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Last time we continued examining Hebrews 11 – The Great Hall of Faith – with the story of Noah. We saw that Noah was faithful in obeying God’s command to build the ark although a deluge such as the one which God brought upon the Earth in Noah’s time had never been seen before. We also saw that Noah made an offering of some of the remaining animals which were brought onto the ark as food for the people although none of them knew whether the post-flood Earth would provide for them. We saw that God had called Noah and his family to be the seed of humanity following the flood because Noah was a righteous man perfect in his generations. Also, we briefly examined the subject of the children of the “sons of God and the daughters of men” spoken of in Genesis 6, considering exactly who these so-called נְפִילִים nĕphiylim might have been.

Hebrews 11:8-16 – The Great Hall of Faith – Part 4

The Hebrews writer now continues his exposition of the history of faith in the nation of Israel with the story of Abraham and Sarah

⁸By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; ¹⁰for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
¹¹By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. ¹²Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
¹³These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ¹⁴For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. ¹⁵And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

Hebrews 11:8-16 – NKJV

It was very hard for us to do justice to the story of Noah during our previous study which encompassed only one verse – Hebrews 11:7. The story of Noah and the flood takes four chapters in Genesis, which we simply didn’t have time to fully examine. How much more difficult will we find looking at the life of Abraham – the first to be called a Hebrew – which takes up sixteen chapters in Genesis, and 11 verses here in Hebrews 11. In all, Abraham is mentioned by name nearly 300 times in the Word of God. One could easily make a life’s work studying this amazing man. So instead of trying to cover Abraham’s story in detail let us simply take a methodical look at what the writer of Hebrews has to say about him.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Hebrews 11:8 – NKJV

The writer here refers to God’s initial calling of Abram (later called Abraham) out of the land of Ur of the Chaldeans in Genesis 11. In our previous study concerning the faith of Noah, recall that after the flood, all people were descended from Noah’s three sons – Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Of particular interest to us are the stories of the descendants of Shem, because the nation of Israel is descended from Shem. The listing of Shem’s descendants is given in Genesis 11. We take up the thread with Abram’s father, Terah…

²⁷This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. ²⁸And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. ³⁰But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
³¹And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. ³²So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

Genesis 11:27-32 – NKJV

We have a great deal of information about Abram in these few verses. We see Abram’s relationship with his nephew – Lot – who figured prominently in Abram’s history, and was one of the central persons in the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19). In Genesis 11:30, we see the brief statement that Abram and Sarai were childless. This seemingly insignificant fact turned out to be immensely important in the unfolding of human history. Finally, this passage shows us that Abram’s father moved his family from Ur of the Chaldeans on the plain of Shinar where the tower of Babel had been built, near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now southern Iraq with the intent of going to Canaan along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Note that Terah never reached Canaan, but settled the family instead in Haran along the upper Euphrates in what is now southeastern Turkey. Haran would also figure prominently in the history of the Hebrew people – Isaac’s wife Rebecca, and all four of Jacob’s wives having hailed from Haran.

After the death of Abram’s father – Terah – God called upon Abram to continue the journey to the land of Canaan.

¹Now the LORD had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
²I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
³I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

⁴So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.
⁷Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. ⁸And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

Genesis 12:1-8 – NKJV

Here in this passage, we also find a great wealth of information. First note the subtle difference between Terah’s relocation of the family to Haran and Abram’s continuing on to Canaan. Terah apparently made his decision to move on his own. But here in Genesis 12:1 we find that God Himself directed Abram’s move to Canaan. In Genesis 12:4, we see that Abram obeyed God’s call. The apostle Paul tells us that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness (Romans 4:3). Abraham’s faith in God’s calling was manifest in his obedience. James famously speaks of our faith being made manifest by our works (James 2:14-24). Unsurprisingly, James uses as his example of Abraham’s faith manifested by his obedience to God’s call for him to sacrifice his son Isaac. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Along with His call to Abram, God also gave a famous blessing. As we shall see, this is God’s first hint of His coming promise of Abram’s son Isaac. God continues with an admonishment that those who would bless Abram (and his descendants – the nation of Israel) would also be blessed, and those who curse him (and them) would also be cursed. Sadly, the political leaders of our world have often forgotten this warning, and the modern state of Israel finds herself beset by enemies from all quarters much as the Jewish people have been throughout history. Furthermore, here at the end of Genesis 12:3 God reiterates His promise of the coming Messiah first given to Adam and Eve in His warning to the serpent in Genesis 3:15.

In Genesis 12:7, we find God’s promise of the Holy Land to the Jewish people. Indeed, God later clarified this promise by His covenant with Abram found in Genesis 15:18-21. The territory given by God to the Jewish people through this covenant is vastly greater than any the nation has ever yet possessed – stretching from Egypt to Iraq, and including much of modern Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. In the Abrahamic covenant, God also listed the people whose lands were to be given to Abram’s descendants, including significantly the Canaanites – later called the Philistines, and even later called the Palestinians. The Word of God is clear. The nation of Israel has a God-given right to these lands – a promise which God reiterates many times in His Word.

Aside – Genesis 12:8 tells us that Abram pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai, but recall that Bethel was known at that time as Luz. It was re-named בֵּית־אֵל Beyth-‘El – the house of God – by Abram’s grandson Jacob, when he saw a vision of angels ascending and descending upon a ladder there (Genesis 28). At that time God reiterated His promise of the land to Jacob’s descendants, and of the blessing that God would give to all the nations of the Earth through Jacob’s seed – the incarnation of God’s Messiah, the LORD Jesus.

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⁹By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; ¹⁰for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Hebrews 11:9-10 – NKJV

As we have already seen, God’s promises to Abram were also repeated to his son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob. In fact, these promises have echoed down along the thread of history through God’s chosen people – Israel – down even to Christian believers today who are called into His promise by the power of God’s Spirit. The Hebrews writer tells us here that these men dwelt in the land of promise as sojourners – living in tents rather than houses. They faithfully obeyed God’s calling and believed His promise, but they dwelt in the land as strangers – never having seen the conquest of the land by the Israelites under the leadership of Joshua hundreds of years later. Indeed, as we have mentioned before, the nation of Israel has never yet fully possessed the land of promise. Just as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob believed the promise without ever seeing its fulfillment, so we too look forward in faith to the day when God will bring forth a new Heaven, a new Earth, and a new Jerusalem. Great will be our reward…

¹⁰Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. ¹¹Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. ¹²He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

Revelation 3:10-12 – NKJV

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¹¹By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. ¹²Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

Hebrews 11:11-12 – NKJV

Twenty-two years after God first called Abram out from Haran into the land of promise, He once more appeared to Abram, renewing the promise of an heir through whom all the world would be blessed.

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. ²And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” ³Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ⁴“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be called Abram, _{[אַבְרָם ‘Abram – exalted father]} but your name shall be Abraham; _{אַבְרָהָם ‘Abraham – father of a multitude]} for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. ⁷And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.

Genesis 17:1-7 – NKJV

Abraham’s renaming was the beginning of God’s fulfillment of His promise of an heir for Abram made at least fourteen years before (see Genesis 16:3, 16:16, & 17:25).

¹After these things _{[Abram’s rescue of Lot and subsequent encounter with Melchizedek]} the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
²But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³Then Abram said, “Look,You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
⁴And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” ⁵Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
⁶And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

Genesis 15:1-6 – NKJV

Recall that the overarching theme of Hebrews 11 is the righteousness of God imputed to the faithful person. The key point of this passage is the reason that the Hebrews writer included Abraham in the list of the faithful in Hebrews 11 – The great Hall of Faith – Abraham believed God’s promise, and this belief was credited to him as righteousness. Paul writes of this in detail in his letter to the Roman church – devoting an entire chapter (Romans 4) to the topic. Indeed, the similarity between the Hebrews writer’s brief mention of Abraham’s righteousness through faith, and the extensive exposition of the concept by Paul in Romans is a good indication that Paul himself was the author of Hebrews.

¹³For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, ¹⁵because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.
¹⁶Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all ¹⁷(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) _{[Genesis 17:5]} in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; ¹⁸who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” _{[Genesis 15:5]} ¹⁹And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. ²²And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” _{[Genesis 15:6]}

Romans 4:13:22 – NKJV

Before we move on, notice the subtle examples of God’s boundless mercy and grace that are bound into these interrelated passages. If we had time to study the entire history of Abraham, we would of course find that, although Abraham’s faith and Sarah’s were credited to them as righteousness, their faithful obedience and devotion to God’s promises were far from perfect, yet God credited to them His righteousness nevertheless. Recall, that in her impatience waiting for God to fulfill His promise of an heir, Sarai encouraged Abraham to impregnate her Egyptian maidservant – Hagar. Furthermore, despite his belief in the promises of God, Abraham did as Sarai suggested. Also, even though Hagar was not an Israelite, and her son Ishmael was not Abram’s promised heir, God also blessed them despite Sarai and Abraham casting them out of the family into the desert to die of thirst (Genesis 16 & 17).

We can take great encouragement from this. In His Word, God tells Christian believers that our faith is credited to us as His righteousness just like Abraham’s.

²¹But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²²even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, ²⁶to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:21-26 – NKJV

Aside – Have you ever been in church listening to the preacher make a point with which you wholeheartedly agreed, yet laughed out loud when you heard it? So it was with Abraham and his wife Sarah. She had also received a new name when God proclaimed His covenant with the Jewish people and instituted the sacrament of circumcision (Genesis 17:9-15). As we already know, Abraham did truly believe the promise of God, and his faith was credited to him for righteousness. Nevertheless, when God reiterated the promise and gave Sarah her new name, Abraham couldn’t help but laugh.

¹⁵Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, _{[שָׂרַי Saray – princess]} but Sarah _{[שָׂרָה Sarah – noblewoman]} shall be her name. ¹⁶And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.” ¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

Genesis 17:15-17 – NKJV

Note – The word שָׂרָה Sarah meaning noblewoman was used to refer to the wives of kings – distinguishing them from the king’s concubines.

Sarah also truly believed God’s promise of an heir for Abraham, and her faith was credited to her for righteousness like Abraham’s. Nevertheless, she couldn’t fathom how God could possibly fulfill His promise through her own body, since she also was “well advanced in years.” Although it is not unheard of for very old men to impregnate women of childbearing age, the idea that a ninety-year-old woman could conceive and bear a child, is preposterous. Nevertheless, Sarah truly believed God’s promise. Still, when she overheard the LORD who once more came to Abraham’s tent a year later specifying the exact time Sarah would conceive and bear the promised heir (Genesis 18:9-15), Sarah laughed out loud despite her faith. Although Sarah denied it, the LORD had already known what her reaction and Abraham’s would be. Thus the previous year in Genesis 17:19, God had commanded that the promised heir be named Isaac – in Hebrew יִצְחָק Yitschaq meaning “he laughs.”

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The writer now takes a detour from recounting the stories of Jewish people of faith to briefly expound upon the nature of their faith.

¹³These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ¹⁴For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. ¹⁵And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

Hebrews 11:13-16 – NKJV

Hebrews 11:13 reminds us that along with Abel, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah, most of us who are believers in the Gospel of Jesus await the fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation, although we have never yet seen the risen LORD. We eagerly await His return when we will see Him at last face-to-face. I am reminded of the story of Thomas, who said he would not believe in Jesus’ resurrection until he was able to touch Jesus’ resurrected body. As we know, Jesus allowed this, and then gave an encouragement to those of us who still await Him having never yet physically seen Him.

²⁴Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
²⁶And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” ²⁷Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
²⁸And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
²⁹Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

John 20:24-29 – NKJV

Hebrews 11:13 also brings up an interesting question. The Bible makes clear that people today may be forgiven their sins and receive from God the gift of eternal life in Him by only one means. As Jesus told Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:7 – NKJV). In his letter to the Roman church, the apostle Paul tells us exactly how we can have this necessary re-birth in the Spirit of God, and thus be saved out of the death which is the rightful punishment for our sins.

⁹that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:9-10 – NKJV

Notice once again in Romans 10:10, we find that God gives us His righteousness in response to our belief in His Gospel. But what about the so-called Old Testament saints like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah of whom the writer has just been telling? Are these whose faith was credited to them as righteousness, long before the LORD Jesus came in the flesh also saved? The Word of God doesn’t explicitly say, but we have some clues. As we saw in a previous study, Enoch was taken up by God without ever tasting death (Genesis 5:24). Certainly our God would not have taken Enoch simply to reserve him for later judgement and punishment in Hell!

As for Abraham, Jesus Himself gives us some clues. In His parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), Jesus tells us that Lazarus the poor man was comforted in Abraham’s bosom after he died. Furthermore, the rich man who was in torment in Hades after he died speaks directly to Abraham in the parable. The story also mentions a wide gulf between those who died in faith like Abraham and Lazarus, and those who died in unbelief and rebellion like the rich man who was in torment after his death. Jesus also makes the blunt statement in John 8:56 – “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Jesus – God the Son – was apparently speaking about the day of his advent in the flesh of the Son of Man – Jesus of Nazareth – implying that Abraham who had died a thousand years or more before that first Christmas was able to witness Jesus’ incarnation and rejoice with the angels about it. It seems clear, from these passages and others that God has made some sort of provision for those who died in faith before Jesus’ advent in the flesh, although exactly how their Christian conversion will take place or has already taken place is not exactly clear.

A corollary question that often arises as we ponder Hebrews 11:13 is the time-honored “What about the pygmies?” question. What happens to people who die never having heard the Gospel that God came to earth in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth, lived the perfectly sinless life that we are incapable of living, so that He might die on the cross of Calvary becoming the perfect sacrifice in our place for the forgiveness of our sins, thereby restoring us into the perfect fellowship with God which was broken by mankind’s sin? What of those who have never heard of Jesus resurrection from the dead on the third day, and His restoration to His rightful and eternal place of authority at the right hand of God the Father? How can they be saved who have never believed in Jesus resurrection by the power of His own Spirit, and have never confessed aloud that they surrender their hearts and lives to the lordship of Jesus?

The Word of God is silent on this subject, although it does seem to indicate that there is no such thing as a true atheist – only those in willful rebellion against the God they know to be real in the depths of their hearts.

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, ²¹because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Romans 1:18-23 – NKJV

Although the Bible doesn’t give us a nice comfortable explicit answer to the Pygmy Question, we can infer from what we know of the nature of God’s righteousness, justice, love, mercy, and grace that His answer to it will be fully satisfactory to everyone. At the Great White Throne, there won’t be any “not guilty” pleas. On that day every knee will bough, and every tongue will confess the LORD Jesus, that His judgement is perfectly righteous. Furthermore, anyone who has read these notes, and the quotations from God’s Word within them, or listened to the audio recording is no longer an “ignorant pygmy” regarding the Gospel, but now having heard the Gospel of Truth is faced with a choice whether to believe, confess, and repent of sin unto salvation in Christ and eternal life in His glorious presence, or whether to continue to reject Jesus and His Gospel unto eternal condemnation.

In closing, let’s briefly examine the Hebrews writer’s thoughts about the hope of Heaven which we find in Hebrews 11:13-16 – the blessed universal hope shared by all believers since the creation of man, and even forevermore.

Many modern Christians – especially in America – have embraced the Not of this World logo on everything from clothing to bumper stickers to water bottles to refrigerator magnets. It is so prevalent that most people don’t even notice it anymore. I’m not personally a great fan of the logo, because I frankly find it visually repulsive. But regardless of how one might personally feel about this modern Christian bauble, it does express on its face, our steadfast hope that the Hebrews writer speaks of in Hebrews 11:13-16 – that God’s Heaven is our true and eternal home, not this fallen and corrupt Earth where we are but temporary sojourners just as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their households were wayfaring strangers in the land of promise. Paul stressed this point in his letter to the Philippians.

²⁰For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

Philippians 3:20-21 – NKJV

Jesus also made us a magnificent promise at the Passover meal on the night He was betrayed, speaking of our eternal home with Him that He has gone to prepare for us, and promising to return one day to bring us to Himself there.

¹“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ²In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

John 14:1-3 – NKJV

Therefore, since we have this promise, and share this wonderful hope, let us live joyfully in anticipation of God’s fulfillment of His plan of salvation.

¹If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. ²Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. ³For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Colossians 3:1-4 – NKJV

Looking Ahead

Next time, we will continue our study in Hebrews 11 – The Great Hall of Faith, as the writer continues his discussion of Abraham’s faith which was credited to him as righteousness, with the story of the greatest challenge to his faith that Abraham ever faced – God’s call to sacrifice Isaac, the heir God had promised, for whom Abraham had faithfully waited more than two decades.