This World is Not Our Home

Long before our universe existed, there was a great council meeting held by God. Gradually the news of His final decision began to spread among the celestial beings of the Heavenly realm. The Almighty had decided to adopt a family! Wow! God’s new family would inherit all of His possessions. How this will happen is the greatest mystery in the annals of Heaven’s history. The details were never given because there was an element of rebellion in the Kingdom. Today we know that this rebellion of the Devil has spread from heaven down to earth. Suddenly, the first step of God’s plan was revealed: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Gen 1:1 (KJV) In this surprise move God created a complete little universe in which He would raise and then select His new family. All of Heaven is continually filled with excitement to see what will happen next. It is common knowledge, that the deceiver came to the first two humans and tricked them into disobeying God. But God in His wisdom is using their disgraceful downfall to support the testing of His majestic new family. We read in the Scriptures how all of heaven is waiting to see the final outcome of God’s original decision.

There are many things we can discuss in this on-going drama about the struggle of humans to become a righteous Heavenly family. But the Church is where we live today and the pressure to shed the cocoon of this world is hard upon us. Every real Christian knows that ultimately all the over-comers will fly free as a new heavenly creation. All the work that God has put into this universe of ours is going be burned-up when our trials are over. This is why the last part of the book of Hebrews says: For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. Heb 13:14 (NLT) The obvious question is how do we become part of God’s family and live in His wonderful new world forever? Today it is well known, in the southern part of the U.S., that we simply go to the front of a church and say “I believe”. Unfortunately, the book of Hebrews does not agree with the casualness of this one-sided agreement. To many times it will lead us to a lack of commitment. We all know that we can never earn our own way into Heaven but this does not mean that our negligence is pleasing to God.

As the book of Hebrews begins to tell the story of human redemption it naturally begins with His only Heavenly Son. God ordained that Jesus be unexpectedly born of a virgin in the land of Israel. This surprise move of the Almighty took place in the middle of our history when things did not look good for the people of earth. Hebrews is revealing some more of God’s decision to adopt a family: Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. Heb 1:1-3 (NLT) We know the story, how that the deceiver of humans went to work trying to kill the son of God who had come to earth. We don’t know what the Devil was thinking as he watched Jesus Christ dying on the cross, but it was part of God’s mysterious plan for a family.

This world was not the permanent home of our savior and He knew it. Jesus had come to fulfill an oath that God had made to the faithful Abraham. Believe it or not, God made several oaths concerning His plans for humans. An oath seems strange because there is no one to hold the Almighty responsible to His oath. He did it simply to let us know the seriousness of His plan to promote Christians into His eternal family. In the book of Hebrews we can read about three of God’s oaths. This means that God is giving humans some absolutes. Many people do not like absolutes. They feel that their freedom is being limited. Never the less, when God speaks His family must listen and obey. The following passage gives us the primary oath which was made thousands of years ago: There was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.” Heb 6:13-14 (NLT) Abrahams descendants were chosen to become God’s family. This oath was given in Gen. 22, and it is very important because it enlarged the eternal family. In other words, it allows some gentiles into God’s family.

In our church today, unfortunately, there are members who have taken the covenant of faith very lightly. Because we do not suffer under the Law of Moses, some people don’t understand the serious nature of God’s redemption plan. It seems simple: Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. Romans 4:13 (NLT) But Paul tells us many times that our faith should cause us to have a serious relationship. As we look at the messages contained in Hebrews a new respect should grow inside of us. Christians are the stones being used by the Holy Spirit to build a new temple for God. It is not reasonable to expect God’s new temple to have dirty or rotten stones in a beautiful new wall. The oaths contained in Hebrews are given to impress the seriousness of God upon us. In the passage above we are told that the promise of God only applies to us if we have “a right relationship with God”. It should be our goal to respect every oath that God has given to Christians.

Our redemption was not purchased cheaply and we must be serious about it. The Hebrew writer tells us:  So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus… Heb 2:1-3 (NLT) We see here that under the Old Covenant people were severely punished by God and then it points out that our disobedience under the New Covenant will not escape His punishment. Thankfully, there is another oath to consider from the book of Hebrews. This one addresses our need for help as we live under the “better covenant”: For God said to Him, “The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: ‘You are a priest forever.’” Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God. Heb 7:21-22 We still have our old sinful nature and we continually need the help of our Priest. It is important to always tell the absolute truth to our advocate. God allows the Spirit of Jesus to lead us in the path of truth.

Jesus “is” the boundaries for the family of God. However, to stay within these boundaries God gave us a High Priest. We need a priest desperately because no sinful human can stand before God without a representative. The church family is very important because we are going to heaven as a group and we will be living in this family forever. The writer of Hebrews mentions that Jesus is the High Priest of a group of people who are partners: And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are partners with those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger and High Priest. Heb 3:1 (NLT) Because we are co-heirs we will be sharing the inheritance. Knowing how people behave when there is an inheritance to be shared, we should be glad that only the real people of faith are in God’s family. We can be assured that God’s Priest is on our side when the Spirit of Jesus comes to live in us. Jesus said: But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you… Righteousness is available because I go to the Father. John 16:7,10  How wonderful that humans can now find a righteous life.

It is fantastic that Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding for us but this requires us to honor the Savior with a righteous life. Church people that are not living a righteous life are in serious trouble. We cannot know where these people will spend eternity. The following oath was made by God for the purpose of waking us up to the fact that we cannot take advantage of God’s grace. The Scriptures warn us: Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled… I was angry with them, and I said, ‘Their hearts always turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’ So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’ Heb 3:8-11 (NLT) Unfortunately, we have people on the pews of our church that are refusing to do what is written in the Bible. They know what it says but they will not obey. Another problem in our church is: You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong. Heb 5:12-14 (NLT) Church people must encourage each other to grow in the Lord. Don’t let anything stop our preparation to become part of the family of God.

Some people wonder why we have a different religion now than the Jews had in the old days. It is because humans were too weak to keep all the Laws of God. So, as we have seen, God made Jesus into our new Priest to help us live holy lives. This forced a change in the law:  And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. Heb 7:12 (NLT) Our law is today is the Spirit of Jesus living inside of us. The law is now written on our heart. Through Jesus we now have direct access to the Almighty for the first time in human history. This change in the law was approved by God when Jesus won the victory over our sin and returned to His place in Heaven. In the old days people had to work very hard to keep the rules. But it is different today because we can simply follow the leading of the Spirit in our everyday life. He will never give us bad advice. The Scripture says: Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. Heb 10:23-26 (NLT) It is so easy for us to be grateful to our Savior for all His is doing for us.

Friend, this world is not our home and it is serious business to look for the new world. But we don’t need to be fearful because the Lord has given us a safe place to live in this world. The place of God’s rest is what every Christian needs to find while on this earth. The Scripture says:  God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.”… there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. Heb 4:6-9 (NLT) This promise was given to every believer. But Hebrews warns us that those who do not obey God will not be allowed into His rest. It is our duty to encourage each other to believe in God enough to obey Him with our everyday life. We can inherit a new world someday if we have God’s High Priest in us and we dedicate our life to everything in the Word of God.  The faithful will always honor the oaths that God has taken.

The world cannot understand what an honor it is to be a Christian. They don’t see the complete plan of God for human redemption. Natural people don’t feel the pain that God and His Heavenly Son suffered while providing redemption here on earth. They don’t know the very serious way that God swore to Abraham that his family of Faith would be eternally saved. The world can’t grasp that knowing the Almighty would not be found in the formal way humans usually worship. A Christian has formed a personal relationship with God. This unique bond is what mysteriously changes the church family into God’s eternal family. In charge of this unusual salvation is Jesus the High Priest. By placing His Spirit inside of each Christian Jesus is able to direct His Church toward the righteous family that God wants. Basically we have two things to do. First we live by faith completely and second we cooperate with the Lord in all of His instructions. This gives a Christian their peace and joy, which is mostly derived from the complete feeling of security found by living in God’s will. This world really is not our home.