Letter to the Hebrews Volume 130

 The Heavenly Hope of Abraham & all the Patriarchs Part 2

Hebrews 11:14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.  KJV

Those Old Testament Patriarchs who declared themselves to be strangers and sojourners on this earth knew within themselves that they were making their way through this life to another country, as it is written here next by the writer of Hebrews with these words, "For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country." (Hebrews 11:14) (KJV). A country or land within the earth that God had already prepared for them to inhabit or dwell in, but more importantly He had prepared a place for each one of them that believed a place outside of the earth that was made by God for them, even though none of them fully understood what that meant to and for them, however, by faith they continued to believe God and keep in view their heavenly home even while they made their way through this earthly life with all of its stresses, strains, and struggles. The little English phrase 'they seek' is translated by the Greek word epizēteō which means to search (inquire) for; intensively to demand, to crave: - desire, enquire, seek after. The little English phrase 'a country' is translated by the Greek word patris meaning a father land, that is, native town; (figuratively) heavenly home. Not only were they sojourning to their heavenly home, but we must remember the promise God made to Abram from the very beginning that his seed would be given a land on the earth that would be their own land, as it is written and documented for us by Moses here, "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou swarest by Thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever." (Exodus 32:13) (KJV). This is why their is no real dispute between the Hebrews/Jews and the Palestinians over the land there because Almighty God gave all that land to the descedents of Abraham and his son Isaac.

As keeping with the definition of the Greek word epizēteō the Hebrew/Jewish people are simply laying hold of or seeking after and intensively demanding what is truly their inheritance from God that has been stolen from them by the Palestinian people who have no true claim to the land that God declared to the seed of Isaac, as it is written by the Prophet Isaiah, "For Zion's sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the Hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, And give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The LORD hath sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of My holiness. Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken." (Isaiah 62:1-12) (KJV).  

Here is what the Expositor's Bible Commentary had to say of Hebrews 11:14, "Such men 'declare plainly that they seek a country of their own.' Let not the full force of the words escape us. The Apostle does not mean that they seek to emigrate to a new country. He has just said that they confess themselves to be 'strangers and pilgrims on the earth.' They are 'pilgrims,' because they are journeying through on their way to another country; they are 'strangers,' because they have come hither from another land. His meaning is that they long to return home. That he means this is evident from his thinking it necessary to guard himself against the possibility of being understood to refer to Ur of the Chaldees. They were not mindful of the earthly home, the cradle of their race, which they had left for ever. Not once did they cast a wistful look back, like Lot’s wife and the Israelites in the wilderness. Yet they yearned for their fatherland. Plato imagined that all our knowledge is a reminiscence of what we learned in a previous state of existence; and Wordsworth’s exquisite lines, which cannot lose their sweet fragrance however often they are repeated, are a reflection of the same visionary gleam,--'Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The soul that rises with us, our life’s star. Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar; Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory, do we come From God, Who is our home.' Our author too suggests it; and it is true. We need not maintain it as an external fact in the history of the soul, according to the old doctrine, resuscitated in our own times, of Traducianism (The doctrine that the soul or spirit is inherited from one or both parents). The Apostle represents it rather as a feeling. There is a Christian consciousness of heaven, as if the soul had been there and longed to return. And if it is a glorious attainment of faith to regard heaven as a city, more consoling still is the hope of returning there, storm-tossed and weather-beaten, as to a home, to look up to God as to a Father, and to love all angels and saints as brethren in the household of God, over which Christ is set as a Son. Such a hope renders feeble, sinful men not altogether unworthy of God’s Fatherhood. For He is not ashamed to be called their God, and Jesus Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren. The proof is, that God has prepared for them a settled abode in the eternal city."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…