On Sunday I referred to part of Hebrew 6 v 19, but would have loved to dig a little deeper into these wonderful words:
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure…”
The writer of Hebrews is talking about Jesus, our Great High Priest who, metaphorically speaking, went into the Holy of Holies to intercede for us, making a way for us to God, and for God to be present among us. Jesus did this by His death on the Cross and glorious resurrection. Hebrews, as the title suggests, was written to the Hebrew people to show them that Jesus is the Messiah, hence why the writer (who we don’t know, although there are many theories of who it was), uses language and allusions which the Jewish people would be familiar with.
A friend of mine often uses this phrase when preaching “hope has a name – His name is Jesus”.
Jesus is our hope. That’s why we’re called HOPE Community Church Aintree, we believe in the hope of Jesus, which has transformed our lives, and who can transform the world around us. Jesus offers us bright hope for today and strength for tomorrow, we believe this for ourselves, our church, and for Aintree Village too.
Our hope is in Jesus, who, as the writer of Hebrews suggests, went ‘behind the curtain’, the barrier in the Old Testament between God and the people, and made a way for us.
When troubles come, insecurities rise, or challenges face us, our anchor is Jesus. By His death on the Cross and His resurrection, when earthly troubles come, when sin has got the better of us or when we’re uncertain of the future, we can have a certain hope that our future is safe with God, in this life, and after we die. We can be certain of our future, because we have a destiny with the Divine, eternally with God, because of Jesus.
But we often think of this verse meaning we anchor into Jesus, clinging on to Him in the stormy seas of life, but actually, Jesus is the anchor. The anchor has a two-fold role; it grips to the seabed, and holds onto the boat stopping the boat from floating away by the changing tide.
When the tides of life come, we are held to God by Jesus, the anchor; He is holding on to us, as we hold on to Him.
We are safe IN Christ
He is FOR us, not against us
He HAS made a way, and WILL make a way for us.
Stay close to Him, know the Anchor is holding you tight in the troubling days – He loves you, is for you, and will never let you go.
Pastor Lee.