For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
After doing what God asks, His people still need steady endurance, waiting on in faith until what He has promised is actually received. Doing His will means working together with Him, letting Him train and complete the character, resisting temptation, escaping the corruption of the world, sharing His nature, and adding to faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and love so the life is not empty or failing. Confidence in God brings great reward and must not be thrown away, but held firm through discouragement, doubt, temptation and danger until the promise comes. The promise is the soon appearing of the Saviour to bring deliverance and rest, the hope of eternal life made real, and the glory of the redeemed when the battle is fought and the victory won. This was the need of Advent believers who had faithfully proclaimed Christ's immediate coming to the autumn of 1844 and then faced bitter disappointment, when they were to hold fast to the light already given, keep searching Scripture, and wait and watch for further light and the Lord's coming. Their waiting was met with light on the open door to the heavenly sanctuary, where Jesus had entered the Most Holy Place to cleanse it and plead His blood before the ark before returning in kingly power to gather those who patiently await Him.
Words and Immediate Context
The verse calls for patient endurance, for only after doing the will of God do believers continue waiting in faith to receive what He has promised. This endurance belongs together with holding fast confidence in the promised reward and with refusing to turn back, while the words that follow point to the coming of Christ as near. Patience therefore means continuing to do God's will before receiving the promise, waiting in faith rather than drawing back.
Doing the will of God means laboring together with God, submitting to His training to be complete, resisting temptation, drawing strength from God, escaping the corruption in the world through lust, and partaking of the divine nature. It means giving all diligence to add to faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity, so as not to be barren or unfruitful or fall but to make calling and election sure. Such patience endures by faith as Moses endured in seeing Him who is invisible. Doing the will of God also means faithfully performing every known duty, doing God's work diligently and in faith, learning His will by searching Scripture in order to know and obey it, and then calmly resting in His promises to receive the promise. It means accepting the responsible position of trust where God places a person, not because that person is faultless but in spite of imperfections, and remaining under test and trial with patience, guided by the Word as guide and the Holy Spirit as teacher. Those who bear God's proving receive a rich reward, but failure to bear the test leaves a person unable to be used to God's honor because he mars God's work.
Confidence in God has great recompense of reward and must not be cast away, but kept with patience after doing the will of God until the promise is received, through discouragement, temptation, doubt and peril. It is to be held on to rather than given up when darkness threatens to overwhelm, by keeping the eye fixed on Jesus whether feeling is present or not. For one in depression of soul who thinks himself merely tolerated and distrusted, it calls for being not faithless but believing, putting trust wholly in God, ceasing suspicion and mistrust of brethren, refusing an aggravated version of words and actions, and ceasing to brood over supposed wrongs and imagined concealed work while feeling unappreciated, wounded and betrayed. Those who reveal such Christlike patience, with strength in God alone and confidence in His pledged faithfulness, shall in quietness and forbearance conquer and obtain deliverance and His richest gifts, while those who forsake the Lord's way for human methods will lie down in sorrow outside the city of God.
The just must live by faith and not draw back unto perdition and God's displeasure, but believe to the saving of the soul, holding firm in faith to the end of the journey with Christ. Having done the will of God in proclaiming the Lord's immediate coming, closing up work with the world and committing all to His care, believers must establish their hearts and patiently wait and watch in full faith instead of casting away confidence. Patience is holding fast and believing to the saving of the soul, not acting rashly or judging God's ways, enduring trial and reproach, waiting for light when in darkness, staying with the Bible and prayer, keeping the eye on the King, and fighting through even alone unto death until the work is completed. The context ties the promise to the nearness of Christ's coming, for in yet a little while He that shall come will come and will not tarry, so the wait may feel long but the coming is near and must not be doubted. Believers are therefore to keep confidence and faith, remain ready at all times, and endure as they wait for their reward.
Advent Disappointment Setting
The call for patience after doing the will of God applied with special force to those who had faithfully proclaimed Christ's immediate coming culminating on the tenth day of the seventh month in the autumn of 1844. Having done that work and closed up their work with the world at cost to name and reputation, committing vessel and cargo to the Pilot, they had done the will of God. When the expected time passed they were not to doubt their obedience or abandon confidence in the work God had led them to do, but to keep confidence and live by faith while waiting in trial. The promise to be received was connected with Christ's coming, for in yet a little while He that shall come will come and will not tarry, and the coming draweth nigh.
In that time of trial, danger, and duty the waiting ones were to establish their hearts and patiently wait and watch for the coming of the Lord in full faith that God had been in the work. They must not cast away their confidence and draw back toward perdition and God's displeasure, confessing the Advent movement as human or satanic error, which is the way out on the side of perdition, but must wait, watch, pray, and hold fast their confidence and believe to the saving of the soul. Patience meant not acting rashly or judging God's ways, but enduring trial and reproach and being falsely spoken against for Christ's sake, waiting for light when in darkness, staying with the Bible and prayer, keeping the eye on the King, and fighting through though others faint and fail, even alone unto death. This trying of faith and patience was necessary before the work could be completed, a little season of self-preparation and proving before the world, and those who abide the test and see the end of faith will be brought by the great Joshua unto the goodly land, be in speaking distance of port for the final signal, and receive the crown and glorious laurels.
For those disappointed ones doing the will of God had meant following the guidance of the Spirit and Scripture. Though after disappointment they could not understand God's purpose or see the way ahead, with hopes disappointed and Christ's coming seeming delayed, they were to stand by faith and hold fast to the light and promises already received and to confidence in God's Word. They were to continue searching Scripture and to wait and watch patiently for further light and for the Lord's coming, trusting that God's word will be fulfilled and clearer light will come.
Their patience was rewarded when light came explaining what was accomplished on that day by the light of the sanctuary and the three messages of Revelation 14. By faith they saw the open door to the heavenly sanctuary and Jesus there in the Most Holy Place pleading His blood before the ark. The mystery of the disappointment was thus understood: God kept His promise, but men had mistakenly expected the sanctuary to be cleansed on earth, whereas Jesus had entered the Most Holy Place to cleanse the heavenly sanctuary and make a special atonement for Israel. After completing that work He will return in kingly power to gather those who have patiently awaited Him. Had they obeyed the light received and remained united and steadfast through disappointment without drawing back, the third angel's message and Sabbath reform would have advanced with great power, and God's purpose would have been fulfilled speedily.
Promised Return and Reward
The promise to be received after doing the will of God is the soon appearing of the Saviour to bring deliverance and rest, the fulfillment of the hope of eternal life centered in seeing Him, and the future glory of the redeemed when the battle has been fought and the victory won. Patient endurance is needed while awaiting that coming, continuing in faith through resistance to the enemy and through trials, with looking to Jesus developing the patience that produces firm hope. Those standing on the very verge of fulfillment must therefore keep confidence and not cast it away, for it has great recompense of reward, and He that shall come will come in yet a little while and will not tarry.
In His presence the trials and sufferings of this life will seem as nothing and as nothingness, and the former things shall not be remembered, for present affliction is temporary in view of that hope. Faith must continually increase to guide along the narrow path to the city and into the unbounded future of glory prepared for the redeemed. After learning the will of God by searching the Scriptures in order to know and obey it, His people have need of Christlike patience, with strength in God alone and confidence in His pledged faithfulness to fulfill His word to all who are true. In quietness and forbearance they shall conquer, and those who reveal the patience of Christ will obtain deliverance and receive the promise and His richest gifts, while those who forsake the way of the Lord to mark out new methods and follow human surmisings will surely lie down in sorrow outside the city of God.
Trials, when borne with patience and good courage, are God's workmen preparing the recompense of reward. Patience therefore keeps the sufferer cheerful, free, happy and trustful, looking not at temporal things seen but at eternal things unseen. Such endurance is to be met with courage and trust until the promised reward is received.
Holding Faith While Waiting
Holding patience means holding fast faith and confidence to the end of the journey with Christ through discouragement, temptation, doubt, peril and difficulty, remaining ready at all times and refusing to give up. Looking to Jesus develops patience, and patience produces firm hope, with the promise linked to Christ's soon coming and the future glory of the redeemed. A delayed answer is no reason to doubt God's word, for confidence in His promises is to be maintained through temptation and doubt in trust that such endurance has great recompense of reward.
When darkness and discouragement come upon the soul and threaten to overwhelm, confidence is not to be cast away but the eye is to be kept fixed on Jesus feeling or no feeling, faithfully performing every known duty and then calmly resting in the promises to receive the promise. There is still need of patience after doing the will of God in order to receive the promise and reward, which means not drawing back but believing to the saving of the soul, not acting rashly or judging God's ways, enduring trial and reproach and being spoken against falsely for Christ's sake. Waiting for light when in darkness means staying with the Bible and prayer, watching, keeping the eye on the King, and fighting through though others faint and fail, even alone unto death, as a necessary trying of faith and proving before the work can be completed.
In times of affliction or unjust treatment sufferers are to keep praying and trust God rather than judge by discouraging outward appearances, with patient faith holding fast to confidence in God's promised reward. When the widow and fatherless are robbed of their means, the sufferer must cry to God rather than turn to hard-hearted men and unbelieving lawyers and courts to settle church difficulties. Turning away from those whose hearts are as steel, making requests known to the Maker, continuing to pray without looking at discouraging outward appearances in faith that God hears the prayer of faith, and agreeing together in united persevering prayer for deliverance is doing the will of God while holding patience until the promise is received.
Patience comes when soul and spirit are cleansed so there is more of Christ and none of self, producing patience, longsuffering, gentleness and love for one another so that pulling apart ceases. Formed by the Holy Spirit and cleansed of self, believers are sustained in doing God's will in consecrated, unselfish, holy service while looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, after which the promised reward comes.
Practical Applications for Believers
Those laboring for God in the cities are to take the instruction personally, going forward in faith and doing their very best while watching and working and praying with assurance that God hears and answers petitions, thereby gaining an experience invaluable for after work. Faith in this work is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, as shown by the record of the faithful in Hebrews 11. Endurance in doing the will of God means moving forward in faith, working and praying, trusting God, and refusing to become discouraged, and in building obedience need not wait until all the required money is in hand.
Like the Christians in the first centuries who encouraged one another to endure deprivation and hardship without renouncing belief in Christ, believers need patience to remain faithful through persecution and suffering until receiving the promised reward. Their trials bring them nearer to rest and reward. One in depression of soul who feels merely tolerated and distrusted by brethren is called to be not faithless but believing and to put trust wholly in God. Such a one, even while feeling unappreciated, wounded in the house of friends, and betrayed by a close companion with whom he once took sweet counsel, is to stop suspicion and mistrust of brethren, stop accepting an aggravated version of words spoken and actions performed, and stop brooding over supposed wrongs and imagining concealed underhanded work, keeping steady because confidence has great recompense of reward and must not be cast away. The just must live by faith and not draw back unto perdition but believe to the saving of the soul, for in a little while he that shall come will come and will not tarry.
In married life patience is needed, with a husband required to learn patience and change how he treats his wife by controlling his words and impulses if he hopes to make her life happy and restore the relationship. Those standing on the very verge of fulfillment must keep confidence and endure with patience after doing the will of God in order to receive the promise, remaining steadfast and not becoming discouraged while moving forward in faith. The promise is the soon appearing of the Saviour to bring deliverance and rest, to see Him in whom hopes of eternal life are centered, when the battle has been fought and the victory won. Confidence must not be cast away because it has great recompense of reward, for yet a little while He that shall come will come and will not tarry, and in His presence the trials and sufferings of this life will seem as nothingness and the former things shall not be remembered, while faith must continually increase to guide along the narrow path to the city and the unbounded future of glory for the redeemed.
After doing what God asks, His people still need steady endurance, waiting on in faith until what He has promised is actually received. Doing His will means working together with Him, letting Him train and complete the character, resisting temptation, escaping the corruption of the world, sharing His nature, and adding to faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and love so the life is not empty or failing. Confidence in God brings great reward and must not be thrown away, but held firm through discouragement, doubt, temptation and danger until the promise comes. The promise is the soon appearing of the Saviour to bring deliverance and rest, the hope of eternal life made real, and the glory of the redeemed when the battle is fought and the victory won. This was the need of Advent believers who had faithfully proclaimed Christ's immediate coming to the autumn of 1844 and then faced bitter disappointment, when they were to hold fast to the light already given, keep searching Scripture, and wait and watch for further light and the Lord's coming. Their waiting was met with light on the open door to the heavenly sanctuary, where Jesus had entered the Most Holy Place to cleanse it and plead His blood before the ark before returning in kingly power to gather those who patiently await Him.
Words and Immediate Context
The verse calls for patient endurance, for only after doing the will of God do believers continue waiting in faith to receive what He has promised. This endurance belongs together with holding fast confidence in the promised reward and with refusing to turn back, while the words that follow point to the coming of Christ as near. Patience therefore means continuing to do God's will before receiving the promise, waiting in faith rather than drawing back.
Doing the will of God means laboring together with God, submitting to His training to be complete, resisting temptation, drawing strength from God, escaping the corruption in the world through lust, and partaking of the divine nature. It means giving all diligence to add to faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity, so as not to be barren or unfruitful or fall but to make calling and election sure. Such patience endures by faith as Moses endured in seeing Him who is invisible. Doing the will of God also means faithfully performing every known duty, doing God's work diligently and in faith, learning His will by searching Scripture in order to know and obey it, and then calmly resting in His promises to receive the promise. It means accepting the responsible position of trust where God places a person, not because that person is faultless but in spite of imperfections, and remaining under test and trial with patience, guided by the Word as guide and the Holy Spirit as teacher. Those who bear God's proving receive a rich reward, but failure to bear the test leaves a person unable to be used to God's honor because he mars God's work.
Confidence in God has great recompense of reward and must not be cast away, but kept with patience after doing the will of God until the promise is received, through discouragement, temptation, doubt and peril. It is to be held on to rather than given up when darkness threatens to overwhelm, by keeping the eye fixed on Jesus whether feeling is present or not. For one in depression of soul who thinks himself merely tolerated and distrusted, it calls for being not faithless but believing, putting trust wholly in God, ceasing suspicion and mistrust of brethren, refusing an aggravated version of words and actions, and ceasing to brood over supposed wrongs and imagined concealed work while feeling unappreciated, wounded and betrayed. Those who reveal such Christlike patience, with strength in God alone and confidence in His pledged faithfulness, shall in quietness and forbearance conquer and obtain deliverance and His richest gifts, while those who forsake the Lord's way for human methods will lie down in sorrow outside the city of God.
The just must live by faith and not draw back unto perdition and God's displeasure, but believe to the saving of the soul, holding firm in faith to the end of the journey with Christ. Having done the will of God in proclaiming the Lord's immediate coming, closing up work with the world and committing all to His care, believers must establish their hearts and patiently wait and watch in full faith instead of casting away confidence. Patience is holding fast and believing to the saving of the soul, not acting rashly or judging God's ways, enduring trial and reproach, waiting for light when in darkness, staying with the Bible and prayer, keeping the eye on the King, and fighting through even alone unto death until the work is completed. The context ties the promise to the nearness of Christ's coming, for in yet a little while He that shall come will come and will not tarry, so the wait may feel long but the coming is near and must not be doubted. Believers are therefore to keep confidence and faith, remain ready at all times, and endure as they wait for their reward.
Advent Disappointment Setting
The call for patience after doing the will of God applied with special force to those who had faithfully proclaimed Christ's immediate coming culminating on the tenth day of the seventh month in the autumn of 1844. Having done that work and closed up their work with the world at cost to name and reputation, committing vessel and cargo to the Pilot, they had done the will of God. When the expected time passed they were not to doubt their obedience or abandon confidence in the work God had led them to do, but to keep confidence and live by faith while waiting in trial. The promise to be received was connected with Christ's coming, for in yet a little while He that shall come will come and will not tarry, and the coming draweth nigh.
In that time of trial, danger, and duty the waiting ones were to establish their hearts and patiently wait and watch for the coming of the Lord in full faith that God had been in the work. They must not cast away their confidence and draw back toward perdition and God's displeasure, confessing the Advent movement as human or satanic error, which is the way out on the side of perdition, but must wait, watch, pray, and hold fast their confidence and believe to the saving of the soul. Patience meant not acting rashly or judging God's ways, but enduring trial and reproach and being falsely spoken against for Christ's sake, waiting for light when in darkness, staying with the Bible and prayer, keeping the eye on the King, and fighting through though others faint and fail, even alone unto death. This trying of faith and patience was necessary before the work could be completed, a little season of self-preparation and proving before the world, and those who abide the test and see the end of faith will be brought by the great Joshua unto the goodly land, be in speaking distance of port for the final signal, and receive the crown and glorious laurels.
For those disappointed ones doing the will of God had meant following the guidance of the Spirit and Scripture. Though after disappointment they could not understand God's purpose or see the way ahead, with hopes disappointed and Christ's coming seeming delayed, they were to stand by faith and hold fast to the light and promises already received and to confidence in God's Word. They were to continue searching Scripture and to wait and watch patiently for further light and for the Lord's coming, trusting that God's word will be fulfilled and clearer light will come.
Their patience was rewarded when light came explaining what was accomplished on that day by the light of the sanctuary and the three messages of Revelation 14. By faith they saw the open door to the heavenly sanctuary and Jesus there in the Most Holy Place pleading His blood before the ark. The mystery of the disappointment was thus understood: God kept His promise, but men had mistakenly expected the sanctuary to be cleansed on earth, whereas Jesus had entered the Most Holy Place to cleanse the heavenly sanctuary and make a special atonement for Israel. After completing that work He will return in kingly power to gather those who have patiently awaited Him. Had they obeyed the light received and remained united and steadfast through disappointment without drawing back, the third angel's message and Sabbath reform would have advanced with great power, and God's purpose would have been fulfilled speedily.
Promised Return and Reward
The promise to be received after doing the will of God is the soon appearing of the Saviour to bring deliverance and rest, the fulfillment of the hope of eternal life centered in seeing Him, and the future glory of the redeemed when the battle has been fought and the victory won. Patient endurance is needed while awaiting that coming, continuing in faith through resistance to the enemy and through trials, with looking to Jesus developing the patience that produces firm hope. Those standing on the very verge of fulfillment must therefore keep confidence and not cast it away, for it has great recompense of reward, and He that shall come will come in yet a little while and will not tarry.
In His presence the trials and sufferings of this life will seem as nothing and as nothingness, and the former things shall not be remembered, for present affliction is temporary in view of that hope. Faith must continually increase to guide along the narrow path to the city and into the unbounded future of glory prepared for the redeemed. After learning the will of God by searching the Scriptures in order to know and obey it, His people have need of Christlike patience, with strength in God alone and confidence in His pledged faithfulness to fulfill His word to all who are true. In quietness and forbearance they shall conquer, and those who reveal the patience of Christ will obtain deliverance and receive the promise and His richest gifts, while those who forsake the way of the Lord to mark out new methods and follow human surmisings will surely lie down in sorrow outside the city of God.
Trials, when borne with patience and good courage, are God's workmen preparing the recompense of reward. Patience therefore keeps the sufferer cheerful, free, happy and trustful, looking not at temporal things seen but at eternal things unseen. Such endurance is to be met with courage and trust until the promised reward is received.
Holding Faith While Waiting
Holding patience means holding fast faith and confidence to the end of the journey with Christ through discouragement, temptation, doubt, peril and difficulty, remaining ready at all times and refusing to give up. Looking to Jesus develops patience, and patience produces firm hope, with the promise linked to Christ's soon coming and the future glory of the redeemed. A delayed answer is no reason to doubt God's word, for confidence in His promises is to be maintained through temptation and doubt in trust that such endurance has great recompense of reward.
When darkness and discouragement come upon the soul and threaten to overwhelm, confidence is not to be cast away but the eye is to be kept fixed on Jesus feeling or no feeling, faithfully performing every known duty and then calmly resting in the promises to receive the promise. There is still need of patience after doing the will of God in order to receive the promise and reward, which means not drawing back but believing to the saving of the soul, not acting rashly or judging God's ways, enduring trial and reproach and being spoken against falsely for Christ's sake. Waiting for light when in darkness means staying with the Bible and prayer, watching, keeping the eye on the King, and fighting through though others faint and fail, even alone unto death, as a necessary trying of faith and proving before the work can be completed.
In times of affliction or unjust treatment sufferers are to keep praying and trust God rather than judge by discouraging outward appearances, with patient faith holding fast to confidence in God's promised reward. When the widow and fatherless are robbed of their means, the sufferer must cry to God rather than turn to hard-hearted men and unbelieving lawyers and courts to settle church difficulties. Turning away from those whose hearts are as steel, making requests known to the Maker, continuing to pray without looking at discouraging outward appearances in faith that God hears the prayer of faith, and agreeing together in united persevering prayer for deliverance is doing the will of God while holding patience until the promise is received.
Patience comes when soul and spirit are cleansed so there is more of Christ and none of self, producing patience, longsuffering, gentleness and love for one another so that pulling apart ceases. Formed by the Holy Spirit and cleansed of self, believers are sustained in doing God's will in consecrated, unselfish, holy service while looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God, after which the promised reward comes.
Practical Applications for Believers
Those laboring for God in the cities are to take the instruction personally, going forward in faith and doing their very best while watching and working and praying with assurance that God hears and answers petitions, thereby gaining an experience invaluable for after work. Faith in this work is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, as shown by the record of the faithful in Hebrews 11. Endurance in doing the will of God means moving forward in faith, working and praying, trusting God, and refusing to become discouraged, and in building obedience need not wait until all the required money is in hand.
Like the Christians in the first centuries who encouraged one another to endure deprivation and hardship without renouncing belief in Christ, believers need patience to remain faithful through persecution and suffering until receiving the promised reward. Their trials bring them nearer to rest and reward. One in depression of soul who feels merely tolerated and distrusted by brethren is called to be not faithless but believing and to put trust wholly in God. Such a one, even while feeling unappreciated, wounded in the house of friends, and betrayed by a close companion with whom he once took sweet counsel, is to stop suspicion and mistrust of brethren, stop accepting an aggravated version of words spoken and actions performed, and stop brooding over supposed wrongs and imagining concealed underhanded work, keeping steady because confidence has great recompense of reward and must not be cast away. The just must live by faith and not draw back unto perdition but believe to the saving of the soul, for in a little while he that shall come will come and will not tarry.
In married life patience is needed, with a husband required to learn patience and change how he treats his wife by controlling his words and impulses if he hopes to make her life happy and restore the relationship. Those standing on the very verge of fulfillment must keep confidence and endure with patience after doing the will of God in order to receive the promise, remaining steadfast and not becoming discouraged while moving forward in faith. The promise is the soon appearing of the Saviour to bring deliverance and rest, to see Him in whom hopes of eternal life are centered, when the battle has been fought and the victory won. Confidence must not be cast away because it has great recompense of reward, for yet a little while He that shall come will come and will not tarry, and in His presence the trials and sufferings of this life will seem as nothingness and the former things shall not be remembered, while faith must continually increase to guide along the narrow path to the city and the unbounded future of glory for the redeemed.