For the past few weeks I’ve been going through the book of Hebrews in my daily studies. It’s quite a long book and contains some rich theology as well as practical teaching in everyday living. I did have to smile when I got the the last few verses and read ‘bear with me… for I have written to you briefly’! (Hebrews 13:22)

If it has an overall theme it’s this: You can’t go back – press on. At the time there would have been Jews who’d become Christians but were thinking about going back to their old ways and practices. There will have been many reasons for this, but avoiding persecution would certainly have been among them. For example in Chapter 10 the writer refers to the having ‘endured a hard struggle’ after becoming Christians, ‘being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction’ and ‘the plundering of your property’.

Now we aren’t exactly in that set of circumstances, but the principles apply equally to us. We have had to endure a period of isolation. Although we can meet with individuals, we can’t ‘assemble together’. We miss that. Things are not the same as we’ve been used to for possibly most of our lives, and what’s worse, it’s not at all clear when and how it will all end. On top of that, and probably made worse by it, we have all the regular problems of this life – relationships, job security, finance, health, bereavement.

It’s at times like this when our confidence can start to waver. ‘Where is God in this?’, ‘Is it worth it?’. It’s like running a marathon – easy to get off to a good start, lots of enthusiasm and support. But after a while when the pack thins out and the pain kicks in, there are questions and thoughts such as ‘Why am I doing this?’, ‘It’s too hard, I’ll have to stop’. And that’s where the encouragement of Hebrews 10:36 is needed.

“You have need of endurance”

Endurance is a sign of faith. Of trusting that God will fulfil his promises. It comes into its own in adversity – after all, it’s easy to trust God when things are going well. Endurance is out to the test when the going gets hard. The writer then gives us a Hall of Fame (Hebrews 11) – examples from Biblical history of those who lived and acted by faith. There’s a right mix of people there, but the thing they have in common is that they all looked forward. Abraham lived in tents but looked forward to a city, Isaac and Jacob invoked future blessings on their children, Moses chose ‘the reproach of Christ’ rather than the fleeting pleasures of sin, and so on.

The thing about all these examples is that none of them received the promise in their lifetime, they all ‘died in faith’ (Heb 11:13). It’s as though they’re all saying ‘look to Jesus’ – which is the opening of the next chapter. Jesus is the one who truly endured – the cross and the shame – to complete (or perfect or finish) our faith.

So we’re in a better place than all those Old Testament saints. We can look back on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as historical fact. And as we live by faith in this life, through the good times and especially the tough times, it’s as though that ‘great cloud of witnesses’ are cheering us on. “Keep going, it will be worth it, there’s a great prize ahead, there’s a place being prepared for you!”

That’s why we’re told to ‘lay aside every weight (things that hold us back), and sin which clings so closely, and run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus’ (Heb 12:1-2). We’re more than likely going to trip up and fall – but the mark of endurance is to pick ourselves up again and keep going (See Micah 7:8 and 1 John 1:9).

We have need of endurance, but we have Jesus. We might not be able to meet as a congregation, but we can meet with one another, and encourage one another to keep going, to keep looking to Jesus – what he has done and what he has promised.

I said at the start that the message of Hebrews is ‘you can’t go back – press on’. We can’t go back because there’s nowhere to go, but we can press forward because there’s a promise of eternal life (John 6:68)

In the words of Charles Spurgeon: “As for His failing you, never dream of it – hate the thought of it. The God who has been sufficient until now, should be trusted to the end.”