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immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation" (Heb. 6: 16-18).
On several occasions God made covenant and promise to Abraham, but upon one
occasion only did He interpose with an oath. The occasion was not that first initial act of
justifying faith recorded in Gen. 15:, but the crowning act of faith given in Gen. 22:
The Apostle had said "God is not unrighteous to forget", and the way in which the
Lord responded to Abraham's implicit trust is surely one element in that strong
consolation which our hope in God gives us. The angel of the Lord did not merely say to
Abraham, "Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son
from Me", but "seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, THINE ONLY SON from
Me". God did not "forget". He gives prominence to the sacrifice that Abraham made
and in His delight at this great act of faith goes beyond strict necessity and "swears by
Himself, saying, Blessing I will bless thee".
God was willing "more abundantly". It was, as we have said, beyond strict necessity.
It is sufficient for God to speak. A simple promise made by God should be enough to
command our fullest faith. Yet so does He condescend, that in this recognition of
Abraham's trust, the Lord goes beyond this, and "swears by Himself". The intention was
to manifest the unchangeability of His counsel. In the expression, "two immutable
things", the word "things" is:
"Pragma, an "act or deed" such as we make and deliver, when we convey anything
from one to another" (Owen).
Are we to understand by these two immutable things:
(1)
The promise of God originally given,
(2)
The oath superadded afterwards?
We do not think such an answer fully meets the case. If we read on to the end of the
chapter we find that the Melchisedec priesthood of Christ is resumed. This priesthood is
connected with "hope" (Heb. 6: 18-20). In chapter 7: Abraham is seen together with
Melchisedec where the greatness of Melchisedec is established, and then by an easy
transition the superiority of the Melchisedec priesthood to that of Levi is shown. This is
followed by a reference to a "better hope" and the fact that unlike the Levitical
priesthood, Christ was made a Priest with an oath.
"For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by Him that said
unto Him, The Lord SWARE and will not repent (cf. the immutable counsel and the oath,
6: 17), Thou art a priest for ever (the age) after the order of Melchisedec" (Heb. 7: 21).
This close connection of the two oaths, the one with Abraham, the other with Christ,
together with the double reference to hope and to Melchisedec, is too plainly the part of a
design to be ignored. There is yet further testimony. The words of 6: 17, "confirmed it
by an oath", are given in the margin as "interposed Himself by an oath". (The word in
the original is mesiteuo, "to mediate"). Mesites occurs in Heb. 8: 6; 9: 15; 12: 24,
and is consistently rendered "mediator". I Tim. 2: 5 tells us that there is but "one