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They Sought a Homeland
Hebrews 11:13-16
I. A pilgrimage of faith.
A. Hebrews 11:13 They died as they lived, in faith.
B. God had often repeated his promise.
1. Genesis 12:1-3 Abram’s call (75-175)
2. Genesis 22:16-18 After Isaac’s sacrifice
3. Genesis 26:3-5 To Isaac in famine (180)
4. Genesis 28:13-14 To Jacob at Bethel (147)
C. Its fulfillment was only seen through the eye of faith.
D. They lived as pilgrims–one who crosses the field–like those who went on a pilgrimage to the holy land
1. Genesis 23:3-4 “Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, ‘I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.’”
2. Genesis 47:9a “And Jacob said to Pharaoh, ‘The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years...’”
3. 1 Peter 2:11 “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.”
II. A pilgrimage looking toward home.
A. Hebrews 11:14 Looked forward to the world to come
1. Hebrews 11:15 Could have gone back to Canaan
2. Hebrews 13:14 “For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.”
B. Hebrews 11:16a
C. Hebrews 11:9-10 Dwelt–lived like a resident alien
D. Philippians 3:20-21 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body,according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” [Octavian and Mark Anthony defeated the Roman Republican Army – Brutus and Cassius.]
III. A pilgrimage to please the Father.
A. Hebrews 11:16b
1. Exodus 3:15b “‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’”
2. Matthew 22:31-32 “But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” (Exodus 3:6)
B. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
C. Revelation 21:3 “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.’”
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