One of the best lessons I’ve ever heard was from a preacher named Wilson Adams, who used to preach for the Veterans Parkway Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, TN, but who delivered the sermon during a series of lectures in Houston several years ago. I wasn’t physically there, but I did get the CD’s (remember those?), and listened to all of them over the course of the week.
Wilson’s topic was hope, and the Text he chose to center it around was Hebrews 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.” Call it Bible ignorance or just simple forgetfulness, but until that moment, I couldn’t ever remember hearing that verse before. Ever.
Or maybe it was just one of those moments that really made an impact. Wilson’s ability to weave vivid illustrations through his sermons is well-known, and he did precisely that on the recording, creating a picture in my mind of wind-swept waves and roaring wind that made you almost feel like you were lost on the ocean somewhere. Then, he said something simple, yet profound: “When you find yourself in the storms of life, anchor deep.”
I’ve taken that lesson to heart, although I can’t say with 100% honesty I’ve always been successful with it in real-time. Situations arise, troubles cloud my mind, and before I know it, I’ve drifted so far off course the harbor isn’t even in sight, much less recognizable. Had I anchored deep, and placed my trust fully in the hope set before me, I wouldn’t have had to find my way back home.
What is Hope?
Hope gets a bad rap sometimes, mostly because it’s equated with some kind of dreamy, pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking that better belongs in a fairy tale than in Holy Scripture. But that concept is foreign to people like Paul, who addressed the “God of Hope” (Romans 15:13) and told the church at Rome to “rejoice in hope” (Romans 12:12). For him, hope wasn’t a theory, it was a way of life.
Hope is the active belief in something you’ve been promised by someone that’s reputable, and in the book of Hebrews, that “someone” is God Himself. In the context of Hebrews 6:13-20, the writer mentions that God has promised Heaven’s reality twice – something that, to my knowledge, God doesn’t do anywhere else in Scripture. He may repeat His promises, but I can’t think of a time when He promises something, then makes an oath to make something doubly sure (If you can, feel free to destroy me in the comments and I’ll add an edit to give credit to the victor).
God can’t lie anyway, so the whole concept of Him promising something twice (the “two immutable things”) emphasizes His surety in the matter. It’s kinda like saying that God is “Holy, Holy, Holy” – one “Holy” would have surely been enough, but it’s repeated three times to point out just how holy God truly is.
The point is, God wants you to know that your salvation is secure; do you believe that? Later in Hebrews 11:6, the writer mentions that understanding this is the essence of faith itself: “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (emphasis: mine).
Why does that matter? Because if we don’t believe that Heaven is real, or that it’s not going to be given to the faithful of God, then our worship, obedience, and prayers will all be hollow. And once those things are hollow, we’ll find ourselves slipping farther and farther away from shore.
Satan used this exact tactic in the Garden against Eve. He asked her if God “really” said what she claimed: that her and Adam would really “die” (Genesis 3:1). According to Satan, the real reason God said that was because He didn’t want the two of them to end up like God, so He withheld the real fruits of the Garden to keep them in submission. Believing that God had lied to them, they ate the fruit, saw they were naked, and were driven out forever.
This is why Paul was so emphatic about a correct understanding of the Final Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15). If false teachers can convince us that God has already come, or that He’s coming in a way that’s contrary to what we understand, then our faith takes a hit. There’s no reason to live for God because there’s no reward – it either already came or it’s not as glorious as we were hoping for. Paul is adamant that the Resurrection is real, that it is glorious, and that it is coming.
Where’s the Anchor For Your Soul?
There’s a reason that the title is phrased in the first person: Because when you make the promises of God personal, they take on a whole different understanding. When we stop categorizing salvation as something that other people have and something that we receive, our loyalty to God skyrockets. All of a sudden, the Cross becomes very familiar; Christ died for me, as well as everyone else.
Having our hope anchored deep puts obstacles into perspective. We know that whatever it is that we’re going through now is nothing to be compared with the glory that lay ahead of us. Troubles have a way of clouding our vision to the point that we take our eyes off of the prize and onto our own immediate issues. Hope forces us to keep our focus where it belongs for every Christian: Heaven.
Ironically, Jude calls false teachers unanchored in their life; they are “carried along by winds” wherever the public wants them to go (Jude 12). They follow this fad, that appeal, and lost their foundation in the process. It’s exactly what happened to Solomon and most of the other kings of Israel and Judah. Because they followed all these other gods, they split their loyalty between Jehovah and 1,000 other supposed deities as well. Before they knew it, they were lost at sea.
Without hope, we have no courage. Hebrews 11 is called the “Hall of Faith” for its illustration of all the people who did amazing things “by faith.” One thing’s for sure: none of those heroic faith-based feats would have occurred had their hope not been anchored in the Lord. Because they knew who stood by them, they were able to shut the mouths of lions, put foreign armies to flight, and receive back their dead by resurrection (Hebrews 11:32-38).
So I ask you, where’s your anchor? Is it in your own accomplishments, or is it in your devotion to God’s promises? Where you anchor is where you’ll stay, so pick your spot wisely and anchor deep.
