness. His people began the kingdom effort at the time of Christ, but quickly fell away [Peter could not even make it through one night before he had denied the Lord three times], as so perfectly stated in this passage:
Jer 32:23
23 And they came in and took possession of it, but they have not obeyed Your voice or walked in Your law. They have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have caused all this calamity to come upon them. NKJV™
Violations of His actual commands are rampant, as though His words are meaningless. Consider Matt 23:9, and the Catholic priesthood, as just one of many [all of us willfully violate His Words in many ways (see Heb 10:26), which is well studied out in the series]. The ensuing Dark Ages were a terrible testimony to the calamity spoken of here. But, the prophetic promise of the new vow to come remained in Scriptures, and we have now arrived at that promised day.
Jer 50:2-7
2 "Declare among the nations, Proclaim, and set up a standard; Proclaim — do not conceal it — Say, 'Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed. Merodach is broken in pieces; Her idols are humiliated, Her images are broken in pieces.' 3 For out of the north a nation comes up against her, Which shall make her land desolate, And no one shall dwell therein. They shall move, they shall depart, Both man and beast.
4 "In those days and in that time," says the Lord,"The children of Israel shall come, They and the children of Judah together; With continual weeping they shall come, And seek the Lord their God. 5 They shall ask the way to Zion, With their faces toward it, saying,'Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord In a perpetual covenant That will not be forgotten.'
6 "My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; They have forgotten their resting place. 7 All who found them have devoured them; And their adversaries said, 'We have not offended, Because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, The Lord, the hope of their fathers.' NKJV™
Jeremiah is also where it is revealed that all this came down as a result of our “70 year” [7,000 years?] prison sentence, also referred to in Daniel 9. That sentence came about instead of our destruction [Christ took that upon His own body], because God would not allow us to walk away without any punishment, so grave was our sin [“surely die” was the attached command];
Num 12:14
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again." NKJV™
Jer 25:11
11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. NKJV™
All these prophetic statements point to this day, today, when He will finally relent from doing us harm [which we deserved, because we chose Satan over Him, back in the Garden]:
Jer 29:10-14
10 For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. NKJV™
But, as I said, the Lord had me write the vow study by His direct command to me; then He showed me all this information in Scriptures. Part of the reason for this is to establish the validity of this form of spoken command to me, and thus support the unusual form taken in certain portions of that vow [beg]: that part was new to our eyes, also a Scriptural prophecy:
Isa 52:15
15 So shall He sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
For what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider. NKJV™
Isa 48:1-8
1 "Hear this, O house of Jacob, Who are called by the name of Israel, And have come forth from the wellsprings of Judah; Who swear by the name of the Lord, And make mention of the God of Israel, But not in truth or in righteousness; 2 For they call themselves after the holy city, And lean on the God of Israel; The Lord of hosts is His name:
3 "I have declared the former things from the beginning; They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. 4 Because I knew that you were obstinate, And your neck was an iron sinew, And your brow bronze, 5 Even from the beginning I have declared it to you; Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you, Lest you should say, 'My idol has done them, And my carved image and my molded image Have commanded them.'
6 "You have heard; See all this. And will you not declare it? I have made you hear new things from this time, Even hidden things, and you did not know them. 7 They are created now and not from the beginning ;And before this day you have not heard them, Lest you should say, 'Of course I knew them.' 8 Surely you did not hear, Surely you did not know; Surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, And were called a transgressor from the womb. NKJV™
As we see from this passage, the Lord considers us “treacherous”; He is right, as we will see in the study series, and Ezekiel 16. We have violated our vows to Him [Mk 14:31; Luke 9:23-26; Luke 14:16-27] so terribly that it is stunning that He would ever even consider vows with us again. That is precisely why we must finally do a vow which will never end in unfaithfulness again. But, we will do it His way, not ours. The entire process of entering into a covenant of peace with Him will be fully on His terms, part of which the vow study makes apparent:
Luke 14:31-35
31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
34 "Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? 35 It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" NKJV
We must act this time; otherwise, we are quite near to being cast out.
New input has been given, at the time when one student was stuck, lacking desire for the Word of God; the Lord provided an example of correct wording for us to beg for from His lips, the command we need for the vow study, as set forth in Scriptures, which will give us the needed hunger for His Word. The second half of this verse is that command, in which is extreme power [John 18:6; John 11:39-44; Matt 8:8]:
Song 5:1
I have come to my garden, my sister, my spouse;
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;
I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;
I have drunk my wine with my milk.
(To His Friends)
Eat, O friends!
Drink, yes, drink deeply,
O beloved ones! NKJV™
So when we beg Him for that hunger for His Word, these are the actual words in Scriptures He needs to command; so we should make mention of the specific words, that He would forgive us, and speak these kind words to us, as prophesied here. Then if He blesses us with that command, we will uncontrollably hunger for the Word; that is how powerful His commands are.
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