36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
36 For
The “for” explains verse 35. The grounds for the exhortation in the previous verse is to keep God’s will with tenacity.
you have need of endurance,
“Endurance” is perseverance. These Hebrew Christians were to deliberately remain loyal to the doctrine of the finished work of Christ. The challenge was not to become a Christian but to persist in what they believed.
so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
The result of continued faithfulness to the finished work of Christ is to receive what God promised. The “promise” here is the thing promised or the reward for “endurance.” The word “receive” means to receive as a compensation.
PRINCIPLE:
Christians receive reward for remaining true to God’s will under duress.
APPLICATION:
Receiving promises from God depends on endurance. The point is not the salvation of the soul but remaining true by faith to what God has said. We will see a long list of people who lived by faith in the next chapter.
Enduring things for a higher end develops character in the Christian life (Jas 1:4). Fellowship with Christ in His suffering is a condition of reigning with Him (2 Ti 2:12; Re 1:9).
Endurance is a day-by-day dynamic. It grows as we practice it.
