HEBREWS 10:30

The Bible says in Hebrews 10:30, “For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompence, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people.” This is a great truth to remind believers not to be people of vengeance. We know that God is involved in the affairs of men, and that God is a just Judge. We do not need to punish others on a personal level. God will decide what punishment they get and when. If you believe in God and in Christ, then you must believe that this is true: “Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompence, saith the Lord.” One of the things that will be taking place at the return of Christ is the “recompence” that He will be handing out. Sin deserves to be punished. Every sin that is not forgiven will be punished. That is why Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

This punishment of sin that comes from the Judge is not going to happen only to unbelievers. As a matter of fact Hebrews 10:30 is actually talking about believers because it says, “The Lord shall judge his people.” Judgment must begin at the house of God.

Even though the writer of the book of Hebrews is being very careful by the Holy Spirit to warn the believers of the judgment that can come from God in this life because of sin, the writer makes it clear that these believers are not currently in danger of such judgments. He reminds them of the service to God that they have already had. He writes in Hebrews 10:32, “But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions.” After being saved some Christians start living for God with a lot of enthusiasm, but then after a time they fall away from fellowship with Jesus. They backslide. Maybe if they did a better job of remembering how it once was between them and Christ they would not fall away. These Christians even once endured “a great fight of afflictions.” The word that is translated “fight” is the Greek word from which we get the word “athletics.” The Christian life is like a great contest. It is a contest of good against evil and light against darkness. Just like any athletic contest, you must put forth your best effort to have a chance to win the contest.

These Hebrew believers had already suffered some “great fight of afflictions.” Verse 33 tells us about some of those afflictions. It says, “Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.” You will always know a lot about people by knowing the company that they keep. If you want to stay out of trouble, then stay away from the people who cause trouble. If you want to stay away from temptation, then stay away from people who look for temptation. On the other hand, if you want to serve the Lord, make friends with those who also want to serve Him, even if it means to bear the reproaches that they bear. That is what these Hebrew Christians had done.

Concerning what these Christians had done for the writer of the book of Hebrews, it says in Hebrews 10:34, “For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.” What great work had these Christians performed? They showed love for another Christian. They had compassion on another Christian. They helped another Christian. What greater work is there than that? Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” The Apostle John wrote in First John 2:10, “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.”

These Christians had compassion on the writer of the book of Hebrews. The English word for “compassion” has the same form as the Greek word. It is made of the word “passion” with a prefix “com” that defines a commonality between two individuals. If you have compassion for someone, it means that you understand what they are going through and you are feeling what they are feeling. You are feeling their pain, and you do something to relieve their pain. These Christians gave materially to the writer of the book of Hebrews. When the believers were told that they had “in heaven a better and an enduring substance,” it meant that they gave up some of their own possessions. Contrary to what some people teach today, these believers did not receive more from God in this life for what they had given. They were told that they would have “a better and an enduring substance” in heaven, not on earth.

These believers were told in Hebrews 10:35 “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which had great recompence of reward.” If you have served the Lord Jesus, if you have worked to spread the gospel, if you have suffered for His sake, then you have a reward that will be coming to you when Christ appears. That should give you a sense of freedom, and joy, and boldness, and confidence. But beware. You can lose your reward. If you do lose it, it will be because you have cast it away. As we see clearly in this verse, a Christian does not lose his salvation in such a situation; but a Christian can lose his reward.

What does a Christian need in order to not lose his reward? He needs endurance. It says in Hebrews 10:36, “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” The word that is translated “patience” means “endurance.” It means to “bear up under.” It means to continue carrying the burden that God has given you to bear. Jesus said, “Take up your cross, and follow me.”

Hebrews 10:36 speaks of a promise. There is a promise of rewards for those who serve God. But the rewards are conditional. The rewards will only be given to those who “have done the will of God.” Many of the greatest failures of Christians will be revealed at the judgment to be due to the fact that they went their own way instead of God’s way in some important matter.

The Bible says in Hebrews 10:37, “For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” Literally the phrase “a little while” means “a very, very little while.” One of the things that should help every Christian to do the right thing is to remember that life is short. We can endure the burdens that we must endure because it is only for “a little while.” When people think their burdens will never end, it makes them much harder to bear.

Sometimes when we think of the end, we are thinking of death. We know that when we die, our burdens will finally be taken away. We will leave this earth when we die, and because of Jesus, we will be in the freedom and bliss of heaven forever. But some of us might live for another fifty years or more before that happens. It is the return of the Lord that makes the possibility of “a little while” to be literally true for everyone of us no matter what is our life expectancy. What this verse means and many others like it is that the Holy Spirit is saying clearly that Jesus might come at any moment. Jesus could very well have returned to the earth during the time of the apostles. Jesus could very well return to the earth today. Make sure that you have the right doctrine about the return of Christ. His return is imminent. There is no other event that must take place before Christ returns to rapture the believers. The Bible says in First Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

The Bible says in Hebrews 10:38, “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” This verse is actually an introduction to the next chapter. Hebrews chapter eleven is the great chapter in the Bible about those who live by faith. The writer of the book of Hebrews is by the Holy Spirit encouraging these believers to continue in their life of faith. What better way to do it than to hold forth as examples others who have lived by faith? The phrase “the just shall live by faith” comes from Habakkuk 2:3. It is a very important verse and is quoted several times in the New Testament. The meaning of the verse has an application to both how to be saved and how to live for God.

The phrase “the just shall live by faith” refers to how to be saved, because Paul quoted this verse in Romans chapter one. It says in Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth: to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” In this context it is talking about living eternally. That is what salvation is: obtaining eternal life. The good news from Christ is that this eternal life is obtained by faith in Him. Those who have this faith in Christ “shall live.” And those who have this faith in Christ shall be called “just” by God.

When the phrase “the just shall live by faith” is quoted in Hebrews 10:38, the context refers to living by faith in this world. The emphasis is on continuing to live by faith every day. That is the will of God for every person: that they learn to live by faith and that they do it every day. Concerning those who stop living by faith, the Holy Spirit says in Hebrews 10:38, “if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” Of course, this is talking about drawing back from the faith. To have faith is very much a part of making a determined choice. A person has faith because they want to have faith. Jesus said, “Seek and ye shall find.” That is the way it works with faith. Those who are bold and determined to live by faith will find faith in Christ. Those who are timid and who shrink back from a life of faith will see their faith diminish. The Holy Spirit has “no pleasure” in the person who starts but then draws back from a life of faith. As it says in Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him.”

Continuing on the same theme, the Bible says in Hebrews 10:39, “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” The word that is translated “perdition” means “utter destruction.” Exactly what is being destroyed depends upon the context. The word is used for both physical destruction as well as spiritual destruction.

The phrase that is translated “the saving of the soul” could also be translated “the preserving of the life.” It depends upon the context as to which meaning is to be used to properly understand a given passage. For example, the word “soul” is used in Acts 7:14 that says, “Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.” In such a context the reference is to the human life. According to Hebrews 10:39 and according to the context of what we have been studying in Hebrews chapter 10 there is something very terrible that can happen to a believer. A great destruction can befall someone who believed and started following Christ, but who later made a decision to stop living by faith.

Hebrews 10:39 says, “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Those who draw back will face destruction of their life and loss of their rewards. What a terrible loss. Everyone who gets saved has such a great potential to their life in the service of the Lord. They could have lived by faith and seen great things happen as God used them for the glory of the name of Christ. Somewhere along the way they became weak, or they stayed weak in faith when they could have been strong. Somewhere along the way they decided that to live by faith in Christ was too big of a price to pay, and so they stopped. They drew back. But the will of God is that anyone who has benefited from the death of Christ should serve Christ and grow in Him and bear fruit for His glory. It is no wonder that God is not pleased with those who “draw back.” This chapter was written to Christians to warn them, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” “The Lord shall judge his people.” “Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompence, saith the Lord.”

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