"A Better Country" (Part 1)

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 had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16 NIV).

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is also known as the “Roll Call of the Faithful” as the writer lists many of the great men and women of faith from the Old Testament. He talks about Abel, Enoch, Noah, and then Abraham before he makes this bold statement in our reading today. He calls them “aliens and strangers,” people without a country of their own. Then he writes: they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.

Hebrews is a book about better things. The writer mentions Christ having a better name; being a better high priest; believers having a better hope; and, how believers have a better resurrection because of Jesus’ resurrection. Believers also have a better covenant than the nation of Israel because it is a fulfilled covenant. It has all the promises, all the laws fulfilled in Jesus. We have a better and more enduring substance because we no longer look through the focus of unfulfilled prophecy; rather, we look back at fulfilled prophecy. It is only natural that the writer would get to this “better country.” This is the reference Jesus made to His disciples:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:1-3 NIV).

All of these faithful, Abel, Noah, Sarah and Abraham, they all died not having the fulfillment of the promise of God to hold on to. They died as strangers and exiles. They were on their way to a better place while on their journey, but they had never known of it, nor seen it. That’s the difference in our being able to look back at Jesus. That better country belonged to them by their faith, just as it belongs to us. But we are at an advantage. Jesus has already gone where we will be going. In fact, He has promised to take us there personally!

In the coming days we’ll look at this Better Country more closely. Today I want you to really meditate on this great fulfilled promise. It is the source and root of our hope. The more I struggle along the path of this life, the more I can rest in the knowledge that it is VERY temporary. I am not at home here. My home is being prepared for me in a better country!