The promise of blessing that God made to our patriarch, Abraham (in Gen 17), is so significant that we find an exact reiteration of this promise in Hebrews 6:13-20. It wasn’t merely a promise; it was an oath—the writer of Hebrews calls it “two unchangeable things.” A promise upon a promise is a double-strengthened assurance. Furthermore, the writer repeats that all of Abraham’s heirs were included: “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” (Heb 6:17).
Interestingly, Galatians 3:29 takes care to tell us who Abraham’s descendants are: “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” That’s us! Today, once again, we’re assured that God “will keep his word, and it serves as a strong encouragement for us to hold firmly to the hope that lies before us” (Heb 6:18).
God’s oath is the encouragement we need to live with hope! The theologian Miroslav Volf writes, “Hope is not a state of mind; it’s an act of the heart.” Positivity is an attitude; hope, on the other hand, is a certainty. The boat doesn’t do the work; the anchor does!
There are so many things that toss our life’s boat to and fro. But today, you are once again assured that God’s oath is the guarantee that the anchor has already been cast. Even more, God himself holds the anchor: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure, which enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain” (Heb 6:19).
We don’t need to know how things will work out; we simply know they will.
PRAYER: Teach me to trust in You blindly, for You alone are the anchor.
ART: Christ and the Fishermen by Eugène Boudin
MUSIC:
VOCES8 performs Media Vita by Kerensa Briggs. Media Vita was written in 2015 to mark 500 years since the birth of the English Renaissance composer John Sheppard. The piece draws on both the vastness and intensity found in Sheppard’s works and the deep meaning within the text itself (“In the midst of life, we are in death… Holy and merciful Saviour, deliver us not unto bitter death”).
From the lyrics:
In the midst of life we are in death
of whom may we seek for succour,
but of thee, O Lord,
who for our sins
art justly displeased?
Holy God,
Holy mighty,
Holy and merciful Saviour,
deliver us not unto bitter death.
Watch it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgFqVj6EaVw