The Necessity of Perseverance

Because it is such an important episode in the Exodus story, I want to use the final two posts in this series to speak more about the Israelites’ worship of the golden calf. I previously described their problem as “falling into sin” and warned that sin must be avoided because it leads to death. I want to make essentially the same point here and in the next article, but in two slightly different ways, corresponding to two slightly different ways of describing what happened at the base of Mount Sinai.

Along with explaining the Israelites’ rebellion as “falling into sin,” we can also say that they “failed to make it to the end of the journey” and they “failed to be prepared for Moses’ return from the top of the mountain.” These distinctions are subtle, but there is value in making them. The biblical authors certainly saw it. They consistently referenced the story of the disobedient Israelites in warning us to persevere all the way to the end of our journey and to be prepared for the return of Christ. 

We launched this Exodus series by discussing several warnings in recent history that went unheeded and resulted in thousands of death. As we close it, let’s take a closer look at the biblical warnings intended to keep us from suffering the same fate, only on an eternal scale.

As we discussed in a previous article, sin separates from God. Whether we have never walked with God or have journeyed far toward the Promised Land, this law of the universe still applies. For this reason, we must constantly be on guard against sin, because the devil wants nothing more than to knock us off the narrow path. According to Peter, he “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). As such, the Bible is filled with warnings to persevere in the battle and finish the race. We are to “resist him, standing firm in the faith” (1 Peter 5:9).

For example, the writer of Hebrews looks back at how the Israelites allowed sin to sidetrack them as part of his argument encouraging his readers to “hold on to the courage of which we boast” (Heb. 3:6):

So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Heb. 3:7-19)

The author then admonishes us to take heed and do better than the Israelites who did not enter the Promised Land. “Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it” (Heb. 4:1). He concludes by encouraging us to “hold firmly to the faith we profess” (Hebrews 4:14).

In the next two chapters, the warnings about falling away from the faith become even more explicit:

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation. (Heb. 6:4-8)

Although the writer is hopeful, the warnings are deadly serious. A life on the path of salvation always produces good fruits, which, as we have explained previously, are godly character qualities. A sojourner that fails to exhibit these qualities is in danger of being cursed. As is explained later in Hebrews, it will be dreadful for those God has to judge in this way:

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. (Heb. 10:22-39)

Hopefully so. Races must be finished and battles must be won. There is no consolation prize for those who don’t make it to the end of a journey and to finish second in war is to lose. There is no Promised Land for those who don’t persevere in righteousness. After giving many examples of great heroes of faith who persevered even in the face of great persecution, the writer of Hebrews sums up the call:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Heb. 12:1).

John exhorts,

See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us – even eternal life.

I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. (1 John 2:24-29)

To remain in Jesus is to follow him and not turn back. As Jesus explained to a would-be disciple, Heaven is not for quitters. A man came to Jesus and said, “‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good bye to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God’” (Luke 9:61-62).

Later in Luke we find Jesus warning his listeners that becoming a disciple is not a short-term commitment. Following Jesus requires following him to the end. Jesus told the people crowding around him to examine themselves and decide if they were willing to do that. Jesus asks, “If you start this, will you be able to finish it?”

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Luke 14:25-35)

Notice the salt reference at the end. Disciples of Jesus can start out salty but lose their flavor and become useless. No wonder Jesus said to “Listen up.” This is very serious stuff.

Paul was so concerned about it that he openly worried that he might have wasted his efforts with the believers in Galatia.

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God – or rather are known by God – how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you. (Gal. 4:8-11)

Apparently the Galatians had been “running a good race,” but now someone had “cut in on them” (Galatians 5:7) and “thrown them into confusion” (Galatians 5:10). After then describing the characteristics of a righteous person (the fruits of the Spirit, which we covered previously), Paul emphasizes why they need to persevere in righteousness:

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. (Gal. 6:7-10)

We must persevere in becoming righteous and not give up. As Paul told Titus, “The Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe” (Titus 6). We must not be like those Israelites. We are to “fight the good fight” and “hold on to faith and a good conscience” (1 Timothy 1:18-19), not “shipwreck our faith” as others have done (1 Tim. 1:20). “If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Tim. 2:12-13).