which we have as anchor of the soul, both secure and firm, and entering into that within the veil,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
where Jesus is entered as forerunner for us, become for ever a high priest according to the order of Melchisedec.
Hope in this letter is not a feeling. It is an anchor that reaches into heaven itself, and it holds because a Person has already gone in. The verse gives Him two titles there: Forerunner, and high priest forever. Both raise one question. What does His arrival secure for those still on the way?
The title comes from an everyday scene, and Christ turns that scene around.
The word is used as a picture of Christ, who has gone in behind the veil as the forerunner of His people. It points to men of high rank in the East, who have runners go ahead of them to clear the way and to announce who is coming. With Christ it is the other way round: the Lord has run ahead of His servants. But the word must mean that there are others following after Him.
The first readers knew a high priest who entered the innermost room of the tabernacle once a year, alone, behind the curtain. A high priest who goes in as a forerunner was new to them.
Here we learn that He is our Forerunner, a title used nowhere else... Aaron went into the innermost sanctuary once a year. He went in for a people. He stood for them before God, but they themselves could never set foot inside that curtained-off room. The sanctuary our High Priest has entered, though, will one day ring with the footsteps of a countless crowd — His heavenly saints, redeemed by His precious blood... For if He is the Forerunner, His people will surely follow Him. What did Judaism have to offer compared with this?
The words "on our behalf" say He did not go in for Himself alone. One writer finds a new role here, added to His work as High Priest.
The Lord Jesus is here brought out in a new character. We see Him in heaven, not only for us as our High Priest, but to secure a place for us with Himself. ...Jesus is now in heaven in the glory of a Forerunner — a High Priest — the One who has purged our sins.
The letter does not leave the reader with words alone. It also points to a Person, and to what He does for us on the way.
The Forerunner implies that there are others coming after. So we have not only the Word of God, but Jesus, a living Person in glory. He is the everlasting witness of the glory we are going to, and the guarantee that we will be there. Until we reach the rest of heaven, Christ is our great High Priest to keep us going on the way... Here we have the Word of God as the firm foundation of our faith, and the living Christ as the anchor of our soul. He is the One who links us with heaven and holds the soul calm through all the storms of life.
Melchizedek was a king and priest in Abraham's day. Naming him marks out a priesthood unlike Aaron's, though the way Christ serves now still follows Aaron's pattern.
As Priest after the order of Melchizedek He is the great Sustainer of everything for God. Clearly He is exercising that priesthood at present after the pattern of Aaron, yet He is not of Aaron's order. Aaron's was a priesthood that changed hands, tied to a material and visible order of things. Christ is unchangeable and eternal, outside man's family lines and reckoning of time. That is why Melchizedek, the mysterious king-priest of Abraham's day, has become the picture of His order.
Some have asked whether Christ entered heaven during the time between His death and His resurrection. The wording of this verse decides the question.
Other scriptures speak of His entering, not in that in-between state, but when He had become high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Compare Hebrews 6:20 in particular... But the word here is that "by means of His own blood He entered once for all into the holy places, thus securing an eternal redemption." This is simple, plain and decisive.
- Runner. "Forerunner" comes from the men who ran ahead of a great man to clear the road. Here the great One has run first. The title only works if others are coming behind.
- Room. Aaron went behind the veil alone, for a people who could never set foot there. The sanctuary Christ entered will one day echo with the footsteps of a countless crowd.
- Reason. He entered on our behalf — not only to serve as High Priest, but to secure a place for His own with Himself.
- Rope. Two things hold our hope. The Word of God is the foundation. A living Person in glory is the anchor that steadies the soul in every storm.
- Rank. His priesthood is of Melchizedek's order: unchangeable and eternal, outside human family lines. His place never changes hands, and He holds it forever.