Assembly Retreat 2026: Anchored in Christ

Anchored in Christ (Heb 6:19-20), Kenneth Wong

Sat 3 Jan 2026, 3-6 pm

BAMK Assembly Retreat

Theme Text: Heb 6:19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

a. This familiar text is the subject of well-known hymns and mottos such as:

• SYFC motto: Geared to the Times, Anchored to the Rock
• BB motto: Sure and Steadfast
• Hymn: We have an anchor that keeps the soul

b. Having been a student of naval architecture, I can’t help noticing the ship in the logo. You see a firing canon instead of an anchor which is usually out of sight when deployed. The Christian life is more like a warship than a cruise ship. It’s also an old wooden sailing ship, not a modern one. While ships have changed from wood and sails to steel and diesel engines or gas turbines, one thing that hasn’t changed is the anchor. It is laid when the ship is in an anchorage to keep it in place, and retrieved when sailing.

c. We shall stick to the given theme text and context in Heb 6 for our consideration today.

1. Hope in Christ – Sure and Steadfast (Heb 6:19-20)

a. Heb 6:19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul.

• The word ‘hope’ is italicised indicating it is not there in the original Gk but inserted for clarity. This can be inferred from the verse immediately before this in v18b who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
• ‘Anchor’ is used here as a nautical metaphor for ‘hope’. The function of an anchor is to secure a stationary vessel in the anchorage so that it does not move away, much like hitching a horse when not riding it. Hope in Christ is the anchor of the soul which keeps us secure by being tethered to Christ so we won’t drift or wander away.
• Note that the vessel is not held by the weight of the anchor itself but by its flukes or spikes dug into the seabed which creates the drag that keeps it from drifting. So the complete analogy is this: the anchor is hope, the vessel is our soul or life, and the seabed or rock is Christ who holds us. The sign of the anchor resembling a cross was often used as a secret symbol of hope for the persecuted Christians in the Roman catacombs.
• ‘both sure and steadfast’. The nature of this hope is two-fold. First it is sure i.e certain, the idea being something you can count on [not count on me but on Christ]. Second it is steadfast i.e secure, the idea being something solid enough to walk on. Christian hope or elpis is not wishful thinking of what might be, but confident expectation of what will be. It is based on certainty, not plausibility (likely to happen), possibility (can happen) or probability (chances of happening).

b. and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

• Here we are pointed precisely to what this hope is. It’s not something but someone. Hope has a name and it is Jesus. It rests on the Person of Jesus. It is predicated on Christ making a new and living way (Heb 10:20) into the Presence of God represented in the earthly Tabernacle by the Holiest of All (Heb 9:8). This happened when the veil was rent at His death so that we might be reconciled to God. As High Priest forever, Jesus now intercedes for us from heaven and mediates God’s personal presence to us through the Holy Spirit.
• In a nutshell, this hope is simply the LJC Himself as Paul put it in his opening greeting in 1 Tim 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope and the opening line of hymn On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand – My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness.
• The national anthem of modern Israel is Ha Tikva or The Hope. They espouse a national hope in God their Deliverer without realising and believing that the prophesied and long-awaited Messiah has already come, ‘our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ’ (Tit 2:13, 2 Pet 1:1). In fact, when Paul addressed the Jews in Rome on arrival as a prisoner, he spoke of being in chains on account of Jesus and the resurrection which he called ‘the hope of Israel’ (Acts 28:20).

c. But if Jesus has already come, in what sense do we still hope in Christ? Hope always looks forward, not back. Paul addressed this in Rom 8:23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, (past tense) but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? (present tense) 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance (future tense). So hope is three-dimensional in that it is grounded in the past finished work of Christ, held in the present by faith in Christ, and eagerly awaited for its future fulfillment.

• If we have believed and received Christ as the promised Saviour, then the first part of v24 is true, ‘we were saved in this hope’. The rest of the verse poses the question of the future tense of this hope. The preceding v23 gives the answer to what this future hope is. We groan and eagerly await ‘the adoption, the redemption of our body’ i.e the resurrection of Christians at Christ’s coming for the church. Our future hope is the resurrection of the redeemed, when we will be clothed with glorified bodies and ‘be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is’ (1 Jn 3:2).
• The duality of this Christian hope forms the two fundamental tenets of the Christian faith: redemption through the completed work of Christ at the Cross (retrospective), and resurrection when He comes again at the Rapture (prospective). Paul refers to both in his letter to Titus. First, the ‘hope of eternal life’ by which we are saved through the completed work of Christ in Tit 3:7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (also 1:2). Although we have the promise and hope of eternal life when we receive Christ as Saviour, we only inherit it fully when we inhabit eternity. Second, the hope of His return and our resurrection in Tit 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
• R.C. Sproul describes 4 categories of people with respect to salvation: the unsaved who know it, the saved who know it, the saved but who are unsure, the unsaved who think they are saved. Hence the need to ‘be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’ (2 Pet 1:10-11).
• We cannot emphasise enough the importance and significance of the assurance of salvation which some grapple with despite having been brought up in the bible and the church for years. It may be due to inadequate or inaccurate biblical teaching and understanding, or a naturally insecure and doubtful disposition. For such it is vital to re-establish their sure and steadfast hope on promises such as Jn 10:28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

d. We will next examine how this future hope sustains us in present steadfastness. We may think of hope as the root and steadfastness as the fruit. Working back from the text to the context in the preceding verses, we find two application areas of future hope for our current challenges.

2. Hope in Crises – Steadfast in Suffering (Heb 6:18)

a. 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation (confidence, encouragement), who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.

• The subject here is finding refuge amidst the storms of life by laying hold of hope in Christ. Crises often entail loss in some shape or form e.g loss of loved ones (from death or estrangement), loss of health (physical, mental, emotional), loss of wealth (financial – job, scam; or material – house thru fire, valuables thru theft), loss of freedom (war, persecution, repressive regimes). How do we navigate adversity and keep steadfast in the face of such suffering? John Owen (1616-83, great English Puritan Non-conformist church leader, theologian, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Uni) experienced extreme personal loss when all eleven of his children died one by one in youth before also losing his wife.
• Turning to God should be our instinctive and first response in a crisis. Running for refuge in Christ should be our first resort, not the last. A place of refuge is a safe sanctuary to shelter from danger and distress, like evacuation centres and refugee camps in disaster and war zones.
• Israel in the OT had six designated Levitical cities of refuge, where those who committed unintentional killing can find respite from avengers until the death of the high priest when they would be free to return safely to their hometown. To seek refuge in Christ is to similarly come under the ordained protection of God until the trouble blows over as the psalmist prayed in Ps 57:1b For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by.

b. Having come into this place of refuge, we then ‘lay hold of the hope set before us’. Laying hold carries the sense of seizing as in laying hands on something. It is to grab eagerly, not take gingerly. We do this practically by laying hold of the promises of God in His word. This is referenced by ‘the two immutable things’ at the beginning of v18 and the preceding verse. They refer to the word spoken and the authority of the speaker, which is what an oath represents. What God says He will do, what He promised He will fulfill. The reliability and validity of someone’s word rests on the integrity of the person saying it. There are some people whose words you never take seriously, and others whose word is their honour.

• When circumstances are desperate, we need to take hold of specific promises in scripture by repeating and praying them until they take hold of us. You fast from everything else and feed on the word as the bread and water of affliction because ‘whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope’ (Rom 15:4).
• As we lay hold of the God of hope through the word of hope, it shifts our perspective from being preoccupied with present problems to God’s-eye view of His promises and purposes. Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord (Isa 40:31). A peace that passes understanding stills the soul and drives away our fears, resulting in strong confidence and encouragement.

c. Hope is not needed or tested until we find ourselves in a hopeless and helpless situation. In peaceful and prosperous Singapore, hope is not on our dashboard until we hit a dead end with some personal crisis. Hope is precious but also precarious apart from Christ. It is indispensable for survival, yet can be very fragile.

• The Jewish Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl made a perceptive observation that the numbers of prisoners dying daily in the Nazi concentration camp shot up dramatically in the week after Christmas in Dec 1944 when many expected to be free and the war over but did not happen. If ‘hope deferred makes the heart sick’ (Prov 13:12), hope dashed makes the heart stop. People die when hope dies, long before the heart stops.
• Crises may come unexpectedly in emergencies, or they may be prolonged periods of suffering. The surprising thing we least expect is that hope is actually forged in the fires of such tribulations. The first 5 verses of Rom 5 traces the triumph of hope through a trail of tribulation. Rom 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory (boast, rejoice) in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Having been justified by faith we are able to rejoice in hope, not only of eternal life but through the storms of life. Rejoicing in future hope makes possible rejoicing in present tribulations. They are not wasted because they work out something precious in us.
• Suffering is the stuff that produces patience and perseverance i.e. steadfastness, which in turn produces strength of character and a hope that cannot be disappointed or given up. Amy Carmichael captured this in her timeless poem ‘Give me the love that leads the way, The faith that nothing can dismay, The hope no disappointments tire, The passion that will burn like fire; Let me not sink to be a clod; Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God

3. Hope in Continuation – Steadfast in Serving (Heb 6:10-12)

a. Heb 6:10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish (slothful, lazy, dull) but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

• Backing up to v10-12, we find the second application area of steadfastness in service which rests on ‘the full assurance of hope until the end’. This includes both service quality and longevity. Tenure is not the ultimate goal, faithfulness is. It is service with passion and sustained by perseverance. We see three essential elements here for steadfast service.

b. Labour of Love:

First, it is God we serve, not man. Our labour is just the outward expression of our love for God and His glory. Serving with love is definitely more satisfying than serving out of duty. We don’t stop serving because we don’t stop loving.

• People may forget or neglect what we do, but not God before whose eyes nothing is hidden and to whom we must give account (Heb 4:13). Long service does take a toll, especially in the absence of results or affirmation. When we feel physically exhausted, emotionally drained or spiritually empty, the right and needful thing to do is to come aside by yourself to a quiet place and rest as Jesus ordered His disciples in Mk 6:31
• Sometimes a sabbatical is all that’s needed for rejuvenation. Other times it may involve a complete change of the sphere of service in the will of God. Lifelong fidelity to a ministry is not the be-all and end-all of service; lifelong loyalty to the Lord whom we serve is.

c. Serving the Saints:

Second, our service for God takes tangible form in service to the saints. All forms of ministry in the church have the common goal of encouraging and edifying members of the body of Christ. Hence being people-oriented takes precedence over being task-oriented. It is easy to be too preoccupied with getting a job done at the expense of genuine concern for people. Avoid the extremities of being either task-masters or men-pleasers.

• At the same time it is also easy to get upset with people, whether they are clients or co-workers. The best way to be less touchy with others is to be more in touch with God and yourself. It is easier to accept others without being affected if I do not think of myself more highly than I ought to think (Rom 12:3).

d. Doing with Diligence:

Third, we serve with diligence. If sloppy and sluggish service is detested by earthly employers, how much more by our Heavenly Master. The NT Gk word translated ‘diligence’ has the sense of speed or haste which is contrasted here with sluggishness or slothfulness. Diligence is not only about hard work but also prompt service. It is working with zeal and earnestness, being instant and ready, in season and out of season (2 Tim 4:2).

• Rom 12:11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. Notice that hope is sandwiched between service (serving the Lord) and suffering (patient in tribulation), our two application areas. We serve in hope and suffer in hope, by ‘continuing steadfastly in prayer. Even when we can no longer serve in the same capacity as before, we can always still continue serving steadfastly in prayer and worship. That is a spiritual service that never ends.

Closing

• May we as an assembly be anchored in Christ our hope, and like the first church in Acts 2:42, “continue steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
• In our personal trials, even when we can’t see You through the thick fog of our present struggles, we know that the Sun of Righteousness is still there behind the dark clouds and shall surely ‘arise with healing in His wings’ (Mal 4:20).

QUESTIONS

1. Why do some people lack assurance of their salvation and how can you help them?
2. If hope is imperative for survival in a crisis, what causes people to give up hope and how is the Christian’s hope different?
3. When is it not wrong to stop in one’s work or ministry and how can one still be steadfast in serving?