God's Promise to Abraham Hebrews 6:13

 

According to the writer of Hebrews, “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love” which was “showed toward” God's “name” because the readers of Hebrews had “ministered to the saints” and continued “to minister”. The writer wanted “every one” of his readers to “show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end”, and that they “not be slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” of God. In chapter six and verse thirteen of Hebrews the writer refers to “when God made promise to Abraham” where we read:

For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,

The verse begins, “For when God made promise to Abraham,...”. The writer began with the words, “For when” or “even, indeed, no doubt, seeing then, verily and therefore at the time or season” “God” which refers to “the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit” “made promise” or “fashioned the announcement, assertion and profession of what He was going to do or furnish” “to Abraham” whose name means “father of a multitude” and was “the son of Terah and the founder of the Jewish nation”. The writer referred to the “time” when God “professed” to “Abraham” what He was going to do for Him.

The verse continues, “because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,”. The writer added, “because” which means “since, seeing that and thereupon” “he could swear” or “God held and and possessed affirming, promising, witnessing, testifying and invoking with an oath” “by no greater” which means “through, according to and toward no one or thing larger, elder or stronger”, “he swore” which means “God affirmed, promised, witnessed, testified and invoked with an oath” “by himself” or “through, according to and toward His own self”. Usually when someone “swore”, they would “swear” by something “greater” than themselves, but since there is no one “greater” than God, He “swore by Himself”.

When we think through these words in Hebrews, we understand the writer's use of “Abraham” as an example to show God's “faithfulness” to His word. When God promises, He keeps them, and this example demonstrated to the Hebrews' readers that God would “not forget” their “work and labor of love”. God “swore” to Abraham, and He kept His “promise”, and God gave us the promise of “eternal life” through a relationship with Jesus Christ His Son. Let us be assured, as God could “swear by no greater” and kept His promise with “Abraham”, so will He with us, and may that certain and sure expectation drive us to continue serving Him and His “saints”.

Next time the writer refers to when God said to Abraham, “surely blessing I will bless you”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.