Enduring to the end

I did not "bounce back" very well from the last chemo treatment on June 25.  I did not do well the last two weeks.  I think it was a combination of things: the cumulative physical effect of 9 chemo treatments, emotional depletion due to the physical weakness and sickness and thus the radical alteration in my lifestyle and I got a cold last Sunday night.  Anyway, I feel pretty good today.  Monday will be the final time I have to take the worse of the two chemo drugs.  Presumably these next two weeks will be the last two in which I will be really sick.  I'm hoping that only getting the one drug the final two treatment cycles will enable me to feel better and be able to do more.

I am in the final lap of the race called chemo-therapy, at least for now.  My attention is turned to the letter to the Hebrews and its frequent admonitions to the Hebrew Christians to endure to the end, to run the whole race that God has given to them without quitting.  The entire letter is one long encouragement for Christians who are weary of following Christ due to suffering and sin to not give up, to persevere to the end.  It gives reason after reason for why enduring all the trouble while remaining faithful to Jesus is better than giving up faith in Christ.

Here is one of those exhortations to endure which I think of as I contemplate enduring to the end of chemo-therapy.  In Hebrews 10:35-36 we are told, "Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised."  The greatest motivation for enduring to the end is that at the end God has promised a great reward.  The reason to not throw away my confidence in Christ but to endure to the end of life trusting him and living as he commands is because God has promised the greatest of all possible rewards for those who endure. 

What is that reward?  The author describes it in a variety of ways in his letter.  Perhaps my favorite description is in chapter 12:22-24, "...you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel."  There is a party going on in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.  The party is being attended by innumerable angels, the spirits of the righteous, God the judge of all and Jesus who shed his blood so I could join that party.  It is entry into the heavenly festivities which is the reward promised by God to all who hold fast their confidence in Christ to the end of their lives.

By identifying the final reward with Mt. Zion and Jerusalem the author is connecting to a myriad of  rich descriptions of that joyful city from the OT.  Using rich language of earthly prosperity to help us understand the glory of the new world God is creating for us Isaiah describes our reward in this way (Isaiah 65:17-25): "'For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.  But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.  I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.  No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.  They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.  They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.  They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them.  Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.  The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,' says the LORD."

Meditating upon that glorious future that belongs to all who trust in Christ is what will enable us to endure through the hardships of this life without abandoning Christ.  The word of God, especially the OT descriptions of God's plan for Jerusalem is the fuel for feeding our faith and hope in that future.