Strangers In A Strange Land

[dave c]

A HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #120g Written 15NOV07 http://groups.msn.com/AHealingShelter/welcome.msnw

In The Footsteps Of Abraham: Part Seven—Strangers In A Strange Land

by dave c

Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age--and Sarah herself was barren--was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise (NIV).

Faith, as demonstrated by Abraham, is based upon our willingness and readiness to “go” when God calls us into action, and then our actually going—not upon an attitude of “what’s in it for me?”. Too often in our culture we ascribe to faith a substance within itself as an independent object that is subject to our wants and needs. In the Church we see this taught in the ‘Word Of Faith’ movement. In the world it is being sold as ‘The Secret’. We must return to an understanding that real faith is entirely dependent upon, and directed toward, the One True God Who requires that He is both the subject and the object of our interest and our love. Faith is not a magic key to health, wealth, and success. Faith is the predicate that puts shoe leather to our words.

John the Beloved repeatedly stresses the essential nature of faith as active love for, belief in, and the worship of, God—not just because of what He does for us, but first and foremost because He is holy and worthy. In the second edition of the New Bible Dictionary (Tyndale House Publishers, USA, 1988, and Inter-Varsity Press, England) we discover that the apostasy of faith misrepresented is not a new one. Page 367 states, “In the Fourth Gospel faith occupies a very prominent place, the verb pisteuo being found 98 times. Curiously the noun pistis, ‘faith’, is never employed. This is possibly due to its use in circles of a Gnostic type. There are indications that John had such opponents in mind, and it may be that he wanted to avoid using a term of which they were very fond. Or he may have preferred the more dynamic meaning conveyed by the verb.” In Chapter 11 generally, and in his discussion of Abraham specifically, the Writer of Hebrews agrees: Faith is more about what I do than what I have or what I get.

W.E. Vine (in Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words; Fleming H. Revell Company; Old Tappan, New Jersey; 1981; p 71) also agrees: “The main elements in faith in its relation to the invisible God, as distinct from faith in man, are especially brought out in the use of this noun [pistis] and the corresponding verb, pisteuo; they are (1) a firm conviction, producing a full acknowledgement of God’s revelation or truth, e.g., 2 Thess. 2:11, 12; (2) a personal surrender to Him, John 1:12; (3) a conduct inspired by such surrender, 2 Cor. 5:7. Prominence is given to one or other of these elements according to the context. All this stands in contrast to belief in its purely natural exercise, which consists of an opinion held in good faith without necessary reference to its proof. The object of Abraham’s faith was not God’s promise (that was the occasion of its exercise); his faith rested on God Himself, Rom. 4:17, 20, 21.”

He 11:9 By faith [Abraham] made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God (NIV). God called Abraham to get up and go from his homeland with the promise of a great inheritance. God made that same covenant with Abraham’s son and grandson, but for all three generations (and for another 400 years) the fulfillment of that promise was always in the future. Ultimately, it still is. The great patriarchs of the Hebrew nation did not enter the promised land as triumphant conquerors in a blaze of glory. The Bible tells us that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all lived in Canaan as immigrant strangers—as nomads wandering throughout the territories without the privileges of citizenship. In the same way we pass through this life not as citizens of the world. We live as children of the promise who know that nothing in this life could possibly compare to the riches of glory yet to be experienced as residents of New Jerusalem in the presence of Jesus Christ, Himself. For we are looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Amen.