---

HEB 6:13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” 15 And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath,

---

GOD PROMISED TO BLESS AND MULTIPLY ABRAHAM.
“Multiply” means to give him descendants, but it’s more than that. God promised there would be many Abrahams. People who have Abraham’s faith. People who would wander into dangerous and unfamiliar lands at the direction of their Lord. People who would slay their only sons if God commanded it. People who would trust God completely and hold nothing back, not turning their faces toward uncertainly or illogic. As Paul put it, “Those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer” (Galatians 3:9).

GOD SWORE TO GOD TO KEEP HIS OWN OATH.
Why? What’s the purpose of a God WHO cannot be dishonest swearing by Himself to keep a promise He already made (Genesis 22:16ff)? Verse 17 tells us that it was to show those who would be heirs of this oath (us) that His purpose will never change. He wanted us, several thousand years later, to know that despite the delay He will accomplish it! This oath was central to everything God planned to accomplish in His creation to satisfy His desire to be with them again. He reinforced it like no other oath because He wanted no doubt left in anyone’s mind that this was the most important oath He would make with mankind.

ABRAHAM WAITED PATIENTLY?
Did Abraham really wait patiently for God to uphold this promise as v.15 says? What about Hagar? Ishmael? Do those look like patience? Yes, Abraham fell. But, strangely, he fell because he believed God. He was certain God would come through and, when things seemed impossible, he tried to help God out. Yes, that was sinful. A sin of faith - a faith that was strong enough to believe the promise but too weak to let God work it out alone. Things did look utterly impossible, after all. He was 86, his wife was barren, and nothing like what God intended to accomplish had ever happened before. And after God chastised him for his sin of trying to help, Abraham continued to believe and trust that God would take care of it all. So he did wait patiently, aside from that one hiccup.

GOD “INTERPOSED” HIS OATH
Verse 17’s word “interposed” carries the weight of putting oneself up as collateral in Greek. Essentially, it’s like saying “If I don’t keep this promise, you may kill me.” [The Greek word is “mesiteuō (μεσιτευω) if you care to look it up.]

---

HEB 6:18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.

---

TWO UNCHANGEABLE THINGS
The two unchangeable things here are the oath and the swearing to God. Each binds a person to tell the truth.

STRONG ENCOURAGEMENT
Encouragement is an important theme in Hebrews. In English it means to instill courage in someone. In Greek it means something more akin to “come to someone’s aid.” Hebrews 3:13 told us to “encourage one another day after day... so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 10:25 will exhort us to not give up meeting together but instead to “encourage one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” We must be each other’s strength when the trials that will come upon us if we live our faith as we should make us consider giving up.

God likewise put encouragement before us by swearing to Himself to keep His oath that He would indeed bless Abraham. That is encouragement because, as this verse indicates, God’s promise to multiply Abraham and give the inheritance to Abraham’s seed was about us! That hope is set before us, and when things get tough going we can find courage in the fact that God doubly promised it to us. Our redemption WILL happen if we hold onto that hope.

---

HEB 6:19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

---

There are 5 very important statements in this complex sentence. I’ll break them down:
1. WE (CHRISTIANS) HAVE THIS HOPE
It is ours, though its fulfillment is not yet ours. Numerous times in this letter we’re admonished to hold onto this hope until the end so that we do not fall away. I believe this is perhaps the main purpose of this letter. Read it for yourself in HEB 3:6; HEB 6:11; and HEB 10:23.

2. THIS HOPE ANCHORS OUR SOULS
That is, if we let go of that hope our souls will drift. But if we hold fast to it, that hope will act as a sure, steadfast anchor for our souls so they won’t drift. Holding onto our hope is what keeps us from drifting!

3. THIS HOPE IS INSIDE THE VEIL
Inside the veil means in the Holy of Holies, where only high priests could enter. In other words, the anchor is in God’s presence, in Heaven.

4. JESUS ALREADY ENTERED THAT VEIL
He went into God’s presence ahead of us as our High Priest.

5. JESUS WILL BE A HIGH PRIEST FOREVER
Like Melchizedek. He’ll break down what that means in the next verses.

---

HEB 7:1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. 3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.

---

Everything we know about Melchizedek is in three verses, Genesis 14:18-20. As the above verses say:

• He was King of Salem (in Hebrew, “Salem” means “peace” like it’s sister word, “shalom”).
• His name in Hebrew means King of Righteousness [Malkiy = “King” and Tsedeq = “Righteousness”]
• He blessed Abram after Abram defeated several pagan kings.
• He was high priest in addition to being king
• Abraham gave him tithes
• There’s no record of his birth or death, so metaphorically he had no start or end and is eternally a high priest
  

So it’s easy to see why David (in Psalm 110:4) and the Hebrews writer use Melchizedek as a symbol of Christ.

But this passage wants us to dwell on Jesus Christ, not on Melchizedek. Jesus is now in God’s presence. He is serving as a High Priest and arbitrating God’s wrath against us. His priesthood will never end. As a King of Righteousness, King of Peace, and God’s Son, Jesus is able to deliver the salvation our hope is anchored to.

All we must do is hold fast onto that hope!