Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Hannah More
Exiles on the Earth
Christians should know that this is not our home…we’re only passing through on our way to the kingdom of God. As the author of Hebrews writes about the heroes and heroines of the faith, “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” (Heb 11:13).
Our True Home
This is not our home. This earth will pass away and someday (soon?) there will be a new heaven and a new earth and the old will be gone forever (Rev 21:1), “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” (Heb 11:14-15). The point is that we are seeking a permanent home in the kingdom because if this were our home, we’d “have opportunity to return.”
A Heavenly Country
We don’t plan on living in this world that long. When you compare this life with eternity, our life is but a vapor compared to the infinity of time without end in the kingdom, therefore we “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” (Heb 11:16). The kingdom is far, far better because it’s a heavenly one and what makes the heavenly home we’re headed so heavenly is the King of heaven Who will be there when we enter it. What could possibly be better than that?
Conclusion
Hannah More, in saying that the soul on earth is an immortal guest, means that we are exiles on earth right now because our true home is in the kingdom of heaven and a heavenly country is what we should all desperately seek since heaven is heavenly because Jesus there. It can’t be any better than that, can it?
