Title Toward the homeland
Title: Toward Home (Hebrews 11:13-16)
The French writer Ravniel once said, “If there are only two last words left in the world, it is love and travel.”
That's right. Living on this earth is like a trip.
So when Sarah, Abraham's wife, died, Abraham said to him in Genesis 23:4, "I am a sojourner and a sojourner among you; give me a property among you for a burial, that I may bring my dead before me and bury them."
This is by no means a stranger in life
It is a word that speaks.
Psalm 90:10 “Our years are seventy, and if we are strong, we are eighty, but their pride is only toil and sorrow; they go quickly, and we fly away.
According to the text, all these men died of faith and did not receive the promise, but seeing them from afar and welcoming them, and testifying that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
It says that he died looking to heaven with faith, but on earth he testified about the lives of foreigners and strangers. (Abraham - Genesis 23:4, Isaac - Genesis 28:4,
Jacob - Genesis 47:9)
So where does this traveler's life go when the trip ends? In the end, you either go to heaven or go to hell.
26 Moreover, there was a great gulf between you and us, who wanted to cross over to you from here, but could not go, and could not cross over from there to us. There are five, so let them testify, so that they do not come to this place of torment. 29 Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets; listen to them.
30 And he said, No. Father Abraham, if anyone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.
Therefore, only when you obey the words of the prophets and apostles and believe in Jesus can you be saved and go to heaven without going to hell.
Once, the current president, Park Geun-hye, had a dream before becoming president, and his father, former President Park Chung-hee, and his mother, Yuk Young-soo, were trapped in a scorching brimstone fire in hell and were curled up in a big pit. When I woke up, it was a dream.
Obviously, there is heaven and hell, so believe in Jesus and be saved.
14 Therefore, what they say here shows that they are looking for their homeland. As there is a saying called homing instinct, everyone misses their homeland and goes to visit them. 15If they had thought of the country where they came from, they would have had a chance to return.
That is, Abraham or Isaac Jacob could return to Chaldea at any time when famine struck in the land of Canaan. However, they believed God's promise and stayed in the land of Canaan.
They longed for a better home, which was in heaven.
So where is our hometown? Is it heaven? Is it hell?
Romans 14:1 Do not let your hearts be troubled, because you believe in God, believe also in me. 2 My Father's house has many mansions, otherwise I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. 3 I go and do it for you. Prepare a place for me, and I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, you may be also.
Even now, the Lord is in heaven to prepare a place for God's people. We are working hard to prepare a place for us there, and I hope that you will believe that he will come to pick us up when the place is ready.
Therefore, in this land like a stranger, we long for our hometown and work hard for the Lord, and on the day you call, Lord, here I am. Receive me. I hope that you and I can go.
We all hope that the precious history of longing for and living in our hometown will come.