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 ne afternoon I was listening to a radio program during which the host was asking a number of people to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag. For those of you outside the United States, the Pledge of Allegiance is a simple statement of commitment by citizens to the United States. The pledge reads as follows:I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The pledge is a vow or oath of commitment to the United States. Similar statements of commitment are common throughout the world. When a man and a woman marry, they usually make some type of vow or pledge to commit themselves to one another. When we sign a contract to purchase property, an automobile, a house, or to accept a credit card, we make a commitment or a vow that we will fulfill certain obligations. Those obligations vary with the contract from country to country. When we tell our children or our spouse that we will do something, we have made a pledge. We make verbal and written agreements, oaths, vows, or commitments throughout life. What one have you made?
God and Oaths. When we look in the Old Testament, we discover that God made commitments, vows, or oaths too! In Genesis 3:15 God gave an important warning and promised Satan that Jesus Christ would defeat him (Satan) some day in the future. God used the expression “her seed” to refer to Jesus and “your seed” when talking to Satan in the passage.
In Genesis 9:8-17, God promised Noah that He would never use a flood of water to destroy life on this planet again. The Hebrew word translated as “rainbow” actually refers to a “bow.” The Hebrew word has the sense of a circle. Aircraft pilots report that rainbows appear as circles when they are viewed from a high altitude. The rainbow was a reminder to God to not use water again to destroy the world. Next time He will use fire and plagues. These are described in the book of Revelation. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. (NASB) Gen. 9:16 This was a vow from God.
Then in Genesis 22:16-19 God made an oath to Abraham that he would be the father of many descendants. His descendants would be as many as the “stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore.” The immediate descendants of his two children, Isaac and Ishmael, are the Jewish people and the Arab nations. |
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| Life & Heart of Jesus | ||||||
