9 I'm sure that won't happen to you, friends. I have better things in mind for you - salvation things! 10 God doesn't miss anything. He knows perfectly well all the love you've shown him by helping needy Christians, and that you keep at it. 11 And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. 12 Don't drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them. 13 When God made his promise to Abraham, he backed it to the hilt, putting his own reputation on the line. 14 He said, "I promise that I'll bless you with everything I have - bless and bless and bless!" 15 Abraham stuck it out and got everything that had been promised to him. 16 When people make promises, they guarantee them by appeal to some authority above them so that if there is any question that they'll make good on the promise, the authority will back them up. 17 When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee - 18 God can't break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable. 19 It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God 20 where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Hebrews 6:9-20
Commentary on Hebrews 6:9-10
(Read Hebrews 6:9-10)
There are things that are never separated from salvation; things that show the person to be in a state of salvation, and which will end in eternal salvation. And the things that accompany salvation, are better things than ever any dissembler or apostate enjoyed. The works of love, done for the glory of Christ, or done to his saints for Christ's sake, from time to time, as God gives occasion, are evident marks of a man's salvation; and more sure tokens of saving grace given, than the enlightenings and tastings spoken of before. No love is to be reckoned as love, but working love; and no works are right works, which flow not from love to Christ.
Commentary on Hebrews 6:11-20
(Read Hebrews 6:11-20)
The hope here meant, is a sure looking for good things promised, through those promises, with love, desire, and valuing of them. Hope has its degrees, as faith also. The promise of blessedness God has made to believers, is from God's eternal purpose, settled between the eternal Father, Son, and Spirit. These promises of God may safely be depended upon; for here we have two things which cannot change, the counsel and the oath of God, in which it is not possible for God to lie; it would be contrary to his nature as well as to his will. And as He cannot lie; the destruction of the unbeliever, and the salvation of the believer, are alike certain. Here observe, those to whom God has given full security of happiness, have a title to the promises by inheritance. The consolations of God are strong enough to support his people under their heaviest trials. Here is a refuge for all sinners who flee to the mercy of God, through the redemption of Christ, according to the covenant of grace, laying aside all other confidences. We are in this world as a ship at sea, tossed up and down, and in danger of being cast away. We need an anchor to keep us sure and steady. Gospel hope is our anchor in the storms of this world. It is sure and stedfast, or it could not keep us so. The free grace of God, the merits and mediation of Christ, and the powerful influences of his Spirit, are the grounds of this hope, and so it is a stedfast hope. Christ is the object and ground of the believer's hope. Let us therefore set our affections on things above, and wait patiently for his appearance, when we shall certainly appear with him in glory.