The Epistle to the Hebrews part CLIV

Hebrews 6:19a
"Which hope we have as an anchor or the soul…."
An anchor that is steadfast. Immovable. And that anchor then is that which will permit us to enter into that which is behind or "within the veil." Now, always stop and think as you read Hebrews - since Paul is dealing with primarily Jewish people, he uses all of his examples coming out of the Old Testament economy, because they knew what he was talking about then. Now, when he spoke of going in "within the veil" he was talking about that huge curtain of separation across the Temple or, earlier, the Tabernacle that separated the front sanctuary from the Holy of Holiest. So Paul is telling us that we are now able to enter in within, behind that veil, into the very Holy of Holiest, and into the vary presence of God. In other words, there, behind the veil that every Jew understood hung there in the Temple where only the high priest of that year could enter and then only after he had been ceremonially cleansed:

Hebrews 6:20
"Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
I want you to underline that word "Forerunner," because in the next chapter, in the next verse we’re going to come back and pick up Melchizedek the high priest of all, who Jesus personified when He went in behind the veil. Now the word forerunner is a unique Greek word, and it doesn’t just mean that he went in and accomplished the work of the high priest, but when he went in as a forerunner, he opened the way for everyone that follows Him. What do I mean by that? Remember, in an earlier chapter in Hebrews, Paul called Christ the ‘captain of our salvation’? And I pointed out that, in the Greek, that word captain was really better translated "a file leader."

In other words, I think I’ve used the analogy, if you can think back when the cavalry were still working in the old west, we’ve all seen movies where the officer was up at the head of that line of horseback-riding cavalry, what was that? That was a "file" of soldiers going to battle, and the leader was out in front. Well now, that’s the way we can picture Christ. He is the Captain of all of us who are following as believers. As the Captain of our Salvation, He then has become the forerunner, or as the word implies, someone who is at the head of the line. He has led the way in behind the veil now opened. Let’s look at Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 16, and these aren’t empty words. This is because the Captain of our Salvation has been the forerunner Who has taken us through the open veil right into the Holy of Holiest whereby He tells:

Hebrews 4:16
"Let us there for come boldly into the throne of grace, (See that?) that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in our time of need."

Why, because the forerunner has opened the way. He is the file leader Whom we are following and that takes us right into the throne room the vary presence of God. Now, when the high priest of Israel went in behind the veil it was nothing like that. He had to come back out and no one else would dare go into the Holy of Holiest except the high priest, once a year. It was a closed room, but for us, the file Leader has opened it up. The forerunner has gone ahead and now we have complete access to God. We don’t have to go through anyone else. Wherever we are, whoever we are, we can pray and know that He hears us. As long as we're a God-child we have instant access to God the Father of spirits.

Hebrews 6:20
"Whether the forerunner (the captain or the Author of our Salvation, Jesus the Christ, the Author of our faith) for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."

Remember, for those of us in this Age of Grace, we are in a totally different scenario than Israel was in Christ’s earthly ministry. And so I’m going to bring you back to I Corinthians chapter 4 where Paul makes a statement that a lot of people don’t like. But when people say, "Well I follow Jesus," then that’s making a pretty strong statement. And I don’t say it to be superfluous or anything like that, but I have to put it this way. If you’re going to follow Jesus, what are you going to do when He comes to the shore of the Sea of Galilee and keeps going?" You can’t follow Him. You can’t walk on water. And the same way with a lot of things that He did in His earthly ministry.

But, here we have the Apostle of the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul, who never, never attempts to take the place of Christ in anything. In fact, that’s all Paul suffered to for twenty-five years, was to lift up the name of Jesus Christ. But here he says in I Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16, and take this to heart because, after all, all of our doctrines for this Age of Grace come from the pen of this Apostle. That doesn’t mean, as I’ve said over and over; we don’t throw the Old Testament away. You don’t throw out the Four Gospels, and you don’t throw away the book of Revelation or any of that. But when it comes to basic doctrines for us in this Age of Grace, Paul is the Apostle for the Gentiles and indeed all who would become Christ like. So he says, in verse 16:

I Corinthians 4:16
"Wherefore I beseech you, (I beg you) be ye followers (he doesn’t say of Jesus, but of who?) of me."