James 5:8

8 You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.

James 5:8 Meaning and Commentary

James 5:8

Be ye also patient
As well as the husbandman, and like him; and wait for the rains and dews of divine grace to fall, and make fruitful, and for the ripe fruit of eternal life; and in the mean while cheerfully and patiently bear all injuries, and oppressions:

stablish your hearts;
though the state of the saints is stable, they being fixed in the everlasting love of God, in the covenant of grace, in the hands of Christ, and on the rock of ages; yet their hearts are very unstable, and so are their frames, and the exercise of grace in them, and need establishing, which God's work; which is often done by the means of the word and ordinances; and these the saints should make use of, for the establishing of their hearts: the sense may be, take heart, be of good cheer, do not be dismayed, or faint, or sink under your pressures, but be of good courage, pluck up your spirits, lift up your heads: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh; when he will render tribulation to them that trouble them, free them from all their sorrows and afflictions, and enter them into the joy of their Lord; which will be either at death, which was not very far off, or at the last day, which was drawing nearer and nearer, and which with God was near; with whom a thousand years are as one day.

James 5:8 In-Context

6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.

7 Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.

8 You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.

9 Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!

10 Brothers, as an example of patience in affliction, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.