God's Promises For Faith

March 27th, 2026
by Dr. Lance Waldie

Hebrews 11:13-16 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. 14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. 15 And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. 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.

Pausing for a brief moment to look back upon the list of great men and women he has highlighted for their faith, the author notates what is evident in “all these who died in faith”: they all passed from this earth not receiving the promises of God on this side of glory. Now since Abel, Enoch, and Noah were not promised what Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob were promised, the author’s comments in vv. 13-16 are specific to them, not Abel, Enoch, and Noah. Abraham et al.’s “dying in faith” is equated with their not yet having received God’s promises, for the author understands that faith is in essence forward-looking, not present possessions.

Verse 13 presents a tension between that which is seen and not seen. The patriarchs saw God’s promises with the eye of faith and thus “welcomed” them “from a distance.” Yet they never experienced their fulfillment. Although they “saw” (i.e., believed) that God would fulfill His promises to their descendants, they did not believe they would actually see His promises fulfilled in their lifetimes. Notwithstanding, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all settled down in Canaan and made it their home country. In spite of this, transience and uncertainty were always present among them. How? They recognized quite clearly that “they were strangers and exiles on the earth”—a persistent theme even in the NT for Christians (cf. Phil. 3:20; 1 Pet. 1:1, 17; 2:11-12). France says, “Here, ‘on earth’ could be translated ‘in the land’ (of Canaan) as in v. 9, which was of course the literal situation of the patriarchs, but the way the author will go on to expound the idea makes it clear that for him this is a model of the situation of all God’s people as ‘citizens of heaven’ on their way home and therefore always ‘aliens’ on earth.”

For “those who say such thigs” (v. 14) refers, firstly, to the patriarchs, but they represent all who believe the same way, namely that while on earth, we are “strangers and exiles,” aliens sojourning our way in faith. Abraham, for example, departed his former life in Ur (Mesopotamia). Had he been disappointed at not receiving God’s promises in Canaan, he could have returned to Ur—his “country” (Gr. patris). The option of returning there remained open to both him and his offspring, yet it had no desirability for them (v. 15). He was clearly thinking of a better patris—a city built by God with foundations (v. 10; cf. Rev. 21:1-2, 14).

As v. 16 attests, Abraham and his faithful offspring were not looking for riches and power on earth; they were following God’s lead looking for a “better country… a heavenly one.” It is true that Canaan was the earthly place of God’s leading, and it is true that this location on the earthly map is God’s Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey (Ex. 3:8; Num. 14:8). Abraham et al. was looking for the eventual possession of Canaan along with a new status within it—all of which was, and is, promised to them by God. Ultimately, this promise is fulfilled in Canaan but under the dispensation of Jesus Christ’s reign upon the earth itself—the heavenly Zion (cf. 12:22-24). This follows His return to the earth (Rev. 19), a regathering of the Jewish people as believers in their Messiah—attested to throughout the OT prophets, and a setting up of His earthly millennial kingdom, complete with the heavenly city of Jerusalem descending from heaven to set itself upon the renewed earth (Rev. 21:1-2).

Food For Thought
Reading the life of Abraham and his travels from Ur to Haran to Canaan to Egypt back to Canaan reveals a nomadic life. In this, we see an illustration of God’s people not being at home, not yet at least, not even for Christians. The tragedy of it all stems from the fact that God made the earth and has promised all of His saints an eternal bliss on the earth—the new earth (Rev. 21:1). This present world was turned over to Satan, the ruler and god of this world (John 12:31; 2 Cor. 4:4). Why? Because mankind demanded it! From the Garden of Eden being forfeited (Gen. 3) to the new earth after the Flood (Gen. 11)—man has demanded his own way under his own gods. But when Jesus returns, He will be King on this earth, and everything God promised to Abraham and those whose faith resembles his will enjoy for eternity the full measure of God’s promises fulfilled—both earthly and heavenly. We as believers look forward to that, not to the transient blessings of this present world. For here we are aliens. In heaven we are citizens!