An oath
„And Joseph said unto his brethren: I die; and God will surely visit you…”
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Genesis 50:24
If God had merely promised, without sealing His word by His oath, ought He not to have been trusted? But when, to silence all the whispers of our unbelieving hearts, He swears that He will do what He has said, we cannot refuse our assent to His word without making Him not only a liar, but something still worse, too bad to be named. The Lord will not hold the man guiltless who takes His name in vain, and can the man hope to be held guiltless who by his behaviour ascribes a crime to the Almighty which He will not leave unpunished in men?
If God had sworn but once, ought not all His creatures that are capable of knowing anything of His nature, to have given Him the glory of His faithfulness by an unshaken assent? But He has confirmed His word, not once or twice only, by His oath. What he sware to Abraham was confirmed to Isaac, and again to Jacob (Gen. 26:4; Ps. 105).
How often must God not only speak, but swear, and yet be disbelieved by men! How often do we find God in the Bible interposing His oath to confirm both His promises and His threatenings, that no pretexts might be left for doubt! Why are not the hearts of stubborn sinners terrified when they hear God swearing that He will never forget any of their works, and that they shall not enter into His rest? Why are not the hearts of trembling sinners emboldened to flee for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before them, when they hear the Lord saying: „As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he should turn and live” (Ezek. 33:11; Ps. 89:35).
The promise was confirmed by oath, not to the individual persons to whom Joseph was speaking, but, what was still better, to their fathers who were now with God. Surely the Lord would not lie to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, His chosen servants. Surely He would not forget those promises to their seed, in the faith of which they had lived and died.
Ought not our faith to derive strength and boldness from the still more important consideration, that the promises of mercy to us were originally made, and confirmed by oath, to our Lord Jesus Christ? The Lord hath sworn to the Redeemer, and will not repent: „Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Ps. 110:4). The Lord hath sworn by His holiness, that He will not lie unto David (Ps. 89:35).
voetnoot (u17(George Lawson (1749-1820), professor and minister at Selkirk, Scotland
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