Hebrews 6:18-19 — that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

The author of the letter to the Hebrews is unknown. Consideration of these verses make me feel,though, that he might have been a sailor and he was certainly a scholar.

This text is best known, perhaps, because of Edward Mote’s  beloved hymn “The Solid Rock” which refers to it:

When Darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace, In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil … My anchor holds within the veil.

The sailor, driven by the gales of life, runs for shelter to God’s safe harbor. The JFB commentary breaks down the imagery:

The soul is the ship: the world the sea: the bliss beyond the world, the distant coast; the hope resting on faith, the anchor which prevents the vessel being tossed to and fro; the encouraging consolation through the promise and oath of God, the cable connecting the ship and anchor. The world is the fore-court: heaven, the Holy of Holies; Christ, the High Priest going before us so as to enable us, after Him and through Him, to enter within the veil.

Such a beautifully worked out image strongly suggests the sailor to me. As to the scholar … It turns out that Greek has two word for “veil”. The one used here is  “catapetasma”: the second veil which shut in the Holiest Place. The outer veil was called by a different word, “calumma”. Who knew? Well, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews knew. He picked the precise word to make it clear that the safest place for a Christian to drop anchor is in the most Holy Place, the very presence of God. 

There is another beauty in this “veil” imagery in Hebrews. Later on we can read:

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (Hebrews 10:19-20)

The veil that protects the Holy of Holies is Jesus’s flesh. We enter into our safe harbor through a way created by the tearing of the veil — the ripping apart of Jesus’s body on the cross. There may be times when the storms of life hide His face, but He has made a place where we can drop anchor and be for ever safe!