PATIENCE AND HOPE
‘Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.’
The hope of perfected Christian life should encourage us to steadfastness. The keynote of these words is hope.
I. Christian life will end in wonderful blessing.—‘Promise,’ equivalent to ‘promised blessing.’ There is a promised blessing to be enjoyed after the will of God is done. The writer of the Epistle has already reminded them of the recompense in doing God’s will, but beyond that there is another, which ‘eye hath not seen, nor ear heard.’
II. The temporary character of the trials which precede this blessing.—‘Yet a little while.’ The promised blessing is eternal, the painful interval is ‘a little while.’ The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared, etc.
III. The brave endurance of these temporary trials makes the blessing all the greater.—For there is a special ‘promise’ to him who, amid opposition, persists in doing the will of God. All the redeemed will have life; but how many will have the crown?