Hebrews 10:37-39: Not of Them Who Draw Back unto Perdition
2023-06-10
Hebrews 10:37
For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. (Hebrews 10:37)
This verse and the next are either a quotation or a paraphrase of Habakkuk 2:3-4. We will look at these verses here in Hebrews first.
In those days, there was “a little while” before the Lord’s return. What is this little while? Was His return going to be in that generation? Consider the discussion here.
This little while does not explain how long the duration. One thing we can know for certain, is that when the events of the end times begin, it will come very quickly. There will be no tarrying. There was some tarrying so that people would turn to Him. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). There is a point where the Lord will shut that ark door and bring a quick finish to this age.
Hebrews 10:38
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. (Hebrews 10:38)
The first part of this verse, “the just shall live by faith,” is a famous verse and quoted a few times in the New Testament. Let us consider the historical context and the other quotations here.
What does it mean to draw back? Consider these usages elsewhere:
“And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house” (Acts 20:20). Paul, while speaking to the Ephesian elders, said that he “kept back nothing that was profitable unto you.” The “kept back” is the same word. The apostle withheld nothing that could help them in the Christian life. He uses the word again with the elders a few verses later: “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).
“For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision” (Galatians 2:12). Peter separated himself from the Gentiles when Jerusalem elder James came to visit.
Those who live by faith, but then withdraw and separate themselves from God, do not continue in the hope and confidence in Christ and in His coming. God is not pleased with this. We will see in a few verses that God is only pleased with faith in Him: “But without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6). And also, the Bible reads, “And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).
Let us consider the original context in Habakkuk. Consider Habakkuk 2:1-4.
Habakkuk 2:1
I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. (Habakkuk 2:1)
The prophet, after inquiring about the evil of the Chaldeans, anticipated an answer from the Lord. Even in this, we can learn that if we call on the Lord for anything, we should anticipate an answer from Him. He did not get a quick answer; Habakkuk waited, standing watch, waiting for an answer, anticipating that it may not be a soft answer.
Habakkuk 2:2
And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. (Habakkuk 2:2)
When the Lord answered Habakkuk, showing Him a vision. It was important for the prophet to clearly record this vision, because when it comes to pass, the people that will believe the message will need to act fast.
This is why it is important to make preaching clear, whether it be the Gospel, or anything that is from the Word of God. Regarding preaching in the local assembly, we read, “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air” (1 Corinthians 14:8-9).
Habakkuk 2:3
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. (Habakkuk 2:3)
This vision of the Chaldeans was not for a while, but when it did come it would be sudden. This is how it came to pass, too. “Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain” (Daniel 5:29-30). One minute, Belshazzar was rewarding Daniel because of his help, the next moment he was dead. Belshazzar did not heed the message of Daniel. The king made the prophet the third in command of the country, only for it all to be undone a few hours later.
In Hebrews 10:37, we see that end time events and the coming of the Lord will be the same way, as we discussed previously. There is a very long delay from the Lord’s first coming until His second, for which we still wait today. “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3)
In the end times, there is another Babylon that will be destroyed. Just as the Medes came and swiftly and suddenly destroyed the Babylonians, the Antichrist’s alliance will come and destroy Mystery Babylon. “How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her” (Revelation 18:7-8).
Habakkuk 2:4
Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4)
Because of the sudden destruction that would come and will come, any servant of the Lord must be first humble, and second, live by faith. You need to be, because anything can come along and suddenly change everything forever, whether that be Christ’s coming or any other major change.
For the coming of the Lord, we read, “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming” (1 John 2:28). A pastor I knew once compared two attitudes of surprise at the Lord’s coming: one being a surprise party and the other being a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Benign examples for a serious situation.
In history, the Jews of faith would have to exercise patience while they would be exiled and live in a strange culture for a long time. They would have to live by faith while the regime would change from the Chaldeans to the Medes and then the Persians.
For Mystery Babylon, they receive the warning, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).
Whatever the situation, we are called to not only have faith, but to continually live by faith.
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. (Hebrews 10:39)
I once heard a sermon by a pastor who preached about how you could lose your salvation and used Hebrews 10:26 on the willful sin and its subsequent verses as the text. However, they conveniently stopped reading at this verse, Hebrews 10:39. Why? Because he had an agenda to push and did not care about the truth. The willful sin is not about losing salvation, because those of faith “are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”
What is perdition? There are two men in the Bible called the son of perdition:
Judas Iscariot: “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12).
The Antichrist: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
The word perdition is translated elsewhere as “destruction,” “waste,” and “damnable.” Peter uses it several times in 2 Peter when he discusses false prophets.
This is going to hell. The true believer who was saved may sin, not walk by faith, and perhaps sin very willingly, but they do not “draw back unto perdition.”
If we did not consider the definition of perdition from elsewhere, the rest of the verse explains it for us. The opposite of drawing back to perdition is to “believe to the saving of the soul.” See the discussion here.