Your Kingdom Come
Source: [Re]Connected
Many of us derive inspiration from the so-called “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11. We look at the great heroes of the covenant, who remained faithful and endured so many things for the sake of the promise of Christ’s coming, and we celebrate the reality “that they would be made perfect together with us” (Heb. 11:40 NET). But I think we ignore their true accomplishment too often. In fact, the true accomplishment by faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah is not that they walked with God and obeyed Him (and that is most commendable!) but that “These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth.” (Heb. 11:13). The author of Hebrews steps away from talking about the heroes for this very reason.
These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth. For those who speak in such a way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. In fact, if they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Heb. 11:13-16)
According to the author of Hebrews, these heroes were seeking a homeland, a country, a patris. Patris, the Greek word for “homeland” or “country” in this text refers to one’s native country or “father-land.” He also says that if they’d wanted to return to their own native-lands, they had opportunity for that. “But as it is, they aspire to a better land, a heavenly one.” In other words, the patriarchs had forsaken acknowledging their home countries as their own native lands, recognizing, instead that they were foreigners and exiles on the earth. Just like disciples of Jesus are supposed to be.
You might be objecting by pointing out that Noah had an ark and Abraham and Sarah lived in tents, and Enoch was taken, literally, from the earth and that doesn’t in any way resemble the permanent residency that most Christians, especially in the United States, But at the same time, Scripture tells us that foreigners and exiles is the exact nature of the Church. “You once were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul…” (1 Peter 2:10-11). And Peter’s own greeting to these churches in 1 Peter 1:1 tells us that he understands Christians to be just that.
It’s the reason why Justin Martyr, writing half a century later, is able to say “He called Abraham and commanded him to go out from the country where he was living. With this call God has roused us all, and now we have left the state. We have renounced all the things the world offers.”
God made us foreigners and exiles, living in the world, because the patris that he has prepared for us is coming. The author of Hebrews tells us that he has prepared a city. Revelation 21:2 gives us more information about this city: “And I saw the holy city - the new Jerusalem - descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband.”
If you are a disciple of Jesus, you’re not an American, a Kenyan, an Italian, a Brazilian, an Australian, or an Indian. You’re a foreigner and exile. And we are the household of God, together, and we’re waiting for a better homeland, that God will bring to us when He comes Himself to make all things new, symbolized in the New Jerusalem. Until the, the house that He has prepared for us is in heaven. This is why we should confess, with the apostle Paul, “But our citizenship is in heaven - and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” So let us live like patriots - patriots of the Kingdom of God, not any worldly nation.