Swearing by Heaven - Matthew 23:22

Matthew the apostle wrote how Jesus said, “Woe unto you, you blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! You fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever swears by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. You fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift. Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, swears by it, and by all things thereon. And whoso shall swear by the temple, swears by it, and by him that dwells therein”, and in chapter twenty-three and verse twenty-two of his book, Matthew shared how Jesus talked about, “he that shall swear by heaven” where we read:

And he that shall swear by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him that sits thereon.

The verse reads, “And he that shall swear by heaven, ...”. Matthew began with the words, “and he that shall swear” which means “and the person whether male or female who affirms, promises and invokes with an oath” “by heaven” or “through the region above the sidereal heavens, the seat of order of things eternal and consummately perfect where God dwells and other heavenly beings”. Matthew shared how Jesus referred to the person who “makes promises and oaths” by “heaven”.

The verse goes on to say, “... swears by the throne of God, and by him that sits thereon.” Matthew added the words, “swears by the throne” which means “affirms, promises and invokes with an oath” “of God” which refers to “the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit”, “and by him” which means “and by way of the One, God” “that sits thereon” or “who is seated and firmly set upon His throne in heaven”. Matthew shared how Jesus included “swearing by” “heaven” and “God's throne” equivalent, and those who are wise shall simply speak the truth and have no need for “swearing” by anything else.

When we think through Matthew's words in this verse, we see how “swearing” by “heaven” and “swearing by the throne of God” were employed by the “scribes and Pharisees” in their oaths. Their idea was that a person could “swear by heaven” and not be obligated to their oath, however, if they “swore by the throne of God”, they would be indebted to keep their word. Jesus shared how either of them should obligate the person to keeping his or her word, and His inference is there should be no need to “swear” by anything “higher” that what they promise. God desires to have a personal relationship with every person through His Son Jesus, and the person who comes to Him must be “honest and true” with their words and yield their lives to Him as “Savior and Lord”. All other objects are unnecessary as “proof” for “oaths” when a person simply speaks the “truth”.

Next time we see Matthew write how Jesus shares about those who, “pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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