Thanks to all who visited the site yesterday and took the time to read the posting and the passage from Hebrews.
I would like to move the conversation along just a bit by asking you to respond to a few questions:
What did God promise to Abraham (see Genesis 22) and what did Abraham receive that he patiently waited for? How might this be a word of encouragement for the Jewish Christians in Rome who were going through difficult times?
What is the “unchangeable nature of God’s purpose” that God has made “very clear”?
What is the hope offered to us? Is this a subjective feeling or an objective reality? Or, is the hope a person?
How does this word of encouragement (“we have this hope as an anchor for our soul”) relate to the warning of 6.11 (“We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure”)? How can hope be both an anchor and something we have to make sure?
What difference does it make, in the matter of hope, that Jesus went behind the curtain? How would that encourage a Jewish Christian? How would it encourage us?
Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
An Examined Faith 
Justin P
August 11, 2009 at 10:15 am
“”What is the hope offered to us? Is this a subjective feeling or an objective reality? Or, is the hope a person?””
Jesus is both a person and an objective reality. I don’t think something can be “unchanging, firm, and secure’ if it were subjective. See Hebrews 13:8.
-JP-
Steve Suffron
August 14, 2009 at 7:23 am
What did God promise to Abraham (see Genesis 22) and what did Abraham receive that he patiently waited for? How might this be a word of encouragement for the Jewish Christians in Rome who were going through difficult times?
I think Abraham received his many descendants after his death, just as the Christians in Rome would receive their pormised inheritance after death. It showed the fauthfulness and power of God to give what he has promised, even after death. Unlike the world that grieves without hope, Christians can have hope that extends beyond even death, knowing that God’s purposes will be carried out and that Jesus has conquered death on our behalf.