Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded. When a man vows a vow to Yahweh, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. “Also, when a woman vows a vow to Yahweh and binds herself by a pledge, being in her father’s house, in her youth, and her father hears her vow and her pledge with which she has bound her soul, and her father says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge with which she has bound her soul shall stand. But if her father forbids her in the day that he hears, none of her vows or of her pledges with which she has bound her soul, shall stand. Yahweh will forgive her, because her father has forbidden her.”
(Numbers 30:1-5)

“Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me. He who sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness. If anyone listens to my sayings and doesn’t believe, I don’t judge him. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects me, and doesn’t receive my sayings, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke will judge him in the last day. For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak.”“
(John 12:44-50)

When you pronounced an oath, you called on the name of the Lord. By calling on Adonai, you were saying that there was nothing that could keep you from doing this thing. It was so important that in only very few and distinct circumstances could you be saved from a foolish vow. Breaking a vow was expressly forbidden and swearing falsely was also forbidden. This was serious stuff made even more serious because the Name of Adonai was invoked.

Jesus OFTEN invoked the Name of Adonai, but never as a vow. Instead, He invoked the Name as the One who was in charge. The One who guided and led. The One who set the standard and was able to rightly judge all matters. Jesus knew how serious it was to associate with the Name of Adonai, and so Jesus humbly submitted Himself to the Father. Choosing to ONLY say what He was given to say and ONLY do what He was shown to do. That way, everything was in line with the Will of the Father, and was a proof of His sincerity and obedience. Jesus didn’t come to judge our vows or our words or our actions, but instead to provide a godly model where no one needed to cancel what we do, say, and think because they should always be in line with the Father’s Will.

Summary

One of the reasons we were given Holy Spirit is to remind us of who we can be in Jesus (John 16:8-11). We don’t have Jesus as a physical example to observe and follow, so Holy Spirit reminds us of what we can be when we rest on Jesus, when we follow His example, and when we do as He commands us to do. Instead of promising to do things, we should humbly submit to what we see spelled out in the Word and do what we are being shown to do. Since we are empowered by God to do what He calls us to do, we accomplish this by relying on Him. For strength. For Fruit (to use and to grow in our own hearts). For armour. For guidance. For correction. Jesus submitted to the Father, and we should too. It is how we live godly lives. It is a privilege as much as it is a responsibility.