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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. ~ Hebrews 11:8-10
Today, we return to our study of Hebrews 11 where the writer of Hebrews is illustrating faith by recounting certain aspects of some of the lives of Old Testament believers. There are really only two ways to live our lives on this old earth. One is to live by sight and base everything on what we can experience empirically. The other is to live by faith and base everything on what God is doing in our lives. Which approach has the better track record, man's ability to live empirically or the abilities of the God of the Bible? Having consider Abel, Enoch and Noah, today we consider Abraham.
In v.8 of our text today we read, "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."
Abraham was a man who left home without a road map. When his story begins, he lived in a place called Ur where the people were polytheistic. And, the main God of the people of Ur was the God of the moon. It was good that God called Abraham out of that context. In fact, God called him out because Abraham knew there was much more to this life than the many gods of his people who had fashioned them by their understanding. And, Abraham did not know where he was going, but God did. Not knowing where we are going is always better than going in the wrong direction.
Abraham was righteous because he was a man of faith in the God who he was yet to know, and God imputed righteousness to him because of his faith. Abraham was declared righteous because of the faith he demonstrated in the God of the Bible. And all through his life, Abraham acted on his faith. Abraham is therefore the pattern of faith in the God of the Bible. The extent to which we enjoy our new life will always be determined by how much we leave our old lives.
The writer of Hebrews wrote this book to call these young Hebrew Christians to leave the old covenant and all of the religious trappings of Judaism. He did this because the Jews had turned Judaism into a legalistic religion. In fact, by the time of the writing of this book, the Rabbis were teaching that Abraham was righteous due to his good behavior. This is why the writer of Hebrews established that even Abraham was justified only by His faith in God.
In v.9 of today's passage we read, "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."
When Abraham obeyed God and went to the land of promise, he never got the promise. In all of Abraham’s life in the land, he never owned the land. During the whole time Abraham was in the promised land, he was "a stranger in a foreign country." The writer of Hebrews used a Greek word here translated "stranger" which means one who doesn’t even have the rights of a citizen. He was a foreigner in the land, and he is the perfect picture of the believer in the God of the Bible. This world is not our home, we are just passing through.
Faith dares us to pay no attention to the impossible. The man who is not walking by faith in the God of the Bible, one who operates on his reason alone, invariably misinterprets the evidence incorrectly. The cause of this was the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. When Man refused to be defined by God, he forfeited his ability to see and to discern correctly. Man has been separated from the eternal dimension as a result of his rebellion. And, faith in the God of the Bible is the absolute ingredient if we ever expect to have God to solve our problems. The emphasis in the Bible is not on what we do for God, but what God is doing for us.
Now, the revelation of God centers in Jesus Christ, therefore, the life of faith begins by an acceptance of Him as our Savior. Faith, as we have already seen, is a desire for something better and it starts with hope. Then it is an awareness of the unseen God who is nevertheless very real. Then faith involves an assurance resulting in obedience that the Unseen One will bring us to the something better. Without faith, life is a blind march into mystery. The future is an imponderable enigma to those without faith in the God of the Bible. Therefore there will always be a sense of anxiety in them in trying to look ahead without God.
Biblical faith believes that God has revealed something about the future. And what He has revealed is quite enough for us to know. Faith seizes upon a revealed event and begins to live in anticipation of it. As a result, faith makes exciting the mystery, and it gives life purpose and destination. Abraham obeyed God and went to a foreign land, really not knowing where he was going. And, God led him. The reason Abraham did this is explain in the next verse.
In v.10 of today's passage we read, "For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."
It is amazing how far ahead Abraham could see. Abraham lived about two thousand years before Christ and he looked forward by faith, believing what God had said would take place. He looked across these forty centuries of time and beyond to the day when God would bring to pass on earth a city with eternal foundations. Biblical faith believes in permanence. And, Abraham saw what John saw in the book of Revelation, a city coming down out of heaven onto the new earth. Faith anticipates the fulfillment of the promise, and, Abraham was patient because he knew where he was going. Those who really live by faith in the God of the Bible are patient people. Abraham hung in there and waited till God did all things in His own time.
God is the best architect not only of the city that is to come, He is the best architect of our lives. Necessary for the promise of God to Abraham that he would have an heir was a son. And, God turned a nursing home into a maternity ward. Just when it looked hopeless, God miraculously made it possible for a 90 year old woman and a 100 year old man to conceive a baby.
