Hebrews 6:16-20

Hebrews 6:16-20 Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Do you have hope in the works of Jesus Christ? God gave Abraham the promise that his seed would bless all nations. But he had to wait patiently for this promise to be fulfilled, for his son Isaac was born 25 years after the promise, and his grandsons 85 years after the promise. God tested Abraham's belief that He would fulfill his promise to him. When his hope wavered, he constructed a plan to fulfill God's promise by fathering a descendent through Hagar his servant: Ishmael. But Abraham's decision to fulfill God's promise on his own brought great sorrow, and He finally had to send Hagar and Ishmael away. Disconnected from his father, Ishmael became a wanderer throughout the land and his descendants lived in hostility toward all their brothers. (Genesis 25:15) Abraham's attempt to fulfill God's promise to him through the flesh was such a failure that even today great hostility exists between the Arab people and the Jews. God's plan of salvation, his blessing, does not come through the works of the flesh but through faith in God and his unadulterated will.

My Christian friend, what hope anchors your soul, your life? What makes your Christian life worth living? The author of Hebrews says our hope of blessing rests in Jesus Christ and his works. This hope and confidence in Christ's work at the cross allows believers to enter the inner sanctuary of God where Jesus is. As we put our faith in Jesus Christ, He literally presents us to the Father God because Christ is our eternal advocate who is with the Father and brings us before the throne of God as his blood-bought brothers and sisters. As our High Priest, Christ makes intercession on our behalf. Consequently, Christians possess complete faith and eternal hope in the Christ who dwells in our hearts, Abraham's promised Seed who has blessed all nations, all people, who is worthy of honor and praise.

Although we are still here and our flesh causes us to stumble and to disappoint ourselves and God at times, our hope is not in the works of the flesh, but in the promise. God promised us righteousness, a place of right standing in his eyes. As Abraham, we wait patiently for the fulfillment of the promise in our lives, knowing He will perfect what concerns us and bring us to be with him. We wait in faith, not believing in what is seen, felt, or heard, but intentionally believing that God's promised blessing to Abraham will be fulfilled in us through his Seed. By vicariously living the life of Christ through faith in him, we trust in his righteousness and not our own. Therefore, we do not live in fear, but secure in the knowledge that God's love and acceptance are toward us. We rest in Christ's work, in his righteousness and not ours.

When God swore to make us righteous in Christ, acceptable to him, He could swear by no being higher than himself. He is not a liar, so our hope rests in his words, not in our human experiences or works. Will we reach perfection in our fleshly bodies? No, the flesh remains under judgment because of sin and will die because of sin. No matter how much you pray for your earthly shell or how strongly you believe for this flesh to prosper, the body ages and decays right before our eyes and someday turns to dust in the grave. However, believers have a glorious hope that even though our flesh is not restored, our spirits are. As newly born children of God, full of the Holy Spirit and no longer captive to sin and death, God makes us alive unto him evermore. Since we trust and believe in Jesus Christ, we are his new creation, the children of God. Because Abraham, in his flesh, foolishly attempted to fulfill God's promise of children, the Bible says Ishmael's decendants became slaves, bound to this earth. Works of the flesh do not produce children of God, but slaves. IN CHRIST we are free people, released to God, eternal as He is. As people of the Spirit, we do not rely on the flesh or serve it; we serve God Almighty who loves us. Christian friend, live where God is, not in the flesh. Live in the Spirit, rejoicing in God's sufficiency and not your own. He will never disappoint you because you are his, and He will never leave you. The flesh will disappoint you continually because at best this world only offers pleasure for a season, but the Spirit abides within us forever, giving us an eternally blissful relationship with God.