In these verses, we see the life of Abraham in several phases. The
first phase was when He obeyed God and left Mesopotamia
(verse 8). The second was when he had reached the land that God had promised to
him and lived among strangers (verses 9-10). Verse 8 began by telling us about Abraham's faith and how he
obeyed God’s call and left his homeland for the place that God had promised. He
obeyed and acted on them although he did not even know where that place was.
And even though Abraham had arrived at the land of promise, it was still a
strange land to him, and he and his family still had to dwell among foreigners.
Verses 9-10 reveal that by faith he was still looking for the land which God
Himself would be the foundation and the architect.
Next Sarah, the wife of Abraham, is described here as having faith
to believe in God’s ability to enable her to conceive, even though she had
passed the age of child bearing. Hers was a miracle totally beyond the realm of
natural possibility. God rewarded Sarah’s faith way beyond her wildest
imagination. Although Abraham himself was also well pass the age of fertility,
yet through his seed, Isaac was conceived and born. Through Isaac, God’s
promise to Abraham was fulfilled and literally, the children of Abraham are as
numerous as the stars in the heavens or sands on the seashore.
The word “these” is not referring to all that the
author had referred to in preceding verses but only to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac
and Jacob. They and Abraham had lived as exiled strangers by faith. In verses
13-16, the author interrupted his recollection about Abraham's acts of faith to
give a little exhortation. He emphasized the fact that these patriarchs lived
by faith, and they all died believing that ultimately God would fulfill His
promises to them.
Hence, they all looked forward to possessing a land that God
had promised to give them. None of them turned back to where they had left. In
other words, none of them apostatized. The author’s purpose was to call on the
Jewish believers to emulate the examples of these patriarchs and not to abandon
their hope. Because every one of these patriarchs trusted God and kept pursuing
Him by faith, God was not ashamed of any of them. Just as God had prepared a
heavenly dwelling for them, we all know from John 14:1-3 that Christ had gone
to heaven to prepare ours.
Every example so far had been of people who in the
face of temptation, kept believing God and pursuing the promises He had made to
them. In every case God had shown His approval, and each was rewarded for their
persistent faith. By extension these verses also apply to us. We are to do likewise
to receive God’s approval and be rewarded.
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