How do we have hopeful confidence that God will fulfill what He has said?
In the story of Gideon’s call, we encounter a man who receives a divine promise of victory. God comes to Gideon, assures him of His presence, and declares that this presence will guarantee success over the Midianites. Yet, Gideon remains hesitant, unsure, and riddled with doubt. Why?
It is not because God’s promise is unclear. Rather, it’s because Gideon fixates on the outcome God foretells, rather than on the One who guarantees it. This is a key insight: a promise, no matter how extraordinary, only inspires confidence when it is backed by the trustworthiness of the one who gives it.
This principle stands at the heart of biblical faith. And nowhere is it more richly developed than in the book of Hebrews.
Hope from God’s Nature
In Hebrews 6, the author explains how God confirmed His promise to Abraham—that he would be the father of many nations—by not only declaring it, but by swearing an oath. Human beings, Hebrews reminds us, swear by something greater than themselves in order to guarantee their word. In ancient covenants, as Dennis Johnson notes, oaths invoked divine witnesses to enforce the gravity of the promise—inviting judgment upon themselves if they broke it.
But what happens when there is nothing greater to swear by? God, having no one greater, swore by Himself (Heb. 6:13; cf. Gen. 22:16–17). This double assurance—God’s word and His oath—was given to Abraham to establish hopeful confidence, even though Abraham would not live to see the full fulfillment. He waited patiently, trusting that the God who cannot lie would come through, in His time.
A Better Oath, a Greater Confidence
But Hebrews goes even further: it tells us that, as followers of Christ, we have more than Abraham had. Not only do we inherit the same promise confirmed by God’s unchangeable oath, but we also have the guarantee of a better priesthood—one that is eternal and indestructible.
Earthly priests interceded, but they died. They offered sacrifices, but those sacrifices were never final. Christ, by contrast, is the eternal high priest who never dies. His resurrection means His priesthood is permanent. And His once-for-all sacrifice is sufficient to deal fully with sin and death. As a result, our hope is not merely grounded in God’s promise and oath, but also in the resurrected Christ who continually intercedes for us (Heb. 7:24–25).
In short, our confident hope rests on two unshakeable realities:
- God cannot lie, and there is no one higher than God to appeal to.
- Christ is a risen and eternal priest whose work cannot be undone.
Gideon, Again
Let’s return to Gideon. God gave him a promise and assured him of His presence, but Gideon remained paralyzed by fear. Why? Because he did not consider who it was that made the promise. He was fixated on whether the prediction would come true, not on the character of the One who spoke it.
We, like Gideon, face circumstances of deep uncertainty. But we are not left in the dark. We are given something greater than Gideon had: not only the promise of God’s presence, but also the confirmation of His oath and the priesthood of His Son. When fear whispers that God won’t come through, we must look not merely to the promise, but to the One who guarantees it.
Anchored in Uncertainty
Are you in a season where the future feels unclear—perhaps in your health, vocation, relationships, or sense of purpose? Uncertainty is woven into the fabric of human life. And often, the more we care about something, the less certainty we are given about it.
Yet Hebrews gives us a word we desperately need:
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Heb. 6:19).
This anchor is not the removal of uncertainty—it is the presence of Christ, our eternal priest, standing at God’s right hand. It is the unchangeable nature of God Himself. When we are tempted to ask, Can I really count on God?, the answer is not simply in His promises, but in His person: the God who swore by Himself, and the Priest who lives forever.
Living With Hopeful Confidence
Christians are called to do hard things, often in the face of uncertainty. So where does the strength come from? From a God who cannot lie and from a Savior who cannot die.
This is the ground of your hopeful confidence. Not the appearance of circumstances. Not your grasp of outcomes. But the unchanging, oath-keeping God and the risen, interceding Christ.
Let this truth anchor your soul. When life feels fragile and the future unclear, remember: the One who promises is faithful, and His Son has already passed through death into indestructible life—for you.