(This was supposed to be my outline for a Bible study I tought, but I messed up and didn't have it printed out. So I was forced to go from my notes and memory. I wasn't sure how well it would go, but we got a lot of good discussion out of this passage. Next week is the one I am looking forward to. It's about the time Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac.)
The Heavenly Hope- Hebrews 11: 13-16
Hebrews 11: 13-16: All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
· What were the promises referred to here in verse 13?
· Does your faith ever make you feel like an “alien and stranger”?
· How is this experience the same today as it would have been for the patriarchs and the Hebrew believers this was originally written to? How is it different?
· Does the fact that they didn’t receive the promises make them a stronger example for us?
Read Hebrews 11:39-40: Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.
· We, along with those this letter was first written to are a continuation of their legacy. Do you find that encouraging? Or is it kind of scary?
Read Psalm 39:12. What stands out to you about David’s words here, considering who is saying them?
· Verse 14 (and the end of 13) suggests that they embraced their uniqueness, their “foreignness”. (Genesis 23:4) Does the church do this too much today? Too little? The right amount?
Read II Corinthians 5: 6-9
· Verse 15 is reminds us that they could have given up at any point, and that they were volunteers.
· They knew there would be hardships ahead. (Gen. 15:11-13) Wouldn’t giving up have been the much easier option? Especially in light of the fact that they personally would not live to see the fulfillment of the promises mentioned in verse 13?
· How does going back to our old ways work out for us when we try?
Read Mark 8:38, Romans 1:16, and II Timothy 1:8
· In verse 16, we are reminded that ultimately they weren’t just promised an earthly nation, but that ultimately their goal was the same as ours.
· Given some of the things they did, wouldn’t God have every right to be ashamed of them? Doesn’t that go for us as well? I find it encouraging that God was willing to over-look their boneheadedness as long as they sincerely trusted Him and tried to follow him, even allowing Himself to be known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Read Habakkuk 2:3-4, and Hebrews 10:35-39
1 comment:
Brilliant stuff about being an outsider. I miss you all.
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