Thoughts Ferom Hebrews - Day 17

                                              Hebrews 6:9-20

Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. ¹⁰ God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. ¹¹ We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. ¹² We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
¹³ When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” ¹⁵ And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
¹⁶ People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸ God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰ where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.


      After the last passage, which many denominations use to show that you can lose your salvation, thus your salvation depends on you, we are here reminded that it is all God. Just as with Abraham, God made an oath to his promise, swearing on His own name while Abraham slept, so Jesus offered His own blood, once and for all, to confirm Salvation on those who believe. It is secure. It is an anchor. God cannot lie.

      So then the question is what does it mean to believe? Acts 16:31 says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." John 3:16 says "... whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." Now this passage doesn't say believe. How does this passage describe it?  Verse 18 says "We who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us". According to math principles, if A=C and B=C, then A=B. So if believing =salvation and fled to take hold of the hope set before us=salvation, then believing=fled to take hold of the hope set before us.

       First of all "fled". Salvation means running away from something. What do we run away from? Certainly our sin and sinful way of life. We flee from the lifestyle of self indulgence and living like this world is all there is. This is where obedience comes in as the evidence of the faith he mentions in verse 12. It takes faith to say, I'm not going to live my 80 years down here living for the seen, but I'm going to give up my life for the unseen. I'm not going to gratify the lusts of the flesh, the eyes and the pride of my life which my flesh and soul are craving, but I'm going to listen to the Spirit inside of me telling me to run from those things.

      What is the spirit telling me to run to? He is telling me to run to and cling to the kingdom of Heaven. The Law was summed up as this; love God and love your neighbor. This is summed up in verse 10 where the author says, "your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them". Kingdom of God living is this - loving God and loving people by serving. This is the evidence we have been saved . I was taught as a kid the song, "Jesus and others, and you; what a wonderful way to spell Joy..." What is the hope set before us? Eternity with our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. We gladly give up living for sin and self to live for God and others in order to inherit a life beyond belief forever and ever in Heaven. I've done a devotion where I use a roll of toilet paper and unroll it out the door holding on to the end. Then I say, "This represents your life". Then I break off a square and say, "This square represents your life on Earth." "You are living with all your focus on this while eternity awaits you and you aren't putting any thought into that."

        Do you know people like that? Those are true believers. Those are the ones that are truly saved. Are you in that number? Flee from sin and self and flee to and cling to the Kingdom of Heaven which starts on Earth and ends in Heaven for all eternity. What a glorious hope!