Hebrews 6:3 – The River of Life

Hebrews 6:3

The River of Life

And this will we do, if God permit. (Hebrews 6:3)

   Verse 3 of Hebrews Chapter 6 consists of only eight words, and yet these eight words are a bridge over the river of life to the rest of the Chapter. The mind of the world would pass by these eight words as they would also pass by these other eight words, He that believeth in the Son hath life. The number of words is not the emphasis of the Holy Spirit of God. It is the authorship and the place where they have been sent from (God) to the mind and heart of man. We should see that every word of God has the mind and heart of Christ attached to it. A simple phrase, Jesus wept, can bring tears to the most powerful, sympathy to the most pathetic, and strength to the downtrodden. There is power in every word of God whether it stands alone or combined into sentences cast into verses or displayed in books. Every word of God has it’s collective power, and every individual word has power.

   In Chapter 6 of Hebrews, we have a divine collection of words divinely linked together by the Spirit of God. This is a list of some of the words that are found in this chapter: principles, doctrine, perfection, foundation, repentance, faith, baptisms, resurrection, judgment, eternal, impossible, enlightened, heavenly, Holy, Ghost, word, God, powers, crucified, Son, blessing, salvation, ministers, minister, assurance, hope, followers, patience, promises, multiplying, endured, oath, abundantly, immutably, consolation, refuge, anchor, soul, sure, steadfast, entereth, veil, forerunner, Jesus, high, priest, and Melchisedec. You see by this list that there must be a marvelous message for the soul and spirit to the redeemed. There are more words than I listed in this Chapter, but we are not interested in a word study, but the application of this entire Chapter to the soul and spirit of every child of God. The eight words before us, And this will we do, if God permit, are not only a bridge, but a resting spot for the soul. This place of division or stopping place marked by eight words is to prepare us to go on to perfection, and as the apostle Paul said, And this will we do. This is a positive decision made in the heart and in the soul; the Spirit of God wants us to go on in this path of God’s will.

The Carpet of Faith

   One must weigh the value and the relinquishing of oneself to the Almighty God. This is more than just a relationship for we find ourselves possessed by the divine nature of God. We have severed our relationship with the world, and now there is a new path which is God’s path for us; therefore, we travel not by our own reason or strength, but we travel according to the will of God for our individual life. Years ago I saw a man with a plywood sign attached to him, it was a large A frame sign, and his head stuck up through the top. He carried this sign as a witness to men, I didn’t know his name, but he was on a path that God has given him. On the front of the sign were gospel verses, on the back of the sign were verses of judgment. I reflect on that now, at the time I thought he was very insignificant, for you see I did not understand the whole purpose of God; that His voice goes forth not only in sundry times, but also in diverse manners. What a thrill this man will have when he gets to heaven, and hears, Well done, good and faithful servant. Many years have passed by since then, there have been trials, and there has been error on my part, but God’s hand has always been there to guide, and to stop the foolishness of this servant. For the will of God is not only to the ‘goes’, but to the ‘stops’ as well. There are things that man cannot converse with other men, only in prayer and supplication, and crying out to God can one see the path, and the carpet of faith that God has laid before you. Years ago I could never conceive that through one small wire that our website God’s Final Call (www.godsfinalcall.com) would go all over the world. One small wire does not seem very important, but to the Almighty that one small wire leading to a soul of man can be worth more than all the treasures of the earth. We should realize that it is God who sets our path: your path is set by God, and my path is set by God. We might travel different roads, but the path must be in His will, and He must dictate to our desires His divine desires. And we must follow His path.

Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies. (Psalm 27:11)

Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight. (Psalm 119:35)

But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. (Proverbs 4:18)

And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:13)

The Path

   The path of God has given us many witnesses throughout the entire Bible. Who would have chosen Abel’s path that led to his death? Who would have chosen Enoch’s path and his walk with God that led him to heaven? Who would have chosen Noah’s path to stand before a world of enraged flesh beyond feeling, and given up by God; and then in this environment of enemies preach the righteousness of God of the judgment that would soon come upon them? (Romans 1)

   And then we have Abraham, who would have chosen Abraham’s path, he was in Ur of Chaldees, the center of idolatry, and God appeared to him and set Abraham on a new path. (Acts 7) Then we have Moses, a baby in an ark floating (seemingly abandoned) among the bulrushes then later exalted to one of the highest positions in Egypt, and to surrender all that because Moses saw Him who is invisible. He stood before the consuming fires of God, yet the bush was not consumed, and God made him a shepherd for His people. Who would have taken the path of Moses? We have a most unusual path to the throne of Israel: a shepherd watching his sheep was set on a path to the throne of a his nation. And that throne would come through the cave of Adullam. David would be tried in his faith on his path to the throne.

    In the 1800’s there were three men who had come out from the established state religion in Great Britain. Every week they would meet and break bread, they would remember the Lord’s death, and wait for His coming. And being led of the Holy Ghost they would study the Scriptures and God blessed them in that knowledge. During the week the three would meet and discuss the Scriptures, one day J met with one of his old colleagues. J was asked, Where have you been? J replied that he was meeting in an upper room with two likeminded Christians. The clergyman said, That room is nothing but the cave of Adullam. J’s replied, But the King was there! God’s path for us is His to choose and not ours to choose. Who would have chosen Elijah’s path? Who would go into the wilderness by a brook, and be out of contact with every one except God and a few ravens. This was at the beginning of a long ministry to the people of Israel. And who would have chosen the path of Elisha? And who would have found a plowman in the middle of a field to pour water on the hands of God’s prophet, Elijah? All these paths show the hand and the sovereignty of the Almighty God as He directs His servants. It is recorded of an eight-year-old king in the midst of idolatry of his own nation. This nation had become a crooked and perverse people, and then the boy king received a book, the word of God; and God marked Josiah’s path. This is the final testimony that God wrote concerning Josiah,  And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him. (2 Kings 23:25) The path of the just is as a shining light, and who would choose the path of Jeremiah? Before he was born God had chosen him to be a prophet to Israel and to the nations. All his members were written in God’s book. God put His words in Jeremiah’s mouth, and in his life, he suffered without (from the children of Israel), and he suffered within (bearing their burdens upon his heart). And there were many more, each one having a different path. Each one being moved by God in a different way. We have Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. We have Daniel, Amos (the herdsman of Takeo), Zechariah, Malachi, and John the Baptist; and then who would or could ever walk the straight and perfect path of the Lord of glory? He (the divine Sacrifice) chose His own path to the cross. He came out of heaven’s glory and humbled Himself to a cross of shame. He stressed the proper place of all followers of God’s righteousness to His disciples through these words, And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34)

   In Chapter 11 of Hebrews, we have a great cloud of witnesses, a testimony of the faithful, and how they followed in the path. The Holy Spirit in Hebrews 11 shows us a different path for each life that is recorded. They all walked by faith, they walked in God’s path, and that path is to the righteousness that is in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Path of the Righteous

   Psalm 1 shows us the path of a righteous man. It begins in the world  among the evils of the world. This man is brought to a river of life, his roots drink from the river, (the river a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ) and this river gives the man life forever more. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. (Psalm 1:3) The word that goes out of his mouth is a shining light to the world, but he must walk in the righteousness of God and not according to the counsels of the ungodly. He must separate himself from sinners, and not take up the rails of the scornful against the righteous and against God. His path is in the straight path of the Lord, he walks in the path of the just. Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. (Psalm 25:4) Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. (Psalm 25:5) O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. (Jeremiah 10:23) And this will we do, if God permit. (Hebrews 6:3)

The Path That He Permits

   The path is the will of God. We must be aware of what He permits, and what He does not permit in our path. I often say that it is a tremendous privilege and honor for the creature to serve His Creator. Could there be any higher calling then to walk and serve the Man Jesus Christ who has been made higher than the heavens. (Hebrews 7:26) And this will we do, if God permit. In John Newton’s hymn, Amazing Grace, the third stanza reads, “Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ‘Tis grace hath bro’t me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.” We follow this shining path of grace through faith. We travel through dangers, toils and snares; we pass through a world that is consumed with it’s own evil, but we are traveling in the path of God’s righteousness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (Hebrews 12:11)

   The path of trial and chastening seems to be completely out of the mind and heart of the world church today, yet God is not moved by church opinion. He will continue to allow trials in our path, and will continue to chasten us when we stray off His path. In Hebrews Chapter 12 it is the chastening of the Lord, God moving on the hearts of His children who are exercised by His divine chastening. This divine chastening, we are told (through Scriptures) brings forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness, consequently this chastening reveal to the children of God the straight path. And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:13) Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. (Psalm 143:8)

   We, as the children of God, must have a yearning heart to seek the will of God in every aspect of our lives. The Scriptures bears out that we need to control our minds, our hearts, and our entire being by the will of God. The Son of God followed His Father’s will. He was in complete unity with all that the Father had given Him to do and to complete. The Son delighted in His Father’s will, and the Man in heaven today, Jesus Christ, still delights in the will of His Father. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. (Hebrews 10:7) When the Lord Jesus was manifest upon the earth, we saw the perfect Man joined with Deity walking amongst men. Not only did He delight His Father in everything that He did, but the world made demands on His life as well. The world made demands on His life, the Jews made demands on His life, the devil made demands of His life; however, God the Father loved that life. The Lord of glory had come to reveal His glory to man. John wrote And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) All has been given of the Father in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you can understand this that through Christ’s death upon the cross there was nothing left in the Godhead for man. Everything was poured out in the life and death of Christ, and everything was filled with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; for now we have a glorious new Man in heaven for us. What is man that God would even consider to give His ALL for mankind?

What is Man?

What [is] man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? (Job 7:17)

What [is] man, that he should be clean? and [he which is] born of a woman, that he should be righteous? (Job 15:14)

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Psalm 8:4)

LORD, what [is] man, that thou takest knowledge of him! [or] the son of man, that thou makest account of him! (Psalm 144:3)

Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what [is] man the better? (Ecclesiastes 6:11)

But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Hebrews 2:6)

    In the entire Bible we have six references to the state and condition of man in the phrase What is man? The Holy Spirit confirms the depth of this question by asking six times (six, number of man) what is man? In light of who we are the Bible reveals our total worthless being in Adam. For man in Adam will continue to scream against God, and the men who claim Christ will continue to walk with the ungodly and bring that ungodliness into the church. They have not the Spirit of Christ, and they are none of His. Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? (Acts 4:25) The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. (Acts 4:26) The heathen will continue to rage and the people will continue to imagine a vain thing. Watching mankind upon all fours feeding at the trough of evil the servant of God asks himself with a smitten heart, Who shall believe our report? This is where faith cries out of the dew of the morning, and reaches to the starlit sky at night; faith cries out, Come, come, come see a man that told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Faith will not be silent, and it will not be silent in it’s cry. It will go forth as the brightness of lightening, and as the roar of thunder. Faith in Christ will continue to roll over towns, cities, and over the meadows and through the valleys. Faith will continue to reach across rivers and oceans because faith cannot be silent or silenced. If every tongue of man was silent the trees themselves would cry out the message of faith in Jesus Christ. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36) We have looked into the path of God; we have seen the path of many who have served Him faithfully.

If God Permit

   Now we must examine the last three words of this verse, And this will we do, if God permit. These three words places all the power (everything we need) in the hands of Almighty God. The same power that created heaven and earth is there for us in His divine will. He has given promises to the children of God and He will not break one thread of that crimson line that ties us to His Son Jesus Christ. As He promised Abraham, so He has promised us that we (each and every Christian) will be conformed to the image of Christ. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27) What failed in the terrestrial realm will be fulfilled in the celestial realm. Christ is the image of the invisible God, and we will be conformed to His image. All the promises that the Lord Jesus gave to His disciples and to those who would follow Him are sure and steadfast. Seven times God related His will through His promises to Abraham as to what He would do for Abraham as documented in Genesis Chapter 17.

The Seven ‘I Will’s’

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. (Genesis 17:1)

And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. (Genesis 17:2)

And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, (Genesis 17:3)

As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. (Genesis 17:4)

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. (Genesis 17:5)

And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. (Genesis 17:6)

And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. (Genesis 17:7)

And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. (Genesis 17:8)

1. I will make a covenant, and this covenant was partially fulfilled and will be completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

2. I will multiply thee

3. I will make thee exceeding fruitful

4. I will make nations of thee

5. I will establish my covenant

6. I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land

7. I will be their God

   In the Church Age we tend to lose contact with the promises that were given to Abraham, yet God reminds us of these divine promises in Chapter 6 of Hebrews. Every one of these I wills are connected not only to Israel, but to the church as well. Christ was brought forth from the seed of Abraham to fulfill the counsels of God concerning the promises and the covenant that God made with Abraham. God has been fulfilling His promises in the progressive history of Israel and in the history of the church. Concerning Israel: all will be fulfilled in the millennial kingdom, then after the creation of the new heaven and the new earth we will see the complete promises made to Abraham brought to their fullness in the complete determinate counsels of God. Hebrews 11:40 draws us (the faithful) together in the promises made to Abraham. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. In Matthew’s gospel the Lord Jesus uses ‘I will’ over twenty times. In Revelation Chapter 2 and 3 He uses ‘I will’ over twenty times. As you study these ‘I wills’ you will see how God’s will is what we should follow after. In verse 3 of Hebrews Chapter 6, there are only eight words, but these words are very important, And this will we do, if God permit.

   In our next article we will build on the importance of certain words as well as the content of the entire Chapter. We will seek the voice of the Spirit of Christ, and we will go on unto perfection, and we will put all these wonderful words in their proper order, and in the path of Almighty God. Amen.

© Copyright 2017, Michael Haigh

Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.

All Scripture references are from the  King James Bible. (KJB)