(Thurs)31/01/13 Dr. Mike Okonkwo
For The Oath's Sake

"And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her."

Mathew 14:9

An oath is a solemn appeal to a deity or to some revered person or thing to witness one's determination to speak the truth, to keep a promise etc.

You will notice from our text, Herod the king took an oath to give Herodias daughter who danced at his birthday whatever she asked for (v.7). Her mother who had a grudge against John the Baptist counselled the little girl and she unfortunately requested for the head of John the Baptist in a charger. This was because John the Baptist was against her mother's relationship with the king (v.. The request was a hard pill for Herod to swallow. Ordinarily, Herod would have refused, but our text says because of the oath he took he went ahead and did it. That speaks of how powerful an oath is.

If a man will consider it impossible to go against an oath, how much more God, the Almighty God. I want you to know that the God that cannot lie had bound Himself by an oath to guarantee that He will honour His promise in your life. You can therefore go to bed knowing that it shall come to pass. Nothing is impossible for God to do. He voluntarily bound Himself by an oath - He sought for something greater to swear by and found none and so swore by Himself. Wow! What an assurance! In other words, if I lie, I die and you know that God cannot die because He upholds all things by the word of His power, so He cannot lie. Heaven and earth may pass away, but His word concerning you will surely come to pass.

Further reading: Hebrew 6:13-20, Heb 7:18-28

Daily Bible Reading: Morning-Exodus 25-26; Evening Matthew 20:17-34