The Letter to the Hebrews
God Guarantees His Promises
Hebrews 6:13-20
In this book, the Bible, God makes astonishing promises of what He will do for us. But how can we know God will keep His promises?
For example – God promises to forgive all our sins through faith in Christ. That’s huge. But how can we be sure?
And God promises that the joy He gives us in knowing Him is infinitely greater than every other joy. Changes everything. But how can we be sure God will keep His promise?
And God promises to work everything out for our great good. But when a massive trial comes, we might wonder -- how can we be sure God will keep His promise?
And God promises that because we are trusting Christ, at the end of our lives He will raise us from the dead and bring us into fullness of joy in His presence forever. If that’s true – it’s huge. But is it true? How can we be sure God will keep His promise?
The author of Hebrews tells us – in Hebrews 6:13-20. So let’s turn there. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Hebrews 6:13 is on page 1004 in the Bibles we are passing out.
The author has just urged us to be earnest in faith -- not sluggish -- so we will inherit God’s promises. That’s in vv.11-12 of ch.6. And to help motivate us to do this, he wants to help us see why we can be certain that God will keep all of his promises. So in Hebrews 6:13-20 he gives us three reasons we can be sure God will keep His promises.
The first reason is -- because of what God did for Abraham. In Genesis 12 we read about 75 year old Abraham and his wife Sarah, who had no children. But God appears to Abraham, and promises that even though sin’s curse has filled the earth, God has chosen to bring God’s blessing to the people of the earth through Abraham’s offspring.
But there was a problem. Abraham and Sarah had no children, and they were well past child-bearing years. And yet God had promised children to them. So Abraham trusted God’s promise.
But 10 years went by – with no child. Then 10 more years -- no child. But then finally, when Abraham was 100 years old, Sarah gave birth to Isaac.
But then God called Abraham to kill Isaac as a sacrifice. Now Abraham knew God had promised that “through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” So Abraham trusted God’s promise – knew God would raise Isaac from the dead – and lifted his knife to kill Isaac. But right at that moment, God stopped him.
And in vv.13-15 we see what God does when he sees Abraham’s faith --
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,
14 saying, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you."
15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.
Abraham patiently waited. Abraham patiently trusted God’s promise. And God fulfilled His promise to Abraham. And that’s what God will do for all of us. We can know God will keep His promises to us because of what God did with Abraham.
So how can you know God will --
- forgive your sin through Christ? Remember Abraham.
- give you joy in Him that infinitely surpasses every other joy? Remember Abraham.
- work everything out for your great good in Him? Remember Abraham.
- raise you from the dead and bring you into His presence forever? Remember Abraham.
That’s the first reason we can be sure God will fulfill His promises.
The second is because God has shown His commitment by His oath and promises. Here’s why this is important. God loves us. He knows we are weak. He knows it’s hard for us to trust His promises.
So what did God do? The author tells us in vv.16-18 –
16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.
17 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,
18 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.
Notice again v.17 --
17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose …
Who are the heirs of the promise? We are. And because God knew how weak we would be, he desired to show us – show us – that His promises are unchangeable.
Do you see how good God is? He doesn’t just command – believe my promises! He shows us that his promises are certain and true.
So how did He show us? Notice the end of v.17 – “he guaranteed it with an oath.” To see where God does this, let’s turn to Genesis 22 (page 16). Abraham was obeying God and ready to kill his son, when God stopped him. And look at what happens next in vv.15-18 –
15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven
16 and said, "By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,
18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."
Now you might wonder – what does that have to do with us? Where are we in that passage? Look again at v.18 – “in your offspring [that’s Jesus who was of the seed of Abraham] shall all the nations of the earth [that’s us] be blessed [that encompasses all God’s promises].” So here God promises you and me – that in Jesus Christ we will receive all the promised blessings of God.
But God knows we are weak. He knows we will struggle to trust Him. So he does two things. One is to clearly state the promise – “In your offspring [Jesus] all the nations of the earth shall be blessed with my promises.”
And the other is to swear this with an oath. What is an oath? When you swear an oath you are mentioning something very valuable and honorable and saying – “if I am lying then this valuable thing is of no value or honor.” So if someone says – “I swear by my mother’s grave that I am telling the truth,” what he is saying is – “if I am lying, then my mother’s death means nothing to me.” And we do that in order to show others that we are telling the truth.
And God wants to show us that he’s telling the truth. So what should he swear by? What is the thing of most value or honor that He can swear by? It’s himself. Nothing is greater, more honorable, more majestic, more powerful than God Himself.
So to show us he’s telling us the truth – he doesn’t just state the promise. He also swears by Himself – I swear -- by myself – that in Abraham’s offspring Jesus Christ all you who trust Him will be blessed with all my promises.
Now with that in mind let’s look back at Hebrews 6. God’s purpose in all this is described in v.18 --
18 … 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.
God has given us two unchangeable things – one is his oath, and the other is his promise. And he gives us these two unchangeable things so we who have fled to him for refuge would have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
Think of this. The God of the universe stands before you and says –
I swear – by myself – to forgive all your sins through faith in Christ. So hold fast to that hope!
I swear – by myself – to satisfy you infinitely more than sin. So hold fast to that hope!
I swear – by myself – to work everything for your great good. So hold fast to that hope!
I swear – by myself – to raise you from the dead and bring you into my presence forever. So hold fast to that hope!
So that’s the second reason we can be sure God will fulfill His promises.
And there’s one final reason – because this hope is an anchor that will bring us into God’s very presence. Some of you might be listening to this and thinking – OK, but I’m so weak in faith I’m not even sure there is a God. I’m not wondering whether God will keep his promises – I’m wondering whether God exists.
So what about that? Let’s look at vv.19-20 –
19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,
20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
He starts off saying we have “this” as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. What is the sure and steadfast anchor of the soul? The “this” refers back to the “hope” at the end of v.18. So v.19 is saying “we have this [hope in God’s promises] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.
Think about an anchor. What does an anchor do? An anchor is usually a heavy piece of metal with hook-like ends, which is fastened to a rope whose end is on a boat. And when you throw the heavy piece of metal over the side of the boat it goes to the bottom and the hook-like ends get stuck in sand or on a rock so that when the currents pull the boat – that anchor holds the boat in position.
That’s what God’s promises do. See, your life is like a boat. And the ocean currents are the pull of sin. But God’s promises are a sure and steadfast anchor.
- The current of fear is pulling on you – but God’s promises are a sure and steadfast anchor. So as you cling to God’s promises – you won’t be moved.
- The current of discouragement is pulling on you – but God’s promises are a sure and steadfast anchor. So as you cling to God’s promises – you won’t be moved.
- The current of temptation is pulling on you – but God’s promises are a sure and steadfast anchor. So as you cling to God’s promises – you won’t be moved.
But there’s something else that happens when we cling to God’s promises. Read v.19 again --
19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,
20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
When we cling to the hope of God’s promises – we enter the inner place behind the curtain. What is the inner place behind that curtain? It’s a reference to the holy of holies in the Old Testament temple – the place where God’s presence dwells.
The high priest could only go there once a year. And we have seen that Jesus is our great high priest. So after Jesus died on the Cross and rose from the dead he went into the inner place behind the curtain, he went into the holy of holies bringing the offering of His life to the Father as the sacrifice for our sins. And He did that as a forerunner -- he goes into the holy of holies before us so that we can follow Him into the holy of holies.
So when we cling to the hope of God’s promises – we enter the holy of holies. What does that mean? It means that as you cling to the hope of God’s promises, you will have times when you come into the very presence of God. When God will, by His Spirit, allow you experience His very presence, see His very glory, feel His very love. And when that happens – all your doubts will be gone – because you will have a first-hand experience of God yourself.
This is not something we experience constantly. That’s why we need the first two reasons – the story of God’s faithfulness to Abraham and the fact that God showed his commitment by His oath and promises. But as we cling to the hope of God’s promises – we will have times when we enter into the holy of holies and so see and feel God’s glory that we will know – KNOW – that God is real and His promises are real.
So what does this mean for us?
Think of God’s promises –
- That He will forgive all your sins through faith in Christ.
- That His joy is infinitely greater than any other joy there is.
- That He will work everything for your great good.
- That He will raise you from the dead to be in His presence forever.
So why should we cling to these promises?
- Because God kept every promise He made to Abraham.
- Because God has shown His commitment by His oath and promises.
- And because this hope is an anchor that will bring us into God’s very presence.
So – cling to God’s promises.