PERFECTION

PERDITION

OR

Sarah. Not only is Abraham the greatest example of faith's obedience, but, together with Isaac and Jacob, he is the

example of the faith that waits, that leads outside the camp, that makes the child of God a pilgrim and a stranger. It

will be seen that after Sarah's faith is recorded, the pilgrim character of faith is resumed and amplified in verses

`By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the

heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is

God' (Heb. 11:9,10).

`These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them,

and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such

things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence

they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 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' (Heb.

A glance at these two sets will reveal the fact that in verses 13-16 the theme of verses 9 and 10 is developed and

filled out. This is made clear in the following structure:

A 9.

By faith Sojourn in land of promise.

B 9.

Dwelling in tents.

C 10.

For he looked for a city.

(Sarah and resurrection).

According to faith died, not having received the promises.

Confessed they were strangers and pilgrims.

C 14-16. For they seek a country and a city.

It is a common mistake to speak of the early fathers of Israel as nomads, wandering sheiks of the desert, little

better than Gypsies. Such they became by faith, not by birth. Recent excavations have confirmed the opinion that

Ur of the Chaldees was no mean city. The trend of archaeological investigation goes to prove that the culture of

Egypt came from Chaldea, so that Abraham, the man of the city, voluntarily becomes the man of the tent by reason

of his faith.

`To sojourn' means to dwell as a stranger, as paroikia is translated in Acts 13:17. In Hebrews 11:13 the

structure reveals that the thought corresponding to sojourning is dying. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise

as in a strange country (9). According to faith these all died, not having received the promises (13). There is

something about faith, and the God in Whom that faith rests, that has this separating effect. It made a martyr of

Abel, and potentially one of Enoch; it separated Noah from his fellows, and Abraham from his country. Faith has to

do with things `hoped for', and the reproach and reproof connected with faith is for things `not seen'. We need to be

more fully alive to the fact that faith operates only in the sphere of resurrection. But, one may interpose, are we not

to exercise faith in matters of daily life here? Do we not believe that the very daily bread that perishes is a gift of

God? Most assuredly, but how much richer to believe that these are not ours in the course of ordinary providence,

or on the same plane as the feeding of sparrows, but that all such blessings are wilderness provisions coming to us

by reason of the risen Christ, and to enable us to cover the distance, shall we say, between our Red Sea and the

Jordan. Paul's testimony in Galatians should be the normal experience:

`I have been crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in

the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me' (Gal. 2:20).

That it appears so very unusual is to our shame. It is impossible to read of Abraham in the epistles without being

made conscious of the resurrection. Romans 4:17 tells us that when he believed God, Who made the promise to him

that he should be the father of many nations, he believed God Who quickeneth the dead. Hebrews 11:19 tells us that

when Abraham offered up Isaac on the mountain, he did so accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from