GOD HAS SPOKEN BY HIS SON
Meditations in Hebrews
Hebrews 6:19-20
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PAUL concludes his exhortation to encourage us to stand firm in faith and patience in these last two verses of chapter 6. In faith and patience we hold on to the hope that is offered to us by the sure word and promise of God who does not lie or change his mind, and whose purposes are sure and certain.
In these two verses before us Paul enlarges on this hope we have from God. The hope is the promise of God in Christ that we have a place in God's eternal glory through the work of Christ for us, and that this eternal glory is our certain blessing when this life is over. Not to have this hope is to be without hope, and without God in the world, as Paul describes in Ephesians 2:12. It is a state too awful to contemplate, but it is the state of the majority in the world today, who get by simply because they do not understand, or will not receive, the true state they are in.
This hope Paul describes and likens to an anchor. An anchor is something everyone of us can visualize. A ship lowers its anchor in order to be held secure in a place where the ship needs to rest. The anchor fixes itself firmly in the bed of the sea, and come what may of wind or tide, it will not move, and the ship is held secure at its anchorage.
Such is the hope we have in Christ. It holds our souls firm and secure. In other words this hope in Christ, based on the sure word and promise of God, is something our inner being can hold on to and know for certain, that come what may in all the troubles and trials of this life, we are safe in the salvation we have been granted in Christ, and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. This certain assurance is based on the fact that this anchor for the soul enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.
This reference to the inner sanctuary may have little meaning for us if it is not explained, but Paul does not explain it here because he is writing to Jews, who would immediately know what he was referring to. The reference is from the tent or tabernacle which was the place where the presence of God dwelt during the time the Israelites were travelling through the desert of Sinai to the promised land. It had two compartments, one being two thirds larger than the other. In the larger compartment the priests were allowed to enter, and offer incense before the Lord, after sacrifice for the atonement for sin had been made on the altar which was outside the tabernacle. Then there was a heavy curtain which separated the smaller section from this larger section, and this was the inner sanctuary where the presence of God was particularly manifest. Inside this was the ark of the covenant, in which resided the ten commands on stone, and Aaron's rod that flowered, and the lid of the ark was the mercy seat. No human being entered this sanctuary except the high priest once a year, and he had to enter it with the blood of the sacrifice offered as atonement for the sins of the people. He sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat, and at the sight of the blood God was merciful to the people for another year. This inner sanctuary was inaccessible to sinners, illustrating the separation that exists between sinners and God. The inner sanctuary was a type of the heavenly Glory where God reigns with Christ.
Now the anchor of our hope in Christ enters this inner sanctuary behind the curtain. This is the real sanctuary which the one in the wilderness was only a picture, and anchors itself in this room in the very presence of God. So the hope we have is one in which we are anchored in the very holiest and in the very presence of God. In this way we have a hope that can never be shaken or destroyed because we are anchored in heaven already, and that anchor can not move and is safe, so as this world passes away, we are still, through Christ, anchored to the heavenly glory and part of it.
Why is this so? Verse 20 tells us. Jesus, as our eternal high priest, has entered into the inner sanctuary of heaven on our behalf. He has entered forever to be there to represent us before God, and like the high priest in Israel, who entered the typical sanctuary once a year with the blood of the animal sacrifice to gain the mercy of God for the people, Jesus as the eternal High Priest has entered the presence of God to obtain mercy and grace for us by the presentation of his own blood, as evidence that he has paid the price of our sin.
This is the anchor which is ours. This is our sure and certain hope. Our hope rests on the anchor that is sure. No an anchor of our failing works and doings, but the sure and firm anchor of the perfect and all-sufficient work of Jesus for us. This is the hope that is worth holding on to with faith and patience, and never letting go.