Brooke McDuffie
Hebrews 6:13-20
Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.
Hebrews 6, 13-20 When God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, Surely I will bless you and multiply you. And thus Abraham, having waited patiently, obtained the promise. Our Heavenly Father, wanting to show the heirs of His promise the unchanging character of His purpose, confirmed it with an oath.
Since it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge have strong encouragement to hold to the hope set before us. We have this sure and steadfast anchor of hope, a hope that enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf. Welcome to the Bridgeway Christian Church Daily Advent Devotional for Saturday, December 7th.
My name is Brooke McDuffie and I serve on the creative team here at Bridgeway. Today I’m going to talk about sustaining hope anchored in God’s promises. There was a time in my life when I felt as though I was fishing for hope.
I was casting my net into the boundless sea of the world, anxiously hoping to catch something that would sustain me. And like many who place their hope in a broken world, all I managed to catch was overwhelming despair and uncertainty. But as the storms of life raged and my faith was shaken, I turned to Jesus.
And Jesus became the anchor of hope my ship desperately needed. He exchanged my net of pain and uncertainty for His net of grace and freedom. God’s promised Savior transformed my life and gave me living waters to draw from.
And so nowadays when I face the storms and the challenges of life, His love anchors me and it keeps me from drifting. Hebrews 6 reminds us that when God made a promise to Abraham, He swore by Himself. And there is none greater than our God.
There is no greater assurance than the blessed assurance His promises provide. We can trust that He is who He says He is and He will do what He says He will do. Through countless trials and tribulations, Abraham clung to the unwavering hope that God would indeed fulfill His promises.
And so God did. The Bible tells us that Abraham waited patiently for the Lord. And it wasn’t a passive waiting, but an active, transformative, trust-filled waiting.
And like many of us in seasons of waiting, Abraham’s faith was tested. And like many of us, he grew impatient with God. Nevertheless, his faith in God brought him hope, hope that sustained him through his season of waiting.
The Hebrew word for hope, tikvah, signifies the confidence that what is being awaited will indeed come to pass. Therefore, just like Abraham, we do not wait for the Lord in vain. Tikvah also means a cord or thread, symbolizing the connection between our faith and God’s promises.
Jesus is the red cord, our ultimate tikvah, the promised Savior who fulfills God’s covenant with us. Just as God honored His promises to Abraham, He fulfills His promises to us through Christ. In the story of Rahab, the scarlet cord hanging from her window was her lifeline, a symbol of hope and symbol of salvation.
Just as the blood of the Passover lamb marked the Israelites for protection from death, Jesus, our true Passover lamb, is the fulfillment of God’s eternal promise, offering salvation and an unbreakable hope so that through Him we are able to hold fast to the assurance that God will always be faithful to His word. To anchor our hope in Christ is to stand on God’s unchanging character and to draw strength from His everlasting love, a love that Lamentations 3 reminds us is a steadfast love that never ceases. His mercies never come to an end.
They are renewed every morning. His faithfulness is great towards us. Our hope is sustained by the certainty of a steadfast God, firm, unwavering, and loyal in His promises and His purposes for us.
As children of God, we are a people of hope. So whether we’re hoping for healing or restoration in our relationships, strength and guidance as we navigate life’s challenges, or a renewed purpose and joy in the work that we’re called to do, Hebrews 619 reminds us that we have this hope. Jesus, our living hope, the anchor for our souls, firm and secure.
Jesus entered the innermost sanctuary behind the curtain, becoming our eternal High Priest and the living sacrifice that bridged the gap between a lost humanity and our mighty God. Christ is our firm foundation, the rock on which we stand, unchanging and never failing. He is the fulfillment of every promise, the source of our strength and our guiding light in a dark world.
So no matter what storms we face in life, remember that we have the blessed assurance that our faithful God of hope has set before us. So may the God of hope fill us all with joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we may abound in hope. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your steadfast love, a love that anchors us through the storms of life. Help us to hold fast to the hope that is found in you and you alone. May we trust in your promises and share your eternal hope with all those around us.
In Jesus Christ’s mighty name we pray. Amen.
Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai