THROUGHOUT THESE 30 DAYS IN EXILE, we have looked at a collection of Bible passages that encourage us to live faithfully as Christian exiles in this world. On Day 11 of this study we considered what Hebrews 11:13-16 tells us regarding some of the earliest Old Testament saints who were themselves strangers and exiles on earth:
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
They were seeking a “homeland,” a “better country, that is, a heavenly one,” and God is preparing for them “a city.” That homeland/country for which all the saints in Christ wait is the new earth in which the new heavens dwell and that city which God prepares is the new Jerusalem. This is what we all long for. This is the true land from which we have been exiled because it is the dwelling place of God. This is the home we will have for all eternity.
If you’ve been alive since 2013 you are probably familiar with the television show Fixer Upper and its stars Chip and Joanna Gaines. In the show, the Gaines take a home that needs major renovation and over the course of a number of weeks, they and their team of contractors transform an unremarkable space to a place of domestic beauty. As the homeowners are brought to their newly renovated home, there is a big unveiling in the final minutes of the show that often results in tears, hugs, high fives, and expressions of utter joy. For these residents, this space where they will spend so much time is now filled with more loveliness than they could have imagined.
Friends, what awaits us in our soon-to-be, perfectly transformed, God-inhabited home on the new earth is beyond comparison or analogy. I want you to think about the place of greatest physical beauty that you’ve ever visited. For me, it is Lucerne, Switzerland (just go to Google Images to see). However, Lucerne doesn’t scratch the surface of the grandeur of our heavenly home when this black-and-white world is forever changed into 4K OLED quality color. Now, think about the time in which you most felt the warmth of God’s presence. For me, there have been seasons of private prayer and worship that were truly life-transforming. But even those experiences do not come close to what life in heaven will be like when we talk to Jesus face-to-face and he walks beside us along mountainside paths and through streets of cities filled with righteousness.
In some respects, this passage of Scripture should have been placed on Day 1, for this is the greatest vision of what life is meant to be and what life will be for those who are found in Christ. However, I’ve left it here on the last day of this devotional study of our exile because I want it to be the perspective you keep with you. The promise that these “former things will pass away” ought to give us hope and confidence to live for Christ and his kingdom today (Revelation 21:4). In light of these realities to come, we should boldly set the GPS of our life toward those things that will not pass away – unseen, eternal, gospel-driven purposes that lead people to experience that for which we long.
PRAYER
Father, set my heart on heaven – on the new heavens and new earth – that will be my home when you make all things new. Help me to live with this “better country” as the place in which I find my greatest identity. Make me an ambassador of this land and its King, that I may invite all I can to join me in the greatest of human experiences – knowing and walking with you, my Creator and Savior. Amen.
PONDER
- Which truth about God from Revelation 21:1-4 most encourages you?
- What are you most longing for in your heavenly home?
- What changes do you need to make today that would lead you to live more for those things that will last and less for those things that will pass away?