The Righteous Will Live by Faith
Read Hebrews 10:35–39. What is God saying to us in these verses?
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Endurance is a characteristic of God’s end-time people, without
which they will not be able to receive the promises (Rev. 13:10, Rev.
14:12). In order to endure, however, believers need to “hold fast” their
faith (Heb. 10:23, Heb. 4:14). Paul has shown that the desert genera-
tion was not able to receive the promise because they lacked faith (Heb.
3:19). Hebrews portrays believers as also at the threshold of the fulfill-
ment of the promises (Heb. 9:28; Heb. 10:25, 36–38) and as needing to
exercise faith if they want to receive the promises (Heb. 10:39).
Paul introduces his exposition on faith with a quotation from
Habakkuk 2:2–4. Habakkuk had asked God why He tolerated the
treacherous people who oppressed the righteous (Hab. 1:12–17). The
prophet and his people were suffering; thus, they wanted God to act.
God answered, however, that there was an appointed time for the fulfill-
ment of His promise, and they needed to wait (Hab. 2:2–4). Habakkuk
and his people lived, like us, between the time of the promise and the
time of its fulfillment. God’s message continued in Hebrews, “ ‘He
who is coming will come and will not delay’ ” (Heb. 10:37, NIV; see
also Hab. 2:3).
The message refers to Jesus. He is the righteous one, the embodiment
of faith, who pleases God and provides life (Heb. 10:5–10).
Why, then, would He “delay”? He won’t. He already has come to die
for us (Heb. 9:15–26), and He will surely come again at the appointed
time (Heb. 9:27, 28; Heb. 10:25).
God’s message continued: “ ‘My righteous one shall live by faith’ ”
(Heb. 10:38, ESV). Paul states the same in Romans 1:17 and Galatians
3:11. Romans 1:16, 17 is especially enlightening because it explains
that the righteousness of God is “revealed from faith to faith.” What
Paul means is that God’s faithfulness to His promises comes first, and
His faithfulness produces, as its result, our faith and/or faithfulness.
Thus, because God remains faithful to His promises (2 Tim. 2:13),
the righteous, in response to God’s faithfulness, will remain faithful,
as well.
Why is it important to recognize that our faith results from and
feeds on God’s faithfulness? How can we learn more to trust in
His faithfulness to us and to the promises He has made to us?