Hold Fast To Hope
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Introduction
Introduction
Review
Review
In the last lesson, we saw that the author of Hebrews encourages the Christians to press on to maturity so that they will remain faithful to Jesus.
These Christians were thinking about giving up on Jesus
This Lesson
This Lesson
So, in this lesson, the author of Hebrews gives the Christians two reasons to hang on. Hebrews 6:13-20.
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So 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, 18 so 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. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
So, the author tells the Christians that there are two unchangeable reasons why they should hold fast to hope.
There is a lot of debate about what those unchangeable things are… We aren’t going to get into that debate, but I do want to talk about two unchangeable things that should give us hope.
So, this is what we are going to talk about in this lesson. We are going to talk about two unchangeable things that should give us hope.
We Have An Unchangeable God
We Have An Unchangeable God
Abraham
Abraham
The author begins with God’s promise made to Abraham. Hebrews 6:13-15.
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.
Here, The author references God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 22. Genesis 22:15-19.
15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.
So, we see that God makes three promises concerning the offspring of Abraham, but this isn’t the first time that God made promises about Abraham’s offspring.
Genesis 12:1-4.
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Abram is 75 years old when God first promises him offspring, and the author of Hebrews tells us that he waits patiently for God to fulfill that promise.
When we look at Abraham’s story, we see that he struggled with his faith at times.
In Genesis 12, we see how faithful Abraham was, but we also see him struggle with his faith. When he’s in Egypt, he lies to Pharaoh because he thinks he might die. Maybe Abraham thinks that God has changed his mind.
Genesis 16:1-2.
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
Maybe Sarai thinks that God has changed his mind, so they have to take matters into their own hands… Just like Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:17.
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
So, throughout Abraham’s life, he had to be taught that God is the unchangeable God who keeps his promises.
This all culminates when God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Genesis 22:1-5.
1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
At this point in Abraham’s life, he is sure that God is going to keep his promise. He held fast to hope.
Us
Us
So, the lesson for us is that we must learn the same lesson that Abraham learned. We have an unchangeable God who keeps his promises.
Why should this give us hope? Romans 8:18-25.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
God has promised us that while we suffer in the present day, we look forward to a day of redemption. Don’t you long for that day?
When thinking about this day, it’s important for us to remember that we have an unchangeable God who keeps his promises. When we realize this, we – like Abraham – will wait patiently for the hope that’s waiting for us.
We Have An Unchangeable High Priest
We Have An Unchangeable High Priest
In this section, the author of Hebrews moves on to talk about Jesus as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. There’s a lot to talk about, but I’m just going to summarize one of the main points. Hebrews 6:19-7:3.
19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.
Here, the author tells us that Melchizedek has no father, mother, genealogy, beginning of day, or end of days and so continues a priest forever.
The author is not trying to say that Melchizedek had no parents and didn’t die. His point is that these things aren’t recorded in scripture for us, and that’s surprising.
For a Jewish priest, genealogy is extremely important. Without it you cannot be a priest because every priest must be from the tribe of Levi.
Furthermore, a genealogy was necessary for a Jewish high priest because they kept dying. If the high priest didn’t die, then they wouldn’t need to keep a detailed genealogical record.
The genealogical records were used so that they could pass the priesthood from one generation to the next.
So, since Genesis doesn’t record Melchizedek’s genealogy, the author of Hebrews tells us that his priesthood doesn’t need to be passed on to the next generation… In other words, he has an eternal priesthood that only consists of one person: himself.
In the same way, Jesus has an eternal priesthood that only consists of one person: himself. So, the author of Hebrews tells these Christians that Jesus’ priesthood is greater than what we see in the OT.
How would you feel if you had a really great boss/supervisor who got replaced by a horrible one?
I imagine that this is how the Israelites felt whenever one of their great high priest died and was replaced by his horrible son.
The author of Hebrews is reminding them that Christians don’t have to go through this. Hebrews 7:15-17, 23-24,26-28.
15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him,
“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”
23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.
26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Application For Us
Application For Us
That’s the lesson for us: We have an unchangeable high priest.
Do you see how this should give us hope?
We talked in an earlier lesson about how we can approach God’s throne with a bold frankness because we have a high priest who is able to understand what we go through. Hebrews 4:14-16.
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
In Hebrews 7, we learn that this sympathetic and merciful high priest isn’t going anywhere. He’s the unchangeable high priest.
What does this mean for us?
Have you ever felt like Christ is just done with you because of your mistakes? In those moments, we need to remember that Christ himself is unchanging. He is always ready to show us mercy when we repent, and he’s not going anywhere.
Have you ever gone through so much felt like Christ has just left you?
I saw this question on an internet forum: After 13 years of trials and difficulties in life, I’m starting to lose my faith in God. I still pray because I’m told to do so, but I don’t feel the same trust that God wants to help me. I feel abandoned and lost. What should I do?
This person felt like Christ had left them. This is probably what some of the Jewish Christians thought going through persecution.
Do we ever feel this way at times? In those moments, we need to remember that Christ isn’t going anywhere. He’s our unchangeable high priest, and he never leaves us… Even when going through persecution.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We all have gone through those times when we felt like our soul was shaken because of the storms of life. Hebrews 6:19-20.
19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
We have reason to hold fast to hope because we have an unchangeable God and an unchangeable mediator in Christ.