God’s Certain Promise

Hebrews 6:9-20

Main Idea: Though many will reject the gospel, those who respond with faith and patience until the end will inherit the promises God has made to them in Jesus Christ. Believers have an unshakable hope in the certainty of God’s Word and a stable anchor for their souls in Christ. We can cling to these at all times and in every circumstance.

1. The Better Things Expected (6:9-12)
2. The Oath-Giving, Promise-Keeping God (6:13-18)
3. The Hope Behind the Curtain (6:19-20)

There are many different responses to the gospel. The point of Jesus’s parable in Matthew 13 was not to plant doubt in the hearts of the disciples. Rather, Jesus was showing his disciples how many ways the human heart can respond to the good news. The author of Hebrews does something similar in Hebrews 6:1-8. He is showing his congregation the way that many unbelievers in the church rejected the gospel. In doing so, he pastorally exhorts believers in the church toward a faithful obedience and maturity in Christ.

Hebrews 6:9-20 displays the author’s confidence in these remaining believers to endure until the end and to inherit the promises that belong to them. How will they accomplish this? With faith and patience, just as Abraham did. By trusting God and persevering until the end, Christians will hold on to the hope set before us. This is what the last half of Hebrews 6 is all about.

The Better Things Expected

Hebrews 6:9-12

The warning the author began in 5:11 now draws to its conclusion in this passage. The severe and sobering word of admonition now ends with a word of assurance and comfort. The author is fully convinced that those to whom he is writing, unlike those who fell away, will not fall away. For them, he is “confident of things that are better.” He is certain that the good soil of their hearts will produce a good crop.

One of the “things” we encounter in the New Testament is those within the early church assisting and serving one another. This is what “by serving the saints” signals. The apostle Paul himself depended on the support of other churches for his own missionary ministry. The author of Hebrews could have been in a similar situation. Whatever the case, these Christians were showing their love for God by serving fellow brothers and sisters in practical ways. This love for other Christians solidified the author’s confidence in them.

One of the most important catalysts of spiritual confidence is spiritual fruitfulness. Our faithful activity as Christians fuels our assurance. This is why the author longs for these Christians to show the same earnestness for the faith that they demonstrated when they first believed. As earnestness and diligence in their faith grows, so too will their fullness of hope until the last day.

The term lazy in verse 12 points back to the sluggishness that the author addressed in 5:11. There he was admonishing those who had become lazy and dull in their understanding. Now he is encouraging believers not to become sluggish but to instead pursue things that result in assurance. The author is pushing his people not to become like those whom he began admonishing in 5:11.

He encourages them to be imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherit the promises. Throughout the book of Hebrews, the writer encourages believers to imitate saints from the Old Testament. In chapter 11, which 6:12 anticipates, we find an impressive list of Old Testament saints whose faith and patience is worthy of our emulation. The author charges his readers to face their difficulties with faith and perseverance, just as those saints who came before them faced theirs. Only earnestness in the faith until the end guarantees the reception of God’s promises.

The Oath-Giving, Promise-Keeping God

Hebrews 6:13-18

Oaths taken in ancient Israel were much different from oaths taken today. Oaths in ancient Israel’s day were not contractual as they are now. They were not sealed with a signature. Ancient Israelites sealed their oaths by their personal word. This is the nature of God’s oath with Abraham, which is the focus of this passage of Hebrews. God is an oath-giving God who seals his oaths with his own word and by his own name.

The context of verse 13 points to Genesis 22:16-17, where the Lord says to Abraham, “by myself I have sworn,” and also promises to greatly bless and multiply him. God swears by himself because there is no one greater to swear by. This, in fact, is why humans invoke the name of God when they take an oath in court or an oath of office. Abraham believed the promise because God was the promisor. By swearing by his own name, God guaranteed the fulfillment of his promise, so Abraham waited patiently and obtained what was promised. God swore by his own name to declare publicly for all creation that he was making this pledge to Abraham and that he would keep it.

The first “heirs” of God’s promise were Abraham and his descendants. In order to show the certainty and trustworthiness of his promise, God sealed his promise with an oath. But what does Abraham’s promise have to do with the author’s audience? For them, the heirs of the promise are those who have been adopted by faith in Christ as sons and daughters of God. As we have already seen in Hebrews 2:5-18, Jesus’s brothers and sisters share in Abraham’s promise.

The “two unchangeable things” the author mentions in verse 18 refer to the irrevocable nature of God’s purpose and word, and the oath that he declared publicly. Because it is impossible for God to lie, God never deviates from the truth in these two unchangeable things. God would cease to be God if he could lie.

The author reinforces God’s unchangeableness in order to encourage the church to once again hold firmly. The church is the refugee who must flee to God for rescue and who needs strong encouragement to seize the hope set before her. Because God’s Word is true and it is impossible for him to lie, we have all the confidence in the world to take heart and trust God’s promises just as Abraham did. The faithfulness of God and the certainty of his promises are not theoretical propositions. They are unchangeable realities. Like Abraham, we can stake our lives on God’s promises because God is the One who has promised them. Our God is a promise-keeping God.

The Hope Behind the Curtain

Hebrews 6:19-20

The author poignantly reminds his people of their need for “an anchor for the soul.” The troubles and temptations of this world throw our souls around far too often. And yet, we have a sure and steadfast anchor that stabilizes our souls amidst the waves of this world. The promises of God are firm and secure enough to hold us steady in a storm. God’s promise and oath anchor the hope that “enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,” that is, the most holy place.

Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest went into the most holy place and offered the blood of an animal in order to turn God’s wrath away from Israel. Jesus, as our high priest, entered the inner place behind the curtain and offered his own blood on our behalf. Our anchor, Jesus, has gone before us as our forerunner to accomplish all that God’s justice required. As our great high priest, Jesus has purchased our salvation and assured us of the promises of God. Thus, Jesus’s atoning work on the cross predicates the Christian’s hope and anchors the Christian’s soul.

Reflect and Discuss

1. How does the author’s confidence in the believers addressed in Hebrews 6:9-20 complement the severe warning that precedes it? In other words, how does the author use his admonition to encourage believers in the certainty of their salvation?
2. What grounds the author’s confidence in those who respond to the gospel in faith until the end? Why is the author so “confident of things that are better” for the believers in this church?
3. What are some practical ways that you and your church can serve and assist other like-minded, evangelical churches? How are you and your church currently serving and working with other churches? With individual Christians?
4. What are evidences of a heart receiving the gospel as opposed to one rejecting it? What does it mean to confirm your calling and election and to have earnestness in the faith? How is your earnestness in the gospel on display?
5. Name Old Testament saints other than Abraham who showed faith in God’s promises and waited patiently for their fulfillment. How might you imitate their example?
6. How did the fact that God swore by himself encourage and equip Abraham to wait patiently for the promise? How should it encourage and equip us to wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises to us?
7. How do God’s promises to Abraham apply to believers today? What does it mean to be an heir with Abraham? How does being an heir of God’s promise change your perspective on the promises of this world?
8. Think about the eschatological nature of this passage and God’s promises. How does the future certainty of God’s promises to believers equip our earnestness in the gospel and encourage us to hold on to our hope?
9. How does God’s unchangeableness encourage you to flee to him in times of trouble or temptation? As you think about your experiences as a Christian, what are some tangible ways the truth of God’s Word has anchored your soul and encouraged you to hold on to the hope set before you?
10. Consider the other passages in Hebrews in which the author talks about Jesus as our high priest. What implications does Christ entering the most holy place on our behalf have for us? What does it mean for Christ to be our forerunner?