Saturday, September 12, 2020

PT-2 "The Perspective of Divine Truth" (Matt. 5:34-37)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/12/2020 10:21 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                Focus:  PT-2 “The Perspective of Divine Truth”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference: Matthew 5:34-37

 

            Message of the verses:  34 “But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 “nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 “Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.”

 

            This is a very difficult passage for us to truly understand as it seems that Jesus is saying that we should not make any oaths of vows however if we go back to Matthew 5:17-18 we read the following “17 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”  The highlighted parts of these two verses show us that all of the OT Law will be fulfilled and that He did not come to abolish the Law but fulfill the Law, and a part of that Law has to do with vows and oaths, but once again I want to point out that the Pharisees interpreted it all wrong.  MacArthur writes on this that “He [Jesus] had just said that He did not come to destroy the smallest part of the Law (Matt. 5:17-18), a law that taught proper oath-making by both precept and example.  Additionally, in the early days of the church, even the apostle Paul gave a type of oath in saying to the Romans, ‘I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 9:1).  He called on Christ and the Holy Spirit as witnesses with his own conscience to the truthfulness of what he was about to say.  That is swearing by God.”

 

            So just as Paul did here and in accordance with the Old Testament Standard, we are to swear by no other name but God’s—not “neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 “nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.”  Now as we look at swearing or appealing “by heaven, earth, or Jerusalem” and even other such things was considered by most Jews to make their oaths less binding.  These were great things, but compared to God they truly were in no way more proper as to swear by, as seen in Paul’s writings. 

 

            In Matthew chapter 23 we see a series of “Woes” that Jesus gives against the hypocritical Jewish leaders.  “16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ’Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ 17 “You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? 18 “And, ’Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ 19 “You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? 20 “Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it.”  MacArthur adds “By what twisted logic, He asks, should that which is less valuable make an oath more binding?” 

 

            He goes on to write “But the greatest error in the system was not in its logic but in its basic deceptiveness and dishonesty.  As a matter of accepted policy, some oaths are used to undermine the very purpose they purportedly were meant to serve:  the truth.  In spite of the fact that an oath is given to reinforce and emphasize the truthfulness of a statement or the reliability of a promise, over the years an intricate system of duplicity had been devised that virtually promoted the use of oaths for deception.”  Is it no wonder that Jesus is preaching about this in His Sermon on the Mount?

 

            Jesus was not done with this as he therefore went on to condemn the system still further:  “21 “And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. 22 “And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.”  Now however and whenever the truth is profaned we will see that God’s name is profaned.

 

            I believe we can see that Jesus’ point was that God is the Creator and the Lord of everything, and He is the God of truth in everything.  If someone carelessly and dishonestly call any part of His creation as witness to a false oath this would be something that dishonor’s God Himself, even whether or not His name was invoked.  MacArthur writes “To dishonor and compromise any truth is to dishonor and compromise His truth.  ‘Heaven’ is God’s, the ‘earth’ is Gods, ‘Jerusalem’ is God’s and every person’s ‘head’ is God’s.  It is therefore wicked and sinful to use anything of God’s, whether His name or a part of His creation, as witness to anything that is dishonest, deceitful, insincere, or in the least way knowingly false.  God has no separate categories of sacred and secular.  Everything that pertains to Him is sacred, and all truth is His truth, just as all creation is His creation.  Every lie is against God, and therefore every false oath dishonors His name.”  Lord willing we will look at some comments from William Barclay as we begin our next SD.

 

9/12/2020 11:02 AM

 

 

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