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by Katie Erickson

“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” -Hebrews 11:13-16

Are you ever in the middle of telling a story (or stories) and then need to make a sidebar comment so that what you’re saying makes sense? That seems like exactly what the author of Hebrews does with today’s passage. He was just telling us about the first part of Abraham’s story in verses 8-12, and he’ll resume the story of Abraham in verses 17-19. But in the middle of the story, he decides that his readers need some important information.

In verse 13, the author begins by clarifying that the people who have been mentioned so far (Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham) did not see God’s promises fulfilled in their lifetimes. They were only living by faith, which is “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (verse 1). They were still confident and assured of God’s promises, even if they did not see the fulfillment of those promises. While Abraham was still alive to see his son Isaac born, of course, he did not live to see his descendants become as many as the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore. All of these people knew that God’s promises would be fulfilled but only saw that fulfillment “from a distance.”

All of these people were “foreigners and strangers” here on earth. Yes, they did have homelands and families, but the point is that they knew that there was something greater than this earth to live for. Even many generations before Jesus would come as the promised Messiah, they knew that God had something better in store for them. They would one day all be citizens of heaven and were simply passing by so to speak on this earth while they lived their lives.

The rest of this section elaborates on the idea that this earth was not their true home. Verse 14 tells us that they were “looking for a country of their own.” If they were only focused on the things of this earth rather than God’s heavenly promises for them, they would not have been looking at the bigger picture of being foreigners and strangers on earth, preparing themselves for what God had in store after this life.

If they were only looking behind to what they had left, verse 15 tells us they could have just gone back there. But they weren’t focused on the past; they were focused on the future that God had promised them. They were completely focused on walking out the path that God had for them in faith, no matter what.

Rather than only looking at their current earthly lives or desiring to live in the past, they instead longed for the better heavenly country (verse 16). Their commitment to looking forward to their next life in heaven was a firm one, no matter what.

Because of their faith, God was not ashamed of them. They were obedient to Him through living their lives in faith, and God was proud of them for that. God is often referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which demonstrates the faith of those men that God wants to be associated with them, even though they are sinful human beings. Because of their commitment to following God by faith even though they didn’t see the fulfillment of that, God honored them by preparing a city for them. Note that it doesn’t say that God will one day prepare a city for them, but it has already been accomplished.

What does this passage mean for us today? While we have already seen the fulfillment of God’s ultimate promise in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that brings us salvation, there are still times we need to live by faith in the things that we cannot see. We do not know the details of how our lives will play out, but we need to forge on anyway by faith in God that He will work everything out according to His good purposes (Romans 8:28).

Like these men of the Old Testament, we are all foreigners and strangers here on this earth as well. We know that this is not our ultimate home; for believers in Jesus Christ, heaven is our home. We are here for a time journeying through this world so that we can live our lives in faith in God. We are here to bring God glory and share about Him and all that He has done to our fellow sojourners here on earth, especially those who are not yet living by faith.

When we live by faith, God will not be ashamed of us either! He has already honored our faithful lives by preparing a place for us in heaven (John 14:1-4). We simply need to continue walking in that faith, focused on whatever God has in store for us and confident in that hope, even when we can’t see or understand what God is doing in our lives.

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