Title: Foreigners and Travelers
Contents
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11. God made all things, and made them beautiful in their seasons, and has given men a longing for eternity.
12. I knew that there is nothing better than to rejoice and do good while men live.
13. I also knew that it is the gift of God that every man eats and drinks and finds pleasure in his hard work.
14. All that God does, it endures forever, and it cannot be added to, nor can it be made less from it. I knew that God did these things so that men might fear before him.
15. The things that are now were of the past, and the things that are to be are of the past; God seeks the past again.
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13. All these died to the faith, and did not receive the promise, but saw them from afar and welcomed them, and testified that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
14. When they say this, they show that they are seeking a homeland.
15. Had they thought of the country from which they came, they would have had a chance to return.
16. They now long for a better homeland, which is in heaven; therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, but has prepared a city for them.
Content
Subject: Foreigners and Travelers
Text: Ecclesiastes 3:11-15, Hebrews 11:13-16
It was right after the Yeonpyeong Island disaster. It was a service held by the social service department of our church with the North Korean defectors. The beulah choir sang the song. There were praise songs first, and the song sang with rhythm at the end was 'Spring in My Hometown'. It was not without tension, but there was a pain in my chest and dew formed around my eyes. I hated the abomination of idolatry that was taking place under the northern sky. And the prayer that erupted from within was anguish mixed with groaning. It also reminded me of our brothers and sisters who suddenly lost their home and had to evacuate in a hurry. ‘It’s not this!’ ‘It’s not this!’ And the next sigh was looking for objects of hatred and resentment. 'why....'. Finally, once again, it was only after shedding tears that she was able to start saying, 'Why are we?...'.
The ending was 'Never give up!'. This is the spirit of life that the heroes of faith lived in the world. 1) It is the spirit of life that the patriarchs of the Old Testament described as ‘foreigners and strangers’ lived in this world (Hebrews 11:13). Foreigners who are unfamiliar (‘Kanoi’), foreigners who reside temporarily in a foreign country (‘Paroarkane’), and those who live temporarily with a permanent address elsewhere (‘Parapidemos’). Abuse of foreigners in the past was nothing compared to today. This is an article from ‘The Epistles of Aristeas’. 'There is nothing as happy as living and dying in one's hometown. Foreigners living abroad were treated as if they were criminals expelled from their home country, the poor were ignored by natives, and the rich were shamed. It's possible. It is an expression in Egypt (Gen. 47:9), the land of slavery, as well as in Canaan, the promised land (Gen. 23:4).
2) They lived wherever and whenever, not forgetting that they were ‘the way to heaven’ (Chan 545). This is because we live according to the “longing for eternity” that God the Creator has engraved on the heart of our souls (Ecclesiastes 3:11). This is what the Fathers are saying. ‘He walks the pilgrim path on earth, but above him is heaven’ (Tertullian). ‘We have no motherland in the world’ (Clement). ‘We are strangers expelled from our homeland’ (Augustine). 3) They will not turn away from any difficulties. “Walking with hope is better than arriving at the destination” (Stevenson), so he walks and walks, entering the gates of death. In the wilderness life, the chosen people of Israel, descendants of the patriarchs, often longed to return to Egypt, but the patriarchs did not. With faith, we moved forward.
4) Because they knew that they were looking for the hometown of the soul, not the hometown where they were born (Hebrews 11:14-15). It is because they are walking on the road, longing for a better hometown. “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Hebrews 11:16a.” He who knows what lies beyond the skies transcends the circumstances of the earth he treads. Heaven's reward for them. ‘Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, but has prepared a city for them’ (Hebrews 11:16b). Longing for a better home is not a mirage, but the presence of God now and here. Hallelujah Amen!