In 1510 Martin Luther, prior to his realization that one is justified by faith, was faced with an overwhelming and exciting opportunity to go to Rome. The teaching of the church was that you could appropriate for yourself spiritual benefits and merit from other saints. You could pool goodness from their works of righteous merit, even simply by witnessing, touching, or owning relics from their righteous works. And for this, Rome was the hotbed. The opportunities to gain merit were plentiful.

One of the greatest opportunities for this related to the stairs of the Santa Scala (Pilate’s stairs, where Jesus most definitely stood). The teaching of the church was that if one scaled these stairs, praying on each stair and kissing each stair, then one could free a relative from purgatory. In fact, this was such a great opportunity that Luther speaks of his regret that his parents were not dead and in purgatory so that he could do this great spiritual favor for them. However, he was delighted at the thought of being able to free one of his grandparents. Therefore, he completed the task. However, after this great labor, while he was at the top of the stairs of the Santa Scala, he asked himself, “Who knows if this true?”

Luther had heard the teaching of the church, but how could he know that he could really base his faith there? What if the hope they had painted before him was as empty as hopes in fairy tales? And what an agonizing position that must have been for Luther – to labor and devote your life toward some end that may not be sure, to labor for an end in which you have no confidence. And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we might say, “How do we know we’re not in the same boat?”

I mean, for the past few weeks, I have been exhorting you (as the author of Hebrews exhorts his original hearers) to press on and hold fast to Christ, whatever may come – whether persecution, ridicule, suffering, or even death – for it is worth it. For there is a goal, there is an end, there is a rest to be entered into fully. There will be a day in which we will bask in the full and complete manifestation of all things being in subjection to Christ.

But how do we know such a though is sure? How do we know that in the end we will not look back and say, “I lived my life in light of a hope that was empty and a figment of someone’s imagination and hate how I lived?” And don’t be deceived, that would be an appropriate response if there is nothing after this life. These original recipients of the letter were undergoing persecution that could have been ended with rejection of their confession of and allegiance to Christ. They would not look back at the end of their life if this hope of eternal life awaiting them was false and say, “O well, we still traveled a fun road. I mean, remember that time that …” No. That would not have been the response of men who (as described in Hebrews 11) suffered mocking and flogging, imprisonment, being stoned to death, being sawn in two, killed with the sword, being put in the skins of animals and hunted, and being afflicted in most every other way possible. If they got to the end of this life and found out the hope painted before them was a figment of someone’s imagination they would not have said, “O well, I sure lived a good and fun life anyway.” No. They would have said with Paul, “If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19). I am asking you, week after week, to hold fast to a confession which we already see bringing persecution all over the world and see that persecution increasing in our own country. So, how can we be sure of our hope? What will keep my heart holding fast to a hope that I cannot right now see in times of great struggle to shrink back from our confession of Christ and dive into unbelief?

That is a good question, and as I have tried to show in this introduction it is not an unimportant one. But there is good news. That question is important to God as well. That is why he inspired the author of Hebrews to write Hebrews 6:13-20, for he answers these questions. Let us then turn to the text and see what the author (and more importantly, God) wants us to see from this text.

God has gone to great lengths to show us that we might have hope

Now in sense we might saw that such language is deceiving. For it’s not as if some act of God requires more effort than another, for he is all-powerful. But this language I think communicates what God wants us to see from this text.

The author begins talking about God making a promise to Abraham and guaranteeing the promise with an oath in verses 13-14. He writes, “For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “I will bless you and multiply.” And the result? That is found in verse 15 as we read, “And thus Abraham, having waited patiently, obtained the promise.”

“But wait a second,” we might say. For there are a few things here that need to be answered. For one, why did God need to swear by himself again, and what does that communicate? Second, what promise to Abraham is he talking about? And third, why does a promise to Abraham have anything to do with me? Let’s try to answer these questions.

First, why did God need to swear by himself in making an oath to Abraham regarding the promise? Well, the answer is found in verse 16 as the author of Hebrews says, “For people swear by something greater than themselves and in all their disputes an oath is for final confirmation.” So, it was customary that if I wanted to guarantee something, I would make an oath as a final and sure confirmation of it. And in making the oath I would swear by something greater than myself so as to say, in effect, “If this is not true, let that by which I swore be condemned.” So, one might say, “I swear on the Word of God that this will happen.” And in doing so, they are saying, “If this doesn’t happen, let the Word of God be condemned.” Now, that’s more than saying, “Call me a liar,” which is why people swear by something greater than themselves; they swear by something of greater value and worth.

God, however, wanting to show how sure this promise was and how much assurance Abraham could have in it being fulfilled could not find anything greater than himself, so he swore by himself. He swore by the greatest thing there is – himself. Therefore, God is saying, “Let me be condemned if this promise is not fulfilled.” That is why God swore by himself.

But what was the promise he gave to Abraham? The author gives us a glimpse of it in verse 14, writing, “I will bless you and multiply you.” However, to get the full picture of the promise we can turn to Genesis 22:15-18. There we read these words:

“By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord … I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of the heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall posses the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

The promise being referred to in Hebrews 6 is God’s promise to Abraham to bless him and multiply his descendants, and to bless all the nations of the earth through his offspring.

But how does this promise affect us? After all, many (if not all) of us here today are Gentiles, so we are not physical descendants from Abraham and consequently would not be heirs to the promises made to Abraham.

That would indeed seem right until you turn to the pages of the New Testament. There, however, in Galatians 3:16, Paul gives us insight into this promise, writing, “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.”

“Okay,” we might say, “so Jesus receives the promises made to Abraham, but we still don’t see how it affects us.” Yet, Paul goes on to write in Galatians 3:29, “If you are Christ’s [i.e. if you have placed your faith in Christ, if you are a believer], then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.”

Therefore, this promise to Abraham, the gift of righteousness and promise of blessing is a promise which comes to all of those who place their faith in Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen Lord. That’s why this promise is so important.

So, it should be very good news to us that has guaranteed this promise – he has guaranteed eternal life and righteousness for those who are his children through faith in Christ. And to guarantee it, he put himself on the line. He put his name and character on the line by swearing by himself. Yet, God never changes, he is eternally infinitely glorious. Therefore, my hope being sure tomorrow is as sure as God continuing to be who he is tomorrow. It is built on something that is unchanging, namely, God himself. And yet there is built in another platform of assurance in our hope.

For the author of Hebrews comments in verse 18 that we have our assurance “by two unchangeable things.” So what is the other? The other is found in verse 17 as the author speaks of the unchangeable character of God’s purpose.

God’s purpose is to glorify himself by redeeming a people for himself through the work of Christ (i.e. death, burial, and resurrection). Therefore, the other platform of hope is to see the finished work of Christ for us, in which he carried out God’s purpose of redemption for his people.

Therefore, we have our confidence built upon the unchanging nature of God, by which it would be impossible for him to lie ever, but especially (though again, this word “especially” is unfitting because it’s not as if God is ever more truthful because he is always true, it communicates the length to which he has gone to give us assurance) when he swears by himself and built upon the unchanging character of God’s purpose, which has been demonstrated in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ so as to accomplish our redemption. Therefore, God has gone to great lengths to show us that the promised hope that we look toward after this life is indeed sure.

This sure hope that we have, however, does not mean we will not have to endure patiently the struggles of life

Yes, the hope is sure. We can say without doubt that Christ will return to judge all men and take his people to be with him forever. We can also say that on that day we will no longer have to deal with sin or its effects ever again. In fact, we can speak so surely of that day that we speak as if we’ve seen it. However, we must not forget that until that day, life will be filled with struggles and we will longingly wait to see this day.

I say that because of two things. One is because of the reminder that Abraham, having already received the promise by faith and knowing it was sure, still had to wait patiently for the day to come. And the other reason is by reflecting back on what the author has already written in this letter. For he has already written in 2:8, that though we know everything has been put in subjection to Christ and nothing left outside of his control, “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.” Therefore, I can speak with sureness of a day in which I will no longer battle with sin and its effects, such as poverty, sickness, and pain, but if we think that day is now, we are ignoring this text and reality.

Therefore, this is not a word of assurance given so as to negate everything the author has written about persevering in these difficult days prior to the return of our Lord. This is a call to hope as we struggle with sin and its effects in this lifetime.

Yet, there is one more thing I want us to see regarding this assurance God has given us of the hope that awaits his people.

God’s intent in going to these lengths is that we might be encouraged in this life and that our souls might be anchored against the winds of temptation by this sure and steadfast hope

In verses 17-20 the author writes, “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, 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. We have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”

Isn’t this amazing? God wanted us to know that we would be in his presence (i.e. behind the veil), as Christ has paved the way for us, so he swore with an oath to us (i.e. the heirs of the promise) that he might encourage us and give us an anchor for our souls.

Do you see the fatherly love of our heavenly Father? He has great compassion for us. He knows this life is hard. He knows that following him and persevering in faith is hard because of temptation, persecution, etc. And he knew that we would often be weak and easily moved by these winds of temptation and persecution and easily discouraged by the struggles in this life.

Therefore, God made a promise and swore by himself to give us a platform to strongly encourage us and to give us a stabilizing weight in our lives, that we might assure ourselves of the worth of following Christ. I think this text might be one of the best texts at communicating God’s tender love for us, for he didn’t have to do it, but he loves us.

What should we therefore do in response to these realities?

I simply want to list a couple of things to answer this question.

1) Let us hold fast our confession because we know what awaits us is sure

Keep pressing on. Keep believing, keep obeying, keep your hope squarely on Christ, and do not shrink back from that position, for you know that what you are banking on after this life (the promise of eternal life) is sure. So, whatever brings your temptation to shrink back, overcome by looking to the sureness of the promise that awaits us.

2) Let us remind ourselves again and again of the promise of God and the finished work of Christ

Remind yourself often of the fact that God has promised to grant eternal life to the one who has faith in him (a faith that is shown to be genuine by perseverance). Remind yourself of this truth often. To do otherwise is to ignore the hope and encouragement God is trying to give us.

God has mainly given us two avenues in which to remind us of our sure hope. He has given us the Word and the ordinances (or sacraments). Therefore, every Sunday we hear the preaching of the Word together and we partake of the Lord’s Table together. You are hearing the Word now, and in a second as we come to the table, it shows our unity, reflects our reception of the Word, and is a visible reminder of our sure hope. Therefore, God has given us a visible sign of the sure hope that he has given for his promise – he even gives us a tool to remind us of our basis of assurance.

He did the same thing with Noah. He wasn’t going to flood the earth again, so he promised that to Noah, and then he gave us the rainbow as a reminder of that promise. In fact, just the other day, Lili and I were playing tennis with William and Glenna when it was lightly raining and a rainbow came out. Glenna said, “Look, this rain will not flood the earth.” We laughed because it was a light sprinkle. But that’s right, and that’s why it appeared in the sky. It was God reminding us of the assurance of his promise.

Jesus too has told us that there is a sign of the fact that he will come take us to himself one day and will stand before the Father blameless and with great joy. That is the promise. But he also gave his disciples a sign by which to remember the promise – the bread and the cup. So, as we come to the table this morning, let us take of the bread and the cup and be encouraged as we say this day, “We hold fast our confession and will continue to walk in faith and obedience, looking to a hope we are being reminded right now is sure.”

Come Lord Jesus. Amen.

A SURE AND STEADFAST ANCHOR FOR YOUR SOUL

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