A Pilgrim's Faith

[dave c]

A HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #120h Written 21NOV07 http://groups.msn.com/AHealingShelter/welcome.msnw

In The Footsteps Of Abraham: Part Eight—A Pilgrim’s Faith

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).

Verse 11:9 tells us that not only Abraham, but also his son, Isaac, and his grandson, Jacob, inhabited Canaan as nomadic wanderers who refused to claim the territory as their own—even in the face of God’s promise to each of them personally that this land was to belong to them and to their countless descendents. “He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob” communicates the patriarchs’ refusal to set down roots in a country and a culture that was alien to God and to Godliness. In Genesis Chapter 15 we are witness to the Lord prophesying to Abraham that his extended family would not soon settle in the ‘promised land’; in fact, they would become slaves in an even more foreign country (i.e., Egypt). This slavery would continue for hundreds of years until the transgressions of the inhabitants of Canaan increased to such an extent that God would pronounce judgment upon them and use the Hebrews as His sword.

Ge 15:12 As the sun was setting, Abram [lit., “high father”, the original name for Abraham, which in turn means “father of a multitude” (Ge 17:5 & Ro 4:17] fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure" (NIV).

The Writer of Hebrews indicates that Abraham (and by extension Isaac & Jacob) understood that God’s promise was much greater than the mere acquisition of real estate. Yes, what would come to be known as the Jews were to inherit the land of Canaan, but much more importantly, the people of God (both the Jews of the Old Testament, and later the Jewish/Gentile Christians of the New Testament) could look “forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

Because Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel), lived in tents throughout the very country they were to possess, amidst a people over whom they were to have dominion—because they would establish neither physical foundations, nor cultural roots, in a sinful land—they were more than just another nomadic society without inherent rights and privilege. They were not like Cain who became a restless wanderer on the earth (Ge 4:12; NV). Cain’s arrogant pride led to the first recorded murder in human history and to the founding of a city dependent upon the skills and wiles of man rather than upon the faithfulness of God. Nor did they embrace the disobedient, grumbling fear of the Hebrews as they wandered in the desert forty years because they would not let Moses lead them across the Jordan River as they disobeyed God at the beginning of their journey (He 3:16&17).

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were pilgrims in the best sense of the term. The online MSN Encarta Dictionary defines a pilgrim as: “1. religious traveler: somebody who goes on a journey to a holy place for religious reasons 2. traveler: somebody who makes a special journey ( literary )”. It is one thing to go to a new place with the idea of “settling down and settling in”, it is quite another to go knowing that the journey itself is a demonstration of faithful obedience. 4,000 year later, God is still calling His people to go and look “forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God”. We are called to exercise the promises of our faith in the face of every temptation of pleasure, possession, power or position. We are called to journey with the presence of Jesus Christ ever before us, and with the evidence of His love always following. We are called to travel through this life as thankful pilgrims of the Cross who know that this world is not our home.