A Promised City
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. And they admitted that they were aliens 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 opportunity to return. Instead, they were looking for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has promised a city for them Hebrews 11:13-16
Who are these people that God was ‘not ashamed to be called their God’? They were Abraham, Sarah and the others who continued faithfully on their journey looking for God’s promise but not seeing it fully fulfilled in their lifetime.
Hebrews 8:8-10 spoke of God being specially related to His chosen people through a covenant. The Hebrews passage quoted Jeremiah 31’s specific new covenant promises. Here in Hebrews 11 one of those promises is alluded to: ‘I will be their God and they will be my people’ (Hebrews 8:10). God was not ashamed to be associated with this small band of nomadic wanderers and to be known as ‘their God.’ He called them and loved them. They responded and believed Him. They lived by His promise, trusting Him even through death.
The writer sees in the present passage that the patriarchs must have been looking, not just for a homeland, but for something in the future beyond this present life. They were not content to think their descendants would inherit the land. They saw the Promised Land, not as the end of God’s dealings with them but as a type or picture of something far greater. ‘And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth … Instead, they were looking for a better country – a heavenly one.’ Hebrews’ writer declared of Abraham ‘For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God’ (11:10). These men knew their ultimate home was in God’s presence and this longing could never find final fulfilment in this present earth. Any earthly city would be the palest imitation of the heavenly city.
They experienced physical hardship, social ostracism, emotional tension and economic deprivation. Exiles were not viewed with favour in the ancient world. To live in a country that wasn’t your own country carried a stigma in their day and still does for many today.
‘Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has promised a city for them.’ It was true of them and is just as true of us. God has prepared a city for us, ‘a heavenly one.’ We are ‘aliens and strangers’ on this earth just as much as the patriarchs were.
Life can sometimes seem a never-ending trial; thankfully, not all the time, but we look forward to another city, another home with our amazing God and His extraordinary Son.
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