Welcome to First Plumb-line home church

Friday 5th March 2010

James 5:7-8

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

7. Be patient therefore--as judgment is so near
(Jam 5:1, 3 ), ye may well afford to be "patient" after the example of the unresisting Just one (Jam 5:6 ).
brethren--contrasted with the "rich" oppressors, Jam 5:1-6 .
unto the coming of the Lord--Christ, when the trial of your patience shall cease.
husbandman waiteth for--that is, patiently bears toils and delays through hope of the harvest at last. Its "preciousness" (compare Psa 126:6 , "precious seed") will more than compensate for all the past. Compare the same image, Gal 6:3, 9 .
hath long patience for it--"over it," in respect to it.
until he receive--"until it receive". Even if English Version be retained, the receiving of the early and latter rains is not to be understood as the object of his hope, but the harvest for which those rains are the necessary preliminary. The early rain fell at sowing time, about November or December; the latter rain, about March or April, to mature the grain for harvest. The latter rain that shall precede the coming spiritual harvest, will probably be another Pentecost-like effusion of the Holy Ghost.

8. coming . . . draweth nigh--The Greek expresses present time and a settled state. 1Pe 4:7 , "is at hand." We are to live in a continued state of expectancy of the Lord's coming, as an event always nigh. Nothing can more "stablish the heart" amidst present troubles than the realized expectation of His speedy coming.

The expectation of Christ's return was to be seen as an encouragement to the believers. The hope of His coming was to enable them to endure hardship, bare persecution and be patient in suffering.

Our prayer should not be that we can escape any and all suffering but that we may be able to bare it. "Strengthen our shoulders to bare", not "make it all go away!"

In all these things we are more than conquerors, not "out of"

2 Timothy 2:3
Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 4:5
But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Hebrews 11:25
Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

Romans 8:37
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.