Strangers and Aliens

 DEVOTION

TO HEBREWS

STRANGERS AND ALIENS

Heb 11:13-16

13 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. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 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.

NIV

Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and looking forward to at least Isaac and Rebekah. We know that Abraham was one hundred when Isaac was born and Abraham lived until he was one Hundred and Seventy, so he saw Isaac marry Rebekah. We would think that Abraham instilled his faith in his son Isaac and daughter-in-law, Rebekah. However, the point of the author of this letter to the Hebrews is all of those people were still living by faith when they died. Interestingly, although all the information we know about the New City of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven was not recorded until thousands of years after these people lived yet they were looking forward to that city in heaven, although this author called it country. These people who lived by faith also knew they were strangers and aliens on earth. We know they did not know the song, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through, my treasured are laid up beyond the blue”, however, it looks like that was the song of their heart. We too live by faith, and we foresee as it is our desire to live by faith until two things happen, either we take our last breath or Jesus comes for us before that last breath. There is a question, however, that should be answered. What does it look like to live as a stranger and alien on earth? Surely these people conducted their daily business while they lived on this earth. We know from archaeological tablets that were found Abraham and Lot traded sheep for other goods. Still, throughout their daily business, they knew they were strangers and aliens on earth. We conduct our daily affairs, but this also begs the question if we have become too invested in our daily business, operating too much like all other people in our culture, and lost sight of that city yet to come out of heaven. How much of a future do we have on this strange and alien earth? How much of what we accumulated will we take with us at our last breath? How much of what we leave behind for our posterity will they take with them when they die? The one and only true and lasting legacy any of us can leave behind is the knowledge that we were people of faith. This is what we are told about Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac they were people of faith, living as strangers and aliens on this earth. Let us make sure people who live after us can say that we lived as strangers and aliens on this earth because we lived by faith. that is the legacy we need to leave.