Dear Bro Chris,

Abraham’s attitude of mind was brought about by an appreciation of three things:

• The word of Yahweh
• His thankfulness for being called
• His reciprocation of the divine love shown to him

These three things manifested themselves in Abraham’s life in his conscientious subjection to Yahweh and his conscientious objection to the thinking and ways of the flesh. The result being as we read in Hebrews chapter 11 and verses 9-19.

We see he daily did these seven positive things:

1) Looked for
2) Saw with the eye of faith
3) Was persuaded of
4) Embraced
5) Confessed
6) Manifested
7) Sought after

Seven is the number of completion and the covenant

The first thing we notice here is that Abraham obeyed. He went out and this going out continued for the rest of his life as it does for us, for the Greek here is in the Aorist tense, it’s a continuous action until completed. For Abraham like us has not yet received the inheritance.

We note in verse 9 he sojourned in a strange country both of these words emphases that the land was not his, that he was an alien within it as he waited like us on the fulfillment of God promise.
Verse 10 continues to add to this picture by showing Abraham looking, waiting and expecting for the promised city as the Greek means, here the tense is imperfect showing it is something he kept on doing day by day. Is this a picture of us? Are we patiently looking, waiting in expectation?

In Verse 13 Abraham had seen the promise afar off, he saw with the eye of faith and kept it like a horizon in front of him as he sojourned day by day. This continual fixed sight of the eye of faith on the promise persuaded Abraham to fully embrace the promises. This word embrace means to open one’s arms to joyfully welcome and draw it to oneself, It was this joyful embracing of the hope of Israel that caused him to confess that he was a stranger and a pilgrim on the earth in faith.
In that 13th verse the words having seen, persuaded, embraced and confessed are again in this Aorist tense, thus Abraham kept on doing these things every day.

Verse 13 then provides the motivation for us to honestly declare like Abraham in verse 14 that we too seek that same country. These words declare plainly express much more than just telling others they mean to manifest, exhibit to show one’s true self to others in other words to place in open view our whole manner of life both to those without and to exhort those within.

Again the word seek means to wish and crave after this new country, again is this how we live our daily lives? For this is how Abraham felt. He was clearly dissatisfied with the evil age he lived in are we?

In verse 15 the Greek tense for mindful is imperfect here meaning had they been mindful they would have kept on thinking about the things of the flesh and this life recalling them every day.
We have a warning here for if we are mindful of the things of this life and the land of our birth or sojourning this is where our heart will be and our lives will manifest it to all. The Greek implies in this verse that they every opportunity to return, as do we, yet they chose not too. How are we going to choose?

Finally in verse 16 those like Abraham who manifest themselves to be truly conscientious objectors desire or stretch out after as the word means, fascinatingly the only other time this word appears is in 1st Timothy 6 and verse 10 where it speaks of those coveting after money. (Coveting is this same word).

Here is a terribly powerful contrast we either serve God or Mammon there is no middle ground. There is in this point the exhortation for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light, for often we are neither cold nor hot, lukewarm halting between two opinions. The result being if we are not careful we will be spued out of the Lord’s mouth at his coming.

Thus we like Abraham before us are strangers-foreigners now in this land. We have no share, for a foreigner is someone who lives in a country and has no citizenship rights, they are unable to claim its privileges or be subject to the responsibilities and obligations of the citizenship of that country. Likewise as pilgrims we are on a journey to something more enduring, which our Master has gone before us to prepare. Thus we are just temporarily sojourning in this dwelling place.

Grace & peace

Wayne Marshall