Quote:
Originally Posted by shag
Esaias, I'd like your opinion on this...
Heb. 10:37
For "in a very long while, the one who is coming will return— he will not delay- nope.
For "in a long while, the one who is coming will return— he will not delay- nope.
For "in a while the one who is coming will return— he will not delay-nope.
For "in a very little while, the one who is coming will return— he will not delay-yep.
What is the purpose of the "very little while" in this verse?
(Even asside from the "will NOT delay".)
And..if you received that epistle 2000 years ago, what would you think? |
I was just perusing this thread and found this. I don't think I ever saw this post to me! My bad!
And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision, and that plainly on a tablet, that he that reads it may run. For the vision is yet for a time, and it shall shoot forth at the end, and not in vain:
though he should tarry, wait for him; for he will surely come, and will not tarry. If he should draw back, my soul has no pleasure in him: but the just shall live by my faith.5 But the arrogant man and the scorner, the boastful man, shall not finish anything; who has enlarged his desire as the grave, and like death he is never satisfied, and he will gather to himself all the nations, and will receive to himself all the peoples.
(
Habakkuk 2:2-4)
Paul was quoting Habakkuk from the Greek, as I here provided from Brenton's translation.
According to A. R. Faussett, this was around 610 BC, some 600 years before Christ. Paul however applies it to the brethren he was writing to:
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
(
Hebrews 10:35-39)
It seems that Paul was teaching 'you need patience so you might receive the promise'. His exhortation to be patient (and persevere) is then backed up by a reference and quotation from Habakkuk. He then carries the quotation to 'if any draw back' etc, and then states we (the faithful) are not of them that draw back but are of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
So then, it seems Paul did not refer this passage of Habbakuk to any particular eschatological event, but instead referred to it as expressing a principle that one should wait patiently and expectantly for God's word and promise to be fulfilled.
Looking at the actual prophecy, it appears to be referring to the coming of Messiah to receive all nations to himself. Even if you believe this took place in the first century AD, it was still over 600 years - almost 700 in fact - after the prophecy was given. Which means 'yet a little while' does not necessarily mean 'within YOUR physical lifetime' or any such thing.
In fact, this is a good evidence for historicism, as we see prophecies not necessarily being 'immediately' fulfilled but beginning a fulfillment quite some time after the prophecy was given.
I think the point of Habbakuk was not a specific time frame, but of the certainty of the Promise coming to pass. And I believe Paul drew on that point from the prophet, and applied it to the brethren he was writing to.
And it applies to us, as well. I do not believe Paul was saying 'Jesus is coming in our lifetimes' and honestly I don't see how anyone - regardless of eschatological position - could get that from that particular passage in Hebrews.
The larger context - that of persecution and the Lord executing vengeance upon the persecutors - indicates Paul was applying a 600 plus year old prophetic expression to their current persecution, saying that the Lord would indeed soon execute vengeance upon their persecutors (the Jews), . Which happened in 70 AD when the Lord's Olivet prophecy came to pass in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.
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