Hebrews 6:9-12. Having met the difficulty of their low condition, and warned them of the danger of apostasy, the apostle now encourages these believers by expressing his confidence and hope concerning them. Though he has warned them, he does not apply to them what he has been saying as to falling away. On the contrary, he is persuaded better things of them, and things that accompany salvation. He thus clearly shows that the outward privileges of the Christian circle, of which he has been speaking in verses 4-8, can be known in measure by those who are not saved.
The things that accompany salvation are things which give evidence of divine life in the soul. They are “love,” and “hope,” and “faith.” That they possessed love was proved by their continual service to the Lord’s people. God will not forget service of which love to Christ is the motive. The full reward for such service is in the day to come. This leads the apostle to speak of the “hope” that lies before us. He desired that these believers should diligently pursue their service of love in the full assurance of hope that looks on to the rest and reward of all labor.
The apostle does not suggest that the prospect of reward is a motive for service. This, he clearly states, is love “to His Name.” But, as ever, reward is brought in to encourage in the face of difficulties. To continue to the end, however, calls for faith and patience. We are exhorted to be imitators of men of God “who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” Their faith looked on to the future blessing and enabled them to endure with patience their wilderness trials.
Hebrews 6:13-15. Faith, however, requires some absolute authority upon which to rest. The apostle turns to the history of the patriarch Abraham to show that the Word of God is the solid ground on which faith acts. In the case of Abraham, this word was confirmed by an oath. In the fullest way God pledged His Word to bring Abraham into blessing, the result being that he was enabled to endure patiently all the privations of a wilderness journey.
Hebrews 6:16-18. Moreover, it was not for Abraham’s sake only that God gave this twofold guarantee, His Word and His oath. Thus the principles on which God acted towards the fathers of old are applied to the children of faith now that “we might have a strong encouragement.” God, in His condescending grace, to convince the heirs of promise of the unchangeable character of His Word, confirmed His promise with an oath, even as men do in their dealings with one another. As He could swear by no greater, He swore by Himself. Thus, by two immutable things, His Word and His oath, in which it was impossible for God to lie, He gives strong encouragement to all those who have fled to Christ for refuge from judgment, to lay hold on the hope set before them, instead of turning back by reason of the difficulties on the way. The allusion is to the city of refuge for the manslayer. The Jews had murdered their own Messiah and brought themselves under judgment. The believing remnant, separating themselves from the guilty nation, fled for refuge to the living Christ in glory.
Hebrews 6:19-20. The believer that flees to Christ has a hope that is “sure and steadfast,” as Jesus, our great High Priest, has entered within the veil of heaven. Christ appears before the face of God for us as the Forerunner and as our High Priest. The Forerunner implies that there are others coming after. We have therefore not only the Word of God, but Jesus, a living Person in the glory, as the everlasting witness of the glory to which we are going, and the guarantee that we shall be there. Until we reach the rest of heaven, Christ is our great High Priest to sustain us by the way. Thus again, as in the end of chapter 4, the apostle keeps the Word of God and the living Christ before our souls. Here it is the Word of God as the firm foundation of our faith, and the living Christ as the anchor of our soul, the One who links us with heaven and holds the soul in calmness amidst all the storms of life.