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| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Dr. Wes Bredenhof > The Ascended Jesus is our sure and steadfast anchor | Previous Next Print |
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) All songs are from the CanRC/FRCA Book of Praise Psalm 68:1,8 Psalm 62:1,3 Hymn 38 Hymn 40 Scripture readings: Luke 24:36-53; Hebrews 6 Text: Hebrews 6:19-20 |
Beloved congregation of Christ,
If I would ask you for a list of five biblical images, I don’t imagine that an anchor would be one of them. You might think of the vine, the body, the Shepherd and his sheep, or the Christian soldier, but probably not an anchor. That’s fair enough, because it’s not an image commonly used in the Bible. We don’t find it at all in Old Testament. It’s used as a word picture exactly once in the New Testament, here in our passage.
In case you don’t know, an anchor is a big hunk of metal attached to a boat by a chain or a rope. And the bigger the boat, the bigger the anchor. I’ve been on a few aircraft carriers, museum boats in the United States. They’re some of the largest ships and they have huge anchors and they’re attached to the ship with enormous chains. The anchors are 14000 kg each and each link of the anchor chain weighs 160 kg. Huge.
What’s the purpose of an anchor? It’s usually to keep the boat in place. The weight of the anchor and its hold on the seafloor combine to secure the boat in one spot. When the wind blows and the waves hit the boat, it’s not going to be moving about all over the place.
While the Jews were not a seafaring people, we do know that the apostle Paul had experience with travelling by boat. He was even shipwrecked on the island of Malta. When that happened, Acts 27 describes how the sailors let down four anchors from the ship to prevent it from running upon the rocks. We don’t know if the author of Hebrews had a similar experience, but whoever he was, he apparently knew something about anchors. In our passage for this Ascension Day service, he says the Ascended Jesus is our sure and steadfast anchor. That’s the theme for the sermon and we’ll consider:
1. Why we need such an anchor
2. How Jesus is the anchor we need
One of the dominant themes of Hebrews is the superiority of Jesus. In the first two chapters, the author argues that God’s Son is superior to any angelic beings. In the following chapters, he insists that Christ is greater than Moses and greater than the law Moses delivered to the people of Israel. Because these things are true, he warns us against turning away from Christ. He calls us to continue fixing our faith on him. This is the direction he’s leading us at the end of chapter 6 as well.
He takes us back to Genesis, where Abraham received a promise from God. God said, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” God gave his promise and then sealed it with an oath, two unchangeable things “in which it is impossible for God to lie.” Believers are the heirs of the covenant of grace made with Abraham, we’ve received God’s gospel promises too, and he’s sworn to uphold them. This gives us strong encouragement to hold fast to our hope, as it says in verse 18.
The author of Hebrews says that this gospel hope is “a sure and steadfast anchor for the soul.” The anchor is “sure,” which means you can see whether it’s secure, whether it’s doing what an anchor must do. The anchor is also “steadfast” – that means it’s actually solid in and of itself. You can’t look inside an anchor to check if it’s internally sound. Of course, you could use ultrasound if you had it handy, but normally you can’t see inside a hunk of metal to know whether it’s going to do the job. But God assures us that this gospel anchor of ours is reliable inside and out. Totally trustworthy.
That leads us into the question of why we need such a thoroughly reliable anchor. There are at least two reasons. One is that life in a sinful and broken world is in itself tempestuous, stormy. One moment it seems like smooth sailing, then the next it’s like you’re in the middle of a cyclone and you don’t whether you’re going to make it out alive. Your soul can be blown this way and that. You don’t know which way is up and which way is down. It’s totally disorienting. It can be relationship problems. It can be problems with your kids. It might be serious financial worries. It could be a problem at work. Health difficulties. All these different things can make life stormy. When those storms blow, you need to have an anchor for your soul.
Another reason why we need such a thoroughly reliable anchor is that other options will let us down. Notice how verse 17 speaks about the unchangeable character of God’s purpose. Verse 18 speaks about the unchangeable nature of God’s promise and oath. What do we see with people though? People are fickle. People change. People let you down. Other people aren’t going to be able to be your anchor. Your anchor has to hold you fast, and other human beings simply aren’t up to the task.
The same thing can be said for other options. When faced with storms, a lot of people will turn to booze. Alcohol isn’t going to be an anchor for your soul. Instead, it’s going to drag you down into the water. You think you’re drowning your sorrows, but your drink is drowning you. Something that destructive obviously can’t be your anchor. The same thing can be said for pornography. People self-medicate with it, trying to block out the storms with a fantasy world. It doesn’t work. It’s not an anchor for your soul, but a whirlpool dragging you under. The same could be said for any other counterfeit anchors – basically anything that’s an idol, a substitute for Christ.
Loved ones, we need an anchor that’s sure and steadfast. In his love and grace, God has provided such an anchor for us. At the end of verse 18, the author of Hebrews writes about “the hope set before us.” God is the one who sets this hope, this gospel anchor before us. Any earthly anchor we might contrive, well, it may as well be built of balsa wood. But the anchor God gives is the one we need, one that is truly reliable inside and out.
It turns out that the anchor is not a “what,” but a “who.” Not an “it,” but a “him.” Our gospel anchor is our Ascended Saviour Jesus. How does he fulfill that role? How is Jesus the sure and steadfast anchor we need?
With his ascension into heaven, Hebrews reminds us how Jesus entered “into the inner place behind the curtain.” This is language that Jewish readers would right away understand. It’s using the language of the temple. You’ll recall that the temple had concentric zones of holiness. As you moved further in those concentric zones, access became more restrictive. At the center of the temple was the Most Holy Place, also called the Holy of Holies. That was where you would find the ark of the covenant, with the mercy seat over top. The mercy seat with its two cherubim, two angels with wings outstretched, that was God’s throne within the temple. That was where God dwelt. Separating the Most Holy Place from the rest of the temple was a thick and tall curtain. No one was allowed to go inside the curtain. There was only one exception. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter in and sprinkle blood over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. But he couldn’t remain in the Most Holy Place. He had to do his work and then quickly leave. It was a dangerous place for a sinner to be.
But here the author of Hebrews isn’t referring to that physical temple in Jerusalem. When Christ died on the cross, the temple curtain was torn from top to bottom. That was a sign that the temple and what it did and what it stood for was now obsolete. The ministry of the temple had been fulfilled in what Christ did on the cross. As our high priest, he offered himself as the ultimate and final sacrifice to pay for our sins.
That happened on Good Friday. On Easter Sunday, he rose from the dead. His resurrection showed that his sacrifice had been accepted by God. During the forty days afterwards, Jesus continued meeting with his disciples. Then, finally, on the fortieth day, he ascended into heaven before their eyes. He left this earth and returned to God’s heavenly dwelling place.
Now it’s that event, the Ascension, which the author of Hebrews calls entering “into the inner place behind the curtain.” Jesus has entered into the heavenly Holy of Holies, the heavenly inner sanctum where God dwells in unapproachable light. He has done this to be our sure and steadfast gospel anchor.
He has done this by becoming our hope. This is connected to his being a forerunner on our behalf. A forerunner, as the name suggests, is someone who runs on ahead of you. But it’s more than that. Have you ever been to a restaurant where they didn’t take reservations and it was super popular so you had to stand in line to get in? Imagine it something like that. You’ve got a friend who is willing to take your place in line so you’re free to do other things. When your friend gets seated in the restaurant, he texts you to let you know. Your friend was a forerunner, he went on ahead and secured your place. That’s something like what Jesus does for us as a forerunner who has gone ahead into the heavenly sanctuary. He’s secured a place for us there. Even though it’s a place where sinners don’t belong, through Christ we will dwell there forever. He makes it happen.
That’s part of our hope. We have a spot reserved for us in the Most Holy Place. When we call it our “hope,” we have to understand the biblical use of that term. Many times when we use the word “hope” in everyday life, we’re just talking about wishful thinking. You might say, “I hope my favourite team wins the championship this year.” But you don’t know for sure whether they will or won’t. Biblical hope is different. It’s a sure and steadfast anchor. Which means our hope is certain. Our hope is secure. Because Christ is our forerunner, we can be absolutely sure that where he is, we too will someday be.
There’s one detail I want you to notice in verse 20. It’s how the author uses the name “Jesus.” It’s not Christ, it’s not Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus, but simply “Jesus.” This is significant. This places the emphasis on our Saviour’s humanity. Our forerunner, the one who has secured our place, is one of us. There is already a human being who has entered “into the inner place behind the curtain,” to dwell there forever. And soon everyone who believes in him will be there too. If you believe in him, you’ll be there. Our hope is pinned on this man, our forerunner. Here we finally have a man who is like an anchor, sure and steadfast, totally reliable. He is our man, our guarantee that heavenly glory awaits us.
There’s one more aspect to our hope in this passage. Jesus is said to have become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That one little statement is pregnant with meaning.
In chapter 7, the author of Hebrews goes into more detail about Melchizedek and how he pointed ahead to Christ. To summarize, Melchizedek was an ancient figure who lived in the days of Abraham. He was the king of Jerusalem at the time, but also a priest of God. We sometimes have this idea that biblical figures like Abraham were alone in their faith. But Genesis 14 tells us that God had a high priest in the person of Melchizedek. Abraham wasn’t the only believer. There were others, and one of them was even a priest.
What’s interesting about Melchizedek is that he’s both a king and a priest. Furthermore, he appears out of nowhere. He drops out of the clear blue sky, so to speak. We know nothing about his genealogy, who his father or mother were or anything like that. And we also hear nothing about his death. He just seems to go on as a priest forever. Scripture presents him like that to point us to Christ. Christ too is not only a king, but also a priest, a high priest, in fact. But he’s not from the tribe of Levi, like all the Jewish priests were. He is said to be a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, one who doesn’t have beginning of days or end of life. He is our High Priest forever.
What does he do as our forever high priest? He made the once-for-all sacrifice for us on the cross, that was precious and important, but it was a one-time thing. So what does our passage have in mind with “forever”? Hebrews 7:25 tells us. It says that Jesus lives to make intercession for us. That’s what he’s doing as our High Priest in the “inner place behind the curtain.” In the heavenly Holy of Holies, Jesus is speaking up on our behalf. When we pray, he takes our prayers to the throne of grace and adds his plea. Should we forget to pray or be unable to pray, he still takes our cause before his Father and lovingly intercedes for us. The Father always delights to listen to his Son and through him and his intercession, we are blessed with our Father’s love and care.
So Christ’s work as our High Priest defines how he is the anchor we need. His intercession is sure and steadfast. You can trust Christ to do for you what he’s promised to do. He told his disciples in John 16 that it would be to their advantage that he goes away, that he ascends into heaven. It’s to our advantage, because he’s there both as our High Priest interceding for us now, and as our forerunner guaranteeing a heavenly future later.
Loved ones, Christ’s ascension is what’s behind all of this gospel encouragement. Not only in the world, but in many Christian churches, the ascension gets zero attention. Christmas gets a huge amount of focus, Easter too, but the ascension of Christ doesn’t have the equivalent of Santa Claus or the Easter bunny. Regardless, we should still remember it. Not only remember, but give thanks for it and worship God for it. Through the ascension, we have our anchor planted fast. The ship of our souls will get tossed about it in this life, but the ascension assures us that we have a reliable anchor holding us firm. Because of who Jesus is and what he’s done, we can be confident that through his merit and intercession, we’ll someday reach the eternal safe harbour of heaven. AMEN.
PRAYER
Merciful God and Father,
We thank you for the ascension of our Saviour Jesus. We worship you for giving us in him a sure and steadfast anchor for our souls. Thank you that he has gone ahead as our forerunner, securing a place for us in your blessed heavenly presence. Thank you that we may have confidence before you knowing how Jesus is interceding for us, even at this very moment. As we go through life’s storms, please continue to hold us fast by this gospel anchor. Please help us with your Holy Spirit to keep our faith fixed on Christ, so we may always be of good hope. Father, we pray for the day when our faith will become sight and we will at last be home with you.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Dr. Wes Bredenhof, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
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