Persuasives to steadfastness.
The latter part of this chapter, beginning with Hebrews 10:26, is written in the same strain as Hebrews 6:4-20. In both passages a strong denunciatory warning is followed by a tender exhortation, expressive of the writer's fond hope that the Hebrew Christians will "stand fast in the Lord." The pathetic appeal contained in the verses before us is based upon three grounds, belonging respectively to the past, the future, and the present.
I. As APPEAL TO CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. (Verses 32-35) The apostle would have his readers remember their first love, in the (lays when they became "light in the Lord." They had at that time endured persecution bravely. After the death of Stephen (Acts 8:1), in the time of Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:1-19), at Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 2:14), at Rome (Romans 12:12, Romans 12:14), and elsewhere, the Hebrew believers had encountered the fierce opposition of their unbelieving countrymen and of the Roman authorities. Their calamities had been such as to make them a public spectacle. They had suffered:
1. In their character, which was assailed with malignant scorn.
2. In their persons, for they were subjected to bodily torture.
3. In their property. They were unjustly deprived of their possessions. Yet they bore the loss cheerfully, being persuaded that their true and permanent treasure was in heaven.
4. By reason of their practical sympathy with one another. They had brought to their persecuted and imprisoned brethren both sympathetic condolence and practical help. Now, the apostle reminds the Hebrews of these courageous endurances, in order to stimulate them still to sustain their Christian valor. They had not allowed their early conflicts to dim their spiritual joy. They had run well hitherto; what should hinder them now from persevering to the end? Why allow all their past toils and trials to count for nothing?
II. AN APPEAL TO CHRISTIAN HOPE. (Verses 35-37) This hope is presented in a twofold aspect.
1. The hope of the promised reward. (Verses 35, 36) There is a Christian doctrine of recompense. All the apostles speak of it in their Epistles under one form or another. No Christian, of course, can claim any reward of legal right. It is the gracious gift of the God of grace. But every steadfast believer obtains it even here on earth; for holiness is its own immediate recompense. And he shall receive it in eternal reversion hereafter; for his shall be the inconceivable peace and purity, and the inexhaustible joy and glory, of heaven.
2. The hope of Christ's second coming. (Verse 37) The apostle here employs as the vehicle of his thoughts the words given to Habakkuk by which a former generation of Hebrews had been encouraged to wait for the humiliation of their Chaldean oppressors (Hebrews 2:3). But the scope of the passage requires that we refer the "coming" here spoken of to our Lord's second advent. As compared with the endless ages of eternity, during which his people are to enjoy the "great recompense of reward," the interval which must elapse before his personal return to the world may well be described as "a very little while." The apostles always exhibit the second coming of Christ as an impending event, for which the believer is to yearn and to make ready. Death is only a parenthesis. Our duty is not so much to prepare to die, as to cherish "the blessed hope." From the watch-tower of prayer let us look out for the signs of his appearing; and thus we shall forget our trials, and maintain our steadfastness.
"Beyond the smiling and the weeping,
Beyond the waking and the sleeping,
Beyond the sowing and the reaping,
Love, rest, and home!
Sweet hope!
Lord, tarry not, but come I"
III. AN APPEAL TO CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLE. (Verses 38, 39) The apostle, in concluding with an expression of confidence in his readers, continues to borrow the words of Habakkuk (Habakkuk 2:4). He thus reminds them that under every dispensation faith has been the instrument of salvation. This great saying, "The just shall live by faith," has become historical. In the time of Habakkuk it marked off the worship of Jehovah from heathenism; in the apostolic age (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11) it distinguished the pure gospel from legalism; at the Reformation it served to divide scriptural Christianity from Romanism. These six words were to Martin Luther the golden text of the Bible. They sounded within his soul, first, as he sat in his quiet cell at Wittenberg; a second time during his illness at Bologna; and again at Rome, when he was climbing up Pilate's staircase upon his knees. It was in connection with Luther's perception of the meaning of this text that the great idea of the Reformation began to possess his soul. What, then, is the force of this saying of Habakkuk? Clearly it is not to be restricted to the first act of faith; the statement refers to the entire life of the believer. Although justified by faith at the beginning, his justification is continued by means of his perseverance in living faith to the end of his earthly course. The whole list of godly achievements referred to in Hebrews 11:1-40. illustrates how faith is the foundation of a life of holy obedience and of spiritual triumph. The apostle, therefore, reminds his readers that they must persistently "do the will of God" if they would keep themselves from backsliding unto perdition. Only a life of continued faith will secure "the saving of the soul." Union to Christ, justification, participation in Christ's life, peace of conscience, sanctification, the certainty of final redemption from all evil,—these, and every other Christian experience, are the effect of sustained and habitual faith. It is faith alone which brings us to the Fountain of life, and keeps us there.
HOMILIES BY W. JONES