Hebrews 11:13,
"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."
This morning, the continuation of our natural lives
with breath and being needs to be continually marked
by the walk of faith. The walk of faith and race of
patience that we have to exercise are never laid down
until the day that we pass from this vale of tears to
the next or the Lord descends from heaven with a shout
to take us home to be with Him forevermore. At that
day, faith will be made sight, and the things that we
press toward (but not seeing naturally) will be
manifest and before us for all eternity. The
culmination of those promises will be realized. The
depth of the riches of God's grace and mercy will be
comprehended as we will know Him as He knows us. The
richness and majesty of immortal glory will radiate
before our very eyes that have been changed to be able
to behold the fulness of God's glory. Until that day,
our walk of faith continues.
Paul has reached a point in his discussion of faith
that "sums his points." Quite often, Paul will employ
this methodology of teaching that brings all the
former things into focus before pressing anew. This
refreshes the reader about what has gone before, for
the writer (in this case ultimately the Holy Spirit)
desires that the former points be kept fresh for the
continuation of the thought. Therefore, all those
that Paul has discussed (Abel, Noah, etc.) died in
faith. Their natural existences are over, and the
faith that they followed after is no longer necessaryfor them. They did not fully experience the promises
of God, but by faith, they rejoiced in the sight of
these things to come in the future.
One of the things that they rejoiced to see in the
future was the coming of the Messiah. Abel's offering
bore testimony that the Perfect Offering would one day
come. Paul will later go into Abraham's trial when he saw the Lord's Ram offered in the stead of his own
son. That promise had not been realized (manifested)
during their lives, but for us today, we can look back
on the fulfillment of that promise of God. They
rejoiced to see the day of the Lord's Christ coming.
Today, we can rejoice to see the day of the Lord's
Christ has come. But, even today, there is a promise
(as mentioned above) that we have not received. That
promise is that "I will come again, and receive you
unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
(John 14:3)
Even though that day has not come, we can rejoice
(by faith) to see it. As those old saints rejoiced to
see that 1st coming of the Saviour, let us rejoice to
see the 2nd coming of the Saviour. Part of the
rejoicing that these saints experienced in this
promise was that they were fully persuaded of it and
embraced it. It is important to consider the
Apostle's language here. This language employed does
not lend any credence to the idea that "faith isweak." Many belittle those that claim to have faith
and hope as too many equate these terms with wishes
and dreams. Beloved, faith and hope are fully
persuaded of things not yet come to pass and embrace
them as if the time has come. What would happen if I
tried to embrace a guest that was coming to visit me 2
hours before his arrival? My embrace would be empty
and pointless. But, dear friends, we can embrace
these promises by faith and feel that blessed Spirit
of peace that comes to us to speak the Saviour's name in our ear and say, "This is the way, walk ye in it."
(Isaiah 30:21)
When we are embracing these promises and persuaded
of their surety, we exhibit a very important precept.
That precept is that we consider our home some place
other than this old earth. When we walk by sight
(instead of faith), we follow after the things that
are perishing. We also fail to declare plainly by our actions that we seek that better and enduring country
where our citizenship is. As fallible creatures, we still have the daily warfare between the flesh and
spirit. Therefore, we can be found seeking and
walking by faith, or we can be found seeking by mortal
sight. When we seek by mortal sight, we become
engulfed and enwrapped in the affairs of life.
One of the things that we must (as the household of
faith) consider is that we need to follow the
impression and direction of the Spirit. When the
command is to "stand still," we need to be observant
and patient in our watching. When we hear the sound of a going through the tops of the mulberry trees, we
need to be moving and ready to follow after the
blowing of the Spirit's direction. As pilgrims and
strangers on this earth, we should not consider
ourselves tied down. In recent years, I have become
somewhat troubled by an observation among some of our
people that boils down to being tied down to a
location. As God's obedient children (and pertinently
to ministers), we need to go and follow the Lord's
direction.
I remember an instance many years ago when my
natural father said, "If someone were to tell me 8
months ago that I would move my family, lock, stock,
and barrel from California all the way to Mississippi,
I would have said, 'You're crazy.'" But, when the
Lord directs a man away from serving one church into
another field of labour, whether it be near or far,
convenient or inconvenient, or easy or hard, we need
to be willing to shew obedience to the call. Does
this take faith? Does this take the forsaking of the
things of the world and those that lightly esteem that
course of action? Taking my own experience, many did
not understand why we moved from California to
Mississippi (some still do not), but looking back, the
Lord in His providence gently led that course that
faith followed after.
Whether the course is that of an individual, family,
minister, etc., we need to be willing to lay aside
every weight to run this race and confess plainly that
we are pilgrims and strangers here. Our home is
beyond the stars where our Saviour sits upon His
throne. Since that is our home and eventual
destination, what should garner our affection here?
There is a verse from a favourite song of mine that
reads, "What is there here to court my stay, Or keep
me back from home, When angels beckon me away, And
Jesus bids me come? Shall I regret to leave my friends
Here in this world confined? To Christ, the Lord, my
soul ascends; Fare-well to all behind!"
May we ever press toward that blessed country and
press into the earnest of it here while in service to
our Redeemer. While death may come to us sooner than
the Lord's coming, even death will not prevent us from
His love. We may die in faith not having seen (as of
that point) the manifest fulness of that final promise
of His coming. We may die at a weak point or in a
weak moment. Whatever the circumstance, let us
rejoice that whether we wake or sleep (are watching by
faith or slumbering according to the flesh), Christ
died and rose gain for us, and we will live together
with Him. (I Thessalonians 5:10) Due to reality of
this truth, His coming is just as certain, and our
resting place near to the heart of God is assured.
May we embrace that now and hold it fast and near our
own heart so that we might not sin against our Lord,
but rather show Him honour and glory with every step
that declares, "I'm but a stranger here: Heaven is my
home!"
In Hope,
Bro Philip
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