WILL YOUR ANCHOR HOLD?

The word "anchor" appears four times in the New Testament - three times of the anchor of a ship and one time in a figurative sense. The author of Hebrews informed his readers about the promise God made to Abraham. "And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end to all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it with an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that which is within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek" (Heb. 6:15-20). Based on this reading from Hebrews, I am asking today: "Will Your Anchor Hold?"

In the late 1800s, Priscilla Owens and William Kirkpatrick wrote the beautiful hymn, "Will Your Anchor Hold?" I shall use the stanzas of this song as an outline for our study. The first stanza reads: "Will your anchor hold in the storms of life, when the clouds unfold their wings of strife? When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain, will you anchor drift, or firm remain?" If you do not already know by experience some of the heartaches, difficulties and troubles to which the human family is heir, if you live long enough, you almost certainly will. We live in a world that has been permanently corrupted by sin. There is no one who escapes this world without some kind of trouble.

No book in the Bible makes this truth plainer than the book of Job. I shall not take the time to outline the tragedies he suffered, but I want to read some of his reactions to those troubling situations. When he lost his wealth, his children, and was suffering from boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, his wife said to him, "Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die." Job responded: "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this Job did not sin with his lips" (Job 2:9-10). The word "evil" in this context does not mean moral evil but trouble or adversity, such as Job was experiencing.

Over and over, the patriarch Job uses the word "trouble." I shall read a few verses from this great book. "Although affliction does not come forth from the dust, neither does trouble spring forth from the ground; yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward" (Job 5:6-7). "Man who is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He comes forth as a flower, and is cut down: he flees also as a shadow, and continues not" (Job 14:1-2). Because of Job's trust in God and his endurance under the most difficult circumstances, "The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning" (Job 42:12). James wrote concerning this faithful servant of God: "Behold, you count them happy who endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the purpose of the Lord; that the Lord is compassionate and merciful" (Jas. 5:11). The word "patience" in this verse should be translated either steadfastness or endurance. Job was not patient in the sense we normally use that word, but he was steadfast.

When we are young and in good health, we may be tempted to imagine that life will always be a "bed of roses." We are not likely to develop a debilitating disease or have a serious accident. But tragedies can and do happen to healthy young people. You cannot read the obituaries in your local newspaper without noticing how many children and young people die. Many years ago, I preached the funeral of a 14-yearold boy who had drowned. Young people can contract various deadly diseases, such as, AIDS, and be crippled by accidents on the highways or in factories. My 20-yearold sister died from the effects of polio. Some of these children and young people are permanently disabled. Some people are born with serious physical abnormalities. I shall give you just one example. In 1983 Jeff Hensley edited a very disturbing but enlightening book, The Zero People (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Books). The book has chapters by some of the leading pro-life people in the world, including, Dr. C. Everett Koop, Dr. John T. Noonan, Jr., Malcolm Muggeridge, George Will, Bill Stout and Dr. Harold O. J. Brown. There is also a chapter by Sondra Diamond. Her chapter has the heading, "On Being Alive."

Sondra Diamond was born with cerebral palsy because of brain damage. The physicians told her parents that she would never talk nor walk or do the things that normal children do. They advised her parents to place her in a home and forget about her. The parents were unwilling to do that. The parents arranged for several operations. It is true she does not dress herself. She cannot write. Her secretary wrote the article in the book. At one time in her life, she was severely burned over 60% of her body. The doctors felt there was no point in treating her since she was already handicapped. Would you like to know how Sondra Diamond makes a living? She is a clinical psychologist (pp. 225-230). I know nothing about her religious belief or that of her parents, but I know this: Their anchor held fast for her and for themselves in the midst of these extremely difficult circumstances.

The supreme example of a person's suffering and not giving up or complaining about the trials of life is that of our Lord Jesus Christ. About 750 years before Christ was born, the great Messianic prophet wrote concerning the attitude and behavior of our Lord: "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth" (Isa. 53:3-8).

How could anyone endure such suffering and abuse? Although the answer is very simple, I have difficulty understanding it. He bore the shame of the cross because he had complete trust in our heavenly Father. His desire was to do the will of the Father (John 8:29). Jesus told his disciples: "For the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mt. 20:28). Christ never wavered from the purpose he came to accomplish. In the midst of his suffering, his anchor held fast.

The second stanza of this beautiful hymn reads: "It (the anchor) is safely moored, 'twill the storm withstand, for 'tis well secured by the Savior's hand; and the cables passed from his heart to mine, can defy the blast through strength divine." Have you noticed how many times the New Testament says: "God is faithful?" Two times in the book of 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul assured the Corinthians that "God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9). "There is no temptation taken you that is not common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13). God does not promise that his children will be free from temptations. But he does promise to give us strength to overcome them. Paul told the Thessalonians: "Faithful is he who calls you, who also will do it" (1 Thess. 5:24). "But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you, and keep you from evil" (2 Thess. 3:3).

Contrary to the teachings of some modern Pentecostals, the Lord has not promised his faithful children either perfect health or great wealth. If he has promised either, he has not been faithful to his promises. There have always been devout Christians who were critically ill and very poor. One of Paul 's co-workers was a man named Epaphroditus. Paul called him "my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow-soldier." Would Paul have used those designations of Epaphroditus were he not a great Christian worker? Paul explained to the Philippians: "For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because you had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick near unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not only on him, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.... Because for the work of Christ he was near unto death, not regarding his lie, to supply your lack of service toward me" (Phil. 2:25, 30). Paul had to leave Trophimus, another of his co-workers, in Miletus because he was sick (2 Tim. 4:20).

There were people in the first century who had doubts about the Lord's second coming. They even asked: "Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of the creation." The Apostle Peter accused the skeptics of being "willingly ignorant." He then informed his readers: "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:4-5, 8-9).

The author of Hebrews admonished his readers: "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what men shall do unto me" (Heb. 13:5-6). I need to remind you of what I read in the beginning of this study. The hope we have in God's promises is "an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil" (Heb. 6:19).

The third stanza of the hymn says: "It will firmly hold in the straits of fear, when the breakers have told the reef is near; tho' the tempests rave and the wild winds blow, not an angry wave shall our bark o'er flow." One of the most common themes in the Old Testament and in the New is the expression: "Fear not." The first time it appears in the Old Testament is in the book of Genesis. "After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram (later called Abraham) in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram; I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward" (Gen. 15:1). Later in Genesis, God said to Jacob: "I am God, the God of your father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation" (Gen. 46:3). "And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be dismayed: take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into your hand the king of AI, and his people, and the city, and the land" (Josh. 8:1).

The New Testament does not use the expression as often as the Old Testament, but it does appear in the New Testament. Jesus admonished his disciples: "Fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Mt. 10:28). When the Apostle John received direct revelation from Jesus Christ, John said: "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he who lives, and was dead; and, I am alive forevermore, Amen, and have the keys of hell and death" (Rev. 1:17-18). Our Lord assured his faithful servants in Smyrna: "Fear none of those things that you shall suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried: and you shall have tribulation ten days: be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Rev. 2: 10).

But will our anchor hold when a loved one dies or when we approach our own death? The fourth stanza of the hymn answers my question. "It will surely hold in the floods of death, when the waters cold chill our latest breath, on the rising tide it can never fail, when our hopes abide within the veil." When you have lost to death the dearest person on earth, as I have, will you anchor "hold in the floods of death?" Unless you have complete trust in the love and goodness of God, what is there to hold on to? For example, how do atheists, agnostics, secular humanists and other unbelievers deal with the death of a loved one? Corliss Lamont, a secular humanist, authored a little booklet, A Humanist Funeral Service (Brooklyn: Prometheus Books, 1977). Lamont affirms: "The Humanist view, stemming from some of the greatest thinkers in history, rejects the idea of personal immortality and interprets death as the final end of the individual conscious personality" (p. 8). Humanism offers no hope to sustain us in trying times, including our own death.

The book of Hebrews tells us: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also likewise took part in the same: that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them who are tempted" (Heb. 2:14-18).

Several months ago, I spoke on this program on the topic, "The Death of Death in the Death of Christ." Obviously, Christ's death on the cross did not destroy physical death. "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). The death of Christ destroyed what the Apostle John calls "the second death," that is, eternal separation from God (Rev. 21:8). And make no mistake about it, if men and women do not believe in Christ and obey his gospel, they shall experience the second death. Is that not what Paul meant when he told the Thessalonians: Those who "do not know God, and obey the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ ... shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them who believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day" (2 Thess. 1:8-10)?

The last stanza of the hymn I am examining with you reads: "When our eyes behold through the gath-'ring night the city of gold, our harbor bright, we shall anchor fast by the heav'n-ly shore, with the storms all past forevermore." The book of Revelation uses somewhat different language, but reaches the same conclusion. The Apostle John has written: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Rev. 21:1-4).

I am sure you know that heaven is a place prepared for those who are prepared to go to heaven. We do not go to heaven accidentally. The cases of conversion in the book of Acts are models for us to imitate. I have time to discuss one of those conversions. An official in the Ethiopian government had been to Jerusalem to worship. As he was riding in his chariot on his way home, the Lord sent Philip the evangelist to teach him the way of salvation. The Ethiopian was reading from Isaiah 53:7-8 as he rode along in his chariot. Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading. Philip explained that the passage from Isaiah was speaking of Christ. The eunuch wanted to know if he could be baptized. Both Philip and the eunuch went down in to the water, and Philip baptized him (Acts 8:26-38). Was he baptized for the remission of his sins, as the Jews were on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38)? If you are not a Christian, will you confess your faith in Christ and be baptized today?

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334