"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." (Hebrews 11:13-16 )

In the middle of this great chapter on faith, the author of Hebrews pauses to give a recap. He has already covered creation, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah. He will get back to Abraham, the patriarchs, Moses, and many others. But before he does, he gives a beautiful statement about the mentality which drove our forefathers' faith. In short, they looked for the better city of God.

Abraham "was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." And many joined him. They knew they needed real foundations, something enduring, and they didn't look to this world for that grounding. Instead, they looked forward to the city God was building for them. But how can modern believers develop this heavenward focus? How can we look forward to the better city?

1. Live in a Tent

First, live in a tent. It says of the Old Testament saints, they "acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." Because of this sense, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and many others lived in tents (Hebrews 11:9). They understood this world was not their home, that God was preparing something better for them, so they adjusted their daily lives accordingly.

If we are to be people of faith today, we must look longingly upon the city God is building. This requires us to embrace exile today. If we cannot handle being strangers and exiles during our time here on planet earth, we won't endure by faith. But Christians are a different people, part of a different kingdom, who serve an entirely different King. Jesus is our Lord, and our lives are meant to find their fulfillment in him and his grace. But believers today are presented with a big lie. The lie is this: there are only two paths for you to choose from.

Hatred

The first path is one of hatred for this world. It leads you to religiosity, a sense of superiority over your fellow man. This path isolates you from others and creates bitterness within. Despondency often accompanies this path because, like Jonah and his generation, this sense is that humanity is without gospel hope. Here, the believer is separated from the world through a feeling of superiority.

Assimilation

The second path is one of assimilation into this world. Here, the believer thinks he must refashion or reconsider his theology, spirituality, and lifestyle to conform to the dogmas of the surrounding culture. On this second path, Christianity bends and conforms until there is nothing helpful in it. Gone are the doctrines of sin, substitutionary death of Christ, and eternal judgment.

For many believers, these are the only two options. You can either become different by hating the world or, through what seems like love, become the same as the world. A third way exists, however.

Way of the Believer

Jesus provides this path. When he came, he came as the embodiment of "grace and truth" (John 1:14, 17). He came declaring the truth of God, saying hard things to a difficult generation. He also came with love and grace. He cared for humanity and made himself one with us so that we might receive his substitutionary death for us. He loves this world, though he sees its errors, and made a way for us to find reunification to God through and by his blood.

Jesus' way of life, one where he never wavered from the truth but unearthed and firmed it up while still reaching out to the wayward and lost, is the way of the believer. It is a hard path to follow. Like walking on the jagged ridge of a steep mountain, there is error on either side. The Christian, however, pursues Christ so they don't fall off into an isolated and bitter despondency, nor a flimsy reconsideration of basic Christian orthodoxy. They want to walk the way of Christ, their master, full of grace and truth, truth and grace. Until a believer embraces this exilic and different life, they'll never be able to set their affections on the city to come.

In his book Disappearing Church, Mark Sayers shares, "Those of us who lead and believe in a time of spiritual ghostliness feel this dislocation all around us. It is the discomfort of feeling a great distance between the vision of the kingdom and the direction of the culture we live in. It is the hurt as friends leave active faith or faith altogether and disappear into the beautiful apocalypse. It is the relentless pressure that pastors, leaders, and disciples face as we call people to submission and worship of God in a culture of seduction and pleasure. In the presence of such pressure, we have before us two options. First, we can become bitterer, more despondent, more isolated. We understand the situation we face and we flounder in the face of the challenge. Second, we can simply attempt to lessen the pressure by shaping our theology, spirituality, and lifestyle to suit the dogma of the surrounding culture. We must instead allow ourselves to be swept into the waters of exile, and to be shaped into the prophetic mold that God can use exile to sculpt.

2. Replace Our Homeland

Next, we must replace our homeland. This is drawn out for us in the phrase, "people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland." (Hebrews 11:14) Additionally, he writes, "they would have had an opportunity to return," but didn't. (Hebrews 11:15) The idea of the author seems to be that this generation, the one who set their sites on the city of God, had ditched their previous homeland. This is what enabled them to dwell in tents so effectively. To them, home was no longer home. Something new was their destiny.

If we are going to live with the kind of faith which sets its sights on the city of God, we must embrace a new home, rejecting the old. This is what makes the exilic life fascinating. You no longer have a home (you're an exile), but you also have found a home in the family of God. In a sense, you're already home. You belong. You must embrace the life of exile by realizing this new home. Paul wrote, "You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19). So though the New Testament urges us to live as sojourners and exiles (1 Peter 2:11), we are also told we are no longer strangers and aliens. We are home. The body of Christ, the family of God, is ours.

Life with the church is a great aid to the life of exile. To live counter-culturally, with different beliefs and values from the world around you, takes guts, but it also requires the support of other human beings. If you can embrace the church, others with an exilic mindset, you will find an advantage. The mutual encouragement and strength you'll receive there can aid you as you pursue the third way of Christ.

3. Real Foundations

Finally, we must look forward to real foundations. The Old Testament saints, the author tells us, desire a better and heavenly country. They knew God had prepared for them a city. It was one, as Abraham demonstrated, which "has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:10). For people in the first century, and during Abraham's lifetime, the city was the highest form of civilized society. It was a pattern for an ideal community.

Even the great cities of our modern world are wonderful to behold, but Abraham and the other Old Testament saints knew that every earthly city had no real foundation and would eventually erode. This inevitable crumbling made them look for a city with foundations, security, something which would last and endure. God is the builder of such a city. We know it will last because before building it, he planned and designed it. He is the architect of the new heavens and earth, the new Jerusalem which will last forever.

It was to that city the saints of old hoped, and to which the life of faith requires a constant gaze. Other worldviews tell us to soak in the joys of today for sorrow and misery are certainly coming. Some have even used events like global-warming to create their own version of the Last Days or the apocalypse. But the Christian view of the world helps us embrace today's sorrows, knowing that coming joy is most certainly ours.

In his book, Walking With God Through Pain And Suffering, Tim Keller said, "Do you believe that when you die, you rot? That life in this world is all the happiness you will ever get? Do you believe that someday the sun is going to die and all human civilization is going to be gone, and nobody will remember anything anyone has ever done? That's one way to imagine your future. But here's another. Do you believe in a Judgement Day when every evil deed and injustice will be redressed? Do you believe you are headed for a future of endless joy? Those are two utterly different futures, and depending on which one you believe, you are going to handle your (life) in two utterly different ways."

The idea is that our sights must be set on the eternal realm and that this vision makes us people of faith today. We will go on adventures with God. We will receive power for the seemingly impossible from God. All because we've looked forward to the better city of God. As the psalmist wrote, "Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. 'Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!'" (Psalm 46:8-10). As we behold Him and His future victory over all evil, our minds and hearts are strengthened for the life of faith today. Let us "be still" and consider his coming kingdom with joy.