“He Sware By Himself”                                                        Hebrews 6:13-20

 

Promise to Abraham

 

Abraham is here used as a pattern, because he was the father of all believers. The promises God made to him of blessedness and of being made a blessing, are ours, for all the promises of God are in Christ, and are yea and amen in him. "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" (vv. 13-15).

            The promises referred to here are found in Genesis 22:16-17. This is the place where God’s promise was enforced with his oath. This promise to Abraham was made by Christ himself, the Angel of the Covenant, who swore by himself because he could swear by none greater (Isa. 45:23). Yet, it was a promise concerning Christ, Abraham’s Seed, and all God’s elect in him (Gal. 3:14-16, 29).

            When the Scriptures speak of God swearing by himself, it is a display of his condescension. He condescends to our weakness, assuring us, by his oath, that his promise is good. All who are chosen of God, all who are called by his grace, all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are hereby assured that all spiritual blessings are and shall be ours in Christ forever (Eph. 1:3-6).

 

Immutable Purpose

 

"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 show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath” (vv. 16-17).

            The oath of a man is given to put an end to strife, doubts, and questions about what he has promised. How much more shall God’s oath put an end to all our doubts and questions concerning his promise of grace in Christ? The counsel of God, as the term is used here, is his everlasting purpose of grace in Christ, his purpose of grace, his eternal decree concerning the salvation of his elect (Rom. 8:28-31). This is, like God himself, here declared to be a matter of absolute immutability.

            God’s purpose of grace is immutable. It must be immutable, because it is the purpose and grace of the immutable God (Mal. 3:6; James 1:17), whose wisdom is infinite, whose power is omnipotence, whose will is unalterable, whose grace is unconditional. God’s purposed and promised grace is ours immutably because it comes to us through the merits of our eternally accepted Surety. This is what the words, “confirmed it by an oath,” suggest. They speak of the interposition of a Mediator, Christ our Surety.

 

Two Immutable Things

 

"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” (v. 18).

The two immutable things here are the decree of God and the oath of God. By the decree of his will and the oath of his covenant, knowing that “it is impossible for God to lie,” we find in Christ our “strong consolation.” Our assurance and consolation before God are not found in our feelings, experiences, personal holiness, or even in our faith, but in God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers are men and women who have fled for refuge unto him, like the man slayer in the Old Testament fled for refuge to one of the cities of refuge.

Even the names of the cities were typically significant and instructive (Ex. 21:13; Num. 35:6, 11, 14; Deut. 21:2, 9; Jos. 20:1-9). -- Kedesh means, "holy." Christ is holy, both as God and man, and is our holiness before God, that “holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.” -- Shechem means, "the shoulder." Christ not only bore our sins in his own body on the tree, he bears and carries their persons; and the government of his church and kingdom is on his shoulders. There, on his omnipotent shoulders, we are safe and secure. -- Hebron means, "fellowship." Believers have fellowship with Christ and with the Father in him; and in him we have fellowship with one another. -- Bezer means, "a fortified place." -- Christ is our stronghold, our high tower, and our place of defense. To him we run; and in him we are safe. -- Ramoth means, "exaltations.” Our Lord Jesus Christ is exalted at God's right hand, and in due time he will exalt those that trust in him. -- Golan means "manifested." Christ is God “manifest in the flesh.” The Son of God was manifest to take away our sins and destroy the works of the devil; and he will be gloriously manifest and revealed at the last day.

            The words “lay hold upon” are very strong. They mean to laid hold firmly, as with a death grip. When Satan would pull us off of Christ, we hold him fast. It is our faith in Christ, our hope in him that the fiend of hell would destroy. – His messengers are preachers who cunningly try to get us to take refuge somewhere else.

 

An Anchor

 

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil" (v. 19).

            Our hope is fastened within the veil. It is “a nail in a sure place.” It is a sure and steadfast hope. Our ship may be tossed to and fro, but it cannot be wrecked. Christ is the Pilot. The Scriptures are the compass. God’s promises are the tackling. Hope is the anchor. Faith is the cable holding it. The Holy Spirit is the Wind that drives it.

 

The Forerunner

 

"Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec" (v. 20).

            As the high priest in Israel entered into the holy of holies once a year, the Lord Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, has gone into the Holy Place. There he has taken possession of Heavn as our Forerunner. By the merit of his own blood he has obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb. 9:12). Our great Forerunner has gone to heaven to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2) as a Priest after the order of Melchisedec. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a Priest after the order of righteousness and of peace. The order of his priesthood is an everlasting and unchangeable order.