For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Hebrews 6:13-19
The problem of drifting away from God and His commands has existed since the fall of man. In our day we observe the influence of trends and ideas. A practice or teaching arises and becomes popular. Right or wrong, biblical or not, there always seems to be some who fall in ranks and drift away. These instances are observable all the way back to Noah’s day. Believing God and living a godly life was not the popular thing to do. In this age, we have an excellent and preserved Bible. It is accurate; God’s hand is upon it. He has used it to save souls and build lives and churches. Then, along came men claiming they had something better. Slowly but surely men who trusted that we had the Word of God began yielding to the enticing popularity of the new thing. We used to sing from old songbooks, the music that reaches down in the soul and honors God. Then there were those who thought the world’s music was entertaining and attractive to more people. While we remain thankful for modern conveniences, technology, communications, and the comfort of buildings, the principles mentioned above have changed in purpose. In varying degrees, the purpose changed from primarily honoring and worshipping God to pleasing and satisfying the carnal hunger of mankind.
It seems we need to reset our anchor. An anchor not solidly set on an immovable object or principle tends to drift under pressure. In our text, we see that the Christian possesses a hope produced by God Who cannot lie. This hope, according to verse nineteen, is an anchor to our soul. We need to set our hope in God and His promises and position ourselves on a steadfast, immovable anchor.
God made a seemingly impossible promise to Abraham. At seventy-five years of age, even in his day, fulfillment of this promise would be humanly impossible. God promised Abram he would become a great nation, yet he fathered no children. God told Abraham to leave his land and go to an unknown destination. Abraham believed God–not the possible doubts and questions of the human mind. God swore to him by “two immutable things” (v.18): the immutability of His counsel and the impossibility for God to lie. Because Abraham anchored not in the place of his nephew Lot, he was blessed. God counted him righteous because he simply believed God. Because Lot anchored elsewhere, he lost his wife and his testimony in the judgment of God.
Jesus established principles and standards while He was on earth for how and what He expected of His church. He also stated that not one jot or tittle of His Word would pass. So why do some think we can adjust and conform more to the world and be successful? It is an indescribable blessing that we are permitted as Abraham to believe God and simply become a child of His kingdom. His promise will not change, and our soul is anchored in an immoveable promise, not drifting with the tides of the contemporary values. Thank God for a secure Anchor of our soul. We may be out of style or unpopular by some standards, but our anchorage in Jesus puts us in the right place when He comes for us.
If Bro. Hurst’s article is an encouragement to you, please email him to let him know. You may also visit ebarnabas.org to make an appointment with him for encouragement.