Hebrews 6:13-20--The Certainty of God's Promise

​Hebrews 6:13-20 English Standard Version (ESV)
Listen:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Heb.6.13-Heb.6.20
The Certainty of God's Promise
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. 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. 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.

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Let us not miss this.  God, when He made the Abrahamic covenant did not make Abraham swear to anything...Abraham was put into a deep sleep and God swore by His own name and reputation that He alone would accomplish this great deed.  He would make a covenant people for Himself out of one man and by that man every nation on the earth would be blessed and that Abraham's descendants would be like the sands of the seashore or the stars of the heavens.  God had no need to swear by anyone or anything else because there is nothing else greater than God and nothing else greater to swear by then the name and reputation of God, which is why we are told in the third commandment not to take the name of the Lord our God in vain.  We should not put God, His name, or His reputation at risk by our idle or flippant words.

But God did give us a sign for the covenants so that we could be certain to remember His promises.  He gave us the rainbow to remember His promise to never flood the earth in a global flood again, He gave us circumcision to mark His people and to be a sign of the Abrahamic covenant, and He has given us baptism and communion (the Eucharist) as signs of the New Covenant.  God cannot lie and we remember His promises as we see and participate in these signs of these covenants.

When Jesus died on the cross the curtain that was as thick as a man's hand that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place was torn from top to bottom in a sign that the God had made a way for us to enter the presence of God any time by way of the blood of Christ.  Jesus had gone before us and lives in the presence of God now serving as our Great High Priest so that one day we will also join Him and live in the presence of God forever and ever.