The writer of the Hebrews has as his main objective to get alongside those who were undergoing persecution and to encourage them not to give up on Christ and on their profession of faith in Him. Several were apparently tempted to return to Judaism as a way to avoid the problems that Christians were facing at that time.
In Chapter 6 he says, in a nutshell, that the only certainty and assurance that someone can have that they are truly saved is if they persevere to the end. People can know tremendous spiritual blessings and privileges and yet not be saved. Once they turn away, it will not be possible to bring them back to repentance. But, he says in 6:9, the work and love that has been shown in serving the saints are good grounds to believe that those he is writing to are truly the Lord’s, so he desires that every one of them will continue to demonstrate this earnestness so they may have the full assurance of hope until the end, at which time they will inherit the promises of God.
The next part of the letter is shown above, and it is truly remarkable! The writer continues with the idea of promises - and especially the ones God made to Abraham which are foundational to our hope and our inheritance.
The first thing to dwell upon here is that God made a promise to Abraham and that as believers we get to hope for its ultimate fulfillment and our place in the good things that are surely coming. God promised that he would bless Abraham and multiply him (the first fulfillment being through the birth of Isaac), and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed in Abraham’s offspring (or seed). Paul argues that this promise pointed to a single seed, Christ, and that it is in Him that this blessing comes (Galatians 3:16). So the promise extends the blessing and the grace of God to all nations through Christ. And all true believers are consequently children of Abraham, possessing the same faith that he had, through which he was justified before God. Now, a promise between men and women in this world today is taken very seriously still, even if some promises turn out to be “pie crust promises” - made to be broken. But this is a promise made by the eternal and unchangeable, almighty and all-knowing, holy God! That should be enough for us, shouldn’t it?
Yet, in a most amazing act of condescension, God wanted to show us more convincingly than His word of promise could, that His purposes in this matter are indeed unchangeable. So God adopted a practice common among men to guarantee a promise that is made. Still today, when someone wants us to believe something they say, a promise isn’t enough and they instinctively turn to an oath. They swear by something (or someone) greater than themselves. As the writer says here in v 16, this swearing of an oath puts an end to all argument.
To convince us then, that His gracious purposes are unchangeable, God swears an oath to that effect. Of course, God can find no-one greater than Himself to swear by, and so that is what He does:
Genesis 22:15–1815 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.”
So as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we now have these two things in which it is impossible for God to lie - His Promise and His Oath, so that we may be convinced that His gracious purposes for us in Christ are unchangeable!
So what does this mean for us? The writer tells us. We should be encouraged to hold fast to the hope that is set before us. This hope - the fulfillment of God’s promises to us in Christ - is so sure and so certain that it should serve as an anchor for our souls. When everything around us is in change and turmoil, this is solid and unmoveable!
The One in Whom all these promises find their fulfillment has gone to the cross for us, risen from the dead for us, ascended into heaven for us and even now, as eternal High Priest, intercedes for us in the heavenly tabernacle! There is not even an infinitesimally small possibility that any of those He died to save shall be lost!
With coronavirus creating uncertainty all around, hold fast to this sure and steadfast anchor - press in to Christ and rest in the promise and the oath of Almighty God!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVuHbkrD15w
