Jesus: The Believer's Hope, Pt. 3

What is the relationship of the believer’s hope to his faith?

“And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” – Hebrews 7:11-12

Hebrews 6:11-12 shows that the believer has hope enables him to have faith. Faith is placing one’s complete confidence in a object – Jesus Christ our hope. Because of the trustworthiness of this Hope, He is deserving of our absolute confidence in the face of all trials and temptations.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for…” – Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:1 substantiates this by stating that faith is the assurance of what is being hoped for. In Hebrews 11:13, the author tells us that the Old Testament saints died in faith; they had not seen the promises fulfilled, but they had seen them, were persuaded of them, embraced them, and acted on them (hope). Hebrews 11:39 further records that these faithful people had not received the promise, but they still obtained a good report through faith.

Today, the believer’s hope in Jesus Christ his superior Priest enables the believer to exercise faith in Jesus Christ. Our faith is not an idealistic concept separated from facts or experiences. It is confidence in our Priest who has sensibly and rationally acted in a way that demands our absolute confidence.

Jesus: The Believer's Hope, Pt. 2

Hebrews 6:18-20 showed us that our hope in Jesus, our superior Priest. Throughout Hebrews, this Hope relates to believers in three ways.

“Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” – Hebrews 3:5-6

Confidence and boasting in our hope of Jesus Christ provides evidence that we are members of God’s house. In Hebrews 3, Christ is being contrasted with Moses in that Moses was a faithful steward in God’s house, but Christ is the faithful Son over God’s house. Those who are in the house of God have hope in Jesus Christ which proves that they are not like the Israelites who hardened their hearts and tested God.

“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” – Hebrews 6:19

Jesus Christ is “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.” Why is Jesus Christ our sure anchor? Because He has gone behind the curtain, into the presence of God as our forerunner and made satisfaction to God for our sin. His work before God as Priest is what gives stability and security to our lives now. No matter what trial or temptation or suffering meets us, Christ has offered one sacrifice for our redemption. When we have been forgiven, nothing in this life has power over us to hurt us. Jesus Christ, our superior Priest who sacrificed Himself on our behalf is the sure and steadfast anchor in whom we place our hope.

“For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.” – Hebrews 7:19

Jesus Christ is the better hope “through which we draw near to God.” Holiness has always been required to see God (12:14), but perfection could never come through the Mosaic Covenant (7:19). The hope of the believer under the Mosaic Covenant was continually in the promise of a Savior who would make ultimate satisfaction to God for their sins. Verses 19 establishes Jesus Christ as the cause by which we draw near to God. Drawing near to God was possible in the Old Testament only by faith in what the Sacrifice would do, but today, the action of the Sacrifice is in the past. We rejoice in experiencing in reality what Old Testament saints rejoiced to experience by faith. Ephesians 2:18 describes this drawing near as having “access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Under the Mosaic Covenant, the ordinary Jewish person did not have direct access to the presence of God – that was reserved for their human mediator the high priest on the Day of Atonement. The Gentile did not even have the human mediator of the high priest – their mediator (the Jewish nation) failed woefully in pointing the Gentiles to God. But Jesus Christ’s sacrifice opened direct access to God for each one of His people. Today we do not need a human mediator (prophet or priest) to talk to God for us or to communicate God’s will to us. Jesus Christ is our superior Priest by which we are continually “drawing near” to God.

Jesus: The Believer's Hope, Pt. 1

This semester at Bible college, one of my favorite classes was Epistle to the Hebrews. This little series of blog posts is aimed at sharing with you some of the blessings that Hebrews has been to me. My prayer is that it may be as great an encouragement to you as it was to me.

The question we shall explore today is this: What is the believer’s hope according to the book of Hebrews?

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. – Hebrews 6:18-20

In the context of this passage, there are two hopes being fulfilled, the first illustrative of the second. In verses 13-16, Abraham was promised a son through whom he would be blessed. In confirmation of this promise, God swore an oath by Himself. Similarly, in verse 17, when God showed the unchanging nature of his purposes to the heirs of promise, He confirmed that revelation with an oath also. However, this oath was not that Abraham would have a son, but that Jesus Christ would eternally be the Melchizedekian priest (7:21). The subject of this second oath is the hope of the heirs of promise: Jesus Christ, the superior Melchizedekian Priest. Edward Mote, the author of the hymn "The Solid Rock" summarized the believer's hope in Christ with these words:

"My hope is built on nothing less/Than Jesus' blood and righteousness./I dare not trust the sweetest frame,/but wholly trust in Jesus' Name."

Over this Christmas break, may Jesus continually be my hope. May His central position not be replaced by family, friends, or studies. May I never imagine that anything other than the Person of Jesus can make me happy. May the hope that keeps me keeping on be the sight of Jesus, my superior Priest.