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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Quest, #8
But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)
Many are called but few are chosen. Many start out in the quest for the city of God but few finish the race. Will you be one of those few?
God hides Himself from us. He has hedged about the path of life with many pitfalls. If you keep on desiring to return to the world you may be granted your wish.
Many times the Scripture indicates that our treasures, our goals, are in Heaven. We are seeking a "heavenly" country. From these passages has arisen the concept that our goal is Heaven itself, that the goal of the Christian redemption is eternal residence in the spirit Paradise.
The venerable tradition has come into being that confessing the name of Jesus is a pass from Hell to Heaven. Notice that this tradition makes the Lord Jesus a means to an end. Our fleshly nature desires to make Jesus a means of making itself happy and comfortable.
"Heaven" is not our goal. Our rewards are in Heaven. The Scriptures are careful to maintain this distinction. Our reward is not to go to Heaven, our reward is in Heaven. Our reward consists of those persons, opportunities, and glories that are being kept in Heaven for us while we are being tested in the earth. This is a different concept from that of going to live forever in the spirit realm.
The Scriptures, particularly the Prophets, teach that the Kingdom of God is coming to the earth. It is not Heaven that is our inheritance, our home, it is the Kingdom of Heaven that is our inheritance. The new Jerusalem is our eternal inheritance and is destined to be installed on the new earth.
The Father gave to Christ the nations and the farthest reaches of the earth for His possession. He did not give Christ Heaven for His possession but the nations and the farthest reaches of the earth. We are coheirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. The nations and the farthest reaches of the earth are our possession.
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen [nations] for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. (Psalms 2:8)
Why then does Hebrews 11:14 state that the patriarchs were seeking a country? It sounds as though they were seeking a land other than the earth. The word translated country means "their own country" or "native land."
One day the Kingdom of God will come to this earth. One day we shall be ruling, under the Lord Jesus Christ, the nations of the earth. But until that time, our home, our native land, is in Heaven with the Lord Jesus.
Today our home is not in this earth. When we see what is going on in the earth we are sickened. We want nothing to do with the abominations practiced on every hand. To the true Christian the present world indeed is a strange land.
Our beloved King is in Heaven. The saints are in Heaven. That is where our heart is, our home is. One day our King and all our fellow saints will descend to the earth. Then our home will be in the earth. It is not Heaven that is our home, it is wherever Jesus is that is our home. Our quest is not for Heaven itself, it is for the relationships, the ways, and the glory of Heaven.
To be continued.