Encouragement (10:32-39)
Despite having to warn the Hebrews so solemnly, the writer was convinced of their salvation. He was also conscious that ongoing exposure to persecution presented a real temptation for the fainthearted to abandon the faith. To prevent the “bruised reed” from being broken and the “faintly burning wick” from being quenched (Isa 42:3 ESV), the writer follows with words of encouragement to hold fast, endure and remain faithful. To this end, the writer appeals to their mind and calls them to remember their experience and resolve in former days, that endurance will be rewarded in a future day, and that God expects the righteous to live by faith every day.
Remember Their Experience and Resolve in Former Days (10:32-34)
To strengthen the Hebrew believers, the writer exhorts them to “call to remembrance the former days” (v32).1 There are four things he would have them constantly remember. First, they are to remember their conversion experience, how they “were illuminated” (or “enlightened” as in 6:4). On account of professing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, God saved them and “shined in [their] hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Co 4:6). Remembering their conversion would doubtless remind them of the indescribable joy, peace and hope that filled their hearts. Second, they were to recall how they endured “much conflict of sufferings” (JND). On one hand, they were made a public spectacle (i.e., as in a theatre, 1Co 4:9) and derided with reproaches and afflictions. On the other, they became partakers with others who were treated the same way. How encouraging it is to know that God recognises any measure of suffering or persecution for Christ’s sake.
Third, they should remember that they manifested a Christlike sympathy for those imprisoned for their faith. Having compassion for believers undergoing suffering while they also were suffering was indeed worthy of praise (cf. Mat 25:36-40; 2Ti 1:16-18). Fourth, they suffered the confiscation of their material possessions. Having “received the knowledge of the truth” (Heb 10:26), material loss was to them inconsequential, for they knew they had “a better possession and a lasting one” (v34 NASB). How could they accept it joyfully? By faith. While they had “not seen” Jesus Christ, by “believing” they were able to “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” even though they were “for a season … in heaviness through manifold temptations” (1Pe 1:6-8). Perhaps they held dear the words of Christ: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake …. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven” (Mat 5:10-12).
All this proved they were saved and glad to be “counted worthy to suffer shame for his name” (Act 5:41). Like Moses, they esteemed “the reproach of Christ greater riches” than material wealth and were looking to their inheritance in heaven (Heb 11:26; cf. 1Pe 1:4). To safeguard them from dishonouring the Lord, they should constantly remember their first love, Christ, and how they stood for Him and His people in former days.
Remember That Endurance Will Be Rewarded in a Future Day (10:35-37)
Therefore, they must not throw away the fearless confidence (or boldness) they had when they first trusted Christ. Such boldness enabled them to take a courageous stand for Him and endure the resulting persecution. They are to hold fast that “boldness and the rejoicing of hope unto the end” (Heb 3:6 YLT) because it results in great “recompense of reward” (11:26).
For this reason, they “have need of patience” (or endurance, 10:36; 12:1). They are to persevere with the same endurance they had in the past (v32). Why? “After” they had “done the will of God,” they would “receive the promise.” This was the “hope unto the end” (3:6). How is it developed? “Tribulation works endurance; and endurance, experience; and experience, hope” (Rom 5:3-4 JND; cf. Jas 1:2-4). While “the promise” is not explicitly defined, note that it connects the “recompense of reward” (v35) with “he that shall come” (v37). The word “promise” occurs 18 times in the letter and many of those references relate to the Millennial kingdom. A day is coming when Christ will establish His kingdom, as was promised to the patriarchs. Our “reward,” therefore, is bound up with “the promise” of personal inheritance, honour, rest, rule and responsibility in the coming Millennial kingdom. Moreover, the extent to which we will receive such kingdom blessings is contingent upon our patient endurance and submission to God’s perfect will, in hope, through the exercise of faith here and now (Heb 3:6; 4:1; 6:11-12; 10:23-25).
Note also that the promise of reward is inextricably linked with the sure and imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ: “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay” (10:37 ESV). Here, Habakkuk 2:3 (Septuagint) is cited to remind the Hebrews that what God promised will most certainly come, in His time, despite the persecution they were suffering. The Lord’s second coming will fulfil the promise of God and bring a just reward to “every man according as his work shall be” (Rev 22:12).
Remember That God Expects the Righteous to Live by Faith Every Day (10:38-39)
The writer further cites Habakkuk 2:4 (Septuagint) and applies it as follows: in light of the imminent return of Christ, “my righteous one shall live by faith” (10:38 ESV). We gladly confess that one becomes “the just” “by faith” (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11). But how many of us regress, forgetting that we must regulate our lives by faith every day? The warning against recanting from living by faith is solemn: “If he [my righteous one] shrinks back [from living by faith], my soul has no pleasure in him” (v38 ESV; cf. 1Co 10:5; Heb 3:12,19; 4:6,11; 11:6).
“But,” encourages the writer, “we [emphatic] are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul” (v39 NASB). While “destruction” (Greek noun apoleia) can mean eternal destruction (e.g., Php 3:19; 2Th 2:3; 2Pe 3:7), it can also mean “waste” (Mar 14:4). Similarly, its cognate verb (apollumi) can mean “to lose” (e.g., Mat 16:25; Mar 9:41; Luk 15:4; 2Jn 8). Our conviction is that the eternal salvation of the soul is not in view but, rather, the preservation of one’s life on earth from waste, a ruined testimony, discipline or loss of reward. The writer was convinced that he and the Hebrews possessed the kind of faith that would heed the exhortation, warning and encouragement and thereby receive the reward.
Beloved, we must always remember that God will one day richly and abundantly reward our faithfulness (Mat 25:21). Considering the imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us consider afresh the challenge He gave His disciples: “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul [life]? …. For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Mat 16:25-27).
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV unless otherwise noted.
