Supreme City

Scripture Reading: Genesis 12:1-9

Kid’s Time: If you could design your own home what would it look like? Read the book about the boy who designed his own house. God is building not just a house for us, but a whole city.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Ten: Faith—The Greatest Power in the World (Hebrews 11)

Dr. George Morrison, a great Scottish preacher, once said, “The important thing is not what we live in, but what we look for

Proposition: Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob lived by faith as nomads in a country that was going to be theirs.

Interrogative: What were the patriarchs looking for and how did they endure living without a settled home?

Transitional Statement: They were looking for a future city. Look with me at 3 groups and the city they by faith hoped in.

I. Abraham’s City

A. He Was Called From His Home

Hebrews 11:8 NASB95

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Abraham was called from Ur and from worshipping other gods.

Joshua 24:2 NASB95

2 Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.

Acts 7:2–3 NASB95

2 And he said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’

We see the grace of God on Abram who was worshipping heathen gods like a prodigal son eating the spiritual swine food of his time being welcomed back by his father.

Abraham is the physical father of all the godly Jews.

Isaiah 51:1–2 NASB95

1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, Who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn And to the quarry from which you were dug. 2 “Look to Abraham your father And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; When he was but one I called him, Then I blessed him and multiplied him.”

Abraham is the spiritual father of all those who believe.

Romans 4:11 NASB95

11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them,

B. He Couldn’t Settle In the Land

Hebrews 11:9 NASB95

9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;

Genesis 12:6–7 NASB95

6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.

He showed great and genuine faith in God’s promise even though he only received a token of the land that was promised him.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Chapter 11

Isaac did not inherit it from Abraham, nor Jacob from Isaac, but they all inherited it from God directly as “fellow heirs.”

Hebrews 11:10 NASB95

10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Here is how John described the city that Abraham was longing for.

Revelation 21:12–21 NASB95

12 It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall. 16 The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. 17 And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements. 18 The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; 20 the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

Abraham was looking for not just a more permanent home that would replace his tents, but he was looking for an eternal home. A place not only where his body could rest but where his soul could find peace and he could live with his God. Abraham’s faith allowed him to see past his temporary circumstances and base his life, his actions, his character, his hope on the certainty of his future home.

Abraham still raised his family, succeeded in business and lived carrying out the mundane tasks of everyday life, but those were not his main goal in life. His life was lived in faith for a future that he never realized in this life.

Do have the faith that Abraham had? Are you living according the promises that God has given to you?

II. Sarah’s City

Hebrews 11:11 NASB95

11 By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.

Sarah was well past the age where she could have children.

Romans 4:19 NASB95

19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;

What a testimony to the pagan people around them. God was telling them, “I have a special people who I will have a close relationship. Just to show you that I have chosen them and that they didn’t just claim this for themselves, I am going to give them a child be supernatural means.”

Sarah laughed when she first heard of this.

Genesis 18:10–12 NASB95

10 He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. 12 Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

Then Sarah laughed again, but with faith, wonder and awe at what God had done.

Genesis 21:6–7 NASB95

6 Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Hebrews 11:12 NASB95

12 Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

1 Peter 3:6 NASB95

6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.

It took a lot of faith on Sarah part to carry a baby to term at 99 years old!

Just as we are spiritually children of Abraham by having the same faith in God that Abraham had, so we are spiritually children of Sarah by believing in God as Sarah did.

Abraham was focussed on permanency of the city promised by God, but Sarah was focussed on the people who would live in the city, her children.

III. Our City

Hebrews 11:13 NASB95

13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Genesis 23:4 NASB95

4 “I am a stranger and a sojourner among you; give me a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

Hebrews 11:14 NASB95

14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

For Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob to admit that they were strangers, means that where they pitched their tents in the land of Canaan was not what they were looking forward to by faith.

Hebrews 11:15 NASB95

15 And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.

Someone might say, well Abraham wan’t really looking forward to a new country and city from God. The reason he lived in tents is because he still considered Ur in the land of the Chaldeans his true home. The author argues, if that were true, why didn’t they just return there? No, they were looking for something else. When they left, they left for good. They didn’t look back.

Nothing has changed. Jesus demands the same of us.

Luke 9:23 NASB95

23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

There is no return for us to our old belief, our old life. This is not our home any longer. We have died to our selves and live for Jesus alone.

Hebrews 11:16 NASB95

16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

Just because they desired a heavenly country doesn’t mean that God was obligated to give it to them or us. But, the fact that God does have a city prepared for us, shows that He is no ashamed to have a relationship with us. He is pleased that we call Him our God.

Are you looking for a better city in which to live? A city where God lives in perfect righteousness. That is where our hope should be set. It should be as real to us now as if we were living there right now because the God who created us , the God who raised Jesus from the dead, is the architect of this city.

Philippians 3:20 NASB95

20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

Colossians 3:2 NASB95

2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.