Hebrews 6:18-20 - Hope as an anchor

6:18 The two unchangeable things are the promise and God Himself. This is not a burden upon us, it is an encouragement. We are meant to live life in the light of God’s complete reliability, and His complete commitment to us, but instead we chose to go our own way, and so ended up living in fear and insecurity. We are used to living in fear and insecurity, it is the natural state of affairs in the world, but in God’s kingdom peace and security are the natural state of affairs. We need to learn to live again, to live in this kingdom of peace and joy. 6:19 So the hope that we have is not an uncertain thing, not a vague hope for the future that things might just turn out alright. It is a solid hope, one on which we can base our lives, one which is an anchor for the soul, providing stability in our lives. This hope goes into the inner sanctuary. The writer here is alluding to the Most Holy Place in Mosaic religion (Ex 26:31). He will expand on this later (first he has to deal with the topic of Melchizedek!). 6:20 Jesus has entered the inner sanctum. He went there before us. The Levitical high priests entered a copy of the real thing, Jesus actually went into the real inner sanctuary. But just as the high priest entered the copy on behalf of the people, so Jesus entered the real thing on our behalf. And as a forerunner, ie we will go there too one day. Jesus is the perfect high priest, in the order of Melchizedek. Explanation to follow!