We’ve been talking about this faith that Abraham possessed, a faith that obeyed, endured, anticipated God’s greater reward, upheld in spite of impossibilities and hung on for God’s very best. We noted last week that Abraham realized that God’s promises were not being fulfilled in this life, in Canaan, but in the future, in heaven and instead of living in anxiety and fear, or in bitterness and resentment, he died believing that God would fulfill those promises—in an even better way. We read this 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.
So why did they go to their graves joyfully anticipating the fulfillment of promises they would never see fulfilled in their lifetime? Because of an all-encompassing perspective that shaped everything else: they “acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (v. 13b).
The earth is not my home. This world is not my ultimate destiny. We might sing about that, but Abraham lived that way. Abraham told the inhabitants of Hebron: “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight” (Gen. 23:4). I am “a sojourner and foreigner.”
When Isaac blessed Jacob he said: “May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” (Gen. 28:4) This land, Canaan, was “the land of your sojournings.” It wasn’t home.
Then Jacob referred to the “years of my sojourning” to Pharoah in Genesis 47:9. As verse 9 had introduced to us: “By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.”
These patriarchs all continued to live by faith to the very end of their lives, and they died believing that God would eventually fulfill His promises to them. They looked forward to possessing a land that God had promised to give them. They did not turn back to what they had left, which might have encouraged them to apostatize. This is how the author of Hebrews wants to encourage his first-century readers, by showing them that, like their forefathers in the faith, they would not receive all the benefits of salvation now, and that they would not be exempt from trials, but that if they hang on, they too will experience the fulfillment of God’s promises to them.
As we’ve seen, the first readers of this epistle were tempted, under the threat of persecution, to go back to their Jewish religion. The implication of our text in its context is that to go back to Judaism would be like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob going back to settle permanently in Mesopotamia. God had promised them a new country, the land of Canaan. But, being men of faith, they looked beyond that piece of real estate to the heavenly country that God had prepared for them.
These all “died in faith.” They endured to the end even though they did not experience all that God had promised. Under the New Covenant we have been promised and receive so much more, but still not everything that God has promised. Glory awaits us. The redemption of our bodies is still future.
But they didn’t give up and neither should we. They unhesitatingly acknowledged that they were not really at home here. You say, “Of course, it is obvious that they had not yet inherited the land of promise.” It’s not that Canaan was their home and they just didn’t have all of it yet. It’s not that Canaan was their home but they weren’t running the show. Rather, it’s that the entire world system was not their home.
God is saying that they confessed themselves aliens and strangers even while living in the promised land because they realized that it wasn’t the total and best fulfillment of that promise. They “admitted themselves as aliens and strangers on the earth.” They were aliens and strangers while experiencing life as we now know it. They knew that life at its best here in this world is always shadowy and temporary and never really satisfies. Even David, as king, still referred to himself as a “stranger on the earth” (Psalm 119).
Such a declaration reveals something about these folks and the next verse tells us what that is. Hebrews 11:14 begins with the word “for,” telling us that this verse is the reason why they continued to believing in far-off promises and lived as “strangers and exiles,” and that is because “people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland” (Heb. 11:14).
They were looking for a place to call home, but it wasn’t Canaan and it wasn’t Ur.
Do you know what an ex-patriot is? An ex-patriot is someone who has left their “fatherland,” the place of their birth, either willingly or by force. And while he lives as an alien in a foreign country, he longs for his homeland. His joys and affections are set on that place. When Abraham, Isaac and Jacob confessed that they were aliens, it revealed something about their values, what they held most dear. Their affections were riveted on another country—not the one they came from, but the one they knew that were going to.
True, Abraham did send his servant back to the old country to get a bride for Isaac. But he sternly warned him not to take Isaac back there (Gen. 24:6, 8). Jacob fled to the old country for 20 years to escape from Esau’s murderous intentions. But it was never his true homeland. He told Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country” (Gen. 30:25).
Why didn’t they go back to Ur? Because the country they were really longing for was not of this world’s order. Hebrews 11:15 says, “If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.” If, in fact, their hearts had been longing for their “homeland” (Gk. patris refers to a place of one’s fathers). The “if” in this clause is contrary to the fact; that is, it was not true that they wanted to go back to their homeland (second class condition). They were not “thinking” of Ur, even though Ur had the best that this world could offer at that time in history.
The reason is, they had a “desire [for] a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:16a). And it is this spiritual longing that enabled them to persevere in faith. Faith enabled them to “see” that better place and as a result they thought about it (v. 15) and desired it (v. 16). Faith redirects our affections away from this world and sets our aspirations on a better reward.
When Abraham was just a garden variety pagan, everything in life revolved around Ur—his financial, relational and social life. Even his spiritual life. But when the Voice invaded his life he chose to abandon that life for the next 100 years. In the eyes of the world, it appears that Abram gave up everything for nothing. But from our transformed vantage point (because we “see” by faith), it’s as though we give up nothing for everything.
Why does a gifted young man like Jim Elliot turn his back on worldly success to take the gospel to the Ecuadorian Indians who would take his life? It is because he saw himself as a spiritual ex-patriot! Although he lived here, he longed for there. In his own words he said it best: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Or as Jesus said, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36). Randy Alcorn, in his book The Treasure Principle, highlights a truth that I think will bring us all up short. He says, “Many Christians dread the thought of leaving this world. Why? Because so many have stored up their treasures on earth, not in heaven. Each day brings us closer to death. If your treasures are on earth, that means each day brings you closer to losing your treasures” (Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle, p. 40).
We tend to look for and expect the “good life” here and now. As Americans, we believe it is our entitlement, our birthright to pursue and experience ultimate happiness here and now. But God hasn’t promised us “the good life” here and now. He has promised us “the best life” in the future. Are you willing to hold out for the “best life” ahead?
I’m not saying that spiritually minded people give no thought for the world, that we become as odd as we possibly can. That is not the muscular Christianity of the Bible, but the distortion of fundamentalism. We are to remain in the world, engaging and addressing the world, but we are not to allow the world’s values to direct our thinking and desiring. It is the heavenly reward that should occupy our thinking and drive our desiring. We don’t live “for” the world—it’s pleasures, advantages and preoccupations. We are “in the world but not of it.” We are not consumed with its benefits.
If you are really a child of Abraham (by faith in Jesus Christ) then listen to how the New Testament describes you:
Peter wrote: “…To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (1 Pet. 1:1). Later he says, “And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile” (1 Pet. 1:17). In 1 Peter 2:11 he says, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”
And Paul, in Colossians 3:1-2 encourages us that our thoughts and desires should be directed to heaven.
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Paul tells us in Philippians that “our citizenship [politeuma] is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). In Ephesians he says, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens [sumpolitai] with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19).
It all boils down to this: One of two dominating influences expresses itself in your life—either affections for heaven or affections for this world; either we are thinking about heaven and heavenly rewards, or we are fixated on this world and its rewards.
None of us can escape this fact. One of two dominating influences drives your decisions, fashions your perspectives, determines the things that are of real importance to you—heaven or this world. How do we know? Well, when the circumstances of life bring you to a fork in the road; when your affection for the world and affection for heaven are at cross purposes—which path will you take—career? Immorality? Materialism? When Jesus and this world diverge, what do you choose? That is how you know where your allegiance and affections lie.
We see this struggle in Psalm 73, where Asaph looks around in this world and sees that the wicked are experiencing the good life. They are healthy, wealthy, influential, without a care in the world. But eventually Asaph enters the temple to worship and there he gains a heavenly, future perspective, one which shows him that the wicked will be destroyed in judgment while he will experience glory. That changes his perspective and moves him to choose God over the “good life.”
Look at the progression in Abraham’s life: First, Abraham was “looking forward” to this city. In 11:14 we find that people like Abraham continually “seek” after this. Then verb 16 becomes even stronger, they “never cease their longing for a better country.” In Hebrews 10:34 this was called “a better and lasting possession.”
This life can be good…for a little while. We experience joyful moments but those are interrupted by irritations and aggravations. We experience the “good life” of houses and cars and vacation homes but even these break down over time and we lose our joy in them.
Abraham chose something better and lasting. Qualitatively it is “better” and it lasts longer than any joys we experience now.
Remember to whom this epistle is written. It is written to Hebrews. That is why it is called the epistle to the Hebrews. These Jewish people view Israel as their home country. They are people of the land. The land is very important to them. But they need to be reminded that the country for which Abraham and the other patriarchs were waiting was no earthly country like Israel or Judea, but rather a heavenly country.
Here is the point. They were so used to the visible elements of their religion – the rituals of circumcision, the sacrifices in the temple, the ceremonies – that when they came to know the One to whom all of those visual elements pointed, they were tempted to leave Him and to go back to the earthly ceremonies. When it came time to choose between the rituals that pointed to Jesus versus choosing Jesus Himself, they were tempted to choose the rituals. If offered a heavenly kingdom versus an earthly kingdom, they were inclined to choose the earthly.
But God’s kingdom is not of this world. Jesus made that very clear when He stood before Pilate. He said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).
But what does this mean for you and me today? It means that we shouldn’t be so overly concerned about building our own little earthly kingdoms, kingdoms that will one day pass away. It means that we ought to be laying up treasures in heaven.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)
Back in verse 14, our author said, “For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.” To “speak thus” must mean to verbally profess that our thoughts and desires are for heaven.
Since we come from a different country, we talk and act differently than the natives of this world do. When they observe that we are different, we should be ready to tell them why (1 Pet. 3:15). Tell them about God’s promise of heaven for all that believe in Christ, so that they can join us as pilgrims journeying toward our new country in heaven.
C. H. Spurgeon said, “The Christian is the most contented man in the world, but he is the least contented with the world. He is like a traveler in an inn, perfectly satisfied with the inn and its accommodation, considering it as an inn, but putting quite out of all consideration the idea of making it his home.”
Our biggest danger is to become comfortable with this world and to think of it as our true home, to invest all our energies into making the best life in the here and how. This is what the biblical writers call worldliness.
James tells us that we cannot be friends of God and friends of the world. They are mutually exclusive. Jesus told us we cannot have two masters. We must make a choice.
“[James 4:3-5] pictures the church as the wife of God. God has made us for Himself and has given Himself to us for our enjoyment. Therefore it is adultery when we try to be “friends” with the world. If we seek from the world the pleasures we should seek in God, we are unfaithful to our marriage vows. And, what’s worse, when we go to our Heavenly Husband and actually pray for the resources with which to commit adultery with the world, it is a very wicked thing. It is as though we should ask our husband for money to hire male prostitutes to provide the pleasure we don’t find in Him!” (John Piper, Desiring God, p.141).
The problem is that if we don’t really love God, we will default to loving the world. In other words, if we don’t “follow hard” after God (Psalm 63:8), then we will easily follow the world. John Piper says it like this: “When you become so blind that the maker of galaxies and ruler of nations and knower of all mysteries and lover of our souls becomes boring, then only one thing is left — the love of the world. For the heart is always restless. It must have its treasure: if not in heaven, then on the earth” (Sermon: Malachi 1:6-14, November 1, 1987, http://www.DesiringGod.org).
Grace Still Amazes 