The Certainty of God S Promises

The Certainty of God’s Promises

Hebrews 6:13–20

“Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you.” [1]

If ever there was a command of God that would lead a parent to some deep soul searching, it had to have been that command to Abraham in Genesis 22. “Offer your only son Isaac, whom you love, as a burnt offering!”

I wouldn’t be quick to say this but as a father mind would eventually go there… “God have you lost your mind?”

This was the test of a life time for Abraham because Isaac was the long-awaited answer to, no doubt, hundreds of prayers. It was Isaac’s birth, coming 25 years after God’s initial promise to Abraham in Genesis 12, “I will make of you a great nation and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed”[2]…it was Isaac’s birth, coming 25 years after that initial promise, that would provide the green light for God’s promises to be fulfilled.

{Let me repeat that so that we can get it in our minds. Again God called Abraham in Genesis 12 and gave him promises—I will make of you a great nation… and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed[3]. And for 25 years Abraham waited for that promise to be fulfilled. How could a great nation come from him when there was no son to follow him? How could all the families of the earth be blessed in him ….and you and I are included in that promise…..if there was no one who came after him? Each year he got older. And each year Sarah moved further past the age when a woman could have a baby. The promise seemed more impossible with each passing year. And then, miracle of miracles…. God gave Isaac. Now God’s promises could be fulfilled. Now a great nation could come from Abraham. Now all the families of the earth could be blessed in him. Twenty-five years of patience and faith….}

And then….. out of nowhere…..God says “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you.

“God have you lost your mind?”

The bible says that Abraham rose early the next morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men and Isaac. They cut the wood for the burnt offering and left for the place that God would show them in the land of Moriah.

The bible doesn’t tell us this but I can’t help but imagine that Abraham found himself rehearsing the promises God had given him over the many years in Genesis 12, and 13, and 15 and 17[4].

Genesis 13:16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth.

Genesis 15:5 Your offspring will be as many as the stars.[5]

(If Abraham looked down he was reminded of God’s promises. If he looked up into the night sky he was reminded of God’s promises)

Genesis 17:4 You shall be the father of a multitude of nations.

Genesis 17:6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations and kings shall come from you.

Genesis 17:16 I will give you a son by Sarah, she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.

So many promises and God had repeated them over the years Isaac was the first step toward those promises being fulfilled. And now God had told him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. When they got to the place, Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son and he signaled his men to stay behind. And father and son began to walk up the mountain.

On the way up, Isaac asked his father, ‘We have the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham responded…. “God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering.”

When they came to the place that God had said, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood on it. He then bound Isaac his son and laid him on top of the altar.

Abraham took the knife to slaughter his son…. And the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven… Abraham, Abraham….. “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 then we come to these words in Genesis 22…

Look at the highlighted words there in verses 16-18 ….and notice that they begin with this phrase… By myself I have sworn … this signals a divine oath… and the content of the oath follows that phrase.

Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve read this passage many, many times before but never paused to ponder the phrase “By myself I have sworn” which again highlights the fact that this is indeed an oath by God. Well you see I had never read the book of Genesis with the author of Hebrews. Now why would God feel the need to swear an oath? If he is utterly truthful, aren’t his promises adequate without an oath? What purposes does an oath serve?

Well it seems that God wanted Abraham to be so confident, so over-the-top confident about his promises. So he used an oath to do that. And the writer of Hebrews is going to drive that home.

So it’s as if God ponders, “What grand slam could I hit that will drive any doubt from Abraham’s heart?.... “I know what I’ll do….get me a bible”…in a court room, don’t we swear to tell the truth with our hand on a bible in the presence of God, someone greater than ourselves?... don’t presidents take an oath of office in the presence of God with their right hand on a bible? So God says… “Get me a bible”…. Now I’m speaking somewhat playfully here…. of course there was no bible that God could swear on…. And so God said to himself… Ok I will swear an oath in the presence of someone greater than myself! But then…again playfully… he realized…bear with me here, I’m aware that God doesn’t think like this… He says, “There is no one greater than myself!”.... SO “I will swear an oath by myself”…. By myself I have sworn….

God’s oath combined with his promise made the promise certain.

Now before we leave this slide let’s make the note that the oath that God made to Abraham falls into two parts—the first half focusses on Abraham’s many descendants. The second part beginning in verse 17b And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies (note the ‘his’)….it seems that this second part of the oath “concentrates on a single descendant who will over overcome his enemies and mediate blessing to all the nations of the earth (vs. 18)”[6]

Is Isaac the only one in view here? Perhaps he’s the first one in view. But from the perspective of the whole bible, we believe this oath to Abraham comes to fulfillment in Jesus Christ and SO YOU AND I ARE THE ULTIMATE HEIRS OF THE PROMISE TO ABRAHAM THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. Paul tells us that in Acts 3:25-26 and Galatians 3:16.

Now this oath by God here in Genesis 22 is going to be central to the eight verses we’ll be looking at in a moment at the end of Hebrews 6. The writer of Hebrews will make much of the fact that just as God was determined to completely slay any doubt that Abraham had, He wants, through the same oath to slay any doubts that the readers of Hebrews have (and that you and I may have) that God will be faithful to the promises He has made to us.

Well let’s step back from this scene from Abraham’s life and see where we are in the flow of the argument of the book of Hebrews. Why does this encouragement that God will be faithful to his promises come when it does? On your sermon notes you’ll see an outline with blanks that we introduced when we opened the series in Hebrews. Let’s take a few minutes to work through the outline and fill in those blanks….

______

Jesus is Better!

I. God Has Spoken in His Son, ___JESUS_____ (1:1-4)

As you may remember, the book of Hebrews begins with a Mount Everest portrait of Jesus. Let’s look at it again. Turn back to Hebrews 1. I’ll just read Hebrews 1:1-4

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

When we looked at these four verses we emphasized that they contain ‘seeds’ that blossom into full grown trees later in the book….. specifically the words--sitting down at the right hand of the majesty on high.. blossom into an emphasis “Jesus is the Son” and the words after making purification for our sins blossom into the emphasis “Jesus is the high priest”

II. Jesus is better than ___ANGELS____(1:5-2:18)

A. Jesus is better than angels because he is the Davidic Son (1:5-14)

B. Warning: Listen to the __SON___ or you won’t escape (2:1-4)

There are five warning passages in Hebrews and Hebrews 2:1-4 is the first one.

C. Jesus is better than angels because of his perfect __HUMANITY__ (2:5-18)

III. Jesus is better than __MOSES___ and he offers a better rest (3:1-4:13)

A. Jesus is better than Moses (3:1-6)

You remember the argument in those verses was that Moses was faithful in God’s house as a servant but Jesus is faithful over God’s house as a Son. So Jesus is better than Moses.

B. Warning: Continued belief in Jesus is what brings __REST__ for the people of God (3:7-4:13)

This was the second warning passage.

IV. Jesus’ priesthood is better than Aaron’s priesthood (4:14-10:18)

A. Jesus is our great high priest after the order of Melchizedek (4:14-5:10)

B. Warning: Don’t fall away from __JESUS___ the better high priest (5:11-6:12)

Justin’s message last week was the third warning passage in the book of Hebrews

C. Encouragement: God’s _PROMISES_are secure and certain (6:13-20)

So this morning as we pick up in Hebrews 6, verses 13-20, the writer of Hebrews is out to encourage his readers (and us) that God’s promises are certain. God’s promises are certain.

Let’s get a running start on our passage and begin in verses 11-12. Hebrews 6:11-12…

11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Verse 11 We desire each one of you, the author of Hebrews says, to show the same earnestness, to show the same diligence….diligence in what… it’s pretty clear that he has in mind diligence in loving service[7] that you did at first, to have ‘complete certainty’ of the hope that is before you all the way to the end of the journey.

{Don’t miss that—the author of Hebrews is saying that there is an assurance that comes from a changed life and he wants his readers (and us) to have that assurance all the way to the end of their lives.}

Verse 12 So that you may not be sluggish…. but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

“I don’t want you to be sluggish”, the writer of Hebrews says, “Instead I want you to imitate the heroes of the faith who’ve gone before us”. And, we’ll see in verse 13, that he wants us to imitate specifically Abraham who through faith and patience inherited the promises[8]….or we could paraphrase Abraham’s actions as ‘faithful perseverance’…. He wants us to be imitators of Abraham and others who through faithful perseverance inherited the promises.

We must faithfully persevere…

And what is it that fuels our faithful perseverance? What is it that fuels our faithful perseverance? The certain promises of God. And it’s to that subject—the certain promises of God-- the writer of Hebrews now turns…

Follow with me as I read verses 13-20…

13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So 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, 18 so 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. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

As we said, the purpose of these 8 verses is to express as strongly as possible the unchanging faithfulness of God[9]-- We can be confident that God will fulfill his promises!

One author has pointed out that the first six verses in our passage—vs. 13-18—are peppered with “technical legal expressions,” the kind of expressions you would find in business contracts at the time.[10] Let me highlight the ‘technical legal expressions’ on the screen.

So it seems that the writer of Hebrews purposely used those technical legal expressions to clarify the significance of God’s oath in Genesis 22 that we looked at.[11]

Look at verses 13-15

In verse 13 the writer of Hebrews is referring to the oath we looked at in Genesis 22. God had given Abraham promises. And after Abraham followed God completely with respect to offering Isaac, God added to the promises an oath. There wasn’t a Bible around. There wasn’t anyone greater than God around—there is no one greater than God by whom he could swear—so God swore and oath to himself --“Surely I will bless you and multiply you”

Now why would God add an oath to his promise? It wasn’t for Him was it? No it had to be for Abraham’s benefit. I want you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt Abraham that I will fulfill my promises to you! So, to my promise I will add an oath.

Why does God, who is utterly, completely truthful need to add an oath to his promise? Isn’t his promise good enough? The bible doesn’t tell us. Some suggest that the oath has the effect of bringing in a second witness—something is confirmed in Jewish law, you know, by the confirmation of two or more witnesses[12]. But is a promise by one person and an oath by the same person, a second witness? I wonder if what’s going on is God accommodating himself to the practice of humans. Humans make promises. And humans take oaths in the presence of someone greater than themselves to seal the truthfulness of their promises. So God says… I made a promise to you Abraham….I’m going to go further—in the fashion of humans—I’m going to go further so you’ll completely understand and be confident—“I swear by myself this oath to you”

God swearing an oath by himself was a new idea to me. I found myself wondering how often we might find it in the scriptures. It turns out that God swore an oath by himself three other times in the Old Testament—two oaths concerning judgment, Jeremiah 22:5 and Jeremiah 49:13, and one oath about allegiance to him—the fact that one day every knee shall bow to him, Isaiah 45:23. We won’t take the time to look at those.

But there is also a famous story in the Old Testament where an oath of God—in fact the oath of God to Abraham in Genesis 22 —is referred to. God is about to destroy his people and Moses says, “No Lord! You swore by yourself an oath to Abraham… You can’t break your oath.”

The story I’m talking about is in Exodus 32, the famous scene where the Israelites had made a golden calf. As you know God wasn’t very happy. He wanted to wipe everybody out and start again. So Moses went into his war room.