יּקנרק'ד

Hebrews Chapter 11  Verses 8-10

:8 “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

God appeared to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 and gave him instruction and made outstanding promises unto him: Gen. 12:1 “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”  To leave ones country, and his kindred, his father’s house and to go to a country you don’t even know where it is when you start your journey requires a strong belief in God and that he is a God who keeps his promises.  Abraham at the time he left did not know anything about the place to which he was going.  He knew not the people or their customs.  He knew nothing about how he would make a living and what trials he would face, yet he trusted God would provide for his needs.  He was not disappointed in trusting God for God did indeed provide for his needs and fulfilled his promises to him.  This should be a great encouragement to us to trust that God will provide for us when he directs our paths and we are obedient to follow his directions. 

“By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:”  At one time in their lives Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelled together in the same tent in the land of Canaan.  All three had received the same promise from God.  The seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would one day come to possess the land of Canaan and furthermore through the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would come forth the seed through which all the promises would be fulfilled: Gal. 3:16 “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”  Neither, Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob ever had a permanent dwelling in the land of Canaan, but dwelled in tabernacles in that land with the knowledge that their descendants would one day possess the land as God had promised.   

“For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”  Abraham was content to not have possession of the land of Canaan for he looked beyond the natural country and rather looked unto a heavenly country to a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.  This should teach us that while we dwell here on this earthly planet, we do not have permanent possession here, but we should likewise, look for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.  We should realize our time here on earth is short and look forward to our heavenly home which will be eternal. 

Verses 11,12 

:11 “Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.”  

We should never think that what God calls on us to do is impossible.  It only seems impossible to man.  With God all things are possible: Matt. 19:26 “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”  According to Rom. 4:19 both Abraham and Sara were dead as far as their reproductive ability was concerned.  At the time Isaac was born Abraham was 100 years old and Sara was 90 years old.  This was an example of God’s miraculous power delivering two individuals who were reproductively dead and giving them the ability to have a child according to God’s promise.  Sara received strength through faith to conceive seed and be delivered of a child when men would have considered this impossible.  Her faith was in the faithfulness of God to keep his promise.  Likewise our faith should be rooted in the faithfulness of God to keep his promises.   

Does ones faith only affect the individual who has it or does it sometimes affect others?  The answer to this is found in the verse which says “Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.”  Couple this statement with Noah’s faithfulness not only affecting Noah, but also the wife of Noah, the three sons of Noah and their wives, and all who have proceeded from them.   

Verses 13-16  

:13 “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” 

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”  God had made the same promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Embraced in those promises were promises of eternal things to come.  The patriarchs embraced those promises, even though they at that time only saw them afar off.  They were fully persuaded of those promises and they embraced those promises.  They also confessed that they were but strangers and pilgrims on the earth meaning that they were not in their homeland but journeying away from home.  Likewise, we have the blessings of eternal promises.  We, too, are strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  This earth is not our home, we are just sojourning here.  We should embrace those promises and be fully persuaded of them and confess that we are but strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 

“For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”  The patriarchs were not looking back to the country from which they had come out of nor to the country in which they were strangers and pilgrims in, but they were looking forward to a heavenly country and a heavenly city in which the Lord had pitched and not man.  Like the patriarchs of old, we likewise, should have in our mind and the desire of our heart towards the heavenly country and heavenly city to which we will one day reside and which has been built and made by our Lord.