Hebrews 6:13-20: Two Immutable Things
2022-12-10
Hebrews 6:13-14
Previously, we were exhorted to follow examples who received promises through faith and patience. Here we see an Old Testament example: Abraham. God made a promise and swore an oath to Abraham. Consider the discussion of the Abrahamic covenant here.
When God made the promise to Abraham, He swore by Himself. He did this when the covenant was cut in Genesis 15:9-18. He swore again in Genesis 22:16-17 after the sacrifice at Moriah. This second set of verses is quoted in Hebrews 6:14. Because He swore alone, the promise was contingent on God alone, and not of anything to do with Abraham.
When people swear, they swear by something higher than them. Consider the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:16-22. They would swear by the gold of the temple over the temple, and the gift on the altar rather than the altar because the things of temporal value to them were more important than God’s sanctification of the temple and altar. However, you can see that there are a hierarchy of things to swear to, and the highest one to swear to is God.
If God swears by His own character, and He is most pure, holy, and righteous, then the promise is certain.
Hebrews 6:15
Abraham patiently endured and obtained the promise. To us, this is an understatement. God called Abraham at 75; his son Isaac was born when he was 100. This was 25 years of praying and learning to trust. Isaac waited 20 years for Jacob and Esau. Jacob was 20 years in Syria before he made it back to Canaan. The Israelites were in Egypt for 400 years. This is a substantial group of people; many never saw outside of Egypt in this life. It was forty years in the wilderness, and most did not make it to Canaan. From Joshua to Samuel the prophet it was about 450 years. The exile was 70 years, but to Jesus coming it was at least 483 years. And now it is almost 2,000 years since Jesus ascended to heaven. The arrival of the 70th week of Daniel remains to be seen to this day.
Abraham received the promise of Isaac at 100 years old. Even then, we see that Isaac was only the preliminary fulfillment. It was nearly 2,000 years from Abraham to Jesus’ first coming.
So do not be surprised when you feel like the Lord moves slowly in your life. It takes us a long time to learn to trust the Lord and for us to voluntarily allow Him to work in us.
Hebrews 6:16
Why is an oath an “end of all strife”? If you swear by God, or a king, or someone greater, you are saying that something is true, or you will be punished with consequences. What happens if you lie under oath in a court of law? You commit perjury, and you will be punished with prison or some punishment. If you swear an oath to the Lord, you cannot break it: “If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth” (Numbers 30:2). “When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee” (Deuteronomy 23:21-22).
Because of this, there is a pressure to perform once you make a vow. Hannah made a vow to dedicate her firstborn Samuel to the Lord, and she kept it. Jephthah made a vow to sacrifice the first thing that would come out to him when he got home if he would have military victory. It turned out to be his daughter, and not an animal. Herod made an oath to Herodias to give her what she wanted for a dance performance, and she got John the Baptist’s head in a charger. These are good examples as to why Jesus said it is better not to swear, and He surely had Deuteronomy 23:22 in mind.
When people vow, saying something is so, they put their lives in danger, and because of this severity, it ends the conversation. People understand that the one giving the oath is serious about what he is saying, and do not question it. (At least in those days.)
Hebrews 6:17-18
With God, He wanted to ensure His followers were sure of His promise. Is an oath necessary for God? No, because He cannot lie. “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:1-2). Everything God tells us is truth. He cannot lie. Therefore, everything He says is a promise.
The oath shows His people how serious He is because of our own weakness and lack of faith. It also shows the “immutability of his counsel.” Immutability means it does not change.
“And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent” (1 Samuel 15:29). In the same chapter, we are told that “And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel” (1 Samuel 15:35). When God makes a promise, He will not change. There was no enduring promise for Saul to remain king. There was one for David, which is why David’s kingdom continued after Bathsheba, and why his descendants continued all the way to Zedekiah. After that, the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled that promise, who reigns forever.
What are the two immutable things? I believe these are the promise and the oath. The promise was sufficient for God, but so that “we might have a strong consolation,” He also swore the oath. It was for our sakes to help us trust in Him.
What response must we have when we consider God’s promise and oath, but to flee to that refuge found in the Lord Jesus Christ? There is a storm of God’s judgment coming. It is the Day of the LORD, it is hell, and it is the eternal lake of fire. There is no shelter from that storm except the Lord Jesus Christ. We also flee to a hope, which is the Lord Himself, even eternal life. There are two parts: What He saved us from and what He saved us to. You might say that He saved us from wrath and saved us to the hope of eternal life.
Hebrews 6:19-20
An anchor keeps a ship steadfast. You use it if you want the ship to remain in one place. The hope of Jesus Christ is that anchor that keeps us firm. Recall that hope is a confident expectation in the Lord and His return. It is not a possibility, but a surety, which we anticipate. It is expectation and anticipation of the certainty. Because God’s promises are stable, we can rest in Him. There may be a lot of turbulence in life with a lot of uncertainty, but the Lord’s promises are certain. The word for “sure” is translated as “certainty” in a few places. “Stedfast” has the meaning of being firm. There is a firm foundation of rock and not a shifting sand foundation in the Lord.
The Lord entered into the veil of the holiest, and as a result, we can enter into the holiest place, into the presence of God. When the Lord died, the veil in the earthly Temple was torn into two pieces from the top to the bottom. That barrier that kept us out from the presence of God, except for the high priest’s annual entering, was removed. Jesus went into that holy place as our forerunner: a superior high priest, not of Aaron, but of this Melchizedek.