Hebrews 6:17

 

Hebrews 6:17

Confirmed with an oath

Let’s remind ourselves again of what we learned from v13-14 about the oath that God swore to Abraham, “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. This promise followed the moment when Abraham was willing to offer his son as a sacrifice to the Lord! The verse before us expands the explanation of why God made such a promise and why He swore to fulfil it by using His own name. 

Let’s face it, the history of Abraham’s descendants is hardly clothed in glory, they have never excelled in faultless obedience and endeavours to do only the will of the Lord! The Israelites, later the Jews, have been rebellious, disobedient, arrogant and hard hearted in their relationship with the Lord God and, of all peoples, have rarely qualified themselves to be the apple of His eye. And yet they are! Despite all their failings and intransigence, their blatant breaking of His laws, God still owns and honours these people. Why? Because He made promises to them and He sealed His promises with an oath, the oath was made using His own name. God must continue to rescue and bless this nation simply because He said He would. And God cannot lie. 

To all those antisemites out there, and to all who claim that Israel is finished and the church is now God’s chosen nation, I would say you are standing on unstable ground. How can you negate a divine promise and how can you turn God’s oath against Him? God said what He said to Abraham because He wanted “to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised.” The good news is, that these promises apply not only to Israel but embrace all who believe, including Gentiles who have grasped God’s mercy and salvation, by faith. If we reject God’s eternal promises to the Jews, how can we believe that He will keep His promises to us? We need to stand on this Scripture in these days, it was written to all of us and the Lord never reneges on His Word! Hallelujah! 

 

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