People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

We who believe in Jesus are the true spiritual heirs of Abraham through faith (Gal.3:7,9). The promise God made to him, ”and confirmed it with an oath” is now ours: we who trust in Christ and have become God’s people, God’s family. We will obtain our full inheritance in heaven. This is a rock-solid certainty. The ”two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie” are His Word and His oath. Therefore we can be ”greatly encouraged”.

We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek. (18-20: ‘The Message’).

‘Our hope in Christ is like an anchor for the soul. The anchor was a popular symbol in the early church. At least sixty-six pictures of anchors have been found in the catacombs…this spiritual anchor is different from material anchors on ships. For one thing, we are anchored upward – to heaven – not downward. We are anchored, not to stand still, but to move ahead!‘ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘New Testament Commentary’, p.819.