Two Immutable
Things
Heb 6:13-20
13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear
by no greater, he sware by himself,
14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I
will multiply thee.
15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the
promise.
16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for
confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an
oath:
18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for
God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us:
19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into
that within the veil;
20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
(KJV)
By two immutable things,
God’s counsel and God’s oath, we have been given such hope that is “an anchor
of our soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.”
From Adam Clarkes Commentary:
Hebrews 6:18
That by two immutable
things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we
might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the
hope set before us:
[That by two immutable things] The promise and oath of
God: the promise pledged his faithfulness and justice; the oath, all the
infinite perfections of his Godhead, for he sware by
himself. There is a good saying in Beracoth on <Exo. 32:13>, fol. 32: Remember Abraham, Isaac, and
This is a good thought; if God had sworn by anything
finite, that thing might fail, and then the obligation would be at an end, but
he has sworn by what is infinite, and cannot fail; therefore his oath is of
eternal obligation.
[We might have a strong consolation] There appears to be
an allusion here to the cities of refuge, and to the persons who fled to them
for safety. As the person who killed his neighbour
unawares was sure if he gained the city of refuge he should be safe, and had
strong consolation in the hope that he should reach it, this hope animated him
in his race to the city; he ran, he fled, knowing that, though in danger the
most imminent of losing his life, yet, as he was now acting according to an
ordinance of God, he was certain of safety provided he got to the place.
It is easy to apply this to the case of a truly penitent
sinner. Thou hast sinned against God and against thy own life! The avenger of
blood is at thy heels! Jesus hath shed his blood for thee, he is thy
intercessor before the throne; flee to him! Lay hold on the hope of eternal
life which is offered unto thee in the Gospel! Delay not one moment! Thou art
never safe until thou hast redemption in his blood! God invites thee! Jesus
spreads his hands to receive thee! God hath sworn that he willeth
not the death of a sinner; then he cannot will thy death: take God's oath, take
his promise, credit what he hath spoken and sworn! Take encouragement! Believe
on the Son of God, and thou shalt not perish, but
have everlasting life!
(end
quote)
Notice
that the counsel of God came first and then the oath. It takes both to assure the fearful and distrustful
nature of man to trust in the immutable word of the Lord. The word,
“immutable”, in the Greek means to be “unchangeable, unalterable”, and it
cannot be perverted from it’s original intent and
purpose. Such is the nature of the counsel of God, which is etched in the
granite of His own substance and character, a God which CANNOT lie! Then comes the compassion and desire of God into play. He who
knows the heart of man better than man himself, in a divine act of quelling the
distress and agony of man’s own mind concerning what His counsel provides,
lowers Himself to an act of making an oath, a solemn covenantal promise, which
necessitates a “swearing unto”, or a binding statement of such contract. By
this, God determines to give a second “immutable” thing, an oath validated by a
swearing by His own self, placing His own reputation upon this immutable
contract. Since He could swear by nothing less than Himself, for everything
else besides Himself is subject to change and alteration, but He is
unchangeable and unalterable, and by that single act of swearing, we have been
given an unfailing promise, that He which has begun this good work will indeed
finish it. The immutability of His counsel and oath, “in blessing I will bless
thee and in multiplying I will multiply thee”, is such that heaven and earth
could pass away, but this solemn word of affirmation and confirmation will
never pass from existence.
It is striking to me that we
have been given a “refuge” for our soul in this particular portion of
scripture. Christ is that refuge, His name being a strong tower into which the
righteous may run and find safety. As Adam Clarke so aptly enlightens us,
throughout the history of the world, there have been cities that have given
refuge to those that have been persecuted in their own land. In today’s
generation,
Time will not stop this
counsel and oath from having it’s fulfillment in the hearts of mankind.
Throughout the eons God will hold true to this counsel and will keep His oath
to us. Time may march on throughout the ages to come, but at the end of all
time, in the final hour of God’s astounding play of life and death, He will be
found filling the all with His own ALL. By “filling” the all with His ALL, we
are not speaking on such terms as a glass being filled with water, but it goes
beyond mere containment of God in a vessel, or residing in said vessel. This
“filling” means to be infused with God, enmeshed, enfolded into Him and He into
us. It is union by fusion, an incorporation of man and God. By the very word
that the scriptures use to describe such an event, a word that has come to be
very prominent in the kingdom message, we see a hidden truth that holds a great
truth yet to be fully realized by God’s people. That word is TABERNACLES, the
third and final great Feast or Festival of the Lord. Tabernacles means more
than God just living in man. It means God “ENTWINING” Himself with man, as the
physical booths that were made by the instruction of the Lord, bringing
together both supple and bendable branches and also the sturdy and reliable
branches to form a BOOTH, which gave rise to the more descriptive term, The
Feast Of Booths. Even so, God is ENTWINING Himself in and amongst us,
TABERNACLING in and amongst us, swallowing us up into Himself, but allowing us
to be a “new thing” in Him, a man that is joined and made one with God.
Is it any wonder then that
we would be given “a more sure word of prophecy”, seeing as to how we are to come
to terms with such an unbelievably full measure of God’s provision? Only by
giving to us two immutable things, God’s counsel and His own oath, could we
ever possibly wait for such a development to take place, and now we run the
race with patience, enduring all things, believing all things, loving all
things, for we have been given an unchangeable priesthood to minister out from,
the Order of Melchizedek, an unalterable order of priest and king. By this, we
know that we have been given the esteemed honor of ministering in the same
“course” as our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. We are following after His example
and are being molded into His pattern of Melchizedek, ministering those things
that have been held back behind the veil of fleshly man, which speak greater
things than Passover or Pentecost have been able to minister, but we have been
given a commission of the highest regard, to minister HIM, not a doctrine ABOUT
Him, not a teaching of the types and shadows that ILLUSTRATE Him, but to be a
living epistle read of all men, showing HIM to the world at large and being His
“parousia” in the earth, the coming of the Lord. Oh
Happy Day!
Now, to Him that is able to both
do and will of His good pleasure, to Him that has given to us a confirmation of
the highest order, by two unchangeable agreements, let us now prepare ourselves
for the purchased possession of God’s promise. Enter into the blessings of the
Lord, both body, soul and spirit, and be infused with
His divine nature and character, as He performs His word in our lives. Let us
lay hold upon such promise, and bring it into the fabric of our existence. Let
us walk into our inheritance which is laid up for us, in a spiritual “trust
fund”, seeing as to how we are approaching the prescribed age of maturity for
access to such a fund, which is not to meted out to the children of childish
thinking and behavior, but has been held back, or reserved, in Christ for a
mature company of sons to lay hold upon the abundance of such a gift of life.
In so doing, we will become able dispensers of the treasure of God, measuring
out creation’s portion without prejudice or bias, but giving to each one their
due reward. To this end, we now walk in the life of God, surrendering to His
will, giving ourselves to His plan and walking through this age with great
consequence in our midst.
Bob Torango