{"id":35567,"date":"2021-06-04T15:06:43","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T20:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=35567"},"modified":"2021-06-04T15:06:43","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T20:06:43","slug":"two-unchangeable-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/two-unchangeable-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Unchangeable Things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Matthew W. Bassford<\/p>\n

In addition to the other things that make Hebrews challenging for us to follow, the writer assumes that his readership is familiar with the Old Testament. He jumps from allusion to allusion, rarely pausing to explain his references to the Law with more than a phrase or two. However, because our Old-Testament knowledge is rarely the equal of a first-century Jew’s, it’s often worthwhile for us to slow down, flip back to the front part of our Bibles, and figure out what in the world the writer is talking about!<\/p>\n

This is certainly useful in Hebrews 6:13-18. The conclusion here is relevant to every Christian-that we should have strong encouragement to seize the hope that is before us. However, the discussion before the conclusion omits the information we need to reach that conclusion. In order to figure out what’s going on, we have to go back to the incident he is discussing, the conversation between God and Abraham in Genesis 22:15-18.<\/p>\nContextually, Abraham has just won God’s favor by demonstrating his willingness even to sacrifice his own son if God commands him to do so. Now, He is about to explain what this means for Abraham. God begins by swearing an oath by Himself. This is not usual; in fact, there are only three places in the whole Bible where God swears an oath by Himself. Then, He tells Abraham, “I will indeed bless you.<\/em>“
\nThis is what the writer is talking about in Hebrews 6:17. “I will indeed bless you<\/em>,” is God’s unchangeable purpose. “By Myself I have sworn<\/em>,” is the oath He used to guarantee His promise. As the writer observes in Hebrews 6:18, it’s impossible for God to lie in either of these things, which is where the strong encouragement comes from.\n\"\"However, the writer does not explain (because he expects his audience to know already) what an ironclad promise that God made to bless Abraham has to do with us. If we can’t fill in that blank on our own, we have to go back to Genesis 22:17-18. There, God specifies that His blessing will take two forms. First, Abraham’s offspring will be as numerous as the stars and the sand. Second, through his seed (singular, not plural, as Paul notes in Galatians 3:16), all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
\nNow we start seeing why this is relevant! According to Galatians 3:7-9, everyone who has faith is a descendant of Abraham, whether they are Jew or Gentile. Second, as per Galatians 3:16, the singular seed of blessing is Jesus.\nThus, God’s unchangeable purpose and oath have done two things. First, they have prepared a special people for Him, a people that comprises everyone who seeks Him in faith. Second, those two unchangeable things guarantee that those who seek will find blessing in Him through Christ.
\nEver wonder if you really, really are going to inherit eternal life because you are faithful? You don’t have to wonder. God has both pledged and sworn it by Himself, and for us, that is strong encouragement indeed!\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Matthew W. Bassford In addition to the other things that make Hebrews challenging for us to follow, the writer assumes that his readership is familiar with the Old Testament. He jumps from allusion to allusion, rarely pausing to explain his references to the Law with more than a phrase or two. However, because our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[90,1064,648],"class_list":["post-35567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-god","tag-hebrews","tag-promises"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":93986,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/new-is-better\/","url_meta":{"origin":35567,"position":0},"title":"New Is Better","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong \"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world\" (Hebrews 1:1-2). The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63814,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-should-have-known\/","url_meta":{"origin":35567,"position":1},"title":"You Should Have Known","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Hebrews 1:1-4 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The writer of Hebrews addresses the Jewish people concerning why God changed His worship and laws \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He does so by citing passages from the Old Testament to prove points that if you just thought about it for a while you realize it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1180,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-we-dont-follow-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":35567,"position":2},"title":"Why We Don’t Follow the Old Testament (Article)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Our Bibles are composed of two major parts, an Old Testament and a New Testament. Why were these names selected? A testament is a will or a covenant. We still use the word today when we speak of a person's \"last will and testament.\" These names\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63215,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/outside-the-camp\/","url_meta":{"origin":35567,"position":3},"title":"Outside the Camp","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Hebrews 13:9-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Understanding the place of the Old Testament is difficult for man \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God is clear that \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Old Law would come to an end - Jeremiah 31:31-34 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Old Law did come to an end - Colossians 2:14; Ephesians 2:15-16 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57686,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-jesus-came-to-israel-only-argument\/","url_meta":{"origin":35567,"position":4},"title":"The “Jesus Came To Israel Only” Argument","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry W. Benton The Argument Stated: \"MMLJ -- before the cross -- was taught only to the Jews of Israel.\" I keep seeing the argument expressed that Jesus spoke only to the lost sheep of Israel, or only to Israel. The conclusion drawn from that fact is that \"therefore\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47684,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-you-explain-hebrews-61-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":35567,"position":5},"title":"Could you explain Hebrews 6:1-2?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I do have a question about Hebrews 6:1-2, \"Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35567\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}