Hebrews 6:13-14

Hebrews 6:13-14

The promise to Abraham

What was the promise that God made to Abraham? There were several, but the promise in view here was made after Abraham voluntarily took His son, Isaac, to the altar of sacrifice and was prepared to offer him to the Lord. This was an outstanding moment of human loyalty and obedience but also of faith and absolute humility before the Lord God. Thus the angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham with the words of Yahweh, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” Genesis 22:16-18.

The use of an oath when making promises in human situations is important because humans cannot be trusted, their word is often unreliable and untrue. That’s why our legal system usually asks people to swear on the Bible. For God to swear by an oath was unprecedented and shows that He was willing to bow to human convention in order to convince Abraham of His sincerity! That in itself is mind-blowing! But notice that God actually used His own name as the basis of His oath, in other words He was doubling down on the authenticity and integrity of His promise! Abraham was to understand that everything the Lord had said to Him was absolute truth and could never be questioned or broken. 

We have to admit, that the Lord God has kept to this word despite the recalcitrant and rebellious behaviour of Abraham’s descendants. To Abraham’s natural descendants, Israel, we Gentiles can add ourselves because, as Paul points out, we too are children of the promise. (Romans 4) We are part of the nations on earth who have been blessed. Hallelujah! 

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