Genesis 12:1-3, 13:15 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed… 13:15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.
This is the foundation of grace upon which Abraham lives, moves, and exists by faith. To a pagan man of Iraqi descent, God sets forth grand promises of global and eternal implication.
And through the past 11 chapters, we have witnessed these promises come to fruition. All except one. Abraham has seen the land and walked its breadth. His name has been exalted. His name has been a blessing to those who have blessed him. His name has been a curse to those who have cursed him. Families have been blessed. A nation sits poised to extend through the son of promise, Isaac.
But Abraham still has no possession of the land. Though he dwells in the land, he dwells in tents, wandering as a nomad, a man without a home. 6 times in these past 11 chapters God has promised possession of this land as a permanent and eternal possession. And yet, Abraham still rents. Still owes his existence to the pagan tribes who have graciously allowed him to dwell in their midst.
He remains a sojourner and foreigner. The land is still not his home.
Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
The various writers of the NT canon affirm a similar status for Christians, especially Peter, calling the God’s people in the church, exiles and sojourners, foreigners without a home. Though we call them homes, we dwell but in tents, temporary dwellings, looking forward to the same city as Abraham.
Revelation 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband… What is this city of which John speaks? Is it not the city to which Abraham himself yearned?
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