<p>6:18 <i>So that by two immutable things- </i>The promise of God and the oath confirming it.</p><p><i>In which it is impossible for God to lie- </i>To doubt our salvation is to effectively accuse God of being a liar. But that is impossible.</p><p><i>We may have a strong encouragement- </i>God not only promised our salvation but confirmed the promise with an oath. Paul says the same in different terms in Rom. 5:8: &quot;God commends His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly&quot;.</p><p><i>Who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us</i>- The allusion is to how the person who found they had committed a sin worthy of death, yet without as it were wishing to have done so, could flee to a city of refuge and be saved there by the death of the high priest. The curse upon Levi was that the members of this tribe were to be scattered in Israel (Gen. 49:7). However, this resulted in the cities of the Levites being scattered throughout the land, thus providing accessible cities of refuge to all who wished to escape the consequences of sin. Those cities were evidently symbolic of the refuge we have in Christ (Heb. 6:18). Again and again, the curses and consequences of human sin are used by the Father to mediate blessing. It is the sure hope before us which is our refuge. &quot;Hope&quot;, <i>elpis</i>, is a confident knowledge of a future reality, rather than a hoping for the best. We should be confident in our salvation.</p>