Scripture: Genesis 12:1-5; Hebrews 11

“This world is not my home,” people often say, “I’m just a passing through!” It’s a similar sentiment to that often expressed in the spirituals: “Soon I will be done with the troubles of the world. . . . Goin’ home to be with God”; “Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home.” Focus on the word home. Here, it doesn’t refer to that warm place of acceptance, peace, and space to do as one pleases; rather, the longing is for something more than a comfortable residence as important as home is in this sense. The longing in these words is for a country, a home, and, not just a place where an individual is comfortable and at peace, but a country wherein, as far as we can see in every direction, everyone shares the kind of protected and cared-for feeling we all desire in our abode.

The writer of Hebrews wrote of people of God who were searching for a homeland in which their faith could be fulfilled, in which all the promises of God could be claimed in full. This would necessitate the absence of evil and spiritual distraction. Such a place was in their hearts and dreams, but they wanted a tangible expression of it.

The writer of Hebrews has created a literary “faith hall of fame,” a recalling of those who were known for their great faith though the full rewards of their faith were not realized on earth. Let that latter phrase be emphasized: though the full rewards of their faith were not realized on earth. The initial subjects in this faith hall of fame are Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah. The values by which each of these lived and acted revealed that they were not caught up in or bound by the perspective of nonfaith. Even on earth they were living according to the standards of a heavenly country which, at best, they could barely glimpse.

Do you remember the story of Cain and Abel? When they were adults, these first two children of Adam and Eve had developed personalities and habits which were in sharp contrast, no consolation, yet it provides good reading for parents who marvel and moan at how differently the children they thought similarly reared turn out to be. The firstborn was Cain, and he became a farmer. The second born was Abel, and he became a shepherd. Only two professions in the world, and the sons take different paths! Even though Adam and Eve had been sent out of the Garden of Eden for their respective acts of disobeying God, they apparently had kept up the religious dimension of their lives. Both Cain and Abel knew that at harvest time, an offering to the Lord was in order. Cain brought some of his crops as his offering; Abel brought the first lamb born in his flock of sheep. God was pleased with Abel’s offering and not Cain’s; obviously God’s response had to do with Abel’s desire to bring his best and Cain’s tokenism. Jealous because of God’s praise of Abel’s faithfulness, Cain kills Abel.

Here is the writer of Hebrews using dead Abel as an example for others who would be faithful to God, and we think, as did the original readers, no doubt, “Are there any examples of people who were faithful and lived to tell about it?” What is Abel doing in this roll call of God’s faithful anyway? Our writer explains that it was because of Abel’s faith that he “offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, . . . and through it he being dead still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4). The standards of the heavenly country establish that God’s people give their best for God. That is why Abel is in this list; that is the sense in which he was reaching toward a homeland that he had not known on earth.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
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