INTRODUCTION
Albanians, mostly Muslim, in Kosovo are dispossessed and oppressed
by the 10% minority Serbs, mostly driven by their form of Christianity,
and whose brothers in Serbia have come in to ravage; Tutsis and
Hutu in central Africa continue to fight one another for land
and governmental control; Ishmaelites and Israelites continue
to fight for power over the same piece of land with Jerusalem
as the centre of government; Kurds want their land and are at
odds with majority Turks, Iraqis, Iranians; Pakistan and India
continue to fight over who really owns Jammu-Kashmir; Timorese
want their land but Indonesia has it; China wants control over
Taiwan; and big corporations all over the earth want ever more
control by swallowing up smaller firms and forming ever larger
global alliances. Nationalism, irreligious arrogance, and ethnic
culture are seemingly major causes of such persistent war. As
Alvin Toffler said in 1990 in his book Powershift: those with
most power and capacity to use violence, wealth, technical and
scientific knowledge will change the course of all human history.
The whole world is gearing up for the new Babylon-the world empire
that will control all these factors of power in the world: violence,
wealth, knowledge. It has no godly sense of home and family, of
belonging, of rest, integrity, peace, fairness. It is driven by
the lust for power.
A real home is what gives a sense of place! Peace! Justice! Fairness!
As one born in Nazi Germany, as an Ausländer, a foreigner,
then a refugee for five years living in camps, I have a sense
of needing a place in which to live-forever. I want to attempt
to give a vision of what it means to live in this world but with
a sense of place about the world which the Messiah will provide
for those who hunger and thirst for it.
The third season of the biblical year addresses and answers these
kinds of questions:
With the third season of the biblical year almost upon us it is
also appropriate that we should re-consider why we do what we
do in celebrating and remembering what the coming season prefigures.
Let us examine the meaning of an aspect of Heb 11:9-10:
In response to Gal 3:1, which says: "Who has bewitched
you that you should not obey the truth?"-the apostle
Paul tells us:
Before dealing with the future let us see the biblical perspective
on the present. What should be our present frame of mind, sense
of place, as we look ahead to our future?
STRANGERS, SOJOURNERS, PILGRIMS
Abraham's wife's death at 127 years is recorded in Gen 23. He
wanted her buried in Hebron. So he went to the resident owners
of the land-the land promised him and his spiritual descendants-and
bought some property, which now Palestinians under Yasser Arafat
claim as theirs.
Sojourner, the second synonym used in Gen 23:4 comes from
the Hebrew word toshabh.
Another word, related to ger is magur. It is used
by Isaac in blessing Jacob.
So what we have are two basic ideas which more Scriptures will
further verify:
(b) Strangers and sojourners are those who identify with
Elijah as sojourners and pilgrims who live among people most of
whom are of the same nationality but whose heart is different
(as in. Ex 12:45 which excludes a sojourner from the Passover
because he is uncircumcised, i.e., whose heart is alienated from
the true God; see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; 30:6; Jer 4:4; 9:25-6).
In each case the godly strangers, sojourners, pilgrims (cf. Heb
12:9; Gen 12:8; 13:3,18; 18:1; 1Chr 16:18-19) know they have a
place in which they shall live forever. Meanwhile they are living
in tents and tabernacles, as they wait and prepare for their permanent
home. Let's look at this more carefully.
LIVING LIKE THE PATRIARCHS
In David's song of thanksgiving for the safe placement of the
Ark into the Tabernacle (ohel) in Jerusalem, David said:
An interesting concept is given by Asaph in Ps 74:
Ps 119:19 I am a stranger in the earth; do not hide Your
commandments from me.
Lk 16:9 And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by
unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into
an everlasting home, more correctly, an everlasting tabernacle
(aivwni,ouj skhna,j = from skhnh
tent, temporary shelter; tabernacle (of a worship place); house,
home, dwelling-place.).
Steve Vizard, a Melbourne lawyer, TV presenter, comedian, father
of five children, newly appointed president of the Victorian National
Art Gallery was interviewed on ABC radio by Margaret Throsby on
Friday. He was asked, "What is the most important thing in
life?" "A sense of place!" he replied and
enlarged with comments about how vitally important family life
is. Indeed, a sense of place is one of the greatest problems
in our world today. Many people don't know where they belong,
whether they are secure where they presently live, where they
should live, where they will live. Many people do
not have a real sense of nationality, citizenship, loving loyalty
to a government and leadership. Many are grief-stricken in that
they have no real home. Millions are refugees, and many more millions
are strangers living away from their homelands!
Where is the place and home that is ours?
Where do you want to live and where should you live?
Why and how shall we live where we will live?
What kind of people do you want to live with and who shall be
our neighbours?
By faith Abraham sojourned in the Land of Promise as in
a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob,
heirs of the same Promise, for Abraham waited for the City which
has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Those verses express an immense sense of vision and an awesome
perspective for the future. The father of the faithful, friend
of God, Abraham, who died about 3,800 years ago (ca. 1972-1797
BC), knew the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
Gal 3:7-9 Therefore know that only those who are of
faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing
that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel
to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall
be blessed."
So Paul understood the statement: In you all the nations of
the earth shall be blessed, as indicating that this would
be the preaching of the Gospel until it would be fulfilled (cf.
Gen 12:3).
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Do we recognize our being blessed by knowing the Gospel, and do
we perceive that this is the means by which the firstfruits of
God will bless all peoples and nations with a God-given sense
of place?
We know the Bible frequently uses the terms stranger, sojourner,
pilgrim with respect to the saints. Yet these words seem to suggest
a lack of a sense of place.
Gen 23:4 (RSV) "I am a stranger(1) and a sojourner(2)
among you;
Abraham spoke to the Hittites in Hebron, some 30 km S.S.W. of
Jerusalem, whose territory stretched to the Euphrates in the days
of Joshua (Josh 1:4); it seems that the land had the same limits
as promised to Abraham (as described in Gen 15:18).
give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury
my dead (wife) out of my sight," said the grief-stricken
patriarch.
Why did he use two different words to describe his status in the
land?
(1) stranger comes from the Hebrew ger. The root
means to live among people who are not blood relatives. [
rGE ger or
ryGE geyr; stranger,
alien, sojourner, a temporary inhabitant, a newcomer lacking inherited
rights; foreigners in Israel, though conceded rights].
(2) The word is used in 1Ki 17:1 where Elijah regards himself
as a stranger (cf. inhabitant) in his own territory. [From
bv'AT towshab or
bv'To toshab;
sojourner, stranger, foreigner; 14 times in the OT].
Gen 28:4 And give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and
your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which
you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.
[From rWgm' maguwr or
rgum' magur; in
the sense of lodging; pilgrimage, to be a stranger, dwellings,
sojourn; sojourning place, dwelling-place, sojourning; lifetime;
11 times in the OT].
(a) Strangers and sojourners are those who identify with
Abraham and see that they live as strangers among a greater
number of people whose life-blood is different to their own;
Let's consider how much we should identify with the saints of
the OT. Hebrews 11 is a starting point for an initial overview:
Heb 11:8-16 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called
to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.
And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he
sojourned (parokesen) in the Land of Promise as in a foreign
country, dwelling (katoikesas) in tents
(skenais from skene in NT Greek; the Hebrew equivalent
is shakhen, related to shekinah [i.e., the Glory (of
God); kabod in OT; doxa in NT, and possibly sukkah,
Hebrew for booth, tabernacle]) with Isaac and Jacob, the
heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the City
which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11 By faith
Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she
bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him
faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man (through
Isaac, a type of the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ),
and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the
sky in multitude; innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek
a Homeland (Gk patrida=Fatherland). 15 And truly if they
had called to mind that country from which they had come out (i.e.,
Egypt), they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But now
they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country (i.e., new heavens
and new earth). Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their
God, for He has prepared a City for them.
The apostle Peter makes similar comment:
1Pet 1:1-2 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims
of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification
of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
Verse 17 speaks of the time of our sojourning as our Christian
life and uses the Greek word paroikias [from paroikia],
as the LXX does for the Hebrew ger. Modern Greek uses paroikia
to mean colony, parish, neighbourhood (N. Turner, Christian
Words; [T & T Clark: 1981]; p 331).
1Pet 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims,
abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.
Abraham was 86 years old when his son Ishmael was born to his
Egyptian servant, Hagar (Gen 16:16). Let's notice what Gen 17
says:
Gen 17:1-14 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD
(Yahweh) appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am
El Shaddai (God Almighty); walk before Me and be blameless.
2 I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply
you exceedingly." 3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God
talked with him, saying: 4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant
is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. 5 No longer
shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham;
for I have made you a father of many nations.
Does a righteous father of many nations want to be father of idolatrous
and rebellious nations, alienated from God? What did Abraham envision
as this meaning into the future beyond his day?
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations
of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish
My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you
in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to
be God to you and your descendants after you.
This is an integral part of the covenant. It is conditional on
the fact that the descendants of Abraham must have the same
God as Abraham had.
8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land
in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an
everlasting possession; and I will be their God."
We should again notice the pre-condition that the Promise is
the Land and it is to those whose God is the God of Abraham.
9 And God said to Abraham: "As for you, you shall keep
My covenant, you and your descendants
after you throughout their generations (How convenient
that those insistent on this promise being to a racial group ignore
and disregard God's Word that plainly says that those inheritors
must keep the same covenant as Abraham). 10 This is My
covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and
your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be
circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh
of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between
Me and you (The pre-condition is circumcision which is of the
heart: Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; 30;6; Jer 4:4; 6:10; 9:25-6; Rom
2:28-9). He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised,
every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house
or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your
descendant.
The saints are redeemed by the price of the shed blood of the
of the incarnate Son of God from the possession of the Evil One
who rules the children of disobedience, those alienated from God
and without a godly sense of place. Those purchased by the blood
of Jesus Christ are brought into the House of God.
13 He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your
money must be circumcised (circumcision is of the heart
and in the Spirit [Rom 2:29]; and we are the circumcision
who worship God in the Spirit [Phil 3:3]), and My covenant
shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the
uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh
of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people;
he has broken My covenant."
There's more in the accounts of the OT patriarchs:
Gen 26:1-5 There was a famine in the land, besides the
first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to
Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.
The Bible records a number of sojournings of God's people to escape
famines: Abraham in Gen 12:10; Israel in Gen 47:4; Ruth in 1:1;
Elijah in 1K 17:20; Elisha asked the widow in Shunem to flee a
seven-year famine (2K 8:1-2); Shunem is east of Megiddo and on
the southern slope of a hill, Moreh, in the Jezreel Valley.
2 Then the LORD appeared to Isaac and said: "Do not go down
to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Dwell
in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you
and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform
the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 And I will make
your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give
to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed
(i.e., by the Son of God and the children of God) all the nations
of the earth shall be blessed (cf. Gal 3:7-9); 5 because Abraham
obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes,
and My laws."
When Isaac sent Jacob from his home in Beersheba to Haran to find
a wife (Rachel) this is part of what he said in blessing his son,
yet to be named Israel (a prince, overcomer or strong
ruler with God):
Gen 28:1-4 Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged
him, and said to him: "You shall not take a wife from the
daughters of Canaan (cf. 2Cor 6:14-16). 2 Arise, go to Padan Aram,
to the house of Bethuel your mother's father; and take yourself
a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.
3 May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply
you, that you may be an assembly of peoples; 4 and give you the
blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that
you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger (magur),
which God gave to Abraham."
When Joseph had arranged for Jacob and the entire house of Israel
to come to Egypt to escape the famine he also arranged a meeting
with the Pharaoh. Let's notice part of the conversation in Gen
47.
Gen 47:7-9 Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and
set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 Pharaoh
said to Jacob, "How old are you?" 9 And Jacob said to
Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage (magur)
are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days
of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days
of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their
pilgrimage (magur)."
In the chapter about the Jubilee there are laws to protect one's
sense of place.
Lev 25:23-5 The land shall not be sold permanently, for
the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.
24 And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption
of the land. 25 'If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has
sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes
to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. 26 Or
if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able
to redeem it, 27 then let him count the years since its sale,
and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that
he may return to his possession. 28 But if he is not able to
have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in
the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in
the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.
God wants people to have their sense of place restored should
they have lost it.
1Chr 16:16-23 The covenant which He made with Abraham,
and His oath to Isaac, 17 And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
to Israel for an everlasting covenant, 18 saying,
"To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment
of your inheritance, 19 when you were few in number, indeed very
few, and strangers in it. 20 When they went from one nation to
another, and from one kingdom to another people, 21 He
permitted no man to do them wrong; Yes, He rebuked kings for their
sakes, 22 saying, "Do not touch My anointed ones
( x;yvim' maschiach),
and do My prophets no harm" (cited in Ps 105:15; the LXX
uses tw/n cristw/n i.e., ton christon,
those who are of Christ; or equivalent to the Hebrew thought,
those who are [God's] anointed; God has anointed those
who are His as 2Cor 1:21; 1Jn 2:20,27 verify. Christ, Messiah,
is God's Anointed One-Ps 2:2; Jn 1:41; Heb 1:9). 23 Sing
to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim the good news of His salvation
from day to day.
When David spoke to Israel about Solomon building the temple,
he asked them to contribute to the building and ended his prayer
of thanks with:
1Chr 29:15 For we are aliens and pilgrims
before You, as were all our fathers; our days on earth are as
a shadow, and without hope (How odd in view of the sense of setting
up a permanent place of worship)..
In a repentance psalm we hear this from our future king, David:
Ps 39:12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry;
do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with
You, a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
So those who are the anointed of God, who shall rule with David
and Christ as a kingdom of priests, in the land promised to our
fellow Christian forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all identify
with the all-pervasive concept: pilgrims, strangers, sojourners,
dwellers in tents-all seeking another country.
Ps 74:2 Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased
of old, the tribe of Your inheritance (which tribe, which house,
which nation is purchased by God by the blood of His Son?), which
You have redeemed; this Mount Zion where You have dwelt.
(Dwelt is from the Hebrew shakan and is used in
Ex 25:8 and Zech 8:3).
The theme of pilgrimage and sojourning persists.
Ex 25:8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among
them.
Zech 8:3 Thus says the LORD: 'I will return to Zion, and dwell
in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City
of Truth, the Mountain of the LORD of hosts, the Holy Mountain.'
Ps 105:6-12 O seed of Abraham His servant, you children
of Jacob, His chosen ones! 9 The covenant which He made
with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, 10 and confirmed it to Jacob
for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, 11 saying,
"To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of
your inheritance," 12 when they were few in number, indeed
very few, and strangers in it.
Notice the following which remind us of the temporary House of
God we experience:
Ps 119:54 Your statutes have been my songs in the house of
my pilgrimage.
Is 8:13-14 The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let
Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. 14 He will be as
a sanctuary (miqdash=holy place; but also tabernacle!),
but a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense to both the houses
of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
THE CHURCH: PLACE OF SOJOURNING
Ex 25:8-9 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may
dwell among them. 9 According to all that I show you, that
is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of
all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
The following verses make abundantly clear that the current experiences
of being in the Body of Christ, the Church of the Living God,
are temporary and incomplete, an enigmatic reflection (1Cor
13:12 [see NEB, NJB, Louw & Nida 32.21]).
Rev 7:15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and
serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the
throne will dwell (tabernacle) among them (cf. Jn 1:14
The word became flesh and tabernacled among us)
It is very difficult to clearly visualize what it shall be like
to be resurrected and to live with Christ.
Rev 13:6 Then he (the beast that arises out of the sea
with 7 heads and 10 horns) opened his mouth in blasphemy against
God, to blaspheme His Name, His Tabernacle, and those who dwell
in heaven.
Ps 132:13-4 For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired
it for His dwelling place: 4 "This is My resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I have desired it."
We have difficulty trying to accept fully the willingness of the
Son of God to live in us by the Spirit of His Father as he prepares
us more and more for what we should be: Become perfect as the
Father in Heaven is perfect (Matt 5:48).
Joel 3:17 So you shall know that I am the LORD your God,
dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy,
and no aliens shall ever pass through her again.
Here is Ezekiel's description of that future place that will give
the complete and perfect sense of place:
2Cor 6:16-8 What agreement has the temple of God with idols?
For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I
will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and
they shall be My people." (Lev 26:12; Ex 25:8; 29:45; 1K
6:13). 17 Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate,"
says the Lord (Isa 52:11; Rev 18:4). "Do not touch what is
unclean, and I will receive you. 18 I will be a Father to you,
and you shall be My sons and daughters," (Hos 1:9-10) says
the LORD Almighty.
Ezk 37:24-8 "David My servant shall be king over them,
and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in
My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. 25 Then they
shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant,
where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their
children, and their children's children, forever; and My servant
David shall be their prince forever. 26 Moreover I will make a
covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant
with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will
set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 My tabernacle
also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they
shall be My people. 28 The nations also will know that I, the
LORD, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore."
Zechariah expresses similar belief and hope:
Zech 8:8 I will bring them back, and they shall dwell in
the midst of Jerusalem. They shall be My people and I will be
their God, in truth and righteousness.
The last visionary chapters of the Bible inevitably comment on
the Christian's ultimate sense of place:
Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold,
the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them,
and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and
be their God." (May the grace of the God be with all the
saints who seek their home-the New Jerusalem, the eternal city
of peace, love, service and worship of GOD.