Monday after Gaudete, The Third Sunday in Advent
Posted on December 16, 2019 by under
Scripture: Hebrews 10:35-39 (NKJV)
10:35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
37 “For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
Devotion
This text calls Christians to endure until Christ’s return. To endure is to willingly suffer persecution for the Faith—even to welcome the persecution—because it is better to suffer for the Faith than to have worldly happiness without faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This persecution comes in many forms: the world tempts with false doctrine, the devil literally wants to kill Christians, and the Christian’s own body betrays his faith through sinful desires and laziness. This life would be smoother without faith in Christ. But it would also lead to judgment and eternal death. He who endures in the Faith till the end will receive eternal life.
Endurance of this kind requires firm confidence in the promises of God. This confidence does not come from us, but from the Holy Spirit working through Word and sacraments. Verse 23 of the same chapter says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Our confidence lies in the faithfulness of God, whose Word can never be broken.
Endurance is the theme of Advent. The Church directs her thoughts to her Lord, Jesus Christ, who will return on the Last Day as He promised. The proof of this is that He came the first time, as a divine baby born in Bethlehem. We know He will keep His promise now because He kept His promise then. We know that He will raise us from the dead because He rose from the dead. In this confidence, and by the Holy Spirit, we can endure all persecution.
We pray: Lord, we beseech Thee, give ear to our prayers and lighten the darkness of our hearts by Thy gracious visitation; through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
