Title: The Pilgrim's Life/Hebrews 11:8-16
Content: “All these men died of faith and did not receive the promises, but they saw them from afar and welcomed them, and testified that they were foreigners and strangers in the Party” (Hebrews 十一·十三)
A pilgrim is usually different from a wanderer or wanderer. They are purposeful travelers, especially those who make pilgrimages to the Holy Land for sacred and religious purposes. Among us Christians, there are many pilgrims centered on the Holy Land of Palestine, and there are many Muslims who make pilgrimage towards the Holy Land of Mecca.
A believer is like a pilgrim, and just as a pilgrim makes a pilgrimage to a holy land, a believer lives as a pilgrim with a holy purpose and toward a holy goal.
If you read chapter 1 of the book of Hebrews, the first person in the Bible to leave his hometown, relatives, and homeland for a religious purpose and go to the land God showed him with motion sickness was Abraham. Abraham's hometown is Ur of the Chaldeans, and God told him, "Go to the land I am showing," so Abraham did not hesitate at all, and without hesitation, he trusted God and spent his whole life living in a tent. The life of the pilgrim, the first page of the history of every pilgrim decorated
The history of Christianity based on the Bible is, in other words, the history of pilgrims. In the Old Testament, we find Moses' four years of life in the wilderness of Midian. Moses grew up in an Egyptian palace as the son of Pharaoh's princess, and grew up luxuriously for four years. After seeing what he saw, he couldn't bear it, so he killed the Egyptian, and then fled to the desolate wilderness of Midian and became a sojourner. This was also the life of a pilgrim. After that, Moses led the nation of Israel at the command of God, came out of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and wandered in the wilderness in a tent, looking at the welfare of Canaan.
After that, several prophets also left their homes and lived as pilgrims by faith. Elijah fled King Ahab and Jezebel and walked a pilgrimage to Mount Horeb as far away as John the Baptist. was the life of
The Lord, the Son, also grew up in Nazareth, preaching the gospel, and going to be crucified for three years of evangelistic life, saying, “Foxes have dens, and princesses have nests, and birds that fly, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” As he himself testified, his life was a life of an incredibly lonely pilgrim.
Christian history is intertwined with the life of a pilgrim who left home by faith and led a holy life. Saint Anthony was a young man who grew up in a wealthy family and owned a lot of money. You lack one thing. Go, sell what you have and give to the poor. And follow me.” When he read an article that the young man had a change of complexion and returned home with a lot of wealth, he thought that these words of the Bible were just speaking to him.
The young man in the Bible went away blushing, but he decided, “I will live according to the word of the Bible and as the Lord has commanded” and gave some of his property to his sister, and gave the rest to the poor. After living and studying the Bible and praying, I finally got an advantage in the African wilderness and spent the life of a saint. I am the first pilgrim to live the life of a pilgrim with the intention of going to the Holy Land by faith in the world.
After the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., if they leave their families and relatives and spend their lives in the wilderness, on a mountain or on a high pillar, the number of monks who have spent their whole lives in faith will be tens of thousands, not to mention these monks, and the famous Fathers The warriors of the field and faith left their relatives and their homeland because of their faith and lived as strangers.
The great preacher of Constantinople, Chrysostom, was angered by the Empress Dowager and was expelled from Constantinople and led a pilgrimage to a place where the Manchus lived. To do this, he was exiled five times and made a pilgrimage to Manji and to the wilderness.
By the time of the Reformation, these pilgrims were even more numerous. Even people like the Reformer John Calvin suffered various persecutions and moved from one town to another and from one country to another, leading the Reformation movement and living a pilgrimage.
Even in Korea today, due to the chaotic transitional period in the north, the church members who come down to the south on an unwanted trip away from their long-loved hometown, home, and relatives are inevitably living in the north. Considering that it is the succession of the lives of the fathers of faith, Abraham, Moses, and Elijah, from the history of history, there is a lot of hard work and poverty, but rather tears of gratitude.
As described above, Christian history is not only a long history of pilgrims, but also all of us believers are pilgrims in a spiritual sense.
Johann Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" in English means "The Pilgrim's Progress" when translated as it is. This is a record of how Christendom left Jangmangseong fortress and went through many hardships and trials, such as puddles, high mountains, and many other things, but fought to the end in faith.
Indeed, in a spiritual sense, we Christians are the life of a pilgrim who leaves this world of sin and goes into the world of truth, step by step. Just as Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans and went out to an unknown land with a heart of faith in God, it is our Christian life to live this kind of life in succession.
Everyone! Think for yourself. Are you now on the pilgrim path? Are you still a wanderer in Jangmangseong? The life of a pilgrim and the life of a wanderer are two different things. Justin, a famous apologist in the twentieth century, was a Greek born in Samaria and wandered around the Stoic and Aristotle, Plato, and Pythagorean philosophies of the time in order to explore the deep meaning of human beings, but he did not get any satisfaction. While taking a walk, I met an old gentleman at the seashore and talked to each other about life's deep problems. After receiving evangelism about what God's love is and how the only-begotten Christ is related to us, I studied the Bible deeply and came to a great realization, believing in Jesus and living a new life. is said to have done Thus, he dialected Christian truth based on the philosophy he had learned a lot the day before. He was a spiritual wanderer the day before, but after meeting an old man and receiving evangelism, he became a pilgrim of faith and went on a purposeful journey, evangelizing in various places, and then he was martyred in Rome. He presented the deed to Marcus Aurelius and the deed to the senate.
Thus, there is a difference between the life of a wanderer and the life of a pilgrim. Augustine was also a spiritual and moral wanderer until he repented at the age of three or four. He devoured Latin literature and Cicero, studied Platonic and Aristotle's philosophy, and followed Manichaeism for ten years, wandering here and there. However, he was not satisfied until he finally met Ambrose, and he realized something, and with the power of his mother's prayer, the pilgrim went out with a certain goal.
Everyone! Anyone who truly believes is a pilgrim. Take a look and think for yourself. Have you embarked on the path of the holy pilgrimage of truth? Aren't you a wanderer, a pathetic soul wandering and wandering within the fence, unable to open the gates of Jangmangseong? If you leave, do not look back like Nod's wife, do not look back at Egypt like the people of Israel, but look forward and upward, and go out and go out. No matter how high the waves are, you just have to row the boat. No matter how high the mountain is, you just have to climb upwards. Five. Pilgrim's Jangdo! Blessings of Hope!
However, if you are still wandering in Jangmangseong, you can't help but pray that God will allow the influence of the Holy Ghost so that it will be a time of regeneration when you leave Jangmangseong. Of course, the path of the pilgrimage of truth leaving Jangmangseong and going towards the heavens is difficult, with various persecutions and sufferings. But in reality, it is impossible to describe how beautiful, fun and blessed the road is. The joy of discovering the continent must have been immeasurable when Columbus just went west to the west to an unknown land, and rejoiced at the palm branches. This joy would not have been attained if we had not overcome suffering and went out. Such joy cannot come to those who do not depart for the Cape of Good Hope.
Finally, I would like to tell you what the pilgrim's blessing is like. As a result of going out like this, Abraham's descendants of faith, not to mention himself, became like the stars in the sky and the sand of the earth, and inherited the welfare of Canaan flowing with milk and honey. The Savior Jesus Christ was born.
The Puritans who founded America suffered greatly, but their descendants today are greatly blessed. Indeed, for the pilgrims who “seek first the kingdom and righteousness”, “all these things are added”. We have the blessing of eternal life and we have a beautiful hometown.
As the saying goes, “Blessed are those who die in exalting the Lord after money.” There is an eternal resting place for spirits who are weary along the way. So how grateful we are to be pilgrims? We should thank God for allowing us to leave Jangmangseong and go on the pilgrim path.
(The second day of April in the year of one year)