Sometimes our lives may seem like they are caught in a violent storm as wave after wave of crisis threatens to sink our ship and powerful pressures seem to drive us toward sharp jagged rocks. At such times, an anchor can sustain and brace a ship as the storm rages. In fact, it might be that it is only just such an anchor which separates a ship's fate from disaster.
In Hebrews 6:19, Christians are described as having a hope that is a firm and secure anchor for the soul. Three questions immediately come to my mind. What is this hope which can provide an anchor for my life? How is it used? And finally, how can I know that this anchor will be reliable when I need it the most?
What is this hope that is an anchor for the soul?
When the author of Hebrews urged his readers to grasp onto the hope which has been set before them, he was referring to the hope of those things which accompany salvation. Hebrews 6:9,11 Ultimately this is the hope of heaven which Paul Paul had described in Colossians 1:5.Earlier in Hebrews chapters three and four through the language of "entering into God's rest," the author had already introduced his reader to this hope of heaven.
How does a person use this anchor of hope?
In Hebrews 6:18 the author described God's people as taking hold of this hope set before us. When lives are driven by hope, people are strengthened to exhibit faith and patience as they endure and push forward. Accordingly, the message of Hebrews continues to urge God's people today to seize upon the hope laid before us by being relentlessly faithful. Hebrews 3:14-15; 4:11 Or as he wrote in chapter 6, we must continue on in faith and patience.
If a person knows that a worthy goal lies ahead, that person is encouraged to endure the current crisis. Without such an anchor for the soul, the compass which guides us to be faithful in a dark situation can disappear from view leaving us to flounder before the magnitude of the crisis. To know that heaven is waiting to recieve you is truly an anchor for the soul.
But how sure and steadfast is this hope?
An anchor is only as good as it is reliable. How reliable is something which you can't see? Heaven may be waiting ... but then what if it is not? The author confronts this question head on.
In Hebrews 6:16-19 we learn that our hope of heaven is as certain as two unchangeable things: God's promise and God's oath. It is impossible for God to break His promise, because God does not lie. Likewise, because God does not lie, it is impossible for God to take an oath falsely.
Throughout various times in history it might have appeared that God was not going to keep His promise. Consider Abraham who at the age of seventy-five was told that he would be the father of a multitude and that through him all nations would be blessed. After five years of waiting, no baby had arrived. Ten years passed, and still nothing. Twenty years later and the cradle was still enpty. It took twenty-five years for that son of promise to be born. Hebrews 6:15 states that after waiting patiently Abraham recieved what was promised. And then it took about 2000 years before the promised Messiah was born through whom God blessed the world. But the author's point is that God was faithful to his promise. God did not change his plan in mid-stream. God does not lie. Accordingly we too need to be like Abraham and patiently wait for what God has promised.
Since God has promised, we can know that heaven waits for us. In fact, Jesus has gone on ahead of us as a forerunner. Hebrews 6:20 Therefore, even though the trials and storms of this life might threaten to undo us, we can endure them because we know where we are going. Even though the powerful winds of temptation might seek to blow us off course and into self-destructive shoals, we can remain faithful and shun evil with our eyes focused upon our destination. Even though the horizon may be hidden from our view behind the storm clouds and we may not understand exactly why we are caught in this storm, we can know the end which awaits us because God can not lie.
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Copyright © 1999, 2002 Barry Newton