For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. (Hebrews 13:14)

Seeking A Greater City

Someone suggested that home is where the heart is. It shows that the nature of home is not so much about the physical connection that creates it, but about the emotional and spiritual relationship shared by those who make up the home. The difference between a house and a home is that one is made of mortar and brick, and the other is made with the passion of the heart. One of the great challenges of life is to realize that the most important part of living is not what is seen but what is unseen. Life is measured by time, distance, and substance. Men live within the confines of a fleshly tent that is only temporary. The appointment with death cannot be changed. Everyone will die (short of the coming of the Lord). The key is how to view life’s brevity.

When the Hebrew author wrote his letter to the persecuted saints, he sought to instill in them a greater faith to endure temptations and trials. They had been severely tested for their faith. Hebrews is a letter showing the superiority of Christ as a better High Priest, sacrifice, Savior, teacher, and Lord. There is nothing better than the covenant of Jesus Christ. Living in the hope of eternal life is how the early Christians must view their persecuted existence. Some would be delivered while many others would perish. Regardless of which circumstance one finds himself in, the victory in Christ is assured.

As the author of Hebrews concludes his message, he reminds the saints of the enduring hope found in seeking a city whose foundation and maker is God. Abel, Enoch, and Noah received the promise of eternal life because they lived in the hope of God’s promises. Abraham obeyed the word of the Lord to leave his country and go to a place that he knew not. His faith led him to accept God’s promises as true, and a greater blessing awaited him. While he lived in tents, he longed for the heavenly city promised by God. Many died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them by the word of the Lord.

The greater truth is to understand that life is no continuing city. What is found here and now will never last. All the trappings of life are temporary, temporal, and fleeting. Faith is seeing what cannot be seen. It takes great faith to see the difference between what is promised and what is seen with the eyes. The greater faith for the Christian is to seek the city that is to come, the heavenly Jerusalem. Removing the trappings of this world to embrace the hope of eternal life demands the faith to walk away from the tabernacle of flesh here to accept the body of spirit that dwells in the presence of God.

Seek the city whose maker is God. The Lord’s promises depict a city four-square and beautiful beyond imagination. It is not about the physicality of the city but the eternal promise to dwell with the Father. The temptation to live for the world here and now is a ploy of the devil to have the child of God take their eyes off the eternal city and embrace the timbers below. Joy can only be found when the heart yearns for the city that is to come. All that is here will be destroyed. What God has prepared will never be destroyed. Seek the greater city.