Why God Swore

I’ve been studying the book of Hebrews the last few weeks and have been amazed at the incredible truths revealed about Christ in the book. I hope to share more soon about Hebrews, but I came across something tonight while reading about Abraham in Genesis that reminded me of something I read last night in Hebrews. I love to see how the Bible ties perfectly together and this was one of those times that just blows me away in amazement of who God is and how He works.

In Hebrews 6:13-17 the author ponders God’s oath to Abraham to bless him and make a great people from him:

¹³For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, ¹⁴saying, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you." ¹⁵And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. ¹⁶For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. ¹⁷So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

There was nothing greater for God to swear by than himself in his oath to Abraham (which ultimately has become a promise to us as well). God did not have to make an oath to Abraham. He had already made a promise and had no debt to Abraham by which he was forced to reveal himself. God chose to make an oath to Abraham.

But why? And why Abraham? I believe the reason why was so that Abraham would believe and not doubt (a constant theme in the Bible). But why did God choose Abraham and not someone else? Abraham was surely not the only good, moral man in the world at the time. Sometimes God’s choice in whom He loves and blesses can seem arbitrary. But it’s not. And here’s where Genesis 22 comes in.

God told Abraham to take his only son Isaac, the son of his old age through whom God’s oath and promise must surely come and to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering (to atone for sin). Abraham obeyed. He took Isaac to the mountain that God told him to and laid the wood on the altar, bound his son, and raised the knife and the flame. Surely Abraham had questions. Surely he had no idea what God was trying to accomplish through this. But Abraham obeyed because he knew that he could trust God more than himself.

Of course, as most all of us know, right before Abraham did the deed God sent an angel to speak to him and stop him, saying, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And God provided a ram, caught in a nearby thicket as a substitute sacrifice.

That’s always been the point in the story of Abraham and Isaac where my brain shuts off. But here’s the amazing words that follow from Genesis 22:15-18:

¹⁵And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven ¹⁶and said, "By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, ¹⁸and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."

God said that he has sworn by himself because Abraham did not withhold his only son. And then he says that the nations will be blessed because Abraham has obeyed his voice. The amazing thing is that God already made this oath, several chapters earlier, well before Isaac was ever born God made the oath to bless the earth through Abraham. And he made that oath because in God’s sovereignty He knew that Abraham would have the faith to obey. God swore the oath because of what would happen.

More amazing, that oath that God made to Abraham was surely what Abraham trusted in when he took Isaac to the altar. God had swore an oath. Abraham would trust that oath no matter what.

So how does this apply to our lives in the 21st century? God’s oath and his promise still stand to create a people for Himself, set apart. And God knows who will see that oath and in faith (which is in itself a gift of God) believe. We will believe when life is crazy. We will believe when we don’t understand what is going on. We will believe when we suffer. We will believe because God has swore an oath to Abraham and to us to bless His people.

So going back to Hebrews 6, the point of God’s oath is that it is his grace to us, a means by which we may believe. Hebrews 6 ends with these words:

¹⁷So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. ¹⁹We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, ²⁰where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

*Maybe more on this Melchizedek fellow next time.