“For, ‘Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;’”

Our writer retreats to the prophets and combines comments from Isaiah and Habakkuk. The prophets, as we well know, spent a lot of time warning the children of Israel that they needed to trust God, even in the midst of calamity for deliverance. He, God, was their only hope of redemption and salvation. This particular quote from Habakkuk 2 was a warning against Judah for their refusal to repent. In this case, the Lord would be coming, not to defend them, but to punish them for their refusal to trust in Him.

In this sense, the writer sees Jesus as the coming one who will save the world or condemn it based on whether the world trusts Him as savior or rejects Him as the Jews did God. This whole passage is all about the presence or absence of faith.

Another way of looking at this is the future coming of Jesus. He will come again and when He does He will bring wrath or salvation. Just like the coming in Habakkuk it will come and it will be judgmental when it comes.

Task for Today: Jesus is surely coming back to judge the world. Those who are faithful will receive a crown and the unfaithful will be punished. Today is the day of salvation because we do not know if there will be a tomorrow. What is your position today? Are you ready for the return of Jesus? Will He say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,”?