GOD HAS SPOKEN BY HIS SON
Meditations in Hebrews
Hebrews 6:13-15
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PAUL continues his digression in which he makes this exhortation for perseverance and patient faith in holding on to the promises of the Gospel, and his purpose up to the end of the chapter is to encourage such perseverance and patience in believing. In doing this, however, he leads into the continuation of his teaching concerning the excellence of Christ as our high priest, because this is where strong assurance for believing and persevering in faith lies.
I want to point you back first of all to the last verse of the previous section (v.12). This verse reads as follows - "We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised." Paul points us to the fundamental factor in the life of every true Christian. The fundamental factor is found in the words 'through faith and patience'. Faith lies at the heart of our religion as Christians. We are saved by faith. We believe the promises of God in Christ, that whosoever believes in Jesus, receives the promised gift of eternal life, with acceptance with God, new birth, a place in God's eternal family, and an inheritance prepared by Christ for us in the heavenly glory. We come to Christ with our need of being reconciled to God, forgiven and accepted by him, and given a place in his eternal kingdom. We believe the promise that Christ has won these privileges for us, and we run to Jesus and hold on to him by faith for these blessings. We believe God's word that these promises of life are real. We find we have an earnest of them in our lives here on earth, but we still hope for the fulness of this life. So we patiently persevere in faith that in the end when this life is over we will find our faith is not in vain, and we shall see Jesus in his glory, and find rest in heaven. This is what the Apostle is speaking about in verse 12. We persevere in faith, and though the waiting may seem long, and the journey sometimes hard, we believe and wait patiently for the realisation of our faith. This is what comes up to God as a sweet savour. This is the faith that bring us near to God.
Now in the verses before us Paul is seeking to encourage us in this faith and patience. He gives us the example of Abraham, whose life was a constant exercise of faith, even though at times his faith was tested to the highest point. We also have such times of testing when our faith is strained and sometimes shaken, and we are tempted to doubt or even give up. The important thing is not that we have these times of weakness, but whether we come through them to the continuance of faith even stronger.
For this encouragement in the life of Abraham Paul takes us back to a very supreme time of testing for Abraham, which was when God called him to take his only son, Isaac, in whom all the promises of God were to be realised, and to offer him up to God as a blood sacrifice on an altar. This is, evidently, the instant in Abraham's life which Paul has in mind because he speaks of God swearing by himself, and this is the only place in the life of Abraham that we have such a reference. This incident is found in Genesis 22:1-19. At the critical moment just as Abraham raised his knife to kill Isaac, who was bound on the altar, God spoke to him and stopped him, and provided a ram caught in a thicket for the sacrifice, which Abraham sacrificed in the place of Isaac. This has a deep significance in and of itself, but the point which Paul is emphasising is that Abraham proved his faith in God's promise that God would bless the nations through him by being willing to sacrifice the only means this promise could be fulfilled, and so showing that he still believed God's promise even though seemly God was removing all hope of it being realised.
At this point in the life of Abraham, God confirmed his promise to Abraham, that through his offspring all nations on earth would be blessed, which is clear promise of the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and to confirm this promise he swore by himself, to add that certainty that He was not lying, and that the promise would be fulfilled. So Abraham's faith was strengthened, and he persevered in this faith to the end of his life, even though in his life time he did not see the fulfilment of it. Because of this when he died his faith was rewarded with the inheritance of everlasting glory.
In this way Paul encourages us to persevere to the end in faith and patience, believing that our faith is not in vain because God's word is sure. The Apostle returns to this faith of Abraham when he gives a catalogue of the hero's of faith in chapter 11 where Paul speaks of Abraham, and the other heros of faith, welcoming the realisation of the promise from a distance, because they did not receive them in this life, and goes on to express their sure hope in verse 14 "People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own", and then later in this chapter 11 in verse 16 where we read "Instead they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."
This is our encouragement also. We believe as Abraham did. We believe because God has said it. We have stronger encouragement because we have seen the promise worked out in the coming of Christ and his dying for us and rising victorious, but we still wait for the realisation of it in heaven. So in the same way we wait for the promise by faith, and walk by faith in the service of God. It is those who persevere to the end, who are saved.