"For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind ('been mindful of') that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But 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 11:14-16)
When a person once challenged me for working behind the Iron Curtain, I told them that I was closer to a Believer in Jesus Christ who lived in Eastern Europe than I was to an American neighbor who rejected Jesus Christ. You may be surprised how many Christians do not think this way. Their primary allegiance is to their people group "homeland."
The people described in Hebrews 11 lived in a "repentance" life style, viz., they left everything behind and headed in a new direction, "for He has prepared a city for them." You will recall that Abraham sent his servant to receive a wife for Isaac, and just before he left, the servant said, "Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?" Abraham would have none of such thinking, "Beware that you do not take my son back there." The wife for Isaac was the secondary issue. The Lord Jesus Christ, the One Whom Abraham, "rejoiced to see [His] day," was Abraham's King. He called Abraham from Ur to build a family, a nation, a country, if you will. For the Believer in Jesus Christ there is the enduring command, "Beware that you do not take my son back there."
There are many opportunities to yield to what Bob Mumford used to call "the go- back syndrome." If repentance is a change of mind and direction, when we come to Christ there is the warning, "Beware that you do not take my son back there." Why? Because God's people have, "a better country, that is, an heavenly,"
When a person once challenged me for working behind the Iron Curtain, I told them that I was closer to a Believer in Jesus Christ who lived in Eastern Europe than I was to an American neighbor who rejected Jesus Christ. You may be surprised how many Christians do not think this way. Their primary allegiance is to their people group "homeland."
The people described in Hebrews 11 lived in a "repentance" life style, viz., they left everything behind and headed in a new direction, "for He has prepared a city for them." You will recall that Abraham sent his servant to receive a wife for Isaac, and just before he left, the servant said, "Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?" Abraham would have none of such thinking, "Beware that you do not take my son back there." The wife for Isaac was the secondary issue. The Lord Jesus Christ, the One Whom Abraham, "rejoiced to see [His] day," was Abraham's King. He called Abraham from Ur to build a family, a nation, a country, if you will. For the Believer in Jesus Christ there is the enduring command, "Beware that you do not take my son back there."
There are many opportunities to yield to what Bob Mumford used to call "the go- back syndrome." If repentance is a change of mind and direction, when we come to Christ there is the warning, "Beware that you do not take my son back there." Why? Because God's people have, "a better country, that is, an heavenly,"
Father, in Jesus' Name, there is just nothing better to go back to. Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
