Matthew 5:33-37 Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made." But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply “Yes” or "No"; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
In the above focus, Jesus tells the people not to swear oaths, attempting to determine the future. A man or a woman’s future activities or circumstances in life depend on God’s will and not the will of a man or a woman. No matter how sincere a person might be to fulfill a vow to someone, only God can determine whether the promise will be fulfilled. Our future is in the hands of God, not in our hands. Sometimes in an attempt for others to know how sincere they are about their vows, people bring their solemn, sworn words before God as a witness to the truth of what they are swearing. Jesus is telling his audience that oaths about the future have no validity unless God in his determination allows them to be fulfilled. Oaths are not bad, neither are promises or covenants. Swearing allegiance to something is not bad, but all such deeds come under the milieu of God’s absolute authority. He alone determines the future of all things. Do not say that you can through your own will and determination control the future. What happens next is always in the hands of God. But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. Do not claim that God will back up your oath or affirm that you will carry it out. The fact of your future existence is entirely in the purview of God, not under your control. God does exist, and He alone is in control of the future, not you. Jesus said, I do not seek my own will but the will of the Father who sent me. (John 5:30) When you say that you will perform a task just say, “Yes I will do it.” If you say, “No, I will not do it.” be faithful to your word. Do not make any statement of intent by swearing on heaven’s reality or the stability of the earth, or even on the great city of Jerusalem. Heaven, Earth, Jerusalem are under the jurisdiction of God. Just as God controls the future, He is in control of all things now, not you. God validates and determines what He wants. Outside of God, people have no authority to rule over the present world, and they cannot confirm, affirm, or determine anything in the future; consequently, let your intentions of what will happen in the future be expressed only by a yes or no. For sure, you cannot even determine how you will progress biologically, whether the color of your hair in the future will be white or black or whether you will even have hair on your head. So why swear an oath; why swear to someone before God or anything else that is not in your control. God alone has the authority to determine all things in the future. The assumption that we have the ability to control the future can be of the evil one: anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Speculating on the future, building more barns to hold our future harvest, can be foolish for God alone knows whether we have a future or not. In the Bible, Jesus tells of a rich man who had such a great harvest that he said he would build new barns and then eat, drink, and be merry at his leisure. He had his future all planned. Nowhere did he say as the Lord wills. But God said to him, “You fool! This night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (Luke 12:20)
An oath is integral in the story of Abraham and his faith. The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22:15-18) God swore by himself, knowing the future, He could determine that his oath would be carried out, but man cannot determine whether his oaths and vows will be carried out in the future, so Jesus says, it is best to just say, “yes” or “no.” Let God determine your future. In ancient times, happenings such as electrical storms, rain, famine were signs of God’s interventions, maybe even markings on a newborn animal might be an indication that something different was going to happen. Sometimes people’s future was determined by the drawing of lots; Canaan was divided up this way. Each tribe was given certain lands by the casting of lots. For them, their future was in the hands of chance. Would they be farmers or shepherds: the nature of the land would determine their future lifestyles. Of course, the Bible says that these were sacred lots or lots backed up by God’s authority and validation. God’s oath to give the Israelites the land was fulfilled. He fulfilled it; they carried it out by casting lots. This process was all under God’s authority and according to his desire. In the New Testament after Judas’ betrayal and death, we see the disciples determining who should be the twelfth apostle by casting lots. This too was under God’s authority and direction, for we see the twelve mentioned in Revelation 21:14, The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. In all of this the future was in God’s hands, not man’s. When we takes oaths as Jesus said, we are assuming future events or conditions are in our hands—that is wrong. Jesus tells us how wrong that assumption is when He relates the following events to the people surrounding him. Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:1-5) Jesus uses this example to show them that lives can end quickly, and that a clean heart is necessary to escape eternal punishment. An oath about the future can never be certain, for a life can end quickly and maybe without time for a repentant heart.
In our day of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Christians rely on the voice of God. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would come to instruct us, But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all thing and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26) Jesus had great confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit to guide and to direct his disciples. He said, When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say. (Luke 12:11-12) He told them to depend on the words of the Holy Spirit deep within them. We do not live by oaths or vows of what we are going to do; no, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Jesus said, those who have ears, let them hear what I am saying. We are to have spiritual ears—ears that will pick up the voice of God. We had an amazing example of hearing God’s voice when we were shopping for a van some years ago. We were in a dealership, ready to sign the papers on a van when suddenly Mom said, “Wait a minute, something is not right about this contract. Let me think about this.” So the salesman left the room. The jargon was confusing, but as we reread the paper, it seemed to us we were giving them our fairly new car as a trade-in with no value on the price of the van. Almost immediately the salesman came back, and when we explained what we thought, he said, “Well, this is a really good price, so we have to make a profit somewhere.” We could not leave fast enough. Mom did not know what was wrong to begin with, but the Holy Spirit whispered in her ear that this was not a good situation. Then Dad saw the problem. We learned later, the dealership was investigated for fraud. The apostles prayed often to know the perfect leading and direction of the Lord. They waited upon the Lord to know what they should do next in their lives. They prospered in winning souls as they journeyed throughout the Middle East. But all of their journeys were under God’s authority and not based on their own ideas. They waited for God’s direction. We also need to heed God’s voice every day in the small things and in the large. We should know that a journey is fixed for us today. What does God want for our lives? You might be making oaths of what you are going to do in the future, but drop the oaths, for you do not know the future. Fulfill God’s plan for you today. If you intend to visit someone in the future, do it today if possible. If you want to give money to someone in the future, give it today while you are alive and have the ability to give. Do God’s work now, for this is the only life you really have. Tomorrow might disappear quickly. An oath, a vow, no matter how sincere, might disappear just as quickly. Seek God while He yet can be found. Make his life secure in you today, sing his songs today, play his music today. Do not let tomorrow be your hope; instead, live today for him and through him. A wonderful Christian song offers sound advice: This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
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