By Bob Faller –CFF Pastoral Care
Having spent much of my life living at the beach, I developed a real respect and fondness for the sea. We lived on the intercoastal waterway and spent peaceful days watching vessels of all sizes traveling past us.
Despite the varying sizes of these vessels, they had several things in common. One thing that caught my attention was their anchors.
Image courtesy of PickPik
Every boat had one and they were all different. Some were iron, some steel, some with a long shaft and two hooks and some with short shafts and four or five hooks.
Regardless of their differences they were all tethered to the vessel with a cable or linked chains. They also had the same job to do.
They were, when lowered into the water and disappeared, to grip the ocean floor, hold fast the vessel and provide security regardless of weather conditions. When at anchor, the vessel was both sure and steadfast.
Our Anchor in Life
The closing verses in Hebrews 6 have always been fascinating to me. The nautical references and their ties to the hope becomes a magnificent study filled with imagery and inspiring thankfulness for God’s redemptive plan through Jesus Christ.
It is difficult to delve into these scriptures and not come away with a clear and concise understanding of just exactly what our Lord and Savior has provided for us.
“That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” Hebrews 6:18-20 KJV
Image by Tony Alter
The word “consolation” in verse 18 is interesting. E. W. Bullinger’s Lexicon and Concordance says it means, “a calling near, a summons to one’s side, an encouraging exhortation or invitation.”
God is making available a strong calling, an ardent invitation to tether ourselves to our anchor, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible contains a wonderful explication of these verses:
“Hope is the great anchor, or stabilizer, of the human soul; and that hope for the Christian is Christ the Lord, who has entered into that which is beyond the veil, that is, into heaven itself; and this corresponds to the actions of the ancient high priest who was typical of Christ in that he went into the Holy of Holies, behind the veil, in the tabernacle.
The aptness of the figure of an anchor appears in the fact that an anchor is not doing any good at all as long as it is visible.
It is only when it disappears in the deep beneath that it stabilizes and protects the ship; how beautiful is the imagery of Christ’s also being out of sight from Christians, having disappeared into the unseen world, but who is nevertheless connected with Christians by the strong and effective cable of his love, just as the anchor, though unseen, is connected to the ship by a mighty chain.
Photo by Carlos Gomez Lazaro
The absolutely necessary disappearance of the anchor, if it is to do any good, also suggests the necessity of Christ’s physical separation from his followers which was accomplished when he ascended into the unseen world.
That this was truly necessary is plain in the light of Hebrews 8:4, where it is shown that Christ would have been no priest at all if he had remained upon the earth.
Christ’s qualification as high priest was upon a higher level; on earth he could never have been any kind of priest, because he did not belong to the tribe of Levi; therefore, in order for him to function as the great High Priest of Christians, he of necessity entered that higher, unseen sphere.
Thus, it is literally and gloriously true that the Christian’s hope is in heaven where the Lord has already entered; and, with that hope, all else that really matters is also there.
For the Christian, his treasure is there (Matthew 6:19), his citizenship is there (Philippians 3:20), his name is written there (Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3), his Lord is there (as here, and in John 14:1-6), and his affections should be there (Colossians 3:2 KJV).”
Tethered to Christ
This commentary is very clear and concise. It is such an anchor to our souls to know our Savior, our hope, is seated at the right hand of God and we are tethered to him.
Regardless of the storms of life we all go through, we can be at peace knowing we will always be steadfast and sure as we stay at anchor with him.
Pastor Robert B. Faller is currently serving at the Upper Ridgewood Community Church in Ridgewood, New Jersey. He ministers to the saints in the northeastern United States, Kentucky, and wherever God calls.
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Coffman’s Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.