Eagerly Wait for New Jerusalem, Looking Away Unto Jesus
Hebrews 11:9-10 says about Abraham with Isaac and Jacob, “By faith he dwelt as a foreigner in the land of promise…for he eagerly waited for the city [New Jerusalem] which has the foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God.”
Hebrews 11:15-16 has more about them: “if indeed they continued to remember that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return; but they long after a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”
The city of the living God was seen from afar, longed after, and waited for by the Old Testament saints (Heb. 11:13b, 16a, 10a). Speaking of Abraham and the other patriarchs, Hebrews 11:13 says, “All these died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar and greeted them, and confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth.”*
Let us follow their example, not considering what success we could have in earthly endeavors but eagerly waiting and longing for something better, the God prepared, heavenly Jerusalem. Let us “run with endurance the race which is set before us” (12:1), being active to gain more of Christ and to experience more of Him.
For this, we should live “looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2) as we await His coming and the appearing of New Jerusalem.
* Life-Study of the New Testament, Conclusion Messages: The Church, the Kingdom, and the New Jerusalem, message 256, p. 2683, by Witness Lee. Published 1998 and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, California.
Posted by Don on October 14, 2024
https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/10/14/eagerly-wait-for-new-jerusalem-looking-away-unto-jesus/
