“That where I am, there you may be also.”
“In order to realize the worth of the anchor, we need to feel the stress of the storm.”1 Christ is the anchor of our souls because He is our forerunner. And we are indeed in a storm! However, even in the storms of life we can sing:
There’s a peace I’ve come to know,
Though my heart and flesh may fail.
There’s an anchor for my soul.
I can say, “It is well.”
Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed.
The victory is won.
He is risen from the dead.
And I will rise when He calls my name;
No more sorrow, no more pain;
I will rise on eagles’ wings
Before my God fall on my knees, and rise.
I will rise.2
How does it all begin? In Hebrews 6:9-20, we have laid out for us some key concepts in our walk with the Lord. Throughout the passage, hope is critical. When we understand that Christ is our forerunner, we have hope. And that hope sustains and motivates us in the storms of life.
Service and reward
In Hebrews 6:1-8, the author deals with those who have professed salvation but were never genuine believers. From verse 9 to the end of the chapter, he turns his attention to believers. Unlike those whose lives are fruitless for God, the believer in Christ is known by the fruit produced by God’s Spirit: “things that accompany salvation” (v.9). The author of Hebrews reminds his readers that there is evidence of salvation in their lives: they have demonstrated and continue to demonstrate their faith in, and love for, God by serving the saints, His people (v.?10).
God deals very graciously with us on this point. Perhaps you may be thinking, “Well, I used to serve God, but I’m not really doing that much right now.” The author says, “God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name” (v.?10). He will certainly reward you for past service done in His name. Or maybe you have not served God in the past but now desire to be used by Him for the blessing of others. The same verse explains that God will not forget what you are doing “in still ministering to the saints.” Whatever evidence of love for the Lord we have shown, past or present, God will generously repay. Now, however, Hebrews challenges us to take the next step.
In verses 11-12, we are admonished to serve God diligently, not in a sluggish or lazy fashion. And the promise attached to this challenge is that when we serve God earnestly, we will realize “the full assurance of hope until the end.” When we are in a storm, our tendency is to stop serving God and start focusing on ourselves. Then, once the storm is over, we go back to serving God and others again. The author of Hebrews exhorted the Hebrew Christians to serve God wholeheartedly, in spite of the spiritual storms they were going through. He assured them that as they did so, God would give them great confidence that their lives were secure in Him; He would certainly take them to be with Him in heaven when their lives ended. Is God not saying the same thing to us today?
An immovable anchor
To offer even greater encouragement to these storm-driven saints (and to us), our passage goes on to describe how much God has done to enable us to fully trust Him. Not only has God promised that we will never be separated from Him (e.g. Heb. 13:5), but He has further sworn this with an oath. An oath was the strongest way of convincing someone that something was true. Verse 16 tells us that “an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.” It settles the argument forever! God wants us to know beyond the shadow of a doubt “that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge [in Him] would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us” (v.18). Our God wants His saints to know that He is with us every step of the way home and that, at the end of our lives, He will usher us into His heaven. This is the certainty that is to anchor our lives. Have we taken hold of it?
The climax of God’s promise comes in verses 19 and 20. “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul.” We have it. It is ours! It is a sure thing. It is meant to anchor my soul. This hope is both “sure,” that is, certain and “steadfast,” or secure. Unlike a ship’s anchor which secures the ship down to the ocean floor, our anchor secures our souls upwards into heaven itself. My soul is inseparably linked to heaven by an anchor chain that can never come unlinked. In fact, my soul is linked to the inner sanctuary of God, the Most Holy Place. My hope is anchored “within the veil,” to where Jesus is in heaven. “In the ancient world, as ships were entering a harbor, some of the sailors got into a smaller craft and went ahead of the larger vessel. Their job was to carry the anchor into the harbor and find a place where it could be securely fastened. In the same way, Jesus went into the inner sanctuary, into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God, taking with Him the anchor of the soul.”3
Now, if this were not enough to encourage me to serve God fully during the storms of life, the author goes on to say that my hope of being in God’s presence some day is based on the fact that “Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us.” This means that where He has gone, I will go. Because He is in heaven, I will certainly follow Him there. Listen to what W. Evans has to say about Christ as our Forerunner:
“The word signifies one who comes in advance to a place where the rest are to follow, or one who is sent on before as a scout to make observations (cf. ‘pioneer’ in 12:2). In this sense, Christ is our forerunner, for He has gone into heaven to prepare for His people a place into which He will eventually lead them. The idea of a forerunner is peculiar to the New Testament. The Old Testament High Priest was a representative, not a forerunner: where he led, namely, into the holy of holies, the people could not follow. He was not a pioneer of the people; Christ is. Christ goes nowhere but where His people may follow.” (emphasis added)4
So, if my Saviour is in heaven, then I will be, too. No storm I may encounter can in any way sever or weaken my link to heaven. God has promised it and declared it to be so with an oath. Christ has gone ahead into heaven so that where He is, I will soon be also. And, furthermore, because He is there as my High Priest (v.20), interceding for me in the power of an unending life (7:24-25), my salvation is eternally secure. What a hope! What a Forerunner! Help me to serve You diligently, Lord, with full assurance of hope, until my ship safely reaches heaven’s shore.
Endnotes
1 Preacher’s Illustrations, Jokes and Quotes (Baptist Progress).
2 Chris Tomlin, I Will Rise (2009).
3 Walvoord and Zuck, editors, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books), p.797.
4 Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company), pp.337-338.