2/18/20
Tom Lowe
Lesson #21 [ID4] Reminder of the (Hebrews 6:9-20)
Scripture: Hebrews 6:9-20 (NIV)
9Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. 10God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 11We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end so that what you hope for may be fully realized. 12We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. 13When God made his promise to Abraham since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” 15And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. 16People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20where our forerunner, Jesus has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
________________________________________
Introduction:
There are many different responses to the Gospel. The point of Jesus’ parable in Matthew 13 was not to plant doubt in the hearts of the disciples. Rather, Jesus was showing His disciples how many ways the human heart can respond to the good news. The author of Hebrews does something similar in Hebrews 6:1-8. He is showing his congregation the way that many unbelievers in the church rejected the Gospel. In doing so he pastorally exhorts believers in the church toward faithful obedience and maturing in Christ.
Hebrews 6:9-20 displays the author’s confidence in these remaining believers to endure until the end and to inherit the promises that belong to them. How will they accomplish this? With faith and patience, just as Abraham did. By trusting God and persevering until the end, Christians will hold on to the hope set before us. This is what the last half of Hebrews 6 is all about.
You and I need to learn to appropriate the promises of God in our lives. We need to find and claim those promises. God never ever fails to do what He says in the Bible He will do.
“Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.”
Commentary
(6:9) Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation.
The key to this chapter is right here: “Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. The writer to the Hebrew believers is saying, “I am persuaded that you are going to live for God, that you are not going to remain babes in Christ but will grow up.” The key to Christian service is a burning love for God.
The crop of God’s blessing pictured in Hebrews 6:7 is called” the things that have to do with salvation” in Hebrews 6:9. Not every believer bears the same amount of fruit (“some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty,” Matt.13:23); but every believer bears the same kind of fruit as proof that he is a child of God (Matt.7:15-20). This is the fruit of Christian character and conduct (Gal. 5:22-26) produced by the Spirit as we mature in Christ. Here the author introduces the fact that the fruit of salvation should be visible in the believer’s life.
The great hope1 for these people is that, despite their obsession with the elementary things of religion and despite their wavering under the pressures of their persecution, they were still doing some work of love for God and man. The promise is that God will not forget this. He is a just God; therefore, every good deed will be duly compensated in God’s own way and time.
(6:10) God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
This is God’s way of saying to us in our day: “You may not be perfect in your attitude toward others, nor in the performance of the work I have given you to do. Nevertheless, do not lose heart, for I am aware of the good you are doing. Work on, then, with courage, patience, and hope until the very end. Do not let the meager results beat you down into apathetic cynicism, which produces that deadly lethargy that robs us of the harvest.” One of the things we encounter in the New Testament is those within the early church assisting and serving one another
“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him” Work and love for God will not save you. But if you are saved, this is why you are rewarded. This is where good works come in. Although they have nothing to do with your salvation, they certainly do have a very important part in a believer’s life. Works are evidence of love. A Christian’s works are not what saved him, or what keeps him saved, but they are evidence of his salvation. We minister to others because we love Him.
The writer listed in this verse some of the fruit that he knew had been produced in their lives because of their love, they had worked and labored for the Lord; they had ministered to other saints; and they were still ministering (see 1 Thess. 1:33-10; Rev. 2:2). These are some of the “things that accompany salvation.”
But he was concerned that they would rest on their achievements and not press on to full maturity and the enjoyment of God’s rich inheritance.
(6:11) We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized.
We need that full assurance of hope unto the end.
While it is true that it is God who carries us along to maturity (Heb. 6:1,3), it is also true that the believer must do his part. We must not be lazy (slothful) but apply ourselves to the spiritual resources God has given us. Just in case anyone should misinterpret his exhortation to spiritual maturity the writer ended this section with a tremendous argument for the assurance of salvation. None of us Christians are making the spiritual progress we should, but we should never fear that God will condemn us. The writer gave three arguments for the certain salvation of true believers.
God’s promise (13-15)
God’s oath (16-18)
God’s Son (19-20)
The God of the Bible is still the personal God of the people.
(6:12) We do not want you to become lazy (or, “dull”), but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
We have promises from God. God has made a lot of promises to us if we are faithful to Him. We should exercise faith and patience and claim these promises for ourselves! Like Caleb and Joshua, we must believe God’s promises and want to go in and claim the land!
The hope of the Christian church is that every member of the church will maintain such zeal in serving God that all, even all that God hopes for, will come true at last. This hope, of course, is grounded on the fact that God works in and through Christians by His living spirit. Faith has a foreword dimension. If it does not hope for something better in the future, it is not genuine faith. Christian maturing is growing in faith, hope, and love.
The author encourages them to be imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherit the promises. Throughout the book of Hebrews, the writer encourages believers to imitate saints from the Old Testament
From here to the end of Hebrews, “promises or “the promise” refer to the benefits, blessings, and goals of salvation in Christ as the fulfillment of the New Covenant (for example 9:15;10:36; and 11:39, 40).
(6:13) When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself,
As you know, when you take an oath, you take it on something greater than you are. Since there is nothing greater than God, He swore by Himself. Oaths taken in ancient Israel were much different than the oaths taken today. Oaths in ancient Israel’s day were not contractual as they are now. They were not sealed with a signature. Ancient Israelites sealed their oaths by their personal word. This is the nature of God’s oath with Abraham, which is the focus of this passage of Hebrews. God is an oath-giving God who seals His oath with His own word and by His own name (the name stands for all that He is).
God’s main promise to Abraham is recorded in Gen. 22:16-17. Despite Abraham’s failures and sins, God kept his promise, and Isaac was born. Many of God’s promises do not depend on our character but on His faithfulness. When God makes a promise, it is not a casual word to be forgotten. It is the ground of eternal assurance.
Philo was embarrassed by the concept that God should have to reinforce his word by an oath. Is not the word of God assurance enough? Did not Jesus warn us against oaths (Matt. 5:34-37)? Did He not encourage us not to swear by anything in heaven or on earth, but to let our yes be yes and our no be no? Did He not imply that the character of the person behind the spoken word was ground of the trustworthiness of the word and not the colorful oaths which supported it, no matter how multiplied they might be? Did not James further warn us: “But above all, my brethren. Do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, that you may not fall under condemnation” (5:12)?
What possible, meaning, then could we find in the oath of God? If human character is the basis for believing in the promise made by a man, how much more should the divine character be the basis for believing in His promise. The major concern of the writer was to reinforce the hope and assurance of his people. How could he better do that than by saying to them, in effect: “God’s promise is unchangeable.” He has done everything to assure you that He will never break His promise.”
(6:14) saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”
God made this promise to Abraham (see Gen. 22:15-18; Heb. 11:19). Beyond this, the Hebrew writer had an Old Testament Scripture which he was required to carry out. Abraham was the prime example of steadfast faith in God’s promises. He had taken Isaac, the son of his old age- the only visible proof that God was keeping His promise to multiply him and bring out of his loins a great nation- and at the command of God had placed him on the altar of sacrifice and was ready to plunge the knife into his heart when his hand was stayed by the hand of heaven (Gen.22:12). Then it was that God said: “I swear by myself 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” (Gen. 22:16-17).
(6:15) And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
There is something here that is quite wonderful. Abraham patiently endured, and a new assurance came by trusting God. When you trust God, you walk with Him. You grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him through the study of His Word. This brings you to a place of assurance that cannot be denied. The phrase “waiting patiently” is the exact opposite of slothful (v.12). The readers of this letter were about to give up; their endurance was running out (see Heb. 12:1-2). You will obtain and enjoy what God has promised if you diligently apply yourself to the development of your spiritual life” is what the writer stated.
We Christians today have more of God’s promises than Abraham did! What is keeping us from making spiritual progress? We do not apply ourselves by faith. The believer who neglects church fellowship ignores his Bible and forgets to pray is not going to reap much of a harvest.
(6:16) People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath (pledge) confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument.
When men confirm a statement with an oath, it is an end of every dispute. God not only gave Abraham a promise, but He also confirmed that promise with an oath. When a witness takes an oath in court, he is confronted with the words “so help me God.” We call on the greater to witness for the lesser. None is greater than God, so He swore by Himself.
The point is that the Hebrew writer had before him this Word from Genesis concerning the oath God swore by Himself. Was it God’s way of saying that, by His name, that is by everything that made Him God, His promise would be kept? Was this what made the promises of God so exceedingly precious to early Christians?
The apostle Peter was so enamored with the promises of God that he called them “precious and very great promises” (2 Pe. 1:4).
(6:17) Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed (guaranteed) it with an oath.
When God does a thing like this, He doesn’t need to take an oath, but He does take one to make it very clear how all-important it is. But God did not do this only for Abraham. He has also given His promise and oath to “the heirs of promise” Abraham and his descendants are the first of these heirs (see Heb. 11:9), but all believers are included as Abraham’s (spiritual) seed (Gal. 3:29). So, our assurance of salvation is guaranteed by God’s promise and God’s oath, two unchangeable things. His Word is just as good without an oath as ours ought to be. We have strong consolation (or “great encouragement”) concerning the hope set before us! Hebrews is a book of encouragement, not discouragement!
It was God’s great desire to give man confidence in His promise that occasioned God’s oath. This oath guaranteed the promise of God. This seems like a very quaint analogy to modern man, but it was very real to primitive man. Don’t we need some jarring event in our own experience to cause us to take God’s promises more seriously and to make Him the ground of our hope?
(6:18) God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.
“By two unchangeable things.” What are the two unchangeable things? The Lord promised Abram descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven (see Gen. 15:4-5), then later He confirmed his promise with an oath (Gen. 22:16-18). God confirmed His unchangeable Word of promise by a second unchangeable thing, His oath. These two unchangeable things gave Abraham encouragement and assurance. Like Abraham, we can stake our lives on God’s promises because God is the One who has promised them. Our God is a promise-keeping God.
Now, what are the two unchangeable things for us today? Not only do we have the promise made to Abraham for our encouragement, but we have a far richer revelation of God’s love -The gift of His Son; the (1) death and resurrection of Christ and (2) His assentation and intercession for us are the two unchangeable things.
“we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us.” [“My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”] This reminds us of the cities of refuge which God provided for the children of Israel. (see Num. 35; Deut, 19; Jos. 20-21. Those cities of refuge serve as types of Christ sheltering the sinner from death. It was a very marvelous provision for a man who accidentally killed someone. Maybe the one he killed had a hotheaded brother who wanted vengeance. So, the fugitive could escape to a city of refuge where he would be protected, and his case tried. If he was acquitted of intentional killing, he must remain in the city until the death of the high priest. Then, he could return to his home. The members of the slain man’s family could not avenge themselves so long as the man remained in the city.
We have fled to Jesus Christ and He is our eternal refuge. As our High Priest, He will never die (Heb. 7:23-25); and we have eternal salvation. No avenger can touch us because He has already died and arisen from the dead.
What a picture this is for us today! This reveals that Christ is our refuge. Dear reader, I have already been carried into court, and at the trial, I was found guilty. I was a sinner, you see. The penalty which was leveled against me was death- and it has already been executed. Christ bore the penalty for me, you see. Because he died in my place, I am free. I have been delivered from the penalty of sin. Never do I have to answer for it. I am free now to go out and serve Him. I now have a High Priest, a resurrected Savior to whom I can go. What a wonderful picture of my Savior this gives! The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come” (1 Cor. 10:11). “Examples” are types, and Melchizedek is a type of Christ. Millions of things could have been recorded, but God chose to record only these things because they enable us to grow in our understanding of Him and our relationship to Him.
In Hebrews 6:19, 20 the writer introduces the Tabernacle as a visualization of the heavenly realm where the presence of God is. Hebrews expands on this theme in Chapter 9. In the final verses of Chapter 6, the writer alludes to the High Priest entering the Most Holy Place once a year on the Day of Atonement. By contrast, Jesus the eternal High Priest is permanently in the presence.
(6:19) We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm (it cannot slip), and secure (it cannot break). It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,
When Christ ascended back to heaven, He assumed the office of High Priest.
“It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.” Christ as High Priest entered the temple in heaven (after which the earthly tabernacle was patterned, Heb. 8:5). He passed through the veil into the Holy of Holies, into the presence of Good, and presented His blood there. Then He “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Now one difference between Aaron and the Lord Jesus is (and I say this reverently) that ‘poor old Aaron never did sit down’ There were no seats in the tabernacle -there was the mercy seat, but that typified God’s throne. Aaron only hurried in and hurried out. But you and I have a superior High Priest. He has gone in. He has sat down. He has a finished redemption
Our hope in Christ is like an anchor for the soul. The anchor was a popular symbol in the early church. The Greek stoic Epictetus wrote: “One must not tie a ship to a single anchor, nor a life to a single hope.” Christians have only one anchor -Jesus Christ our hope (Col. 1:5; 1 Tim. 1:1).
However, spiritual anchors are different from material anchors on ships. For one thing, we are anchored upward- to heaven -not downward. We are anchored not to stand still, but to move ahead! Our anchor is “sure” - it cannot break -and “steadfast” -it cannot slip. No earthly anchor can give that kind of security! Anchored heavenward! How much more secure can you be.
(6:20) where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
Jesus Christ is the “forerunner2,” which implies that others are to follow. This forerunner has passed into the heavenly world, carrying with Him the anchor to which every believer is firmly fixed. The forerunner also carries the idea that Christians neither passively wait for deliverance, nor do they run away from reality. Instead, they run toward the forerunner, who is already at home in the believer’s final home
We have an even stronger encouragement than Abraham had in his time because our High Priest has entered in advance into the presence of God for us, and He is there today interceding for us.
The writer of Hebrews has arrived at his final argument. His foremost concern is that his readers would realize that Christ is their High Priest. Their supreme need is for doctrinal renewal which will anchor them in the uniqueness of Christ. He is the High Priest who has offered Himself for His people, who continually intercedes for them, and who is present in the eternal world -not to make sacrifice but to be present as the one whose sacrifice has already been made once for all.
One More Thing
Regardless of what approach you take to the exhortation in this section, be sure to lay hold of the main lesson: believers must go on to maturity, and God has made it possible for us to do so. If we start to drift away from the Word (Heb. 2:1-4), then we will start to doubt the Word (Heb. 3:7-4:13). Before long, we will get dull toward the Word (Heb. 5:11-6:20) and become lazy! The best way to keep from drifting is -to lay hold of the anchor.
Anchored heavenward! How much more secure can you be? Thank God for the unseen certainty, our hope in Jesus Christ.
Special Notes and Scripture
1. “Hope” is a difficult biblical word because we associate wishfulness and indefiniteness with it. “Hope” in the Bible refers to something real but unseen. A biblical “hope” is more certain than the ground on which you stand. And the blessed “hope,” therefore, is the spiritual reality and certainty of the return of Christ.
2. “Forerunner”—first buds of Spring; a scout who is out in front of the army; an advance guard that would go before the king to prepare the way for him.
