The Bible says in Hebrews 6:11-12, And we desire that everyone of you do shew the same
diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end. That ye be not slothful,
but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. In the previous verse we are told of the
love that these believers had. It is always best to start with love when you
are thinking about the important qualities that a Christian should possess. If
you have love for other Christians, then you can work on adding the other
things. In these two verses are mentioned hope, faith, and patience.
The hope that is spoken about is the great Christian hope about
the future and what Christ will bring. This hope is not the human hope of a
better life in this world. This is the Christian hope of a better life in the
next world because of what Christ will do. Jesus promised the resurrection from
the dead. Jesus promised that He would bring the
In Hebrews
Christians should have faith, and they should also have patience.
God has a will, and He also has a time when He brings to pass His will. One
thing is for certain. He is not going to do things on our time-table. He does
them on His own. My ways
are not your ways, saith the Lord. The word that is translated patience
in this verse means to suffer long.
When things are happening that are painful, Christ is the answer. But,
He is going to answer in His way and in His time. Trust in Him and rely upon
Him, and be willing to suffer until He gives His answer in His way and in His
time. There is a result for those who have this kind of faith and patience.
Hebrews
Abraham is used as the example of someone who had faith and
patience, and who therefore inherited a promise. The Bible says in Hebrews
6:13-15, For when God made
promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless
thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. The promise was that Abraham would have a seed, a descendant.
And that seed would be the beginning of a great people. And that seed, which is
Christ, would ultimately be a blessing to the rest of the world. What greater
blessing could there be than a Savior sent to save all who believe? It was a
great promise that God made to Abraham, but there was one problem: both Abraham
and Sarah were very old and had no children. That which is impossible with man
is possible with God. Abraham believed that. God made a promise to Abraham, and
Abraham believed the promise. But Abraham had to wait. God made a promise, but
God did not fulfill the promise immediately. As it says in Hebrews 6:15, after he had patiently endured, he
obtained the promise.
The Bible says in Hebrews 6:16-18, For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for
confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more
abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was
impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. What is the basis for faith and hope?
What is the reason that believers can be confident? Faith is based upon
promises: promises made by God and Christ. For example, Jesus said in John 14:2-3,
In my Fathers house are
many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a
place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and
receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. That is a promise.
Does God lie? Of course He does not lie. Does God always tell the
truth and always keep His Word? Of course He does. Because God keeps His Word,
we have a strong
consolation, and we can lay hold on the hope set before us. There are thousands and thousands of
promises that God has made. They are recorded in the Bible. Always look for the
promises when you read the Bible. Stand on the promises. Be comforted by the
promises. If you do, you will have a strong faith. Your faith will not be based
upon your circumstances, but your faith will be based upon the promises of God
who cannot lie.
Concerning the hope that we have because of Gods promises, the
Bible says in Hebrews 6:19, Which
hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. These words are very strong words and
very comforting words. anchor
of the soul, sure, steadfast. Not many things are certain in life.
Some people like to say that the only things that are certain are death and
taxes. But there is one other thing that is certain: the promises of God. They
are immutable. That is what it says in Hebrews 6:16.
If you are an heir of the promises, then the promises are going to happen to
you. There is no doubt about it. If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, all
of the promises that Jesus made to His believers are promises that He has made
to you. You will be with Him forever in the glory and beauty of heaven because
God cannot lie. You have an
anchor of the soul.
The phrase that is used at the end of verse 19 is symbolic of
being as close to God as one can get. It speaks of entering into that within the veil. In the temple was set aside a place
called the holiest of the holies. It was separated from the rest of the temple
by a veil. Inside the veil was represented the very presence of God. Only the
high priest could enter the veil. No one else was permitted. But when Jesus
died on the cross, one of the miracles that took place was that the veil was torn,
indicating the fact that now we all have access to the very presence of God.
All of this comes by faith in Jesus. All of this is a promise. We enter into
the blessings and the benefits of the promise by believing the promise. If we
believe, we are within the
veil. Hebrews
Jesus is the forerunner. This word means that He is the first to
go to a certain place and everyone else will follow after. All of us have
access to the very presence of God because we are followers of Jesus. We go
where He went. We are strangers and pilgrims on the earth because He was. We
have access to the holy presence of God because Jesus does. We share with Jesus
what He accomplished. That is grace. We do not deserve this access, and we have
not earned it. But it is given to us anyway. Notice that Hebrews
Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchisedec.
Concerning Melchisedec, the Bible says in Hebrews
7:1-3, For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God,
who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To
whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation king
of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
Without Father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of
days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God, albeit a priest
continually. The life of Melchisedec was in several ways symbolic of Christ. It is
interesting to note that he is mentioned in just two places in the Old
Testament, but his life is very important as being symbolic of Christ.
Genesis 14:18-20 tells when Melchisedec
met Abraham, and it says, And
Melchizedek king of
The end of the life of Melchisedec is
not recounted for us in the Old Testament. God did not tell us when Melchisedecs life ended. Even this was symbolic of Christ
being a priest forever. This theme will be expanded later in the chapter. It
speaks of eternal security. It declares the fact that Jesus is always in the
presence of the Father speaking on behalf of His children. God will never
forget that our sins have been paid for already. God will never demand another
sacrifice or another remedy or another punishment. If Jesus is your Savior, He
is also your high priest continually. For those of you who think you are not
much of a sinner and have already arrived to where you need to be in the
Christian life, this may not mean much. But for those of you who know how great
your sins are, this is a wonderful truth that speaks of forgiveness and mercy
and love and acceptance and blessings every day from God on your behalf.
In Hebrews 7:4 the writer goes into much detail explaining why it
is better for Christ to have been a priest after the order of Melchisedec rather than a priest of the tribe of Levi.
Evidently this explanation is meant for Jews who had become Christians or for
others who have diligently studied the Old Testament and who might have
questions about the Levitical priesthood. When we understand all of Hebrews
chapter seven, we can also understand why the temple, the sacrifices, and the
priesthood were set aside in the first century. Jesus did it all. Jesus paid it
all. Jesus is the greatest and the last of the priests because there is no more
priestly work to be done. He has taken the work of the priest upon Himself, and
He does it continually in the presence of the Father. There is no more sacrifice for sin, because Jesus sacrificed once for all.
Hopefully you have trusted in Christ and in His sacrifice for you.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2006 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved