Hebrews 11:13-16

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.  For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.  If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.  But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

The faith described in this chapter has an eternal outlook.  Too often the struggles and disappointments we face on this fallen planet discourage us and facilitate doubt.  The function of faith in our lives is to help us take our eyes off the temporal and set them on the eternal.  This is what the heroes of faith listed in this chapter were able to do.  None of them did it perfectly, but it was the overriding principle of their lives.

THE DESTINATION OF FAITH IS NOT EARTH: These men and women of faith all “died in faith.”  This is another way of saying that they never saw the complete fulfillment of the promises that they believed but they persevered to the end.  Their faith did not die but they died in faith.  Faith must always look forward and see those things that are still in the distant future.  What made these heroes of the faith so successful was they recognized that this earth was not the source or destination of their hope.  They saw themselves as strangers and exiles in a foreign land with a conviction that their true home and destination was in the heavenly realm.  They long for a homeland that is not in the here and now.  A fascination with the things of this earth and comfort in the present are enemies of faith.

THE DETERMINATION OF FAITH IS RESOLUTE: Thos who have faith are seekers.  They are not satisfied with the things that this world has to offer.  They don’t look back to the passing pleasures they experienced in the past.  They look face forward into the future.  One of the biggest problems the children of Israel faced was their constant looking back to the land of Egypt.  They longed for the onions and garlic of Egypt conveniently forgetting about things like slavery and having their make children thrown into the Nile.  Abraham certainly had his faults and wandered from the land of promise in times of famine.  However, he never returned to the land from which he came.  Faith is determined to look past the circumstances into the future as opposed to returning to the security and comfort of the past.

THE DESIRE OF FAITH IS HEAVEN: The desire of faith is always for something better that remains unseen. The promise of the Gospel is for a heavenly home that will be free from sin and all its terrible consequences.  Death, disease, and distress will all be forever vanquished because there will be no more sin.  That is the better and heavenly country that these men and women of faith long for.  This living by faith is what pleases God.  When we faithlessly hang to the trappings of this world that are all tarnished by sin; God is ashamed of us because we are ashamed of Him.  Too often this world and its known flawed comforts outshine the unknown perfection of heaven.  God requires faith of those for whom He is preparing a city that should tantalize our imaginations and fill us with hope.  That place and that Person should be the fundamental desire of our hearts.

APPLICATION: Don’t allow the things of this world trick us into thinking that they are our ultimate destination.  Face the sufferings of the present with hope in the future God has promised.  Don’t allow the pleasures of the present to distract us from the promises of the future.  Never give up or go back but look up and go forward with an unwavering faith.  Place ultimate value on our heavenly home that will be completely free of sin.