“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:19-20)
These verses illustrate the security that we have in Christ.
Our Savior, Jesus, went back to heaven at His ascension and went into the Holy of Holies with His blood to pay for our eternal salvation.
His sacrifice on the cross was complete, and it secured our full salvation.
- He saved us from the penalty of sin, which is the eternal Lake of Fire.
- He is saving us from the power of sin to dominate our daily lives.
- He will save us from the very presence of sin at the Rapture or at death, whichever comes first.
Our hope in this passage is all that He secures for us in the future:
- our new bodies which will be like His heaven
- our co-reigning with Him in the Millennium
- our inheritance and
- our living on the New Earth and in the New Jerusalem.
“Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us.”
In the first century, sailors would take their ship’s anchor in a small boat and secure it on the shore, so that the ship would not drift away as waves beat against it.
In the same way, the “hope” that our Savior has secured firmly in heaven for us is to serve as our “anchor” as we face the storms of life.
Jesus is the anchor for our stormed-tossed souls, and He keeps us from drifting away from Him.
As the writer of Hebrews says in 2:1:
“So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.”
The anchor in Bible time was a symbol of hope. Jesus, as our anchor, rests firmly in the Holy of Holies (“within the veil”) in God the Father’s presence in heaven.
The writer of Hebrews is affirming that hope forms an anchor for our entire life here on earth.
We have a living hope in Christ, and we have a steadying anchor in all we do.
A man approached a little league baseball game one afternoon.
He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was.
The boy responded, “Eighteen to nothing–we’re behind.”
“Boy,” said the spectator, “I’ll bet you’re discouraged.”
“Why should I be discouraged?” replied the little boy. “We haven’t even gotten up to bat yet!”
If this little boy had hope, how much more should we have hope?
Jesus is our hope and anchor for our soul.
He has already gone before us and won the victory for us already.
May we walk in His victory by faith!
Blessings!
Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries