Hebrews 10:37
"For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry."
Don’t ever doubt it. He is coming again. And He will not tarry. When it’s time for Him to come nothing is going to prevent it.
Now verse 38, you know, I stress that Paul shifts gears. Just all of sudden, he just shifts from one gear down to the next and then almost without warning up again. What he's doing is showing the practical, earthy side and then the heavenly and spiritual side in many cases, as it's within the spiritual side that our attention is to be. For since Christ's finished works and ascension all things are of the spiritual and His activity within those who have become receptive ones is in the spiritual, as He develops His (God's) character and nature within those who are His. All right, now here we have a shift.
Hebrews 10:38a
"Now the just (the believers) shall live by (what?) faith:…"
Just because he’s writing to Hebrew-Christians doesn’t change it one iota because he says the same thing back in Romans and Galatians. "That the just shall live by faith!"
Hebrews 10:38b
"…but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."
If they or we do not embrace these things by trusting Him (Christ), then God says – "my soul shall have no pleasure in him." Because God, as we’re going to see when we get into chapter 11, looks first and foremost for only one human attribute. And it’s not goodness, it’s not kindness, it’s not love, it defiantly not in Religion; what’s the first thing He looks for? Our obedience to His Faith! Can you take Him at His Word!
When you’ve got trust, all of the other things fall in place. But trusting has to come first. All right, so "The just shall live by faith. But if any draw back from that faith, then God has no pleasure in him." Now verse 39.
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."
Paul writes: "We are not of them who draw back unto perdition." We’re not turning our back scornfully and going back into a religious system of the soon coming destruction of Judaism and the holy city of Jerusalem, that will make us miss Heaven’s glory. But, he says, "We are of them that believe." John would write of the great harlot and the mystical city of Babylon as these allude to the now out of God's mind Jerusalem and Judaism and in deed all religious forms as they are but works of mans imagination.
To recap what has been covered within the last four chapters we'll quote from James A. Fowler of Christ In You Ministry, and his "Commentary on Hebrews" pp 215-218 from chapter 7:11 of Hebrews the following as a way of summation:
"Paul begins by denying that the Aaronic and Levitical priesthoods, integrally connected, as they were, with the old covenant Mosaic Law, could achieve God’s ultimate and eternal intent to mankind to be redeemed and restored to function as intended. “If indeed perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for the people have been given it on the basis of Law), why was there yet a need for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not designated according to the order of Aaron?” Paul is not questioning whether the system of the Levitical priesthood was a perfect system, or whether it achieved the purpose that God intended for it. Instead, Paul is noting that “if (as is not the case) the perfection of humanity could have been achieved so that mankind could have been restored to their created end-objective via the Levitical priesthood and the old covenant Mosaic Law to which it was integrally connected, there would have been no need for the eschatological expectation (in accord with Psalm 110:4) of an effectual and eternal priest ‘according to the order of Melchizedek’.” The Judaic priesthood and the old covenant Mosaic Law (cf. 19) could not make mankind function in the perfection of the end-objective that God intended. They were but an imperfect, preliminary and provisional measure – a stop-gap system that foreshadowed the “Son, made perfect forever” (cf. 28), the perfect sacrifice and the perfect dynamic by which mankind can be restored to their perfect purpose. The Levitical priesthood and the Mosaic Law are integrally connected and mutually dependent. The old covenant priesthood was established by the Law, and the Law governed the regulations of the Levitical priesthood. On the other hand, it can be stated that the inevitable violation of the Law necessitated the Levitical priesthood for temporary expiation and reconciliation, and the Law was established to expose the need of the priesthood of Jesus Christ which was to operate through divine grace rather than through legal performance. The Mosaic Law and the Judaic priesthood are inseparable. The failure of one to achieve God’s purpose implies the failure of the other (cf. 12). When one is invalidated and cancelled (cf. 18), the other is likewise nullified and abrogated.
The Mosaic Law and the Judaic priesthood were insufficient and inadequate to achieve God’s objective of the restoration of human function to the glory of God, for such required the sacrifice of the God-man in order to allow for the grace provision of deity within humanity. If the Law and priesthood had been adequate there would have been no reason for the eschatological expectation of a Messianic priest “according to the order of Melchizedek” (cf. Ps. 110:4), rather than in the existent traditional and legal order of Aaron."
Now all the way up through Paul’s epistles that’s been the precise instruction for a right relationship with God – to believe what He has said. And the synonymous word of course is faith. So "to them who believe to the saving of the soul." Well, I think we can just go into chapter 11 – I’m amazed that the chapter didn’t start up there a couple verses when we started talking about trusting in His faithfulness. But here we have it now, this whole system of believing, trusting or faith.
Hebrews 11:1
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
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