Do you remember how C. S. Lewis brings his masterful children’s series The Chronicles of Narnia to a close in The Last Battle? After recording all the exhilarating adventures the Pevensie children with Aslan, the lion, Lewis concludes:
“But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
This was Lewis’ provocative way of drawing our attention and affections towards heaven. All the joys and all the pains of this life are but the cover and title page of our story. That story for those who have believed in Jesus Christ will never end but just keeps getting better and better. For us, after death there is destiny. Earth is but the robing room for eternity. Our lives should be shaped by our fixed attention and affection for heaven.
Matthew 6:10 tells us that we are to direct our prayers to “our Father in heaven.” If you are a Christian, your father is in heaven. Every blessing we receive comes from our Father in heaven.
Jesus is now in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us.
Hebrews 12:23 indicates that the “spirits of righteous men made perfect” are also there in heaven. All those in Christ whom we have lost to death are there waiting for us.
Jesus said that our names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). We each have a title deed to that place. In fact, Jesus said he is preparing a place for us there (John 14:1-4).
We are strangers and aliens here, because “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). That is where our “glorious inheritance” is (1 Pet. 1:4).
In Matthew 5:10-12 Jesus tells us that our reward “in heaven” is great for those who are persecuted here on earth.
So our Father, Jesus Himself, our loved ones in Christ, and one day we will be there to hear “Well, done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:23)
So Paul tells us to “set your minds on things above” (Col. 3:2) and “seek the things that are above” (Col. 3:1).
And Psalm 16:11b says, “in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
This is why, for the Christian, anything short of heaven is not really home yet. All this is merely the foretaste of the joys in heaven. Everything that is really precious to us is awaiting us in that place.
Isaac Watts wrote:
There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign,
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.
The second-century Letter to Diognetus described the Christians’ lifestyle in the following way: They live in their own countries, but only as aliens. They have a share in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their fatherland, and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land. . .It is true that they are “in the flesh,” but they do not live “according to the flesh.” They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, but in their own lives they go far beyond what the laws require. They love all [people], and by all [people] are persecuted. They are unknown, and still they are condemned; they are put to death, and yet they are brought to life. They are poor, and yet they make many rich; they are completely destitute, and yet they enjoy complete abundance. They are dishonored, and in their very dishonor are glorified; they are defamed, and are vindicated. They are reviled, and yet they bless; when they are affronted, they still pay due respect. . . Christians dwell in the world, but are not of the world. (Simon Guillebaud, Choose Life, 365 Readings for Radical Disciples, 5-19)
Abraham knew this to be true and that is the perspective that our author is communicating in Hebrews 11:13-16.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
From his calling at age 75 to the day of his death at age 175, Abraham knew that everything in this life—including the trials and inconveniences are merely the cover and title page of a story that will get better and better throughout the ages.
Remember, Abram had been born a pagan. He was comfortable with the polytheism of his culture until one day a Voice called out to him, made him unimaginable promises, and by grace Abram believed God.
This grace-produced faith distinguished itself through obedience, endurance, anticipation and total dependence upon the character of a promise-making, promise-keeping God. One author had defined faith: “Faith is not a fixation or obsession, but a rational commitment. It is characterized not by ecstatic intoxication but by sober reflection and critical searching.”
Abraham didn’t shut down his mind and stop assessing the facts, but rather he focused on the character of God and put his faith in that. Hebrews 11:11 said that Abraham and Sarah “considered him faithful who had promised.”
Despite the obstacles of advanced age and persistent barrenness, they weighed this against the divine impossibility that God would not keep His promise. Since “God cannot lie” then the only option open is that the laws of normal reproduction must be overturned. Faith produced by grace also redirects and arouses our affections.
First, faith produced by grace redirects our affections.
How often are our affections directed towards the things of this earth! “I’m but a stranger here, Heav’n is my home,” we love to sing, but in life’s reality it’s often so different. Eyes that should be raised heavenward are riveted on earth. Feet that should be tramping toward Canaan’s shores are mired in earth’s swamps. Hands that should be reaching for eternal treasures are wrapped around gaudy marbles. Backs that should be straining in kingdom effort are bent over in valueless pursuit. (Richard E. Lauersdorf, The People’s Bible: Hebrews, 137)
John Piper reminds us: “Jesus is not against investment. He is against bad investment—namely, setting your heart on the comforts and securities that money can afford in this world. Money is to be invested for eternal yields in heaven— “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven!” (John Piper; Desiring God, 165)
In our day, our emphasis is far too much on the good life here and now, and not enough on the promised joys of heaven. Thus, many that profess Christ as Savior live with their minds on the things on earth, rather than setting their minds on the things above (Col. 3:1-4). They are motivated more by collecting treasures on earth than by storing up treasures in heaven. Our focus is on what Christ can do for us here and now. Heaven is a nice extra, but it does not govern how we live day to day. (https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-37-desiring-better-country-hebrews-1113-16)
It is a dangerous thing when a Christian begins to feel permanently settled in this world. (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: Hebrews, vol. 2, 98)
But for Abraham it was different. Watch how this unfolds in Hebrews 11.
In Hebrews 11:13 we have already been told that Abraham and Sarah finished well. He says “These all,” he says, “died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar” (v. 13a).
“All these people” include all those who have been discussed so far and all those who will follow. All of these people lived by faith in the promises of God yet it always involved something that they never fully realized.
And this prefigures you and me. We also have been given glorious promises, some of which are yet unfulfilled. Our faith should imitate theirs.
All these “died in faith.” I hope all of us want to “die in faith,” to go on believing both now and until our final breath, to hang on to God’s promises to the very end. But those who “died in faith” also lived in faith. Faith was the dominant characteristic of their lives, right up to the moment of death.
Many years ago, a ship known as Empress of Ireland went down with 130 Salvation Army officers on board, along with many other passengers. Only 21 of the Salvation Army people survived. Of the 109 that drowned, not one had a life preserver. Many of the survivors told how these brave people, seeing that there were not enough life preservers, took off their own and gave them to others, saying, “I know Jesus, so I can die better than you can!” NOW THAT IS DYING IN FAITH TO THE VERY LAST BREATH!
The Greek text here is somewhat difficult: “in accordance with faith” or “in accordance with the principle of faith” they all died. Vine comments that the idea is that they died “in keeping with their life of faith.” Death is the final test of faith, and they all passed with flying colors, living by faith right up to the last breath. The beauty of their dying was that they died in faith though never receiving the fullness of the universal blessing that had been promised. Their experience of death did not undercut their conviction that those promises would come to pass.
This is so difficult. It requires not only great faith, but patient endurance as well. Their faith “in death” was just as vibrant as it was throughout the totality of their lives. In fact, isn’t in in death that many times the quality of our faith is made most evident?
One commentator puts it this way: “It is in death that hope in things which are future and invisible shines most brightly.” The reason that they hung on to their belief in God’s promises is because they saw the unseen, they were certain of what they never could lay their eyes upon. But they could see through the eyes of faith the ultimate fulfillment of those promises, “like sailors who become content they can see their final destination on the horizon. Land ahoy!” (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: Hebrews, Volume 2, p. 100).
Now watch how the author builds his case. He says, “having seen them and greeted them from afar.” Faith had supplied them with a kind of seeing that transcends physical eyesight, giving them a certitude that allowed them to gladly “welcome” them. “From afar” or “from a distance” signifies a long stretch of time.
Do you remember the final scene in the life of Moses? Forbidden to enter the land because of his sin, God told him to climb to Mt. Nebo where God showed him the whole land. God said, “This is the land I promised…you will not cross over into it.”
In Moses’ case, God physically showed him the land He had promised to give to Abraham’s descendants. He didn’t get to experience it, but got to see it. In the case of these “hall of faith” people in Hebrews 11, they so took God at His word that they could spiritually see the fulfillment of promises.
God opens our eyes to see. This happens to us in salvation. Because we are Adam’s seed, we are born dead in sin (Eph. 2:1), blind to the glory of God (2 Cor. 4:4-6), with ears deaf to the gospel (1 Cor. 2:9) and our wills are bound by Satan (2 Tim 2:26). In 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 Paul says,
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The difference between us in the New Covenant and those under the Old Covenant, God opens our eyes to see spiritual promises that are currently being fulfilled for us (although there are still some future promises yet to be fulfilled). For Abraham, physical promises such as his land and his son, he could not see except by faith for a long time.
But it was so real to these Old Testament exemplars of faith that they joyfully welcomed them, anticipating the pleasure of the fulfillment of these promises. Their faith so concretized these promises that they “saw” them and “welcomed” them with joy, they saluted them from a distance.
Paul uses similar language when speaking of the conversion of the Thessalonian believers. He says, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, (1 Thess. 1:4-6)
You “welcomed” the gospel with joy. Why, because God had opened the eyes of their heart to see the sufficiency and the supremacy of Jesus Christ.
Jesus said in John 8:56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” He “saw” it through the eyes of faith. Likewise, Moses, in Hebrews 11:27 “endured as seeing him who is invisible.” The prophets searched the Old Testament for that day (1 Pe 1:10-12).
Yet, these men and women of faith did not receive the things promised, but they were still trusting God to fulfill those promises until the day they died.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I would have likely been filled with resentment. If God had made a promise to me and I lived in anticipation of that promise month after month, year after year, decade after decade and then died without ever having experienced the fulfillment of that promise, I think I would have been a little bitter. At first, into the vacuum of uncertainty all kinds of fears and anxieties would rush in, but that would ultimately be followed by bitterness and resentment because I would have convinced myself that God really didn’t care about me or else He wasn’t powerful enough to fulfill his promises.
Abraham teaches us that when God’s promises are not fulfilled, when life gets worse rather than better, when the pain keeps on hurting, that instead of giving up on God or giving in to the temptation to doubt or fear or become bitter, we should hold on to those promises, even if we never see them fulfilled in this lifetime. Why? Because even more so than Abraham, we can foresee even better rewards in heaven.
Do don’t give up. Keep on believing.
Grace Still Amazes 