Hebrews Chapter Eleven, A Glimpse Of The Heavenly City

 

The better, the heavenly country they seek only permits heavenly citizens. When the Old Testament saints perished, they waited in Abraham’s Bosom until the time of Christ, when He led captivity captive after His triumphant death on the cross. Now, after the cross, the saints enter directly and consciously into the presence of their Lord upon death. 

This was Paul’s conundrum, when pressed with his imminent demise. He wrote to the Philippian church that he has, “a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better,” Philippians 1:23. Though the flesh dies, the spirit that animates it lives on, conscious outside of the body. We are not physical beings with spiritual qualities; we are spiritual beings living in physical bodies. The spirit gives life to the body, and when it departs the body dies. Solomon wrote of this somber, sobering event: “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it,” Ecclesiastes 12:7. Earlier in the same book, Solomon notes that while the spirit of human beings goes upward, the spirit of animals goes down into the earth, Ecclesiastes 3:21. While all are dust, (men and animals) our spiritual destinies are rather different.

 

God has indeed prepared a city for His saints, defined in the closing chapters of the Bible.  The saints, now perfected, having entered the presence of their Lord and being given spiritual bodies like Jesus possesses, may dwell in the true City of God, descended from Heaven. It is not my intention to visit the copious amount of details the Holy Spirit relates regarding this city, which is described vividly in Revelation chapters 21 and 22. It is good to note, however, the progressive revelation of Scripture in providing whatever pertinent details God deemed necessary for life and godliness, including a blessed and amazing glimpse of what the new Heaven and Earth will be like once sin and death are eradicated. The Redeemed saints, both prior to and after the cross will be present, amidst scores of holy angels, praising and worshiping the triune God, and serving Him in tireless works throughout eternity. How does one enter this city? “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be His God, and he shall be My son,” Revelation 21:7. How does one overcome to ensure that we inherit all things? “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:4, 5.

 

Of such people God is not ashamed to be called their God. “Therefore,” is the conjunctive adverb that couples this train of thought together. First, there are those that seek a Heavenly city, which is better. Paul confessed that he thought being immediately with Jesus was “far better.” His winsome comment about his love for the Lord reveals much. The saint would only seek such a city for its King. They want to be a resident; they want to live beneath the rule of the One presiding in authority over its borders. They want to be sons and subjects of the crown. Therefore, God is not ashamed to claim such people as His own, see Malachi 3:17, 18.

 

Twice we are warned in the gospels about shame relating to this instance. “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels,” Luke 9:26. Likewise, in Matthew, “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven,” Matthew 10:33, KJV. It must be noted that this is not simple denial; Peter denied Jesus three times during Jesus’ mock trial, but was restored to the Lord and went on to become a powerful evangelist. This shame Jesus mentions may be connected to the unforgivable sin of unbelief, even—or especially—amongst churchians. The churchian is enlightened with doctrine, sermons, hymns and godly discussion, buttressed by the lifestyles of those committed to serving Jesus Christ. Yet for all of that they do not genuinely believe, but remain as tares amidst the wheat until the angels uproot them and cast them in the fire. This shame, then, is a rejection of Jesus’ person and claims, and therefore a natural rejection of His teachings. His teachings are reinforced by His person, which is not believed on. This city is not for such people. “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death…But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life…But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie,” Revelation 21:8, 27, 22:15.