Sabbath: Jesus, The Anchor of the Soul
Image © Pacific Press
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Hebrews 6:4–6, Matthew 16:24, Romans 6:6, Hebrews 10:26–29, Hebrews 6:9–13, Hebrews 6:17–20.
Memory Text: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both secure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 6:19-20, NKJV).
Hebrews 5:11-6:20 interrupts the theological exposition about Jesus’ priesthood in our behalf. Paul inserts there a severe warning about the danger of falling away from Christ.
Apparently, the people were in real danger of going down the slippery slope of self-pity and faithlessness. The apostle Paul is concerned that his readers and hearers may have had their spiritual senses dulled because of the difficult situations they were facing, and thus they had stopped growing in their understanding and experience of the gospel.
Is not this a potential danger for us all, getting discouraged because of trials, and thus falling away?
The severe warning culminates, however, in an affectionate encouragement. Paul expresses faith in his readers and exalts Jesus as the embodiment of God’s unbreakable promise of salvation to them (Hebrews 6:9-20). This cycle of warning and encouragement is repeated in Hebrews 10:26-39.
We will study this cycle and focus on the strong words of encouragement that Jesus provides for us.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, February 12.
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Many years ago, I started building a model car. This was an Airfix Kit, 1/12 scale model, of a turbo-charged 1930 Bentley. It was a beautiful model of a beautiful car. There were hundreds of pieces that had to be glued together and painted. I started to build the model with enthusiasm but somewhere along the way that enthusiasm waned and the partly completed model gathered dust in a corner. Every now and then I would get it out and try and regain some of that enthusiasm but I never completed the model. Finally, I had to admit that several pieces had become lost and I was never going to complete the model. Ultimately Carmel delivered the ultimatum, "Throw it out, or I will throw it out for you!"
I am sure that I am not alone in the "unfinished projects" stakes. House repairs almost done, dresses partially sewn, gardens dug but not planted, books partially read, education qualifications put on hold; pick your own embarrassment!
The author of Hebrews knew what he was talking about when he wrote about "falling away". Christianity is not a project. It does not have a completion date. Hopefully, we will understand this better as we study this week's lesson.
Thank you, Maurice. We can be thankful that "Christianity is not a project. It does not have a completion date." If we can only internalize this, I believe it will help us find genuine "rest" in Christ.
I really like the Subtitle "The Peril of Not Progressing" given on Biblia to Hebrews 6:1-7, which comes just before our texts for the day. I understand that it doesn't matter where we are in our journey towards biblical "perfection" or maturity, as long as we are moving towards Him, rather than away from Him. That means to me that an alcoholic, pouring his whiskey down the sink and dedicating his life to God may be in a better spiritual state than a minister in the pulpit filled with a sense of his own righteousness.
I concur, Maurice: ...the minister in the pulpit filled...
The action of pouring that item down 'means' something life-threatening to that individual's immediate surroundings, and that the one has just responded to words and meanings which they have decided to apply in their life; ministers must also believe and know that every word that proceeds out of their mouth should have ‘meanings’ from God and be based all the time on His righteousness, for these words they speak will 'life-threaten' 200 humans immediate surroundings. Because of the sacredness of the office, a minister must much more apply the meanings of the words of God to their own life.
Thank you, Brother Maurice. I agree, life takes us in so many different directions, it's easy to get sidetracked and leave projects unfinished. And to lose enthusiasm for things we've started.
I'm touched by words in our memory text: This hope we have as an ANCHOR of the soul, both SECURE and STEADFAST... words that keep us grounded in our Christian walk. Especially in difficult times. Knowing that He who has gone on before us is ever present, ministering for us.
Praying that He will keep us all.
Thanks for emphasizing the memory text, Dr Waters. That we can be “secure” and “steadfast” in Jesus reminded me of an experience I had in the wee hours of the morning a couple days ago. I was reading in bed and it was about 12:40 AM. I live in the northeast corner of the US and we were having a big snowstorm! So it was very quiet outside, no road noise. All of a sudden I heard a low rumbling sound. I wasn’t sure if it was a snow plow but it sounded like it was in my house in the basement. It was pretty unnerving for a couple of seconds and then all of a sudden the house was shaking noticeably. I went downstairs to see if everything was all right and then it dawned on me that maybe it was an earthquake. Sure enough, in the morning I learned that there was a 2.9 scaled earthquake about 28 miles north of me.
Having solid earth beneath us and knowing that the planets are spinning in order and that the sun rises and sets at the appointed time is very comforting. In a world that seems bent on chaos sometimes, at least from the human involvement standpoint, it’s important to have an anchor. We know that all nature will melt one day; Jesus truly is our only anchor!
Though the title of this week’s lesson is positive: “Jesus, the Anchor of the Soul”, the lesson text seems to focus on the "dangers of falling away from Christ." After reading the references, it appears to me that the believers’ struggles were more about loosing their hope due to persecution at the time they were waiting for the hope within them to be fulfilled.
After reading all the provided Scripture references, I found two to speak of the dangers related to 'leaving the faith' or loosing hope, and both are presented as hypothetical; they seem to be admonitions as well as warnings about consequences of giving up Hope as they were living the Way - the Faith of Christ Jesus.
Heb.6:6 - if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance”, … ;
Heb.10:26 – ”For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth .. .”.
Most of the Scripture references provided are about encouraging the believers to remain steadfast, to counteract the pressures of persecution with their unwavering hope and faith – Heb.19:32-39; v.39:”But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul”.
Why pander to fears when we can focus on the Way to strengthen our faith and hope - our anchor? I prefer to learn about how to improve my struggling faith in a positive way and so maintain and strengthen my faith and hope in Christ Jesus.
I hope this 'how-to advise' is also included in this lesson. After all, this week's title refers to 'The Anchor of the Soul'.
I find Hebrews 6:6 very difficult to understand. How can anyone crucify Jesus again? Jesus went to the cross "Once for all." So how can anyone then make Jesus do this again "once for all?" This is one of those verses that the Apostle Peter said about Paul's writings being difficult to understand for me.
Here is one perspective Pete - the results of my 'digging' because I too found it hard to initially get my head around.
If we allegedly become a Christian and then subsequently turn our backs on it, observers to this risk concluding that Christianity isn't genuine and doesn't really work. Therefore, what Jesus lived and ultimately died (Philippians 2:8) to make available is made to appear 'fake' (as per Romans 2:24 concept).
I would propose that Paul is essentially saying that it would render Christ's experience of going through crucifixion as seemingly ineffectual/impotent in the eyes of such onlookers and therefore needing to be 're-done' so that hopefully next time it resulted in better outcomes among believers and therefore a better witness to enduring (rather than temporary) nature of what Christ makes available. Paul's suggestion is not to be taken literally, but rather is the kind of language (irony*) Paul sometimes uses to try and make a point to certain sub-groups of people who were more 'deaf' to softer language. Romans 3:5 and 6:1 are other examples of Paul's use of this approach.
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* Irony, believed to have originated in ancient greek theatre, is a language technique designed to be sufficiently ridiculous (because it doesn't make sense literally) in order to provoke the mind to stop and consider things more deeply.
Pete, I believe crucifying Jesus again means sinning willfully. That is how I understand the phrase "falling away" - as an ongoing state of willfully ignoring God's voice and His word. If I am wrong, someone please correct me.
EGW said that there was no sin too big that God could not forgive, Jesus, Himself said in Matthew 12:31 that "All manner of sin and blasphemy would be forgiven men." but even here Jesus says that the "blasphemy" against God's Holy Spirit has no forgiveness at all now or ever. So maybe the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 6:6 has this sin in mind as having no hope of forgiveness etc. But even this one baffles my mind about causing Jesus to be "crucified again." No other Gospel writer says this at all or even Jesus Himself ever says anything about a person causing Him to go to the cross again at all.
Pete, I agree this text is not clear to me, so the solution is to search the scriptures for clearer passages on this topic.
To begin with I suggest Heb 10:18-29
Secondly read the lesson for tomorrow, Monday.
If we still don't understand we would need to study what the whole Word of the LORD teaches on the topic of Salvation and forgiveness in particular.
Could it be possible that some people don't accept that Jesus died "once for all" for their "missing the mark of being like the LORD" and therefore He was like the other priests and had to offer himself as a sacrifice again and again?
1Cor 15:1-4
1 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2 It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said
Our difficulty with verses like this one is that we too often try to understand them as being literal rather than figurative. Take for example Jesus' admonition that if your eye or hand causes you to sin, then pluck out the eye or cut off the hand! Jesus is not talking about mutilating our physical body, but making better choices by our submission to the Holy Spirit. In the Hebrews instance I would suggest Paul is saying that if I reject (refuse to accept) the "once for all" sacrifice of Jesus, it is just like me personally putting Him on the cross, just as the Jewish leadership (who rejected Jesus) had done.
Here is another way of looking at this. In past, I struggled with Hebrews 6:6 because my thinking had been primed by sermons and evangelistic series presentations that have taken this verse out of its context to make a point that the writer of the letter to the Hebrews never intended: a warning against falling back into sin. This is a very discouraging works-oriented distortion of God’s gospel for those who struggle with sin.
The actual danger against which Hebrews 6:1-12 is warning is apostasy: returning to and trusting in the forms of religion to gain acceptance with God and man. In the case of these Hebrews, they were returning to Jewish forms and traditions for the purpose of fitting in with other Jews to reduce the persecution to which they were being subjected. This was their apostasy: putting trust in these forms, which obviates the work Christ accomplished on the cross, holding him up to contempt.
This is exactly what the religious rulers were doing when they committed Christ to death on the cross. “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” (Matthew 27:39-43.) Therein is the contempt. Trusting in their forms of religion, they held the Son of God up for contempt, even to the point of accelerating the death of thieves and Christ, so that the coming Sabbath would not be desecrated by having bodies hanging on crosses. (John 19:31-37.)
Note that after giving this warning, the writer of Hebrews immediately gives the way forward out of this danger: the oath and promise of God made to the Seed of Abraham. “Surely I will bless you greatly and multiply your descendants abundantly.” (Hebrews 6:14.) That Seed (our high priest) entered “inside behind the curtain” directly into God’s presence on our behalf after his ascension into heaven. We need to follow our high priest who leads us into God’s presence and his Rest. That is where we will find mercy and grace in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16.)
He is our hope, “an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast.” (Hebrews 6:19 NET.) There is no hope in the forms of religion or in our efforts and promises to be good enough for God to accept. This is nothing but apostasy. We need to put our faith in the work of the One who can make us into God’s image. He alone is faithful.
Question No. 1 - Hebrews 5:11-6:20; is spirituality a reason we would fall away from Jesus. Do we lack the discipline or is it a matter of discipline at all? Does faith require discipling or is faith more based on love? To fall away from our Anchor, is it because of immaturity (yes, I am immature as well)?
Question No. 2 - Jesus is our Anchor, but what about our anchor? I found a tile in Ministry Magazine Archive May 2004 that phrased,"The Law is our Anchor, Jesus is the wind in our sails. Can Jesus be both Anchor and Wind? But going back to Question No. 1 - Is it possible that our spiritual immaturity is because we are not anchored into the law?
I found a couple of verse from SDA Hymnal No. 534. I did not copy them all, but you can find the remaining verses online. Happy Sabbath Everyone!
Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift or firm remain?
Refrain
We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love.
Jesus is the "embodiment" of "The Law" but it is only "His Grace" that keeps us "Firm and deep" in "His Love."
Pete - may I suggest a re-stating of your comment, using basically the same words: 'Jesus is the "embodiment" of the spirit of "The Law", but it is only "His Love, His Spirit" that keeps us "firmly and deeply anchored" through forgiveness and grace. What do you think?
Well, Brigitte, even the Apostle Paul says that it is "The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus," that saves us from the Law of Sin and Death. And what is the Law of Sin and Death if it isn't the 10 Commandments that are impossible for us to keep without God's Grace in His Son Jesus and His Holy Spirit in us?
Yes, Pete - what is represented by the 'spirit of Life in Christ Jesus', what is its 'law' based on? Is it condemnation of the sinner or is it restoration by and through His unmitigated love?
Therefore, what is represented by the 'law of sin and death'? Is it not the attempt to substitute Christ Jesus' unmerited 'Love -giving and receiving- Life' with the works of the law, the 'law of sin and death'?
In other words, rejecting His unmerited Love in favor of works done under the 'law of sin and death'?
No, Brigitte Humphrey, it is the power of grace of the Author of the 10 commandment law and not "the 10 commandment law itself." Jesus embodied Himself in the 10 commandment Law that He and His Father and the Holy Spirit to then make available His Power of Grace for us "by our faith on His Son Jesus," to then accept us sinful as we are and count as as being "sinless" because of how His Son is "sinless."
Pete – Yes, all of us walk the Lord’s “Way” by faith, and I do not say that one’s understanding is ‘wrong’ or ‘right’, considering that 'understanding' increases as it is revealed along the walk of Faith. Though we might not be able to fully understand 'how' Salvation was made available as a Gift to mankind, we do know that, as you say, it is not by “the 10 commandment law itself” – John 3:16.
I was prompted to respond to your comments because I find throughout the Scripture that our Creator God refers to His Love as that which motivated Him to design the Plan of Salvation; the work needed in order to salvage His creature ‘man’.
He moved heaven and earth, left nothing undone, in order to save humankind. Yes, indeed, He extended to us His Love as longsuffering, marvelous Mercy and Grace, giving us His Son to 'embody' the Love the Father has for us.
His masterful Plan of Salvation asked the creature that which only the creature could give – his consent through expressed Faith. Man, accepting his Maker’s Gift of Life, believes and loves the Giver and therefore lives by His Will and Way. It was His creative, life-giving Love which motivated the Father; this excellent, life-giving Love was shown to man through His Son – 1Cor.13:4-7NKJV.
The sea of ‘waters of the cleansing, restorative power of His Love’ is to spread over all the earth; in that ‘work’ we are co-laborers with Christ Jesus’, our Lord and Savior - 1Cor.3:9-23NKJV.
I find much encouragement in the words of Hebrews 7:25 about Jesus ability to save us "to the uttermost."
Today I was reading in The Desire of Ages about Judas. Then I read Sabbath afternoon’s lesson and where it says the Hebrew people were in “real danger of going down the slippery slope of self-pity and faithlessness” I see a connection with Judas.
Ellen White says of Judas: “He recognized the teaching of Christ as superior to all that he had ever heard. He loved the Great Teacher , and desired to be with Him. He felt a desire to be changed in character and life, and he hoped to experience this through connecting himself with Jesus.…… But Judas did not come to the point of surrendering himself fully to Christ.… He felt that he could retain his own judgment and opinions, and he cultivated a disposition to criticize and accuse”page 717.
I see myself in that. Looking forward to the rest of this lesson to “focus on the strong words of encouragement that Jesus provides for us.”
There is a difference between the "law of 10 commandments" and what Pauls says in Romans 8:2 "The law that saves us." This is why I say that it is the power of grace of the author of those 10 commandments that saves us and not the 10 commandments themselves or even our own commitment to keeping those 10 commandments. The "Spirit of life in God's Son Jesus" saves us. And again this is different then the actual 10 commandments of God. This is God's very own power of grace for us by faith in what His Son did 2,000 plus or minus years ago at Calvary and is doing now in Heaven to intercede for us. Paul said that the 10 commandment law was like a mirror. A mirror helps us see where exactly our face needs cleaning but the mirror has absolutely no power to clean our face.