He Is Able to Save Completely

Hebrews 6:13-7:28

Abraham Received What Was Promised

In our current lesson, the author of Hebrews begins a discussion of the promise of God by stating that, though he had to wait patiently, Abraham received what was promised him (6:13-15). As we recall the story, Abram was 75 years old when God called him from his home to a place unknown to him. God told Abram that he would make of him a great nation (Genesis 12:1-5). After almost 25 years, the Lord renewed this promise, renaming Abram and Sarai, and promising that a son would be born to them (Genesis 17:1-7, 15-22). Almost 75 years later, Abraham died with his two sons attendance, through whom God had promised to build two great, separate nations.

How did Abraham receive what was promised him? Was there something he saw in the face of his sons that confirmed God’s word to him? Was the blessing of two sons nation enough for him? Or did he receive the promise through faith in the word of God (John 8:56).

An Anchor for the Soul

In the next passage, the author continues his discussion of the promise of God, saying that men seal their promises by invoking some higher power, but that God could call on to higher power, and so he swore by himself (6:16-20). There is no one like God (Isaiah 46:5-10). The Trinity are God, but there is no one separate from God who is like God. If there were someone else like God, then God would not be God. There is none like God and there is no other God. This is a promise that anchors the soul (Isaiah 45:22-23).

Without Father or Mother

The author has lamented that we are not ready for solid food. Having tantalized us many times, he now gives us something to chew on with his interpretation of an enigma of the Old Testament: the priest Melchizedek (Genesis 14:17-20; Hebrews 7:-10).

The story of Abram and Melchizedek is brief and abrupt. Melchizedek appears with no previous mention in the middle of another narrative. He blesses Abram, and Abram tributes him with a tithe, and the man Melchizedek disappears, never to be seen again.

The children of Levi were set apart by God (Numbers 1:47-54). Of these, the children of Aaron were especially designated as priests (Exodus 29:9). Because of the strict rules prohibiting others from serving in the temple, as well as the rules requiring the other tribes to pay tithes to the Levites, the genealogies were of paramount importance.

But, says the author, the Melchizedek had neither father nor mother, and in fact existed separate from the line of Levi. Yet he was recognized by no lesser than Abram himself as a priest of the God Most High.

The author does not question the appointment of the Levitical priesthood, but uses the figure of Melchizedek, frozen in the brief vignette we have of him, to remind the Jews, and to remind us, that God is sovereign, and cannot be limited to our understanding of God.

Perfection

Why was another priesthood required? Because perfection could not be achieved through the Levitical priesthood (7:11-17). Again, the author does not question the specific utility of the hereditary priesthood, but the ultimate, complete, perfect utility. He has already presented this idea of perfection to us, as he has told us that the author of our salvation was made perfect through suffering (2:9-10).

Here, the author depicts that same Son of God as indestructible. How do we reconcile these ideas of the suffering and the indestructible? What is given up cannot be taken, and what is forfeited cannot be destroyed (John 10:17-18). This is the power of the indestructible life. This is the perfection to which we are called (John 12:23-28).

Able to Save Completely

A recurring motif of the author of Hebrews depicts Christ as better in every way. Here, he tells us that Jesus gives us a better hope and a better covenant (7:18-28). Our hope is in the new covenant, sealed in the blood of Christ who gave himself for us (Luke 22:19-20). When we had no intercessor, God gave his son to intercede for us. When we had no sacrifice, he sacrificed himself for us. This is the high priest who is able to meet our needs – one who is able to save completely.