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Study in Hebrews

Study in Hebrews. Presentation 09. Good Reason For Confidence Chap 6v13-20. Presentation 09. Introduction.

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Study in Hebrews

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  1. Study in Hebrews Presentation 09

  2. Good Reason For Confidence Chap 6v13-20 Presentation 09

  3. Introduction The writer is constantly grounding his teaching and illustrating it from O.T. history. And for him the obvious place to go to illustrate the patience of faith mentioned in v12 is the life of Abraham. The readers would be familiar with the promise God made to Abraham in Gen.12.1ff. This promise was staggering in its content; a land, a great name, a nation and all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through his lineage. And of course the fulcrum upon which the outworking of these promised rested was in the provision of an heir to this elderly childless couple. Presentation 09

  4. Abraham’s Confidence The readers of this epistle were aware of the long years that Abraham waited for a child to be born. In addition they would know of Abraham’s temptation to discouragement on the one hand and to disbelief on the other. Just think of the incident with Hagar when Abraham reasoned that all he was doing was helping God out by having a child through Sarah’s servant. He was helping God keep his promise! Despite ‘hiccups’ such as these, the thing that marked out Abraham’s life was his patience of faith, waiting for God to fulfil his promise. Cf. Rom. 4v18-21 Presentation 09

  5. Abraham’s Confidence The writer was calling his readers to do what God called Abraham to do when he instructed him to go to Mt. Moriah. They too needed to continue to trust and obey, as they had done in the past, even though it looked as though perseverance would result in tragedy. Having patiently waited and remained steadfast in the face of trying circumstances, Abraham was qualified to receive everything God wanted to give him cf. Col. 1v11; Heb. 12v1-3, 7; James 5v11. Presentation 09

  6. Abraham’s Confidence The issue for Abraham had become the issue for these Hebrew Christians. Could God be trusted? The particular point the writer is eager to underline is that God did something to strengthen Abraham’s confidence. He took an oath! This could be a reference to Gen.22v15-19 after Abraham had been prepared to sacrifice his son – the consequence of which would have made the fulfilment of God’s promise a bit more difficult from a purely human perspective. Presentation 09

  7. Abraham’s Confidence But of equal significance is what transpired in Gen. 15which records the cutting of the covenant which God transacted with Abraham. The covenant was unilateral in that Abraham was held back from participating. God took upon himself the fulfilment of all covenant promises. Commenting on these verses someone has said, “God’s word cannot be made more true but it can be made more credible.” In what way did God’s oath make his promise to Abraham more credible? God was saying something like this, “my whole existence hangs upon my trustworthiness, if I fail to keep my promise I am pressing the self destruct button on my own existence”. Presentation 09

  8. God’s Oath The oath which God made teaches us something about God’s condescension to our human frailty. John Calvin, commenting upon the way in which God communicates with the limitations of a finite humanity, describes God using ‘baby talk’. Here in this oath we have another example of divine condescension. Oaths are necessary among men because of the uncertainty and unreliability of their behaviour due to human sin. The fact that God binds himself in this way to an oath tells us more about human perversity that divine unreliability. Presentation 09

  9. God’s Oath When a person wants to end an argument, one way to do so is to appeal to a higher authority with an oath. For example, some people do this by saying, “I am telling the truth so help me God.” Men generally swear by something greater than themselves. You will undoubtedly have experienced that. In the law-courts of our land witnesses are sworn in by saying, ‘I swear by almighty God that the evidence that I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’ Presentation 09

  10. God’s Oath But here is the important point that the writer now makes, God cannot swear by anything greater than himself for he alone is eternal and unchangeable in a world of constant change and impermanence. For further examples of God going on oath see, Exod.32v13; Isa. 45v23; Jer. 22v5; 49v13. Thesignificance of God swearing by himself signifies that he binds his word to his character. Presentation 09

  11. God’s Oath The verbal oath of Gen. 22, in contrast with the pictorial symbol in Gen. 15, was given after, and not before, the greatest trial of Abraham’s faith. Abraham was prepared to offer up his son, believing that if he was obedient to God’s command, that God would raise him up again. Therefore, the writer draws our attention to the fact that this oath was designed to reward and confirm existing faith rather than create faith. God had responded to Abraham’s action saying, ‘Surely, I will bless you’ Gen. 22v17. The N.E.B. translation helpfully attempts to bring out the force of the Hebrew, ‘I vow that I will bless you.’ Presentation 09

  12. Perseverance It was by testing and perseverance that Abraham laid hold of the promise. It is in this context that the writer talks about Abraham obtaining the promise. It was obtained through a faith that had been tested and had overcome. The readers are therefore encouraged to follow Abraham’s example and obtain the promise through perseverance and by similarly triumphing in the trials of their faith. The oath that was made to Abraham was made not only for his sake but for the sake of all the heirs of the promise cf. v17 including the N.T. church. Cf. Gal. 3.29.... Presentation 09

  13. Perseverance Clearly God has guaranteed his trustworthiness to the church by two unchangeable things; his word of promise and his oath of confirmation. He has done so that we might have a strong encouragement to seize hold of the promise. There is therefore no excuse for the sluggishness mentioned in v12. God’s word and oath are there for us to lay hold of. What particularly are we to hold onto? The word of hope! In other words the promises made in the gospel which point from the present to future glory. Cf. Jn. 14v3, 17v24, 1Cor. 2v9, 1Pet 1v3ff. This hope is sure and certain unlike mere human hopes and wishes. Presentation 09

  14. Place Of Safety The figure that closes v18is an O.T. one. In our times of temptation to apostatise we can flee to the promises of God. We can take hold of them as a fearful person in Israel could flee to the altar of burnt offerings, take hold of its horns, and be safe from his assailants. Cf. 1Kings 2v28-30 The cities of refuge also provided safety for the Israelites who feared for their lives and their future wellbeing [Num. 35v9-15; Josh. 20]. Christians have a better refuge than that which served O.T. Israel. Presentation 09

  15. Place Of Safety Another illustration of our security is provided in v19-20. When Jesus entered heaven at his ascension, he took our hope of future reward with him. In the first century, sailors would carry their ship's anchor in a small boat and deposit it on the shore so the ship would not drift away as waves beat against it [Acts 27:29-30]. Likewise the hope that Jesus Christ has planted firmly in heaven should serve as an anchor for our storm-tossed souls. It should keep us from drifting away from God [cf.2v1]. Our anchor rests firmly in the holy of holies, in God's presence in heaven, with Jesus. There are at least 66 pictures of an anchors in the catacombs under Rome indicating its popularity as a Christian symbol of Christ. Presentation 09

  16. Conlusion The writer has been preparing the way for his development of the high priestly role of Jesus after the order of Melchizedek. He has earlier alluded to the fact that Jesus’ priesthood is different from and superior to that of Aaron. He now wants to establish how any priesthood can be superior to the one instituted by God in the wilderness through Moses. This he will begin to do in 7v1-10. Indeed this would appear to form part of the solid food which he said his readers needed to eat [5v14-6v1] - the high priestly ministry of Jesus. Presentation 09

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