"Offer to Elohim (God) thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High" (Ps.50:14, NKJV).

After a review of the previous five days, a discussion, initiated by Brother Ljungstrand, on the sacredness and importance of vow-making and -keeping followed. Our 'Yes' is to be a real yes, and our 'No' a real no if we are to be genuine Remnant talmidim (disciples). We must keep our davar (word) even if it is to our personal loss because our davar (word) is always to be our bond. Yah'shua's (Jesus) Davar (Logos, Word) was His first and most important His activity from which priceeded all else (John 1:1). Our davar (word) is therefore the most important preface to our activity and works.

Therefore it is important that we are careful, deliberate, unrushed and fully Messiah-focussed before we make promises of any sort, being sure we are, first, actually able to keep them and, second, that we make every effort to ensure we will follow through. This is important not only between ourselves but even more so when we are making promises to Elohim (God) not just in prayer but also in that often forgotten of places, in worship and song. Do we ever seriously consider the lyrics we are singing and are we aware that we often making spoken, and therefore binding, vows, in our song? So when you sing to Yahweh, "I give my all to You", we need to be sure we actually intend to do that because otherwise we will be making a vow before Heaven and not keeping it. Our word is binding there too. Great care should therefore be taken in the hymns and songs we include in our songbooks.

We have spoken much of being like Yah'shua (Jesus) when He returns:

"But we know that when he appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this tiqveh (hope) in him purifies Himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:2-3, NIV).

If we, then, to be like Him at His Second Coming then we cannot ever allow our word to be made void. Consider the folly of the vow of Jephthtah the Gileadite. "If you will do so and so, I will do this, Master" is not something we should ever contemplate unless there has been serious prayer beforehand - ask Yahweh if He actually wants the vow to be made! Great men of Yahweh have made godly vows and fulfilled them nobly, some make godly vows and do not keep them and are reackoned as vow-breakers (no mean sin in Yahweh's eyes), while others make rash, ungodly vows and keep them to their detriment and the detriment of others. How rash and foolish was Jephthah's vow:

"If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be Yahweh's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering" (Judg.11:30-31, NKJV).

Jephthah's folly was double because he carried out his vow which would have been the lesser of two evils considering what he next did:

"When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child" (Judg.11:34, NKJV).

He chose to murder her in a human sacrifice, an abomination in Yahweh's eyes. Such the is madness of a rash vow so we must never allow ourselves in such a situation, whether verbal or written. Be so very careful what you contract yourself to lest you bind yourself and your dependents in abject misery that you will bitterly regret for the rest of your life.

Which brings us to an important question: what does the B'rit She'erith or Covenant of the Remnant actually look like? For covenant there must be a proper relationship to obtain the desired blessings. To begin with, the Remant consists of the Called (they don't call or appoint themselves), the Chosen (they don't select themselves), the Faithful, the Bride and the 144,000 amongst others. The one defining symbolic act of the Remnant is those willing to crawl on their hands and knees beneath the curtain that separates the world from the Outer Court, and the Outer Court from the Sanctuary. It is the Derech 'Anavah or the Way of Humility.

We all come with mixed motives even if they should be pure but so long as the main desire is to be as close to Yah'shua (Jesus) as possible, this will bring Heaven's approbation. To attain the Sanctuary and to remain there does, however, demand pure motives, more so in the Holy of Holies, for no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of Elohim (God) and live. You cannot be double-minded in the Beit Elohim (House of God).

As we draw closer to Yah'shua (Jesus) by emunah (faith) and obedience to Torah and thus to divine tavnith (pattern), so greater toqef (authority) is conferred. With greater toqef (authority) comes greater mishmereth or responsibility/charge to enter priesthood service, Yahweh's tasking being that we should lift up the people in all emet (truth).

Toqef (authority) is a crown that must be work correctly, of which there are many types, because there are many types of toqef (authority), glory and honour, and may be viewed in the proper humility as shown by the Council of 24 Elders or Presbyters surrounding Yahweh on His Throne:

"Whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: 'You are worthy, O Yahweh, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created'" (Rev.4:9-11, NKJV)

These are not like the crowns of earthly monarchs but are golden circlets with the words, Qadosh la Yahweh inscribed on them, meaning, Set-Apart (Holiness) to Yahweh. This means that those thus crowned are not their own (they do not belong to themselves), their toqef (authority), power, glory and honour being solely derived or 'on loan', as it were. The symbolic casting of the crowns at Yahweh's feet therefore depicts recognition of this status, all toqef (authority, power, glory and honour ultimately belonging to Elohim (God).

When David captured Rabah, the capital of Ammon, he put the crown of the Ammonite king on his head which in the Septuagint Version (LXX) of 2 Samuel 12:30 (cp. 2 Chr.20:2) is described as being similarly inscribed with that pagan king's deity, "Of the god Milcom". When the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) receive crowns is is not because they have become 'Teacher's Pets' but denotes their stewardship. Casting crowns can therefore also signify giving an account of stewardship.

The devil as the "great red dragon" wears his own crowns too (Rev.12:3) as does "the beast coming out of the sea" who wears 10 crowns, one for each of his horns (13:1). He receives power and toqef (authority) from the dragon. Yah'shua (Jesus) as the Davar Elohim (Word of God) sitting on a white horse, the "faithful and the true" is crowned with "many crowns" (19:11-13). When His opponents wear crowns it is because they are unrighteously claiming His toqef (authority), power, honour and glory, and mean to take it from Him, if they can, by overwhrowing His rule.

The officers of Yahweh's Priesthood in the Messianic Community likewise wear crowns which is their toqef (authority) and office granted them by Heaven, as do husbands and fathers in their families. To dishonour divinely-appointed toqef (authority) is therefore to dishonour Yahweh who gave it in the first place.

Since these crowns are not visible with the human eye, recognising such toqef (authority) is therefore most important in the Kingdom Order. Some authorities are by default (as husbands and fathers possess it by birth) but others, such as those with Kingdom mandates [1], are not so easy to identify because of all the counterfeit crowns that are claimed, the toqef (authority) thereof being exercised for as long as believers are convinced that they actually have it. True toqef (authority) has both a legal and spiritual component, the latter confirming the former [2] and is itself confirmed by strict adherence to the Davar Elohim (Word of God) which possesses its own toqef (authority) [3].

The ultimate satisfaction of the one casting his crown before the Thone is the knowledge of a job well done. The real danger believers face comes from the casual and dangerous thinking of the false 'once saved, always saved' evangelical doctrine which is the surfing of grace with no depth - no feet in the water of the Ruach (Spirit). Brother Ljungstrand reminded us of the two ways - the false and the truth:

The true believer looks forward with tiqveh (hope) to his satisfaction as he casts his crown before the Throne in the resurrection whilst the counterfeit believer wants his reward now and if he is not titillated by some 'psychic high' in mind, heart or body, will soon turn away, because his 'salvation' is of the flesh and not of the spirit. The counterfeit lives in hope of redemption where as the true knows he has it already by emunah (faith, trusting) that leads him to joyful Torah-obedience in true tavnith (pattern).

Sister Enger reminded us of the true fruits of such a talmid (disciple):

"We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love Elohim (God),' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love Elohim (God), whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves Elohim (God) must also love his brother" (1 John 4:19-21, NIV).

The goal of the Remnant - the ahavah (agapé love) that drives it - is to only do the Father's will, and speaks of total dependence. The love of mammon or money, by contrast, speaks and witnesses of independence, Brother Ljungstrand noted. We must develop dependence on Yahweh every second. Brother Ljungstrand recommended in this connection the two volume publication, Andens Lag (Law of the Ruach/Spirit) written by a Swedish navi (prophet) over a century ago.

Endnotes

[1] See the Bible Study, Yahweh's Authority, Order and Discipline for the Messianic Community and parallel sermon
[2] See the Olive Branch, Section 191, On Holiness and Authority
[3] See the Bible Study, The Authority of Yahweh's Word: Scripture and parallel sermon