Thursday: Jesus, the Anchor of the Soul
Paul culminates his warning against apostasy and encouragement toward love and faith with a beautiful, soaring exposition of assurance in Christ.
Read Hebrews 6:17-20. How did God guarantee His promises to us?
Image © Dave OConnell at Goodsalt.com
God guaranteed His promises for us in several ways. First, God guaranteed His promise with an oath (Hebrews 6:17). According to Scripture, God’s oaths to Abraham and David became the ultimate basis of confidence in God’s permanent favor for Israel. When Moses sought to secure God’s forgiveness for Israel after the apostasy with the golden calf, he referred to God’s oath to Abraham (see Exodus 32:11-14, Genesis 22:16-18). The implied strength of his plea was that God’s oath was irrevocable (Romans 9:4; Romans 11:28-29).
Similarly, when the psalmist interceded before God for Israel, he claimed God’s oath to David. God had said: “I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies” (Psalm 89:34-37, ESV). According to the New Testament, both oaths were fulfilled in Jesus, the seed of Abraham, who ascended and was seated on the throne of David (Galatians 3:13-16; Luke 1:31-33, Luke 1:54-55).
Second, God has guaranteed His promises to us by the act of seating Jesus at His right hand. Jesus’ ascension has the purpose of corroborating the promise made to the believers because Jesus ascended as a “forerunner on our behalf” (Hebrews 6:20, ESV emphasis author’s). Thus, the ascension reveals to us the certainty of God’s salvation for us. God led Jesus to glory through the suffering of “death for everyone,” so that He might bring “many children to glory” (Hebrews 2:9-10, NRSV). Jesus’ presence before the Father is the “anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:19), that has been fastened to the throne of God. The honor of God’s rule has been waged on the fulfillment of His promise to us through Jesus. What more assurance do we need?
| What do you feel when you think that God has made an oath to you? Why should that thought alone help give you assurance of salvation, even when you feel unworthy? |
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When our soul is being tossed around by the storms of life - which happens a lot - we need an 'anchor' that helps keep us stabilised. What is it that will anchor our soul when all else around us seems to be giving way? Someone beyond ourselves that we can trust, and know, has the inclination, the ability and the trustworthiness to help us. Each day I thank God for who He is and what He is about because, without Him, there would be no hope for the present or the future.
Amen!!!!
You may think I am playing musical chairs this morning but bear with me. I am sitting on an office chair at the moment it has a place to sit, a metal stem attached to five wheels, a back and two arm rests. In a few moments time (I hope), I will be sitting at a table on a chair that has four legs, a soft place to sit, and a wooden back. Later today I may watch the news on TV and will sit in a soft cushioned seat with a cushioned back and generous arm rest. If Carmel has her way, I will probably go out this afternoon and do a bit of gardening, I will sit on a canvas chair with a folding metal frame so that I can get close enough to the ground to pull the weeds out without doing my back mischief.
Which one of these is the "real" chair. The point is that we have in our minds the idea of chairness - a place to sit - as an abstract idea, but it is implemented in several ways. Typically a physical chair has a limited lifetime and wears out, but the "real" idea of a chair exists forever.
Plato, the Greek pholosopher had the notion that the world we see and interact with is in fact only a shadow or implementation of the real ideas behind them. The things we interact with, have finite lives, but the idea behind these physical objects last forever.
The book of Hebrews makes a spiritual application of this idea, pointing out the temporal nature of religious rites and ceremonies and the eternal nature of the reality that they represent. Salvation is not something limited to rites and religious observance (although they may indeed teach us something about the eternal) It is the reality behind physical.
We have the assurance that our salvation is not limited to the future and is not time-limited in any way. It is beyond time.
Maurice, that may be one of your best analogies ever, simple to understand and on point. Thank you.
Kudos!Doc Ashton,
Doing my devotion, I was thinking about the risk taking by God concerning "Salvation". What God Himself had to go through to save us which is so marvelous. However, our misunderstanding of Salvation is incomprehensible because we don't see the great idea behind this great hope.Is that because sins are powerful enough to make humanity so blind and can't even perceived "the reality behind physical"?
From what I read about there being "two things" that God cannot lie is that it has to do with "The Oath Itself" has two parts to it and not that one of those items is (the oath.) In other words, "The Oath" has two things about it that God cannot lie about and that is that one of them is that Jesus is Melchizedek in Human Form King and Priest forever; and the other is that Jesus intercedes for us next to His Father in Heaven.
Hi Pete, I was wondering what the "two immutable things about which God cannot lie" were as well, so I looked at the footnotes. It references Romans 11:29, which says " the gifts and calling of God are immovable". I believe that may be what Hebrews is referring to. But if that's not it, is there anyone else who can unpack the " two things" for us?
Hello Karen,
Hebrews 6:13-20 can be somewhat hard to follow. Here is how I read it.
In verses 13 to 16, the writer of the letter points out that God made a promise to Abraham and confirmed it by swearing by himself (see Genesis 22:16-17.) God’s oath and promise are immutable (unchangeable).
“In the same way God, desiring even more to demonstrate to the heirs of the promise the fact that His purpose is unchangeable, confirmed it [the promise] with an oath.” (Hebrews 6:17 NASB.) Just as he did with Abraham, God provides an oath and promise to us to assure us of his intention toward us: Jesus our forerunner, “a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:20.) As Hebrews 7:17-22 states, Jesus became our high priest by God’s oath and promise, and this is immutable. (See Psalm 110:4 and note Jesus’ citation of Psalm 110:1. Jesus obviously applies this psalm to himself.)
Why is this important to us who trust in the faithfulness of Jesus? Because right after his ascension to heaven, Jesus entered into the presence of his Father “within the veil,” that is, the most holy place, as our high priest. He did this as our forerunner on our behalf. In Jesus, we are in the Father’s presence and they both love us dearly. This is the basis of our hope.
It is on this basis that we “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16 NKJV.) Hallelujah!
Richard
God promised Abraham several things: 1.That He would give Him Canaan as a possession (But that never was realized by Abraham personally), then 2. That He would give him a son out of his own wife Sarah; that one eventually was realized and fulfilled to Abraham by God, then 3. That his people would be under bondage to another nation for 400 years and would come out of there with great wealth, and that one was fulfilled but not in Abrahams' time at all.
The "Oath" that Hebrews is talking about is in reference to King David's Psalm where David says there, "You are a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." This is also where the book of Hebrews very clearly says that God signified two things that He would never lie about and signified these with an "Oath." Hebrews Chapter 7:20,21 is clear about the first item of the oath being that His Son would be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, then the second item is found in verses 27,28 and that is that His Son Jesus would offer Himself as the "Ultimate Sacrifice" once for all.
I ask: “What is that which makes Christ Jesus to be the ‘Anchor for our soul’?”
Can it really be the Father’s promise based on His ‘oath’? Yes, He is faithful to His Word, but how does this effect us in our faithfulness; does this incline us to be more ‘faithful’?
Is His ‘oath’ not part of the legal relationship the Creator formed with His children when He first revealed Himself to them, assuring them that He is faithful in providing the ‘Way’ which will lead them to enter the Promised Land?
Has the 'Way', laid out for them in His commandments, pointing to the Spirit of the Law - Faith and Love - , not been revealed to this generation to be embodied in His Son?
Has not the Son revealed to us the recreative power of His Father’s and His own Love for humanity; the only power contained in the law which leads to Life everlasting? Matt.22:34-40NKJV; John 13:34-35NKJV.
I can see no other power able to be the “Anchor of our Soul” than the Love and Faith our Savior demonstrated to us throughout His life, all the way to the cross. He did not curse and disown His accusers and tormentors, those who shamed Him and accused Him of spreading lies and falsehoods; instead, He asked the Father to forgive them “because they do not know what they are doing” – Luke 23:35NKJV!
Loving through forgiving - what greater love can man express than that which leads him to willingly lay down his life for his friend? Our Savior's Love for us and in us is more powerful than the fear of death – it is the ‘Anchor for the living soul’ unto the New Life!
One can read all about the supporting evidence of the Creator’s love for His mortal creation, but until it is ‘felt’ in the heart, convincing us to the point that we confess His Love with our mouth and live accordingly, we will struggle with believing and knowing that His Love represents the only Anchor for the living Soul!
Amen, Brigitte Humphery. Only someone who is "The Way, The Truth, and The life," can be the "Anchor of our souls." Only someone who gives us life moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day can be our "Souls Anchor." Only someone who can speak and it is done can be our "Souls Anchor." Only Jesus who is Melchizedek with no beginning of days or end of life without father or mother who also is God equal with God The Father, creator of heaven and earth can be the "Anchor of our souls."
Iam so grateful for this site. I am not the theologian many of you seem to be so this site really enhances my learning. Maurices explanations linking the lesson to everyday experiences really breaks it down. Phil's comments about legalism and how our relationship is based on so much more than rules has been especially helpful for me. In my private life I am surrounded by well educated athiests and I can't answer why God created Lucifer in the first place if He knew he would sin as did Adam and Eve. There were many other created beings who didn't fall so why create those who would? The others didn't fall because they chose not to. I don't know how to answer. Am I wrong for even asking this? If so, please accept my apologies.
Hi Zoe
Most of us are not theologians either. We are just regular people who have a hunger and thirst to know God and His Ways - and to serve others. It is God who faithfully teaches and equips us to learn more and more of Him. That is what you are seeing - it is not us being 'smart' people.
No-one is ever wrong for asking an honest question. So, we are glad you asked and invite you to keep doing so.
When I am interacting with non-Christians, I use a combination of questions and 'assertions/propositions'*. Something along the lines of "Hypothetically, if there was a God, would you prefer that He create you with the freedom to choose or would you prefer He create you so that you can only do things a certain way - like a programmed robot?" This question usually opens up a conversation about the inherent risk involved in providing/allowing freedom. Therefore, we would either have a God that controls everything so there is no risk - but also no freedom, or we would have a God who, because of His authentic commitment to our freedom (including the freedom to use freedom destructively), runs the risk that we might use that freedom in a destructive way.
Your thoughts so far?
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* I acknowledge upfront to non-Christians that Christianity asserts a belief system. This is because until someone embraces that belief system for themselves, it is only assertions and propositions to them.
Thanks so much Phil. Excellent way of responding without sounding defensive and also much for someone to think about. Thanks again.
Welcome Zoe. Did you know that your name means "eternal life" in Greek (John 10:10)? This is the life we receive in place of our "bios" life when we accept Jesus as our Savior.
Happy Sabbath 🙂
Those are good questions, Zoe. Interestingly, your atheist friends did not ask why God created Lucifer as a free moral agent, but why God did not use His foreknowledge to avoid creating him in the first place. Rather than suggest an answer that you could give them, I'll make it my part to "think out loud" about the question itself.
Those "atheist" friends are actually suggesting something rather odd. If God were to use His foreknowledge in order to avoid creating anyone who would make bad choices, would that limit anyone's free will? In theory, no, it wouldn't. Those who did end up being created would still be free to choose. However, if God were to pursue such a course, would that ultimately solve anything? I don't think we can even answer that question.
God asked Job if he wanted to take over and do His job for Him. I know I don't. If God, in His infinite wisdom, chose to create Lucifer anyway, who am I to question that decision? The promised outcome will be better than we could imagine, anyway, so why complain?
"I can't answer why God created Lucifer in the first place if He knew he would sin as did Adam and Eve."
Now that this question has my mind going, Zoe, I just have to say something more. What your atheist friends are really saying is that God could just as well have used His foresight in order to avoid creating anyone who would ever choose to sin, and thus have spared us the consequent woe and misery. Therefore, He is undesirable as an object of our worship. As my earlier comments indicate, the hubris of even making such an argument is incredible. However, I don't think it should be that difficult to find valid objections to the proposition. It's a deep subject, so if I make any mistakes, someone please jump in and correct me.
We cannot object to their proposal on the basis of its taking away any individual's free moral agency, because it wouldn't do that. On the other hand, I think the argument could be made that it would have taken away the free moral agency of the universe as a whole. Let me say this another way.
We must bear in mind that Lucifer's fall into sin wasn't just the decision to do bad and harmful things. It was a choice to rebel against God personally. Indeed, Adam and Eve did not occasion the fall of man by murdering someone. It was simply a matter of disobeying God in something that seemed harmless. So, if God had used His foreknowledge in the way proposed, all would have been peace and harmony, with no one turning against God, not because He was so flat-out wonderful, and everyone knew it, but because He was micromanaging everything in order to prevent any rebellion.
So I wonder, are these friends suggesting that God should have told everyone what He was doing, or that He should have kept it a secret? If God had told everyone that He was preventing any rebellion by that sort of micromanagement, I have no doubt that someone would have rebelled in response to that kind of cheating! The only way to make it work would have been to keep it secret. Is that the kind of person we want on the throne of the universe -- someone who would go ahead and cheat so long as he was sure that no one would ever know?
As it is, God chose to solve the problem the hard way -- for us, yes, but mostly for Himself! The eternal security of the universe is to be effected through the fuller revelation of His character that would come through His dealing with the sin emergency that He allowed. No one will ever rebel again, just because God is so flat-out wonderful, and everyone will know it! No micromanaging needed. As for me, I'll take God just the way He is, thank you.
What makes us to say Jesus is our anchor ,he died for us,he first love us ,he is our master in every thing We can`t deny it
What is it that will anchor our souls when we become discouraged for one reason or another? Reading and re-reading today's lesson, with all the wonderful texts that remind us that He is in control. Hebrews 6:17-20. With all the supporting texts. Yes the blogs for today are very helpful.
He will be there as He promised, to the very end, not only as our coach but as our Advocate, Atorney, High Priest, Intercessor, Mediator, Friend, Brother and much more. Matthew 28:20.
Now that we know what He will do for us. I do believe the Holy Spirit works through us to help us. He is there to give us the encouragement, power and confidence to carry on. Psalms 40:11. 2Timothy 1:7. Believe that He can. Believe that He will, or if you prefer, hope in God. When we are down, we hope in God, He will be our countenance and be our God. We can say, and it will show that God is with us all day long.
We can sing with confidence.
We've anchored our soul
In the Haven of Rest
We'll sail the wide sea no more
The tempest may sweep
O’er the wild stormy deep
In Jesus we're safe evermore.
While I believe the Bible supports the concept that Christ is an anchor to the soul, the Hebrews text in our lesson this week does not actually provide this proof.
Hebrew 6:19,20 points to our "hope" as the anchor. Interestingly, Ellen White's comments on this text in Hebrews link this "hope" to faith: "If our faith is fixed upon God, through Christ, IT will prove as an anchor of the soul...". In another comment, EG White states: "The apostle Paul exhorts us to lay hold on the hope set before us in the gospel. By faith we are to appropriate the promises of God, and to provide ourselves with the abundant blessings which have been secured for us through Christ Jesus. Hope has been set before us, even the hope of eternal life. Nothing short of this blessing for us will satisfy our Redeemer; but it is our part to lay hold upon this hope by faith in Him who has promised. We may expect to suffer; for it is those who are partakers with Him in His sufferings who shall be partakers with Him in His glory. He has purchased forgiveness and immortality for the sinful, perishing souls of men; but it is our part to receive these gifts by faith. Believing in Him, we have this hope as an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast."
Hi, Jeff. It's an interesting distinction that you make. Yes, the passage in question indicates that the anchor of our souls is the hope that we have in God's promises. However, it also says that this hope reaches into the heavenly sanctuary where Jesus is ministering for us. To me this means that Jesus is our only hope, and that He is therefore the anchor of our souls as well.
So, it takes a bit of logic, but the lesson title appears to be spot on, after all.
One of our elders in Sabbath School this morning likened faith to the anchor and Christ to the solid ground in which our faith is anchored. I thought that was a good analogy.
Jeff Gates, to me, Hebrews 10:19,20 provides the very "anchor" to my soul. By faith I enter God's Holy of Holies (Heaven itself) where Jesus is there in my behalf in his humanity for me. Every time I do this I experience His Peace within my very innermost being and soul. Praise God's Holy name for this!