God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
Most do not consider that solemn oaths in a court of justice, or on other proper occasions, are wrong, provided they are taken with due reverence. Others, however, such as Quakers, take this verse in its most literal sense and will not swear any type of oath. But all oaths taken without necessity, or in common conversation, must be sinful, as well as all those expressions that are appeals to God, though persons think thereby to evade the guilt of swearing. Evil men and women are not bound by oaths; the godly have no need of them (J.M. Freeman).
God's…promises are not simply random good intentions. Rather, God's promises together point to and delineate a divine plan for history – a plan to rescue a people for the praise of His glory, and to effect that rescue, that salvation, through a judgment that God Himself would bear on our behalf. In other words, history is not cyclical, a 'mere repetition' of archetypal patterns. Rather, history is heading somewhere. It's linear. It's developing and progressing toward an end that God has already prepared.
