Faith will see you through adversity.

32Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. 33Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
35So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37For in just a very little while,
"He who is coming will come and will not delay.
38But my righteous one will live by faith.
And if he shrinks back,
I will not be pleased with him." 39But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.
(Heb 10:32-39)

The situation for Christians, Jew and Gentile, became something quite different as the years rolled on. Persecution of the early Church in Jerusalem came from the Jews themselves and then in Rome beginning with Nero, the Roman empire engaged in a policy of intolerance and social and political discrimination against Christians; largely because Christ was Lord not the emperor; resulting in extreme cases in executions. Many Christians had lost their homes and property and some were imprisoned but now the writer of Hebrews is preparing them for outright persecution and martyrdom.
The faith that these people would need to sustain them through the inevitable adversity that was to come upon them was the same faith that the believers in the Old Testament had. The writer of Hebrews wanted his audience to press on and not fall back because of hardships. The easy thing to do would have been to lapse back into Judaism and fail to enter into the rest and promise of the New Covenant. Therefore, we too should have the faith and patience needed to inherit the kingdom of God and His Christ.

Peace and love,

Sue

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. " (1 John 4:9-10)