Hebrews 6:13-20 ESV
13For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
The Word of God says we have this HOPE “as a sure and steadfast ANCHOR of the soul” and then says this “HOPE enters into the inner place behind the curtain…”
• And tell us that the HOPE is JESUS, who has gone as a FORERUNNER on our behalf. He has gone before us as a forerunner, achieving for us the salvation of our souls.
• He has become the HIGH PRIEST forever – and the Jews would understand this well because of the OT sacrificial system – Jesus is the MEDIATOR between God and man.
• He has become the only eternal Mediator between God and man, reconciling us with God our Father.
• He is our only HOPE in life. The author points us to a PERSON. Our hope is in the person of Jesus Christ, not in ourselves, not in the circumstances, not in this world.
The Hebrews then were facing many trials and persecutions. The author writes to encourage believers to put their trust in Jesus Christ despite the difficulties.
That’s what we must do today too, despite all the twists and turns in life.
• We have experienced many changes in the last 2 years and there will be more to come.
• The world is changing. The climate is changing. People are changing. Our bodies are changing. I am no longer the same me 2 years ago. I have 3 stents in my heart and have to take pills every day.
• Changes cause anxiety and stress to many BUT our HOPE is in Christ. The author reminds us that Jesus is the ANCHOR of our soul.
• Our salvation is secure. We are saved by Him and sustained by Him (cf. 1 Cor 1).
When everything else is changing, we cling on to the One who is not. Jesus Christ is the ANCHOR for our soul.
• That word is beautiful. Anchors hold the ship in a storm so that she does not drift or hit the rocks.
• Jesus is our forerunner and we are following Him. Heaven is our inheritance. We are always safe and secure in Christ.
In this constantly changing world, Jesus Christ is our HOPE. Our lives are in His hands.
• But can we trust Him when the going is so tough? When the circumstances around us are getting more difficult with every passing year?
YES, the author says. In a few words, he seeks to convince us that we can trust God.
• In at least THREE ways – that’s how I summarise it:
(1) The Certainty of His Promise
(2) The Certainty of His Purpose
(3) The Certainty of His Person
• No matter what happens this year – whether there will be a recession, inflation continues unabated, or supply chains are disrupted, our trust is in Jesus Christ.
(1) THE CERTAINTY OF HIS PROMISE
God is unlike us. We can trust what He says. His Word is true and it will never change.
• The author uses Abraham as an example of one who has experienced the faithfulness and trustworthiness of God, despite the long wait and the difficult circumstances.
It’s so easy to read from verse 13 to verse 15, just 3 verses. “God made a promise” and then it ends with Abraham “obtained the promise”.
• But do you know that in reality, it took 25 years to go from verse 13 to verse 15.
• When God made him a promise, that’s in Gen 12 when he was 75 years old.
• And when he finally “obtained the promise” and got a son through his wife Sarah, that’s in Gen 22 when he was 100.
Abraham’s faith in God was not easy. God promised to bless him and made him a great nation, but he has to leave his homeland Ur.
• In those days, you do not just call THE MOVERS and expect a truck and helpers right at your doorstep. They even give your boxes to pack your things.
• Abraham has to leave his relatives and friends, travel hundreds of miles to a foreign land, and a destination yet unknown to him because God says He will show him.
• He encountered unseen hardships like famine and perceived threats from the locals.
Yet he persevered because God said so. God had promised to multiply his descendants and make him the father of a great multitude.
• What an irony. People have been calling his name, “Abram, Abram” which means “exalted father”, and he was childless. Almost sounds like a mockery.
One year before his son Isaac was born, God appeared to him and said (Gen 17:3-8)
And God said to him, 4“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
This is more precise – previously it’s FATHER but now God says specifically, you will have many descendants, you will be the father of multitude – like “the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore” the Lord says in Gen 22:17.
6I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
This was spoken one year before his son Isaac was born and God declared that Abraham would be the “father of a multitude”.
• God has His promise and God has His purpose. He acts to fulfil His plan. He will execute what He has promised, even if it takes a miracle to do so.
• Looking back at the nation of Israel today, history has validated God’s promise to Abraham.
And the lesson for us? God can be trusted. His Word can be trusted even if it takes 25 years and a miracle.
• God’s promises are sure. What God says He will do. No one who trusts God can be disappointed. Only those who are ignorant of what God has said are sad.
• God may delay the visible fulfilment of His promises but they will come eventually.
• They may even come after we pass on; that means we have to get to heaven before we know everything that He said has been fulfilled.
God executes His purposes and will in His own time and in His way, not ours.
• We just have to trust and obey Him. The author went on to talk about…
(2) THE CERTAINTY OF HIS PURPOSE
16For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath….
God has His purpose and His purpose cannot be thwarted.
• He is sovereign and He works out His will according to what He has determined. Nothing is by chance or accidental.
• Nothing is reactive. God does not react to changing circumstances; He foreknows them. Everything that is happening in our world today, He knows.
The author says God shows the heirs of the promise – that is, believers down through history - the unchangeableness of His purpose.
• Our salvation in Christ has been God’s plan and purpose all along.
• And He reveals it through His Word, that He would save His people through Christ.
God gave His Word and that is supposedly good enough because God cannot lie.
• But to rebellious and faithless people like us, God helps us believe by making an oath. He swears that He will do it, by cutting a covenant with man.
• He does not need to actually. His Word is true and He does not lie. But to make it “convincing” to us, God swears by Himself because there is no one higher.
• The oath proves that He will do what He says. It shows that His promises are unchanging, just like His being (character).
18so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
• What are these “two unchangeable things”? The author did not explain more but looking at the context, it would be His PROMISE and His OATH. Both are unchangeable.
• God speaks the truth and takes an oath to confirm it, making a covenant to affirm it, so that by two unchangeable things – His Word and Oath – we can be very sure of the hope we have in Christ. Nothing and no one can change that.
Listen to what the Lord says in Isaiah 46:8-11.
8“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”
The context of these words is beautiful. God is raising a pagan king, the Persian King Cyrus, to accomplish His purpose, to bring His displaced people back to Israel.
• It seems impossible and unlikely but it will happen because God said so.
• God is not bound by the will of man or difficult circumstances. His hands are not tied; He does what He wills, according to His perfect plan.
Firstly, God’s Word can never fail. Secondly, His purpose is unchangeable.
• And thirdly, I want to highlight one more convincing point that the author makes:
(3) THE CERTAINTY OF HIS PERSON
He said the obvious: “It is impossible for God to lie.” (6:18).
• There is one thing that God cannot do: He cannot lie. His Word cannot be false.
• His very being is true; there is no falsehood in Him. Jesus says He is the truth; He does not just speak the truth, He lives it.
• There is nothing fake about Him. There is no pretence and He is not hypocritical.
There was this interesting incident in Numbers 23. The enemy of Israel, the King of Moab engaged a prophet Balaam to curse Israel.
• But the prophet could not. Each time he opened up his mouth, words of blessing came forth. To curse Israel was not God’s Word nor was it God’s purpose.
• The prophet came back to the King and this was what he said (Num 23:19):
19God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfil it?
Here are the THREE reminders from Hebrews 6 for the New Year.
• Even though the future is uncertain and the year ahead can be difficult, many things can change and will change, our Lord remains the same.
• Heb 13:9 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
• We can be confident because the salvation hope we have in Jesus Christ is “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (6:19).
• “Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf” and we are following Him behind.
We can be confident because of these THREE unchanging truths:
(1) God’s promises can never fail. His Word is the basis of our faith.
(2) God’s purpose is unchangeable. His Will the basis of our hope.
(3) God’s Person is incapable of lying. His Character is the basis of our worship.
What more assurances do we need? Can we not trust Him?
Can we not surrender our lives to Him and worship Him?
If you do not know Him today, I want you to know that He knows you and He cares about you. He came to save you, not to judge you.
• For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son Jesus. So that through Him we can be saved from our sins and not perish, and we shall have a life with Him that’s eternal.
• God’s Word is true, God’s purpose is sure and we can trust Him. Jesus Christ is our only hope, the anchor of our soul.
Dear church, in an ever-changing world, let us cling to the unchanging One, Jesus Christ our Lord. Have a blessed New Year!
Prayer:
Dear Father in heaven, You who did not spare Your own Son but gave him up for us all, how will You not also with Christ graciously give us all things (Rom 8:32) that we have of need? Why are we so fearful when You are with us? Why are we worried when our lives have been redeemed and fully secured in Christ?
May we grow to trust You more because Your Word is true, Your purposes for us are good, and You are always faithful and true. We are blessed because You are with us. Walk us through another good year with You. May Your will be done on earth, through us, as it is in heaven. We give you all the glory and praise, in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.
