OUR ANCHOR HOLDS – Hebrews 6:13-20
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 27, 2015 under PM Bible Study |
PM Home Bible Study Group; May 27, 2015
Hebrews 6:13-20
Theme: The basis of our spiritual security is the sure promises of God through Christ.
(These notes are adapted from a message preached at Bethany Bible Church on May 23, 2010. All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated.)
Over our past few times together in the Book of Hebrews, we have been studying an ‘interruption’ in the flow of the writer’s argument. Let’s stop and set this “interruption” in its context.
The writer of Hebrews had been urging his Jewish Christian readers to stay true to the Christian faith—in spite of the persecutions they were suffering for it. And to encourage them in this, he was presenting to them the clear superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ over the Old Covenant given through Moses.
And then came the ‘interruption’. He had been talking to them about the superiority of the Lord Jesus over the Old Covenant Levitical priesthood—the one outlined for them in the law of Moses—and he began to describe the Lord Jesus as a better High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:10; see also Psalm 110:4). He wanted to talk more about Melchizedek; but felt that he couldn’t say all that he wanted to say because his readers had not made the progress in the faith that they should have. He then interrupts the flow of his argument to make an appeal to them to go forward in the faith and make progress. That ‘interruption’ begins in 5:11 and goes all the way to the end of Chapter 6—where he again takes up the discussion of Jesus as “High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. In Chapter 7, he goes on to speak in great detail about Melchizedek.
So; we’re still in the ‘interruption’ in this evening’s study. It’s been an important one, though. It’s one in which he makes the strong appeal to go forward in the Christian faith and grow into maturity. Note especially the words of 6:11-12;
And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises (Hebrews 6:11-12).
And it’s then that the writer closes off this ‘interruption’ section by pointing to the story of one of the greatest ‘inheritors of the promise of God’ in all the Bible—the Old Testament patriarch Abraham. That’s who is the focus of our passage this evening—all the way to the end of Chapter 6. Then, when the ‘interruption’ is over—and we’re all the wiser for it—it’s back to the discussion with Melchizedek.
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Abraham figures greatly in the whole argument of the Book of Hebrews. He stands as an example of not of trying to earn God’s favor on the basis of works of the law—as the Jewish people under the Old Covenant through Moses had sought to do; but rather of finding favor with God by faith through trusting in God’s New Covenant promises. In Hebrews 11—in the great “hall of faith” section of the Bible—the writer says something significant about Abraham’s faithfulness to trust in the promises of God. It’s a long passage, but it is worth considering carefully:
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them (Hebrews 11:11-16).
The promises of God were a sure anchor to Abraham. And because of that, he stands forever as the example for followers of Jesus. Long before the law was given through Moses, old childless Abraham—who heard the great promises that God made about the blessing that would come from his offspring—“believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6) This affirmation about Abraham is made twice again in the New Testament as the prime example of full acceptance in the sight of God through faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (see Romans 4:3 and Galatians 3:6). Paul called him “Abraham the believer” (Galatians 3:9, NAS).
All of this is key to understanding our passage this evening. It would have all been on the minds of the Jewish readers of this letter. No one who trusts in Christ—even a Jewish believer in Jesus—should ever hesitate one bit in going forward in full confidence—just as Abraham did; for the basis of our spiritual security is the sure promises of God through Christ. We should believe, just like old Father Abraham.
Notice, then, how the writer shows us that . . .
I. GOD’S PROMISES TO ABRAHAM PROVED TRUE (vv. 13-15).
A. When God first called Abraham from out of paganism and into a relationship with Himself, God made a great promise to him. It’s a promise that involves the whole world; and that is still as true today as when it was spoken some 4,000 years ago. Back in Genesis 12, we’re told;
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).
When he as yet had no children, God promised that He would make Abraham a great nation. He said that “in him”—that is, through Abraham’s offspring—God would bless all the nations of the earth. In fact, the nations of the earth would be either blessed or cursed, depending on how they responded to Abraham and the promise He was making to him. God fulfilled this promise in general through the Jewish people who would come from Abraham, and in particular through the Lord Jesus who would be born of the Jewish people as the Seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:16). So, favor with God came, not through the law of Moses which came later in history, but through the promise of God to Abraham. In fact, the Bible tells us that the the law was given to drive us to a trust in the promise God gave to Abraham (see Galatians 3:19-25).
B. How reliable is this promise? Well; at a time when Abraham was tested—and when he passed the test by offering up his only son Issac on the altar at the command of God—God repeated His promise to him. In Genesis 22:16-18, the Angel of the Lord told him;
“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Genesis 22:16-18).
The writer of Hebrews tells us; “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you” (Hebrews 6:13-14).
C. And the promise was fulfilled! The writer adds, “And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise” (v. 15). It didn’t come right away. In fact, in Hebrews 11, he had to remind his readers, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them . . .” (Hebrews 11:13). Abraham and Sarah saw the birth of their promised son Isaac. But they didn’t see a fulfillment beyond that. And the patriarchs that came from them, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve tribes, all pressed on in the promises of God—God many centuries later multiplying them into a great nation, and giving a land to them, and blessing the world through the Savior who came from them. The point of it all is that we can give ourselves fully to the sure promises of God. He faithfully keeps His promises. The existence of the Jewish people today—and the spread of the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world—is proof that this is so!
Now; as if that was not enough, the writer goes on to affirm to us that . . .
II. GOD HIMSELF IS THE VALIDATION OF HIS OWN PROMISES (vv. 16-17).
A. In a court of law, when men give a testimony, they take an oath by which they swear to God to tell the truth. The appeal to the highest possible Authority to attest to the veracity of their testimony. But when God makes a promise, what higher authority can He appeal to than to Himself? There is no higher authority for Him to appeal to for the truthfulness of His promises than He Himself and His own character. And so, the writer of Hebrews says, “For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath . . .” (Hebrews 6:16-17).
B. Look carefully in verse 14 at how God swears an oath by Himself. Quoting from Genesis 22, the writer affirms that He says, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” A literal translation would be “If surely blessing, I will bless you, and multiplying, I will multiply you.” It’s a figure of speech by which a promise is emphasized by the one performing it—thus testifying to its absolute certainty on the basis of the one making it by the very fact of His doing it. In Genesis 22:16, He said, “ By Myself I have sworn . . .” Could God possibly offer a higher testimony to the truthfulness of His promise than that? Speaking of the Lord Jesus, the apostle Paul once affirmed, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us” (2 Corinthians 1:20). We can give ourselves over to God’s promise of blessing to Abraham with all the fullness of our being; and never fear that we would be at risk in doing so.
This all means that . . .
III. WE CAN THEREFORE BE CONFIDENT IN THE HOPE THAT GOD HAS SET BEFORE US IN CHRIST (vv. 18-19).
A. The writer affirms the full truthfulness of God’s promise, “that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us (v. 18). The phrase “fled for refuge” would have brought to the Jewish readers’ minds the ‘cities of refuge’ that were appointed in the Old Testament law (see Numbers 35; Joshua 21). If someone had accidentally slain someone, they could flee to these cities of refuge and be safe from the victims “avenger”. Here, we who are guilty of sin are encouraged to flee to the promises of God for refuge—laying hold of the hope that is set before us in Christ. And we can be secure in doing this because in two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie—that is, in His promise and in His oath (as it says in Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”)—we truly do have strong consolation.
B. This hope itself is ratified to us by the fact that Jesus Himself is the “forerunner” of it for us. He goes before us in it and secures it for us at the right hand of the very throne of God. The writer says, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (vv. 19-20). Jesus went ahead for us to the highest level—behind the veil, and even into the very Holy of Holies in the tabernacle—to secure this hope for us. We never need doubt it.
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For those persecuted Jewish believers—and indeed for all of us who are inheritors of God’s promise—this should be a basis for confidence. It’s a true anchor to the soul. Let’s celebrate it in the words of that great old hymn that was inspired by this passage:
The Solid Rock
by Edward Mote
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
(Chorus)
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
(Chorus)
His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
(Chorus)
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
(Chorus)
