Hebrews 10:36–37

He reminds them that they need patience, as we all do — or, as the word really is, "endurance." And it is tribulation that "produces endurance, and endurance produces character." Character and endurance do not come from an unexercised life. They needed that endurance which stayed under every stress, so that after they had done the will of God, they would still hold to Him, and so obtain the promise laid up for them in heaven.

The word for endurance comes from a verb meaning "to sustain." It is translated "enduring" in one place (2 Cor. 1:6), and "patient continuance" in another (Rom. 2:7), and that sense is fully part of the word. It is a "patient endurance" that does not give way under trial and suffering… It is never applied to God directly, because there could be no such testing or pressure in regard to Him. But the Lord Jesus, in the place He has taken as Man, is our perfect example in it, Heb. 12:2-3.

When He was here He did God's will only, and that is why the apostle Paul says, "For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done (what Jesus did) the will of God you may receive what is promised" (Heb. 10:36)… A man who is doing the will of God is not living for himself. His only thought is to do what God wishes. And that is exactly what the blessed Lord did here.

If someone throws away confidence in the living God, that confidence is shown to be badly lacking, for God Himself has not changed. Persecution tests it, no doubt, and the apostle would strengthen souls to stand by true, living faith. Patient endurance would gain its reward. God's will for every believer is that hard experience should prove his trust is really in the living God.

As Jews, they might associate with the Christ freedom from suffering and promotion to high honour; but as Christians, their portion is to share His sufferings for righteousness and love and truth. No mistake is more common in Christendom than looking for present reward and distinction and ease through the gospel and the church… It is through suffering in faith and patience that we are disciplined and bear fruit to Him who chooses in this way to prune the branches of the vine.

One thing only was necessary: that they should continue with endurance doing the will of God. Then without fail all that had been promised would be fulfilled to them. Their very position was that they had "fled for refuge" to "hold fast to the hope set before us" (6:18). That hope was abundantly sure, but its fulfilment can only be at the coming of the Lord, as verse 37 shows.

Finally, the apostle gives them the cheer that it is only a little while that there will be need for this endurance… At any moment the welcome shout, with the voice of the trumpet, may be heard from heaven, and saints snatched from their place of trial will enter into the joy of the Lord. This very inducement is held out for perseverance. This sharp trial may be the last. This temptation to turn into an easier path may be followed by the coming of the Lord.

There is nothing that the soul of the believer is more brought to feel than that he has "need of endurance" (Heb. 10:36); but if he is hindered by anything from finding God to be "the God of peace," if sorrow and trial hinder this, there is the will of the flesh at work. There cannot be the quiet doing of God's will if the mind is troubled and unsettled about a thousand things.

Jewish believers, when disheartened, might naturally look back at their old setting of visible splendour. If so, the danger is pressed on them with great seriousness: the danger of abandoning all God had now done in Christ and given to faith. They are called not to throw away their confidence and its great reward. True, they needed endurance. But let them remember that the end of everlasting joy is at hand; for He that comes (and it is yet a very little while) will come and will not delay. What blessed grounds to persevere in faith! They had long walked in Christ's path: a few trials more might be theirs.

A modern preacher would say: "Yet a little while, and this scene will close. Death will put an end to your troubles. You will depart to be with Jesus, which is far better." But this is not the language of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because the Holy Spirit, knowing the mind of God, always puts the Lord's coming, and not death, as the expectation of the Christian.

From this quotation we learn that the vision which will surely come is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the centre of every vision, and without Him there is no vision.

What a wonderful hope is before us — nothing short of our blessed Lord Himself... In Hebrews 10:37 the word that qualifies "little" comes twice over. That gives the force of "ever so little." What follows makes it stronger still: "will come and will not delay." Very remarkable words, are they not?

Near the end of his life the apostle Paul comforts the Hebrew believers. He assures them that in a very little while the Coming One will come, and will not delay. "The very little while" in the one passage matches the delay of the bridegroom in the other. Once that delay is over, He will come and "will not delay." The two are in full harmony. When the apostle wrote, the Lord had already delayed. He did not know the hour of His return. He was inspired to announce only that it would be sure and soon.

Hebrews 10:37 does not deal with His coming (parousia) for the Church, to take up all saints. It deals with His appearing (epiphania) as King. That appearing, just as much as His coming, is what we expect. For then Christ's reign on earth will begin — the subject of nearly every Old Testament prophecy — and the faithful ones will receive their crowns.

How happy it is that before that time arrives Christ will come for His Church... How sweet and happy is our prospect.

In contrast to the wicked, the godly will find in this delay an occasion for the exercise of faith... So the people of God, in the prophet's day or in ours, are urged to run with spiritual energy, to wait with patience, and to live by faith.