All these died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar off and embraced [them], and confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth.
Hebrews 11 pauses its roll-call to sum up how the patriarchs finished: they died still waiting. So how can a life count as a success when the promise never arrived?
Death here is not faith's defeat but its final act. Commentators point out that the wording is closer to "died according to faith."
Even when Abraham reached Canaan he had not reached the object of faith. He was as much a pilgrim in the land as he was on the journey to it. His whole life was a pilgrimage. He never owned what God had promised him... "These all died in faith," or, as the word is, "died according to faith." They died in line with what faith had laid hold of. By faith they saw the promises connected with the inheritance, but they did not receive them. Nature grew feeble. Its powers decayed, and they were laid in the grave. But they died in faith, clinging to the promises still far off — convinced of them, so that there was no uncertainty.
Their care over graves in Canaan was not sentiment. It was a claim on land God had promised them but they never owned.
The history strikingly illustrates this. They valued their dead bodies and the burial places that held them. While they lived, they were content to live in Canaan without owning so much as a foot of it. But "they died in faith." God's promise had given that land, that very land, to them, though they themselves would be gathered to their fathers (Gen. 15). This was the warrant for their dying in faith, in the sure and certain hope of a resurrection to enjoy it.
The verse moves through four steps of faith, and the last one is public.
Faith sees death as only a necessary step toward the fulfilment of the promise, so the patriarchs stayed calm and quiet in the face of death. First in our verse we see faith's long sight. Second, its firm, unshaken persuasion. Third, its embracing with the whole soul the preciousness of the truth of God. Fourth, its unhesitating confession before the world that earth is only a foreign land of pilgrimage. How full, real, and precious such a character is! Who would trade it for all the wealth, pleasure, power and popularity the world may offer for a brief span of years?
Some translations read "embraced" where the ESV has "greeted." The word points to affection, not just agreement. Bellett then asks what made these people strangers in the first place.
The first thing to do with a promise is to take hold of it — then to exercise faith about it — and then to receive it by the heart. They "embraced" them. Their hearts hugged them. How far has my heart hugged the promises?... But surely the closer we hug them the more blessed we will be as we consent to be strangers and pilgrims in this world. Did they speak of being strangers because they had left Mesopotamia? No; but because they had not reached heaven.
The ESV has "strangers and exiles"; the writers below quote the verse as "strangers and pilgrims." The pair is not repetition. Each word says something different about where a believer stands.
A fugitive is a man who has fled from home. A vagabond is a man who has no home. A stranger is a man who is absent from home. A pilgrim is a man who is on his way home.
Abraham's daily habits showed both words in action:
In Haran, where Abraham was delayed for a time, we read he "dwelt there." But once he arrived in the land, we read he "pitched his tent," as one who had no fixed dwelling place. What is more, we read that he "passed through the land." As a stranger he had only a tent in this world. As a pilgrim he was passing through to another world.
Commentators differ over the clause "and were persuaded of them." The ESV leaves it out. Some writers rest weight on it; others treat it as a later addition.
And so these all died in accordance with faith, just as they had lived. They looked forward to Messiah's day, when the promises would be made good. The addition of "and were persuaded" in the Received Text has very little support, and that support counts for nothing... It really weakens the truth. But the practical result is as weighty as it is undeniable: they confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth.
- Saw — faith's long sight looked past what was visible and took in promises still far off. Death did not interrupt that sight.
- Welcomed — from far off they greeted the promises, still looking ahead to Messiah's day.
- Embraced — they did not just believe the promise; they loved it. Hearts that hugged it held the world loosely.
- Confessed — a stranger is away from home, a pilgrim is heading home; tents and burial plots said both out loud.
- Died — they died as they had lived, according to faith. They still owned nothing, and were still sure of a resurrection to enjoy it.
For they who say such things shew clearly that they seek [their] country.
Hebrews 11 has just described people who died still waiting for what God promised, and who called themselves foreigners on the earth. Verse 14 draws the conclusion: talk like that tells the world you are looking for a home somewhere else.
Older translations read "declare plainly" here, where the ESV has "make it clear." The declaration is not mainly a speech. One writer reads the phrase as the whole shape of a life, and points to Christ as the clearest example.
Notice that expression, "they declare it plainly." It is not that they always talked about it. The pilgrim's dress is our best witness. Not the clothes we wear, of course, but the whole pilgrim character. Did anyone ever question that the Lord Jesus was a stranger here? that He was not seeking wealth or a place here?... People can tell when a man is heavenly. They sense it when his character, his conversation, his whole life breathes an air that does not belong to earth... This is not something you can get by imitation. It comes by keeping company in spirit with Christ.
This is why the verse treats such people as evidence. Accepting the place of a stranger is what turns a believer into a public witness.
When we accept the path of the stranger, we will become witnesses for God on the earth... The man who declares plainly as a witness for God is the man who answers the call of God.
Older translations say they "seek a country." The homeland they wanted was not even the land God had promised them.
Even the land of promise was not their home. Still less was Chaldea, the country Abraham left at God's word. They looked higher — to heaven. Life and death alike bore witness that they were at home nowhere on earth. They lived in tents as pilgrims. They were strangers in the land of promise, a land not their own — yet theirs in a hope that puts no one to shame. All along they declared plainly that they were looking for a fatherland on high.
Abraham left his home country, reached the land God had promised him, and still would not settle in it. The tent he lived in said what his words said.
He set out "not knowing where he was going." He reached the land at last, the land "which he was to receive as an inheritance." Yet he lived there "as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise" (Heb. 11:8-10). In these words the Spirit points out that he left the glories of Ur for the land of promise, and then never enjoyed what he set out to have. He gave up any immediate or personal hold on it. As Genesis shows, he was content with a tent and an altar. So he declared himself still to be seeking a country.
Such a declaration could sound like a complaint about the present. One writer says the feeling pointed forward, not back.
Their sense of being strangers on earth did not come from regrets, but from hopes. They were dissatisfied with the present thing, not because of what was past but because of what was to come. The scene around them was a wilderness because of the power over them of the scene ahead, not of the one behind them.
Everyone admits in the end that life on earth is short. The difference is when a person admits it, and whether he says it freely.
Those who freely call themselves pilgrims show plainly that they are done with earth (verse 14). People admit late, only when they are forced to die, that human life is nothing but a journey full of change. They own up to a shared emptiness, and they do it unwillingly. But God's anointed ones never settled on the earth. They wandered all their days. They knew that flesh and blood could never enter the place where their hopes rested.
One writer turns the same confession into a test for the believer today.
The believer is "not of the world." His home and citizenship are in heaven. His walk down here on the earth should show a clear awareness, and a clear confession, that he "seeks a country" (Heb. 11:14). This is of the greatest importance.
- Confess — Calling yourself a stranger on earth is more than admitting that life is short. It is a claim to belong somewhere else.
- Declare — You make most of this claim without words. Your character, your conversation and your whole way of living carry the message.
- Seek — They wanted a homeland, and even the promised land was not it. Abraham and his family looked higher, to heaven.
- Renounce — Abraham's tent was his sermon. He reached the land and still refused to own it, and that refusal declared him a seeker.
- Hope — The pilgrim looks forward in desire, not backward in regret. He is done with earth by choice, not because death forced it out of him.
And if they had called to mind that from whence they went out, they had had opportunity to have returned;
Hebrews 11 describes people of faith who lived as strangers, looking for a homeland. So why did they never go back to the country they had left, when the way home lay open?
Nothing forced these travellers to stay. The way back was open.
Had those saints of old been mindful of the country they had left, says the apostle, they might have returned. There was no constraint or necessity laid upon them. Abraham could have gone back to Mesopotamia, or to Haran, where he had stayed for a time. He could have even continued in the land of Egypt, where, in unbelief, he went for a season. But the faith that had caused him to hear the word of God made him continue looking for a better country.
Nor was there any hostility barring the journey. Neighbours would have welcomed the decision.
He was the stranger to the end. He might have returned to Mesopotamia. He had not forgotten the road, as we noticed before; and the constant respect and friendliness of all his neighbours proved that there was no enemy to hinder the journey. But the call of God had fixed his heart, and he looked only where it led him.
The ESV says "thinking of that land"; older translations say "mindful." Either way, the danger starts in the mind, long before it reaches the road.
The record in Hebrews 11 does not hide from us that the old land of Mesopotamia had attractions. They might well have pulled hard at Abraham. If he had let his mind keep dwelling on the old place he came from, its fascination might have grown. Then his heart would have turned that way, and his feet might soon have followed. It would have been easy: he "would have had opportunity to return."
God leaves the way back unguarded on purpose. The open door is the test.
The enemy always has a side road open to the man of faith. He had an Egypt for Abraham, and now he has the world, in all its varied forms, for us... It is the opportunity to return that proves the genuine fixedness of purpose to go forward. The Lord leaves His people free, in order that they may "declare plainly that they seek a country." This is what glorifies God. It would count for nothing if we were forced, as with bit and bridle, to go from earth to heaven. But when, through grace, we freely give up the things of earth to seek the things above, that is to the glory of God. It shows that what He has to give is far more attractive than this present world.
One writer turns the question on the reader.
"They would have had opportunity to return": that is, where faith is exercised and put to the test. You who have known the Lord some time have had opportunity to return — how has it been with you? A stone left on the ground gradually sinks in. Present things constantly tend to press down the affections — not open sin, but duties. Nothing is a greater snare than duties. We have one duty, that is to serve Christ.
Why are believers left waiting here on earth? There is a purpose in it.
He does not put us actually into heaven, but leaves us here to try our affections. He puts us to the test. The Lord must have a heavenly people, as well as a heavenly place for them. He exercises our hearts, but does not yet put us in actual possession of the heavenly things... Satan tries to settle us where God has made us strangers. The world has rejected Christ, and Satan wants us to be satisfied with it for our portion.
What kept them going was not disappointment with the past.
Their sense of being strangers on earth did not arise from regrets, but from hopes. They were dissatisfied with the present thing, not because of what was past but because of what was to come. The scene around them was a wilderness because of the power of the scene ahead of them, not the scene behind them.
The same open door also exposes faith that was only talk. One writer sees this in the story of Ruth, where Naomi tells her two daughters-in-law to go back home.
Both Ruth and Orpah make a profession of devotedness to Naomi... But, as ever, profession is put to the test. Naomi says, "Go, each return to her mother's house." They are given opportunity to return. This will bring to light whether the thought of their minds agrees with their outward profession. If they are "mindful" of that country from which they came out, they have opportunity to return (Heb. 11:15). At once the mind of Orpah is revealed. Her heart clings to the land of her birth. Ruth, as we shall see, desires "a better country."
Applied to the gospel, the same test stands.
One who professes faith in Christ, if he prefers his former sins to a path of faith and the truth of God's Word, may return to his folly again; but this would only prove that he had never in actual faith embraced the promises of God.
- Open — nothing forced the pilgrims to stay; the road back was there whenever they wanted it.
- Mindful — the return begins in the mind that dwells on the old place; the heart turns next, and the feet last.
- Tested — God leaves the exit unlocked, so that staying is a choice, and a choice that glorifies Him.
- Delayed — He does not place us in heaven at once. He leaves us here to try our affections, and to form a heavenly people for a heavenly place.
- Revealed — the open road exposes an Orpah and confirms a Ruth. What holds the pilgrim is not regret behind, but hope ahead.
but now they seek a better, that is, a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared for them a city.
Hebrews 11 has just said that Abraham and his family could have gone back to the country they left, and did not. Verse 16 explains why they stayed on the road. They wanted something better, and God answered that desire with a title and a city.
Nothing in Genesis promised them heaven. Their longing reached past what God had publicly promised.
God kept Abraham and others in the path of faith and pilgrimage, because they had set their hearts on something better than all they had left. They desired "a better country, that is, a heavenly one." This is a remarkable statement. As far as Genesis is concerned, the record is that God called him to a place on earth: it was "to the land that I will show you" (Gen. 12:1)... God's public call to Abraham was an earthly one. Yet he became aware that God had heavenly things in reserve, and on those things he set his heart.
The verse hinges on the word "therefore." It points back to something specific.
"Therefore," we read; "therefore God is not ashamed." And when we turn to the context to find what it points back to, we find it is the faith which led Abraham and others to the pilgrim life. They had set their desires on the heavenly city that was yet to come. They gave up present and earthly things in view of the coming things of heaven. God is not ashamed to be known as the God of such men as these.
Their failures are not hidden here. They are simply not what decided the matter.
Of men whose lives show these marks we read, "God is not ashamed to be called their God." In the details of their lives there were many failures, and much they were no doubt ashamed of. But the great governing principles of their lives, which moved them and gave character to their walk, were such that God was not ashamed to own them and to be called their God.
When God calls Himself "the God of Abraham," He lets His reputation rest on a man. One writer weighs that against the case of Lot.
He identifies Himself with them, as the apostle shows us, because of the practical faith they had in Him. That faith showed itself in a life of pilgrimage, in obedience to His call. God is not ashamed to link Himself with those whose faith in Him gave Him so good a character. If He had called Himself the God of Lot, what would Lot's conduct have led men to suppose God to be? But God shows His own character by calling Himself the God of Abraham, despite Abraham's failures.
Their desire matched God's own mind. That agreement is what drew Him close.
They are strangers in the land of promise, and they do not enjoy the fulfilment of promises here below. So they wait for more excellent things — things which God prepares on high for those who love Him. They are in unison with God in His own thoughts. Their desires, through grace, answer to the things He takes delight in. So they are the objects of His special regard. He is not ashamed to be called their God.
The verse ends with what God did about their desire.
For such God has prepared a city, and in that city all that was of God in their lives will have a glorious answer.
Was the city Abraham waited for the Christian church? One writer says no.
It could not be the New Testament Church that Abraham looked for, because that was as yet entirely hidden in God (Eph. 3:9).
The verse ends up examining the reader rather than the patriarchs.
How do matters stand with us? Of how many of us would God be ashamed, if He were called our God? These are searching questions. God has indeed provided some better thing for us; that is the fruit of His sovereign choice and action. Then comes the question of our responsibility to answer to the grace given. How well Abraham responded in faith to the lesser grace given to him. How poorly do we respond to the greater grace given to us. Let us stir ourselves up, so that in days to come we do not find that God was ashamed of us, though He was not ashamed of Abraham.
- Desire — They wanted a better, heavenly country. God's public call had named only a piece of land.
- Therefore — That desire is why God is not ashamed of them. They let go of present things for coming ones.
- Character — Their lives held many failures. God owned the governing principles of their walk.
- Name — God's title carries His reputation. He is called the God of Abraham, never the God of Lot.
- City — Their desires answered to His own delight, so He prepared a city where all that was of God in their lives will get its glorious answer.