The Epistle to the Hebrews part CLI

Hebrews 6:11
"And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:"

Who is he talking about? Well, he’s talking about the "beloved" up in verse 9. He’s not talking about those who had turned their backs and went back into Judaism and became the apostate or wicked, but rather about the believing element. Let me read it. "But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you," Alright it’s to those believers that he says, "they have the full assurance of hope." For how long? "Unto the end." Now we know eternity has no end, so in this case he must be talking about what? Their sojourn on earth until death, until they fall to sleep and that God will never forsake them. Now a verse always comes to mind with a thought like that. Just back up a few pages to Philippians. Because even though Hebrews is written to Hebrews, never lose sight of the fact that the whole concept is the same as what Paul has written to us as Gentiles. And in Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, we have that same concept, as he writes to us as Gentiles.

Philippians 1:6
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you (in other words, he has brought us to the place of embracing our salvation, and we know that we’re saved. Now here’s a promise) will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"

He will never let us go, nor will He ever forget about us, it’s the same concept here in Hebrews 6. Even with these Jewish believers who had stepped right on into this same concept of Paul’s Gospel now, that they were full of the assurance of hope.

Now verse 12 - here is an admonition to those believers, as well as believers today, as we pointed out, that they were to move on. They were to keep growing in Grace and Knowledge and unto a maturity, and leave the elementary things behind. Now verse 12:

Hebrews 6:12
"That you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the (what?) the promises."

Oh, the promises of God! Most of us are aware of the Old Testament promises given to Israel which, of course, were all material and earthly promises, and they’re still waiting for a good portion of them. But even for us in this Church Age or this Age of Grace we, too, have a multitude of promises. Paul’s letters are full of them. He will never leave us nor forsake us, and we have the assurance that we are His. And he tells us in Romans chapter 8 that we’re what? "We’re joint-heirs with Christ." Well, those are promises that we can hang on to and know that they are ours. Now when it comes to promises, I’ve already said, the first place we normally go is the Old Testament. And so does Paul in verse 13:


Hebrews 6:13a
"For when God made promise to Abraham,…"

That’s why we call that period of time, in between Abraham and the giving of the Levitical Law, a time of promises. Because over and over, God promised the patriarchs. Number one to Abraham, that out of him would come a nation of people. In the next chapter God promised that He would give them a geographical area of land. And then later on as He comes to King David, He gives David the promise that out of him would come the royal family which would bring forth the Messiah. All promises of God!

Then all the promises concerning the coming Kingdom, that age of peace and prosperity of which the Nation of Israel has always longed for. Promises. And so, it’s just to show us that when God makes promises, even though His wheels grind slowly, they grind surely. Okay, so reading on in verse 13:

Hebrews 6:13
"For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself," (Genesis 22:15-18; Luke 1:73)

You see, only God could do that! So God can swear on the veracity of His own Person, that these things will come to pass. We tell people, don’t ever give up on God, just because things don’t move as fast as we think they should. My, how long did Abraham have to wait before he even got the first fulfillment of the promise of a son, Isaac? Almost fifty years as far as we can determine. You can’t put that in concrete because we don’t know exactly how old he was when God spoke to him down in Ur.

We know he was seventy-five when he went from Haran down into Canaan. And we also know that he was a hundred before Isaac was born. So it was somewhere between 25 and 50 years that Abraham patiently waited for the promise of a son. Of course, we know that in the meantime, Abraham took things into his own hands for a short spat of weakened trust, but nevertheless he came back and he waited until finally his wife Sarah brought forth Isaac. So with that as a backdrop, that God will never go back on His promises, this is what God told him in verse 14.