Hebrews 11 tells the story of believers in God during Old Testament times—Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, and the list goes on. These saints had their faults, to be sure, but they put their hope in God and walked by faith, making their way toward “home.” In the midst of the long list of faith heroes, we’re told…
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. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 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 (11:13-16).
There are priceless truths here for your spiritual encouragement:
- God’s promises reach beyond the grave. Faith means trusting in his care today, amidst affliction and on to glory. Death is not the end but a passage on our trek toward home.
- In this earthly life we’re “strangers and exiles”; we were made for another world. So don’t put down roots here, but keep a pilgrim mindset. And don’t let the joys and sorrows of today control your heart, but instead fix your hope on the “better country” and “heavenly” home that is to come.
- God’s people seek a “homeland.” In OT times there was more in store than a mere plot of land: God promised a New Covenant and a renewed creation that would be our true home!
- God grants many blessings here and now, and we don’t take them for granted. But they pale in significance compared to the wonders of life in that “better country,” the God-designed heavenly “city” that is yet to come!
