Hebrews 10:36

For ye have need of patience, that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise.

Verse 36 and through the end of this chapter conclude the fourth great exhortation of Hebrews. The exhortation is based on a number of considerations, among which are these: (1) We have a great high priest who has opened up the new and living way through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. (2) Willful sin shall certainly result in eternal destruction. (3) The Christians who received this epistle had already endured great hardship and suffering and should not throw all that away by becoming indifferent. (4) Patience should be exercised in order to win the crown of life. (5) Christ is faithful and will surely come to reward his followers as he promised. (6) We are not of them that draw back to perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Patience is stressed as the opposite of that impatience which began to develop in the hearts of many who expected that the Lord should have come already. Their expectations were founded on a misinterpretation of the scriptures, but it was none the less a real disappointment. Their misapprehension might also have been due partially to the purposeful ambiguity of the scriptures relating to the second coming of the Lord. (See under 10:25.) Jesus said, "In your patience, ye shall possess your souls" (Luke 21:19). One of the hardest things for the fleshly mind to realize is that the victory of faith is not achieved by one brilliant campaign but a lifetime of patient and faithful service. It is not so much the glory of a promising start that the Lord desires as it is the glory of a faithful finish. It is such a fidelity to the end that is urged by the author here.